ALSO CHECK OUT: AZ – “Save Them” Feat. Raekwon & Prodigy (RIP)

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The post RESPECT. Interview: AZ Talks Past, Present and Future appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

It was only a matter of time before one of the dopest turntable titans, DJ Rhude, got back on his grizzly to hit us with one a perfect blend of the Nas’ “The Season” and the version flipped earlier today by his rapping cohort AZ. Check the rhyme and how dope it sounds with the AZ lines as a feature. Let’s get this collab album going!!

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Judging from the picture above, with Nas’ brother Jungle standing, Nas writing and AZ inspecting some work, it wouldn’t be far fetched to think that a project with these two is being cooked up. Could a new set up of The Firm be in the works? We can only pray so.

The post New Music: AZ “The Season” prod. J Dilla appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

RESPECT.: Your last album was five years ago. How does it feels to be back since your last album?

Cormega: I feel like my album was needed in this industry. It was necessary in today’s rap industry. When I made my last album, I was just trying to be creative and put together a good album and show a bit of growth but on this one I feel like it was necessary. It’s like the genre is being taken for a joke, so I just wanted to come out with something real.

Tell us about the concept of the album.

Initially when I was making the album, there was no concept. I just love working with Large Professor. He is one of my favorite producers so when I get an opportunity to work with him I tend to capitalize on that. I think the first song we made for the album was “Industry.” When we made the demo it stuck with me. Also, the subject matter was consistent with my mind state. After that, every song I was making for the album had to be at that level and nothing less. In this genre, people think they know you better than you know yourself; they like to put you in the box. But this is the album where I wanted to show everyone that there is more to me as an artist than what they think they know about me.

Do you feel you were doing that because you wanted to make an album that was more honest and real?

No, I was trying to do that from my first album. When I put out The Realness there was vulnerability and honesty stated on it because it was like my first step into the industry and after that I put out The True Meaning and the rest of my albums I felt now it was about legacy. When people call me a legend, it makes me feel very uncomfortable because I feel like I don’t deserve it. People who are considered legends have put out so much work and I haven’t put out an album in five years. People who are legends have put in so much more work and have elevated into a different place. This album now is about my legacy because this is the most refined album out of all of them.

You have Raekwon, AZ, Redman and few more artists on this album. How was it like creating music with them?

To have them on this album was really important. Like I said, I’m fighting for my genre and these guys are the champions at it. I’ve been on tour with these guys before and I respect all of them. You’re talking about the three of the dopest spitters. Two of them are all about spitting lyrics in their particular style. So that was symbolic for me to have them on my album. It was important for me to have Nature on my album too. People know our past. The beautiful thing about me and Nature is we showed growth. Today, nobody can ask me about Nature because me and him did a grown up thing and put our differences to the side. We did shows together and now we have a song together so that was important. The song with Raekwon was important. I had to have a song in there that was a bit edgy and the Raekwon song was perfect. Like I said, I wanted this album to be worldly so I have this singer from Zimbabwe. Like, everyone on my album is a fighter. Usually people get features from big artists to sell their album, but everyone on my album is underrated.

Was there a specific track that you enjoyed making more than the others?

The intro to the album is crazy to me. That wasn’t even the intro there was a different version. When I played that for people they be like, “Rewind that one more time.” Also the song “More”and “MARS.” The song “More” took me in a different round as an artist. “More” is like, “Wow I didn’t even know Cormega could go there. “ There is going to be lot of people who would say I didn’t even know he could go there with that song so that’s why I like that song. I like the song “Home” it has lot jewels in that song. I think lot of girls going to like that song. It has a certain feel to it. This album is definitely for the thinker.

Mega Philosophy is due to release on the 22nd. How are you feeling about the release?

I’m definitely still nervous, but I’m not as nervous as I was before. It is still a good feeling. Here is the thing: when I used to put out a song and I thought it was the shit, it would get mixed reaction. Most of the time Cormega songs are like a good feel and gets consistent, good feedback. There were times that I would do a feature with people and I might think that song is incredible and then the feedback comes back and its like ehh. Like 60/40. I recently did song with this artist and I sent it to my publicist and my publicist was like ehh, but I thought the song was dope, but that’s something you have to fear sometimes. So when I put out “Industry” and I saw people peek and got the feedback and saw them clean up their plates and ask for more it made me feel a bit better. I know lot of artists in the industry sometimes put out their best song and when their album comes out, it’s mediocre compared to what they put out before. I don’t think I’m going to have that problem.

If you could tell your fans one thing about Mega Philosophy that they could only get from you, what would it be?

This is the closest you will be to Cory. All those years you got to listen to Cormega, now you get to hear the real me. When I put out The Realness that shit was made out of anger because i was upset with the label and wanted to speak my thoughts and about the conflicts I had with other rappers. I was just venting on that album. Then when I put out The True Meaning that was after me trying to prove the media and everybody wrong who didn’t want to give me my props even though The Realness was one of the most successful albums. On this album I’m not trying to prove to anything to anyone. This album is for the legacy, for the fans and listeners. So this is the closest your going to get to Cormega as an artist. That’s what I would tell the fans.

The post Interview: Cormega Talks New Album, Changing Hip Hop & More appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Rae enjoyed himself without ever letting the energy or grit diminish. He put together a rugged set of classics from his and the Wu‘s catalogs (“Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothin’ To Fuck With,” “C.R.E.A.M.,” “Ice Cream,” “Incarcerated Scarfaces,”) and performed them all with polish, only occasionally stumbling over a word and cutting the track. Whenever he took a moment out to speak to the crowd, it was to say something genuine and genuinely confusing, if only because Rae seemed too overjoyed and lost in his work to really worry about making sense. “Tonight…even if it’s today, it’s tonight,” he said at one point, getting a good laugh out of everyone left wondering what he initially was going to say. Later, he said “You know, you go to the South, they party, they have fun, but New York…New York we more like we-we-we visual. It’s a lot of shit going on, life is in front of us! We talk about struggle man, this is real struggle on wax! Pay attention!” It’s that kind of narrow focus that it takes to think that there’s more “life” in NY than other places that has kept Raekwon so detail oriented and sharp for over 20 years. It’s the trapped-in-the-’90s mindset it takes to think the South is all parties that has kept Raekwon Raekwon.

Raekwon thinking, “This beat is disgusting.”

Rae rapped nearly ever classic joint with the urgency that they packed 20 years ago. Scram called the crowd’s attention to Rae’s performance of “Triumph” in particular–“This man just did 8 rappers’ verses!” 20 years ago, however, not everyone in the crowd knew just about every bar; Rae was lucky enough to catch a breath every few rhymes as the crowd was well-initiated and served as a strong hypeman for most of the show. The only other help The Chef enlisted was a handful of alley-oop guest verses and less spectacular guest performances. Masta Killa notably came out for “Glaciers Of Ice,” keeping all of the Wu songs from being all-Rae affairs. With all the trouble going on in Shaolin, it’s good to know Rae and the Killa are still cool. AZ came out the verse from Illmatic. The crowd nearly lost their voices rapping the iconic bars along with the Brooklyn-born old timer. “Life’s A Bitch” was particularly special to hear live, to hear chanted with such ferocity, because it is remembered and loved above all else for its wisdom. There’s very little slick talk and no punch lines; it is simply a verse of tenacious intellect, and AZ certainly did it justice.When Raekwon brought Lil Fame out on stage, it was initially just to show due respect to another “Brooklyn real one” and M.O.P. in general. However, the sly DJ Scram Jones let loose those iconic opening horns of “Ante Up” just as Fame was waddling away from the stage, and, as Raekwon noted, you can tell Fame is a true MC, because at that sound, he jumped into gear. After a momentary delay to laugh, Fame ripped into “Ante Up,” and the crowd lost their collective shit. There hadn’t been much recklessness during the day before this, but something about the “Oh! Oh!” chant of the hook jolted everyone alive. True to the grit this year’s festival was based off of, it seemed that in that moment, everyone was more excited to see Lil Fame than they were to see Jay Z. (It should be noted that this is the 2nd year in a row Fame has made a surprise “Ante Up” appearance at the festival).
Troy Ave got a medium-strong welcome, performing the extremely appropriate “New York City,” featuring a Raekwon making an always-valid claim at continued relevance and ability. That momentum was lost, however, when Troy performed “Your Style.” The song was introduced as a “radio hit” but no one in the crowd knew the words or seemed interested in them. Due even more so to the weak and quietly played beat, this might have been the worst-received moment of the day.
Unfortunately, the show closed with Papoose. Even though “Current Events” was just about the least currently popping song to take the BHFX crowd home with, they did have the consolation of knowing they’d seen one of the most consistent rappers of all time rock (with incredible consistently), as well as seeing him cosign a song so extremely of-the-moment that it was surreal to see it performed on such a big stage: Bobby Shmurda‘s “Hot Nigga.” It was a strange link, but one that showed that even the most tooth-and-nail spitters of his and all generations knows how to just have a good time.

Photos by RESPECT.’s Julia Schur.

The post Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival: Raekwon feat. AZ, Lil Fame, Masta Killa, Troy Ave, Papoose (Photos & Review) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Dallas’ upcoming album Falling into Place, is due out this fall.

The post New Music: David Dallas ft. Freddie Gibbs – “My Mentality” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

It’s been a long time coming for AZ, but he’s back with the first single from his upcoming album. “We Movin”, produced by Statik Selektah proves that AZ still has it. He raps effortlessly over a soulful track that takes will take you back to the early 90s. Doe or Die II is slated to drop later this year, and hopefully it can live up to his 1995 debut album “Doe or Die”. Maybe we’ll even be treated to a Nas collaboration on the album. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for that one. For now, just enjoy the track below.

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