Metal Lungies

ML was so taken by the beat-downs and property destruction in Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx’s video for “Nobody” that we called up Marco to get the scoop. He explains the inspiration for the video and dishes on his future projects.

ML: The two major themes I noticed in the video were wanton destruction and just walking around town being assholes. How did you guys come up with this?

MP: It’s almost like we took some inspiration from the original Redman promo from… was it 95? Google that shit. That was definitely the inspiration for this video. We just wanted to do something different. Ruste is a street dude. He’s not in this new hipster rapper circle, he’s from Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He has a story. It was something I thought made sense for him. We wanted to do something unique, because there’s so many videos that come out, it’s like what’s gonna make your shit stand out and set yourself apart.

ML: Did you picture any of this when you actually made the song?

MP: A little bit of it. Definitely the shoving and stuff, like when he’s knocking people over and stuff like that. I could never have pictured how all the effects would come out. Todd [Angkasuwan], the director, really went it in on the effects and took a lot of time making shit explode and all the people getting thrown around and smashing windows. I kind of thought it would look like that, but the final product was just great.

ML: I think what makes the video so funny is that you’re not really being rap tough guys, you’re just walking around town being assholes, kind of like the part of Fight Club where Brad Pitt tells them to go start a fight with a stranger.

MP: That’s exactly what it is, ’cause I’m not a tough guy. This is straight entertainment for me. People that know me know I’m not a tough guy, I’m not gonna hurt a fly, but we were trying to do some entertaining shit.

ML: I remember when we were trying to get you on our April Fool’s joke, you said, ‘No one would believe I’d harm anyone,’ but here you are tossing grenades around and slapping people in the face.

MP: I think that’s the funny shit. People know I’m not like that. Everyone loves a slap. People fucking love me slapping that dude in the video. That shit is hilarious.

ML: Whose idea was it to make the kids cheer when you slapped that guy?

MP: Kids get excited when they see someone get slapped. It’s the message of life.

ML: You worked with Todd before on the “Double Barrel” video. How did you originally decide to work with him?

MP: 100% Duck Down. They set up the “Double Barrel” video. Me and Torae had a little bit of a Los Angeles California run with shows, so while we were going down there, Duck Down was like ‘You have this off day and we have this director and he wants to shoot the video.” We were like, “Cool.” After Todd did that video and how we did that video and how dope it came out, he has won me over as my go-to guy. So when it was time to do the Ruste album, I was like, ‘We’re using Todd, we have to.’ And I plan on using him for whatever my next videos are as well.

ML: The special effects are pretty impressive. I imagine as an indie artist you have a relatively smaller budget for videos. Your videos are always pretty polished. Is there a secret to making great videos with a budget or do other indie rappers just suck at it?

MP: Put it this way, Todd pulled that video out of his ass. We have the same type of small budget that we’ve always had. So Todd is just a master of stretching things out and making it work. It’s just ultimate, ultimate respect for Todd for making that happen.

ML: The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo is your next release, but that’s a compilation. So what are you actually working on at the moment?

MP: Port Authority 2.

ML: All your efforts are going toward that right now.

MP: Hell yeah. Right now what I’m working on is that album, I’m working with Pharoahe [Monch] on his album, and I’m working with Scarface on his album. PA2 all day and it’s going to take a minute, but it’s going to be my pride and joy. It’s going to be my underground Detox.

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Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx – The eXXecution is out now

This has high school dance written all over it.

In stark contrast to the trance anthem Block Beattaz gave Jackie Chain, “Impossible” is a forlorn and dejected look at success from the perspective of an underground rapper.

Given a versatile production outfit (Block Beattaz is one, not sure if there are more under the radar) and a ring of talented, charismatic artists, Alabama could storm hip-hop with a series of great releases like Detroit did just recently. Yelawolf’s Interscope push should help.

Download: G-Side – Impossible (ft. Geographer & Jhi Ali) (produced by Block Beattaz)

via Dirty Glove Bastard

TiRon pens a love letter to Chicago over Oddisee’s amazing synth and piano combo. This and Oddisee’s joint for Finale demonstrate Oddisee’s ability to incorporate elaborate arrangements with live instruments without sounding overproduced.

via oddisee

Another dope cut off Distant Relatives. This time Nas ponders human existence and knowledge. Hopefully these dark and pensive tracks will outweigh the corny on the final album.

Guilty Simpson is the underground Busta Rhymes when it comes to collaborations. In this case, Guilty lent some bars to Paul White’s “Ancient Treasure” for a 12″ that will come with the deluxe version of the album Paul White & The Purple Brain, which is some nasty neo-psych rock. Guilty’s monotone beat down never fails.

Download: Paul White – Ancient Treasure (ft. Guilty Simpson)

via Stones Throw Records

K.R.I.T. raps and produces an entire album of deep south soul sampled hip-hop. Big K.R.I.T. rep Goodtalk told DJ Booth, “We dug deep into the crates for the music/movie samples! The first person who can tell us which samples we used we will get $1,000 cash and a pan of Jonny Shipes famous brownies.” That sounds like a challenge. Have at it, Internet.

Update: Def Jam re-released this as a commercial album.

Here’s a leftover from Homeboy Sandman’s The Good Sun, which comes out June 1. Homeboy Sandman is an amazing underground MC who doesn’t get his due props. Dude sounds like Jay Electronica’s eccentric cousin.

Download: Homeboy Sandman – Bonkers (ft. Pack FM) / (Clean)

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The man of the hour Jay Electronica pays homage to The Notorious B.I.G. over a very “Death of Auto-Tune” sounding beat. Everyone is clamoring for this guy to put out an album, but would that really be better than a slow trickle of singles? Somehow, I feel like an album wouldn’t really makes sense for Mr. Electronica. His current format works pretty well for him.

Diddy shit talks for  more than three minutes at the end.

Fuckin’ broke ass bloggin’ fuckin’ faggot motherfuckers…

Does this mean no more DIDDY BLOGS??? Also, how’s 808s & Heartbreak 2.0 coming along?

Download: Jay Electronica – Ghost of Christopher Wallace (ft. Diddy) (produced by Quincey Tones)

via Nah Right

Expensive cars, women of the night, and Puff Daddy. All the elements of a classic rap video. Hang on to the audio.