“There’s not a lot of dudes making me rewind these days. Everything now is fast forward, next song. Everybody wants to go in the studio and not write their rhymes. What good is not writing your rhymes? It shows!” Blaq Poet’s words drip with venom, his face contorted like some mask in a Greek tragedy when discussing the current state of rap music. This is hardly a new diatribe. But the verbal slings take on renewed vitality when voiced by an artist who has participated in one of rap’s greatest feuds —the Bronx vs. Queens— as spearheaded by KRS-One and MC Shan, respectively. In this derivative era of MCs with their noses open, their eyes closed, and their imaginations overactive, Blaq Poet’s unapologetic streetwise bluster is refreshing and welcome. And the irony of getting back to rap’s essence —“bangin’ boom-bap, crazy lyrical content”—as something novel isn’t lost on the grizzled Queensbridge native.
Blaq Poet feat. DJ Premier – “Ain’t Nuthin’ Changed”
Blaq Poet – “Ain’t Nuthin’ Changed” (Queesbridge to California Remix) feat. MC Eiht and Young Malay
London Film at 11
