can’t nothing rock me, i’m legendary

Flawless Crowns – Raekwon

this track leaked a while back and if it’s any indication of what Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II is going to sound like, Rae could be cookin’ up classic number dos.

A Day with the Homiez – 1st Down

the short-lived group 1st Down is actually Phat Kat and Jay Dee aka Dilla. their only output was one 12″ back in like ‘94 or so, which included this song along with two or three others, classic shit.

The Proud (live) – Blackstar

Talib Kweli’s live performance of ‘The Proud’ off of Quality with a guest appearance by Mos Def, technically making the cut a Blackstar joint. Kweli and Mos together live has always been iller than ill, and you can definetly hear their chemistry in this one. only thing that gets me salty is the talk of a new Blackstar album on the outro, fuckin bastards.

oh yeah, the shit was produced by Dilla.

You Came Up ft. NORE – Big Pun

WHERE MY HORNS AT?? WHERE MY HORNS AT??

Hard on a Nigga – 2pac

2pac + Led Zeppellin sample = classic.

Laser In Ya Ear – Jay-Z

Kingdom Come wasn’t horrible (haters), but it wasn’t up to par with most of Jigga’s older shit (dickriders). he just didn’t sound like he was having as much fun on the mic as he used to. he did however, sound dope on this freestyle over Craig Mack’s early 90’s classic ‘Flava In Ya Ear.’

Supreeme, Supreeme pt. II

Back in the first part of the interview, the guys of Supreeme, Tom Cruz, Negashi & King Self talked about how they began, how they’re bring a new perspective to their music and they told us they were from the future. Here’s part two.

interview originally published here

Yeah, I’ve caught one of your shows before. That free show that Murs had in LA last summer-

Tom – that’s like our worst show ever.

Really? (Laughs) How so?

Tom – well, I have family in LA and my cousin was there—

Yeah, the guy with the dreads and the henny that come out and spat a verse?

Tom – Yeah, well I won’t say what exactly he does, but the thing is he tried to show me a good time, and basically I was too drunk when it was time to perform.You where there you saw how I was, insulting the crowd and all that, I was out of my mind. I learned a lesson that show for real, I don’t need drugs, not that exaggerated. That shit was too hot for tv. On the performance aspect, it kinda messed us up, I messed up the vibe because we feed off each other. That wasn’t no novice shit tho, that wasn’t our first show, that was like our 300th show.

N – It was definetly a lesson learner, I was looking at this dude like he was crazy. Our shows are like a real intense experience normally, people leave sweaty, crying. I’m not exaggerating when I say crying.

Tom – It’s like a religious experience, we incorporate alot of different things into the performance. We give you something to behold.

N – We give you pop-rock.

Pop Rocks?

N – Yeah, we give you pop rocks.

I gotta ask you, when I was telling people I was gon’ interview you guys, the friend I went ot the show with wanted me to ask, what was up with the face paint? I guess that’s directed at you Negasi.

N – Well, during my tenure in Supreeme, I got into Bowie and Fela Kuti alot. I got into the performative aspect. The facepaint is like a transformation, like when Superman takes off his glasses, its something simple that changes your whole feeling. Its funny cuz at that LA show people didn’t know what to think, like ‘where does this come from?’ the future!

Tom – Anything we do, its already been done, that’s what people forgot.We’re from the future, we know what’s gonna be hot, we know whats gonna be lame, so there is no way we’d do that lame shit. So when we perform, when we make music, there’s an element of trust.

N – Yo thats mad metaphysical

Tom –Also, in the future, we don’t wear moon shoes and shiny suits, like what everyone thinks. We dont do funk, funk is great, but we don’t do funk

N – Funk came out a long time ago, it’s not future music

Tom – Just cuz you got them peeew, peeew, sounds, that don’t make you futuristic, we don’t do that. Alotta weed and ex is not futuristic, you fakin the future with that, the funk as well, and if you do, we’ll look back upon you with scorn

With scorn?

N – And malice.

Aight, switching gears real quick, just off the top. What’s the best/worst thing about being “In” hip hop for you guys?

N – You mean now that we broke the rap hymen? Well, the worst thing…lemme see, it’s not that I mind listening to people’s shit, really I don’t its just that I don’t really like when –

Tom – I want a copy of it tho, you can be damned sure I’ll listen to it, over and over.

N – We gon keep showing it to everyone till someone likes it.

Tom – Oh shit, my favorite demo, this dude named Hen –

Hen? Like laying eggs hen?

Tom – Nah, i think it was short for Hennessy, the shit was hilarious *Tom Cruz and Negasi proceed to sing a hook off Henn’s demo*

Tom – Nah, but the best aspect: I always felt elite, ever since I was a child, like I was the president of something. Now I go into a club and the DJ shouts me out, I like the respect I get off making dope shit. I’m trynna do something so tight that everyone will respect me for, I mean everyone, from Glenn Close to Dick Cheney to Quincy Jones

Negasi – I like that when I see my record label people, I can act like a spoiled kid. I make them take me out to eat, eat their food at home and all that.

T – You can do that tho, because the shits tight. If what you do is tight, is undeniable. If you can make your shit tight, you can do anything, you can—

N – Kill somebody, shiit look at OJ.

Tom – Being tight, being dope, it makes you above the law, you know? Above the law of gravity too, we’re fly. It’s all about Supreeme ho.

Going back to the demo shit though, is that how the wack demo skit on the album came about?

N – Yeah, i mean it was about how everyone we knew from high school that heard we got a deal or whatever tried to show us their shit. Them clowns. We got this dude to do the skit, when we were in Cali, the dude was off rehab, we met him at 7-11 i think, was it 7-11?

Tom – Nah, Rollins Donuts, we met him there. The shit took like half a take, we did half a take and we had to stop cuz we were laughing so hard. I think we did another take and that was it. I did the beat too

N– He made it wack on purpose

Tom – Don’t tell nobody tho, cuz in the future people were all like ‘oh you produced that? That shits wack.’ So i’m rewriting history, dont tell nobody

How did the Record Collection deal come about?

N– That was all Murs, all Murs right there. He hooked that up.

How did you guys hook up with Murs?

N– Well, when I was 16, I was dating this girl that was a huge murs fan, I didn’t even know who he was. She was skipping school to go to a Murs instore, and me and Tom, he was working at a radio station at the time and for some reason they let him drive a 22 inc chrome rimmed jeep. So we get to the instore and Murs is there, he’s looking kinda uncomfortable, he’s the only black guy in the room, well besides us. And Tom, he had listened to the 9th edition, and he goes up to Murs and hes like, “its aight”

Tom– I swear, I went up to him and said, serious as hell, ‘I listened to your shit, its ok.’

N– Then Murs got a look in his eye, that only after knowing him for so long, I can now recognize. The thing about Murs is, Murs is a very patient man, he didn’t snap or anything at shaka, he just got a look like “get the fuck out my face, but I won’t say that, cuz you a patron.” Thing is Tom knew the 9th edition was more than just ok

Tom– I knew it was more than just ok, I knew it was something dope (pause) but sometimes it just be’s like that. Then I was like ‘but this guy, he can rap.’ So I beatboxed and Negasi freestyled and Murs was like ‘oh shit’ and told us to keep in touch.

N– We just kept in touch through email, sent him our first mixtapes–

Church and State?

N– Nah, we had two out before Church and State. So we’re sending him shit, and while working on Church and State he was working on the 2nd album with 9th, he told us to go to North Carolina to meet him up. So we drove up there, fucked up King Self’s car and all types of shit. We get there, play Church and State for him and he loved it, so we ended up being the first and only group he signed to Record Collection.

Yeah, because Murs doesn’t work for them anymore right?

N–Yeah, hes not signed to them either, hes Warner Bros. Now, so are we actually.

Oh…so you guys are on a major label now?

N– Yeah, I guess so.

How did that happen?

N– I have no fucking idea, they just called us up and asked if we’d like to make more music, and we were like yeah, they asked when we wanted to start, we said now, so here we are now, in the studio, working on our new shit.

Damn, so what’s next for you guys then?

N– My birthday is in April, so we’re gonna have a big ass show, a celebration in LA, with hopefully Sa-Ra and Pacific Division. Then something else like that in March if everything goes right, and then maybe a tour with Brother Ali in the same month. He’s a good friend of ours so hopefully that can work out.

What about the album?

T– It’ll be out, probably later this year, we don’t have a date for it yet. We’re really making this shit dope, if you heard Supremacy, that shit was real gorilla style for us. This is gonna be a little more thought out. All the kids out there that took time to listen to Supremacy, I really appreciate that, because it wasn’t force fed to them. At most of the shows, I always give it up to whoever listened to that album because i feel like they understand us. It’s like you belong to an elite club, you weren’t force fed our shit, if you listen to me, I assume that theres something similar, something we have in common, every single one of them.

N– sorry to cut you off, but we gotta cut this soon cuz my phone’s running out of battery

Any last words? Anthing you want to say before we peace?

T– To anyone out there doing art, wether it be movies, music whatever, any art youre making, there’s a bottom line, how compelling is your art? Nothing else is a bottom line, because once your art is compelling, that’s real power, thats true power, you have power over people’s emotions, you can lead people anywhere and everywhere

At this point Tom Cruz says something about ho’s and the wife-ing of them, but their battery was dying so that was that.

Shoes’ House

I got a chance to catch up with this dude

over the phone a few weeks ago for an interview.

interview originally published here

So for anyone out there that doesn’t know who you are, introduce yourself

House Shoes, resident DJ of Detroit. I’ve pretty much been at the help of all the hip-hop, since about ’94, in the D. From St. Andrews, ground zero for Hip Hop in the D since ’92, its still poppin now, but its real commercial, but yeah, resident DJ in St. Andrews from ’94-2005. Also down with Northern Lights and Buddah House the go to home for good Hip Hop in the D.

Tell me a little about St. Andrews, I know that that spot is real important to the D

Basically it’s been my platform, I got hired in June of ’94, so it’s been my platform to put whatever I wanted to on the ears of the people of the club. I introduced the whole Slum movement, the Dilla movement, I used to have a tape deck there, to get fresh joints from them, then I moved to a portable DAT player so I got the joints fresh out of the studio. I played Players like, 3 hours after they made it.

Oh snap. What was the response like when you played it?

People was like DAMN! What the fuck is this!?! From the first time I heard Dilla’s shit, I wanted to have other people be inspired by it. Like I said, I had the portable DAT player, so they brought me the joints and we’d just get it crackin, then it started bubbling and a large percentage of my set would be Dilla’s shit.

Tell me some about Detroit, because I feel like it’s such an important city to Hip Hop but it doesn’t get recognized when people talk about major cities in Hip Hop

I always tell people, that D sound that is so heralded all around the world, it’s not the Detroit sound, it’s a small family of maybe 50 peeps, that listen to it, the rest of Detroit, they listen to Jeezy and Pac and all that other radio shit. Let me give you the perfect description of this, when Jay passed 98WJLB the so-called ‘Home of Hip Hop,’ played a tribute to Dilla, and they played three Slum joints, Tainted, Ez Up and Selfish, none of which are produced by Dilla.

What!? For real?

Yeah man. The most imitated sound in music in the last 15-20 years, and we don’t get credit for it in the industry. What really fucked me up was the grammy’s, when they put Jay’s face up, I was like ‘just his face?’ That’s the first and last time we’ll hear about Dilla at the grammy’s. Another good example of all this, when I was out in L.A. for the funeral, the week after that they did a quote unquote, ‘what’s next on the menu’ feature, that my man DDT hosts, and he was playing Dilla all night and the fuckin program director, while they’re playin the Badu shit, and the Janet shit, and the program director is all like ‘Oh shit, I didn’t know he did that joint. I didn’t know he produced that.’

It seems like more people are getting onto Dilla and that whole aspect of the city, is there more awareness of that in Detroit?

Yeah, but it’s still just a fraction, people on the larger scale are not concerned with something new, they just want to listen to whatever is quote unquote hot, regardless of the fact that the greatest producer of all time is from the D, they don’t give a fuck. They want to hear ‘This is why I’m Hot.’ I feel like I touched everyone I could while I was there, ain’t nobody else listening.

What do you think about Dilla’s move to L.A. later in his life?

L.A. man, they took my man in and they held him down. Cats like him are never recognized in the D, but outside of the D, they’re superstars. Dilla would go into a 7-11 or Mickey D’s in L.A. and people would be trippin’ out.

What about the kind of things Dilla was talking about on ‘Hold Tight,’ like as far as cats coming over to his crib all unannounced?

Some cats, like the dudes in the hip hop circles would know about him, but overall the city was sleeping on Dilla.

When did you first meet Jay Dee?

I first met Dilla working at a record shop called Street Corner Music in like ’94. He was up there digging and we started chopping it up, we went to his whip and he played me some shit, I was loving it. Then we went digging out at Car City, over on the east side, after that I just started going over his crib and he would lace me with beat tapes and new joints he produced for cats likeBusta Rhymes, Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest, and he once gave me a tape of remixes that had been fronted on by the labels. That became the Jay Dee Unreleased EP I put out in 96-97.

How was Dilla as a person?

Dilla was a good cat. He looked out for me, showing me how to work the SP1200, the (MPC) 3000, he used to set me up in his basement, and leave me there all night, while he went out the bar or to mess with some chicks. He was real open-hearted, but he could get on some wild shit. We fell out for a minute, but we mended it and it was all good. He just wanted people to hear the music, but I seen him snap off on cats, he was good people though. He just wanted to make music and do his thing.

What do you think about the shine Jay is getting now, after he passed?

It’s like a double-edged sword, better late than never on one page, but then I wanna be like, ‘you motherfuckers are late to the party on this one. What was y’all listening to when his joints were out, why weren’t you fucking with him then?’

So what have you been up to since your move to L.A.?

Just continuing to be that vessel for good music. People watch you and pay attention to you more when they think you’re doing something. So a lot of shit’s been popping off. I’m working on the solo album, and just reppin’ Detroit and Dilla to the fullest.

What about on the production tip, have you been working on your beats any?

Oh yeah, definetly. As far as Detroit goes, I’ve produced everyone in Detroit, but again, the thing that’s frustrating is that none of it gets out. This cat Magnetic, one of my close friends, he’s and engineer, he roasted me before I left, and one thing he said was that he got the front row seat for the best show you’ve never seen. I swear in Detroit it’s like the blind leading the dumb, cat’s don’t know how to get distribution.

What kind of shit have you produced in the D?

Elzhi’s Outta Focus EP, I got joints on that, Proof, I did like 5 or 6 joints with him but only 1 came to fruition on the 12” off Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. Guilty Simpson, I got new shit with Elzhi, Guilty has a new joint over my shit. It’s just been a hassle going through the economics of it, finding investors and shit like that, but I’m still here, keeping that shit moving, keeping Detroit on the forefront.

You touched a little bit on the politics of Hip Hop as a business, how do you feel about them?

Man, it’s fucking awful. Me, personally, I’m not a business man, I just wanna make music, I don’t wanna concern myself with that shit. I put out a double CD, The House Shoes Collection Vol.1, the most accurate selection of Detroit shit, I did 1500 of those, I coulda probably gotten distribution, and with that maybe done some 40000. It’s like you don’t wanna but you gotta, you gotta learn the balance, and you gotta maintain the balance. Do the minimal business or find a good manager or team or whatever and get your shit straight.

Has there been anyone out in LA that helped you up your shit as far as business, or anything for that matter?

Honestly, I’m a real, what’s the word…I’m kinda like a sole entity. I fuck with alotta crews, but I’m never a member, because I’m not sinking with the ship. I’m not trying to ride unless someone’s fucking with someone extremely close to myself. I’m not pursuing the business until my shits done, right now my shits at 50%, my solo album. But man, I fucking hate that shit [the business], I hate that shit. The business is fucked up; I’m a real motherfucker so I’m being completely honest.

Why is it that people don’t know how to go about getting their business straight?

The powers that be aren’t trying to make motherfuckers any smarter; they want to get the dumbest fuckin record on the radio, to keep the masses as stupidly as humanly possibly. This is why I’m sceptical that shit is gonna get better, if it is, it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. I don’t have faith in the business, because it’s all about commerce first, then maybe the album will be hot.

What about the Internet though? A lot of different artists and music is being given a chance to be seen by audiences who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access it

The thing to me is honestly, the Internet can be such a great tool, but the Internet destroyed the shit. I remember being the first cat to get a record of something, these days you get a record and the mp3´s were up last month. These fuckin fanboys who feel they have the right to have the music, “I feel like I don’t have to pay a penny for any music” That´s fucking retarded, how can cats eat when you’re doing this? How can they make a beat or a rhyme? If you really enjoy this music, it’s like I´m on some shit that if an album comes out that I’m feeling, I used to cop the vinyl, CD and cassette, just so cats could have a few dollars in their pockets. These fuckers, throwing up Dilla´s beat CD´s on the Internet, while they’re still on the market, that shit isn’t public domain, Ma Dukes, Johnny and his kids gotta get fed. If it ain´t ready for the public, hold tight, listen to his old shit. I relish the fact that the new Sean P album, I fuck with Sean P, I promised myself that I wouldn’t listen to it until release day. I remember back in the day, it was a joy; I remember the anticipation, like ´Imma cop Resurrection´.

You touched on this a little, what’s your take on the whole posting of Dilla´s beat tapes online, specifically on the OkayPlayer forums?

This is a board dedicated to James Yancey, how can you not understand the violation you’re doing, Jay had the biggest problem with biting to. I mean, I hear shit to inspire myself, but it’s going to inspire me to do what I do, not to jack. Anyone can be a clone, anyone can study shit to a T and duplicate it at the end of the day though, it’s about originality.

What were some of Dilla´s reactions to the more blatant bites, like the 2pac and the Janet Jackson joints?

He was just like, can you fuckin believe this shit. They took biting to a whole new level, making beats outta his beats and shit.

All right, switching gears for a minute, you’re real active on MySpace, what are some of the pros and cons of it to you?

Pros, before MySpace, cats needed websites, and you had to have some kind of capital or know someone to hook you up and run your shit, where now everybody has that shit. I have like 15000 motherfuckers I could reach out and tap on that motherfucker, if I get on the MPC after I get off the phone with you, and I cook up some heat, I can upload it and the shit will be accessible to anyone, well depending on how long that shit takes to upload. The cons—that shit is a fucking trap. We call that shit The Carter, remember New Jack City? It’s like I get outta bed and get on that shit and next thing I know three hours have passed.

So you admit, you’re a MySpace addict?

Allllll the way man, allll the way.

Do a lot of people hit you up on there to check out their music?

All day, pretty much about 30-40 messages a day like check my shit out. When I 1st got on, the way I got crackin, I changed my music every 2-3 days, tried to find cats overseas, build my own little community whose just trying to make good music and appreciate it. It can be a very positive thing for Hip Hop, shiiit when I first got it; I was on that bitch like 8 hours a day, on some crazy shit. The first cat I really fucked with on there was this cat named Dela, from Paris, he had a Stakes Is High remix that was just bananas, and it just clicked for me, like damn this motherfucker is in Paris, let me see who else has heat and build that family up.

Tell me a little bit about Shoes House out in L.A.

It’s my weekly event out here in LA, but for the immediate moment it’s on hold because the spot we were doing it at, The Room, a real underground spot, dope place, they went into renovation last October, and some shit got fucked up with that so they won’t be open till June. We moved it to another spot, but the owner was real dry and he wouldn’t let us turn the shit up enough.

I heard you were actually having it at your own place for a minute?

Yeah, I was doing it like that. That was great, we will probably do that from time to time, the only thing is last time we did it, the cops came through at like 2:30 in the morning, we’re all smoking weed, drunk as hell and the cops come up, see people coming in and out, and they just come up to my roommate and “turn the music down, and turn the marijuana off.”

That’s it?

Yeah, we could have all left this bitch in bracelets, but as soon as they left, I put on the Dilla joint, Fuck The Police.

That’s some crazy shit. How has LA been to you overall since you came?

I love this city, but I definitely miss home. It’s the difference between going up in a spot and not knowing anyone, while in the D it was all fam. Back at the Detroit version of Shoes House, I was making up to $1000 a night, off 3 dollar cover charge, now I gotta get my grind up. I’ve been doing my shit out here though; the beatjunkies have a monthly all Dilla, all night joint. I’m still scouting locations for the new Shoes House though, still looking. I´ve been having beat block for a minute.

I was just gonna ask you, when did you start making beats?

In ´94 on a 4 track, with a blue Rock n´Play shit that ran off a 9volt, a 16 second sampler. Then I started fucking with Dilla, he showed me a lot of shit. DJ Dez took me over to Amp Fiddler’s crib and they showed me how to work the MPC 60. Also, Jeru J Star, he taught El Da Sensei, I would go over to his crib and work all night, the good thing about them too is that they wouldn’t help me, unless I really really got stuck. That’s the best way you learn though, doing shit by yourself, it sticks in your memory a lot better.

What’s your take on the rise of software versus hardware as far as beatmaking?

To me, what you work with is what you work with, going back to a MySpace post I made a minute ago, if you can’t chop some drums up, then you’re not a fucking producer, you don’t just sample a drum break, have a program chop it up for you. With all this computer shit, the older generation, me at least, we’re used to physicality, but it’s not about you gotta use an MPC, you just gotta put in the work. Find your own way to do it, but put in the work.

Who are you checking for currently?

Let me see…Black Milk of course, his stock is rising fast, myself gotdammit! Sam I Am from Ann Harbour, Oh No, Madlib of course, Kev Brown, I like his shit, Pete Rock. Let me see, who else…Illmind, Oddisee from Justus League has some ill shit, Khrysis has been switching his shit up a little bit, Nick Speed, another dude outta the D, getting work with G Unit and shit.

What do you want to have accomplished by the end of 2007?

My solo album finished, definitely. Loungin, you heard that shit?

Yeah you had that up on your MySpace for a minute.

Well I’m working on Vol. 2, Vol.2 of House Shoes collection also. I’m trying to get a Dilla tribute mix, but fucking J Rocc´s blend is so tight, I gotta work on that a little more. I’ve been cracking his head though; I fucked him up one night when I hit him with the OG for ´Wild, ´ he got pissed. If you make J Rocc mad about a record, you’re doing something right; he turned off the music and everything that night.

You got the actual record or the mp3? Cuz I know the file is out there, but I’ve never seen the actual record.

Nah I got the record. Digging for mp3´s is so homo, for real. You ain´t taking a fucking shovel and going through your hard drive. Go through session musicians; learn about time period, record labels and that kind of that shit. The Internet done fucked up the world bro, for reals. One thing I was gonna say, Serrato, before I was all like fuck that shit, but the thing is I never really travelled a lot till maybe last year, and on some real shit, I’m about to get me a laptop and Serrato and all that bullshit. One thing though, I will not play breaks off Serrato, I might email that shit to people, but I won’t burn it and play it on a given night, that shit is gay, I gotta find that shit at the record store.

So you still dig?

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Gotta keep up.

Do you go with people? I know Dilla used to go with the Stones Throw family.

Sometimes by myself, sometimes cats go out and call me up, come through and scoop. I like people getting up on new shit, like cats that get to fighting with their records.

Any last comments before we wrap this up?

Shit, just stay tuned and cop that Black Milk, cop that Phat Kat, it’ll be out in April, with Dedication to the Suckers on there for the first time, first time ever released. Well no, actually, Jazzy Jeff put that on Hip Hop Forever III.

Hey thanks for taking the time, always good to talk to you.

Thanks for having me, peace

if my cd starts skippin, get another boom box

please excuse the picture for today, but the corrolation to the track is worth it if you know Tony Starks.

Ghostface Killah – Chunky

this dude is bananas.

Supreeme, Supreeme

Atlanta-based Hip Hop trio, Supreeme, consists of Negashi (pronounced Neh-Gah-See), King Self and Dope Pope aka Tom Cruz, and they are from the future. No really, they’re from the future. While you’re scratching your head wondering what to make of that, listen to their debut Supremacy, and you can see how it’s almost plausible. Their music sounds like something that could very well be a taste of what Hip Hop will sound like in the near-future. Heavy synths, yet organic samples flipped in familiar, yet fresh ways gelled together by some fly ass rapping. There’s little talk of dope, but plenty of passport stamp-braggadoccio, and they don’t want to teach you about self-love or burn some nag champa, they’d rather fuck your girl. When I asked Negashi to describe Supreeme a little, he informed me they’re “basically like the male pussycat dolls, except we don’t sing.” Bouncing humor and ideas off one another, it’s easy to see the chemistry that unifies the group.

interview originally published here

How did you guys meet?

Negashi – I used to play futbol (note: not football) with King Self and I was in this nerdy ass school club with Dope Pope aka Tom Cruz’s brother since I was 11. King Self and Tom Cruz have been in school together since kindergarden.

When did the group Supreeme start?

Negashi –We started this roughly before April 2003. We were all skipping class, I was like 15, and we were in King Self’s bonneville.

King Self –It was a purple bonneville. The car is named after the salf flats in Utah.

Negashi –So we took the car down to Deston, Florida for spring break, and 3 year late, we got into Supreme Clientele, the Ghostface album. We always liked Wu Tang, Raekwon and all them, but we got into Ghostface at the same time.

One thing I want to talk to you guys about is the internationality in your music. You guys mention and incorporate many cultures outside of the States which is kind of rare.

Negashi—Well, that comes from our parents really. King Self’s mother is Brittish, read hair and freckles and all that

Tom Cruz –My dad’s a Jamaican musician, and he’s taken me on tours since I was little, so I’ve always travelled alot and been around different places.

Negashi –My stepfather is Nigerian, so we’ve all had alot of excuses to travel during our childhood and young adulthood. It’s definetly an important part of us and the group.

What do you get out of being exposed to different places, people and cultures?

Negashi—It’s one thing to read about a place, or see pictures of it, but to travel to a different lace and live there; you’re living different culture, you’re seeing it, you’re feeling it –

Tom Cruz – you’re licking it.

King Self –Exposing yourself to more cultures makes you a more interesting individual period. And as an artist, it makes you more creative, it gives you a bigger palatte to work with.

Tom Cruz – It’s like all the exposure builds you into something special, more than a normal person, something different like a government secret weapon—

Kind of like Captain America? With the whole super-soldier serum shit?

Tom Cruz –Yeah, a super-government MC weapon, Captain Americana

Negashi –Rap is so regionalized now anyways, it’s west coast, down south, new york. We citizens of the world rappers, I don’t care where your girl is from.

Tom Cruz—We represent everywhere, every city-state. Some dudes represent their block, or their couch. We represent everywhere, except Antartica

Negashi –Or a frat house, I ain’t fucking with that.

Tom Cruz –It’s like this: I have a Jamaican father and a Jamaican stepmother, and growing up with my father, i grew up IN reggae, there was always reggae playing in the house. My grandfather, he was a diplomat for Africa and South America, so he lived all over the place and brought all that music into the house. I mean everything, brazillian, caribbean, all kinds, from all four corners of the world. So coming up, I was built like a robot, with all those different elements making up different parts. So when it came to making up my shit, it was like I’m enterpreting my generation’s steez through the means of how I was raised. I can’t lose because, all those other producers out now, even your Kanye’s and all them, they might kick a little latin influence or whatever, but they do it in a very corny and obvious way. I’m attempting to take all those things I heard and make it very now, not throwback, not retro. I’m weaving a beautiful tapestry in the noew, for the next generation. I’m not revival anything, i’m trying to revive the future.

Supreeme, reviving the future. That’s going to have to be the title of the interview now!

Tom Cruz – We’re actually from the future, we came back and we’re just playing oldies from the future. We know what’s gonna be a hit, so we can’t lose, we know what’s good.

Heading back to what you were saying about your sound, what equipment do you use to produce?

Tom Cruz –I use Cool Edit Pro and Fruity Loops. I’m respected though, I’ll tell you why. My dad’s musician friend, back in 98 or 97, had the first prototype of Fruity Loops, so I had that shit at like 11 or 12 and, no lie, I was tight from the first beat I made on that, dead serious.

Negashi –The way the program looks, Fruity Loops, it looks like the way he thinks, he thinks in Fruity Loops.

Tom Cruz –Fruity Loops is the way I see music. I’ve spent over half my life using FL, I’m about to celebrate 10 years of doing this shit seriously. It’ll be 10 years in 2008.

Negashi –Vote Supreeme in ’08. It’s never too late, Supreeme in ’08.

The reason I was asking is because I’ve heard a lot of criticism of software use from older heads, and I wanted to get your take on it. Personally though, I feel like that just gives people who wouldn’t normally have access to making music more of a chance to do their thing. What do you think?

Tom Cruz –Yeah man, music is music. Wether you’re making it with pots out your kitchen or whatever. The thing about it is, only a certain individual can make beautiful pot music.

Negashi – only Louis Armstrong could make sounding like a frog beautiful.

How would you explain your sound?

Negashi – I read in a newspaper once, that we combined alot of audio and visual inluences. Our music is definetly visual. To me, visually, Supreeme is like chilling on a beach with red wine, and sonically, like between synth futuristic and very organic-tropical based music. Or it just sounds like three dumbass kids trying to be the best rappers possible. Not dumb though, just acting dumb.

What would you say your influences are?

Negashi—Three albums that really played a major part for me, as far as influence and sound are David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust, Marvin Gaye –What’s Going On? And Bunny Wailer—Black Heart Man. Rapping-wise, I grew up on alot of that New York super-lyrical shit, that classic stuff, and also that down south Hot Boys-type shit. My mother’s from New York, so automatically New York got lay at my house, but as I spent more time in the A, I started identifying more and more with the 36 Mafia’s and all them. King Self was already up on all that. Tom was more into Dungeon Family and Mobb Deep, alot of Mobb Deep. So it was basically like alot of lyrical stuf that didn’t necessaril have instantly memorable lines but were dope, and stuff that sounds good, but isn’t necessarily saying too much.

Who’s out now that you’re feeling?

Negashi—Right now, out of these rap cats that are doing it now? Lil Wayne and E-40. Not saying thats the best music right now, it’s like –

King Self –They’re not particularly intelligent or the most clever thing in the world, but for the most part, it’s music for the massses, and it does that well.

Tom, what about production wise. You feeling anyone one right now?

Tom Cruz –Well, I’m feeling Lil Wayne and E-40 like Negashi said, but production wise right now, I’m feeling Polow Da Don and Ryan Lesley.

Ryan Lesley? I’m not familiar with that name.

Tom Cruz – He’s Cassie’s producer. He studied music at Harvard and he makes great pop tunes. Oh and Snoop. Snoop’s new shit is crazy.

Negashi—No other rappers tho, other than Supreeme.

Tom Cruz –I’m not feeling anyone but my girlfriend.

Another thing I wanted to talk about was the live show aspect. I’m no orthodox hip hop head, but one thing I do agree with is that new emcee’s lack where the golden era shined at…which is the live show. How do you guys tackle that?

Negashi—Well, at first we used to perform really arrogant. Like, our shit and our songs are so hot that we don’t have to say shit, just perform the songs and leave. We’re Supreeme, we don’t need to address the audience. But we evolved out of that, and we’re alot better with it now.

Tom Cruz –One of the spots where this was evident was in the hip hop tent @ Warped Tour. It’s just like one tent with a bunch of acts playing, rotating in it. In it, you usually hear, ‘when I say HIP, you say HOP.’ Personally, I’ll never conduct a spelling bee at a show, so back in our days of teenage angst, we were like, ‘that shit is lame, we don’t wanna acknolowdge the audience, they came to see us perform, we didn’t come to see them.’

Negashi –Yeah, we didn’t come to do that lame ass spelling shit.

Tom Cruz –Now, we start every show with a toast, and we party like its 1999. That’s what it’s about now, I just want to party with the audience, not do no spelling, no fucking math problems. I’m not trying to see who’s the biggest head, like ‘do you remember?’ Nah, do you remember, how to show your titties? That’s what its about.

Negashi—Our show is real theatrical now, at times intimate. Definetly theatrical and entertaining though.

I’ve actually seen you guys perform. I was at that free show Murs had in L.A. last summer…

Tom Cruz –That’s like our worst show ever.

Check back to soon to read part 2 of the Supreeme interview, find out why that show was their worst, how they dissed Murs when they first met him, why they love listening to people’s demos and what’s next for the group.

….

this is big on a personal note

Stones Throw included the Dilla review in their Ruff Draft page of their site

you can now return to whatever you were doing.

a motherfuckin’ rap phenomenon

review originally published here

“Ready To Die” is a classic album, but even among classic albums, it holds a very special standing. It’s not the early 90’s griminess, or the end-to-end hardcore content (yeah, even Juicy, but more on that later), or even the awesome flow Christopher Wallace displays all throughout the album that makes this record timeless. It’s the honesty and rawness BIG injects into all the aforementioned qualities, a trait that has become more and more scarce in today’s landscape.

“Ready To Die” plays as a movie with BIG starring as a ‘for dolo’ street hustler turned rapper, and although today that sounds trite and played, in ’94 it was something relatively new. The album begins with a BIG being released from jail (Intro), and then reminiscing on the way things used to be for him and his neighborhood (Things Done Changed), before going all-out into the superb Slick Rick inspired crime narrative (Gimme The Loot). The intensity of the album doesn’t let up, as BIG continues reveling in his gulliness with Machine Gun Funk and dealing with those that conspire against him in the thrilling Warning. BIG then goes beyond storytelling and gangster braggadocio with the nihilistic title-track Ready To Die. The track is unapologetic; BIG never shows signs of repenting and instead just accepts his fate as a hoodlum who will most probably meet an untimely end. This strong display or raw emotion is found all over the album, with the aforementioned Things Done Changed, Me & My Bitch and Everyday Struggle. This is counterbalanced by BIG’s ability to interject humor and wit into his situation, with tracks like One More Chance. He also shows he can be just at home at a house party (Big Poppa) or a Sunday afternoon barbecue (Juicy), as well as the street corner. Juicy is especially poignant because it’s the only track that focuses mainly on the positive, chronicling BIG’s come up with some of the most classic rags to riches lines ever, “birthdays was the worst days, now we sip champagne when we thirsty.” That song alone is one of the best songs ever recorded in Hip Hop. The optimism doesn’t last though, as the film that is the album comes to a tragic self-defeating end with Suicidal Thoughts, where BIG again reflects on his flawed moral character, before deciding on suicide.

Although Diddy’s presence is felt all throughout the album, as he doesn’t hesitate to do voice-overs and outro’s on many of the songs, and even though BIG had an A-list beatmaking team for this joint, Puffy’s Hitmen production team, DJ Premiere, Easy Mo Bee and Lord Finesse, BIG is definitely the star of this production. I can’t think of any album after this that so efficiently and powerfully portrays the ups and downs of street life with such raw honesty and style. While BIG went on to do what rappers will do, creating a larger-than-life persona with his next album, “Life After Death,” “Ready To Die” gave the impression that, MC embellishments aside, this was what the mind of Chris Wallace was like during those crack-slangin’ years. Join that with the impeccable flow and voice that MC’s are still jocking today, and the result is one of the most hardcore and touching albums Hip Hop has ever produced. Hip Hop is still feeling the influence of Christopher Wallace, with two out of every three rappers telling tales of their past street glory, the way they attract women and their Teflon demeanor, but no one, Hova included (but that’s another post), have been able to do it as effortlessly and in such a real way as BIG could. His death has served to both give Hip Hop a double-edged fascination with his gangsta steez, and elevated his achievements to legendary status. Here’s to the one and only OG King of New York.

A — Classic

Me & My Bitch (original beat)

Freestyle @ Mister Cee’s — by the way, super extra bonus points to who can recognize who else flipped this sample

Juicy video

B.I.G. art

Mick Boogie’s SUPERB Biggie mixtape

a mother remembers B.I.G.

and my favorite flick of Biggie…countin’ stacks in the Coogi

R.I.P. to the rawest.

cheese, eggs and Welch’s grape

R.I.P.

in-depth post coming real soon.

Detroit 102

might as well throw this up too, DJ House Shoes classic live set @ Detroit’s Buddah Lounge some years ago, shitload of classic samples on this.

DJ House Shoes – Loungin’

and because i’m a nerd…liner notes!

Detroit 101

DJ Dez

here’s an hour long mix of dope Detroit hip hop featuring shit like Slum Village, Guilty Simpson, Jay Dilla (duh), Phat Kat, Proof, and other D icons. This isn’t some corny amateur shit, it’s a well-flowing and paced M-I-X. do yourself a favor and peep.

courtesy of Detroit’s own DJ Dez (pictured above) and this man

DJ House Shoes