Folk & Stress - The Box

Folk & Stress are two brothers from Long Island who were set to release a box-packaged album called The Box on Think Differently in 2010 in conjunction with NYC clothing store Alife. There was a single with GZA and a tracklist with additional features from Aesop Rock, Vast Aire, Blue, and Bronze Nazareth. The album never dropped. All this was very strange to me as I'd rapped with Stress at a random block party in Wantagh years earlier. Folk wasn't there. As it happens, years later, Folk would resurface as one half of the Fool's Gold electro-pop duo Party Supplies and produce Action Bronson's Blue Chips albums. Anyway, as of 2021, vinyls and CDs are out via Black Stone of Mecca.

Lenzmen - Bend and Blur Your Optics

What of science-fiction when both science and fiction fall victim to tyrannical repression? Some may see in fascism's rise a boon for dystopian writings. For that, a friendly reminder and fair warning: tech bros who once read seminal cyberpunk as prescriptive look at Afrofuturism with the same lens and see in it horror stories. So, Bend and Blur Your Optics. The Lenzmen are an Atoms Family adjacent rap group borne from the same radio station that gave the world Public Enemy. The individual and collective output of their members Dynamics Plus, Dokta Strange, Centri, and Earthadox is a universe that exists both unto itself and intertwined with the last 30-odd years of underground rap and digital comics. 

On the occasion of this ground zero album work's 2010 reissue, Dynamics Plus wrote, "There’s a constant switch between cringing and being awed to the point of feeling intimidated." Of their individual lenses he recalled, "The sights came from my tendency to always dream about the future (foresight), Doc Strange was concerned with today and right now (insight) and Earthadox was always saying remember when (hindsight). Centri was always coming with some off-the-wall observation so we called him Outer-Sight and it stuck."

More missives to follow as time's destruction permits.

Knowledge the Pirate - Buried Treasury

"While Trump tweeting quotes from Mussolini / Shit I'm trying to raise my Kundalini." Those lines, juxtaposing fascism and Dharma, have won Knowledge the Pirate some well-earned praise since Rosebudd's Revenge dropped. His "No Smoke" verse, clearly a show stopper, is in point of fact just the latest in a string of solid contributions to Roc Marciano projects, following "Didn't Know" and "Drug Lords" from Marci Beaucoup; "Slingers," "Shower Posse," and "Ten Toes Down" from Pimpire Strikes Back; and "Not Told" from Reloaded. Add on the non-album cut "Her Vice" and the Ricky Dubs feature "Shot A Man," and you've got a nice playlist of Marciano-Pirate collabos.

Nice indeed, but these hardly represent the complete discography of Knowledge the Pirate aka Knowledge, an MC whose work dates back to the mid-'90s. Knowledge previously shed light on his history via a 2013 interview with the Village Voice, in which he discussed early come-ups via big-name affiliations such as Teddy Riley, The Neptunes and Will Smith. (The picture above was taken on the set of Men In Black, according to Knowledge's IG.) Though it provides a decent overview of Knowledge's first forays into the recording industry, the story fails to mention any of his early recordings by name.

With the recent news that a video for "No Smoke" is on the way (preview it here), I figured now's a good time to dig and see which rare Pirate jewels we might unearth. Using a few of the names mentioned in the VV interview, I combed Discogs and YouTube for previously unheard Knowledge the Pirate songs and came up with five tracks, including one solo cut and four guest features, which I compiled into the playlist streaming below. While you listen, note that the earliest of these tunes dates all the way back to 1994, making Knowledge's debut as much as three years older than "The Prophecy," Marciano's first appearance on wax.




1. Knowledge The Pirate - Am I The Blame (2010)
2. Will Smith - Act Like You Know [add'tl vox by Knowlege] (Born to Reign, 2002)
3. Mike E - Before We Get Too Close ft. Knowledge the Pirate & Queen Pen (Master Plan, 2000)

4. Knowledge the Pirate - Ahoy! (Harlem World Order, 1999)
4. Nutta Butta - Freak Out Remix ft. B.B.O., Knowledge the Pirate & Teddy Riley (12", 1998)
5. Wreckx-N-Effect - Criminal Minded ft. Knowledge & Rugged Baztud (Raps New Generation, 1996)
6. Wreckx-N-Effect - Something for da Radio ft. A-Q, Badd Newz, Knowledge & Rugged Baztud (Raps New Generation, 1996)
7. Wreckx-N-Effect - Sucka MC's ft. A-Plus, Knowledge, Nutta Butta (Raps New Generation, 1996)
8. Blackstreet - U Blow My Mind ft. Knowledge (Blackstreet, 1994)
9. Blackstreet - Baby Be Mine ft. Knowledge (Blackstreet, 1994)

EDIT (8/8/18): Discogs updates have allowed me to add four more tracks to the list. I also removed "The Point" as Knowledge's voice is impossible to pick out, and nobody has confirmed he's actually on there.

EDIT (3/28/23): The Nutta Butta track disappeared from YouTube so that's gone for now, but I also found out that "Ahoy!," which I previously thought was an unreleased loosie, was on DJ S&S' Harlem World Order album and added that here.

God Genes: JReadi - The Welcome Mat / The Pretape

Welcome to the 2nd annual #RakimWeek, a week-long celebration of the music of God MC Rakim. This year, we're starting the week off a little bit differently, by tuning our ears not to Ra but to his literal next generation, beginning with nephew JReadi.

Pictured here with uncle Rakim, JReadi attended North Hills High School in Dix Hills, just north of Wyandanch. According to his ReverbNation page, he started getting busy in 2004, was mentored by Spiv Dolla, and made early appearances on the 2008 Fly Guy Family mixtape, Rise of the Empire.

Since then, he's released two mixtapes, 2010's The Welcome Mat (which featured Rakim on its last track, "Talking to God") and 2015's The Pretape (a precursor to the upcoming album, Radio Readi, which has been in the works for a while). Stream both tapes below, along with videos for "Don't Sweat the Technique" and "Insufficient Funds," and visit his PR site for more.

#RakimWeek continues until Saturday, with more Ra-related info, music, etc. each day of the week.

The Planets - Planet Roc (Produced by Roc Marciano)

Even casual fans of Roc Marciano know he's nice with the beats. What many don't realize, though, is that apart from his own projects he's also done production work for a few other artists. Of those, perhaps the least well known (at least on this side of the Atlantic) would be The Planets, a UK-based Muslim hip-hop duo consisting of Ayman Raz a.k.a. Forever Bin Rhymin and Nomadic Poet a.k.a. Rapastani. Somewhat ironically, this is the only full project Roc has produced for artists other than himself, and having dropped on October 22, 2010, it even predates the Marci Beaucoup production album by more than three years. Stream or purchase the full EP and watch the video edit of the title track below.

Rodan - Amerikkkan Inquisition Mixtape

Of the Monsta Island Czars' many unique voices, Rodan's always stood out, so it's somewhat surprising that his solo discography consists of just one LP, one EP, one 12" and rarest of all, one mixtape. You'll find fans across the net asking each other about this release, but if anybody actually has it they're not telling. For now, all we have is a 20-song tracklist (below), a cover (at left), and a handful of songs that were posted in 2010 and 2012. With nothing more to go on, we've taken the liberty of zipping up the seven streaming songs that match titles from the tracklist*. Each of these was ripped from the RONOMICAL YouTube channel. Stream a few cuts below and download seven-twentieths of the Amerikkkan Iniquisiton Mixtape here.

   

1. PROTEUS (INTRO) 

2. GOTHAM* 

3. MONEY & FOOD* 

4. PRECOGNITION* 

5. TERROR_DAT_KILLZ {PTERODACTYL} 

6. MEMORIAL 

7. 3RD I 

8. METAL HYDROGEN* 

9. DARK ANGEL 

10. HOLIDAY BASH 

11. GRAND INQUISITOR 

12. RONOMICAL 

13. URANIUM 

14. RUN THE SPHERE V.2012 

15. SARAH PALEWHORE 

16. CROCODILES* 

17. DEFINITIVE ARTICLE* 

18. WARPSPEED 

19. B.O.M.Z. {BACK ON MY ZENITH}* 

20. PROMETHEUS {OUTRO}

Rakim Live on Long Island

Rakim backstage at the Nassau Coliseum, September 10, '88

Back in April 2010, I had the pleasure of seeing Rakim move the crowd at the Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale. Although it wasn't my first time seeing him live, it was the only time I saw him on Long Island and the only time I saw him in a club setting, as opposed to a big festival stage. The show was rightfully billed as a homecoming for Rakim, but it would be incorrect to call it his first LI performance (as some have).

In 1988, Eric B. & Rakim headlined the Dope Jam Tour, which hit Nassau Coliseum on September 10 with a bill that also included Kool Moe Dee, Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew, Big Daddy Kane, Boogie Down Productions and Biz Markie. Unfortunately, the star-studded lineup is not necessarily what this concert is best known for, as at least 10 people were stabbed during the event, one fatally. The violence prompted Nassau Coliseum to temporarily ban rap concerts and attracted negative media coverage you can still read today if you follow the links in this sentence. The last of those stories purports, "Eric B. and Rakim's main message is that 'Eric B. Is King.'" I guess he meant 'President,' and anyway, no, not really.

Below, you can watch Rakim discuss the real message of his music in some Yo! MTV Raps footage that was shot backstage at the Coliseum. Below that you'll find footage from the aforementioned Crazy Donkey show, as well as a more recent performance at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury, uploaded by Birthplace Magazine.