B Bravo - Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)

Just a little one for Passionweiss.

As per usual, modern funk authority B. Bravo combines old and new to form a potent dance elixir that makes involuntary toe-tapping a certainty. The L.A. beat architect appeared on Salva’s Peacemaker project along with partner Teeko last year and welds the vocoder like few other boogie cyborgs can.

“Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)” is a tribute to Billy Ocean’s classic disco floor filler and keeps the vibe going over thirty years after the original. During my interview with B. Bravo last year, he co-opted Dam Funk’s mission to uplift people with funk rather than chase success and this track doesn’t deviate from the game-plan. Synths, talk-box and drums, B. Bravo keeps it simple because when you’ve got interplanetary vibes this strong you don’t dare mess with the groove. A free download to celebrate his upcoming Europe mini-tour, this belongs in your playlist next to Zapp’s finest.

Big L - Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous

I wrote about Big L's titanium debut as part of Passionweiss' Hardest Rap Albums Of All Time. You can read the rest here. 

“So don’t step to this ‘cause I got a live crew / You might be kinda big but they make coffins your size too / I was taught wise / I’m known to extort guys / This ain’t Cali, it’s Harlem nigga, we do walk-by’s.”

Spite incarnate, Big L’s music was forever shadowed by death. Every other line was a blast of threats aimed at enemies, doubters, competitors and anyone who had something to lose. Lamont Coleman was undermining parent’s attempts to raise well-adjusted children, years before Shady gripped a chainsaw. L splattered his bars with an encyclopedia of offensive content and spat them with enough malice to traumatize a Juggalo. Who else would end a song by shouting out murderers, thieves and people with AIDS?

Coleman’s debut was the only full-length album recorded during his short life and he named it in direct opposition to television showLifestyles of the Rich and Famous. As someone who had no time for caviar dreams, Big L was the quintessential disaffected youth. He was too poor to afford a conscience and rarely paused between dome cracking bars to reflect on social issues. Cold angst permeates throughout the record and as a fan of horror films, L relished playing the villain and shocking the listener. While other emcees claimed the means justified the ends, Lamont laughed off constraint and poisoned eardrums with comparisons to the devil.

The power of Lifestylez doesn’t just lie in dark imagery though. Big L was a paradigm of technical ability with internal rhyme schemes and caustic wit. “I got styles you can’t copy bitch, it’s the triple six, In the mix, straight from H-E-double-hockey sticks.” Coleman’s lyrical bloodbath was also backed by D.I.T.C’s production and the album knocks front to back. Unfortunately, Columbia couldn’t predict suburbanites enjoying jokes about killing nuns and found Illmatic’s conscious spin on street-life was easier to market. Big L was dropped a year later and gunned down before he could record a proper follow-up making this project a haunting reminder of the realities of Harlem in 1995.

Buddha Monk Interview

Originally published at Passionweiss

Russell Jones was a unique soul, never destined to fit within society’s constrictions. He was unpredictable, often unreliable and always genuine. As Ol’ Dirty Bastard, he warped the definition of a rapper. With his missing teeth, crazed expression and half slurred, half shouted rhyme style, Jones was never anything other than himself.

ODB’s best friend Buddah Monk was there on and off camera. They spent more time together than anyone besides their parents. Since they were 10 and 11 year’s old, Buddha had Dirty’s back. They laughed, made music, fought, travelled and partied together. Monk acted as security, co-produced songs, took ODB to interviews, watched his money and helped in family matters.

Buddha and writer Micky Hess released novel The Dirty Version to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s death, late last year.

While several unauthorised books exist, The Dirty Version is the first in-depth biography on ODB from someone who actually knew him.

Below is an excerpt from the first chapter of the book.

“Most of the major events in his life that people remember, I was there. You’ve heard the stories. Dirty once picked up his food stamps in a limousine, Dirty lifted a burning car off a four year old girl in Brooklyn, Dirty was kicked out of rehab for getting drunk, Dirty stole a fifty dollar pair of sneakers while on tour – and he had five hundred dollars in his pocket. It seems like everybody’s telling a story instead of telling the true story. Dirty was a loving brother, a caring friend, and a very supportive father to his children. Even on his bad days, no matter how bad he was, tomorrow would come and it was hard to stay mad at him, because that’s just who he was. It wasn’t a character. It was him.”

I talked to Buddha for over an hour discussing the book and Dirty’s life. We covered ODB’s time growing up in Brooklyn, his relationship with RZA, how he parented 13 children and the tragedy of his death, partly caused by ODB’s heart-breaking stint in jail where he was given sedatives and under constant physical threat.

In The Dirty Version, you described ODB’s family as hard working, educated and musically talented. They would play records outside of their building and party. His uncles were dancers and his mother, Miss Cherry, was an amazing singer.

Right. There used to be a time when he didn’t even want to do music, he just loved hearing it and singing with his family. When he got with RZA and everybody, when his cousins and little nephews and everybody started talking, they got him more interested in becoming an entertainer. At first him and me used to rap and DJ, and we didn’t think we were going to do something big like this.

ODB’s whole family can sing. He was a comedy fan and he developed his unhinged style because he wasn’t the best singer, but he wanted to create a sound incorporating his sense of humor. 

It actually became one of the monstrous things in hip-hop, making something sound so good, but at the same time funny. It became like he was one of the best entertainers and on top of that he made you laugh, you never know what he was capable of doing next.

What was Dirty like as a kid? 

We were the type of kids who would hang around the block, sing, take 40s out of the store and sit on the stoop watching uncle Freddy and everyone dance and party. He had a loving family, see he didn’t come from a broken home. He came from a home where everybody was considered family whether you were real family or not. If you sat on the same stoop as me you were considered my family. If I ate an ice cream or ate pizza with you, you were considered my family. He didn’t discriminate or hate anyone. He had love for everybody.

Even when ODB was earning a lot of money, he didn’t want to be a fake celebrity and he wasn’t always comfortable in the spotlight. Do you think that’s why he didn’t like doing videos and interviews?

I don’t think it’s that he didn’t want to do any interviews or anything like that, I think Dirty felt like he was being used by the industry. It’s like they give you this little bit of money, but they want you to do so much work to make them millions and you only make scraps. You go home with maybe $250,000 while they go home with $10 million. In that sense, he made up this word “pupperize.” He didn’t want to be “pupperized” by the industry.

Was there ever a racist element to the way he was portrayed in the media?

I wouldn’t say racist. I would say a disturbing force in the chain of command, in how this world works. They thought – what he does, nobody will have control of it and if we don’t lock his ass up then everybody in the world is going to think they are able to do anything that he can do. They couldn’t let one person show “Hey I’m free. No matter what you do to me. No matter what you do to my heart, my soul or the way I move my feet, I’m free at heart and I won’t let nobody chain me down.” So the only thing they could do is poison his thoughts and stop him from being this great entertainer that everybody loves so much.

In the book, you said ODB taking a limo to pick up food stamps was misunderstood. Dirty didn’t do it to brag that he was still receiving money from the government and getting away with it. He did that to show he was proud of where he came from and there was no shame in collecting welfare, but politicians used him as a scapegoat for welfare reform. 

Yeah and everybody else took it like he was trying to take from the government and didn’t care. When he actually did that, he had just got the [record] deal. The deal wasn’t even finalised, he didn’t even receive checks. They were already doing video drops and stuff on Dirty before he had even got any money or signed the ink for the deal, but it was just to get the hype ready to show he was about to become a major artist and that he was going to be travelling all over the world. So he was like “for the time being and until all this happens, I’m going to take my family in this limousine and show them how we are living until I become a successful star.” So he showed himself taking food stamps.

ODB’s time in prison broke his spirit and he was never the same since. He was afraid of going in and received death threats before even being locked away. 

Dirty wasn’t a scaredy cat. If Dirty told you somebody was trying to do something to him, I would believe him. I would not take it for granted for one second that nobody was trying to kill him or hurt him, because if I go to see you in jail and you have a broken arm or a bruised face or your leg is bruised and you got something wrapped around your finger, then obviously somebody in the jail did it. He didn’t do it to himself. In the newspaper they never said that he inflicted any injuries on himself and yet he was always found with injuries.

He feared the correctional officers and said they were corrupt. 

The correctional officers were the main ones doing stuff to him, because they felt like “oh, you’re ODB so you think you’re going to get special privileges here. We’re going to show you how we treat people here. You are just like everybody else, you are our fucking dog.”

He felt betrayed his own cousins rarely came to see him, RZA only visited a few times and the rest of the Wu Tang never came except Method Man. 

Because he realised that if one of them went to jail or got in trouble, Dirty would have been there every day for them. They know that. So why if Dirty’s gunna be there every day for ya’ll, how come ya’ll isn’t going there every day for him? There’s no way in the world that you’re RZA and people have seen you on TV making a million dollars, you get in every club with no problem, that the jail system is not going to realise that. If it was Mariah Carey going to see Dirty they would make sure they got Mariah Carey in to see him as fast as possible. So if they would do that for Mariah Carey, why couldn’t they do that for fucking RZA, see what I’m saying? If Damon Dash went to see him, why couldn’t RZA? Why would RZA claim they went and nobody would ever let them in? You’re just as known as Damon Dash and Mariah Carey, if not more RZA? You got albums that went platinum and nobody going to know that you’re the RZA and that you’re coming to see Ol’ Dirty Bastard? It’s bullshit, so that’s why he felt bad about it.

Did you ever say anything to RZA?

Nope, the only concern for me was to keep making sure that Dirty was okay, that’s all that mattered. That’s how I wound up talking to Jarred and getting Jarred to help get Dirty out.

In The Dirty Version, Buddha says that before prison, ODB was abusing cocaine and suffering from PTSD as a result of the various attacks on his life. Instead of rehabilitating him, prison doctors forced Dirty to take anti-psychotics that made him gain about 35 pounds. One of the medications was Haldol, which is known for severe side effects and rarely prescribed in private practice, but still used in prisons because it’s cheap. Dirty claimed he was so sedated that inmates would punch him and his reflexes were too slow to protect himself. 

ODB was severely affected by medicine he was being prescribed and struggled to record music once he left prison. During his post-jail press conference he seems dazed. 

When me and Jarred would go see him, we’d be having a conversation then all of sudden he’d say something to the left and I’m like “Dirty what happened man? This wasn’t you before you went to jail?” And he’s like “I know nigga, it’s that shit that they are putting in me man. That’s why ya’ll niggaz gotta get me the fuck out of here. Listen Jarred, Buddah, you both have to get me the fuck out of here.” We were the ones that helped get him out, but when it came to the world knowing, they made it like Damon Dash, Jarred, Dirty, Moms and everybody else. Buddha was just somebody sitting in the car like everybody else, making it look like I was happy to see him like I didn’t have nothing to do with him getting out.

ODB’s manager Jarred Weisfeld has been painted negatively in the press, but you said he was one of the few people that looked out for him in his last years. 

Jarred was the best person for Dirty. Let me tell you something just to take it further, it was me telling Jarred what not to do. Do not let them change your mind, do not listen to what they think is best. You do it Jarred and trust me. If they try to make him go a certain way and do a certain thing, do not have him connected with them because they are going to try to tell him to do it differently from what you are doing Jarred so just stay on your agenda. Do not listen to anybody.

Jarred had a few reality shows in the works for Dirty.

The reality show was like I had a couple of girls, that would do anything. We would be having girls come through the crib. You would see girls walking around naked. You would be seeing us doing music, chilling, getting with entertainers, hanging out. We had one of the DeBarge brothers singing with me and Dirty in the park. We was doing that, we were also doing his every day life. Getting up, going to the studios, hanging out with his family. There was stuff at his mother’s house. Everybody else is doing [reality show] stuff right now, I’m talking about like husbands or housewives with Kevin Hart and everybody else. Dirty and me were first. We got the first deal and was already doing that, but once he passed, Jarred never put it out. We still got all the footage from that show. Spike TV still got the footage they just never put it out.

What about “Stuck On Dirty” where a guy was literally chained to ODB? 

Whoever won this contest, they would be chained Dirty for the whole day, do everything that Dirty did. They would go to the studio, rap together. The only time this thing would really come off was when they would take a shower, Dirty would take his shower then he would take his shower. They put their clothes on, but when they get to the mirror they finish their hair, they brush their teeth together, walk around the city and shit, chained. You would be chained to Dirt Dog for a day to see what his life was about. No matter how bad it got, you couldn’t escape because you were in handcuffs. Spike TV still has the footage.

How did Dirty handle having a rumoured 13 children from multiple women?

When he wasn’t working, he always wanted to be with all of his kids. He would take them to the movies. Days when we were supposed to be working we would have to stop at his different baby mother’s houses from here to Jersey. He would take them food. Take them sneakers and clothes. Take them out and make the mother’s feel good. He was always trying to figure out a way to make all of the baby mother’s understand that he had different kids with them. He wasn’t trying to play them. He would still want to be in their lives as well as being in the other baby mother’s lives. It wasn’t like he would be having sex with one girl and would tell the other girl he wasn’t having sex. He would tell them “you know I’m Ol’ Dirty Bastard. You know other girls are going to be with me. So you just need to accept how this is going down or you can leave me alone. But at the same time, I don’t want you to take my kids away.” So when the girls can’t get what they want out of it, they would try get money. They would see him on TV with a lot of money and would try get child support. 

Did a lot of the women accept the situation?

Most of them, yeah. I think the only one that it hurt was his wife because I don’t think Shaquita would sign up for something like that. She’s a great woman, regardless of how anybody else looked at her. She fed me. I had a lot of complications with my cribs and I would move and live with them. She looked at me like her brother. She knew I was always there for Dirty and his best interests. So she didn’t like [the other relationships], she knew and had her little disagreements with him. At the same time, she was an earth [Mother of his children] and that’s something in our [Five Percent Nation] lessons and everything. She knew that he was capable of being that way, but she still stuck around. It wasn’t like she left him. They started breaking up after I think he got locked up. 

ODB was paranoid about his women being taken away from him, He was quite protective of them. 

Well, let me tell you something about the “paranoid” situation. You would get paranoid if someone is trying to kill you all the time. You’re getting shot at. You know you haven’t done nothing to nobody. You know you ain’t robbed nobody. You know it’s nothing from your childhood. This is something new and you didn’t have nothing to do with it. It’s not really paranoia. It’s being fearful when someone is trying to take your life for no reason. It makes you upset and makes you stay on point to make sure nobody is taking a shot at you. You would look paranoid, but of course I would look paranoid if someone is shooting at me for no reason. Now the situation with his wives, him being paranoid about that, he wasn’t paranoid. That was just Dirty. I would consider that more insecure of the fact that somebody might try talk to his girl behind his back, but he was willing to talk to everybody else’s girl behind their back. Not our girlfriends, but like other dudes. You don’t know if that girl has a man, so you’ll try kick it to this girl and she might still come out with you to spend time. So what you do unto others, you have to be careful it might be done back to you. He didn’t personally try to mess with other people’s women, but he told me one thing that I’ve always remembered, “Never let your woman go.” Even if they aren’t yours anymore or whatever the case may be “Never let your woman go.” 

In the book, you mention how you were constantly keeping track of Dirty. From making sure he made appointments to keeping him out of prison, it was a full time job. Did anyone ever thank you? RZA, or even Busta Rhymes, the latter who you helped collaborate with ODB? 

Never. To this day I still see them and neither one of them, nobody has ever said “You know what Buddha? I appreciate all that you have done. I appreciate everything you did for Dirty. Thank you. I appreciate everything that you did for me, Buddha.” Not Busta Rhymes, none of them. You know when you go around it’s not like they won’t offer me to come sit down and drink Champagne with them at the table, but that’s not like a thank you, you know?

You put a lot of work into co-producing ODB’s albums and never received credit. RZA was being sued at one point over royalties?

Yeah, because there was a lot of stuff that I helped with and that I should have got my royalties from and Elektra would wind up giving them to RZA. RZA, he moved the vocal, he didn’t produce the track, putting Dirty’s vocals on the track is not producing the music. That’s producing a vocal. So he would take money out of my royalties for producing the music.

Money management wasn’t Dirty’s strong point. Did you feel like people were using him?  

Of course. 100%. Always. You know we live in a world where there’s always someone trying to use somebody. Unfortunately, Dirty had a heart of gold and people tried to use him every day. I think that’s a reason he kept me around because I wouldn’t allow it. I would watch his back, make sure he didn’t lose his money. Make sure people don’t steal his stuff. People didn’t really like the fact that I was always with him, but his mother and every body was happy that I was with him because she knew I would keep her son safe.

It sounds like he spent so much money on other people. He let members of Brooklyn Zu take his cars and they would crash them.

Well, they all share each other’s stuff. They did a lot of sharing, but at the same time, there was stuff he did say “hey, don’t touch it” and then when he was gone they would touch it anyway and he would come back like “hey, why do you all have my stuff?” He would say a lot “yeah, my family steals from me all the time.” For him, he didn’t really go too crazy about people taking stuff from him because you know why? It was his family taking it from him and they were wearing it and not trying to hide it from him or something like that. He just felt like “yo, that’s something I wanted to wear. I wanted to keep it personal for myself and now ya’ll niggas has got it.” He didn’t really like that, but I guess he settled for it.

Dirty never held back from showing appreciation to other rappers. 

Yeah, Dirty was always the type to show love to artists. Even when he did the song with Pras and Mya, he just walked up into the station. They were already in the studio recording and he walked up in there by accident and when he saw them he was like “Nah man I want to get on this song, I’m not leaving until I get on it” and they wound putting him on the song. That was just him. He showed love to everybody. There wasn’t nobody he didn’t like in the industry, there were some people he couldn’t rap with. He loved LL Cool J, but he just couldn’t do a song with LL Cool J.

Did he turn down a song with LL? 

Yeah, he actually turned the song down and they wound up putting Method Man and Redman on the song. The one where LL had the whole symphony of different rappers on it. Dirty was the first one that LL asked to be on it, but we stayed in the studio for two days and Dirty was like “I don’t know what it is man, I can’t do a song with LL, I just can’t.” So Dirty wouldn’t do it. [The song is “4, 3, 2, 1” from the album Phenomenon]



How did ODB feel about Puff Daddy? I don’t think he disliked him, but he frequently mentions him in interviews as someone he could never be like. 

Puff Daddy was considered an entertainer. He’s not really a rapper or professional artist. Everybody knew that about Puffy. We thought he was just being a businessman. Dirty is more loved by the people because he’s a true artist. He’d be in the streets, he’d hang out with people, he would go places. He’d be in the ghetto and while everyone else was at the awards or something, he’d be in the hood just hanging around with people standing around on the block having 40s. There were times that he should have been in the studio where he just wanted to show love to the people in the streets. He was the type of person where he knew he was big, but you know what, he figured out something different from everybody else. If the president was walking through every hood and every city and every block all year round, then when the elections come he would probably have unlimited votes for him as the president. Because he doesn’t really come out and has to be protected all the time, he can’t do that. Dirty didn’t want that kind of life, he wanted to be able to reach out to masses and hang out in the hood. That’s how he wound up being in the hood when that little girl was under that car that was on fire and he helped lift the car off her, understand what I’m saying? His notoriety was about taking it to the streets. That’s what he did, he got his ideas from being in the streets and talking to the people and hearing “”hey Dirty you should do this on a song” “Yo, you know what me and my homie were talking about? How about if you were walking around with a pamper on or something like that?” You know he would think about it and you would see it on a show or awards, should he decide to put out that little thought that someone in the streets gave him. That helped create the Ol’ Dirty Bastard that people loved and it worked for him.

Do you feel like part of Wu Tang died with ODB?

I think so. Dirty kept it together because no matter what, even when everybody was always fighting, Dirty was the voice of opinion and the reason for everybody to continue to stay together and to make it right. RZA and GZA valued Dirty’s opinion on the music industry a lot. Dirty was giving them the ideas that would make it so big, more than everyone else and once they lost that element, it meant the music lost that element and if your music loses that element then you lose what could have been even a better album. Certain songs that were on this album, I don’t think Dirty would have ever let them put those songs out. He probably would have cursed them niggas out until they changed it, that’s what Dirty did or he didn’t show up.

Everybody loved Dirty. Wu Tang Clan had a problem with always fighting on stage and in the streets and shit, but the funny parts of what would happen at the fights was when Dirty was there when it was taking place and then everybody would be like “man, no matter what, I love Dirty. No matter how that shit went down or what happened, I still love that nigga Dirty.” I think with him still being alive, they would have been at a higher plateau than they are now.

In Dirty’s final days he told people including his mother Cherry that he would die soon. 

Yeah, well you know how much your body, mind and soul can take as a person and as a human being. I can tell certain days when my body is starting to hurt more than usual. If I feel heavier than I normally do because I have a burden on my heart or my thoughts. You try to cope with it, but after a while you just feel like you’re just tired. You don’t want to be bothered no more. Your heart and soul have a tendency to give up and don’t want to do things and that’s the worst time to give up because that means you’re slipping into a state of unawareness. You have to be man enough to be able to fight that and to keep fighting. Dirty did that and I was one of the reasons why because I would stay on him. I would ask him questions like “How long are we going to keep doing this for?” and he would be like “Yo, we going to keep doing this until we’re like 70. I said “word, like 70?” He would be like “yeah man, let’s do it.” Nobody expected the things to happen the way they happened and everybody would say “it’s just an overdose.” It was actually a mixture of things. It was him taking a pill [tramadol] and him having a bag [cocaine] inside his stomach. Both of those chemicals caused a reaction that made him die. He didn’t deliberately try to take an overdose. It wasn’t like he was sitting at a table and started to sniff his life away in the last moment and couldn’t stop. It was a freak accident.

What made him stop taking the medication he was being given?

Dirty went cold turkey. They wanted to him to continue to take his paranoid medication and all that shit when he got out and Dirty was like “that shit isn’t doing anything but making me fatter. It’s slowing me down and making me not be able to function the way I want to function with doing music and everything.” So when Dirty went cold turkey, everybody started seeing the real him come back. Here’s a drug that would make you feel like relaxing and feel like you’re high all the time. Who wants to be high all the damn time like yo, there’s gotta be some days in your life that you’ve got to be able to be in society without feeling like you’re high. This was some shit that they were trying to give him to the rest of his life to try and make him seem like he’s paranoid and they tried to make him really believe that he needed these pills, but check it out he never needed them fucking shits before he went in there so why the fuck does he need them when he get’s out?

Many of those prescription drugs are illegal now?

Some are legal. Some are illegal. Again it’s the government setting the rules because too many of their kids are getting caught with those same fucking drugs that were the killers of us and now it’s killing their own fucking kids.

How is Dirty’s mother Cherry Jones?

She’s doing good. I talked to her yesterday. She lives in Florida now. She has a nice big crib and she’s living good out there. She’s happy. She told me any time I’m in town to just come. I’ve got a bedroom. I’ve got food. I don’t need to worry about going anywhere to do no work, no cooking, no nothing. Just come home whenever I’m ready. Even I need a break from music or anything I can just come to her house, no matter what.

Do you still keep in touch with Jarred?

Of course, Jarred was the first one to congratulate me about the book and the first person to buy a copy.

Are you involved in the ODB movie?

Well, there’s two different ones. There’s one that Jarred’s doing about when he became his manager and I’m supposed to be in that one. Raison who is doing this new movie, he actually reached out to me two days ago and said that he wants me to be in the movie. I saw a couple pieces of the trailer and it’s got Young Dirty Bastard in it. It’s coming together pretty good and by the grace of god, I hope everything turns out to be successful with it. I know once it does come out the world is going to be very surprised because it’s totally different from everything you’ve seen on television.

What happened with the shooting incident in 1999? Two officers fired eight shots at ODB after stopping his car. He was later cleared by a grand jury and they found no shell casings or weapons belonging to him. 

What happened was him and 60 Second Assassin were in the car driving. They were on their way to the studio and they ran past this light. They didn’t run a red light, the light just went green as they were driving through. The cops saw a car that identified as one that apparently was shooting at the cops before. So seeing as they thought it was the car, they started shooting for the simple fact that in their minds this was the car that just shot at the cops. So instead of pulling the car over and asking questions they just started firing on Dirty. So Dirty gave them a high-speed chase, they finally were caught by some cops that didn’t shoot and locked up. The cops came to find out that they weren’t the ones that actually did the shooting. So the case got dismissed, they [ODB etc] tried to sue them, but the cops claimed they were fired immediately after shooting at them, so they couldn’t even get the lawsuit. But I heard it’s still in court for him to get money for that situation, which I think will go to the kids.

The police in that era were well known for harassing rappers. 

Of course. Every time we turned around whether we were in the street or we were doing shows. There would be police standing inside our shows. They would say things like “I’m telling you, if he takes his shirt off, we’re locking him up.” “Or if these girls get up there and start trying to grab on him and everything, we’re locking you up because you should have more control.” But why would you lock us up when the security is supposed to be keeping kids off stage? They have nothing to do with us. One time we were performing and Dirty had taken both his pants and shirt off and started dancing and rapping and the police shut all of the power off.

That must have been a pretty frightening time, were you scared?

Nah, I was more the guy who kept him [ODB] thinking positive. I would keep his head level about situations. I wasn’t just his producer. I was his brother. I was the one person who he looked up to for questions and answers for his music. I was also the person that if he wasn’t talking to Popa Wu or RZA and them, he would talk with me. Like we would take the cars from the venues after the show and leave the rest of the Clan, and me and him would ride back to New York while the Clan would take the truck if Dirty got tired of waiting for them. We would be on the bus, riding at the back talking about what we wanted to do in this industry with the music and the things we wanted to do. I never feared it because you know what, it comes with the turf of changes in life. Basically when I saw the Michael Jackson movie and The Temptations movie, how people were rushing them, I figured okay this could be happening to us at any moment and I was already prepared for it. 

The Blogger’s Guide to Hyping an Underdeveloped Artist

Why aren’t you viral? Don’t you want a Been Trill scarf? Aren’t you trying to fast track your writing career without shelling out for an MFA? Luckily, dear writer, you can gamble self-respect against click-through rates. In the age of the cyber composer, any rapper with a gimmick, a lack of dignity and a laptop can induce headaches and hypnotic devotion. And you can be a part of this. Use the perpetual motion machine of rap blog hypetrains to your advantage by following the simple steps below.

Step One: Discovery

Before spreading audio self-flagellation to the masses, you’ll need to uncover your very own Yung Lean, rhyming pot-plant, or other such rising star. (Find someone with a weird or mildly offensive niche for maximum #exposure.) Misplaced nostalgia, obscure internet fandom, and easily replicated micro-trends tend to be safe bets: The first rapper to successfully incorporate Tuvan throat singing may create a tinnitus outbreak, but could also feature on a 2015 single of the week listicle.

Anyway, to unveil the next Lil Debbie, don’t start with Soundcloud or YouTube. Image is everything. Since you didn’t live through the Korean War, you better skip Google Images, too—go straight for Tumblr. Search for pictures of rappers in velvet shawls, rappers with wild (preferably #rare) animals. Value the $–the symbol itself, not the currency.

The artist (their favorite artist must be Basquiat, by the way) may have invented his or her own genre, which often will be a combination of an existing category with a random addition. Previous examples include Cloud rap, Witch house and Chill wave. You can make up your own using the same formula too: Tinder-trap, Brony house, Bro Bass.

You should also start reading those unsolicited emails from music PR and amateur promo street teams. Look for words used to describe the basement artist like “otherworldly,” “dynamic” or “genre-breaking.” Anything which sounds vague, mysterious or potentially unlistenable should be a good sign you’re on the right track. Also keep an eye out for randomly generated names – “Lil Tulip,” “Yung Eye-Drops,” “Mr Knitted Sweatshirt,” you get the point.

Step Two: Talent evaluation

Skip this part.

Step Three: Promotion

After finding someone who will prove Seapunk isn’t dead, it’s time to promote this vapid tunesmith on cyberspace. Vomit out a think-piece or slide show and explain in careful detail how you’ve always known the artist would revolutionise music. Insert yourself in the story with plenty of unnecessary anecdotes (maybe pictures!) so the audience really gets the connection, you know? You could detail how the two of you communicate with knowing smiles or revisit the time you accidently posted the same Echo The Dolphin meme on Instagram.

Later in the piece, highlight how futuristic their sound is and imply that only intelligent people with a wealth of life experience will enjoy it. Refer to the laptop artist and their three weed-carriers as a “movement,” then finish by proclaiming your chosen hero is “really developing as a musician” or “exploring their emotions.” Below are some bonus click-bait headlines for your perusal.

Step Four: Continued hype

In the event your parasitic host creates a mediocre or almost-good song, this is the perfect time to follow up with a feature about how you knew them first and they’ve actually been grinding in their bedroom for hours. Also worth considering is a two-part documentary about how they started out in their mother’s house, despite the fact that every human person started out in their mother’s house. (Also, call her.)

You’ll need to attend some of their live gigs as a show of support, too. These will likely have a young audience (the other talent show contestants, probably) with a few creepy older tastemakers, social media influencers and Z Grade celebrities pretending to “get it.” Perhaps there will be a prestigious product giveaway and members of the audience trying to copy iconic parts of the performer’s outfit. If he’s wearing a non-breathable plastic turtleneck in a sweltering venue expect to see at least a few look-a-likes. Finally, when the show is labelled performance art, has sound difficulties and contains either rambling or intelligible screaming this is yet another confirmation you’ve found the right person to promote. Here is a perfect example.

If Caverns!!! doesn’t actually release music worthy of praise, continue to proclaim their greatness and ignore this important detail. Make sure you use the relevant hashtags and Ebonics that you would never dare to utter in real life. They too should Tweet regularly with outlandish and barely understandable prose.

Step Five: Capitalise on your success

Congratulations! Now the pseudo-artist has reached their nerd-fan or Tween copycat quota, you can bask in the moment. It’s time to enjoy the temporary influx of digital interaction in the form of one-word replies on your Instagram posts and unsolicited Snapchats. Fill your social media channels with praise for them as well as subtle praise for yourself. (Isn’t it the same thing?) Maybe you’ll finally even get that scarf.

Step Six: The End

The brief success of your keyboard composer will come to an inevitable end due to failing to translate offline and people eventually coming to their senses. You can devise a fool proof plan to distance yourself before the impending irrelevance: Tell people you weren’t really messing with the production on their latest project, purposely misconstrue one of their lyrics as offensive or start sneak dissing them on Vine. The internet hype-cycle is like an emoji obsessed Buddha – always reinventing itself and easily susceptible to the latest trends. Now you’ve reached the end of your first internet musician lifespan, return to step one and discover a new micro-trend you can engage a parasitic relationship with.

B. Bravo Interview

Originally published on Myspace

Conjuring images of smoky discothèques, groovy roller discos and uninhibited dance-offs, this L.A. producer with a rich musical background creates undeniable boogie jams.

NAME: B. Bravo

HOMETOWN: Monterey, Calif.

HOMEBASE: Los Angeles, Calif.

B. Bravo's cosmic grooves and talk-box experimentation push the boundaries of funk while spreading the positive vibes of a far from gone genre. The LA based producer's natural progression toward intergalactic tunes was partly stimulated by the G-Funk sound of 90s rap and he continues to be inspired by the forefathers of funk. Bravo has graced Red Bull's Music Academy and he keeps busy working with production partner Teeko as well as playing sax and keys in San Francisco band Bayonics.

What drew you to funk music?

I remember going to the Monterey Jazz Festival when I was a kid in school and Tower of Power were playing there. The reason they stood out to me was that they were so different than all the other acts. Everybody was sitting down for the other performances. They [Tower of Power] were just like this powerhouse and they had this horn section with a driving beat. Everybody just jumped on their feet and started dancing. It was an instant reaction, everybody was dancing even like the security guard. I remember seeing my friend's dad just dancing and smiling. I was just like "wow what is this? This is crazy." I was like "what are these sounds?" Just the feeling and the energy they created was totally different so that was one of my first experiences seeing it live.

Have you played with any of your personal funk heroes?

Years ago, back in the Bay Area, my band Bayonics were playing on KPFA Radio in Berkeley. George Clinton came in the studio with his bass player named Thumpasauras Rex. We got a chance to meet George and talk with him, and we ended up jamming all together in the studio. That was pretty epic; this must have been in probably 2005. It was pretty crazy, the whole time we were kind of looking at each other like, "Woah man. This is insane." I remember he had the thickest, manliest hands I'd ever shook, it was like grabbing on a tree branch or something.

A large part of classic funk and soul music was related to the struggles of Black America. Did you find it hard to relate to that growing up?

Myself growing up, I wasn't necessarily from a poor family. My dad was actually from a really poor family in Japan, so he basically came to the States with nothing in the late 70s and so through his stories I've known a lot of that- the struggle of making your own way and being your own man. The area that I grew up in was definitely working class, but I think it's a universal message. Funk music was originally made by people in the struggle, whether it would be race, economics or class.

Do you see funk regaining the same relevance it had in the '70s and '80s?

I mean a lot of people are like, "Oh you guys are bringing back funk. It's a like dead genre." I don't really see that. It transcends through a lot of different genres to me. I don't know whether there's going to be top 40 funk songs or not. I'm not sure if that's where it's heading, but I don't think that's really the aim. The aim is to spread the message to people. We're not trying to make pop music. We're trying to make music that will touch people and uplift people, give them something they need in the world that they're not really getting from other sources.

You've collaborated with Salva and released music under his label, how did that happen?

He's the one that really got me started releasing music as a solo artist. We met at this regular job in software. This was in about 2007. He hired me to work for him and on my resume it said I had an interest in music and DJing. We got to talking and we were listening to each other's music. He was like, "I want to create a label and release some music; do you want to do something?" So I put together an EP and that was kind of my first solo release. That's what started everything for me. He's right here in L.A. so we've been working on stuff together and that's my main man.

Moe Man - Straight Real

Originally published at Passionweiss 

In 1996, G-Funk was still the soundtrack to bouncing cars, block parties and Malt Liquor bottles. DJ Quik dropped the classic Safe + Sound the year prior and 2pac was yet to introduce rap music to suburbia with “California Love.” Oakland’s Moe-Man took influences from G-Funk as well as the Bay Area’s Mobb Music on Straight Real, which he released independently the same year. Sadly, the project went unheard in the mainstream despite its quality. Considered an underrated Bay Area gem and a rare find even in the golden age of music piracy with copies selling on Ebay for $800.00, Straight Real deserves to find its way to your stereo.




Producer K.T. The Orchestrata laced the album with bass heavy beats and fly synth jams. Moe-Man shouts him out various times on record and claims they’re brothers. Whether he means brother in blood or soul isn’t clear, but K.T’s relationship with the funk is evident as soon as you hit play. The keys on “Don’t Take The Streets Lightly” are slicker than Eazy-E’s Jheri curl and the instrumental for “Is It Like That?” sounds good no matter who’s rapping on it. Samples from The Isley Brothers, Afrika Bambaataa and Too $hort prove K.T has excellent taste and the album is populated with classic R&B to add further flava. He raps on the album as part of the Kapitol Click alongside Big Daddy-O and Shoddy Shod, but K.T’s best work is as the groove constructor behind the boards.



Moe, not to be confused with Houston’s Big Moe, rhymes quickly and confidently. He can’t be faded, talks shit and lays game down like Nino Brown. His style and delivery is a paradigm of West Coast rap in the 90s. Moe sticks to classic rap tropes for the majority of the album and it sounds great. His wordplay is simple and lacks the charisma N.W.A packed during the same era, but it works. Moe-Man speaks on the struggles of poverty on “Young Bro,” while his producer switches style to something more akin to a Native Tongues record. Only during “40 Oz. Kid” does he sound completely out of place, attempting to emulate Slick Rick’s smooth paced delivery without the necessary creative wordplay. 


Where are K.T The Orchestrata and Moe-Man now? If Google’s crack surveillance team only has four relevant links about your output, you’ve either stopped making music or avoided the internet. In the age where even struggle rappers and local stars have some mention online, it seems sadly inconceivable that either has established prolific careers. K.T’s vanished despite his tunes having more bounce than a fatty on an inflatable castle. Whilst Moe-Man has supposedly performed in Vegas under the name Moetrouble and this YouTube account which sporadically posts videos just might be him. Maybe our Bay Area readers/local rap detectives can help uncover the mystery? Any information will be rewarded with one low quality pirated copy of Straight Real, a picture of E-40 holding his glasses between his thumb and forefinger and a Walkman with foam headphones.

A$AP Ferg Interview

Originally written for Nahright

Always Strive And Prosper. Before Ferg joined the A$AP Mob, he already lived by their motto thanks to his father Darold Ferguson. While residing in Harlem’s notorious Hamilton Heights neighborhood, Ferg senior established a reputation as a renowned hustler. He printed shirts and designed logos for luminaries including Bad Boy Records, Teddy Riley, Heavy D and Bell Biv DeVoe.

Inspired to carry his father’s legacy after his death, A$AP Ferg pursued fashion and attended art school. He was later convinced to focus on music by friends and was featured on A$AP Rocky’s first mixtape Deep Purple. With his creative background as the foundation, Ferg’s vocal experimentation and unique visual direction ensured he was the second major label signee from the A$AP mob.

Ferg’s debut Trap Lord was released last year, and included bangers such as “Work” (remix,) “Shabba” and “Hood Pope.” Before his June show at the NXNE Festival in Toronto, he told me about working with Bone Thugs on “Lord,” Diddy calling him after his record deal, speaking regularly to Fab Five Freddy and wanting to collaborate with Phil Collins.

Do you have a favorite Harlem record?

Yeah, I do. I actually do, one of my favorite Harlem records is “Been Around the World (Remix)” by Puff Daddy, Ma$e and Carl Thomas.

When you were young did you ever see rappers like Ma$e, Cam’ron, etc. in Harlem? Juelz Santana is actually from your neighbourhood Hamilton Heights too.

Yeah, I think he is. 151st or somewhere over there. But yeah I used to see Juelz all the time. I used to see Jim Jones all the time, Cam knows my family. I’m real cool with Cam. Every rapper from Harlem I’m cool with. I’m cool with Puffy, Ma$e. But I met Ma$e once I got on, everybody else I knew them before.

Was that through your father D. Ferg?

Nah not through my father, just through like knowing them and seeing them around and saying what’s up, being a kid from the block. But then when they found out who my pops was, they would be like “oh shit.”

The A$AP Mob started a few years before you and Rocky joined, as a collective of people who shared similar taste in music, art and fashion. We all know about A$AP Yams being one of the leaders, but can you tell us a bit about A$AP Bari who was also a core founder?

Bari is just one of those live spirits. He’s one of those guys that everyone loves. He connects the dots and he’s always on a voyage. He kind of reminds me of Basquiat, just the way his spirit is so free. The way Basquiat used to live with his girlfriend and give all of his money away. Bari doesn’t care about money at all, he’s totally about the people and he keeps the A$AP spirit alive. He always gives you the home feeling, he’s always on the latest trends, the latest fashion and he kind of brings that to the group. He’s definitely very interesting.

Is he similar to Slim, Birdman’s brother, from Ca$h Money? A silent partner behind the scenes?

He’s not like Slim at all. See Slim is more like a boss with his hands in the business. Bari is really not about the business. He’s about fun, fun and more fun. Bari acts like an artist. He gets more girls than me.

I heard you know Fab Five Freddy, and speak to him quite regularly?

Yeah, you know I ran into Fab in Harlem. I bumped into him in the street. I saw him going into like the 99-cent store, a convenience store. I just ran into him and he’s a legend so I wanted to talk to him and introduce myself. I grew up watching Beat Street and all of these things that he was a part of. I knew he was good friends with Jean Michel Basquiat, who is one of my favourite artists. Fab Five Freddy opened doors for a lot of artists, painters and actors as well as musicians so I just wanted to meet this great person who did all of these things.

You’re quite similar in terms of your interests as you’re both creatively driven, especially with your backgrounds in art.

Exactly. He’s a jack-of-all-trades. He told me that once he had a song that blew up, a hit song, I forget the name of it, but it kind of blew up in London first then it came back to the U.S and around that time he was doing music, and now he paints, and before that he was doing film. He did New Jack City and a bunch of other famous movies that a lot of people didn’t know he was involved in. So he’s definitely one of those Renaissance men who had his hands in everything.

Before you blew up and were taking music seriously, you went through a period where you weren’t really into hip-hop because you felt you couldn’t relate to the music?

Right, it wasn’t that I couldn’t relate to the music, it was that I wasn’t getting anything out of hip-hop. There wasn’t anything penetrating the mental, you know what I mean? I wasn’t learning anything from it. I was listening to a lot of old hip-hop, a lot of 2pac, a lot of Biggie, just learning life lessons from rappers. But then hip-hop had this phase where it was all about fist pumping and turn up music, you know that’s fun, but it was like let’s get back to the matters at hand. What about the problems that are going on in our society? We didn’t really have a bunch of artists talking about these things. But now you have a Chance The Rapper, you even have songs like the “Hood Pope” and the “Cocaine Castle” off my album. You have more conscious songs. Before it was not cool to be conscious or even step in those grounds, but now artists don’t give a fuck any more.

I’ve heard you call yourself an “old soul” because of the music you grew up on. I was pretty surprised to hear Phil Collins was one of the artists you’d like to collaborate with?

Yeah, Phil Collins just has a nice voice. I kind of grew up hearing his music like “In the air tonight” and all of that iconic music. I was just thinking about about the biggest artists to work with. Of course now I know of more artists, but those were the artists that were singing the ballads when I was growing up, but yeah Phil Collins, Seal and all of these people.

Trap Lord has been out since August last year, are you happy with how the record turned out overall?

Yes I am. I’m very pleased. People have been very receptive to it. A lot of people loved the album. There was a lot of people that carried me as an artist just because my style is so different from a lot of the A$AP members. A lot of people were saying it was different in a good way – it was fun and different. I guess they were ready for it.

You worked with Bone Thugs on the track “Lord.” I know you were in the studio in person with Bizzy and Flesh, but what about the others?

I worked in person with Flesh and Bizzy, but I was on tour with the group. All of those guys are my uncles. Bizzy calls me the most though, and Flesh gives me the most knowledge.

I feel like Bone Thugs in general are underrated. They should be like way bigger than they are, but that’s just me. They are icons in my eyes. They are like the Michael Jacksons of hip-hop. It’s like a group of Michael Jacksons, or like The Jackson 5 to me.

Bizzy seems like an interesting dude.

Yeah, he’s funny too. One night he calls me at three in the morning asking for Wale’s number. That’s how random he is.

You wanted to have DMX on Trap Lord too?

Oh yeah, I wanted DMX to say a prayer on the album. But it’s hard to catch up to that man. He’s busy.

I always appreciated the artistic direction of your videos, is this something you work hard on?

I write my treatments and direct. I don’t really try hard. It comes natural to me because it’s fun. A lot of my friends that I went to school with, because I went to art school, they are into film and videography and things like that so it’s not hard for me to reach out to them and get things done. It’s all fun for me to allow the imagination to work and for me to write the treatments down and get the production prepared. That’s all fun for me because it’s seeing my creation come to life.

 
Is creating art still a big part of your life or do you not have a lot of time?

My life is art. I still find time for art because I have to provide for my family. That’s why this is living the dream because I’m living through my art.

Where do you want to take your sound on the next record?

I want it to be more innovative. A bigger sound. When I say bigger, I mean it’s going to be more worldly. It’s going to appeal to everybody versus just myself and those like me. I’m going to stay grounded to those who support me and my base, but I’m definitely trying to expand my sound entirely.

You’ve said previously that when the A$AB Mob started, you were doing things like riding BMX bikes and wearing your own styles of clothing, but people didn’t understand you guys. Did you feel like outcasts?

We definitely were outcasts, but that’s where I’m comfortable now because I can’t stand to be like anyone else. I can’t stand to have the same fashion as someone else. If everybody is wearing black, I’ll wear white. If everybody is wearing white, I’ll wear black. I guess that’s a Harlem thing, because I think that’s when Cam got tired of everyone’s clothing, that’s when he started wearing pink. So I think it’s just Harlem, they breed a lot of people that do their own thing like innovators and creators. That’s kind of how I am to a certain extent. I want to express myself and be different from everybody else.

This is a bit of a random question, but how did you start using the word “Jiggy”? Is that a Harlem thing? I have not heard that word in years.

Jiggy is a definitely a Harlem thing, but we’re making it a worldwide thing. I’m bringing the jiggy back. Jiggy is a feeling. Jiggy is a style. You have high fashion, which also can be jiggy, but it’s more of a feeling than anything. You can wear anything and feel jiggy, if it’s dope. It’s really how you wake up in the morning and feel. It can be the music you listen to. I’m going to give you the perfect definition of jiggy.

Go for it.

A lot of old Puffy and Ma$e videos used to be jiggy shit. A lot of Missy Elliot videos. They used to wear outfits instead of t-shirts and jeans. That was jiggy. Platinum was jiggy. Waves in the hair was jiggy. Keeping your sneakers clean is jiggy.

I love those Missy Elliot videos, those are classic.

Yeah, I love Missy Elliot. I can’t even begin to explain.

I’ve read that Puffy was aware of your sound and the A$AP mob, but wasn’t sure how to market you and didn’t quite understand the movement because it was so different. Did he ring and congratulate you once you blew up and was he surprised by it?

Yeah, he told me. When I first got signed he called and congratulated me, and we spoke on the phone for an hour. He was just telling me how proud my pops would have been of me and he was telling me what he thought when he had first seen the movement. He loved it, but he just didn’t know how to approach it or where to take it. I guess that was a good thing because we kinda cracked the pavement. We came with the unorthodox. People needed that. People were getting tired of the same generic shit, that you see on World Star or on TV. People were just seeing the same rappers with the stupid ass jewellery, looking dumb in interviews. So we just came to bring that jiggy shit.

Summer mixtape

Here's a playlist I originally created for Passionweiss 

“Welcome to the land where it just don’t stop. Trunks pop, tops drop, and the front-end hop.” I like to imagine summer is a lot like the world Houston rapper Fat Pat [RIP] describes on “Tops Pop,” where the music is funky, the cars have impractical modifications and the barbeques are forever blazing.

London’s non-existent beach culture and grimy urban backdrop can put a damper on any sun loving spirit, but listening to the tracks assembled below helps ease the chill. The loose criterion for these tunes is good vibes, the odd cheesy synth and choruses that inspire singing when friends are out of hearing range.

I’ve recently begun digging through classic Southern rap and while most pioneers from the East/West Coast have reached international acclaim, there’s a plethora of talent below the Dixie that hasn’t reached foreign ears. For this reason I’ve included Big Mike, Z-Ro and Dead End Alliance as well as B. Bravo for being one of my new favourite funk producers, The Dream for releasing his best material in a long time and Pimp C for being Pimp C. So lean back, sip your favourite brown liquor, push play and lend a thought to those of us not surrounded by summer dresses.

Tracklist:

1) B.T. Express- Give up the Funk (Let’s Dance)

2) Juicy – Sugar Free

3) B. Bravo – Energy

4) Fat Pat – Tops Drop

5) Big Mike ft Pimp C– Havin’ Thangs

6) Slim Thug ft Z-RO– Summertime

7) Big Krit ft Devin The Dude – Moon and Stars

8) Undergravity – Goin’ Live

9) Ghostface Killah ft John Legend – Let’s Stop Playing

10) Chuck Inglish ft Vic Mensa and Killa Kyleon – James Harden

11) Slick Rick ft Outkast – Street Talkin’

12) Dead End Alliance ft Lil Keke – Sun hit the fade

13) The Dream – Outkast

14) Don Brown – Don’t Lose Your Love

15) Kool & The Gang – Heaven at once

Click here to listen. 

Kevin Gates update

Originally published at Passionweiss.

Kevin Gates is so good at rapping that the XXL Freshman ’14 cover could have been a close-up of his face. Few MCs combine lucid crime recollections, vulnerable introspection and speaker knockers quite like the Baton Rouge renegade. While the Passionweiss squad works on converting the site into an unofficial KG focus group, I’ve taken on the enviable task of sharing with you a few of his latest releases in the lead up to Luca Brasi 2.

Fellow Southerner Trae The Truth featured Gates on “Dark Angel,” and released the video last week. Despite a cameo from Lil Bibby instead of Jessica Alba and trying a little too hard to be cinematic, it’s worth a watch. KG starts off with a lengthy verse that covers more interesting topics in two minutes than many artists do on a whole album. Gates performs a soliloquy referencing belief in a higher power, struggles with drug use and trying to sate a mourning family’s loss with money. The 28 year old also boldly admits to sexual inadequacy, which is something even less heard in rap than stringed instruments. Although it doesn’t have the same emotional impact, Trae’s verse shouldn’t be ignored either. He does an admirable job of following up Kevin’s powerful testimony, delivering solid tales of struggle with his trademark rapid-fire flow.

Next up is the video for “Posed To Be In Love,” which was included on this year’s mixtape By Any Means and may or may not have been shot using an iPhone camera. Some listeners felt Gates’ decision to discuss domestic violence glorified spousal assault, but the track is more complex than the knee-jerk reaction it inspires. It’s fair to assume with an artist as self-aware Gates, that he includes nuances to the story for a reason. Kevin mentions stalking and an obsession with his female counterpart to cement his character as a deranged lover rather than someone to be revered.

While not the best decision to release visuals for a tale of battery when he could have chosen another single, the clip does further distance KG from the story. He’s seen as an observer in the video rather than the protagonist. Like many great artists his lyrics are capable of inspiring a range of emotions including shock, awe and sometimes revulsion.

Thankfully Gates also left us with a few gems before hitting the road and he’s yet to show any signs of creative burnout aka “Mixtape Circuit Syndrome.” Listen below for his menacing OG Bobby Johnson freestyle, the threatening croak of “Nothing” and finally the hypnotic “Cut Her Off” freestyle. You’re welcome.


 

Edit: Gates' new track with Lil Bibby included above. 

Don Trip - "Wake Up"

Originally published at Passionweiss

Don Trip’s latest single “Wake Up” was released the other week with minimal fanfare. Along with Starlito and Kevin Gates, he’s one of several young artists that dispels the conservative rap coalition’s claim that rap isn’t lyrical anymore. Like the aforementioned MCs, Don Trip also hasn’t fully made an impact with the kids. Despite appearing on the 2012 XXL Freshman cover and working with Dr “iRich” Dre, mainstream success eludes him for now. Luckily, this means we get to enjoy unfiltered street rhymes while bubble-gum rap fans are busy debating if Iggy Azalea writes her own music. This is an obvious blessing and the Memphis rapper has delivered a hustler’s dedication with bars upon bars.

“Wake Up” serves as both a motivational anthem and a forewarning for those who were sleeping on Mr Don Trip. The 26 year old spits over frantic production and sticks with his grimy drawl rather than jacking the Migos flow as per almost everyone else in the past year. The track’s hook sounds elementary on paper “wake up, wake up, it’s time to get me some money, got to get off my ass, you can’t get rich for me,” but it’s catchiness combined with the adrenaline pumping beat makes for wall-punching music. There’s not much here beyond moneymaking metaphors, but sometimes we all need a song you can frown and nod to. Now how about releasing that Step Brothers 3?