SOUL REBEL NYC founder MIC SEAN talks to Raven the Blazin Eurasian about the launch of 'Generation Next', and introduces artists THE KID DAYTONA and TiRon.
Raven The Blazin Eurasian interviews Large Professor.
On his performance following the Show And Prove Super Bowl: “I was trying something new. I was trying to deejay and rhyme [at the same time] and the people are like ‘What the hell?’” The people in the crowd looked like ‘Well, we saw dudes just stand there and deejay. We saw dudes just rap. We’re looking for somebody to deejay and rap at the same time’”
On DJs becoming producers: “I think that one comes with the other. Once you DJ, it’s like ‘Yo, get on the drum machine.’ It’s like A to B. That’s progression. All the DJs I know -- every DJ that I know -- started touching that drum machine.”
On when he started deejaying: “I was out in Maryland on Summer vacation and I heard “The Show” [by Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh] on the radio. It was Slick Rick. I had heard of Slick Rick but once I heard "The Show" I was like ‘Oh, he got a record out now’. Once I heard that, I just picked up a pen and started writing a rhyme. I was [probably] 15 [years old when I started writing rhymes] but I was already with the records since I was like 4 [years old].”
On why he’s garnered respect over the years: “I realized that this is something that comes from nothing and I always keep that in heart. Hip-Hop [comes with] no training. You can’t be trained. Now, they can train you with deejay scratching and everything. But I come from the time where there was no training and you had to have your own niche. I always carry that with me and I always show the Hip-Hop community love and it reciprocates. The love I show the Hip-Hop community is through personal and through the music. I let them know that ‘I love Hip-Hop and I love y’all and I want y’all to have something to rock to.”
On rocking with the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival: “Brooklyn all day. Brooklyn all day. This is like my third or fourth one. They get me to cut, deejay or something, get me to hit the stage. I love Brooklyn and I love Hip-Hop so why wouldn’t I be a part of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival?”
On upcoming projects: “So much. So much. When you’re on the computer -- and you’re at Google -- and you say ‘what should I look for?’, always remember Large Professor, Large Pro. Just Google me. I’m doing something somewhere on this planet and I’m having fun and just chillin’.”
Raven The Blazin Eurasian catches up with one-half of the legendary Smif-N-Wessun, Tek, out in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
On the importance of DuckDown's 15 Year Anniversary: "Just for the simple fact that it is the 15th year of an independent label that's been putting out good music, good quality music with major artists such as Sean [Price], Blackmoon, 9th Wonder. We got KRS-One on the roster. We just got Pharoahe Monch on the roster. Kidz In The Hall. Cypress Hill albums. Not to mention Smif-N-Wessun, can't forget about them guys. The music is timeless with DuckDown. It's just a family thing and there's not many groups that last together for fifteen years of music. That's a young teenagers life right there. So, you know, it's just a beautiful thing to be able to keep on doing it and still be relevant..."
On industry differences over the past fifteen years: "I would say the only difference is really the music that's being put out today. Compared to back then, there is a whole new sound again. The sounds of the instruments switched up. The production sounds, from a production point of view is different to the ear now. Before I would say you had a little bit more hardcore music or two-step, stand around and neck-snap, beat-boppin' music. Now, it's back to the clubs again. Now you're jerkin' or you're doing whatever other dance you're doing."
On adjusting to a changing fan base: "I mean, you always wanna aim towards the people who started out with you from day one. When I started, we were just talking to the blocks that we were raised on. And now, being able to do that, Dah Shinin' the album has taken us around the world like three or four times, made us be able to do four more albums. Now we're working on our fifth album with Pete Rock, Monumental, and now we definitely have to think outside of the box. We can't just talk to the block anymore. Now we have to talk to the females, we have to talk to the males, we have to talk to the people that's riding, the taxi drivers, the blue collar nine-to-fivers. You know, something for everybody."
On the amount of success achieved over the past 15 years: "When we first started, I didn't even know what the f*ck backgrounds was on a record. I just knew say your verse and come out of the booth. There's no fixing it up, or ad-libing, or double up. And then once we started hooking up with Da Beatminerz, it became something different because they opened our eyes to new ways of recording and making music. Recording in their backyard or in their basement when, rest in peace, their mom was still around. You couldn't smoke in the house. So you know, shit was hectic for a minute. You had to learn to adapt to it. For the most part it worked out beautifully."
On what to expect from Smif-N-Wessun's performance during the 2010 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival: "[We're going to do] some new joints off the Pete Rock/Smif-N-Wessun album, Monumental, be out in September. We're definitely going to kick some of those off."
On what to expect from new album, Monumental: "We have one of the top dopest producers doing the entire album in Pete Rock. So with Pete Rock and Smif-N-Wessun together, there is no other name but Monumental. With the beats he's going to bring and the lyrics we're going to bring, each studio session was just f*cking like magic."
PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE 2010 BROOKLYN HIP-HOP FESTIVAL HEREPURCHASE MUSIC BY SMIF-N-WESSUN HERE
FOR MORE ON SMIF-N-WESSUN AND THE 2010 BHF, VISIT WWW.BKHIPHOPFESTIVAL.COM
Brooklyn Bodega Project Manager Jon Heredia talks with Bodega's Raven the Blazin Eurasian about his background and the upcoming BROOKLYN HIP-HOP FESTIVAL. Jon is able to offer a unique inside view of the Bodega and what makes it great.
Our very own Raven The Blazin Eurasian chops it up with the legendary CL Smooth following his raucous Forever Fresh performance at Southpaw.
On working on upcoming project: "Right now I'm just developing a project, letting it come slowly. I'm not really rushing myself, just letting it go day by day because, like I said, I live my music. So I like to give people something that is me. I don't like to put on a character. I feel the best way to incorporate yourself is to just be yourself. So allowing the music, to allow it to be me may take some time and some living."
Raven The Blazen Eurasian caught up with Kalil Kash, Lyriciss, and MikeFlo following the May Show And Prove. Check the video interviews below and meet each mic titan.
Twenty-one years. Eight albums. Countless live shows. Immeasurable influence.
De La Soul's constantly evolving combination of beats, rhymes and cultural relevance etched its way into Hip Hop history forever ago.
The legacy is intact.
FACT.
Along with the classic jams crafted by Posdnous, Trugoy (Dave), and Maseo over the past two decades, De La's video discography is equally as impressive. From the paradoxical depiction of a rap class teaching aspiring Emcees how to generically pose as Hip Hop artists on "Me Myself and I", to the roller skating themed "Saturday", to the bodaciously bootylicious "Baby Phat" -- every video crafted is equally as cinematic as the songs themselves.
So to celebrate the opening of ticket sales to see the 2010 Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival headlining act, De La Soul, we bring to you Twenty Years of De La Videos.
TICKETS TO THE 2010 BROOKLYN HIP HOP FESTIVAL FEATURING HEADLINER DE LA SOUL ARE ON SALE NOW! CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE.
De La Extras:
TICKETS TO THE 2010 BROOKLYN HIP HOP FESTIVAL FEATURING HEADLINER DE LA SOUL ARE ON SALE NOW! CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE.
