The Teacha and Buckshot Shorty interface with Tron. I like how each video from this project has them confronting a seemingly futuristic industry built on the same old scams.
Directed by Todd Angkasuwan. From Survival Skills, out now.
November 27, 2009
September 3, 2009
KRS-One and Buckshot, “Survival Skills”
As I work through a massive backlog of press material, here’s another one to watch out for. KRS-One and Buckshot’s collabo Survival Skills drops September 15 on Duck Down Records. It’s packed with guests, from Mary J. Blige and Melanie Fiona to Talib Kweli and Slug from Atmosphere. And, of couse, lots of Duck Down members show up, including Smif-N-Wessun and new signee Geologic from Blue Scholars. Production comes from Black Milk, Illmind, Marco Polo, Khrysis, Nottz and 9th Wonder.
The first single, “Robot,” was produced by Havoc and has percolated around the Internet for a minute. Here’s some press info:
On the surface the album is a testament to the resiliency of two lyrical titans, but at its root Survival Skills is a blueprint for life. For instance on the infectious head-nodder “Robot,” which was released 6 weeks prior to Jay Z’s “The Death Of Auto Tune” track, and already available World Wide at Digital Retail Shops, such as iTunes, the duo speak-out against the recent overuse of the Auto-Tune vocal effect in urban music, but under the surface the message is much deeper. “I don’t want people to get the averaged clichéd version and thinking that we’re dissing people,’” Buckshot clarifies. “What we’re calling out here is the biters, the people that feel like because this guy sold X amount of records doing this, that I’m going to turn around and do it as well,” KRS says of the array of artists who have followed in the creative footsteps of Roger Troutman, Afrikka Bambatta, Teddy Riley and T-Pain. Despite its heavy message, sonically the track, produced by Mobb Deep’s Havoc, is as inviting as anything on the radio today. The video for “ROBOT,” directed by Todd Angkaswan, has been added into rotation at MTV & BET. The track has also been included in the sound track for Activision’s upcoming Tony Hawk skate game in stores this Fall.
Coincidently, ROBOT is not the first example of where Jay Z has released similar material and concepts from KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT. In 2003, Buckshot’s group Black Moon recorded a song called “Stay Real,” which was, again, released 6 weeks prior to Jay Z’s “Public Service Announcement” track, that ironically contained the same sample as Black Moon’s “Stay Real.”
A couple years prior to this Jay Z released “THE BLUEPRINT,” which was the same title used by KRS-ONE in his classic album, Boogie Down Productions “Ghetto Music: The BLUEPRINT of Hip Hop.” …
For all of their individual accomplishments, KRS-ONE and Buckshot remain fans of each other’s work; complementing each other’s strengthens. “That’s still KRS-One at the end of the day. I didn’t know how to rhyme back when I first started listening to Kris,” says Buck alluding to his partner’s dominant history. In turn, KRS gives all praises to the Black Moon front man. “I am the humble teacher on the track, Buckshot is clearly the man,” he says.
Still gritty tracks like “Clean Up,” featuring Rock of Heltah Skeltah and the politically minded “Running Away” featuring Immortal Technique, make Survival Skills a Hip-Hop fan’s dream, catering to those that love lyrics and the boom-bap. Equally as rich is the album’s Black Milk-produced track, “The Way I Live” featuring the Queen of hip-hop soul, Mary J. Blige. Together they create a triumphant anthem for all those on the grind trying to conquer their dreams. The song’s summery feel and soothing melodies make it an instant hit.
Throughout, both veterans sound as hungry and invigorated as any of their rap counterparts. “Projects like these are projects that motivate me,” KRS says. “The idea to work with another MC that has his own persona and style and do a real collaboration in the studio, that’s motivation. I already got 16 albums of my own,” he adds.
What KRS-One and Buckshot have created is an album that is socially responsible, lyrically sharp and sonically banging. Buckshot sums it up best, “Hip-Hop was started as an option to not killing each other. We were in the ghettos and we were real fucked up. We created Hip-Hop so we didn’t have to do that anymore.”
“The album is called Survival Skills, because that is what it takes.”
August 30, 2009
KRS-One and Buckshot’s “Robot”
I’m late on this one, but it’s such a great video that I’m posting it anyway.
From KRS-One and Buckshot’s Survival Skills, out September 15.
August 27, 2008
Video: Talib Kweli, “The Perfect Beat”
New clip for Talib Kweli’s track with KRS-One from last year’s Eardrum.
March 21, 2007
KRS-One and MC Shan announce “Hip-Hop Lives”
Over a year after the announcement, KRS-One and Marley Marl have set a release date for their historic collaboration. According to an Allhiphop.com news item, Hip-Hop Lives will drop via Koch Records on May 22.
Hip-Hop Lives marks a coda to a legendary beef between one of hip-hop’s greatest MCs and one of its greatest producers. With beats by Marley Marl, who had just made his mark with Roxanne Shante’s “Roxanne’s Revenge,” MC Shan released his seminal “The Bridge” in 1986 as a tribute to the two’s Queens hometown. KRS-One, then a fledgling MC in Boogie Down Productions with the late Scott La Rock, answered with “South Bronx.” The two went back and forth — MC Shan dropped “Kill That Noise,” and KRS-One put out “The Bridge Is Over,” one of the greatest dis songs of all time. The two camps have long since patched up their differences.
In the Allhiphop.com story, Marley Marl says, “My reason for doing this is to show these kids that [Hip-Hop beefs] are not that serious.” However, Hip-Hop Lives appears twenty years after “South Bronx” (and a decade after KRS-One and MC Shan appeared in a Sprite commercial), which doesn’t bode well for the G-Unit/Dipset/Jay-Z beefs.
In related news, KRS-One has completed a new solo album, Spitakular, that should come out this year. Marley Marl holds it down Friday nights from 2-4 a.m. on Power 105.1 (WWPR-FM).
