Dice Raw Releases First Official Single In 10 Years, “100”

Philadelphia veteran emcee, singer and songwriter Dice Raw may not have released an album since 2000’s Reclaiming The Dead, but the Grammy-nominated artist has remained active writing and appearing on songs from The Roots‘ last three albums, as well branding his Nouveau Riche band with Nikki Jean. Yesterday, Dice spoke to HipHopDX about today’s first single release in close to a decade, “100.” “[The song] is more important to me than any single I ever release because it’s really an incredible thing to look back at a 14-year career and see where I’m at now. There’s never really been another person in Hip Hop like me, know what I mean? I first came out on [The Roots’] ‘The Lesson’ in 1994, [and] didn’t drop my first solo project for another six years, and after that didn’t release a solo project till now…10 years later.”

While Dice has weathered a bumpy road, the artistic triple-threat burried maintained his relevance and his craft through staying tucked away in the recording studios of Philadelphia. “During all that time I was still relevant, because I was in the lab writing music that made it to huge levels of success, and nobody even knew I was involved. Because there was such a gap [between albums], I feel like putting this single out, and following up on it with the full project, The Greatest Rapper Never is a now-or-never situation for me. I’ve got so much versatile material, but it’s doing no good just being played around the studio.”

According to Dice, the song was written about a common occurrence in today’s music industry, a know-it-all. “‘100’ was written about a Hip Hop producer/artist who thinks he knows everything about Hip Hop, but I want this single to remind him what Hip Hop really is and what’s really good.”

Perhaps an allegory, the North Philadelphia-born Dice adds that the song hints at his present sound and Greatest Rapper Never. “‘100’ is a good description of me, and just one side of the type of music I want to make, which is hardcore Hip Hop, but the total project is surprisingly versatile and ranging across a bunch of different styles and tastes. Working with The Roots and writing with everyone I write with has made me one of the most multi-faceted underground artists in existence. My background and experience really let me put together an album that has something on it everyone will love.”

“100” is available on iTunes today, and Greatest Rapper Never is planned for July release.