Blaq Kush is looking for the perfect punchline

Well, not exactly, but who can argue with a great headline? For those born this century, I'm referencing hip-hop's Afrofuturist extraterrestrial godfather and two common themes in the lyrics of Albany-based, Long Island-raised rapper Blaq Kush: rhymes as punchlines and music as a search. That said, this interview is not so much a dissection of his lyrics. If you're looking for that, most of this site's Blaq Kush coverage consists of me quoting back and dwelling on select lines. Instead, what follows is more an overview of his discography up to this point. If you've never heard Blaq Kush's music, here's a chance to catch up while getting a glimpse behind what's for my money one of the most particular and unchecked viewpoints across all of hip-hop's multi-versal space/time continuums. 

As a bit of backstory, Kush first came to my attention around 2015. I was following him on Soundcloud when a guy named Ivan hit me up from what would turn out to be Kush's personal email address to pitch me one of his songs called "Sad Prayer." That track seems to have been scrubbed from the internet, but here's what Ivan said about his friend, which remains as good an introduction as any: "Kush takes ordinary hip-hip cliches and distorts them until they're unrecognizable. In this respect, his music is not too different than the pop art of '60s artists like Andy Warhol. Kush is a good friend of mine and his creativity has inspired me in so many ways. Even though he's not directly preaching positivism, his DIY approach makes me want to do more with my life. I've never seen someone spit so hard yet sound so relaxed at the same time. Hopefully you check him out and appreciate the tunes."

Themes aside, this is two Long Island dudes talking about music and kinda sorta trying to define it, but mostly just harping on enjoying it for its own sake. Hopefully you appreciate the tunes.

Below: Long Island Rap Records humbly presents an extensive discussion with Blaq Kush, which took place Thursday, January 22, 2026.

RIP Tommy Gunn

Thomas Rollins, the lyricist known as Tommy Gunn, Megalon, or sometimes, Black Geezus, passed away last month. Honor his legacy with a GoFundMe donation. The following words hardly begin to pay tribute to his genius. 

Competitively speaking, just on some rap shit, if King Geedorah isn't your favorite Monsta Island Czar, Megalon probably should be. He rapped his fucking ass off. There's really no other way to describe it. I mean listen to "One in a Million." He was that, rarer now if you consider they don't make 'em like [him] no more. The only Monsta Island Czar other than DOOM and Grimm to drop a record on Fondle 'Em, Megalon may also be the only rapper other than DOOM with a Subroc production credit in his catalog (a story for another day, perhaps). 

If you've never listened to A Penny For Your Thoughts, you need to stop reading this and go do that. Less well known is its follow-up, The Nickle Bag, which came out on Backwoodz in 2008 and was posted here back in 2015. Even less known is that he claimed to have written lyrics for 10 other albums, "the 5 cent, 10 cent, 25cent, 50cent, $1.00, $5.00, $10.00, $20.00, $50.00 and the $100.00 dollar bill albums," as he told UG Rap. He also told them, "It’s hard for a fake MC to concentrate on doing music, but for a true poet and true b-boy it’s never a problem. Never! It’s just like breathing." He definitely made it sound that way, breathless even. 

As I said from the beginning, I don't really have the words. So, Here's some music. 

"Keep It Street" was credited to Megalon, likely because it dropped around the time the Monsta Island Czars concept was coming into being, but you can tell it was a Tommy Gunn song from the backup vocals. The song first appeared on Web D's On The Ropes Soundtrack. The next joint, brought to you by the good folks at GrandGood, features Gunn rapping alongside the Hempstead rapper Trife, a late affiliate of Roc Marciano not to be confused with the Theodore Unit member. After that is a short playlist I made of three tracks Gunn did for Backwoodz Studioz, none of which appear on The Nickle Bag. Two feature billy woods, one comes from Vordul's sophomore record, and the first is a freestyle over Three Six Mafia's "Stay Fly" beat. 

R.I.P. Tommy Gunn. Rap has been missing him. Now, Long Beach, NY, and the world do, too.

Rozewood - Channel 13

Phantoms acappellas haunt DJ Skizz beats. Believe it or not, Channel 13 was announced 10 years ago. Its first song, the Arch Druids-produced "Ghxt GxD" has been out as long. This, apparently, happened back when the concept of an album-length Roc Marciano-Arch Druids collaboration was a novel one, but I digress. Channel 13 sounds like blue blood sunsets over the southern Meadowbrook Parkway drenched in Liquid Television cybernetics. No, not the Robert Moses Parkway; you can't see the City skyline from there. It's a digital crate dug trench work, a ghost in the machine in the machine in the ghost. The catalog's dead and buried. Winners shit. The obi strip's your only hope.