Throwback Thursday: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – Creepin On Ah Come Up

When Biggie’s Ready To Die was the best debut-album in rap-history, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Creepin‘ On Ah Come Up easily is the best debut EP to ever have been released by a rap crew, period! Yeah, there was Faces Of Death, but it wasn’t until this extended play, dropping on Eazy-E‘s Ruthless Records in 1994, that the world was introduced to the unique and contagious style of the four (originally five, but Flesh-N-Bone’s run-ins with the law made this a quartet most of the time) Clevelandians, which was somewhat of a mixture of gospel-singing, ragga-toasting and hardcore Midwest-Tongue-Twistin‘ Rap.

The dispute over who invented the style and a legendary beef between those Thugs and Psychodrama/Twista/Speedknot Mobstaz/Do Or Die from Chicago and Three 6 Mafia/etc from Memphis will never be forgotten. But more than that, the seminal, genre-changing sound of those 8 tracks will always be remembered!

Two interludes perceed the first song, creating a diabolic, voodoo-istic and extremely mystic vibe, that leads into the legendary quote of Baptist pastor Calvin O. Butts. And when he claims „We’re not against rap. We’re not against rappers…but we ARE against those THUGS„, all Hell breaks loose. Thuggish Ruggish Bone is that classic Mid-90’s G-Funk, with whiny synthesizers, deep bass grooves and a hook sung by Shatasha Williams, that will forever stick to one’s memory.

The song introduces Bone the best way possible: kickin‘ rhymes about inner city life, drugs, violence, ghetto youth without perspective and the typical „I have no opportunities, so I’ma use them„-attitude (a.k.a. I don’t give a fuck).

And that’s only the beginning of all this mayhem. No Surrender might be the most ruthless (ha – get the hint?!) „Fuck The Police“-songs, past N.W.A. Electro pianos, creepy synths, strings and the unforgettable „…’cause I’m killin‘ all you bitches, turn them blue suits red„-line by Wish Bone. Put it in your car-stereo and find yourself parolin‘ for the 5-0…for no reason, just feelin‘ what the Bone Thugs are choppin‘ up!

The title track is especially interesting. Somebody remember The New Power Generation’s „Hallucination Rain„? Those two make a PERFECT two piece. Bump ‚em back-to-back – it will take you into a psychotic daze. Distorted synths, creepy sounds and eery lyrics all over the place…

But there’s even more to it. Forget about the excellent „Foe Tha Love of $“ sportin‘ one of Eazy-E‘s most remarkable feature-parts, forget about all the skulls and Ouija-aesthetics, forget all the single elements and focus on the picture as a whole. Focus on what Bone Thugs-N-Harmony did to the rap-game with only 5 proper tracks. They changed the face of rap forever. Just like Dr. Dre did when he introduced the whole world to G-Funk in 1992. Rapping never was the same. Kickin‘ flows, incorporating singing into rap-technique and experimenting with all kind of different styles became normal.

If it wouldn’t have been for Wish Bone, Lazy Bone, Krayzie Bone, Flesh-N-Bone and Bizzy Bone, it might’ve never come that far. Even today’s Top MCs like A$AP Rocky, SpaceGhostPurrp and Kendrick Lamar drop raps, heavily influenced by the style, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony made famous.

Legendary. Period.

A$AP Rocky – Purple Kisses (Video)

Mr. Purrp-A-Purrp is back on his BS, releasing his new (solo-)sing for A$AP Mob’s upcoming street/album/mix/tape/callitwhachuwanna. Song’s called „Purple Kisses„. Video’s pretty psychedelic. Lotta dope, lotta women, lotta purple!
„Lords Never Worry“ is gonna out August 28th!

DJ Drama interviews A$AP Rocky talkin‘ Cam’ron, Ma$e, SpaceGhostPurpp… (Video)

Rocky touched down with DJ Drama to chop it up about him meetin‘ Cam’ron, wantin‘ to work with Ma$e and the whole SpaceGhostPurrp-situation (AGAIN), Lana Del Rey, why the Goldie-video was shot in Paris and a whole lot of other stuff you gotta find out yourself:

Pretty dope interview. Shout Outs to DJ Drama!

A$AP Rocky tells SpaceGhostPurrp to „Fuck him“

There’s been quite some tension goin‘ on between the A$AP Mob and SpaceGhostPurrp’s RVIDXR KLVN recently. Now, while other members of the Mob have jumped in within the blink of an eye, Rocky kept it cool and laid back. Until NOW. When asked about the situation by MTV, he said „F* him, fuck him, straight up. He’s one of those cats, like a lot of guys just hang around me, try to get hype, and when they dip off, start throwing dirt on the young on the blood. But they can’t stop the pretty motherfucker„. Oh…kay. Now, that’s pretty straight forward. So, I GUESS we won’t see no Purple Swag or Pretty Flacko in the nearer future. Anywhore…peep the video yourself:

A$AP Rocky on SpaceGhostPurrp – „Fuck him“

For some twisted reason, WP f*ed up the embed-function…I’ma have it fixed in a minute!

Yung Simmie – Phonk A Nigga (Video)

RVIDXR KLVN’s own Yung Simmie drops his new video „Phonk A Nigga“.

Choppin‘ it up with A$AP Rocky

Recently I had the chance to touch down with the hottest MC in the game right now: A$AP Rocky that is. He and his crew invaded Berlin on his European tour…and boooooy what a blast this was! Venue filled with weed smoke, fine girls everywhere and the A$AP Mob doin‘ what they do best: raisin‘ hell!

Right before the concert took place, John and me sat down with Rocky and chopped it up for 93.6 JAM FM Berlin. Talk was about Screw-Tapes, haters and stardom.

We kicked it off with the obvious: DJ Screw! The man & the myth has been referenced continously in Rocky’s music, so I grabbed my vintage 3 ‚N The Mornin‘, pulled it out the pocket and asked the Pretty Flacko what he knows about the maze!

So after the foundation was built, we got a lil‘ deeper into it, talking about how Rocky was first introduced to Screwed Music. By the way: his favorite Screw-song is „25 Lighters„. How could you not love DJ DMD, Fat Pat & Lil Keke?!

Things got a lil‘ more serious afterwards when we talked about Hip Hop’s No. 1 Topic: haters! Hear how Mr. A$AP deals with hate and how he explains hateration as a whole.

The Pretty Muthafucka seems so vivid, so graphic – it’s almost impossible to believe A$AP Rocky is a real person but more of a piece of art. Rocky breaks it down pretty simple though…

With the Rakim-reference bein‘ made, I had to ask Rocky about the interview with Angie Martinez, when she brought the God Rakim in the studio and introduced him to A$AP. Now, since it’s pretty sure to say Angie’s his favorite radio personality for that, I wanted to know WHO I had to introduce to Rocky for that new No. 1-spot.

Now, the next question is pretty strange from a retrospective, since there’s some MAJOR funk goin‘ on between Rocky’s A$AP Mob and SpaceGhostPurrp’s RVIDXR KLVN, but two weeks ago, this is what Rocky had to say about SPG and their „situation“.

Comes across pretty awkward considering all the twitter-beefin‘, the youtubin‘ and all the rah-rah goin‘ on right now between A$AP and the KLVN! Let’s just all hope the funk ain’t gonna get physical but that they’ll squash their situation and continue to produce heat like they did with Purple Swag, Pretty Flacko and all that good shit.

Nonetheless, we finished off the interview with a lil‘ insight on how stardom comes naturally to the leader of the Mob, even though it’s puzzling sometimes when you wake up in a hotel room and don’t really know where you are…

Right afterwards Rocky invited us to stay with him and the Mob to hang out and have a good time. Just after we got ourselves something so smoke, I sat down with A$AP Yams had some mad conversation about Screw tapes and hoochies and just zoned out. Mad respect at Yams for that Screw-skull on his neck and the whole Mob for all the love they where showin‘ me. Special shout out goes to Geeno for the company and his hospitality and also J Scott & Chace Infinite.

Oh…and for all of you that weren’t fortunate enough to witness the show, just peep this as a lil‘ glimpse of what went down when A$AP crashed the Festsaal Kreuzberg: