RIP Craig Mack

Craig Mack’s flava (and the subsequent delivery into ya ear) emanated mainly from his flow. It was an unorthodox stream of slowly enunciated vowels and consonants that funneled toward  his non-sequitur punchlines in a dat-dat-dat scamper. Paired with his trusty Suffolk County, Long Island lisp and sing-songy baritone, that flow helped Mack create his trademark robotic futuristic style. Today he’d be a RapCaviar favorite or a SoundCloud hero. When his 1994 breakout, “Flava in Ya Ear” arrived, however, there wasn’t a frequency invented yet to calibrate his sound.

After a cursory listen, you’d be forgiven if you thought his single was a DJ blend, a mix of his vocals with an indiscriminate beat underneath. Easy Mo Bee provided rollicking production, but Mack took less of a straight road down the funky soundscape. It made all the difference.

“Just. Like. Uniblaaaab/Robotic kicking flab/ My flavor bidder badder, chitter-chatter Madder than the Mad Hatter!”

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Each intricate metered set of rhymes sounded like something ripped from a comic strip panel. They were packed with eye-wink references, nods to nostalgia and full stories in just two lines. He left you woozy nodding to his words instead of the beat.

His later releases never recaptured that magic (save, perhaps, his song-stealing verse on “Special Delivery” where he played Biggie’s to G.Dep’s Craig Mack), but the original Bad Boy’s legacy is secure. His early success set the course for Bad Boy Records eponymous run of hits and traces of his style can be found in the Lil Yachty’s and A$AP Ferg’s of today.

He won’t be around next year, but his flava will always remain brand new.

Return of the Mac: 2011 Prodigy feature (The Source)

Forward: One of my favorite features that I wrote in my career was on Prodigy (below); he was fresh from doing a bid. (I was also at his going away show.) P was upbeat and changed in the way that doing a stretch can do to one’s self. He was monitoring his diet more than I’d ever see him doing in the past (something that ebbed and flowed, and would continue to do so through the remainder of his life). And he was working with a vengeance. I met with him in the Financial District just days after his release and he was recording his audio book. It was a small, cramped studio. It was so bugged out to hear that voice, animated, reciting passages from his book. In conversation P could be short and full of uknowhatimsayin’s. Yet, here, he was reading his book like he rapped. Full of verve, enunciated, punching in. At that point, he had maybe 10 songs finished, from only being out like three days. Then, a week, maybe 10 days, tops, passed. I went out to Ozone Park in Queens, where he was recording music. Now this place was more familiar, in terms of the Mobb Deep vibe: crew, smoke, drink and P in his glory. I asked how many records he had at that point and the number surged past 30. That was completed songs. Prodigy had half songs also available just ready for Havoc to add rhymes to. Hav couldn’t keep pace! Ha. P played me “Dog Shit” featuring Nas. Ahhh, man, so New York. And with the dunn language all in the mix. Later, I asked him why he didn’t record with Nas as much. P then told me a story about Nas–how he always thought Nas was the coolest dude. He then cracked a half-cocked smile and said he’d be happy just hanging out with Nas more. I’m glad I got to build with P time and time again. He was as real as it gets, for bettor or worse. And he’ll be missed.

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Empire Recap: “Sound & Fury” (Ep. 310)

Our beloved “Empire” is back for its mid-season premiere (season 3, because I know with more breaks than what’s in Q-Tip’s crates it’s hard to keep track) after a doozy of a first half featuring Cookie’s new boo, Jamal’s new monster and Lucious’ old tricks.

In “Sound & Fury,” the drama arrived early and cooked often. The episode’s namesake peaked when the Lyon family visited Jamal in rehab. Instead of the visit being about Jamal, things quickly became about Cookie and Lucious, as usual. The two titans were jawing back and forth, until an iso shot of Jamal displayed anguish across the young singer’s face as he drew inward and the voices of his parents became nothing but that sound and fury.

The theme was also triggered when Empire acts Ness and Tiana appeared at an Inferno promo show. (Lucious promotes his albums with promotions ahead of promotion #because.) The two singers trade vocals when pettiness ensues and mics are cut, turned back on and then Xzhibit’s Shine Johnson gets his Don King on: “Back up, let them fight!” And what a fight it was. 

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A Tale of Two Tongues: A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul take different approaches with their latest albums

Just For Men, the affordable hair coloring product, can do wonders for an aging man. Apply liberally via a comb through and Silver Fox tresses suddenly become fully-restored follicles. If only there was such an elixir for aging rappers.

Hip-hop, however, has always been a young-man’s game as evidenced by early ‘90s prodigies like a Nas and affirmed more recently by acts such as Rae Sremmurd, Young Thug and Chance The Rapper, to name only a few.

Yet as the culture of rap begins to grey we find rappers who are well into their ‘40s, including Jay Z (46), Eminem (44) and Nas (43), still relevant if not productive. These titans of spit are exploring the boundaries of legacy, leveraging their prowess in business deals and touring extensively — in Jay’s case, in a mixture of configurations (Beyoncé and Jay Z, Jay Z and Justin Timberlake, album anniversary one-off performances) — in hopes of becoming the Jimmy Iovine or Rolling Stones of hip-hop. It’s a strategy that’s safer to one’s reputation than making new music, where an awkward flow or dated production choices can prove to be damning, relegating an MC to obsolete status.

Which brings us to A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, two groundbreaking New York rap groups who served up classic albums with a healthy sense of self-awareness, righteousness and funky beats.

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Behind The Story: Papoose Married Remy Ma (2008)

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Back in 2007, the Remy Ma/Makeda Barnes-Joseph incident and subsequent case was a big deal for me. I covered the trial for MTV (and later XXL) on the professional level and then, on a personal level, I had a good relationship with Remy. Back in 2006, I used to run the streets in NY a lot, Home, Guesthouse, Lotus, as far as clubs and the burger spot where the shooting went down was also a normal late-night destination. So, it wasn’t unusual for me to run into Remy around town.

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Review: “Batman v Superman” … v Fun?

Saw “Batman v. Superman” last night. Minor spoilers ahead. Movie was meh. Ben Affleck was solid (and potential there, though, he really plays Bruce’s jingoism all the way. ‪#‎gop‬), Henry Cavill’s performance was as stiff as his hair (wow that hair!), Amy Adams/Lois Lane character is criminally underdeveloped and the film overall could use a much stronger plot (or an actual one, rather than serving as a 2-plus hour Justice League intro) and a lot more humor—particularly in post Christopher Nolan (maxed out seriousness to full potential)/Iron Man (LOL)/Deadpool (ROTFL) era. Brief highlights: Wonder Woman (you will cheer or you have no pulse) and Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luther threads (GQ/Esquire approved; may have found my summer look….).

Damning review by the NYT, here.

Quick Thought: Kanye and Kendrick’s “No More Parties in LA”

Behind The Story: Shyne Remains In Custody… (2009)

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This is one of my all-time favorite pieces I wrote for MTV News. I followed the Shyne case for a long time and found a particular fascination by how every year rumors would arise that he’d be released. Brian Hiatt, a great writer and current staffer at Rolling Stone used to be a reporter at MTV prior to my tenure. He wrote the definitive account of Shyne’s sentence, which essentially translated into the rapper doing 10 years behind bars. Over the years I’d cover Shyne’s court appearances and was personally excited the first time I saw him because he was like a unicorn, growing into this mythical figure. Long story short: the day he was to be released, he wasn’t. His lawyer was confused. I didn’t know what was going on. Then, I remembered I had the Vibe issue where Shyne graced the cover in his prison jumpsuit. I left the 1515 office and darted back to Brooklyn and back. I used the info on Shyne’s uniform to call around (maybe first to the prison, then to the feds and finally immigration). Got the scoop about his whereabouts and his potentially being deported. The story did crazy numbers, got picked up on TV by E! and the radio by Hot 97. All in a day’s work.

LINK

Five Favorite Albums This Year

In no particular order, these below are my personal five favorite albums that I enjoyed listening to in 2015 when I took off my critic cap. That distinction is important, to me at least, because Kendrick’s album is obviously incredible and I’ve written about it and listened to it a ton, I just don’t revisit it as a leisurely experience as much as say Rocky or Drake. I also was big into FKA twigs’ M3LL155X, but I didn’t play it as much as I wanted. This was a great year for hip-hop and R&B, in particular, just an onslaught of releases (an essay I badly wanted to write, yet sadly didn’t get around to…) that I’m still trying to consume. To that end, list.

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