iHipHop Interview: Edo G & Masta Ace- Legends Of The Fall…

14 years ago view-show 709,236

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Usually, when you get two natives of a sports city that happen to be rivals in the same room together, the outcome isn’t always a friendly one.

But in the case of Hip-Hop veterans such as Boston’s Edo G and New York’s Masta Ace, the outcome wasn’t only friendly but also ‘artful’ in a sense.

That’s because the two MC’s have combined forces, and put their individual talents as one cohesive unit to form Arts & Entertainment.

Much as many established acts before them have done, (i.e. Redman and Method Man, Slaughterhouse) the career soloists are testing the waters within a group setting; and now it’s time to find out just how deep those waters run…

iHipHop.com: First and foremost, was it hard for a [New York] Yankees fan, and a [Boston] Red Sox fan to co-exist in the same studio together?

Masta Ace and Edo G: [Laughing collectively]…

Masta Ace: Well, we definitely had some back-and-forth sports-related battles about the [New England] Patriots, the [Boston] Red Sox; and I think he liked the [Boston] Bruins too…

Edo G: [Laughs]… I want them to win, but I ain’t a hockey fan…

Masta Ace: [Laughs]… But whenever we had some downtime, we went at it about the sports stuff…

iHipHop.com: [Laughs]… What can people expect to hear from your Arts & Entertainment record?

Masta Ace: They can expect me and Edo [G] to be at our best lyrically…

We combined forces, and we got out of our own personal comfort zone, and we met in the middle… There are songs that you might not have heard Edo G on before, and vice versa…

iHipHop.com: So you two were on the same page throughout the project?

Edo G: Stuff came up as far as concepts go, but it came up as we were recording… We recorded for over two years to really complete the project, so it wasn’t a rush, and we wanted to take our time… So for me, it was more organic, and everything kind of came to together…

iHipHop.com: Who’s idea was it to first hook up?

Edo G: Basically, we’ve been featured a lot of different projects together… Like someone would ask me to feature on a joint, and then they would ask [Masta] Ace to feature too… So even then, we thought about putting records together, and all the records we did do came out dope…

So after [Masta] Ace put out Long Hot Summer in ’04, we just kept in contact, and tried to get to know each other better… But back then, the timing wasn’t right, but in 07’ Supreme One approached us with the idea of making the project, and he had some funding… So the timing was right, and everything else was right…

iHipHop.com: Can people expect more collaborations from you guys in the future, or are you taking the “one project at a time” approach?

Masta Ace: We’re going to see where it goes, and see how the people react to it… This is definitely an experiment, and an opportunity to test the waters, and try something new…

If the response is a positive one, that might fuel us to do something else… But if people are saying, “Nah, it didn’t work out,” then that’s a different thing…

agp_0039iHipHop.com: You guys have concept songs on your album, such as the joint, ‘Little Young.’ But do you think those types of styles fall on the backburner now with all the gimmicky stuff that’s going around in Hip-Hop?

Masta Ace: I think there are people out there who are doing creative concepts records; they’re out there… But they’re not out there to the masses…

I think cats are still trying to be creative here and there, and me and Ed would like to see Hip-Hop get a little more creative…

We can all just sit down and write a real basic record in our head, record that, and it will be the album… But we’re not in it for that; we’re in it for the sport of writing, and trying to come up with ill rhymes…

Edo G: We’re trying to be creative, and there’s definitely a lack of creativity in mainstream Hip-Hop, I don’t want to say all Hip-Hop…

That’s because people have to conform to what’s making money, and I’m not knocking on what anybody does… But for us, we want to out some creativity in, and bring some fun back into Hip-Hop…

iHipHop.com: You guys teamed up for Arts & Entertainment, Redman and Method Man are still doing their thing, KRS-One and Buckshot got together for Survival Skills [Click to read interview]; and then you have Slaughterhouse… So do you think big-named artists hooking up with each other will become more of the norm in the near future?

Edo G: I think so, because people are looking for different things… I can go back and record another Edo G album, [Masta] Ace can go back and record another Masta Ace album, but we’re just trying to elevate and people are looking for different things…

I’m glad that Slaughterhouse came together, and when Red and Meth came together, it was a super big thing… All of those cats are some of my favorite cats, so I hope more artists come together, and try to make great records…

Masta Ace: You can keep trying to fuel your solo career, but the fans are going to get bored after a while… I toured from 2001-07 off of my last two albums, I’ve been around the world several times, and I’ve done mad shows in the same spots…

It’s cool, and I always try to make it fresh and different, but at a certain point, you’re going to have to be able to give the people something else…

Comments

  1. two very good individual talents collide makes one fantastic piece of art! that shows a good impact to the artists. i hope jay and beanie would take it from them haha..

  2. that is one good example. friendship is a foundation that can make a good song sounds perfect. i just hope it won’t end up here and they will still make collaborations for many rounds. 🙂

  3. as long as they have their own style and own gimmick in doing their pieces, it will be a hit. if they get the audience’s attention, it will surely be a success.

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