Stevie Stone – New Kid Comin’

The intro caught my attention, just a list of a few Gangster Rappers/Groups that I consider legendary. I was hoping that those names would foreshadow what were to come, not really. The bass is well pronounced throughout this album. Tech N9NE is featured on this album, listening to him is always interesting. With gangster rap there is violence, so you better respect his grind.

I hope there is a little more content to 6treg’s album than on this “fresh” single. I’m sorry, but I can’t take someone who raps about rocking Ed Hardy and thinks its “fresh” seriously. His flows were simple and nothing really caught my attention. But I can see it being a mainstream interest.

For the rapper known as Skillz, hip-hop music is a passion that comes with a price. Surviving the game as an underground emcee took both talent and the realization that the business had entered a new era. Firstly, with the 2005 release of Confessions of a Ghostwriter, he exposed a controversial practice within the game: that of buying someone else’s lyrics and essentially taking full credit for them. He should know; he’s written a few of them. And then there’s superficial versus substance. He’s definitely a purveyor of the latter, which is not always the ticket to quick cash. Of course, there’s always the issue of technology, specifically downloading. “You don’t have to buy my music to enjoy it.” He states bluntly on recognizing the impact on artist’s paychecks. “You could have gotten it for free.”

So the Virginian rapper is again prepared to put his money where his mouth is, dipping into a pool of more tangible lyrics and solid beats than generally found on popular radio. It’s what he calls his “formula” and he’s sticking to it for this summer’s release of Million Dollar Backpack. This is his first release in three years, and the title is quite fitting, considering his style is commonly categorized as “backpack rap.” You know what it is, the sort of hip-hop that puts emphasis on lyrical weight, as opposed to pumping out thin messages atop recycled beats. Not exactly radio-friendly, but arguably more substantial. “I think it’s manufactured to be quick and fast,” he notes of the contrast to popular hitmaking methods. “It (music) is manufactured to have a career, not to mean anything in the long run. It’s for right now.”

Skillz just does his thing, and isn’t one much for following the trendy pack. “I’m not out to confuse people by rapping about something tomorrow that you know you’ve never heard me talk about before. I’m not going start selling drugs. I’m a backpack rapper man, that’s who I make music for.” And although he appears to be comfortable with the association, he makes the point that genres and labels aren’t really necessary, stating, “There are just two kinds of music: good and bad.” On the other hand, Skillz understands there’s a place for all sorts of music, just that some of the best works of art out there don’t reach the people easily, even the age of digital promotion. “I’m not mad at radio for what they are playing,” he says. “I’m mad at what they’re not playing.”

Skillz demeanor remains that of someone who remembers having a “day job” and the struggle that all musicians endure, particularly for those on the underground or independent circuit, even though he’s worked and toured with some of the biggest names in the biz. “Even if music wasn’t paying my bills at a time, I never gave it up. It was always my passion.” He also makes the case that in order to truly prosper, artists should come to terms with new technology and seek other ways, such as grassroots movements, to stay alive in this business. “People still do buy it, but they don’t have to,” he reiterates. “My thing is to make good music, and a good show. Don’t act like they’re not supporting you, or put anything out there and think they’re supposed to just accept it. You have to move in the realm of the new age, but a lot of rappers don’t do that. They feel like if they don’t sell a million records, they don’t have a fan base, but you can have a fan base from other things.”

RZA as Bobby Digital

Digi Snacks

Koch Records

Rating: 3/4

Parliament-Funkadelic once sagely recognized that “America Eats Its Young,” but I doubt even those forefathers of rap could’ve predicted how hip-hop would eat its old. While the rock world reveres its veterans (see: Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton), hip-hop’s here-today-gone-tomorrow aesthetic tends to reserve icon status for those who live fast and die young (see: Tupac, Biggie).  As the visionary mastermind behind Wu-Tang Clan, RZA was a primary architect of the ’90s hip-hop sound, producing over a half-dozen hit records in as many years. But despite concocting masterful soundtracks for films such as Ghost Dog and Kill Bill, RZA has seen his star fade a bit in recent years as knob-twiddlers such as Timbaland stole his thunder, with even Raekwon criticizing him as a “hip-hop hippie.”  If Digi Snacks is too esoteric for hip-hop’s mainstream, it also proves RZA remains one of the genre’s most artful innovators. Like the Wu’s 8 Diagrams, the third Bobby Digital LP showcases his impressive maturity and musical growth, from the bluesy groove that drives the throwback reminiscence of “You Can’t Stop Me Now” and the thrilling boom-bap dissonance of “Drama” to the sultry funk of “Try Ta Yi Ya.” It’s not a perfect album—the copious singing occasionally undermines the impact of RZA’s dense rhymes—but it’s more than good enough to prove the man one of the most original artists in hip-hop.

Cube has a theory on why this Hip-Hop Generation label was created. “The baby boomers are a little pissed off at the fact that a lot of us are coming into power and we have this new way of thinking.” The anger he feels towards those who insist on negatively categorizing hip-hop fans and lay the blame on rap music for all of society’s ills is what led him to write “Gangster Rap Made Me Do It,” the vitriolic first single off of his upcoming album, Raw Footage, which is due out in mid-August on Cube’s own label, Lench Mob Records.

As a whole, Cube says Raw Footage is “a throwback kind of record,” adding “It’s one of those records that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and by being independent it allows me to put this kind of record together without A&R trying to interfere.” After over twenty years in the game, Cube has little use for a lot of the so-called experts. The way he sees it, “A lot of people that are in the industry that are running the industry are the last people you would let into your studio session.” This is the main reason he went the independent route for Raw Footage.

Had Cube gone with a major he knows what would have happened to his vision for the album. “They’d probably want me to do something with T-Pain cuz he’s hot, or Lil’ Wayne,” he says, less than enthused at either prospect, knowing neither would have been a good fit for the record he was looking to make. “They’d want me to rap with Lil’ Wayne and they’d start thinking about marketing and not thinking about the record itself. They’re thinking about a story to tell instead of thinking of the music so that’s kind of where A&R’s heads are; they’re basically chasing the last hit, trying to convince their artists to do one just like it.”

Since he went out on his own, Raw Footage is straight up, 100% Ice Cube. “This is a record that goes straight to the brain,” he states proudly, “it’s not a booty record, it’s not a club record, it’s a record that if you like hardcore hip-hop, and you’re a fan of hip-hop in its purest form, then I think it will appeal to you.” He adds that it’s the right time for a record like this, saying, “You need something that ain’t always looking to put the good spin on things, but just to put the real on it.” The “real” is something Cube’s been putting into his work since his NWA days. He even notes that back then he called his work “reality rap,” and not “gangster rap,” as many of the genre’s critics have labeled it.

While Cube sees “reality rap” as having changed the world in a lot of positive ways, he also notes that people enjoyed it so much that a new standard was created for rap artists to live up to, and that was, simply put, being real. “People started blurring the lines and stopped looking at is as entertainment and wanted you to be what you rapped about,” he explains, “I think everybody is to a certain extent, but you don’t ask Arnold Schwarzenegger to be the Terminator. It’s acts of entertainment.”

Cube took it upon himself to go to a higher authority, namely his own mother, to find out when this trend of entertainers having to be role models started. “I asked her, when you were growing up was Aretha Franklin your model? Did you look up to the Supremes and Diana Ross and all them? She was like, ‘Hell naw. We didn’t look at entertainers as role models, entertainers were just entertainers. Half of ’em was crazy, we knew that.’ So I’m like damn, why does the same generation that they come from put it on us so much to be upstanding-ass citizens when the singers of their day wouldn’t even do it? It’s funny how that’s put on our shoulders, to raise the kids of our listeners.”

Photos by Eric Williams

Killer Mike

I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II

SMC Recordings

Rating: 3.5/4

“This is not your regular rap album.” While most rap albums set the mood by expressing how many hoes they’ve got, how many niggas they’ve shot or how high their stacks are, Killer Mike starts the show by letting his supporters (he doesn’t have fans) know that their $15 won’t be wasted. He assures them that I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II is fa

r from another bullshit experience and urges listeners to pledge allegiance to themselves and most importantly: the grind. Killer Mike doesn’t deviate from the aggressive southern swag that he’s known for. “Two Sides” featuring Shawty Lo is the quintessential “where you from?” track with an addictive and animated hook custom-made for a live performance. “Pressure” featuring Ice Cube is the antithesis of the tomfoolery often associated with the Dirty South and West Coast and urges folks to “put the pressure on em” to make a change. Other standout tracks include “Big Money, Big Cars” with a Youngbloodz flip and the secular “God is in the Building.” Hands down my favorite track had to be “Super Clean/Super Hard” featuring 8Ball & MJG.  If you don’t pop your collar at least once while listening to this track, I suggest you get a notepad, Netflix The Mack, buy a dub sack, and start taking notes. This lyrically ferocious and often underrated Outkast affiliate presents a multifaceted album that makes you think, dance and grind. I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II supplies more than the recommended daily value of dope-ass hip-hop. It’s worth the $15 to buy organic.

Shaya

Fallen Awake

Interdependent Media

Rating: 3/4

Rappers like Shaya often have distinctive repertoires that consciously flirt with the golden-era formula.  For those too young to have experienced that time in all its glory, the good ole days of hip-hop boasted music that tended to lean more toward lyrical depth, sampling, scratching, and was basically pure street poetry.  Not much of that around anymore—at least commercially.  Fortunately there exists this stable of contemporary artists relishing a more tangible, arguably relatable form of hip-hop music.  Witness Shaya; he has been on the Bay Area circuit for quite a while, trudging his way up through the hazardous landscape of this crazy thing called the music biz.  This full-scale release encompasses much of that “reality” throughout, but most specifically on the single “Industry Life.”  Fallen Awake is more than just interesting wordplay for a title—the entire album is the expression of a dynamic wordsmith. Shaya addresses everything one might encounter in his world, including the pride, disappointment, success, and life in general endured from thug to stand-up fella. Thanks in part to great production by Jake One and the ARE, many of the beats and sampling are equally reminiscent of past eras, offering balance to the catchy modern bangers.  Fallen Awake is, according to Shaya’s manifesto, thinking man’s music. Don’t think of it as elitism—and not that radio-ready hooks and baseless lyrics aren’t fun sometimes—but rather consider Shaya a nice divergence from the oversimplified sounds we’re inundated with daily.