| The Way We See It - May 2006 | ||
| May 8, 2006 | *updated Monday-Friday (unless it's a slow day) | |
Current TV Rakim Interview: The Seventh Seal - 12:18 p.m.
Does anyone keep track of everything on the 500+ channels on their cable/satellite service? I'll tell you there are some channels I didn't even know existed, forget being aware of their schedules. Leave it to my man Sniper from the UK to give a brotha the heads up. It's fair enough to say that he stays on the internet, diggin in all the nooks and crannies. That's a good thing. Over the weekend he pointed me to a video site called Current TV. They posted one of the juiciest Rakim interviews I've heard in years. It was basically the God speaking on everything from where he's been since the split with Aftermath (nothing about why they split), to the current state of hip-hop and how he maintained the 'street code' while remaining a hardcore artist.
Why the intro about satellite TV? Because Current TV happens to be on Directv, Time Warner, and I think.. Comcast. Buried in the hundreds of channels. Hey, what can I say, it's in my favorites now.. just in case they sneak in an EPMD interview (haha). But on to the Rakim interview, the most memorable thing he said was as just mentioned, the conscious decision to leave his street experiences and interactions with those doing street things (he knew and hung out with the original 50 Cent - one of the craziest Brooklyn killers in the 80's) on the street. The quote: "I never sold drugs or nothing. but coming up in the hood I knew the code of the streets. I was in the hood since a young kid, man. And I was very observant. I watched how everybody did they thing. It wasn't cool to talk about what went on on the block. Especially on a record." "I had people that was close to me that was doing what they do. I respect him for doing what he got to do, I'll let him know if it ain't good, but still I respect that man he got to get his food. I got people that's close to me was doing real things in the streets. For me to get on the mic and start talking about certain things.. It's like three-dimensional right now, every time somebody get on the mic and mention some crime, you got 5-0 knocking at the door or tapping the phone or investigating this crew or this crew." "So I kinda seen it early. I didn't want to extort the streets. I didn't want to extort the hood, my dudes, or hip-hop. So I try to just keep it real, but at the same time it is a limitation. A lot of people today respect me for that, cause they call it, I didn't give up the street codes. I respect what he do, but leave that over there. I used to just try to find words that sound good, man. See if I can move the crowd that way." It definitely sounded like he was talking about 50's early penchant of putting names on his records ala the infamous "Ghetto Qu'ran." At the same time Rakim continues to keep tabs on and enjoys listening to all kinds of rap. Mentions Dipset, Saigon, and yes.. G-Unit as people he listens to to maintain his verbal dexterity. The new album "Seventh Seal" will be released this summer.. God Willing. Here are the Current TV links: http://www.current.tv/rakim comments = 1){echo "(".$counter.")";} ?>------------------- |
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