BUCKSHOT

17 years ago view-show 629,541

Artist/Group Name :

 

Buckshot of Black Moon

 

Reppin’ (What city you reppin’?):

 

Brooklyn, NY

 

Affiliation (What crew or artists you roll with?):

 

The Co-Owner of Duck Down Records and lead MC for the mighty Boot Camp Clik (Buckshot, Smif N Wessun, Sean Price, Heltah Skeltah, O.G.C.). Also a member of the legendary rap group, Black Moon, known for their classic LP, Enta Da Stage.

 

Influences (Who inspires you? Not limited to just hip-hop):

 

Special Ed was a huge inspiration for me. Actually the first time I heard Special Ed on the mic, I knew I wanted to become an MC. I was like I NEED to get on stage and do what he’s doing. What’s crazy is I got to eventually do a track with Special Ed and Masta Ace when we collaborated to do the Crooklyn Dodger’s theme song. Spike Lee reached out to me as a fan and that was a special collaboration for me. KRS One was another huge inspiration for me as he taught me how to be a true MC on the stage. A lot of rappers have a hit song and can make some noise, but they aren’t SHOW MC’s. They don’t really have the craft of Mastering the Ceremony of what real Hip Hop is. I learned how to become a SHOW MC by watching KRS One.

 

Backstory (How’d you get in the game? How did the group form? What work did you put in before getting signed to a label?)

 

I was an intern at first and then actually it was 5ft who brought me into Black Moon and from there I got up with Nervous Records and the rest is history. I met Dru Ha up at Nervous Records where we things started out more as management. That eventually led to Duck Down Records and our eventually departure from Nervous Records to Priority Records. Priority is where we put on groups like Heltah Skeltah, OGC and our first Boot Camp Clik ablum.

Before I came into the game I did a lot of dancing belive it or not. I loved to dance, on some real b-boy, break-dance vibe. I just loved entertaining as a kid and now I get to do it for a living.

 

Current project (What are you pushing right now? What can people expect from it? Feel free to just hype your album here…why did you name the album that name? Was there a theme? Any funny stories during its creation?)

 

Currently I’m pushing  Boot Camp Clik’s new album, The Last Stand, which came out this past summer (July 2006). The album features the entire Great 8 and has some crazy production…Pete Rock is on there, Large Professor, 9th Wonder, Da Beatminerz, Coptic, G-Unit’s Ill Mind and Marco Polo. We named the album The Last Stand cuz we are trying to take a Stand on all the shit going on in Hip Hop. If it’s not Nas calling Hip Hop dead it’s some other bullshit, so as a collective whole we took a STAND.

Sean Price is the other major project we are working right now. Son is one of the best MC’s in Hip Hop today. His new album, entitled Jesus Price Supastar hits streets January 30th. He’s got real good production from 9th Wonder and Khrysis from the Justus League. Sean will not disappoint fans following his first solo effort, Monkey Barz (May 2005).

We got an artist by the name of Ruste Juxx coming out in 2007 as well. His album Indestructable is going to be a serious hood anthem.

As for Buckshot the artist, I’m working with 9th Wonder again for our second release, first one being Chemistry (July 2005). Our second album is gonna be called The Formula.

Duck Down is currently looking at expanding in a major way. We are close to signing a deal with rapper KRS One to put out his next album. Now that is Hip Hop!!! We are also looking at Justus League artists, Joe Scudda, Chaundon and Jossie Mo, all of whom have a solid following out of North Carolina.

 

Purpose (What kind of impact do you hope to have on the game? Do you just want to go platinum or is there something more?)

 

A business impact, a strong business impact. Not worried about going platinum. I want every artists in the world signed to Duck Down. Have every artist period. It’s time for people to see what Duck Down Records can do outside our core set of groups. Don’t get me wrong we are gonna continue to make Boot Camp Music, but we’re also looking to be a home for other artists as well.

 

Is hip-hop really dead? (Wax philosophical here, break down what you think of hip-hop today or compare it to when you were coming up. Good? Bad? Break it down!)

 

Hip Hop is not dead. Get the fuck outa here. Especially when u hear Nas say HipHop is dead and it’s crazy that he should flip on New York. It’s dead only to Nas and all the funky fans that support that shit. The marketing campaign is too hypocritical. It’s doing more damage than it’s helping. It’s pushing people like me further and further back cuz I got to fight more and more to push through the murk. Hip Hop now if u watch the videos and listen to the tracks is dudes rapping about money and more money. But that shit ain’t the case.

 

Nas is buggin. Bottomline, he is straight buggin. I heard him on the radio talking the other day about New York Rappers and how shit is dead. So now he’s talking directly at me. Don’t get me wrong Nas is my man and I saw him the other night at the Nike Air Force One event, dude was even the one who brought me up on stage to perform with the likes of Rakim, KRS ONE and Kanye West. In a sense how can Nas speak that shit about Hip Hop and then take the stage with the father of Rap.

 

To combat that slogan that Hip Hop is Dead I would start by first saying Nas is whiling out, like a Jeezy did. To combat that Ima say I got KRS ONE. Hip Hop started before Buckshot, before Nas. If I’m saying ima Hip Hop artist than am I saying Im dead? Jeezy said it, but more people need to say it.

 

Three wishes (If you had three wishes to change anything within hip-hop, what would they be? Bring someone back to life? Get a Kanye West beat? Make snap music disappear?):

 

First and foremost would be to bring Pac back so we could eventually finish the One Nation album. I also think Pac would have taken myself and other Duck Down artists to a new level. We had a serious bond and a good chemistry in the studio. Pac flew us out to his brand new home and we were like family. We recorded closet to 8 tracks with him in a matter of 3 days. One of the best memories of that trip was a huge watergun fight that broke out in Pac’s backyard. Of course it ended up inside his crib, where Dru Ha ends up shooting a water gun all over Pac’s brand new walls. We all laughed, but I think Pac was upset!

 

I’d also change the DJ’s. Hip Hop started with the DJ, so how is it all of a sudden that they don’t allow us to matter. U not talking about that money, I’m not playing u. It’s a style thing. But what is crazy is u got to stay up on a trend. We do a good job of trying to stay ahead of the trends and u got to evolve with the trends. BUT a DJ needs to see your movement and they got to make it more accessible to reach them. In a sense Duck Down tries to stay true to a sound and ahead of its time. It feels like u got to be negative to get a somewhat positive result, so should I start doing that shit. NAH! I’m done with being negative. Buckshot is here now as a voice and I got a lot to say in 2007 and beyond.

Comments

  1. That Hip Hop is dead shit is just meant to say step ya lyrical game up, step ya beat game up, That’s All! When it was just 15 rappers walking around this bitch, nobody knew what was wack and what wasn’t cauz there wasn’t shit else to judge it by. All Nas meant was the shit he grew up hearing, that made him feel Hip-Hop, the dancing, the comraderie, that made him feel Hip Hop, is Dead. If Rakim, Large Professor, KRS-ONE, Kool G Rap, and Kane all formed a supergroup, that shit wouldn’t even go platinum, probably not even gold, but it would have from 87-91. Even the legends can’t get they rocks off in the game. Nobody even thinks about Buckshot when they “Hip Hop is Dead”. Buckshot is Hip Hop, he’s a legend. Only thing that got me fucked up is the fact that the Nas “Hip Hop is Dead” album ain’t all that great, and he rushed to make a point and ended up making some bullshit. Be a musician, not politician!

  2. HOLY SHIT SOMEONE THAT ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT THIS MUST BE A FUCKING DREAM. I THOUGHT EVERYONE NOWADAYS JUST PRETEND TO LISTEN TO MUSIC BUT THIS GUY PROVED ME WRONG. THE WHOLE DUCKDOWN STAFF SHOULD BE MULTI PLATINUM.

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