Here’s a new joint from Action Bronson, going in over the Marley Marl classic. Taken from the new J-Love/Bronson mixtape Bon Aptitie…Bitch!!!!!, which should beis available via iTunes right now.
Dallas Penn gets the scoop at the Meyhem video shoot for ‘Just Can’t Win’, while J-Love‘s ‘Contraband’ and Meyhem & AG Da Coroner‘s ‘Sound Boy Massacre’ get official clips. (more…)
Another winner from the Outdoorsmen crew, continuing the theme of fine dining that Meyhem mentioned when I interviewed him. This is taken from the Dr. Lecter Jr album, which is due in the near future. Produced by Bronson and Team Facelift, directed by Tommy Mas and Matt Raz.
Continuing from Part 1, Trag discusses dealing with depression, mentoring MC’s and the origin of his military state of mind.
Robbie: Can you tell me more about the fall-out from your second album?
Tragedy Khadafi: I’ve been rhyming since I was nine and I started writing songs when I was eleven, so I’ve been rhyming all my life – and anything I’ve ever put out, people felt! But now, this second album, nobody’s feeling it like that! And it’s bothering me – I don’t know how to take that, I don’t know how to accept that at the time. So I left Atlanta and I decided that I’m going to go back to the mecca – for me. So I go back to the Bridge, and I’m just hanging around the Bridge, vibin’ with my old people, old friends, goin’ back to the block. In the course of that I started writing more joints, recording, and my views changed in the sense where I felt like, ‘I can still drop science – I can still drop knowledge – but maybe it doesn’t have to sound so preachy. Maybe it doesn’t have to sound so direct’. The game started changing, things started shifting. As far as I’m concerned, I always drop consciousness in my records – even if it’s just one line. I always try to find the balance between the streets, music and consciousness, and I try to infuse it all together. (more…)
When the crew over at Complex decided they needed to put together a definitive list of the 50 Greatest Queensbridge Rap Songs Of All Time, who else were they gonna call? As is the nature of such projects, there was a little give-and-take between my initial chart and the finished result, but that’s part of the challenge and I’m more than happy with the final result:
Tragedy Khadafi is considered to be the blueprint of the Queensbridge style of rhyming, which has become world-renowned thanks to artists like Nas, Mobb Deep and Cormega. Even though he never achieved the commercial acclaim of some of those who followed in his footsteps – due to a variety of personal and professional set-backs – his influence and musical vision is still being felt today through those he mentored, such as Capone-N-Noreaga and Killa Sha. Having just come home after three years in prison, Trag is furiously preparing a number of projects, including a solo album, and collaborations with the late Sha Lumi, DJ Phantom and DJ Fresh. With a new single is due out this November, I took the opportunity to discuss some of his earlier work in the first of this two part feature.
Robbie: Tell us about the Super Kids record, ‘The Tragedy’.
Tragedy: When I first came out, I was probably around 12, 13, and my name was MC Jade. When I was trying to come out and get my name up and be heard, I had an individual from my block in Queensbridge, on the 41st side, named Panic. Panic is like an older brother to me, man. Panic was always that guidance for me, especially when I was younger. He had two turntables and a mixer in his room, so when I would stop by his window I would hear him playing records and cutting-up records, and it always intrigued me. So I stepped to him one day and told him, ‘Yo, I wanna go through your records. Let me listen to your records’, so he let me come in the crib, he would let me listen to all his records and I would write my rhymes while I listened to a lotta old school joints, and we started to form a bond. He was actually my first DJ. He went on to produce some things for Marley later on too, but the turntables he had wasn’t actually his – they were Hot Day’s turntables. So that’s how me and Hot Day met, because Hot Day came by Panic’s crib – took his turntables back – and obviously I went to Panic’s to try to make some more music and Panic was like, ‘Yo, I had to give this dude his turntables back’. That’s how I got introduced to Hot Day, and from that point on me and Hot Day started making tapes together. (more…)
The late, great Sha Lumi over an Xtra-P production, taken the forthcoming Killa Sha & Large Professor project. Also be on the look-out for Killa Sha’s The Shepard to drop in January 2011 to mark the first anniversary of his passing.
Engineer All-Star Marley Marl came from the era when a remix often meant turning-up the drums, dropping out the main loop occasionally and adding a horn blast and some echo, but even when the additions were relatively minor, they proved to be incredibly effective. The remixed versions of ‘Vapors’ and ‘Shootin’ The Gift’ both maintain their original loops, but manage to sound ten times better with the addition of some extra horns and vocal samples, while the additional sounds added to the 12″ versions of ‘Droppin’ Science’ and ‘The Symphony’ take already great songs to another level. The King Tee and 3rd Bass remakes add completely new bases to the tracks, giving them a much-needed face-lift, while the ‘Jingling Baby’ remix is the perfect example of how to build upon a solid foundation and turn into a timeless classic. (more…)
