From attacking KRS-One with the scathing diss âBeat You Down,â to declaring war the fake with Screwballâs âF.A.Y.B.A.N,â Blaq Poet [click to read] has epitomized hardcore Hip Hop to fullest extent over his 20-plus year career. His latest album Tha Blaqprint, dropping June 29 on Year Round Records, provides exactly that blend of street-ready music, boasting production from DJ Premier and Easy Mo Bee [click to read].
â[Tha Blaqprint], thatâs that hardcore shit,âPoet told HipHopDX. âItâs just hardcore Hip Hop, street anthems. Iâm talking a lot of shit. Itâs just [that] hardcore that [people] ainât heard in a minute. It shocks the system.â
He then added, â[DJ Premier] wanted to do the whole album from the gate. He wanted to do the whole album. He didnât want anybody else to do the beats. That was the plan, but then Easy Mo [Bee] dropped a bomb, so we had to go with that. Gemcrates came with some fire, so we rolled with thatâŠGemcrates, he just gave me the beat and I went home with it. With Premo and Easy Mo Bee, I was in the studio with them, and we rocked in the studio, vibing for days.â
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The first single off the album is the DJ Premier-produced âAinât Nuttinâ Changed.â When the song first appeared on the Internet, it made a significant splash among fans of the Screwball emcee. Poet describes the recording process of the song, explaining why he chose that to be the albumâs first official single.
âThe first single, youâve got to make the beat,â noted Poet. âI told Premo [to] make something a little soulful, something with a little bounce to it, something with a R&B hook or something, like how âUnbelievableâ was with Biggie. He came up with that, [itâs] called âAinât Nuttinâ Changedâ with Akon [click to read] [singing] âWhen I come through the hood,â off of one of his tracks, and [Premo] banged it out crazy. I just went and thought about âWhen I come through the hood,â and how things are in the hood, how it used to be and all that, and it is what it is.â
Already in works is a remix of the single, featuring guest verses from California emcees MC Eiht and Young Maylay. Despite never having worked with any west coast artists before, Blaq Poet found the experience to be an indication of just how versatile and different Hip-Hop can be.
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â[The âAinât Nuttinâ Changedâ remix] is popping, itâs already done deal,â said Poet. âYoung Maylay killed it, shout out to him. MC Eiht, he killed it, shout out to him. Itâs something new. It was the same beat bouncing, new lyrics. Itâs a new song.â
He later added, âIâve never worked with [an] artist from the west coast, this was the first time. I loved [working with them]. I know they know real niggas are going to do real things. If youâre a Hip Hop nigga, youâre going to spit that shit to it. I love to hear different flows and different niggas spit, different emcees getting it in. That was popping when I heard how [Eiht] was flowing with the different accent. Itâs just crazy. It shows you what Hip-Hop is.â
Tha Blaqprint also features the song âHateâ [click to listen] featuring N.O.R.E., a fellow Queens native and one half of the duo Capone-N-Noreaga. Poet noted that because of the personal between he and N.O.R.E., a collaboration was an inevitable blessing. Yet given their relationship, Blaq Poet indicates just how important and singular of a song he wanted to make.
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âN.O.R.E., thatâs my dun,â said the Queensbridge emcee. âThatâs my dun from back in the day anyway, so it was just a matter of time before [we] got in touch with each other. The name of the song was originally just going to be âI Fucking Hate You,â and I was thinking aboutâŠwhat kind of a song I could do with N.O.R.E. I just donât want to do a song back and forth where weâre just talking shit. I want to do some ill shit with N.O.R.E., so I wanted to do some shit called âI Fucking Hate You.â But then, I didnât really get a chance to lay down the whole shit to N.O.R.E. of how I wanted him to [do it]âŠwe just shortened it to âHate,â and I had him go out [on] shit, how niggas are feeling about the hate shit, [how theyâre] going to handle it, and I just went in on why shitâs going down in the hood, how niggas are hating sometimes on people and shit like that. We got it in real quick.â
In addition, Tha Blaqprint boasts a wide variety of songs that capture every facet of Blaq Poetâs Queensbridge experience. Two such songs include âStretch Marks and Cigarettesâ and âNever Goodbye (Tribute to KL),â tribute to his fallen Screwball brethren, who died in 2008 of an asthma attack.
â[âStretch Marks and Cigarettesâ] is [about] the strippers, thatâs for the strippers right there,â noted Poet. â[Thatâs for] the females out there working and theyâre going hardbody to get their money right. All of them ainât perfect, all of them donât have that smooth skin. Some of them have got some stretch marks and some cigarette burns out there. [The song is] just a shout-out to the strippers and the chicks in the club getting that money.â
Blaq Poet then added, âIt was hard writing [âNever Goodbye (Tribute to KL)â]. That was one of my brothers, basically. [He] was my first cousin, so we were more like brothers than first cousins. That was hard writing it, and once it was written, it was even harder laying it down, but we got through it.â
Beyond the two initial singles, a number of songs from Tha Blaqprint have previously leaked onto the Internet, appearing on a number of DJ Premierâs mixtapes. Yet despite these releases, Blaq Poet only sees this a positive indication that his music is resonating with fans.
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â[Leaks are] all good, man,â said Poet. âIf theyâre not checking for [your leaks], theyâre not checking for you. If your shit is leaked, then that is good. That means [the fans] hear you. If youâre already selling millions, youâre going to keep making your money, man. Your real fans are going to buy that shit, [not] download it, pay for it. So the bottom line is to keep constant and keep making music. You canât keep worrying about chasing the dollar. Itâs a billion dollar game, and youâve got to be on your business. Once you put the business ahead of the game, itâs going to take away from your creativity. So donâtâŠworry about a download, just do your shit.â
A veteran from the Bridge Wars in the mid-â80s, Blaq Poet has witnessed Hip-Hopâs numerous progressions and transgressions. Yet for him, diversity is exactly what the game and its fans need. He stresses the importance of artistic integrity and blames any of the gameâs shortcomings on artist responsibility.
âShit changes, man,â said Poet. âEverything ainât going to stay the same. Itâs alright that itâs changing, but itâs all about the artist thatâs making it. Where are the artists that make the shit youâre looking for? Are they bullshitting and putting nothing out, falling off the map, or going to continue to push it out? You have to blame your artists for that, for the decline of shit, [for letting] you be stuck with the rest of their classics. You canât expect them to keep [making] records. So itâs all about the artist maintaining what they do right now and not takingâŠ10 years to drop an album. Youâve got to drop your shit, keep current, or youâre going to be fucking forgotten about and shit is going to change. Itâs all good though because itâs all healthy. Hip-Hopâ s got to change. Youâve got a whole bunch of different [types of] Hip Hop out there. I make that hardcore Hip Hop. If you want that soft-core shit or that other bubblegum shit or some âshake your booty-booty-ass shakeâ shit, itâs out there. Take your pick. You might want all of them; you might just want one of them. Take you pick man, but donât be stuck on one of them. Donât get stuck with whatâs forced in your face everyday on TV or BET or MTV or the radio. Do your research, and youâre going to find whatâs really out there. Go look at everything so you can see your choices. The only things you see are not the only choices.â