Amongst a whirlwind of news that fought for rap headlines this week was a not-so-quiet leak from a not-so-existent comeback album by a not-so-reliable super producer. “Kush,” a campy smoker’s anthem featuring Snoop Dogg, Akon and Slim Da Mobsta hit the internets this past Monday, and collective jubilation rang out from a rap community that has been waiting since 2002 for something, anything, from Dr. Dre’s ill-fated and oft pushed back Detox. In an upcoming interview with Vanessa Satten of XXL, Dre was candid about the near-absurd delays that have plagued the album, confessing that “The only part that has been pushing me back is just the fact that I’m getting older… It’s been a little tussle in that area, just because of age and being able to identify with a younger audience.” Since starting the project almost a decade ago, Dre hasn’t gotten any younger, and the 45 year old producer/rapper now plans on adjusting his lyrical content and utilizing new, fresh talent to retain personal maturity while producing an album that can resonate with younger rap fans. And if Dre has his way, this fresh talent will take form in a young spitter from his old stomping grounds of Compton named Kendrick Lamar.

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MATT & SAM (THE INTERLUDES) from BOUNDLESS DREAMS TV on Vimeo.

Surprise and I were given the chance to sit and chat with Jack Sommer of Imagination Detonation. A very cool opportunity to say the least, considering that the kid has scored interviews with major internet figures like Mike Waxx of IllRoots and Modi of DCtoBC. It was pretty humbling to be asked to share our philosophy and work, and hopefully we didn’t ramble too much. Check out Part 1 above and Part 2 after the jump.

Also, stay tuned for more dense, analytical, boarder-line-pretentious-but-you-love-it-anyway goodness from The Interludes. There’s been a lot of rap-happenings to discuss, and we haven’t missed any of it. We’re working on bringing in some other voices around these parts as well, some you may even be familiar with off the Internets. And as always, thanks for rocking with us.

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First of all:

The rabbit in the backyard is not Kanye’s sexuality.

The marching band is not the Democratic Party.

The kid with the red smoke is not LeBron.

It doesn’t make sense to analyze Runaway frame by frame, searching for symbols. Kanye himself seems unable, and unwilling, to find a coherent message in his visual tour de force. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth discussing, though. For all that the film leaves untouched on a symbolic level, it speaks volumes about where hip hop may be headed. Read the rest of this entry →

It is an exciting time to be a rap fan. Dropping soon are two very important albums from the genre’s biggest acts: Jay-Z’s The Hits Collection Vol. 1, a compilation of Hov’s blockbuster singles, and Nas’s The Lost Tapes 2, a sequel to the critically acclaimed The Lost Tapes and slated to feature previously unreleased material from the Queensbridge MC. Jay-Z and Nas have functioned on opposite ends of the coin for decades, and their two separate discographies have always complimented each other. But these upcoming albums present a particularly interesting dialogue between the two acts, specifically through their contrasting mediums. A comparison of the two different formats, a “Greatest Hits” compilation versus a “Previously Unreleased” collection, boasts overarching implications not only on the nature of the artists themselves, but on the commercial viability of the hip-hop icon in today’s volatile record industry.

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The problem with people is that we have always had shortcomings. With time, we attempt to make our weak points strong, and our strong points stronger. Out of a sense of necessity, people have strived to be the best that they can be. So it goes to say that in the professional world, those who strive to be the best at a profession should have the most success, as they should be the most talented. But what happens when the goal isn’t to be good at what you do, but to make money from what you do? Then, we have the rap game.

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Wayne’s year long prison sentence quaked the hip-hop community, colliding head-on with what seemed to be unstoppable ascension for the multi-platinum MC. But a bullet in the bing hasn’t stopped Wayne’s consistent visibility across the hip-hop sphere through his features, leaks, and near-superstar protégés Drake and Nicki Minaj. With the digital release of his EP I Am Not a Human Being dropping last week and its physical counterpart slated to sell over 200K on its October 12^th release date, it seems that this prison stint has done nothing but provide Wayne lots of free press and an awesome Kanye West concert. But what have the days since Weezy set sail for Rikers really meant for hip-hop? And what are the long term effects of the self proclaimed “greatest rapper alive” sitting alone in a cell for the next month, deprived of even a pair of headphones, let alone pen and pad? Wayne’s incarceration has made unstable what had been the most steadfast career in rap, and wields heavy implications about the prison industrial complex’s presence and influence in hip-hop.

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The recent cultural emergence of Willow and Jaden Pinket-Smith has led many to complain that their success is only due to the trail their father blazed. While this might be true, what these people fail to recognize is that the exact same thing can be said about grown men and women all over the hip hop world.

Arguably the best, and possibly the last, true triple threat entertainer, Will Smith has been quiet lately, but his influence in hip hop can be found all over the industry. Everyone from Mos Def to Ludacris to Drizzy Drake owes at least a small part of their success to the Fresh Prince. We may never see another performer like him, and it’s about damn time that Will Smith gets the credit he deserves. By helping to expand the cultural boundaries of the hip hop industry, Smith was one of the primary figures ushering in the new age of the cross-cultural rapper-entertainer.

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Kid Cudi set off a firestorm of controversy with his feature in this month’s issue of Complex, and the internets are just beginning to cool down. Cudi seemed to lay everything on the line in the B-Rabbit-esque self depreciation fest, but most striking were his opening remarks on fellow rapper and former hipster-buddy Wale. Cudi ranted about his peer being a “simple ass rapper,” and addressed the MC directly, declaring that “ we [Cudi and Kanye West] don’t fuck with you musically,” creating one of the more amusing internet memes of this year. The remarks left many readers stumped, wondering what prompted the comments and what exactly would come of the situation. Would there be diss records? Would auxiliary parties who were mentioned get involved? Would Cudi and Wale, as producer Just Blaze suggested, take their skinny jeans and rare Jordans to the pavement for a hand to hand? Cudi’s interview marks the shifting role rap beef has had in the hip-hop industry, once a towering behemoth that dictated careers, and now an awkward dance filled with spontaneity, embodying passivity, and lacking accountability.

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A year has passed, the dust has settled, and hopefully, maybe, we’ll finally all be able to put Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift behind us. What started as just another spontaneous moment, the kind that MTV’s Video Music Awards have been infamous for since the 80s, blew up into a cultural firestorm, with fans of both artists starkly picking sides and bashing opposition. The controversy seemed to be the breaking point for Ye, who became a recluse for several months before returning with a newfound creative spirit and positive energy, punctuated by his single “Power” and subsequent “G.O.O.D Friday” releases. This past Sunday at the VMAs, it seemed every presenter, performer, nominee and audience member was subordinate to what host Chelsea Handler referred to as “the big black elephant in the room,” and millions of viewers waited to see just how Kanye would handle his closing performance. Taylor Swift took a direct approach, appearing barefoot and solitary onstage and performing a song critiquing Kanye for being “32 and still growing up.” But where Taylor spoke directly to the issue, Kanye used his closing performance to step back from the isolated incident and comment on the larger implications surrounding his past year and his career altogether. Through his aesthetic choices, featuring of Pusha T, and the lyrical content itself, Kanye West and “Runaway” presented a complex analysis of the painful complications that arise between two lovers, between two cultures, and between an icon and his audience.

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Our nation is deadlocked. There hasn’t been any national issue this starkly divisive in recent memory. We’re split almost exactly down the middle on a topic that is hair-trigger sensitive and that presents fair logic on both extreme ends. The proposed plan for the construction of a Muslim cultural center two blocks from the border of Ground Zero in New York City started as a local news report, but as the politically polarized Capital Hill hopped onto the story as election fodder, it spread virally from state to state and mouth to mouth. Today, it is impossible to turn on the evening news and miss the extensive coverage of the little mosque that could. Def Jam founder and hip-hop sensei Russell Simmons recently added his two cents by hanging a banner from his apartment windows overlooking Ground Zero, bearing the clichéd “Coexist” logo comprised of various religious symbols. Besides this not-so-subtle response, however, the hip-hop community has been unusually quiet about the subject. This silence is especially startling because hip-hop has had such close ties to the Muslim faith since its beginnings. And the genre has been the sole forum for tackling many social, political and ideological conflicts throughout its history. There is much to be gained from hip-hop’s voice in this debate, but more often than not, we’ve held our tongue, and figuring out why may be more difficult than it seems.

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