Raekwon managed the awesome feat of recapturing lightning and placing it inside of a bottle. I absolutely h8 albums that are sequels. It seems incredulous to create the sequel after a decade has passed. With Raekwon’s 2009 triumph ‘OB4CL2’ opening the lane for retro NYC rap, maybe CNN can find some similar success?
The War Report is one of rap’s great albums. Part of the reason is the energy and desperation contained in its sound. This album is as much a Tragedy Khadafi disk because his veteran influence helped shape the style of CNN. How can you make a WR2 without his presence. Very capably is the answer from Noreaga.
Capone and Noreaga sit down for a few questions after playing several tracks from the their upcoming project ‘The War Report 2’…
tv’s in the headrest/
They’re on like 3-4 songs from those J-Love mixtapes you sent me. I’ll say this much….Noreaga has stepped his rap game up incredibly. Well, “incredibly” for a dude who literally made entire songs around the word “what,” at least.
‘War Report’ earned a spot next to ‘Infamous’ back in those days.
But no Tragedy this go ’round? Grown men must advance on their own terms, I guess.
Trag is currently up north doing a 3 1/2 mandatory minimum on a weapons possession charge. He’s not coming home until 2011 or something. Actually he’s up for parole so hopefully he can get on some how.
Trag’s “Still Reporting” is still one of the most criminally slept on albums of the past 5 years. If you don’t have it. COP IT!!!
Cant wait 4 this… that “Thug planet” joint is straight heat.
@40 I remeber back when i still copped CD’s i seen that joint in the store and snatched it up wit the quikness. The beats on “Still reporting” all got that QB sound that i love… Joints like “Hood” & “Neva die alone pt.2” most muthafuckas never even heard that album, damn shame…
40.. Sad to hear about Tragedy.
around that era he was dropping some heat….
I purchased the documentary he put out a few years back….for my archives…
He’s central figure in the history of hip hop….unfortunately he never stays out long enough to make his mark…
I remember seeing an interview of him and he said that he was locked up BEFORE Kane’s first album came out….he was juice crew before it all came together.
He was talking about being locked down and seeing the kane album cover with the roman robes and stuff and he was buggin
he’s a survivor though…dude STAYS getting deals..putting artists out..in the mix from that era until now….
the intelligent hoodlum
tvs in the head rest/
sega entertainment/
@40
Good looks, fam. Damn shame that he went from ‘black & proud’ to staying doing bids. Too much wasted talent & opportunity. The younger generation doesn’t even know about The Intelligent Hoodlum, if they even know of Trag @ all.
TG,
yeah Nore wasn’t saying much before..
when the south..and lil john specifically were at their commercial peak…and dudes from out here weren’t feeling it one bit..I had to remind dudes that let’s not have short memories…some of the hardest records ever… were more “feeling” than lyrics.
I brought up greg nice and noreaga….they MADE GREAT songs….but weren’t wordsmiths.. he had to admit that he was being biased against “da south”
I think you can get away with it in a group when the other member has a more lyrical style…smooth b and capone are more intricate…
you need that balance in groups… one guy provides the flavor..the other the lyrics…
No problem fellas. I’ve always loved Trag, he’s like the quintessential NYC MC. Somehow he can always vividly weave thug doctrine & knowledge. I also respect how Trag does speak about getting knocked & surviving up north, just to cover all the range & consequences for street living. His place in the history of NYC hip hop is never truly appreciated. If you think not, throw on “True Confessions” with Imam Thug.
fresh off work release/
hercules/
I never rocked these guys’ music like that. I always remember Nore saying he partied with Tom Hanks.
And I used to stan out on Tragedy music. Smoked many blunts to ‘Strange Fruit’. I used that song cause that’s where I think Trag was getting into that zone music/lyrics wise.
get-
Yeah, I think any good duo must have a balance. Creates the ebb & flow for a level playing field for listening. Unless you have a group like EPMD. The music was the illest component, which provided an opportunity for both rappers to be exceptionally mediocre. Ha.
The “Intelligent Hoodlum,” aka Tragedy, is a terrific mc; it’s a shame he got caught up but hopefully he can get something going again when out.
@40, did you catch Trag’s last joint, “The Death of Tragedy”? The songs are short but, unlike a throwaway like Wu “Massacre” they seemed complete, sort of in that Doom vein, i.e. a “song” can be any fragment of sound you want and sure as fuck doens’t need Fucking Rhianna or Alicia Keys caterwauling on it.
It’s be GREAT to have Trag and a reinvigorated Prodigy link up when the both get out.
Re: “War Report II,” Noreaga doesn’t inspire confidence at this point (Get makes good points tho’) but Capone is almost always interesting, some unwise beat selections aside.
@Tony & duos, did folks on the West Coast ever get into Heltah Skeltah in a real way?
DP.com is the SeanP4Real fan central but Ruck AND Rock still got it.
I was trying to think of west coast duos..lot of groups..lot of solo artists…hard a hard time thinking of any duos…but…then it hit me..Cypress Hill
muggs is a silent partner…like ali shaheed muhammad is…for Quest
==========================
Nore gets credit from me for one thing…. when I read that capone got locked..i thought nore was finished…….he blew up though…
he brought personality back into hip hop….rap dudes were “too cool” for a minute…
“F your girl in the butt/
make her say what.what/
tell me you didn’t smile when you first heard that shit….
Willis-
Yeah, the true “heads” have always recognized (no ruck & rock pun intended) the good music, ie those not brainwashed by one dimensional gang bang music. Needless to say, that’s a small group of people. I’ve always been a fan of Heltah Skeltah.
get-
B-real’s partner was Sen Dog.
^^Muggs was literally the DJ/producer, like Yella or George Spivey.
I was so stuck on the Queens rap back in the day that I’m probably the only dude in California who not only owns Royal Flush’s CD (that one with that nore joint…”My cuban connection, flexin, wildin, drink cristal by the gallon, queens stallion…”), but the only dude in America who still listens to it.
& to trump that, I bought Big Noyd’s CD when he signed with Tommy Boy.
The thing about west coast duo’s is that they were technically trio’s. Like Tha Alkaholics, J-Ro & (ca)Tash(trophe). E-Swift was the DJ/Producer that spit verses if need be. Not a lot come to mind off top though.
Comptons Most Wanted was a duo @ first, Eiht & Chill, but Chill stayed behind bars too much, Eiht had to go on without him. Check their first album, he’s on it.
Da Lench Mob was J-Dee & T-Bone (unless you include Cube-which I didn’t. He was getting his Puff Daddy on), but T-Bone killed a dude in front of his mom’s house. Still in jail today.
Big Noyd! I’m no Robbie from Unkut but I enjoy Noyd, Infamous Mobb etc. and
actually own the “Murda Muzik” dvd, which is pretty good, as is the Mobb mix cd that comes with it.
The one criticism on Noyd is he hasn’t gotten too far beyond gun rap, which is puzzling because he seems a pretty thoughtful dude. But maybe he know his audience, which I can’t imagine is very large.
A lesser known quality QB duo I recall is Bars & Hooks–
http://www.amazon.com/Most-Notorious-Bars-Hooks/dp/B000EWBMSS
No idea what happened to them; I think they broke up before the cd was even out.
Can’t forget Da Luniz.
I remember Bars & Hooks. Noyd was pretty monotonous & bland, but he was riding the QB wave, & that was good enough for me. I even effed with Mic Geronimo of the strength.
iced down medallions
—————————————–
TG,
speaking of Cubans…
cypress didn’t come to me immediately because they’re not a duo in the mobb deep/epmd mold
they’re like tribe/rundmc
2 emcees and one dj
I’m the flip style…..I grew up on the east coast but when I went to school met dudes from midwest and west who put me up on madd cali rap…and midwest stuff that I realistically NEVEr would have ever heard
coolin cali with 7a3….muggs’ first group…..
low profile
erule
I’ve always been heavy on lyrics….so Scarface, DOC, Cube, souls of mischief to ME are some of the best to ever do it..
if Cube and DOC had formed a duo…they might have been right up there with epmd
speaking of epmd…in that post you made about them..are you sure you didn’t mean to write “group home” and wrote epmd instead….
parish was quietly nice
In the plethora of MC’s I thought were nice, I wouldn’t include Parrish Smith. He was good @ what he did, but there’s far too many cats I’d label nice before I’d say Parrish.
That’s funny you mentioned Erule. He was kind of a big deal for a minute. In L.A. @ least. Like Chrondon when he first broke away from the Leimert Park/Freestyle Fellowship/Good Life stigma.
after “listen up” ….we never heard from erule again…..
he had people open off that one song…..
i was digging volume 10, del, cpo too
===========================
I first started peeping Parish’s wordplay on the song epmd did with ll cool j
“rampage”….he ripped that…
Agreed. It seemed like he felt he had to show Cool J what he was made of. Don’t get me wrong about OG P, he did his thing, but I was one of those who took Erick’s side in the feud.
CPO just had a heart attack, like a month & a half ago. He’s “okay,” still in the hospital.
Yeah, Hiero, don’t get me started. From Del to Souls to Extra Prolific, that was my Wu Tang before Wu Tang. They changed the way a lot of cats rapped out here. The fact that they still eat off rap is a testement to how for real they were with their movement. Their maxi-cassingles were the shit. ALWAYS with extra, unreleased songs.
Volume 10 was another like Krondon, Medusa, this dude named Voodu, they couldn’t hold regional success long enough to really scratch the surface.
@Tony Grands
You not the only dude who listen to “Iced Down Medallions” i got that album on the ipod, and i was knocking that shit at the riverhead outlets a week ago rattling the windows at the nike outlet and knocking pictures off the wall… True story.
and im only 24… you would be surprised… my older cousin BEEN putting me on since i was a young’in
My bad….
Shuttlezworff
Oh shit! My comment didint go through.
I said “once a week. Mandatory.”
Then I misspelled your name Shuttlezworff. Haha.
TG,
sorry to hear that about CPO, thanks for the update.
while we’re at it….this groups called the B.U.M.S. had an ILL song with saafir..called let it rain….I played that until the tape popped….
mid 90s…
———–
in terms of straight lyrics…the souls shit on almost any group EVER….
high pitched rap voices usually through me off but those dudes had you with your finger on the pause button, like wtf did he just say…..
I was glad to read that they really never stopped touring and doing their thing….
bay area goes hard for theirs….those brothers hustle…..no contract on a major..NO problem….
I attended this industry event in the city once and I met Mac Mall….dude showed me in talking to me for 5 minutes why dudes out there keep eating regardless of anything..
i fux with his illegal business cd….it was the only thng I played for like 6 months…
if you wanna get amped up for the new CNN album
listen to “exhibit cnn”
one of the only listenable guest versions of Jay Electronica’s classic hit.
Yeah, B.U.M.S. Went hard. Talkin about tapes poppin, Del’s first album ‘I Wish My Brother George Was Here’ was my shit. That’s when hiero was just like 3 dudes.
I had ‘Illegal Business,’ in fact I think he gave it to me @ a record store appearance.