TSS Presents Smoking Sessions With KRS-One & Buckshot

"Smoking Sessions With..."    By TC on September 14, 2009 at 2:48 pm

Ask the radio’s program director or any Soulja Boy fan and they’ll tell you Hip-Hop is no country for old men. Calling KRS-One and Buckshot old however signifies that they’re experienced, wiser and better than you. Albeit well below senior citizen status, the BCC/BDP alumni have earned their stripes twiceover in this thing called rap. And with them joining forces for their Duck Down Records collaborative album, Survival Skills, expect them to earn a little more.

In an engaging sitdown with the Crew’s TC, the newly formed conglomerate discuss Hip-Hop in full as they reveal their mastery in longetivity. Relax and take notes. You’re bound to learn from the T’Cha and the BDI Thug.

TSS: You both have been involved in numerous collaboration projects previous to this. What separates Survival Skills from the rest?

KRS-One: Without bias this is one of the strongest albums I’ve been a part of. The beats, features, and lyrical content help to create a relevant project that sounds current. Buckshot did an incredible job formulating hooks and from there I went in!

Buckshot: Yo, I’m glad you did mention that there were previous collaboration that were done between myself and certain artists. That’s always been my character block of history since the very beginning. If you even look at Boot Camp Clik — that’s a collaboration! [Black Moon's] Enta Da Stage came out first and then we brought BCC together. I’ve always been a unifier. That’s always been my role in Hip-Hop. Everybody has a position or role to play. Mine is the unifier. So I did that with Boot Camp. Did it with 2Pac [One Nation.] Did it with 9th Wonder [The Formula.] And now it’s with KRS-One which will be another chapter in history. It’s really a history thing with me. I don’t do it for sales or recognition. But quiet as kept, I have done quit a few collaborations.

TSS: What’s the concept of the album as a whole; what is the name Survival Skills alluding to?

Buckshot: Besides a big fat warning sign to everybody in the business?

TSS: (Laughs) Yeah. What initial message are you guys trying to get across?

KRS-One: If you analyze where we are today we’re clearly in a crisis. People are jobless, but it doesn’t mean you can feel sorry for yourself. In the track with Mary J. Blige called “The Way I Live” I say when you lose your job, you find your work. It’s in you, it’s called Survival Skills, that entrepreneurial spirit we have to build up!” We owe it to ourselves to find self worth and there are plenty of resources out there for people to grab hold of. It’s like the album cover artwork. In a sense a fan may view that and think that I’m pulling Buckshot up the mountain. However, the way I see the cover is that Buckshot is GROUNDING ME. He’s leveling me. Use people around you to pull strengths out.

Buckshot: I mean you got KRS-One & Buckshot on an album…together. And it ain’t even the rhyme skills everybody should be worried about. It’s the amount of knowledge they should fear. It’s not even the album and the creativity and the skills to get on that stage and rock a crowd blowing MCs out the frame by going off the top of the head for hours on end. None of those things got me. What got me is that KRS-One is a verbal threat when it comes to being influential to the people and Buckshot falls behind in the same category. So when you listen to the Survival Skills album, it’s really dedicated to telling people: EVERYTHING has come to a cease and a new light…new energy is here. Like Barack Obama say “Change is Here!?” We definitely are here.

When they hear Survival Skills, it’s basically intentional to say anybody who feels they can get on stage and cover the grounds that we cover, BRING IT ON! We invite you! But we gonna burn that shit down. We gonna blast that stage in half and personally, I don’t think there’s anyone out there that can hang with us. And I don’t really care who it is. Like Kanye West or those other guys can have a lot of purple and white suits or pink colors at their show but we will show everyone how to properly do this. Like when Pac said “I’m tired of people not rockin’ this right.” I’ll show you how to do this. And if you give me none of that, I will show go up to your show…and tear it down! You may do a great job! But I’ma tear that shit down.

KRS-One: And we’re never talking about anybody particular.

Buckshot: Yeah, we’re not one of these people who fall in line with “Buck said this, Kris said that.” We never discredit any of our brothers in the Hip-Hop community no matter who you are. It’s all about being Black, young & gifted, talented, whatever. My whole thing is when you bring competition, it brings out the best in all artists.

TSS: Tell me about the song “Clean Up Crew” Kris.

KRS-One: ROCK went in on this record. He turned up the energy to levels one can’t imagine. Within this song is a powerful message. Those working in the service industry are often undervalued, but they are the backbone to our living especially in public spaces. I make the analogy that I’m the janitor I’ve come to clean up quick, the mic is the mop I clean the streets up with quick. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album and is fittingly in the #4 slot on the album otherwise known as The Clean Up.

TSS: Agreed. But there is a fine line between competition and beef. Would y’all say beef is a distraction nowadays?

Buckshot: Beef has not only been a distraction but it’s also a copout. From the start, beef was always the easiest thing to come up with. Like in the golden days, two people would battle. And then they were ready to fight each other right then and there because one of them said something something that would make them just lose it. And if anytime that happened, anytime there was a slip-up like that, there were judges, a crowd, people who were probably tougher than you, everybody would go “BOOOOOOOO! Get the fuck outta here! Get him off stage yo!” Ya know? He ready to beat niggas up? Cuz there ain’t no suckas over here.

It did work for one person at one point in time because his was a true situation. And what had happened was because he blew off of that, everybody else start figuring out that maybe they could do the same or have the chance to. Some people did it intentionally and some did it unintentionally because they were products of the fact that rappers in the industry get publicized for the negativity. Someone could say “Fuck you” and then “My bad” later but the press would only put out such and such says “Fuck you.” But as long as we don’t pull the guns out because that’s just taking it waaaay over the line; doing way too much.

KRS-One: When two people are on the block and one of them say “fuck that, I will bust my guns nigga…” What he’s actually saying is “I will take it to the max and beyond.” He’s telling you that’s the level of where he will go. You can take it literally like he’ll do some stupid shit in broad daylight like go outside and bust his gun or you can take it figuratively and use your head and be like “Ooooh, I get what he’s saying.”

TSS: How’d the “Robot” concept come about?

KRS-One: That was actually Buck’s idea.

TSS: Were you watching videos or listening to the radio getting fed up to what you were seeing and hearing in terms of representing Hip-Hop?

Buckshot: Yeah I basically said to myself that it was something that everybody felt, but nobody wanted to say it. It got so bad to the point that some guys didn’t want to do it [Auto-Tune] but they did it because they felt it was the only way to get back into the limelight. And to me, there’s nothing more disrespectful than seeing someone you respect for so long for being original turn around and start to rhyme (or sing) on Auto-Tune because they feel like a guy from the 7o’s coming back in a polyester suit looking totally out of fashion. They’re saying to themselves “this is what we gotta do.” And it’s really not the truth because what people admire is your originality.

TSS: The video “Robot” is one of great creativity as well as entertainment. Does it bother you that there’s no “Rap City” to play it?

“Robot” just played on BET’s 106 & Park as a new video of the day. “The Deal” has interviewed myself and Buckshot about the album. They may be covering Buckshot the day the album comes out for a day in the life segment. The video was in rotation at MTV, VH1 Soul, Music Choice. The actual problem becomes are enough people watching network today VS what they may discover online via youtube, myspace or these network’s websites. Then take this a step further and understand when the programming is running. BET’s “The Deal” broadcasts at 2 a.m. EST. That is a tough task to ask fans to stay up if they can’t afford DVR cable systems to record what may be their favorite video show.

I’m not bothered by the lack of “Rap City” so long as the Hip-Hop Community finds ways to evaluate where our content we’re making can live. My “Hip Hop Lives” video has been viewed over 1 million times on youtube. “Robot” is approaching 200,000 views in a couple of months. That to me is something to be proud of.

TSS: But can the more lyrically inclined Hip-Hop that ya’ll are branding survive without direct support from radio or TV?

Buckshot: We’re already there. Quiet as kept, there’s not even nobody around. Peep it: the industry is GONE! What people used to know as the industry is know longer around. It’s finished! We no longer need TV or commercial radio to promote or sell anything. And I mean anything. At the end of the day, the shit is like a ghost town. And there’s a few people left that want you to believe that it’s still operative. Because they will play the chef. They will play the bookstore owner. They’ll bring you into the town and then turn around and be the muthafuckin’ hotel owner trying to rent you a room!

That old system has collapsed! We don’t get advances like that anymore. We don’t sign artists that much anymore. We don’t buy commercial space, time or magazine ads the way we used to. So if you still got your mind in the way it used to be, that’s gonna be too bad for you…

KRS-One: Yes. It may take more work but if your product is accessible and is quality, the people will migrate towards it eventually. We may not attract the insto-fan who is purchasing the project because he or she heard the single a thousand times on radio, but I still sell out thousand person venues from fans coming to see me rock that stage and it’s rarely advertised on the radio. People are aware that Buckshot and I perform with passion and put on an enjoyable show. They will research these things and spend their money, most times more money than album may cost, to come see us rock.

If you’re in NYC on September 15th when Survival Skills is in stores, I suggest you come down to SOBs to watch myself and Buckshot perform the album with our special invited guests. Even RADIO HIMSELF, DJ FUNK MASTER FLEX will be spinning!!! Why is he there if his own station has yet to offer more support? I guess he made his mind up that the record is worthy.

TSS: Great points. So all things considered, you’re in it for the long haul Buck?

Buckshot: I’m definitely in it for the long haul because eventually my mind frame is aimed at creating more business and more opportunities.

TSS: Naturally you’re a veteran in the game but even Kris out ranks you. Was there any teaching involved in the recording process?

Buckshot: Yeah, teaching by the way of action. He didn’t sit down and say “Buck do this, Buck do that,” but just by watching and listening to him, I got a good feel for the direction in which we were taking the album. So it definitely was a learning experience.

TSS: Being a headstrong representer for the culture, do you think people expect you to say something outlandish Kris?

KRS-One: I think the press may try and push buttons looking for a certain response which is fine. I understand I’m the teacher and these things are expected. I don’t appreciate when my words are misinterpreted though. I can represent the culture through my actions such as promoting non-violence and making music that I know is staying in tune with what my fans expect.

TSS: I know you feel Hip-Hop has no age boundaries Kris but do you ever feel like you’re talkin’ to a brick wall with some of your lyrical content? More specifically, the children who prefer dance tunes.

KRS-One: Hip-Hop is an ever evolving genre. I am not mad at whatever lane a fan may choose to be in. I just hope that the gatekeepers that control what is heavily promoted to the masses can be open-minded in advertising all formats of Hip-Hop. We as the culture can make the difference though by requesting music such as KRS-One & Buckshot on your local radio stations or visiting BET.COM to vote for our “Robot” video at 106 & Park. The material and information is there, but it’s on you to do your research and decide what artists you want to support. I hope that myself and Buckshot do enough on that mic to earn your respect.

KRS-One & Buckshot’s Survival Skills features production and appearances from Mary J. Blige, 9th Wonder, Talib Kweli, Black Milk, Melanie Fiona, Nottz & many more. It will be released in stores September 15th, 2009 courtesy of Duck Down Records. For more information on the product and purchasing locations, visit www.duckdown.com as well as www.myspace.com/krsoneandbuckshot.

And be sure to pick up your tickets for their FREE live performance in Philly.

Previously Posted — KRS-One & Buckshot - “Robot” Video

Posted in "Smoking Sessions With...", ARTIST INTERVIEWS, GENERAL — Tags: Buckshot, Duck Down Records, KRS-One, Survival Skills, TSS Presnets Smoking Sessions With