AND YOU THE FAN HELP DECIDE THE FINAL TRACK LISTING
Duck Down Music is celebrating its 15 Year Anniversary.
Founded in 1995 by Dru Ha & Buckshot, Duck Down Music has sold over 3 million records in its rich history.
The label, currently home to acts such as KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT, 9th Wonder, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Sean Price, Kidz In The Hall, Skyzoo, Smif N Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, Boot Camp Clik, Marco Polo, Torae, Ruste Juxx, DJ Revolution, Team Facelift, Blue Scholars and more, is continuing to thrive in the Independent Hip-Hop scene.
To highlight the 15 year milestone, Duck Down is engaging YOU THE FAN, to help in deciding the final product for the commemorative album - 15 Years of Duck Down Music.
There, you'll find a list of the top songs released through Duck Down, beginning in 1995 through 2010. Fans can vote for their favorite song from each year. The song with the most votes from each year will be highly recommended to be included in the final album track listing.
Voting will end June 1st.
On July 13th, just after INDEPENDENCE DAY, the collector's item will be made available strictly as a physical CD. Fans can expect unique packaging in honor of this historic album.
To celebrate the release, Duck Down is taking over BB KINGS in NYC (237 West 42nd Street) with a night of music featuring performances by:
Boot Camp Clik Featuring Sean Price, Buckshot, Smif N Wessun Pharoahe Monch Kidz In The Hall Skyzoo
Brooklyn Vegan + Chronic Youth + Tee Pee Records + Converse Free Day Party Red 7 900 Red River St Noon-6pm Free and Open to the Public, No RSVP Necessary
2010 brings Duck Down Records to 15 years of existence. Still standing amidst the broken bodies of Loud, Rawkus, Death Row, No Limit, and so many idies that rose high and flamed out, The little label that could has steadily chugged along retooling and rebuilding and delivering quality music. Planet Ill sat down with co label head Dru Ha to discuss behind-the-scenes stories and the secret to their survival in a market that, at best, is certainly unkind to those who get caught slipping. Read on.
Planet Ill: Black Moon’s original album was not a Duck Down album. What led to the formation of the label?
Dru Ha: Well I actually worked at the label, at Nervous. I was actually Executive Producer of that album with Buckshot as well being a main member of Black Moon. So we did that record on Nervous. We got our learn on. We learned a lot. We cut our teeth there. We brought Smiff-N-Wessun into the fold. Buck introduced me to them and we originally started managing them. We actually brought them into the same situation to that same label. We were trying to get a bigger piece of the pie; thinking that we were doing a lot of the work and heavily involved in the campaign and the marketing. And just doing a lot of the stuff, we felt like we could go out there and get our own situation for the new groups that we were going to bring in. So that really is what motivated us, money and getting a bigger piece of it.
Planet Ill: How have you managed to stay viable over the last 15 years? Generally speaking, entities come out. They get bought out and they become part of the mainstream and that’s that. How did you manage to stay independent, but stay in business?
Dru Ha: Well we had a lot of trials and tribulations, definitely highs and lows. I’ve heard Buck say this in interviews and it’s a good point. We never really made it so big, you know, and I think some of that has worked to our benefit. Sometimes when you get to a certain success level or you have that one humongous record that blows up and there’s lots of money floating around, things can totally break up a camp or break up an organization because people don’t feel like they are getting what they deserve or they don’t feel like they’re getting rewarded correctly.
I think we’ve just kind of, by being steady, we have avoided that situation. Of course we would have loved to have had more success over the years, commercial success in terms of actual sales. But I think in some ways that’s kept us grounded and you know we have been fortunate enough to still be consistent with our numbers and still have significance with our numbers. That has maintained us. You know so it’s like we’ve been steady and when you are steady it allows you to keep going. It allows you to continue playing the game.
Planet Ill: You came to a point in your label’s history where you decided, you know what, maybe we should expand outside of Brooklyn emcees and I believe that’s what led to your current new wave. And you’ve done extremely well, probably stronger than your original run. What led to the decision to say let’s bring more people into the fold? Let’s bring more artists from different places into the fold.
Dru Ha: See again, I keep referencing Buck. Like I always say that because that shows you how much we really talk. People will look at Duck Down and see Buckshot as the artist and me as the business person and it’s like man, it is truly a partnership. The questions you are asking, I have to say that first because these are things me and Buck have talked about over all the years. That was a vision of ours well long before we made it a reality. The problem for us was we just never had the right situation. We went through about five or six different types of production label deals for the brand or for the label and each time we learned something new, or we found out the deal wasn’t all we thought it would be, or the deal wasn’t making sense for us or we were losing money or we were getting ripped off or whatever it might be.
It wasn’t until we left Koch in 2005 and we went to a label called Navarre, a distributor called Navarre, that we finally got the situation under control. Where we were truly, I know that all of this is really technical, but we truly became that independent label where we could understand the business model, understand what we were going to make on each record, and control it. So many times you do these deals, artists and labels, it’s so hard to tell what you are going to earn or what you put into it because it can be so shady man.
The deals can be so backwards. You never really understand them until you actually execute them. I don’t care how good your lawyer is. By the time you get slapped with a statement it’s like you’ve already spent so much money or went through so much. You get your learn on through putting the project out. So long short, we finally got that situation straight with Navarre in 2005 and we knew that we understood our business plan and the business model of how the company was going to operate. That’s when we knew we could open the doors up and start investing more money in groups outside of the original core family that was already with us.
KRS-One & Buckshot "Survival Skills" out September 15 on Duck Down Records
(via press release)
After making their indelible marks on the game luminaries KRS-One and Buckshot, arguably two of the games most prolific emcees, will link up to give fans a collaborative album entitled Survival Skills. The project will be released on Duck Down Records, September 15th while the duo will be featured on The Rock The Bells tour this Summer.
With guests ranging from Mary J. Blige, Slug Of Atmosphere, K'NAAN, Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique, Melanie Fiona, Naledge of Kidz In The Hall, Sean Price, Geo of Blue Scholars, Smif N Wessun and Rock of Heltah Skeltah, "Survival Skills" represents a diverse range of topics, all while maintaining a consistent sound. The album has production from Havoc of Mobb Deep, 9th Wonder, Black Milk, ILL MIND, Coptic, Moss, Nottz, Marco Polo, and KHRYSIS!
On the surface the album is a testament to the resiliency of two lyrical titans, but at its root Survival Skills is a blueprint for life. For instance on the infectious head-nodder "Robot," which was released 6 weeks prior to Jay Z's "The Death Of Auto Tune" track, and already available World Wide at Digital Retail Shops, such as iTunes, the duo speak-out against the recent overuse of the Auto-Tune vocal effect in urban music, but under the surface the message is much deeper. "I don't want people to get the averaged clichéd version and thinking that we're dissing people,'" Buckshot clarifies. "What we're calling out here is the biters, the people that feel like because this guy sold X amount of records doing this, that I'm going to turn around and do it as well," KRS says of the array of artists who have followed in the creative footsteps of Roger Troutman, Afrikka Bambatta, Teddy Riley and T-Pain. Despite its heavy message, sonically the track, produced by Mobb Deep's Havoc, is as inviting as anything on the radio today. The video for "ROBOT," directed by Todd Angkaswan, has been added into rotation at MTV & BET. The track has also been included in the sound track for Activision's upcoming Tony Hawk skate game in stores this Fall.
Coincidently, ROBOT is not the first example of where Jay Z has released similar material and concepts from KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT. In 2003, Buckshot's group Black Moon recorded a song called "Stay Real," which was, again, released 6 weeks prior to Jay Z's "Public Service Announcement" track, that ironically contained the same sample as Black Moon's "Stay Real."
A couple years prior to this Jay Z released "THE BLUEPRINT," which was the same title used by KRS-ONE in his classic album, Boogie Down Productions "Ghetto Music: The BLUEPRINT of Hip Hop."
KRS-One and Buckshot are the epitome of rap longevity and relevancy. After making his 1987 debut with Boogie Down Productions on the seminal rap classic Criminal Minded, KRS-One instantly became an icon going on to release a gang of essential works including 1988's By All Means Necessary and 1993's Return of the Boom Bap. Similarly when Buckshot came into the game in 1993 with Enta Da Stage as Black Moon's front man, fans instantly took notice.
And the party never stopped, KRS-One's 2007 collaborative album with producer Marly Marl, ("Hip Hop Lives") was critically acclaimed and his work on "Classic," the Kanye West, Nas and Rakim featured track celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Nike's Air Force 1 shoe, earned the Teacher a Grammy nod. Buckshot has continued to churn-out some of the game's most progressive projects as well, most notably his 9th Wonder-produced albums Chemistry (2005) and The Formula (2008). Couple those with the licensing deals which have landed Buck's music on networks like ESPN and The History Channel, as well as an episode of CSI Las Vegas and it's clear to see why the Boot Camp general has remained one of the game's most influential.
"Ever since 1993 we've been passing each other on tour or in the studio saying, one day we should tour together, or one day we should do a record together," says KRS of the long-awaited union. "Well finally myself and Buckshot have the chance to collaborate on a straight up and down MC'in project."
Still gritty tracks like "Clean Up," featuring Rock of Heltah Skeltah and the politically minded "Running Away" featuring Immortal Technique, make Survival Skills a Hip-Hop fan's dream, catering to those that love lyrics and the boom-bap. Equally as rich is the album's Black Milk-produced track, "The Way I Live" featuring the Queen of hip-hop soul, Mary J. Blige. Together they create a triumphant anthem for all those on the grind trying to conquer their dreams. The song's summery feel and soothing melodies make it an instant hit.
What KRS-One and Buckshot have created is an album that is socially responsible, lyrically sharp and sonically banging. Buckshot sums it up best, "Hip-Hop was started as an option to not killing each other. We were in the ghettos and we were real f'd up. We created Hip-Hop so we didn't have to do that anymore."
"The album is called Survival Skills, because that is what it takes."
KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT Upcoming Tour Dates:
Rock The Bells
KRS-ONE Hosting BUCKSHOT A PERFORMING ARTIST
Sunday July 12th - Washington, DC - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Saturday July 18th - Boston, MA - Comcast Center
Sunday July 19th - New York, NY - Jones Beach Theater
Saturday August 1st - Vancouver, BC, CAN - Deer Lake Park
Sunday August 2nd - Calgary, AB, CAN - Shaw Millennium Park
Thursday August 6th - Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Saturday August 8th - Los Angeles, CA - San Manuel Amphitheatre
Sunday August 9th - San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
Myspace Album Release Show Friday – 9/11 – New York , NY
This represents the 2nd installment of the Hip Hop Legends Concert Series that took place at the B.B.King Blues Club & Grill in New York on Wednesday June 17 organized by Funkmaster Flex. The line-up represented a who's who in hip hop which included MC Lyte, KRS1, Lord Finesse, Buckshot, Black Moon, Smif-n-Wessun, Nice & Smooth, Joe Ski Love, Raekwon and more. Luminaries indeed.
