Africasgateway.com
Hip Hop Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: jbutters on August 03, 2006, 05:12:01 PM
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Part 1: http://halftimeonline.com/hip-hop-icon-series/rakim-2/
Part 2: http://halftimeonline.com/hip-hop-icon-series/rakim-pt-2/
Here is a snippet:
This is a man that truly needs no introduction. He stepped on the scene in the mid eighties and proceeded to change the game based on his laid back flow and lyrics steeped in lessons. He’s your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper and you’d be hard pressed to find an emcee that Rakim ‘ain’t influenced.’ In the first of a two-part, two-hour super exclusive interview Halftime caught up with the God MC himself to talk about his career from day 1 to now and all points in between including coming up as a fledgling emcee in Long Island to his new deal and up coming album. In the first hour we get at Ra about a rumored battle between him and Freddie Foxxx, take an in depth look into his writing style including him explaining how he writes verses backwards as well as his production and family. It’s probably one of the most personal and revealing Rakim interviews to date. Check it out.
Halftimeonline: I heard before you met Eric B you were going by the name Kid Wizard and ran with a crew called Supreme Force.
Rakim: Nah it was called the LB Brothers, the Love Brothers.
Halftimeonline: Oh ok. Who was apart of the crew and what did you guys do to help build your emcee skills back then?
Rakim: That was my crew back in the day. We grew up in the streets. I was the youngest out of the whole crew. I was like in 9th grade while everyone else in the crew had graduated. But even before that I was rhyming since 4th or 5th grade. I just stayed around the hood listening to Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Flash, and the Treacherous Three. I came up under them dudes. Being a fan of them and coming up in the hood staying hungry trying to get the skills crazy.
Halftimeonline: How do you think it was different coming up and molding yourself as an emcee back then versus cats coming up today? What were some of the things you were doing that you don’t see anymore?
Rakim: Well back then it was a lot different because there was more originality back then. We were shaping our image right before your eyes. The way the world took the first record kinda let me know to keep driving straight ahead because it’s that first impression that everybody loved. So once I saw what they liked me for I just stuck to that and expanded on that. But it was a lot more originality back then so we were shaping our careers, shaping our image, shaping our style trying to get that unique style or flow. Nowadays it’s a lot of the norms. I don’t want to say everybody has the same flow but it’s not as original as used to be.
Halftimeonline: I was reading a couple of interviews with Freddie Foxxx and he always says when you and Eric B got together Eric was actually looking for him and he found you instead. In one interview he said he was trying to battle you and your crew back in the days but he said you didn’t want to battle. Is there any truth that Foxxx ever challenged you to a battle?
Rakim: Foxxx lived a town over from where I lived, but I NEVER f***ing turned down a battle with that motherf***er! Foxxx get the f*** out of my face. You can front on the whole world but you not fronting on me nigga you never wanted it and you’ll never get it. This is what I’ve been doing from day one. f*** that bullshit man. Back in the day we were supposed to battle but as far as I remember the story correctly they didn’t want to f*** around. They didn’t like coming to our part of the town. They didn’t even like going to the parties where we were because we drew at motherf***ers at the party. So run that shit by him. Tell him you spoke to Ra, tell him everything he’s been talking is fabricated and I never turned down a f***ing battle with Freddie Foxxx. Tell him to knock it off and stop fronting. It’s Rakim Allah man he know who the f*** I am man.
Halftimeonline: Haha. That’s Freddie Foxxx though so I had to bring it out there.
Rakim: Yea, man they were doing shows around the way. They were holding it down for there town and we was holding it down in our town. The town wanted to see us do it. We were at every park jam jumpoff, house party jumpoff, and backyard jumpoff. Ask Foxxx where was they at. We only seen them at the roller skating rink and shit like that nahmean. I can’t even believe the nigga Foxxx had the f***ing audacity to fix his f***ing face to say some shit like that. And Eric B came to the hood and asked Alvin Toney who the nastiest motherf***er on the mic was and Alvin Toney brought him straight to my crib. I didn’t hear about Freddie Foxxx or none of that shit back in the day because Foxxx wasn’t ferocious like that. Foxxx had two other cats that used to rhyme with him. They were a good group but Foxxx wasn’t ferocious like that baby pa. Alvin Toney brought him straight to my crib and I was like Al who the hell is this? Word up.
Source: http://halftimeonline.com
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He did fall off hard indeed
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Excellent interview,,, thanks!
"We lost the connection between the entertainment world and the neighborhoods. Before we were talking about the neighborhoods and art was imitating life. Now life is imitating art. Brothers are running around saying they killers or they trying to sell a key and these young dudes are trying to live that. They fabricating different situations in rap and these young kids are bringing it to life."
So true.
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"So to the young artists that are checking out this interview when you come in the building with your guns don’t take them off. Keep your guns on and don’t let anybody tell you how to load your guns or bust ya guns. The only reason I’m using gun terminology is because I want you to stick to your guns man. Ya’ll love the gun play and gun talk so much this is the one time when you handle ya business stick to your guns. Do what you do don’t let the label tell you to do something else."
Now that's a simple street metaphor i can relate to ;)
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"So to the young artists that are checking out this interview when you come in the building with your guns don’t take them off. Keep your guns on and don’t let anybody tell you how to load your guns or bust ya guns. The only reason I’m using gun terminology is because I want you to stick to your guns man. Ya’ll love the gun play and gun talk so much this is the one time when you handle ya business stick to your guns. Do what you do don’t let the label tell you to do something else."
Now that's a simple street metaphor i can relate to ;)
:lol:
Major Props!!!