Metal Lungies

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Bishop Lamont says Eminem is recording again.

He’s been quiet too long, and he’s got a lot to get off his chest.

But is there a new album coming or is he just recording a bunch of tracks that will end up on a compilation one day? They should’ve asked Bishop when we’ll see Em’s Primo joint.

via Sixshot.com / Hollywood Insider

It’s Lessondary Month at Metal Lungies and what better way to celebrate than reading ML fam Khal’s two interviews with members of the Lessondary?

Last week he talked to Che Grand and this week he interviewed Elucid. Check ’em out and give the man some props for the quality interviews.

Download: Elucid – Cut You Down

Che Grand – Trainspottin (ft.Tanya Morgan)

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DubCNN posted an interview with Wale talking to him about all sorts of topics, most notable thing being  some bits about his upcoming album.

Dubcnn: Which producers can we expect you to work with on your album?
I’ve already done stuff with Just Blaze and Pharrell. Me and Just Blaze are getting close, he’s a real good dude. Pharrell is cool, DJ Toomp, and I got my people from D.C. Best Kept Secret, we did a lot of records together. It’s a lot of people that I’m looking forward to working with, it’s about being able to get with them, that’s a different story. I’d love to get with DJ Premier, but it’s not always easy to get to him.

Dubcnn: Can we expect the album to have the Go Go sound that we’ve been hearing from you?
Yeah, definitely! A lot of Hip-Hop has had Go Go sounds, it’s just that people analyze it a little bit more when it’s coming from me. It’s a lot of live drums and things of that nature on the album.

Dubcnn: Do you have an estimated time frame when we can expect your album to come out?
January!

Read the whole thing at DubCNN.

Full disclaimer: I transcribed a lot of this interview and I write for the site it was conducted for. But I really had to post this excerpt where RZA candidly discusses the problems with the Wu in 2008. If you care about the Wu-Tang Clan, you really should read the whole interview at Nodfactor.

It seems like every few months there’s some random report on the internet about problems within Wu-Tang, and someone in Wu-Tang is upset. Is it just family stuff getting out in the public or are there real issues to be resolved with you guys?

RZA: To be honest with you, it’s both, man. It’s like the family stuff is definitely getting out to the public, and the issues that got to be resolved…everybody got their own manager, everybody got their own lawyer, and they got these motherfuckers that are looking at me like a hamburger. I’m realizing that I don’t make money off of the Wu-Tang Clan, and yeah, crazy…since 2001. The money I’ve been making, I had to clear a whole new career for myself, a whole new input for myself. I was making mega millions at first! Now I’m making a couple million, I got to keep myself balanced, for my own worth. It has nothing to do with Wu-Tang.
And so for the people on the outside looking in, they looking at what RZA’s doing, he’s on that, he’s on this, he must be robbing y’all or something. He must be doing something against them and shit. Not realizing that’s my own hardworking and my own kin. Like I was telling Rae one day, yo nigga, I never got a Wu-Tang warranty check in my life. I never got a warranty check for record sales in my life. But I got a warranty check for fucking Kill Bill, a big one came quick, motherfucker! And why is that? That’s the question.
I don’t know why that is. That’s why I’m letting brothers know that I’m not getting paid off the hard work we did together. When I did 8 Diagrams, I actually put a lot of money, I turned down my own future to get back with the Wu-Tang shit. And then I was the one to go full speed ahead, I did go full speed ahead, but then niggas shot the front. After that, I was like, damn. They sayin’ U-God suing the RZA for a hundred and seventy thousand dollars. You know what? I could never owe you a hundred and seventy thousand dollars. But even if I did owe you a hundred and seventy thousand dollars, U-God, after all these years of millions you made, motherfucka, you gonna come back and bitch about a hundred and seventy thousand dollars?

If you want to be logical, know what I’m saying? I’m the one who gave you, when nobody would sign U-God, I gave him a million dollar fucking deal! And of that million dollar, I put seven hundred thousand that’s in his pocket. And the rest went to making the record [U-God’s debut, Golden Arms Redemption], and I still spent hundreds of thousands on videos for “That’s Gangsta” and “The Bizarre”, and all that. That was on my own label, yo. I could have spent that money on whatever I wanted to spend it on. But he didn’t secure a deal back then, so I’m like, you know what, I’ll give you a deal. Same thing with Cappadonna, he couldn’t secure a deal. I’ll give him a deal with Razor Sharp. Put a record out, put out a gold album, nigga. If he listened to his manager, who was Mike Caruso at the time, he would have fucked around, tried to go to Sony, sign to Sony without me. Put out a record out and sell a 1000 units. Alright then. That same kind of problem goes on in our family, because all the people who are always around us saying…They did the same to me.
My boy in California, he hates Wu-Tang, man. And when I was doing 8 Diagrams, he would always tell me, leave the studio, don’t do this, don’t do this. I couldn’t pay him no fucking mind because he don’t understand the love. If I would have listened to him, we would have had nothing. But I don’t listen to nobody like that when it comes to Wu-Tang. But in that case, some of these brothers would listen to these niggas gassing them up, get ‘em in a fucking courthouse and they’ll pay 500 to 1000 dollars a day in court fees. I’ll pay a 1000 dollars a day in court fees. At the end of the day, no matter who win or lose, the only one who’s a winner is the lawyers. Because these courts are nothing. At the end of the day, when they judged it, the judge is going to go my way anyway, because I got contracts for everything I’m dealing with.
But I ain’t trying to rely on a contract when it comes to my brother. But if we go to court, all we could do is rely on a contract. And there’s not a contract in this industry that’s going to be against the label. [laughs] I don’t make the contracts, that’s how they make ‘em when they give it to us. I tried to sue Sony for Razor Sharp, they took me for $12 million, yo. Probably 15 million, that’s what they got me for. Nothing I could do about it. I sued, I sued, I sent my lawyers in, nobody want to fight with Sony, nigga. You asked about Wu-Tang, that’s the problem with it. There’s third energy, that’s sparking our own energy and making us look at somebody gotta be wrong here, somebody gotta be wrong. Maybe it’s Brother Divine, somebody gotta be doing something wrong here. Nobody is doing something wrong, this industry has been like this since the 60s, homey. It’s very rare that a black artist even makes it 10 years in this business. It’s very rare that hip hop artists make it this far. That we could still be worth money in the first place. And you can ask anybody. I’ve talked to niggas from before, I’ve talked to Redman and De La and all them niggas, when I was talking to them in the early days of hip hop and shit. I talked to everybody, man. I asked them how much they be getting. We was getting top dollar compared to what some of these niggas was getting.
Inspectah Deck got his first album, Redman never got nothing for his albums, as far as dollar advances and shit like that. To realize that we had that kind of advance, and we already selling 50,000 records. You can write that off, it’s not coming back. If I give you a million and you only get a dime a record after deduction and everything, all that shit, from that dollar, you sell 50,000, you gonna owe me. That’s the system.

Juan Ep’s 25th episode.

Bonus: MCA interviewed by Pete & Cipha Sounds

Congrats to Pete & Ciph for making the move to a morning show as well

For those who slept: Juan Epstein 24.

Don’t forget all the podcasts I recommended to you a minute ago either.

In an interview the rapper said: “That record is real it’s coming. You know me, I was starting to doubt it myself and then I went up in there and he played so much music for me it knocked my head off.”

Via MTV UK

Well, I hope he means done as in complete, not done as in scrapped! With no date set, continue listening to the reference track and daydream for now.

Some footage of Talib live and talking about a few things including who he’d like to collaborate with in the future.

Does it frustrate you how the face of popular music and its accompanied art has evolved and lost most artistic credibility? Is it a product of disinterest by the fans or just the commercialization of the whole industry?

JJ: Not really. The classic days of the album cover ended with CDs and videos, and I started long after that. Records and covers have always been products and marketing, if you ignore all the culture involved. I’m in it for the culture though.

Read the rest here.

Jank is one of the nicest cats to ever reach out and contact me about the site. And he’s a really talented, creative artist.

Pictured above: an original sketch by Jank, courtesy of Flickr user Lelo**

It’s the summertime, and Pete Rock’s production has never sounded better. All I feel like doing these days is breaking out The Main Ingredient and chilling in the sun. So I’ve compiled a list of links related to the great producer.

Flood has a dope mix of Pete instrumentals, ’92-’94, which he rightfully proclaims as the producer’s golden period. If it’s warm where you are, get an iced tea and listen to this in the sun.

Dan at From Da Bricks has a shorter mix, blending Pete productions with original samples and interviews with Soul Brother #1. Click the link for the full track listing. (zshare link)

Bonus: Rafi clowns blog readers in a post linking to the mix. The comments are golden.

Robbie interviews Pete

Cipha Sounds goes behind the boards with the Chocolate Boy Wonder on Shade 45

Pete Rock guests on Juan Epstein

Kurupt rips a Pete treat. Yessir!

Via Killah Beast

I remember reading about these tapes a while ago but never got to hear them. Shouts to KB for uploading them, since we at ML are suckers for Premier mixes.

Download Tape A of Crooklyn Cuts.

The first tape is actually missing the last three tracks on the b-side, which I’ve bolded. I’ve upped a sampler track from the first tape. Listen to Premo cutting lovely over East Flatbush Project’s classic “Tried By 12”

A1. DJ Premier – Intro
A2. M.O.P. – Anticipation
A3. Royal Flush – Worldwide
A4. Busta Rhymes – Live To Regret
A5. Hillfiguz – Too Many Suckas
A6. Ghostface ft.Cappadonna & Raekwon – Camay
A7. East Flatbush Project & DeS – Tried By 12
A8. All City – Who Dat
A9. PMD – Leave Your Style Cramped
A10. Natural Resource – Bum Deal
A11. Mr. Voodoo – Shine
B1. Nine – Every Man 4 Himself
B2. Gauge – Cranium
B3. Al Tariq – Think Not
B4. Sadat X – The Interview
B5. De La Soul , Mos Def & Enoll – Stakes Is High (Remix)
B6. Money Boss Players – Walk With A Limp
B7. Mobb Deep – Hell On Earth
B8. Nas – Freestyle
B9. Nonchalant & KRS-One – People Time

Peep Killah’s spot for links to download the rest.

And just because I like “Tried By 12” so much, here’s some bonus beats:

The video for “Tried By 12”:

K-Os freestyling over the beat:

FDB interviews Spencer Bellamy of the East Flatbush Project