With a new album called Stereotype out in stores now, Strong Arm Steady sat down with AllHipHop.com to discuss the West Coast, Hip-Hop movement and to review their new album released through Stones Throw Records. As a follow up to the Arms and Hammers project released through Talib Kweli’s Blacksmith imprint, the guys at Strong Arm Steady got all production chopped up by Statik Selektah.
Features from the project include Bad Luc, Black Hippy, Baby D, Casey Veggies, Chace Infinite, David Banner, Double R, Dom Kennedy, Planet Asia, Picaso, Reks, Skeme, and Tri-State – this project is point blank well rounded. SAS will tell you that this project most closely resembles the art that they have recently been creating as of late, relative to any other pieces of work they’ve put together in the past.
If you’ve heard the critically acclaimed In Search of Stoney Jackson, then you know that Stereotype will hold its own in the Hip-Hop world, if it’s even remotely on par to what Stoney Jackson was as an album – and it is. If you haven’t heard SAS’s music, this album would be a nice way to jump into the cypher. This album is a nice album to smoke to as well; it plays straight through, so you won’t even need to get up to turn the track.
Let’s just say what it is – these dudes are not making Top 40 commercial rap, but these guys are making classic Hip-Hop using all of the elements that Hip-Hop’s golden era embodied. Highlights from the project include the soulful “Forever” featuring Chase Infinite, “Born Into It” featuring Bad Lucc, “Do Ya Thang Girl (JOOK)” featuring Casey Veggies, and Picaso, “On My Job” featuring Skeme, “Through the Motions” featuring David Banner, “L.A. Blues” featuring Planet Asia and Tri-State, and “Smoke On” ft Dom Kennedy and Baby D.
Prior to listening to the project we spoke with Strong Arm Steady about their place in Hip-Hop’s history, and we asked them to ponder the Top 5 rappers from the West Coast. With Hip-Hop history in perspective, and how the whole West Coast movement developed from the 1980s going forward, Krondon and Phil the Agony, with the help of friend and fellow rapper Defari, constructed their Top 5 Rappers from the West Coast.
Krondon breaks down his Top 5 artists from the West Coast
Phily the Agony, Defari and Krondon Talk Top West Coast Artists of All-Time