Nas "It Was Written" (July 2, 1996) + Daily News Interview

Although it's only 20 minutes from midtown, most New Yorkers have probably never been to Queensbridge. But for hip-hop fans, the projects on the edge of Long Island City are a musical landmark. Queensbridge is where old-school stars Marley Marl and MC Shan (who immortalized it in 1986's classic "The Bridge") got their start. More recently, Queensbridge has been home to the critically acclaimed hard-core group Mobb Deep. But in 1996, the undisputed king of Queensbridge is a soft-spoken 22-year-old who was born Nasir Jones but who's known as Nas. Right now, he's also known as the rapper with the No. 1 album in the country for the past three weeks. Standing near an entrance to the projects, Nas remembers the many friends he lost to prison and random violence while he lived there. His younger brother was shot, but lived. "It was a survival game, growing up out here," he says. "Me just still being here (alive) is a blessing." Even though Nas left Queensbridge more than four years ago for the 'burbs in Nassau County, he's been making the 20-minute ride from Manhattan an awful lot these days, bringing with him camera crews and reporters. The media have come to the projects because Nas is the rapper of the moment. His sophomore CD, "It Was Written," hit stores July 2, debuting at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 after selling more than 60,000 copies in one day. Even more remarkable, Nas has stayed at No. 1 for three weeks, beating out more established acts like Metallica. Cont'd + revisit It Was Written by Nas while reading below....

Modesty is not a strong suit for most rappers, but Nas is amazed. "I never thought this would happen. I never cared about being No. 1 on the charts; I was just concerned about 'Was the street gonna like my music?' But when all this..." Nas exhales. "Man! That turned on a new light in my head. It was a good feeling." To some, Nas seems like an overnight sensation, but the hip-hop community anointed him a few years ago, when, as a teenager, he cameoed on Main Source's "Live at the BBQ." That guest spot led to his hooking up with yet another kid from Queens, 3rd Bass' MC Serch. Nas kicked rhymes on the "Zebrahead" soundtrack and then landed a solo deal. Filled with edgy, complex lyrics, 1994's "Illmatic" went gold after being hailed by both the rap and mainstream press as one of hip-hop's most important albums. Where that album dealt more with the violence of the streets, "It Was Written" deals more with the solutions. The LP is more mature lyrically and has a more commercially viable sound, thanks to the presence of guest musicians like Lauryn Hill of the Fugees and producers like Dr. Dre.  To some, the presence of the lead singer for one of '96 hottest acts may seem like a savvy career move, but in fact Nas was better known at the time "It Was Written" was being recorded. Still, in retrospect, it seems like Nas has had a flair for networking. Asked about his music-biz strategy, Nas says: "I want my career to look like something that gradually grew from rags to riches. I want my thing to look like a story. You have a lot of rappers that are here today, gone tomorrow..." ... "It Was Written" chronicles the struggles of young black men and the choices they make. Choices that Nas made, as well. "All the time," he says. "But I always knew that the ghetto world was small and that there was so much happening outside of it that I couldn't limit myself. I always wanted to be more than just a lowlife. I mean," he squints as the sun beams down on Queensbridge," life is what you make it. There's no excuses." - NY Daily News (July 25, 1996).

Rest In Beats, Big L (Daily News, 1999)

Adoring fans, friends mourn slain rapper: A rising rap star was mourned yesterday in his Harlem neighborhood, two days after he was gunned down three blocks from his home. Big L, whose real name was Lamont Coleman, was struck by nine bullets in the face and chest Monday night at 139th St. and Lenox Ave. -- a corner featured on the cover of his latest single, "Ebonics." Police said they don't know why Big L was killed, adding that the slaying didn't seem to have anything to do with a feud between East and West Coast rap factions. "Everything points to him being a good kid," said one detective. "We have no suspects, no motives." To his fans, Big L was a legend in the underground rap world, acclaimed by hip hop magazines The Source and Vibe, and dubbed the "King of Harlem World Hip Hop." Big L's mother, Gilda Terry, said she had no idea how big a rap star her son was until people from all over the world called to console her. "People have called from Japan, Switzerland, Croatia," Terry said yesterday, wearing a T-shirt with her son's grinning image and rap moniker. Big L may have talked tough in his lyrics, his friends and family said, but he was a quiet, humble man at heart. His mother said she found her son's journal, opened to his latest poem, on his bed. He was scribbling poetry in it minutes before he died. In one song, "MVP," he rapped: "If rap was a game, I'd be MVP / Most valuable poet." Yesterday, posters of Big L and cardboard signs with scrawled condolences covered a wall near the corner where he died. Flowers and candles were piled on the sidewalk as mourners prayed at the curb. "His music was 'buttah,' it was real nice," said Javon Francis, 12. "He was dumb cool with everyone," said Jarrell Richardson, 11. "Even though he was famous." The rapper was signed to Columbia Records while he was still in high school. His first album, "Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous," was released in 1995, prompting two world tours. Last year, he came back to New York and started his own label, Flamboyant (Fat Beats). He also worked as a producer and writer for other labels, such as Wu-Tang Records. He will appear in an October Films release, "Boricua's Bond." "What was surprising about this brother was that he was a somebody and I was a nobody, but he helped me," said Shyheim, a rapper whose album "Manchild" will be released on Wu Tang this month. "He will be missed." - Daily News (Feb. 18, 1999). Rest in eternal Peace, Big L.

Mobb Deep "The Infamous" (New York Daily News, 1995)

It's a telling tale for rap duo Mobb Deep. Out of the rugged, raw South Queensbridge Houses, Prodigy and Havoc come to the world of hip hop with a message of survival in the 'hood. They do not arrive with candy-coated tales of living large. They deliver narration that spins tales of survival as they roll through the urban jungle. Their defense: it's their reality. "I've seen people get killed, my best man. Young kids is murderers, going out there and killing kids for selling crack on their corners," says 20-year old Prodigy, aka Chaka Johnson. "It's nothing, like, spectacular about it. You can say, 'Dag, he's 20 years old -- how could he go through that?' A lot of us do. There are a lot of 20-year olds just like me -- they just don't know how to put it in words." So Mobb Deep did it for them. Barely legal and with an album already to their credit, Mobb Deep enter with their sophomore album, "The Infamous," an ice-cold portrait of life in the darkest corners of NYC. Mobb Deep's truth comes to the music via the South Queensbridge Houses, where Havoc grew up. Havoc still lives there, and vows to stay. Prodigy's mom sent him to live with his grandmother on Long Island at age 15 after he was arrested for selling drugs near his childhood home in the Lefrak City complex. Prodigy first spotted Havoc -- description identical, save a couple of inches -- jacking up a guy twice his size in the lunchroom at Manhattan School of Art and Design. "He was real little back in the day -- a shortie," recalls Prodigy. "A little short n!gg@ beatin' on some big n!gg@. I saw him the next day, told him he was wrecking that kid nasty-like. "After that, we would be rhymin' with each other. Everybody was, like, 'Y'all need to get together and form a group.' We battled everybody in school -- we was the illest." Their first album, "Juvenile Hell," came in 1993. Though its only single "Shook Ones Part 1," still has hard-core rap enthusiasts nodding their heads, paltry sales, sloppy business practices and a lackluster push from their label sent the album nowhere -- fast. Cont'd...

Havoc admits the culprit was the duo's misguided illusion of dollar bills and quick fame -- an immature business sense that sent the high school dropouts back to Queens empty-handed. "The bottom line is that we wasn't on top of our game," Havoc once confessed. "We wasn't handling our business the way we was supposed to. We [were] young." Now, armed with G.E.D.'s and a few extra years in the business under their belt, Mobb Deep find themselves in the middle of a Mobb Deep craze -- their songs all over the charts, their videos all over music television and 500,000 people across the country listening to their tales of life in the 'hood. A cursory listen tells you their music is everything your mother forbade you to hear. It's just what conservatives, parents groups and the likes of presidential candidate Sen. Bob Dole have been bashing. But Prodigy repeats what most defenders of gangsta rap have already said: They're just rapping about what they see on the streets. "I feel that Bob Dole and Bill Clinton make me like this. How can they complain when I write songs about what they put me through? Ironically, it's not only the streets that are putting Prodigy through it. He has a serious case of sickle-cell anemia, a blood disease that dehydrates him and threatens his bone strength. He already has a bad hip that he must have replaced. "My leg is f***** up," Prodigy says. "But that doesn't affect my performing." Prodigy says they study the Koran, the Bible, and even quotations from Mao Zedong, sharing views with their project counterparts. "You got to keep it to the street. Keep the phat beats, but knowledge -- read up on books, talk about everything," Prodigy said. "Right now, we got 500,000 ears, so we're going to make some use of that." - New York Daily News. July 23, 1995. R.I.P., Albert "Prodigy" Johnson!

Nas "Illmatic" (Daily News, 5/1/94)

"Little gets in the way of the words on the debut album from Nas. In an age when hip hop regularly distracts listeners from the rhymes with pop melodies, pungent horns and conventional R&B beats, New York rapper Nas strips this form back to its verbal roots. 'I make music for the crowd that keeps rap alive, not people who just found out about it yesterday,' he says. Small wonder the 20-year-old mike master from Queens has earned such juice in the rap underground. Among the jeep-and-beeper set, the anticipation surrounding the release of Nas' first album rivals the treatment the mainstream media built around Snoop Doggy Dogg before his debut. Which explains why Nas' "Illmatic" album is the highest-ranking debut on this week's Billboard Top 200 charts, arriving at No. 12 after moving nearly 60,000 copies in the last seven days. Not bad for a guy virtually unknown to the pop audience. Arch hip-hop fans first clued into the performer after he put in a guest rap on the track "Live at the BBQ" on the respected Main Source LP "Breaking Atoms." Nas, who says he has been writing raps since he was 9, got his break by tracking down Source member the Large Professor at his studio in Queens. The exposure earned him an audience with MC Serch (late of 3rd Bass), who cleared a spot on the "Zebrahead" soundtrack for the Nas track "Half Time." Nas' connections helped with his debut album. At the Large Professor's urging, some of hip-hop's hottest producers oversaw various tracks, including Q-Tip (from A Tribe Called Quest) and DJ Premier (from Gang Starr). 'They put me with the right [musical] material,' says the wordsmith. 'I found out you can't just rhyme to any beat.' As insistent as the album's beats may be, it's the words that make the record move. The album basically tells Nas' life story growing up in the Queensbridge Houses filled with journalistic detail and cinematic plots." Revisit Nas classic, Illmatic, cont'd below...

'In the projects we always say, 'I wished they made a movie here 'cuz they wouldn't need no story line, just show what happens,'' Nas explains. 'My album is like a movie. I just made my s--- verbal instead of visual.' His descriptions can be ugly and blood-soaked, but Nas avoids cheap shocks by always giving the violence human consequence. Whether writing a letter to a friend in prison ("One Love") or explaining why he likes to get high ("Life's A Bitch"), Nas has a knack for fleshing out his grit with wit and pathos. The sheer credibility of his writing could help swing some attention back on East Coast rap after years of media focus on West Coast gangstas like Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. In contrast to the pop-funk-driven sound of those performers, Nas aims for a more spacey, jazzy feel. Combined with his harsh words, that may keep him off radio, but Nas doesn't mind. 'I never made a record for radio,' he says. 'I rap to brighten my mind.'" - Daily News, 5/1/94.

2Pac "Me Against The World" (March 14, 1995)

No recent rapper has found himself better known but less understood than Tupac Shakur. Having spent more time in court than Perry Mason -- racking up charges of attempted murder along with a conviction for sexual assault -- Tupac burst into the mass consciousness as a tabloid-ready fiend. It only helped the media's cause that Tupac could fit an age-old cliche -- the angry young black man hellbent on revenge. Not that Tupac himself stood blameless in hawking this flat, inhuman image to the media. Every sneering statement and threatening gesture he made seemed calculated to appall and titillate viewers of the 11 o'clock news, leaving him a virtual cartoon of rage. Thankfully, the rapper's first album since his public demonization goes a long way toward humanizing him. While its title ("Me Against the World") may threaten more rounds of finger-pointing and macho posturing, the results offer a nuanced cautionary tale, full of vulnerability and even culpability. In "So Many Tears" and "It Ain't Easy," Tupac (aka 2Pac) explores, rather than exploits, his own nihilism, while in "Temptations" he maps out the war within himself (between doing the right thing and getting the quick fix). His most understanding passage comes in "Dear Mama" where he reconciles with his mother a former Black Panther and, later, a crack addict. Tupac's candor in describing his eventual appreciation of his mother shows true maturity. Revisit 2Pac's Me Against The World, cont'd below...

Tupac's words may stand out but his delivery and the music he matches them to hold only generic appeal. He favors a minimal style of hip-hop, with just the merest samples to decorate his bedrock of bass. This may have its draws, but originality isn't one of them a point that would matter less if Tupac's delivery had the musicality of hip-hop's greatest orators like the righteous Chuck D or the graceful Snoop Dog. In its stead, Tupac offers an Everyman quality, which at the very least ups his role as a besieged symbol. After all, "Me Against The World" hasn't held the No. 1 spot on Billboard's pop charts for the last three weeks for nothing. Tupac's public traumas resonate not only with alienated African-Americans but with teens of every race. If Tupac's articulation of his problems hasn't resulted in music as overwhelming as his notoriety, it has created a useful piece of sociology. His album offers a probing look inside a life normally seen skin-deep. - New York Daily News (April 11, 1995). Fans may not declare that 2Pac was the greatest RAPPER, but that vulnerability, trauma and everyman quality helped make 2Pac one of the most impactful artists of our generation. If you haven't already, dig in the archives HERE to read the album's original press kit. R.I.P., Tupac Shakur.

Rest In Peace, Prince Markie Dee!

Prince Markie Dee, one-third of the groundbreaking 1980s hip-hop group The Fat Boys, died Thursday at age 52. The Brooklyn native, whose legal name was Mark Morales, was also a prolific songwriter later in his career and hosted a radio show on SiriusXM’s Rock The Bells channel. His cause of death has not been released. “Prince Markie Dee was more than a rapper; he was one of my very best and closest friends,” Louis Gregory, the group’s manager, wrote in a tweet. “My heart breaks today because I lost a brother. I’ll always love you Mark and I’ll cherish everything you taught me.” Morales formed the group alongside Damon “Kool Rock-Ski” Wimbley, and Darren “Buff Love” Robinson in 1983. The Fat Boys were known for their beatboxing and comedy in their raps. The Fat Boys starred in two popular films, 1985′s “Krush Groove” and 1987′s “Disorderlies.” “They were figuratively the biggest act in hip hop at some point in time. Like the first act that showed this culture might have some real international legs to it,” Questlove wrote Thursday in an IG post. “They did dope routines and dance steps, albums went gold and platinum. Did movies and tv and commercials.” After the group split in 1991, Morales penned numerous songs, including some of Mary J. Blige’s first hits. He also earned writing credits on albums from Drake, Prince, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, among many others. “As far as our peers are concerned, I think we get a lot of love and recognition,” Morales told Rolling Stone in 2017. “As far as the media though, I think we totally get ignored. … I think people look at Run-D.M.C. and Whodini as hip-hop artists, and they look at us as comedians. I’m not exactly mad at that, because we were trying to make people laugh and feel comfortable with being exactly who they were — fat, skinny, tall, short, gay, whatever. That’s the impression we wanted to leave on the world.” - Daily News. Rest In Peace!

In Memory Of... Sean Price (Playlist + NY Daily News, 2015)

Brooklyn Rapper Sean Price died in his sleep Saturday (August 8, 2015). The 43-year old hip-hop artist was a member of the rap super-groups Boot Camp Clik and Random Axe. Price got his start in the music world as part of the group Heltah Skeltah before rising in the underground hip hop community as a noted solo act.... "It is with beyond a heavy heart that Duck Down Music is sadly confirming that Sean Price passed away early this morning in his Brooklyn apartment," said a statement from his representatives. "Sean's family and friends are asking for time to grieve and process the news...." As a solo artist, Price released "Monkey Barz" in 2005 and "Jesus Price Supastar" in 2007. The lifelong Brownsville resident was featured in the video game "NBA 2K11" as a playable character in street mode. Price's latest album, "Mic Tyson," was released in 2012 and he was working on a mixtape, "Songs in the Key of Price" slated to be release by Duck Down Music on Aug. 21. "I"m going fishing Sunday at Sheepshead Bay I did it last week it was relaxing," he wrote on Twitter a day before his death. The MC's fellow lyricists took to social media to mourn the loss of the influential star. "Hip Hop has lost another great. RIP Sean P! #RealOne," The Roots' Black Thought tweeted. Others commended Price's tenacious spirit. "RIP to Sean Price one of the illest to ever do it. 1/2 of Heltah Skeltah aka Ruck. He was always a good brother to us and down to build," the Bronx-based rap group Rebel Diaz wrote. "Sean Price went from being a childhood hero of mine to a great friend. He was the most competitive MC I've ever met and kept me on my game," rapper Talib Kweli wrote. Price is survived by his wife and three children, according to his representatives. - New York Daily News (August 9, 2015). Rest In Peace, Sean P!, who passed away 5 years ago today. To continue to celebrate the Brooklyn barbarian, below is a playlist with 50+ tracks, dig into it...

Original cover story in the NY Daily News (August 9, 2015). R.I.P. Sean P!

DJ Self "Let The Lox Go!" (Mixtape, 2000)

"At the time, it seemed like a fatal move. No one in his right mind would leave Bad Boy Records, then an indomitable force in the music industry. But Jayson (Jadakiss) Phillips, David Styles and Sean (Sheek) Jacobs of the hard-core rap group the Lox left and haven't looked back. "We're just happy to be free," says Jacobs. "We weren't the real Lox before, but this time it's us, 100%." ... "We couldn't say what we wanted to say, we couldn't write what we wanted to write" ... "You can't work when you're uncomfortable." Repeated requests to get out of their contract fell on deaf ears. So the group went public with their grievances and launched an unprecedented grass-roots campaign, complete with "Lex the Lox Go" picket signs, posters and T-shirts. Things came to a head in June at Hot 97's "Summer Jam" concert when the group performed in their protest T-shirts. Bad Boy honcho Sean (Puffy) Combs was there, and he was not pleased. He let the lox go in September. "We're the first hip-hop group to go against the powers that be with the power of the people," says Styles. "Too many [bleepers] in the industry don't do what they gotta do. They're too afraid of ending up back in the 'hood - but we ain't." Rhyming together since their high-school days in Yonkers, the Lox (it stands for "Living off experience") are tight enough to finish each other's sentences. Phillips, 24, has a sly grin and the group's most distinctive voice; it sounds gritty, as if he gargles with gravel. Jacobs, 25, is the friendliest in the crew. Not one for youthful shenanigans, he keeps the troops in line. As for Styles - well, the name says it all.... Tattoos that say "hope for the best, but expect the worst" cover his forearms. Honing their skills in local talent shows and on mix tapes, the Lox earned a reputation for delivering rough, true-to-ghetto-life narratives... "We were watered down," admits Jacobs. "Bad Boy's image was flossy. But we've always been - straight underground, straight ghetto." Now, the Lox is ready to prove they're worth the rumored $2.5 million that Interscope paid for their freedom...." - NY Daily News. Listen to DJ Self's "Let the Lox Go" mixtape below, which provides some more to the story, from an audio point of view. 

"The B.I.G. Sleep" (Daily News Front Page, 3/19/97)

Now 20 years old, this is the front page of the New York Daily News on Wednesday, March 19, 1997; a day after the funeral of Biggie Smalls. B.I.G. was carried through Brooklyn as thousands of his fans gathered near his old home in Bed-Stuy to pay respect and say goodbye. The funeral was held at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan; Faith sang 'Walk With Me, Lord' and Puff gave the eulogy. The hearse then brought his body to where I was raised in Middle Village, Queens - he was cremated at Fresh Pond Crematory, where my uncle, several friends, and many celebs have also been cremated. It's a small spot in a neighborhood known to outsiders for its cemeteries and being the final resting place for the Mob. BIG was killed by a single bullet that pierced several vital organs in a 1997 drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. He was struck four times, but the fatal bullet hit his lungs, heart, and colon. He died on 3/9/97 & to this day, no arrests have ever been made. Daily News.

Eternia "Eternia-ly Yours From The Block" (Daily News, 2010)

"SHE LOOKS like the girl next door but she sounds like she'd knock your teeth out. Quick-tongued hip-hop artist Silk Kaya, who performs as Eternia, has a knack for rhymes and said she found a home in Astoria four years ago after responding to a craiglist ad. Since then she has earned a record deal and recently filmed a series of short music videos titled "Queens Chronicles" in which she offers a glimpse into the neighborhood she fell in love with. "It picked me, I didn't pick it. It was kind of fate," Kaya said. "What it's become to me is a family, a neighborhood, a home, and a place that I don't want to leave." But what makes Kaya so compelling it that she doesn't fit many rapper stereotypes, even though she has shared a stage with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Common."

"Her posse is the middle-aged Italians from her neighborhood whom she calls her family. She packs heat in the form of a Bible and an aqua blue marble notebook that she has filled with verses about deeply personal subjects like domestic violence and abuse. She takes pride in her thrift store wardrobe and jokes that she rifles through the racks in search of her next name-brand bargain every day. "A lot of rappers don't want to be vulnerable. I like being vulnerable," Kaya said. "My music is really life-based, so everything I write about is a diary entry," she added. But Kaya swears she isn't baring her soul for the sake of fortune or fame. "Money is not really the ulterior goal for me. It's just cool to be admired by people I admire," Kaya said. She has already earned that respect of her neighbors, who were awed by her makeshift "Queens Chronicles" performance, which she admits "could have easily gotten shut down." Roberto Merendino, who is featured in the second installment of the three-part series, thinks Kaya is destined for big things. "I think she's going to make it to Hollywood one day," Merendino, 47, said." Cont'd below + the Queens Chronicles, parts 2 and 3...

"Others just hope she doesn't forget her roots if her talents as a rapper catapult her to stardom. "I hope she doesn't forget us when she gets big," said life-long Astoria resident Bill Anastassatos. Next week Kaya departs for a European tour through Italy, France, and Germany that will run through the middle of December. Once she's back in the US, you can bet she'll be back to chatting with her neighbors, sifting through piles of bargain basement clothes and chronicling life in Astoria with her sharp tongue and blue-collar approach to hip hop." - New York Daily News, 2010.

Printed in the New York Daily News on November 23, 2010 (5 yrs ago today).