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.

First off, why did you name album Monumental?
General Steele: Whenever me and my partner Tek do an album, we always have an idea of what the next album will be. When we did Dah Shinin, we already had the title Rude Awakening. After that, we already had the idea for Still Shinin. For this next album, we had the idea that it had to be something grand and really huge, and the name Monumental just fit.

So with you getting together with Pete Rock, who approached who?
General Steele: Well, we approached Pete–me, Tek, and Dru Ha [CEO of Duck Down]. We have a very good relationship and we build on everything and we are always on the same page. When it came to the producers, the only other name that came to mind was the Beatminerz because they created that classic Smif N’ Wessun sound for the first album. We wanted something interesting and new, and we kept bumping into Pete Rock, and it was like, “Wow, Eureka! Let’s do this.” He was with it too, and honestly, no other word can describe it but Monumental.

What’s the theme and mood for the album?
General Steele: It’s more of a feel thing for us. Everything that we do is based on a particular vibe of me and Tek being friends and building on different concepts. Let’s say for example, if cops rolled up on us, and we had to run and do our thing, that’s what we’d talk about. For example, we have a song called “Night Time” and it’s all about the things that go on in the night, and Buckshot is on the hook talking about “The D’s and the Night Schemes,” and Pete Rock displays his Chocolate Boy Wonder flow on this too. We also have another song called “Roses” and it’s all about life and death, and why we only [give] roses when people are dead. Why not give them roses when they are alive? On the whole, it’s very cohesive. It sounds like Pete Rock, it sounds like Smif N’ Wessun. It’s a beautiful project.

How many tracks are on the album?
General Steele: Right now we have 12 tracks, because we lost a few due to sample clearances. But you never know, some of those tracks might pop up somewhere when you least expect it.

So a little bit of a philosophical question. What is the biggest thing you’ve learned about being in the industry since the early ’90s?
General Steele: I was just thinking about this the other day, and it’s this: even without money, you can be as rich as any Pharaoh or King. It’s all about your legacy and what you mean to the people around you and how you treat them. You know, the Twin Towers are not physically here, but the legacy of them will live on forever, just because of the people who were affected forever by them.

Pete Rock & Smif N Wessun “Prevail” feat. Raekwon

To wrap up, what does this album mean to you, and why should the fans check for it?
General Steele: Monumental is a meeting of legends, and we’re creating something to add to the legacy of the ones who came before us like Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Zulu Nation. When you have cats like us who came from nothing and made something from ourselves with our craft and creativity, it’s like going in to the mind and finding that diamond and revealing it to the world. That’s the mental process we went through for this album, and I’m really excited for all the fans and listeners out there to hear this eventually. It’s marvelous to be on a record label like Duck Down, and it’s a good time for Tek and Steele and it’s a great time to put out our fifth album. We have features from Raekwon, Bun B, Hurricane G, Memphis Bleek so it’s certainly a Monumental project. The first single right now is looking like it’s going to be the title track, “Monumental,” but that might change. I just hope the people enjoy it, and they can add it to other classics like Dah Shinin’ or Enta Da Stage.

Album drops June 28th – for more info visit: www.duckdown.com

Words by Geo Hagan

Workaholics: Not so much

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.

On Monday, February 28^th, the album was unveiled via a 21^st century, tech-savvy listening session at NYU’s Cantor Film Center. The lecture-style setting came complete with a Twitter-feed projector, while Pharoahe’s ridiculously dope LP came blaring through the theater’s surround speakers to unanimous aplomb. This was also the first time the world would get to see the nine-minute maxi-video for his new single, “Clap”—a song decrying the recent increase in police brutality crimes around the country. Monch has never been shy about speaking the truth, and the video was quite explicit. It depicted a police raid gone wrong in an inner-city apartment building, with the outcome being the murder of a young African-American boy. What followed was the neighborhood rallying up against the guilty cop (played by Gbenga Akinnagbe of The Wire) using clapping as a metaphor for a grassroots citizen uprising. Overall, it was a poignant and engrossing visual, and the song’s aggressive beat, produced by Australian beatsmith M-Phazes, melded well with Pharoahe’s fiery delivery.

VIDEO HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_iDZbSZ3I

The album itself was nothing but grade A, uncut dopeness from beginning to end. The overall theme was militant and rebellious, and it featured cameos from some of rap’s most respected underground spitters. The intro even featured a skit with actor Idris Elba. The beats were supplied by hardcore sonic purveyors like Diamond D (the legend), Marco Polo, Exile and Mr. Porter.

Standouts among the album’s 13 stellar cuts were many. The robust title track, “W.A.R.,” (featuring Immortal Technique and renowned Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid) is raucous enough to induce a mosh pit in a Bikram yoga class. “Assassins,” featuring Royce da 5’9” and Jean Grae, is chock full of head-swiveling lyrical wizardry, and “Halie Selassie Karate” is a shiny nugget of raw rap mastery on which Pharoahe Monch spits amazing lines like, “Smoking hash in the cathedral with Nostradamus.” The album’s closing song ,“Still Standing,” is nearly epic in scope, with bold strings, majestic chord arrangements, and a rousing vocal hook sung by the one and only Jill Scott.

Pharoahe Monch has and always will be a rapper’s rapper, the kind of MC who uses his words to create piercing visuals with rare intensity, unmatched emotion and intricate complexity. The new album drops on March 22^nd. Support true artists. There are not too many real ones left.

Words and photos by 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.

GEO HAGAN’S BEST OF 2010

Best ’90s Throwback, “Underground As F**k” Hip-Hop Album
Roc Marciano – Marcberg
Sparse, murky MPC-2500 beats (produced by Marciano himself) combined with bone-chilling, violent, street lyricism. It’s 14 tracks of razor-sharp rap. Seriously, the competition doesn’t even stand a chance.

Best Weed-Fueled Nationwide Tour
Waken Baken
Well, we never thought anything could topple the marijuana exploits of B-Real and the Cypress Hill boys, but this year the Waken Baken tour with Wiz Khalifa, Yelawolf and Curren$y proved that the youth of America really do love their herbal trees.

Best Multiple Cameo Music Video
Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand”
This anthemic video had everyone—DJ Premier, Ryan Leslie, Santigold, ?uestlove, Chromeo, Kanye, Pharrell, Yelawolf, Fat Jew, Diplo—and of course the Duck Sauce crew themselves: A-Trak and Armand Van Helden.

Best Freaky Falsetto Performance
Pharrell on N.E.R.D.’s “Hypnotize U” [WATCH THE VIDEO]
You would think his singing would get annoying after the first 30 seconds, but Pharrell’s high notes over Daft Punk’s sweet production is pure magic.

Best Lyrical Performance on a Rap Song
Jay Electronica on “Exhibit C”
He completely rips that Just Blaze track to shreds on the third verse. No wonder Jay-Z signed him up to Roc Nation.

Most Disturbing Indie/Alternative Video
Ratatat – “Drugs”
Hands down. It gets scarier with every consequent viewing.

Best Remake of a Classic Hip-Hop Anthem
Ras Kass – “Scenario 2012” feat. Phil The Agony, Krondon, Planet Asia, Mistah F.A.B., Montage One and Chino XL
The West Coast represented really heavily on this one. [WATCH THE VIDEO]

Best Rendering of a Classic Hip-Hop Album
Fashawn – Ode To Illmatic [DOWNLOAD IT]
This young gunner is going to be a real problem in the next few years. It takes big balls to step up to Nas’s classic Illmatic debut, and this kid smoothly handles the chore like a true vet.

Best US Electronic Beat Composers
Flying Lotus & Nosaj Thing
These guys show all the beat-heads in Europe that America can hang. Fly-Lo’s Cosmogramma LP has to be one of the toughest electro CDs released in the last few years.

Best Russian Pop Group Live Performance
Mumiy Troll at Irving Plaza in NYC
If Coldplay were Russian, this is how they would probably sound. Also, you’ll never see so many hot Eastern European models and scary Russian mobster looking guys gathered in one geographical location.

Best Album
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
This opus received 5 stars in Rolling Stone, 5 mics in the Source and an XXL rating in XXL Magazine. Also, the RZA- produced opening track with the orchestral chorus is pure genius. Yes, Kanye is crazy and can act like an emotional toddler, but his music is quite brilliant.

Want to read more from Geo Hagan? Click here.

The title Mr. English has given to his brand of surreal, thought-stimulating artwork is “Popaganda” and it’s a tag that suits his work perfectly. He’s made a living off twisting and manipulating imagery of the most ubiquitous celebrities, corporate logos and every-day Americana staples into potent messages that reveal the seething underbelly, wanton waste and greed of our much-beloved pop culture. Walking through the Status Factory show this past Saturday (after drinking two plastic cups of good Malbec red wine) was like strolling through an alternate, mind-bending universe where nothing is what it originally seems.

Some examples of the most intriguing pieces included life-size statues of cartoon characters like Charlie Brown and Barnie the purple dinosaur laughing wholeheartedly, but with menacing reptilian-teeth showing through their open mouths. The unmistakable “Marlboro Man” ad from the days when smoking was encouraged and applauded in America gets switched to “Marlboro Boy” in Ron English’s world – the image depicting a young blue-eyed boy with an enormous cowboy hat puffing a ciggie. Huge corporate brands receive a strong “propaganda-lashing” as well; the king of credit card companies “American Express” is flipped into “American Depress” with a matching tagline that reads “Don’t Go Under Without It.” And of course, the oil company everyone loves to hate (and deservedly so) BP is depicted by a metal can pouring black gook all over planet earth – with accompanying verbiage that read “Cover the Earth.”

The Warholian effect is very evident in Ron English’s work, and it’s seen in stunningly colorful, identical yet slightly skewed, screen prints of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and even Andy Warhol himself.

In the midst of all this wonderful art, the bearded, fifty-something-year-old creator Ron English held court on the second floor mezzanine wearing cargo shorts and a non-descript black t-shirt. He spent the night autographing prints of his work and taking pictures with all the assembled admirers.

It’s a wonderful thing to observe artists reaching the pinnacle of their crafts, and everyone there that night will agree that Ron English is the true master of his lane.

Words and photos by Geo Hagen.  Art by Ron English.

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.

So what’s the science behind the name of the album – 3 Day Theory?

Killah Priest: The album was recorded in three days, so that’s where that comes from. I went out to Virginia and hooked up with the producer Kount Fif, and we knocked out all the songs in three days. And also you know how Tupac had the album, “Don Killuminati – The 7 Day Theory” – Pac did his in seven days and I did mine in three.

There are quite a few introspective songs on the album – was just that the vibe you were feeling on this album?

KP: We were up in Virginia working in the studio, and Kount would throw in a beat and I’d rhyme to it – there was really nothing that planned because it was recorded in 3 days. So whatever I was feeling when the beat came in was what I rapped about, and that’s how it went down.

Kount Fif, the album’s producer provided the perfect sonic backdrop to the album – how did you guys hook-up?

KP: Well with Kount, he actually did the remix beat for the song “Gun for Gun” I did with Nas some time back, so I’ve been working with him off and on. But I really like working with him, he has a good ear for sound and he really understood the direction I wanted to go with the album.

Talk to me about the features – you have a lot of guys on the album: Cappadonna, Sonny Seeza (Onyx), Copywrite, The Last Emperor, Canibus etc?

KP: Well with Canibus, that was through our group, The Horsemen, so that was no problem. Working with Cappadonna, that’s Wu-Tang, so that was no problem, and the rest was just me reaching out to different people I respect and them coming through for me.

There is the song “Outer Body Experience” which uses the beat from Sade’s “Cherish the Love” – how did that track come about?

KP: Well, me and Sade we have a lot of things in common. She likes to talk about certain elements of life and I like to talk about those same elements. So Kount and I were chilling in the studio listening to some Sade, and we were like “Why don’t we do a song over a Sade Beat?” and we just went with it.

Dope – so what can the fans expect from you next – do you already have another project lined up after this one?

KP: Well the next album is already done – it’s called “The Psychic World of Walter Reed” – I played it for a couple of cats – I even played it for the Rza, and they all said I hit home with that. So heads definitely need to look out for that.

Words by Geo Hagan.  Pictures courtesy of MAC Media

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.

“We made the track ‘One’ at Record Plant studios in LA after a 4 month break from seeing each other,” the Scandinavian trio explains. “It was our first record for EMI. You will see how we made it in our upcoming documentary that comes with our album. Pharrell had been in the studio with Steve and Sebastian in Australia and we chopped up the vocals, laid it on ONE / sent it to him…and the rest is history.”

The trio has been friends since their school years and with regards to how they got their mob-leaning group name, they’re not really quite sure. “Other people just started calling us Swedish House Mafia, and it just stuck – none of us can really recall when it began.”

And even though their current single is several notches above most music you will hear in the coming months, we all know that one dope single does not a career make. SHM understands that concept extremely well, and they already have another smash lined up to follow their present release.

“There is a new single coming with an amazing rapper called Tinie Tempah,” SHM reveals. “He’s huge in the UK and performed with Snoop at Glastonbury, and he has also remixed Diddy, so he has some love in the USA from the rap community. His bass lines are SICK. “

The official Swedish House Mafia LP drops in September, and accompanying it will be a comprehensive DVD helmed by Chris Larson (who also co-directed the “One” video) – it’s supposed to be an all-inclusive documentary which breaks down the high-velocity lives of the band.

“Yes, the DVD was 2 years in the making,” the trio divulges. “We filmed so much and Chris is a genius at film. He took our YouTube presence and made it with as much care as we made the records. He just nails how we are, how we feel, the emotion that goes into what we do. So he put together a documentary of how we got here – from SHM just taking touring seriously to us signing with EMI and making ONE. But it’s not a geek piece – it’s a full-on lifestyle film of how life is in our career.”

For the last question of our sit-down, we ask the trio a question that didn’t involve music, touring or production – we queried the trio about their favorite places to be and this is what they said.

Steve: LA. I love it.
Sebastian: Sweden - I love the energy of the people I work with there.
Axwell: Sweden. I love the country, my boat there, and my family.

There you have it – Swedish House Mafia, invading an eardrum near you sooner than you think.

Words by Geo Hagan with photos courtesy of SHM

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.”

Presently, the hibernation period is over and the Ima Robot’s current line-up, consisting of Alex Ebert (lead vocals), Timmy (lead guitarist, flutes) and bassist Filip Nikolic are back with their third full length LP titled “Another Man’s Treasure.” It will be released later this year on their own imprint, Werewolf Heart Records.

Anderson offers the following with regards to the sonic direction and overall feel of their new project.

“This record was an abstraction from our last ones,” he explains. “We needed to deconstruct and re-imagine, sort of reaching back to when we were kids and music was just a rush.  We recorded about 25 songs and ideas over the last few years and pieced together the most congruent pattern we saw.  It seems to all make sense now listening to it.”

On the new album, the trio also worked with a tight camp of talented friends and collaborators, namely Scott Devours, Lars Vongstrup, and Orpheo McCord who plays drums and percussion with the groups Edward Sharpe, Fool’s Gold. However for the majority of the record, it was mainly Alex, Filip and Timmy rendering song ideas and executing them within themselves. Whenever some compositions felt like they required more encompassing production, they reached out to their “full posse of friends.”

An excellent harbinger to their new sound and rejuvenated musical passion is the first single “Ruthless” which is currently making its mark on music sites and blogs all over the world wide web. The accompanying video is about six minutes of intense, séance-like, new wave/electronic goodness with brain-tweaking visuals balanced superbly with Alex Ebert’s trademark esoteric vocals.

“ ‘Ruthless’ was such a treat to watch come together,” Timmy says. “We got to collaborate with good friend and Dead Man’s Bone’s confidante Noaz Deshe.  He literally did hundreds of pieces in different mediums and animated everything step by step… Paintings, drawings, water colors…  it’s unreal!”

As far as current trends in pop music and  paparazzi sensations  “du jour,” you really won’t hear the Ima Robot compadres weighing in on all that jazz. They do have a soft-spot in their heart for a recently resurgent Detroit emcee.

“We as a band don’t talk about pop culture when we hang, we just create when we’re together.  I think we don’t really care about that when we connect – we also don’t have a lot of time so we try and set up our hangouts to be creative central.  With that said, “Eminem is back, yo!”

So for now, the warning trumpets have been sounded. The new Ima Robot album is set to drop October 19th on Werewolf Heart records. Timmy confirms that a second video is dropping soon for a song called “Rough Night” and it’s “sort of a beautiful nightmare set to the beginning of our universe.”  He also mentioned another huge surprise video dropping in August that’s sure to “blow up.”

All believers in good music can breathe a huge sigh of relief. Things will be okay now – Ima Robot is back.

Words by Geo Hagan with photos by Hama Anderson

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.

Okay let’s get to the music. Around 10pm, all the heads assembled were ushered into the sound room, and the man of the hour,  Ill Bill was laid back in a sofa rocking baggy camouflage shorts, old-school Jordan kicks, black t-shirt and a baseball hat. You’re not going to catch an O.G. like Ill Bill wearing any hipster rap outfits – tight jeans and Bathing Ape sneakers or anything along that ilk. The sound engineer cues the music and what follows is a non-stop barrage of 16 head-bopping, riff-heavy, speaker-thumping subterranean beats by DJ Muggs, all accompanied by fierce vocal deliveries from MC Ill Bill and a select roster of guest emcees: Sean Price, B-Real, Everlast, O.C. and Q-Unique.  There are several stand-out cuts on the disc:  the opener “Cult Assassin” sets the hardcore tone perfectly, “Trouble Shooters” with Sean Price is an audio thriller that rips you right out of your seat and jerks you into an alternate, raw-rap dimension; “Amputated Saints” features Muggs’s Cypress Hill compadre B-Real rocking the mic like a hungry, rap-crazed wolf; and the title track “Kill Devil Hills” features Vinnie Paz from Jedi Mind Tricks spitting gutter lyricism over a choppy, syncopated boom-bap composition.

After the last song “Narco Corridos” fades out, all the bloggers and journalists clap for about 2 minutes straight. Yeah, the album is that good. Ill Bill fields a fair amount of questions from the listeners, and around 11:30pm, the evening’s events come to a close. Ultimately, you had to notch the night as a win for Hip-Hop. Hopefully when the LP drops on August 24th, people go out and support the soldiers out there still killing themselves to elevate the art form of true rap.

Words and photos by Geo Hagan

Audio link for “Narcos Corridos”: http://www.mediafire.com/?vwj4mmmmoy5

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.

With his new band Junip, José is backed up by a keyboardist, a regular drummer and a Conga drum player, as well as a second lead guitarist – and this new set-up propels his sonic wall to new heights. I caught Junip performing last Thursday (06/10) at the Bowery Ballroom, and yes, the magic was very much in-tact. The set which ran a little over an hour featured all new tracks including instant winners like “Without You, ” “Chickens,”  and “At the Doors.” The songs seemed to start stealthily and work themselves to entrancing crescendos similar to how Radiohead arrangements evolve when Thom Yorke and crew are at their very best. José still handles the lead vocals of course, but somehow the backing musicians seem to have freed him up even more to be more expressive and vibrant on stage (which for a low-key personality like González is a rare development indeed). A look around the fans gathered showed just how diverse and loyal his following is. The old, the young, hipsters, stoners, prepsters, black, white, Asian, Latin etc – they were all present. On a scale of 1 to 10, you would have to give the show an outstanding 9.5 rating.

For those new to José’s sound, check out his first two solo albums (Veneer and In Our Nature) and then head over to the Junip website to download their free EP. That should hold you down until their official debut LP drops in the Fall. You won’t be disappointed.

Words by Geo Hagan with photos and video by Fijai Cairo

“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.”

When you engage in a conversation with underground Queens rapper and super-lyricist Homeboy Sandman, better be prepared for a mental duel, because one-dimensional thinking and cerebral shallowness are traits completely anathema to this magnificently skilled rhyme slinger.  He readily admits that he spent the majority of his college years in a haze of sweet marijuana smoke, and that he finally quit the habit in the December of 2006. It was only then that he realized that he was supremely nice on the mic device, and it was imperative that he took on rapping as a fulltime career. To date he’s released two independent albums: 2007’s Nourishment, and then “Actual Factual Pterodactyl” in 2008; he’s been featured in The Source Magazine’s Unsigned Hype section, and has appeared in high-profile concerts like Rock The Bells, The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, CMJ Music Marathon, etc. Basically, he’s a diamond in the rough, and his full glimmer is just starting to be comprehended by the rap cognoscenti at large.

Oh and by the way, when you talk about the genre of Hip-Hop with Homeboy Sandman, don’t refer to it as the “game,” because he’ll quickly take you to task.

“It’s gotten to the point where Hip-Hop music has just gotten so divisive within itself,” Sandman declares. I mean, do we call country music the game? Do we call jazz music the game? I’m a musician, I make music for a living and I love what I do; this ain’t no game to me. My music will be discussed when they’re talking about greats like Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson – these guys are not playing a game, they are respected musicians. We as rappers always dis ourselves, and I guess there is a derivative of Hip-Hop filled with rappers who don’t take themselves seriously, but that has nothing to do with me. I’m about making music that lasts forever.”

That’s just how dedicated this Queens rapper is to his craft. Make sure to pick up the recently released LP, The Good Sun on High Water Music (distributed by Fat Beats Records) featuring production by DJ Spinna, Psycho Les (Beatnuts), Ski Beats, Core Rhythm and more. Honestly, this guy is exceedingly sharp with his lyrical sword, and trust us, you’ll be doing yourself a huge disservice by sleeping on his music. So please wake up and recognize true talent.

Words by Geo Hagan with photos Courtesy of Matthew Conway/MAC media