OuterSpace: Back to the Real

Words & Interview by Steve DiLodovico | Smutlife

Outer Space is a rarity among Hip Hop acts: for well over a decade both Planetary and Crypt the Warchild have found the elusive formula known as consistency. They have steadily released joints ripe with solid, rugged beats and rhymes that are as murderous as the Philadelphia streets which inspired them. Outer Space make albums. Not MySpace singles, not YouTube videos, but full-on albums. It is a testament to their long-standing devotion to the art and the fact that they will not give up. Ever.

SL: What’s up with Brother’s Keeper?

Planet: The album’s basically done. Psycho Les gave us two beats that we were waiting on, 7L gave us a beat and we’re doing that with Sick Jacken. Less features this time, though. We’re looking to have it out by March of 2011. It’s gonna be some heartfelt shit. There’s a lot of topics on this record; we did some storytelling, some fictional stuff, which we never do. Read more

Remembering Fat Beats, The Best Record Store In Underground Hip-Hop History

In 1997, Paul Rosenberg, the attorney of an aspiring rapper from Detroit calling himself Eminem, was walking along 6th Avenue in the West Village with ten copies of an independent 12-inch vinyl single titled “Just Don’t Give a Fuck.” His mission was simple: try to persuade a record store called Fat Beats to stock it. He’d heard the store mentioned on Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito‘s WKCR college-radio show, and thought it crucial to launching the career of an underground rap artist.

Q-Unique, a Fat Beats employee at the time and member of the Arsonists, remembers the encounter. “Paul came in and asked me to take the record,” he says. “The manager wasn’t sure about it, but I knew Eminem’s rep from the underground battle circuit. I said I’d be responsible for them if they didn’t sell.” All ten copies sold within an hour.

A year later, Eminem would return to Fat Beats for an in-store to meet and greet fans. By then he was on the cusp of going ballistic, and the line backed up to 9th Street. His ascent to superstar status was almost preordained–a major-label deal with Interscope and the guiding hand of Dr. Dre did most of the work–but the emporium played a key part in his come-up. Rosenberg, now Eminem’s manager, insists that “for a totally independent artist, one without any distribution deal, getting your record in Fat Beats was the only way back then.”

Read more…

Necro Wants You to Die!

Words by Steve DiLodovico

Necro’s been in it for a minute. Widely recognized as one of the dopest producers of his generation, the kid has been dropping sickening jewels on a consistent basis for years now. As a producer he is untouchable: his dark, hypnotic beats have been fundamental bangers that are perfectly constructed for his distinctive style of seriously disturbed lyrical ability. The Brooklyn-born producer/rapper has also produced a string of gory hits for the legendary Non Phixion, as well as Q-Unique, Mr. Hyde and countless others over the years but it is his own solo work that truly defines him. Necro is one of those cats that can do just about anything: rap, produce, direct, act… he’s been the head of his own independent label Psycho+Logical records for a few years and oversees just about every aspect of running a label. In 2005 he dropped a porn video: The Sexorcist and has constantly pushed the envelope with a slew of records that most mainstream heads wouldn’t even touch. Necro music is definitely not for the faint of heart: it’s the kind of shit that goes to the grimy black core of the darkside of human nature. It’s fight music: all blood and guts and gore that connects with misfits, freaks and sociopaths. Necro fans love his shit, and, in turn, they are some of most loyal heads any artist has ever enjoyed. But, beyond the gory imagery and confrontational lyrics there is true artistry in what Necro does: his skills are unsurpassed and with all the many talents the kid has it’s amazing to see just how far he has come. I had a chance to kick it with Necro about a lot of things: the nature of the business, music, film, porn and the very sad and unfortunate passing of one of hip-hop’s most recognizable icons: Uncle Howie. Read more