The God is back. Produced by Pete Rock, from Wild Cowboys 2.
Mark down April 20, 2010 on your calender…the long-awaited, most-anticipated official solo shot from Roc Marcy is finally dropping through Fat Beats on CD and vinyl EP. I’m gonna call this as having a 90% chance of being the album of the year even even half of it is as good as ‘Snow’.
Roc Marciano - ‘Whateva, Whateva’
Shouts to Legend.
Queens-bred production duo Thorotracks (Sam & Jay) have been putting it down as a crew since 2002, and have delivered dope beats for everyone from Sean Price to NYG’z, Casual to Killah Priest, Krumbsnatcha to Skyzoo. With two compilations under their belt (The Saga Begins and The Saga Continues) and the dope new mixtape from their group The Closers (not to mention that exclusive joint for the Unkut Counter Strike tape) doing the rounds right now, you can count on these dudes to deliver the goods again and again. Here are some of the highlights from a conversation I had with Sam Thoro a couple of months back.
Robbie: How long have you and Jay been a crew?
Sam Thoro: We’ve been together as a group eight, nine years. He’s from Lefrak, and I’m from Woodside. When we started working together we just never stopped. I do a lot more of the sampling and he does a lot more of drums – now – ‘cos we kinda got it down to a science. Sometimes we do beats on our own, but most of the time we do everything together. Between the two of us we have like fifty crates of records. I might do the sample, he might do the drums, then I might play the bass line and we dump everything right into Pro Tools. He’s a DJ so if there’s scratches then he scratches – I’m an engineer so I’ll mix. Most of the stuff you hear from us that sounds good? I recorded it.
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The artist formerly known as Tony Bones from The Home Office put together this ad for the Villain In Black‘s new range of Swap Meet Snacks, which got me thinking – what are some rap endorsements that need to happen? Tim Dog‘s Extra Beef Burgers? Lords of the Underground‘s Squidgy Set? Neek The Exotic‘s Exotic Spices of The Orient? OJ Da Juiceman‘s Fruit and Vegetable Juicemaker?
You know that Shabaam Sahdeeq, Red Eye and Thorotracks came through with one of the hardest songs on the Counter Strike tape, right? Here’s more of the raw from these Queens representatives, with assists from Blaq Poet, Planet Asia, Krumb Snatcha, Reks and Gab Gacha. Look out for my interview with Sam from Thorotracks next week…
The Closers – Bullpen Sessionz
Back cover:
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An amusing clip of Keith E.E. in happier days, breaking down some hip-hop basics. As we’re constantly reminded, he’s having ‘fun’. Maybe it was the Stella’s?
Here’s a track that didn’t make the Counter Strike tape. Un Pacino and H-Brando from Hard White rep over a Grimy Kid track. I ended-up using ‘Murder, She Wrote’ on the Counter Strike tape instead, but this works too. Courtesy of Ammo from G.I.T. Records.
Hard White - ’21 Grams’
As you would have heard by now, Keith E.E. ‘The Guru’ is seriously ill following a heart-attack. While there has been a flood of support from his friends and fans, this sad news has also given fuel to trolling douche bags to take some cheap shots at the man. Don’t get it twisted, bent-up or confused – at the height of their career, nobody was touching Gang Starr when it came to the classic MC / DJ combination. Not even Pete Rock & CL Smooth can match their legacy when you consider that The GURU and DJ Premier gave us three of the greatest rap albums ever made. Once Keith E.E. broke out from the Gangstarr Posse in Boston and hopped a Greyhound to the Rotten Apple – where he was soon to be paired-up with Texan DJ Premier – it was on like Donkey Kong. Following some early 12″s with The 45 King, No More Mr. Nice Guy introduced the world to the group known as Gang Starr in all their rough-around-the-edges glory.
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