Play | The Rhapsody Editorial Music Blog

Q&A: The Knux

After listening to fraternal duo the Knux’s Remind Me in 3 Days…, the last place you'd guess Kintrell “Krispy Kream” Lindsey and Alvin “Rah Amillio” Lindsey are from is New Orleans East, part of the city’s rugged Ninth Ward neighborhood. Their self-produced debut, which was recorded in a mini-mansion in the Hollywood Hills, paints a hilarious portrait of young Hollywood, reflected in songs like “Daddy’s Little Girl,” an amusing ditty about rich, spoiled socialites, and the self-explanatory “Powder Room.” The Knux also play a bunch of instruments including the keys, horns, guitars, bass and drums. Along the way, they have managed to do what that whole rap-rock subgenre could never quite do: combine credible, spitfire lyrics with hard, rock-influenced beats. Rhapsody got the two brothers on the phone to talk about the insignificance of MySpace friends, working with Jay Electronica, and their feelings on Lil Wayne’s elementary guitar solos.

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

Q&A: T.I.

by Toshitaka Kondo

Everyone faces adversity, T.I. just faces it at very inopportune times. 2003's "Rubber Band Man," his breakout hit, brought him to the cusp of superstardom -- and then he was jailed for probation violations. He bounced back with a starring role in the movie ATL and "What You Know,” the huge first single from the critically acclaimed King. However, adversity struck again when his best friend Philant Johnson was murdered in front of him during a shootout on a Cincinnati, Ohio, highway after a concert afterparty. Again, he came back, going platinum in 2007 with T.I. Vs. T.I.P., winning a Grammy for an appearance on Justin Timberlake’s “My Love,” and landing a General Motors endorsement deal. In late 2007, he was faced with his biggest challenge, catching a federal weapons charge that threatened to keep him in jail for up to 30 years. After working out a plea deal that calls for 1500 hours of community service and a (postponed) year in jail, T.I. showed resiliency with the recently released, introspective Paper Trail. The album moved an impressive 568,000 copies its first week and spawned the first two number one songs of T.I.'s career: “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life,” featuring Rihanna. Rhapsody got the King on the phone to get his thoughts on addressing Philant on Paper Trail, ending his feud with Shawty Lo, and the comments Jim Jones recently made about him.

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

Rhap Session: Devin the Dude

A 15-year career in hip-hop is hard to come by. But longevity is not the only thing that makes Devin the Dude, nee Devin Copelan, a rarity. Instead of tired gangsta clichés and hard posturing, the Houston native is an architect of vivid, humorous, laidback -- and at times self-deprecating -- tales on the joys of drugs, liquor and ladies. He became the breakout member of the Odd Squad, a group he initially signed with on Rap-A-Lot Records in the early '90s, after singing the hook on Scarface’s “Hand of a Dead Body.” Subsequent efforts like The Dude and Just Tryin’ Ta Live were critically acclaimed, but commercially neglected. Yet, he built up a loyal fanbase and finally rose to national attention after appearing on Dr. Dre’s classic, “F*ck You," from Dre 2001. Since, he has maintained his status as an underground favorite thanks to slept-on classics like “What a Job” featuring Snoop and André 3000. Landing Gear is his fifth solo album -- and first since leaving his longtime home at Rap-A-Lot. Rhapsody caught up with him to talk about the Houston rap scene, almost getting kicked off Dr. Dre’s Up in Smoke Tour, and being in the studio with Tupac.

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Big Boi on Too $hort

In celebration of VH1's Hip-Hop Honors show (which airs Monday, October 6 at 10 p.m. ET), Rhapsody talked to a variety of contemporary artists about this year's honorees. Here's Sir Lucious Left Foot, Big Boi, on Too $hort.

My uncles were in the military so they used to get stuff from all around the world.  I remember my uncles came back with Too $hort. They were my idols and I used to love what they were doing. Being in the military, they were still some street cats, too. My Uncle Trick and I just thought [Too $hort’s music] was the most fascinating thing ever, [raps] “Cuss words, just let ‘em flow, motherf*ck*n' sh*t b*tch god damn *ssh*l*.” It was the most filthiest mouth I ever heard. I was only like 10 years old, but I was like, “Okay, I’m f*ck*ng with him.” That’s what brought me and Dre [André 3000] together, our taste in music. We was and still are on Too $hort. We liked everything from Tribe to Leaders of the New School. [My favorite Too $hort album] gotta be that Life Is … Too $hort because it was the hardest one. That was the first one that I got introduced to. The beats and all the sh*t he was talkin’ about was for real from the whole Bay Area and how he came up. He was just so cool, like, “Damn, that’s a motherf*ck*r that I want a ride home from school with.” That’s an O.G. cat that’ll sit there and smoke a j with you and say some new sh*t.

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring Too $hort and other artists discussed in this interview.]

2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Joe Budden on Naughty By Nature

In celebration of VH1's Hip-Hop Honors show (which airs Monday, October 6 at 10 p.m. ET), Rhapsody talked to a variety of contemporary artists about this year's honorees. Here's New Jersey's Joe Budden on Naughty By Nature.

Joe Budden: I first got familiar with them with “O.P.P.” When it came out, I was in Queens, and shortly after, I moved to New Jersey. I wasn’t even thinkin’ about [them reppin’] New Jersey [at that time], it was just, “Damn, this sh*t is crazy.” I would hear it all up and down Farmers Boulevard. Everybody was bumpin’ “O.P.P.” But once “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” hit, I was hooked. [What caught my attention was] the music, the message, what Treach brought to the track, and the things he was talkin’ about. I’m a big fan of hip-hop, rebelling, puttin’ your foot down, and standin’ strong in whatever you believe in. To be able to put that record out as a single and have it do so well, as gritty as it was, and with all the commercial attention they were receiving at the time, it was dope. It was definitely one of my favorite hip-hop songs ever.

“Guard Your Grill” is probably my favorite record off [their '91 self-titled] album. That sh*t was just crazy. I stole that album from a friend of mine, B-Wise. He was the biggest, biggest Treach and 2Pac fan. He was pretty upset about it, too. He was lookin’ for it and I told him, “I took it that last time I was at your crib.” B-Wise was a rapper, too. He used to recite Treach’s lines and try to make me understand how ill he was, so maybe that’s one of the reasons “Guard Your Grill” is my favorite joint. 

2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Devin the Dude on Slick Rick

In celebration of VH1's Hip-Hop Honors show (which airs Monday, October 6 at 10 p.m. ET), Rhapsody talked to a variety of contemporary artists about this year's honorees. Here's Houston's Devin the Dude on Slick Rick.

Devin the Dude: When I first heard “La Di Da Di," it was a wrap. KTSU would play new hip-hop every Saturday morning. They were the first ones who played a lot of new hip-hop. I remember when it first came out, Jazzy Red and the DJs at KTSU like Marcus Love would get it while it was hot. ... The beatboxin’ from Doug E. Fresh [caught my attention] the very first time I heard it. I didn’t know what to pay attention to, the beatbox or the rap. When you tried to listen to the beat box, then Slick Rick hit this high pitched voice havin’ fun with the rhymes so it forced you to go back over to it. Every time you heard it, you laughed, danced, and at the end, it had a storyline. A lot of rap didn’t have storylines back then, but Slick Rick was real good at that. Anybody can just say they’re a story teller, but there’s an art to it and he figured it out. He should be credited for creatin’ a story that you can definitely see in your mind just by words. I was breakdancin’ at the time and I was considering rap, but he was one of the artists, if not the most influential, in [making me] say, “Hey, I want to do this.”

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the artists discussed in this post.]

2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: DJ Drama on De La Soul

In celebration of VH1's Hip-Hop Honors show (which airs Monday, October 6 at 10 p.m. ET), Rhapsody talked to a variety of contemporary artists about this year's honorees. Here's Mr. Thanksgiving, DJ Drama, on De La Soul.

DJ Drama: I remember when motherf*ck*n’ “Me, Myself and I” first dropped. I think seeing the video was the first time I really [was exposed to De La Soul]. Clearly, they were a little different. It became known as the D.A.I.S.Y. Age. They may have gone over a lot of people’s heads, but when you go back and listen to them, they were groundbreaking. They were a little eccentric, eclectic, and it was something interesting. I liked their sound. You couldn’t pinpoint it. It didn’t sound like anything else. As far as an album goes, the way their album was put together was groundbreaking at the time because, nobody had really did like skits back then, so they really kind of introduced that to the game. I’ve been a fan of De La ever since.

Rhap Session: Young Jeezy

by Toshitaka Kondo

The recession may be in full swing, but Young Jeezy is livin’ good. His first two albums, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 and The Inspiration, served as tutorials in gettin’ money and achieving success and made him a platinum trap star. His appearance on Usher’s number one single “Love in this Club” this year made him a pop star. But Jeezy isn’t one to gloat. His third album, The Recession, which debuted at number one on Soundscan, is a heartfelt effort urging people to not give up at a time when gas prices, the war in Iraq and the U.S. economy has everyone feeling uneasy. A day after being chauffeured onto the 2008 VMA red carpet by a driver in a John McCain mask, Rhapsody got the outspoken Obama supporter on the phone to talk about meeting Michael Phelps, questions he doesn’t like being asked during interviews, and Sarah Palin.

Q&A: Kardinal Offishall

by Toshitaka Kondo

 

Kardinal Offishall is quite the paradox. He's been a heavyweight with music industry insiders for years but he remained largely unknown to the masses despite minor hits like “Bakardi Slang” and “Ol’ Time Killin’” from his 2001 debut, Quest for Fire: Firestarter. The Toronto native’s bellowing voice and unique style of spittin’ in English and Jamaican patois made fans of producers he’s worked with like Pharrell and Timbaland, and superstars that tried to ink him like Jay-Z and Akon, whose Konvict Music he eventually signed with. Kardinal was finally catapulted into the spotlight when he dropped the Akon-assisted 2008 summer anthem “Dangerous,” which reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100. With his sophomore album, Not 4 Sale, about to drop, Rhapsody caught up with Kardinal to talk about what “Dangerous” has meant to his career, the difficulties he faces as a Canadian rapper, and the circumstances under which suing can be ill-advised.

Q&A: Immortal Technique and DJ Green Lantern

by Toshitaka Kondo

(left, Immortal Technique; right, DJ Green Lantern)

When a rapper goes on a long hiatus between releases, it’s usually due to a creative block, troubles with their label or with the law. But for Peru-born, Harlem-raised Felipe “Immortal Technique” Coronel, he simply took a break from the game to live out his beliefs. After independently pushing over 120,000 copies of his first two releases Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and establishing himself as a sharp-witted, politically-minded underground king, Immortal Technique became involved with various charities and organizations, and began buidling an orphanage in Afghanistan. Thankfully for thirsty fans, he and New York native James “DJ Green Lantern” D’Agostino (they met at a High Times conference in 2004) have teamed up on The 3rd World, a collaboration that’s also Immortal Technique’s first album in five years. While on the Rock the Bells tour, Immortal Technique and Green Lantern checked in with Rhapsody to discuss working together, issues facing the old neighborhood, and the Rick Ross-corrections officer controversy.