Written by Chris “Preach” Smith

MCs have displayed their singing chops for years. Whether it’s 50 Cent singing hooks in a voice that sounds like he knocked back five shots of Patron in a row or Grand Puba dropping melodies all over his tracks dating back to a duet with Mary J. Blige (if you can call it that,) MCs have always relied on a touch of R&B. So imagine my surprise when Ghostface Killah told Miss Info that his next project will be an R&B album. Read the rest of this entry »

At the mention of TSS, Wale said “That was one of the first sites to mention me.”

We’ll proudly pin that up with our collection of flair because Wale, more than likely, has next. His debut is set to be something heavy with Interscope backing and ‘Ye, Just, 9th, Neptunes and Swizz all behind the boards. “Eghck!” word to P. Thornton.

We still have a minute before we see if dude can deliver, but his track record is on point – from doing his go-go thing on 2006′s underground Hate Is The New Love to this past May’s The Mixtape About Nothing. Hitting the game up with free .99 tapes, Wale’s been serving up deals better than stolen iPhones. No wonder he could and did do a release party for a damn mixtape.

Set to get on with the Rock The Bells trek, Wale gave TSS Crew member D. Chanda his Fave Five tracks he’s done so far including a few from The Mixtape About Nothing, and kicked some little-known knowledge about himself as well.

‘Stronger’ Freestyle

“I love this one where I’m talkin’ about my football and all that. That brought me to talk about my football past and I never really mentioned it and I feel like it hit every point so well, youknamean.”

“The Kramer”

“Because of the artistic aspect of it how like it’s like drawing a perfect circle, you know what I’m sayin’, manually. You just look at it like ‘Shit, I just did that.’ It is impossible to draw a perfect circle, but if you did one, you look at it like, ‘Oh shit!’” Read the rest of this entry »

Part 1

Part 2

The first shall be last and the last shall be first…

Just as predicted, the last track on the GZA’s seminal classic Liquid Swords was the first time much of the Hip-Hop world was exposed to the spiritual diatribes from one Killah Priest. Much like the diametrical views displayed on “B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth),” Priest has continuously challenged listeners with his illuminate visionaries of religion and surreal experiences while still remaining a fierce presence on the microphone.

In case you lost track of Priest’s whereabouts, he’s never stopped putting in work since that unforgettable cameo over a decade ago. Still freshly removed from his last album The Offering, which was released last August, Priest is set to deliver yet another project—Behind The Stained Glass as takes as few moments to give all the details to TSS Crew’s TC in between a busy day of photo shoots and video spots.

TSS: What’s good Priest?

Killah Priest: Yo, what’s the deal!

TSS: What video you shooting for today?

Killah Priest: I’m shooting “Profit Of Man” today. This my fourth video I shot so far. I shot “Ghetto Jesuz” from The Offering and I shot “Hood Nursery” from the new album. There’s going to be four videos from this new album.

TSS: Oh so you still promoting The Offering too?

Killah Priest: Nah, that’s just a video that me and the producer wanted to do from a while back, but I’m basically still pushing everything ya know?

TSS: That’s what’s up. And you still being grindin’ and pushing albums, but it’s been more on the low-key end. You think you’ll ever bounce back on a major (record label)?

Killah Priest: I don’t even know man ’cause the way things are going, everything is coming towards independent anyway. And I don’t even know if the majors would ever want me again anyway. (laughs). I’m major and I’m trying to make it major, feel me?

TSS: No doubt, basically doing your own thing. But give us some insight on where the inspiration for the content of your lyrics comes from.

Killah Priest: The inspiration comes from different sources of life. Predicaments, dealing in the spiritual sense. For Black people, we’re always dealing with that spiritual connection so the lyrics stem from that.

TSS: Did you ever study theology in school?

Killah Priest: Nah, but I definitely went through all of that. Studying bibles, Mathematics, theology. I learned mine straight from the street. In school, I did the reading and writing, but I did my own research too and that’s where I gained the most knowledge. You can do your best learning by traveling and so forth.

TSS: Of course: life experience. And you’ve been described as prophet by your fans. Do you view yourself as such?

Killah Priest: (Laughs) Oh man. Well I just wanna make a profit in the pockets (laughs). But nah, if a prophet consists of telling ya’ll the truth, then that’s what it is. If it’s telling to truth to shame the devil, then yeah. I wanna be more than a prophet, because they prosecute them and I just want to tell the truth.

TSS: And what can we expect from seeing Killah Priest live in concert?

Killah Priest: It’s an experience. I take control of the crowd while having fun at the same time. People will tell you, “Priest does his thing.” And that’s what kinda kept me alive to be real.

TSS: So tell me about your latest Behind The Stained Glass? Read the rest of this entry »