Nice work to Dan Bolleri, Sammy B, Jeff Fellows and Damian Peng for being the first four through the gate to answer Mantronix as the creators of the classic ‘King of The Beats’ song. Keep an eye on your mailbox over the next week or two for your copy of the King of the Beats 2 DVD.

Photo: Irven Lewis

Even though Volume 1 was never officially issued, King Of The Beats was an interesting experiment involving a simple challenge – each crew was given 20 quid to buy records and make a beat, all in the space of a single day. Part 2 features producers from the UK, US and Australia taking-up the same beat challenge, as they film the whole process and provide running commentary on their progress. If you’ve ever made beats yourself then this whole process will be familiar – if not it should be a bit of an eye opener as to how much work is involved – but it’s all entertaining stuff regardless (eccentric record shop owners and all). I was initially thrown off by director Pritt Kalsi‘s split-screen style in the early sections, but it works effectively and makes it worth watching again to catch anything you might have missed in the first sitting. Definitely a nice change of pace to your standard hip-hop documentary – cop it.
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In a result that was a surprise to no one, Raekwon The Chef has been declared the ‘winner’ of the Worst Follow-Up Ever. When reached for comment, Lex Diamonds had this to say:

“I kinda feel like niggas just done won the World Series or some shit. Some dudes might think that these birds done shitted on my whole movement and shit, but I’m about winning, man. I feel that way whether I’m baking a cake or playing ‘Whack-A-Mole’ in Coney Island. Some niggas might look at it like I just copped a sub and found a roach in that shit, but to beat Snoop is a great look for me right now. I feel like the Obama of this rap shit right now. Motherfuckers respect my mustache so much that they try and grow they own little beard and shit. Only Built For Cuban Linx 2 in stores 2009.”

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Boss Money - ‘The Boys Is Doin It’

New E.C. and Bago material, produced by Show. Taken from the new D.I.T.C. album, The Movement.

Photo: Janette Beckman

I only got twenty minutes to kick it with LL, but who’s complaining? It’s safe to say he appreciated getting a quick break from answering questions about his favorite flavor of ice cream and how many stomach crunches he does every morning. In many ways he’s the blueprint that everyone from Biggie to 50 has followed – hard street records for the fiends mixed with pop tunes for the broads. He’s also responsible for some of the greatest songs ever…but you knew that already, right? You can catch my feature with L’s mentor Silver Fox in the new Hip-Hop Connection if you want the whole story.

Robbie: You sound pretty invigorated on the new tape with Kayslay.

LL Cool J: I had a lotta fun doin’ that. We’re just getting’ it in. The last couple of projects, with me doin’ TV and movies, I think it really took away from the music. My heart was a hundred percent in but my focus wasn’t, so this go round I moved all the movies and the TV to the side just to really focus on trying to make some hot music, and I made the mix-tape to just get it started. I might make another one! I’m enjoying that, though.

You used to be in a group called The Extravagant 3 with Dr. Butcher and Royal Rich when you were in high school. Can you tell me a bit about those days?

Absolutely. Me, Royal Rich and Drew were a very real group. We might’ve been a group for two, three years – maybe four – I’m not sure but it was a long time. We had a lotta routines…I think we all got better as artists, Drew got better as a rapper and a DJ, Rich got better as a rapper. Rich’s brother played the keyboards – his name was Professor KB. He used to make the music and everything. We were young kids trying to make it in hip-hop, without a doubt. I still have a lotta respect for Drew and Rich and his brother. Those were some good times, it was fun.

Drew was saying you would have twenty garbage bags of rhymes at the crib. You must have had quite an appetite for writing.

I definitely did. When I get like that…I’m like that right now. I’m driving the people around me in the record company crazy, ‘cos I keep makin’ new songs but they wanna lock it in and master it and be able to say they finished – but I keep workin’! When I’m in the zone, man, I just love writing! I love creating songs, I love creating concepts, I love the whole idea of trying to make great music. I don’t take it seriously, I have a lotta fun with it. I found a picture of me recently with a whole bunch of rhyme books on a ironing board, and I’m like seventeen or fifteen – something like that – sittin’ there with a pen, writing. It’s crazy.
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Krohme feat. Kool G Rap, Chino XL, C-Rayz Walz, Sean Price and Hell Razah - ‘Goon Opera’

That ‘Murder Goons’ break gets another go-around.

Much like Highlander, “there can be only one”. These two records received the overwhelming majority of votes in their respective rounds, so it’s only fair that they are offered the chance to face-off against each other, one-on-one.

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A couple of Friday’s ago I spoke to Kyron aka Solo from Screwball/Kamakazee, and was lucky enough to hear a track from the new Screwball album – safe to say, shit was nuts. Screw also has a couple of new members (including Ty Nitty from Infamous Mobb, who was Louis ‘Screwball’ Chandler‘s younger brother). I won’t be dropping the full interview for a while but here’s a new cut which may or may not be on his forthcoming solo project, as well as the video for his ‘Caution’ single (aka the mandatory club song).

Kyron aka Solo - ‘Rebel’

Kyron – ‘Caution’ video:
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All respect due to the mighty Boot Camp Clik, but the turn of the century was not kind to these guys after a great run of debuts. A large part of the problem could be the fact that they parted ways with Da Beatminerz, a situation that quickly became apparent to anybody who tried to listen to the BCC compilation For The People.

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