IRT Magazine

ONYX TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM, COLD CASE FILES: UNSOLVED MURDERS,
AUGUST 19TH ON ONYX RECORDS/ICELAND MUSIC GROUP.

DISTRIBUTED BY KOCH ENTERTAINMENT THE 16 TRACK OPUS FEATURES UNRELEASED SOON TO BE CLASSICS FROM THE ONYX MUSIC VAULT.

After conquering Hollywood, hip-hop’s original rebels, ONYX - Fredro Starr, Sonny Seeza, Sticky Fingaz - return on the scene, emerging from their musical vaults with a new album, Cold Case Files: Unsolved Murders, a 16-track collection of previously unreleased songs executive produced by the members of Onyx and Omar “Iceman” Sharif for Ice Man Music Group (IMMG). “It’s a culmination of all the years,” explains Fredro. A cold case is a murder that gets cold and people forget about it. Years later, with new evidence they bring it out. This is us coming back after all the years with murderous tracks. This is a throwback for hard-core Onyx fans across the world!”

The collection features underground singles, lost studio recordings sessions from the group’s first three albums and features appearances from Method Man, deceased Onyx member X1 (Sticky Fingaz’s brother), and Gang Green.

According to the group, revisiting these sessions also serves as a tribute to fallen soldiers Jam Master Jay, X1 and Big DS, all Onyx affiliates who have passed on in the last five years some of which are still unsolved murders. “I remember when we shot the video with those guys in the Isuzu Rodeo jeep,” recalls Fredro of one of the songs, “I’ll Murda U.” “Listening puts me right back there.” Sticky Fingaz adds, “I listen to Cold Case File and say, ‘Damn, why didn’t we put that out before?’”

Sonee’s young brother and frequent guest Hussein was the one who archived much of this lost material. Sonee, who served as Album Supervisor, states, “Some of these songs are so raw that you’ll hearing the original mix. We kept it authentic to the period when they were recorded. Hussein was our biggest fan when we were in the studio recording and kept all our classics that never made it into albums in the Onyx vault; so when it came to making the album, he had tracks we didn’t even know existed on everything from cassettes, DATS, CDs and 2 inch studio reels.” Fredro adds, “It’s kinda bugged out to deal with this new technology too, ’cause back in the days, we was puttin’ shit on DATs, cassettes, and it still sounds good. This is classic vintage Onyx. When you listen to this album you gonna feel like you in the ’90’s.”

Despite going back as much as 15 years, the songs from Cold Case Files are still very resonant today. “Mad World” for instance, features socio-political verses in the classic uncontainable Onyx delivery, with a chorus stating that the “streets are worse than jail.” Although recorded in 1997, the lyrics remain relevant to our times. Fredro deduces, “War has not stopped. America has been in war for 20 years. When we did our first album, my friends were just coming from Desert Storm. Today we’re still at war so the lyrics are still current. Sean Bell getting shot in the streets is the same injustice as Yusef Hawkins. Ain’t nothing changed.”

Touching upon issues like these might seem controversial to the Hollywood careers of Fredro Starr (Clockers, Sunset Park, The Wire) and Sticky Fingaz (In Too Deep, Next Friday, Blade: The Series), but both MCs feel bound to fulfill their duties to listeners and fans. “We always got flack for what we said on records, for being too thugged out. I went to one network meeting that was playing my music, it was crazy. It’s just self-expression,” defends Fredro, whose career has thrived in both music and film. With songs like “Wilin’, Wilin’,” “I’ll Murder U” and “See U In Hell Pt. 2,” Onyx remain loyal to the themes and energy that made them stars in the first place. “You can’t stop the voice of the ghetto,” stamps Fredro.

The voice of Onyx has no plans of stopping. Cold Case Files sets the stage for the group’s next studio album, Black Rock, planned for 2009 and a series called 100 Men featuring new members of the Onyx Music family. “Black Rock is a hybrid album - Rock influenced with Hip Hop underneath it. It’s us repping for the rebels of the world, the rebels of the street who Onyx represents. It’s a where hip-hop meets the mosh pit,” denotes Fredro Starr. “Slam was the song that crossed us over, it was like a rock n’ roll record and we never really went down the rock & roll/hip-hop lane. We always kinda steered away from it and now we’re gonna do a whole album inspired by that sound.” explains Sticky Fingaz.

Mentored by Jam Master Jay, championed by a cult of hardcore Hip Hop fans, and embraced by Hollywood with acting careers, Sticky Fingaz, Fredro Starr and Sonnee Seeza remain true to their original mantra of hard beats, hard rhymes and a pioneering street demeanor fused together in classic music. After five charting albums: Bacdafucup (Def Jam 1993), All We Got Iz Us (Def Jam, 1995), Shut ‘Em Down (Def Jam, 1998), Bacdafucup Pt. II (Onyx Records/Koch International), Triggernometry (Onyx Records - D3/Rivera 2003) and classic singles “Slam,” “Bacdafucup,” “Last Dayz” between 1993 and 2003, amidst solo careers, Onyx unveils Cold Case Files: Unsolved Murders on August 19, 2008 on Iceman Music Group/Koch Records.

Omar “Ice Man” Sharif, founder and CEO of Ice Man Music Group (IMMG) who has executive produced five Onyx albums and three of their solo albums adds, “Onyx like Ice Man Media Group is a multi-media. We have our hands in everything from music, to film, television, and even fashion. Fredro, Sticky, and Sonee, have over 5 million fans world-wide who are waiting for their return. We just got back from Bulgaria, Russia, South America, and China and no matter where we go across the world, it’s a mosh pit once Onyx hits the mic. I have never seen hip-hop group rock arenas with the raw energy and magnetism of Onyx. They’re more than just a hip-hop group, they’re stars, icons!” He adds, “IMMG is about capturing the rawness of the early 90’s by doing deals with such artists like AZ and ONYX who aren’t gimmicky. Pure, uncut, raw hip-hop and that’s what you should expect to hear from Ice Man Music Group and you can’t get any rawer than Onyx.”

About Ice Man Music Group, Inc. (IMMG)

Founded by Omar “Ice Man” Sharif, Ice Man Music Group (IMMG) distributed by Koch Entertainment (parent distributor for Koch Records) dedicates itself to raw original hip-hop and includes Spider Loc, AZ, ONYX (Fredro Starr, Sticky Fingaz, Sonee Seeza), DJ Absolut and new artists Young Hustel and Bad Luck. Under IMMG is a coalition of labels: Onyx Records Presents 100 Mad Niggaz With Gunz. Baymacc, Onyx Records,Quiet Money, Addicted 4 Life, and many more to come.

Sad news in the world of underground hip-hop. Words courtesy of a public statement by Camu Tao’s longtime friend and collaborator El-P courtesy of his publicity firm Biz3:

On Sunday, May 25th, at around 2pm, our dear friend, family member and musical collaborator Tero “CAMU TAO” Smith passed away in his home town of Columbus, Ohio. Tero had been quietly fighting for his life for the last year and a half after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

To those who knew Tero, he was an almost uncategorizable force of nature. Wild, hilarious, proud, loving, tough, outspoken, spontaneous and brilliant. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he dripped creativity, leaving inspiration and awe in the hearts and minds of anyone who was fortunate enough to see him work.

Camu was a brilliant rapper, singer and sought after producer. He got his start in the group MHZ which released records on Fondle Em Records. He was also a founding member of the artistic collectives known as “Weathermen” and “Cardboard City”. He was in a group called Nighthawks with Chris “Cage” Palko, whose album was released on Eastern Conference Records. He was also in S.A. SMASH with Keith “Metro” Lawson, who released their debut album “Smashy Trashy” on Definitive Jux records. More recently he was a part of Central Services with myself, Jaime “El-P” Meline, whose debut album “Forever Frozen in Television Time” never got released. At the time of his death he was working on what those who had the chance to hear it considered his break through solo record, called “King of Hearts”, that was scheduled to be released on Definitive Jux this year.
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We, his friends and family, have truly had our collective hearts broken by his passing. Not only because of the loss of our friend, but because of the loss of his contribution to those who never knew what we knew about his talent and his potential. He was the secret that no one wanted to keep and we always knew that one day his vision and his heart could change music forever the way he changed all of our lives.His departure from us all one month away from his 31st birthday is nothing less than a tragedy. Nothing less than a crime. He was a gift to us all and he is irreplaceable.

Rest in peace, Mu. We will love you forever. May god bless you and your family.

Sincerely,

Jaime “El-p” Meline

On behalf of Definitive Jux, Weathermen and many, many wonderful and broken hearted friends. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones.

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“I wish I could come up with some profound statement of everything I feel about this amazing man who impacted my life in countless ways but I can not. It has already been so difficult to not have him at home with me. I am not sure how I will carry on my life without Tero but I know that he would kick my ass if I didn’t.
I feel peace knowing that he is no longer in pain and can continue on in his journey of greatness in the next life.
You are my partner, my best friend, and I am so in love with you. Not one day will pass that I do not think about the life I shared with you. I will carry you forever in my heart and in my spirit.” Love, Gayle

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“Summing up my feelings regarding Camu, who he was as a friend, what he did as a musician, and how devastating his death is to me will never be possible. I have never lost a best friend before. These types of emotions have no names. Mu had an infectious magnetism about him that was so far removed from the comfort of any convenient adjective or classification, it makes stomaching this with any hint of grace that much more unrealistic. So much of who I am today is directly related to Camu’s ability to unearth things in me that would have otherwise remained dormant forever. He had an unprecedented influence on me as a human being, and beyond that as an artist. I can only hope that when this current fog eventually lifts, I am strong enough to do justice to the things he has given me.” -Ian “Aesop Rock” Bavitz

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“Camu Tao was like my big brother; hard on me, caring, inspiring, and confident. I looked up to him. On the first day we met he took his jacket off his back and put it on me because he saw that I was cold. That is the type of person he was.” -Yashar “Yak” Zadeh
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“He was robbed of his life. I was robbed of my friend and brother. We created music together and he believed he could change hip hop and so did I. There are many wonderful things I could say about Tero in his passing.I am fortunate I got to tell him most of them while he was alive. I am angry. I am bitter. My life will NEVER be the same again. He said “you should pump this shit like they do in the future” and HE WAS RIGHT!!!!!

I wish he could have seen all this love while he was still here. Cherish every second you have with someone you love sick or healthy. Time is NOT on your side.”

CC/WM FOREVER

Chris “Cage” Palko

Nigger, the controversial new album from Queensbridge’s favorite son, is slated to come out July 1, and with no shortage of controversy.  The title itself, at least in the estimation of this publication, appears to be the final chapter in a trilogy that initially began with 2002’s God’s Son and crescendoed with 2004’s double-album opus Street’s Disciple, in that these albums’ titles refer to what Nas has called himself or been called by others through the course of his majestic eighteen-year career in the hip-hop game.  In any rate, it is a bold and brave move for Mr. Jones, who has never been known to pull any punches in his rhymes and stands firm as an impacting statement to the Black community that the word still indeed exists and it can never be “buried”, as the mayor of Detroit tried to do in a shameless publicity stunt a few months back while also, in our opinion, calling out his younger contemporaries who have since transformed the harsh inner city landscapes Nas would depict in his rhymes into a playground of thugged-out minstrelsy.

But then again, what do I know, I’m just a stupid white boy. -Ed.

MP3:Nas - Be A Nigger Too
Download (Click Here)

BLUE NOTE RECORDS TO RELEASE DROPPIN’ SCIENCE: GREATEST SAMPLES FROM THE BLUE NOTE LAB

ALBUM DUE OUT FEB 12, FEATURING 10 CLASSIC BLUE NOTE TRACKS USED AS SAMPLES IN SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS HIP HOP TRACKS OF THE 90s.

On February 12, Blue Note Records will release Droppin’ Science, a unique collection of the legendary label’s classic late 60s through mid-70s jazz-funk tracks, all of which have featured prominently as samples in some of the greatest hip hop cuts of the late 80s, 90s and beyond. Hip hop artists ranging from Dr. Dre to the Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest have sampled Blue Note grooves by such jazz greats as Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Donald Byrd, and Lonnie Smith. All of these original Blue Note tracks have been compiled for the first time on Droppin’ Science, which Blue Note will release as a 10-track CD, a 13-track digital album and vinyl LP, as well as individual ring-tunes that are based on the exact sampled loop.

Little known to most of the general public, Blue Note is home to some of the most widely used samples in the history of hip hop. Sampling and the use of breakbeats has been the foundation of hip hop since its advent in the late 70s; yet, during the late 80s artists began looking for the first time into the world of jazz for new and creative sources of music. Blue Note’s extensive catalog quickly became the go-to location for innovative groove based samples. What resulted was an explosion of classic hip hop tracks featuring Blue Note jazz. This explosion is best experienced in the music of A Tribe Called Quest, who used 4 out of the 10 tracks on Droppin’ Science in numerous groundbreaking classics.

Taking the name from a cut off of Marley Marl’s 1988 LP In Control Vol. 1, Blue Note’s VP of A&R Eli Wolf conceived the Droppin’ Science project as a way to connect what he calls the “golden age of hip hop” to the now classic jazz-funk tracks recorded for Blue Note during the late 60s through mid-70s. Selecting from over 25 Blue Note tracks, Wolf has assembled the best of the best from the Blue Note sampleography.  

The list of artists both sampled and sampling includes some of the most famous names in the world of jazz and hip hop, and covers a large breadth of time. In 1992, Kool G Rap used Joe Williams’ “Get out of My Life Woman” in his classic cut “Ill Street Blues;” then, nearly a decade later Jill Scott used the same sample in the song “Brotha” featured on her seminal neo-soul debut Words and Sounds: Vol 1. Landmark tracks from Brand Nubian (“Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down”), De La Soul (“Bitties in the BK Lounge”), and Lox (“Get This $”) all feature a groove from Lou Donaldson’s “It’s Your Thing.” A Tribe Called Quest used Jack McDuff’s “Oblighetto” in their smash “Scenario.” As recently as 2001, Dr. Dre sampled David McCallum’s “The Edge” in the infamous cut “The Next Episode” which featured Snoop Dogg. The list continues, with Biggie Smalls’ “One More Chance” remix and Mary J. Blige’s “Everyday It Rains” featuring a sample from Lou Donaldson’s “Whose Makin’ Love.” Blue Note’s influence has even been felt in the pop world where Madonna used a Lou Donaldson sample (“It’s Your Thing”) in her song “I’d Rather Be Your Lover,” as well as a sample of Grant Green’s “Down Here on the Ground” in her song “Forbidden Love.”  For a full sampleography, please see below.  

These innovative hip hop artists and beyond did their part to bring to light some of the gems of the Blue Note catalog. Yet, these tracks deserve to be heard in their entirety; complete with ripping Lonnie Smith organ solos and David Axelrod produced sound-scapes. Blue Note’s aim is to re-introduce these classics to the public and to highlight the innovative ways in which these artists and producers utilized jazz material in their work. Droppin’ Science brings these jazz tracks together for the first time in a truly distinct, soulful, and funky way.

This was posted by Trent Reznor on the Nine Inch Nails website earlier this week, announcing the online release of Saul Williams’ anticipated new album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust, produced by Reznor himself.  This marks the second artist to toss a much-deserved stone at the record industry machine, and a big congrats goes out to our main man from Newburgh, NY for this brave move.  IRT has already forked out the fin for their copy, so readers, please don’t be cheap bastards and cop this for free.  This man deserves your support. Thank you. -Ed.
As many of you know, I’ve been working closely with Saul Williams on his new record. We’ve spent many hours together in hotel rooms, busses, backstages and studios around the world working on something we knew was great. This is the most involved I’ve been with any project outside NIN since Antichrist Superstar, and I’ve been impatiently waiting for the chance for you to hear it.
Well… guess what?
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! has arrived!
After my own recent dealings with record labels we decided to release it directly to you. Head over to www.niggytardust.com for all the details. Register now and you can download the record November 1st.
Working on this project was a real pleasure. Saul was interested in breaking boundaries / crossing genres / defying expectations and we learned a great deal from one another in the process. When asked about the sound of the record, I’ve had to resort to ”… I really don’t know HOW to describe it.” That’s a good thing more than ever these days.

A word on the way we’ve chosen to release this.
There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and the way we’ve chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we’ve improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit you, the consumer. You obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that IS very different in our situation is that Saul’s not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on this more than ever. If you like what you hear, spread the word.

I hope you enjoy the music,

TR

From Bitchforkmedia.com:
If this truly does happen tomorrow night, that would be the SHIZZ@!
Company Flow to Reunite? CMJ: it’s happening. And, given the chaotic, scattered nature of the proceedings, it’d be easy for something big to get lost in the fray. (One shudders at the thought of something, somewhere going unblogged). But when we caught wind of this, well, we knew it’d be worth salvaging from the white noise.

Company Flow, the now-iconic hip-hop trio featuring El-P, Mr. Len, and Bigg Jus– more or less dormant since the turn of the century– will hope to reunite for Def Jux’s big (and previously reported) showcase at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg this Friday (October 19).

***UPDATE: While a Def Jux rep initially confirmed the reunion, the group’s publicist has informed us that it is NOT YET CONFIRMED. The official word from El-P: “I don’t want to make any official announcement on anything as nothing is confirmed yet, but if all goes right the fans will be getting more than is advertised on the bill. If all goes right we will be rocking songs we haven’t done in years. It [may] mean all of us, it may mean two of us…and possibly it may not happen at all. I will know more later this week.”

Provided it happens, this is big for reasons both musical– OMG Funcrusher Plus (which turned 10 this year, by the way)– and personal, as El-P and Bigg Jus will reportedly have to mend a bridge or two to pull this one off. There’s even been some talk of reissuing some Co Flow material, though that, at the moment, is just talk.

Even without this news, that showcase is one to check out, with Junk Science, Hangar 18, the Mighty Quinn, Mr. Dibbs, Yak Ballz, Despot, Activator, Cool Calm Pete and other special guests all slated to appear. El-P, as you should know by now, also dropped the Recommended I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead LP this year.
Video: Company Flow: 8 Steps to Perfection [from the Funcrusher Plus LP]

FIRST AESOP ROCK FULL LENGTH IN 4 YEARS

NONE SHALL PASS OUT AUGUST 28th on DEFINITIVE JUX

Responsible for all but revolutionizing the entire face of underground hip-hop in the early portion of this decade with a slew of potent and influential releases such as 2000’s Float LP, 2001’s monumental Labor Days LP, and 2003’s Bazooka Tooth to his most recent EP/book, 2004’s Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives, Aesop Rock (aka Ian Bavitz) has proven that resting on his past laurels is all but forbidden. In the last year alone, Aesop has released a 45-minute workout mix for Nike+, a short story in collaboration with visual artist Jeremy Fish, and scored music for two short films. 2007 finds Aesop delivering his next full length album, the highly anticipated None Shall Pass on Definitive Jux.

Created over a 2 year period following his last release, None Shall Pass documents not only a vast amount of personal change that Aesop experienced over this time, but deftly depicts scenes and stories relative to all ages of life. Production is a vital strong point on this album, with the majority of production duties handled by Aesop’s longtime partner Blockhead. El-P and Rob Sonic each make offerings, while Aesop himself confidently produces a large portion of his own tracks as well. The duality of Aesop’s hectic stream-of-thought coupled with the complex production on this album makes no exception to Aesop Rock’s consistent pedigree, blazing a trail far ahead of his peers with an album that will be followed for years to come.

track listing for None Shall Pass:

1. Keep Off The Lawn
2. None Shall Pass
3. Catacomb Kids
4. Bring Back Pluto
5. Fumes
6. Getaway Car (feat. Cage and Breeze Brewin)
7. 39 Thieves
8. The Harbor is Yours
9. Citronella
10. Gun For The Whole Family (feat. El-P)
11. Five Fingers
12. No City
13. Dark Heart News (feat. Rob Sonic)
14. Coffee (feat. John Darnielle)