Remember all that madness I was talking months ago, hyping up the recent trend of artists coming together to pool their talents and resources to produce collaborative albums?
Well, simply put, I was wrong about them.
For some odd reason I figured that the union of two separate but very talented musical entities could only result in the highest standard for Hiphop music and lyrics. But I was wrong.
Not only did I see it as an innovative, creative outlet for rappers and Hiphop producers stuck in a genre that is slowly but surely becoming decidedly less creative than its pioneers intended for it to be, but, if done correctly, each project had the serious potential to generate more fans and, perhaps more importantly to the artists themselves, more revenue. But again, I was wrong.
It’s been close to 20 years in the making but last week it was announced that KRS-One has teamed up with Bumpy Knuckles (p/k/a Freddie Foxxx) for Royalty Check, a collaborative album scheduled to be released at the end of this month.
True fans of both artists know that this reunion has been about 20 years in the making since Boogie Down Production’s seminal Sex and Violence album, which featured verses from then-Freddie Foxxx on two of its outstanding tracks. Here’s one of them:
I’ve already discussed at length what a great idea I think it is for so-called old school rappers to pool their talents and resources and go half on an album. KRS must agree with me considering that, if you count this upcoming project, over the past two years he will have dropped five full LPs and one EP created in the same vein:
Not included on that list is KRS's solo EP named Back to the L.A.B. (Lyrical Ass Beating), a brief but noteworthy selection of boom bap beats and rhymes released last summer.
However, among the aforementioned six albums is this month’s Godsville, for which KRS teamed with legendary Bronx beatsmith Showbiz (one half of the classic 90s due Showbiz & A.G.) to create 13 stellar tracks of traditional Hiphop music featuring a rejuvenated-soundingKRS, who reminds listeners that Showbiz is the man responsible for producing his 90s cautionary anthem, Sound of Da Police.
Much like I expect from Royalty Check, Godsville is rife with references to rappers who are watering down real Hiphop music because, as KRS puts it on the song Show Power, “some new jack pushing a new track, I mean his crew’s wack – screw that!”
And, as usual, radio DJs are also in KRS’s crosshairs, reminding them on the same song that “when you was hired you vowed to take the DJ art much higher” but “then you go hired and everything switched/ now the sales department is programming your mix/ they don’t wanna scratch no more, just mix/ they don’t want you to play the raw no more, just mix/ but this can be fixed/ you can grow some balls and tell the PD to his face ‘I quit!’”
Despite the repetition of these lyrical themes from project-to-project, this is what his core fans want to hear from him; it’s also what many non-fans get tired of hearing from him regardless of the accuracy in his message.
Other top songs from Godsville include This Flow, Legendary, Hear Me More, and Another Day (Park Jam Mix), a bonus track that is actually a remix of a song with the same name featured earlier on the album.
Not able to suppress his true battle rapper DNA, in one instance KRS employs what I call the “word association” style of rap in a threatening dig at new, young rappers who are all swag and no substance: “Y’all little rhymes is geegle, 'cause one blast will leave y’all freckle-faced – measles.”
What we love about KRS is that the huge chip on his shoulder that is clearly still growing, keeping KRS just as intolerant of wack MCs and DJs in 2011 as he was in 1986. It is this same consistency in an era of consistently bad Hiphop music that keeps KRS in the conversation of all-time best rappers; it is also this same consistency that has fans more than ready to hear the new album with Bumpy Knuckle.
The Bronx -- also and best known as the birthplace of Hiphop -- in the past few years has made a serious resurgence with new, talented rappers seemingly coming out of nowhere, contributing some high quality beats and rhymes that should not be overlooked.
But while there's enough food in the kitchen for everybody to eat, three Bronx-bred pioneering Hiphoppers in particular want their borough (and the rest of the world) to know that they are still ready, willing and quite able to make the same type of music that once had them at the top of everybody's list of favorite rappers.
A rapper-producer when he first teamed up with AG in 1992, Showbiz put down the mic in 1995 in favor of personifying the Bronx in his music, churning out under appreciated dark and gritty street beats on a regular basis ever since.
So it's only right that he return to the forefront by teaming up with KRS-One for their Godsville album, an outlet that provides each of them a chance to rekindle the flames and chemistry of their past work together as well as create a full length album in the same vein of those collaboration albums that have been finding more and more popularity in and interest from the Hiphop community.
Several songs from the upcoming digital-only release have "leaked" online, providing a glimpse into what to expect from this unlikely duo's album, and so far the results are nothing short of dope.
Check out Improve Myself, which showcases Showbiz's signature steady drums under some muted, regal-sounding horns, all with KRS flowing about the need to stay improving oneself in a variety of ways, but especially when it comes to the music:
And KRS, fresh off last year's release of both an LP and an EP, continues to verbally assault the world and in the process cement his reputation of being the hardest working rapper alive.
But anytime Showbiz's name is mentioned, his main rhyming partner AG is bound to come up in conversation. And this time is no different.
AG has been busy juggling multiple independent musical endeavors, with last year seeing the release of three projects in particular that helped to reestablish him as one of the best, most sincere lyricists that Hiphop has ever had.
And now, as if he hasn't been busy enough, he's back with yet another full length album, Berri TV, due out at some point this month.
(Editor's note: From what I can garner from innumerable listens, the word "berri" is a positive term in AG's parlance. I'm not sure of its derivation or origin, but all indications are that it means something good.)
