Statik Selektah Talks 'Population Control' And More In 2pt. Interview

In demand Bostonian hip hop fixture Statik Selektah talks his upcoming masterpiece Population Control and more with DJ Pizzo.

Statik Selektah Population Control on Duck Down/Showoff Records arrives in-stores and online October 25th.

(video courtesy of Hip Hop Site)

Pete Rock & Smif N Wessun ‘Monumental’ Tracklisting And Artwork

Pete Rock & Smif N Wessun Monumental on Duck Down Records arrives June 28th.

01. Monumental ft. Tyler Woods & Pete Rock
02. Prevail ft. Raekwon
03. That’s Hard ft. Sean Price & Styles P
04. Top of the World ft. Memphis Bleek
05. Feel Me ft. Rock & Bun B
06. Roses ft. Freeway
07. Fire
08. This One ft. Top Dog & Jahdan Blakkamoore of Noble Society
09. Do It ft. Hurricane G
10. Nighttime ft. Pete Rock & Buckshot
11. (I’m a) Stand Up Guy ft. Black Rob
12. Time To Say

Random Axe Debut Album Tracklist

Random Axe Random Axe on Duck Down Records arrives June 14th.

01. Zoo Drugs
02. Random Call
03. Black Ops feat. Fat Ray
04. Chewbacca feat. Roc Marciano
05. The Hex
06. Understand This
07. Everybody, Nobody, Somebody
08. Jahphy Joe feat. Melanie Rutherford & Danny Brown
09. The Karate Kid
10. Never Back Down
11. Monster Babies
12. Shirley C feat. Fatt Father
13. Another One feat. Rock & Trick Trick
14. 4 In The Box
15. Outro Smoutro

Also, check out these listening session album recaps held recently in NYC:
Complex - Random Axe listening session
Billboard - Random Axe listening session

Pharoahe Monch 'W.A.R.' Arrives March 22nd

Pharoahe Monch - W.A.R. We Are Renegades on Duck Down arrives March 22nd.

01. The Warning (feat. Idris Elba)

02. Evolve

03. W.A.R. (feat. Immortal Technique)

04. Clap (One Day) (feat. Showtyme & DJ Boogie Blind)
05. Black Hand Side (feat. Styles P & Phonte (of Little Brother))
06. Let My People Go
07. Shine (feat. Mela Machinko)

08. Haile Selassie Karate (feat. Denaun Porter)

09. The Hitman
10. Assassins (feat. Jean Grae & Royce Da 5’9”)

11. Illusions
(feat. Citizen Cope)
12. Still Standing (feat. Jill Scott)


Sean Price Okayplayer Feature Interview

It’s the mid 80s, and Mike Tyson is back in Brooklyn. Yet to fight Trevor Berbick and win the WBC Title, the fighter is taking some time out, kicking it with his boys outside a building in the spot where he grew up, Brownsville. He’s perched on a parked car when he’s approached by a scruffy kid.

“Yo, you gotta get off my mom’s car!” says the kid to the one of the scariest fighters on earth.

Tyson looks at him: “Come here, shorty,” he says.

“In my hood, it’s a demotion for somebody to send you to the store,” laughs Sean Price as he remembers his run-in with Tyson. “He took my Bon Ton potato chips [and] told me to go to the store for him – and I went! But he gave me $20 though. That was a lot back then…”

Price might be one of the grimiest, rawest MCs you’ll ever hear, but he loves stories. Not only about the time Tyson robbed him, but about everything from working with soulful, distinctly un-gutter producers like 9th Wonder (“You know what 9th do? He leave me the beat and get out the room!”) to the birth of his daughter, also named Sean. (His best babycare tip? “Do what your wife tell you and shut up! I’m dead serious. She the boss. You wanna get along, just do what she saying! That’s it. Makes for better sleep!”)

One wonders what Tyson would say if he found that his name graces Sean’s upcoming LP, Mic Tyson. “I don’t know [what he’d say]. I don’t care what he’d say, but if I see him before the album drops, I’ll tell him. We’ll see what he says!”

Sean Price occupies an odd position in the game. He’s one of the most respected MCs in rap, with several critically acclaimed solo records under his belt, an astounding group rep and one of the best records as a guest rapper in the game. It would be very difficult to find a hip-hop head who doesn’t respect him and his body of work. On the other hand, while he might not rock the Brokest Rapper tag anymore, he’s not exactly rolling in it. His dedication to ultra-hardcore street rap and his refusal to deviate from his aggressive, thundering flow has meant that while he’s kept a core audience, he’s not always drawn in new listeners. You can see this in the way he describes his new record: to put it bluntly, he won’t be altering his style one iota.

“I have no idea [what I’m doing different]. That’s for the people to decide!” he laughs. “Mic Tyson is really Mike Tyson – I’m here to fuck shit up. The game, people, everybody. Lyrically and physically if I have to! That’s what Mic Tyson is about: just fucking shit up. You don’t know what you’re gonna get with a Mic Tyson fight. You don’t know if you’re gonna get a good fight, if you’re gonna get knocked out. You don’t know if he gonna beat the shit outta somebody who got nothin’ to do with the fight…"

Read the full interview feature here:
Okayplayer - Sean Price

Skyzoo & Illmind 'Frisbees'

After last year's The Salvation, Crown Heights native son Skyzoo teams up with producer and beat crafter Illmind. 'Frisbees' is our first taste from their upcoming project Live From The Tape Deck.

Skyzoo & ILLMIND "Frisbees" by duckdown

Skyzoo & Illmind Live From The Tape Deck on Duck Down/Jamla expected to drop October 26.

If you're in the New York Tri-State today see Skyzoo & Illmind performing this record for the first time live on stage at BB KINGS for Duck Down's 15 Year Anniversary show. Other artists performing include Pharoahe Monch, Boot Camp Clik featuring Sean Price, Buckshot, Smif N Wessun, Black Moon & Heltah Skeltah, Kidz In The Hall, Skyzoo, Marco Polo, Torae, & Ruste Juxx.

Special guest artists performing include: Talib Kweli, Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes), Immortal Technique, Havoc of Mobb Deep, Pete Rock, Styles P, Masta Ace, Jean Grae, Large Professor, Statik Selektah, Team Facelift, Afu Ra, Jahdan, Hurricane G, Tony Touch, ILLMIND, Cuban Linx, Donnis & more.

Doors open at 6PM to ALL AGES! From 6PM to 8PM, a HOT 97 x Duck Down MC Battle will take place featuring 8 finalists in 4 rounds of single elimination competition.

Sean Price - Let Me Tell You (video)

as seen on 2 Dope Boyz

Duck Down Announces 15 Year Anniversary Album And NYC Release Show

via the press release

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.

Vote for your favorite Duck Down Track here:
Duck Down 15 Years Survey

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

Music By DJ Evil Dee

Doors 8:00PM

Click HERE for tickets.

Sean Price Paid Dues 2010

Sean Price at the 5th annual Paid Dues Festival in San Bernardino, CA this past weekend (Saturday, April 3) with Duck Down co-founder/owner Dru Ha behind the decks.

Duck Down SXSW 2010 Showcase Recap

via XXL

Though burgeoning hip-hop talent from cities all across the country filled Austin, Texas bars and clubs at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) music fest, there was a considerable lack of fresh-faced MCs out of New York. However, Duck Down Records, celebrating its 15th anniversary and the birthday of co-founder Dru Ha, provided the veteran presence from hip-hop’s birthplace Friday night (March 19) at the Scoot Inn.

New signee Pharoahe Monch made a boisterous entrance on the barnyard-like stage, dipping into his Desire LP and classics cuts such as “My Life” and the deafening highlight of the night, “Simon Says.” (view video above)

Almost the entirety of the label’s roster performed, including newer acts Kidz In The Hall and Marco Polo & Torae. Longtime associates Tek and Steele of Smif-N-Wessun also performed their legendary A & B-sides, “Bucktown” and “Let’s Git It On,” before giving way to Sean Price, who held down his native Brownsville with a freestyle over Jay-Z’s “Where I’m From,” among other choice cuts.

Co-founder Buckshot first hit the stage with 9th Wonder, but with DJ Evil Dee on the one’s and two’s earlier in the evening, Buck revisited their Black Moon days, delving into the seminal LP Enta Tha Stage to close out the night with help of his Boot Camp Clik fam in attendance.

more video below.







(video coutesy of AB & Smoking Section)

Pharoahe Monch To Release W.A.R. New Project

via the press release

Pharoahe Monch is on the front lines once again and this time it's bigger than just album talk. Monch is gearing up to release his new project W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) through a partnership with Duck Down Music, while establishing his company W.A.R. Media as a viable entertainment portal. W.A.R. is the follow-up album to Pharoahe's "Desire" project from 2007. Fans can expect what they've come to love from Pharoahe on the new LP; complex rapping techniques that are both intricate and intelligent.

Monch states, "I'm incredibly excited about my upcoming release W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) and my new partnership between my company W.A.R. Media, LLC, and Duck Down Music. This album deals with conflicts and resolutions of the spirit, the soul, the government, and the industry among other things. Thus far it features Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, Jean Grae, Styles P, Phonte, Black Thought, with more to come. It also features production from M-Phazes, Marco Polo, Mike Low, Fatin, Lee Stone, Exile and others to be announced. I am working diligently to finish the work for a summer release and I am honored to join forces with the Duck Down family during their 15 year anniversary."

For fans and writers in Austin, TX, catch Pharoahe Monch live in concert during Duck Down's 15 Year Anniversary SXSW Showcase at The Scoot Inn, on Friday, March 19th. Doors are open at 8PM. The Scoot Inn is located on 1308 East 4th Street.

Pharoahe Monch will also join Slaughterhouse for a Canadian Tour starting in early April.

April 3 Saint John, NB Evolution Nightclub
April 4 St. John's, NF Club One
April 5 Halifax, NS Paragone Theatre
April 7 Ottawa, ON Ritual Nightclub
Aprill 8 Toronto, ON Venue TBC
April 9 Cornwall, ON Rangatangs Nightclub
April 10 Montreal, QC Telus Theatre
April 12 Thunder Bay, ON Roxys Nightclub
April 13 Winnipeg, MB Pyramid Cabaret
April 14 Saskatoon, SK Odeon Events Centre
April 15 Calgary, AB The Whiskey Nightclub
April 16 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room
April 17 Lethbridge, AB Venue TBC
Aprl 18 Nelson, BC Spirit Bar
April 21 Victoria, BC Element
April 22 Vancouver, BC Venue TBC

Sean Price Baby Shower @ Santos Party House NYC Show Video Recap

Last week Sean Price held the first ever Rap Baby Shower, live from Santos Party House in NYC. Sean Price reveals his favorite gift was a pair of Deceptacon socks from General Steele for his baby girl, Shaun P!!!. Enjoy the re-cap which also features a live version of FIGURE FOUR.

Dru Ha: Co-CEO Of Duck Down Records NYC Two Part Interview

via Planet Ill

Part 1

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.

Read more of Part 1 with Dru Ha here:
Planet Ill - Dru Ha: 15 Minutes on 15 Years Part 1

Part 2

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.

Read more of Part 2 with Dru Ha here:
Planet Ill - Dru Ha: 15 Minutes on 15 Years Part 2

Kidz In The Hall 'Land Of Make Believe' Track Listing

01. Intro
02. Traffic
03. Flickin'
04. Jukebox ft. MC Lyte
05. Out 2 Lunch ft. Kid Daytona
06. L_O_V_E
07. Bougie Girs ft. Russoul
08. Fresh Academy ft. Chip Tha Ripper & Donnis
09. Will II Win ft. Marsha Ambrosius
10. Take Over The World ft. Just Blaze & Colin Munroe
11. Running ft. Tim William
12. I AM (Interlude)
13. Simple Life ft. Amanda Diva
14. Rise And Shine ft. Russoul

Kidz in the Hall - 'Land of Make Believe' on Duck Down in-stores and online March 9

Tanya Morgan 'Gotcha Opin Original'

Off the Mick Boogie + nVMe + Duck Down SURVIVAL KIT Mix CD featuring today's rising stars paying tribute to the creators of KRS-One & Buckshot's 'Survival Skills'.

Download here:
Tanya Morgan 'Gotcha Opin Original'

Skyzoo Schedules A Los Angeles In-Store At Fat Beats

Fat Beats
7600 Melrose Ave # J
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 655-8997

Skyzoo - The Salvation on Duck Down/Jamla in-stores now.

Duck Down CMJ Showcase NYC

Fan shot video below.















(video courtesy of spotcoffee & iamswhatiam)

Skyzoo Album Release Party Performance NYC

Skyzoo at Santos Party House in New York City on Tuesday September 29, promoting his latest release "The Salvation."

(video courtesy of NattyNiGhT)

KRS-One & Buckshot announce new album "Survival Skills"

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

B-Real ft. Damien Marley "Fire" video

B-Real 'Smoke and Mirrors' out now on Duck Down Records.