If there is one thing to be said about the current era of rap music, it’s that artists are more willing to collaborate than ever before. There was a time when rap crews stayed to themselves and never crossed family lines to work with other camps. Back then, if you were Ruff Ryder, you only rocked with the double-R, and if you were Wu-Tang, you only broke bread with your Shaolin army. It’s all different now. DJ Khaled can do a remix have damn near everyone that’s buzzing in every region of the country dropping a verse and showing major love for a common cause. It’s in that spirit of connecting forces that we present to you a new project from two legends in the game: the Bootcamp Duo of Tek and General Steele (a.k.a. Smif N’ Wessun) and iconic Mt. Vernon producer Pete Rock. The individual stats of these two entities are too long to list, but together, their soon-to-be-released project is nothing short of its namesake. ChinaShop caught up with General Steele to get the raw information about Monumental, his colossal new endeavor.
Author Archives: Geo Hagan
Music Pharoahe Monch Declares W.A.R.
When hip-hop superhero Pharoahe Monch announced he was releasing his third solo album, W.A.R. – We Are Renegades, on the highly revered Duck Down label, the entire rap world rejoiced. The combined stats of these two forces are very impressive. As one half of the futuristic duo Organized Konfusion, Pharoahe released three acclaimed records including the instant classic, Stress: The Extinction Level Agenda.
As a solo artist, he released the phenomenal LP Internal Affairs in 1999 which yielded the ferocious street-burner “Simon Says,” a song that continues to shut down parties and live shows to this day. He followed that up with 2007’s soulful and highly personal Desire, which brings us to his third album dropping this March. And what about Duck Down, you ask? Quite simply, this label is the headquarters of street-driven, underground, NYC rap. Since the early ’90s, it has served as home to artists like BuckShot, Sean Price, Heltah Skeltah, O.G.C., Smif-n-Wessun and most recently, new signees like Black Rob, Torae and Marco Polo, just to name a few. In all, it’s an extremely potent union, and hip-hop heads everywhere have been waiting expectantly to see if the hype would match the outcome.
Music The Best of 2010…According to Geo Hagan
2010 was a banner year for music in general, and it’s now clear that the doomsayer rumors about the inevitable implosion of the industry were greatly exaggerated. Being a dedicated devotee to the mid-’90s, true-school era of hip-hop, it was great to see that the resurgence of supreme lyrics and raw beats started by Raekwon’s excellent OB4CL2 continued all the way through 2010. Overall, it seems a taste level and “hunger for more” has crept back into the music game, and as you’ll see in my Best Of list, I give massive props to quite a few deserving overachievers. It’s fun being a music fan again and let’s hope this trend continues into the new year. What are you waiting for? Pop the lid below to see who rocked my eardrums the hardest this year.
Art/Design Ron English: The Popaganda Master
This past Saturday, the preeminent pop-artist Ron English had an amazing viewing of his retrospective “Status Factory” exhibition at the spacious, 3-floor Opera Gallery in Soho, NYC. Whenever the term “Pop Art” is brought up, people’s minds inevitably go to Andy Warhol, the Pittsburgh-born, NYC icon who initiated the movement. But in present times, it’s impossible to find a pop artist with a body of work more influential, wide-reaching, and thought provoking than the dazzling paintings, screen prints and sculptures Mr. English has been cranking out since the ‘80s.
Music Killah Priest: Heavy Mental Music
Brooklyn emcee Killah Priest has accrued quite a few aliases over the years; Iron Sheik, Masada or you could even call him by his government name, Walter Reed. He’s been down with the world famous Wu-Tang crew since the beginning, and was even part of Wu splinter groups like The Grave Diggaz and The Sunz of Man. However, no matter what project he’s working on, you always know what to expect when you pop in a Killah Priest CD. It’ll be knowledge-drenched, cerebral, metaphysical, anti-bling, apocalypse-themed verses. Due to his unique musical content, he’s developed a strong following and released several solo albums which have been supported wholeheartedly by his loyal fanbase. Oh and lest we forget, he is also ¼ of the deadly consortium of devastating lyricists known as THE HRSMN which also comprises of Ras Kass, Canibus and Kurupt.
Killah Priest’s newly released LP is titled the “3-Day Theory” (released via Man Bite Dog) records, and we caught up with the man who calls his style of lyricism “Stained Glass Writing” to talk about his latest opus.
Featured Music Swedish House Mafia: Block-Shaking-Audio
When the winter of 2010 descends upon us, and critics & connoisseurs alike start to narrow down lists for the “Best Dance Song of the Summer,” the supreme banger “One (Your Name)” by Swedish House Mafia will indubitably be frequently mentioned. SHM is made up of a sonically advanced trio of House DJs/producers (namely Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso), and simply put, these audio merchants do not fuck around. “One” is the penultimate dance cut; play it at a dive bar, club, barbecue, lounge or rave and the results should be exactly the same – people getting crunk and going completely ape-shit over this up-tempo electro gem with synth riffs so sharp they could slice right through Buju Banton’s dreadlocks. The remix featuring Pharrell Williams makes the track even hotter, and when you throw in the rapacious official video for the song, it’s a done deal.
Featured Music Ima Robot Enters the 5th Dimension
Los Angeles based, indie/new wave band Ima Robot have been through their fair share of music industry travails – most of the drama stemming from their involvement with the questionable politics of being signed to a major label contract. What is it that Q-Tip said again so prophetically on the track “Check the Rhyme”? Oh yeah, “Industry rule #4080, record company people are shady.”
All the label issues culminated in the band taking a break from their situation and stealing some time away to refocus and try new things. Ima Robot founding member, Timmy Anderson states it this way.
“We were all a bit tweaked from our last year or so in the major label game – I’ll leave it at that! Some life happened, a lot of work and side projects went down (Guns n Bombs, Edward Sharpe, Werewolf Heart records) and we all just went off exploring other musical endeavors and interests.”
Music DJ Muggs Vs. Ill bill – “Kill Devil Hills” Listening Session (07/15/2010)
The rotten apple has been in the firm grip of a sizzling heat wave for the last two weeks – and as any New Yorker will tell you, when it starts to really bake in Gotham, it’s something serious. It probably has something to do with all the skyscrapers holding in the heat and the concrete pavements emitting it so offensively to the city’s denizens. So anyways, it was a welcome pleasure to walk into DJ Premier’s “Headqcourterz” studios on the west of Manhattan for the Ill Bill/DJ Muggs listening session and see a nice spread of very-chilled Heinekens, Coronas and bottled waters set out for the invited guests. After cooling down with a few long sips of cold beer and ingesting a quick pizza slice, reality set in that I was actually lounging in the confines of hallowed rap history. “Headqcourterz” studios was formerly known as D&D, and this is the same location where rap gods like Jay-Z , Nas and Biggie recorded key cuts with DJ Premier for their classic debut albums: Reasonable Doubt, Illmatic and Ready to Die respectively. It’s also where Primo’s own group, Gangstarr (R.I.P. Guru) recorded classic albums in their extensive collection – epic albums like Hard to Earn, Moment of Truth and Daily Operation. No one has to tell you how special this place is – the gold and platinum plaques on the wall tell the story all too clearly.
Music Junip: José González Has A New Crew
The last time I saw José González play was about 3 years ago at Webster Hall in NYC. It was a solo show promoting his second solo LP “In Our Nature” and I was actually lucky enough to interview him before his performance. It was a wonderful pleasure to find out that the Swedish-based, Argentinean singer/songwriter had an off-stage personality that matched his transcendental, mesmerizing, Latin-inflected, folksy rock tunes. At the end of that Webster show, he recounted a short story which threw all the attendants on a cerebral bender. He told a tale of how a religious man once flung a bible straight at his heart, and how he would have surely been killed if it wasn’t for a few bullets he was keeping in his shirt pocket. The misdirection and symbolism in the story only become clear after pondering his words for a few minutes. And therein dwells the genius of González’s music – as a listener you are absolutely transported to different dimensions and mind zones without quite understanding how he did it.
Music Homeboy Sandman: Where the Dust Settles
“The title of the new album is The Good Sun and it signifies several things,” Homeboy Sandman begins. “It symbolizes a new day, a new beginning. The sun provides illumination and energy for all forms of life on this world, and even though the songs cover various subject matters, the theme of optimism runs throughout the album. Also, Hip-Hop has been often defined in classic songs and by classic groups as a woman, and I feel that the culture has so many bad sons that defile her and make her cheap, and I’m one of the good sons trying to give her the respect and honor she deserves – so there’s a little play on words going on there too.”












