“The truth is Hip-Hop, and with Hip-Hop the bigger you get or if you really want get big, really, you got to get small.”

– KRS-One

Legends are made not born. It takes a lot of hard work dedication and sacrifice to be able to put yourself in the position to be regarded as one of the top in your field. KRS-One and Buckshot are two living legends in hip hop who have put in more than far share of work in their respective careers. If you take a look at the accolades that they have been credited with and it’s plain to see why they are each considered to be two living hip hop legends in their own respective ways. And, just like in every other field of work when you put in the time and effort to take yourself to the upper tier of your profession you get the perks that come with that and there’s no bigger perk in hip hop than being able to freely speak your mind. With their new album fittingly titled, Survival Skills, the duo do just that. They speak on a variety of topics from auto tune to the current economic situation to everything in between and they hold nothing back.

AllHipHop.com: So let’s talk about the new project, Survival Skills.

KRS-One: Survival Skills, the album speaks for itself. The title is what it is. You know we feel that with 11 million people out of work in the United States that the music, inner city music, urban music, which is what rap is; urban music should address urban issues.

AllHipHop.com: So what are some of the urban issues that you’re referring to?

KRS-One: The streets ain’t all about drug sales and guns going on we know this, but, for some reason we can’t rap about nothing else but these b######, these hoes, and these guns. So the idea here on Survival Skills is to at least first let’s deal with what the real hood is dealing with which is poverty, job loss, families breaking up you know, and our album deals with that straight up. So first up at the top, Survival Skills the album speaks for itself. Survival Skills, that’s what we all on right now. Red and Meth are on that right now, Slaughterhouse is on that right now, guys like John Legend putting out people like Estelle are on that right now. Everybody from R&B to rock to jazz to reggae to rap to gospel, everybody’s hustling. Even Mary Mary put out The God In Me, it’s the God in me, and they’re on day time radio hustling they know that even they sound that ain’t even their music and they’re dissing gospel for even putting that out, but they’re hustling. So at the end of the day Survival Skills is a direct I would say breath of fresh air, glass of water, something refreshing that gets you away from that constant nonsense you hear everyday on the radio, television and so on. And Buckshot and KRS are hitting you with what the real streets are thinking, what real fathers are thinking and real mothers and real families are thinking.

Buckshot: That pretty much summed it up with that statement without going around and you know it’s definitely you know what he said. We are speaking for all those people.

AllHipHop.com: When you guys first got together for the project was that the focus or did it just evolve itself into that type of feeling so to speak?

KRS-One: I think it evolved.

Buckshot: I would say organically it evolved. That’s the best way that any project comes off. Any project comes off best in that form when it’s organic. And that’s the one thing about this project right here it gets very organic, and it ain’t like we went into the studio to fulfill certain peoples fantasies. Everybody’s not going to be satisfied because of the way we did, and the way we did it was real. Everybody that we worked with and everything; every song title, every concept, everything was organic. Intricate titles and intricate concepts on the album at the same time, those concepts when you listen to the songs you go back and start listening to the lyrics and you start to reflect on what it takes to make people even react to the point that you get them to listen which is skills and what it takes to survive. So eventually the album morphed itself into that; just being able to have music that naturally sounds good without persuading anybody or anything, just put it on and people naturally nod their head.

AllHipHop.com: Do you feel that’s it hard to get that reaction for fans now?

Buckshot: That’s a skill and that’s why we named it that. Kris has been in the game since 86, Buck’s been in the game since 92, it’s 2009, so I’m proud to say that I’m in the position that I’m in because at the end of the day like Kris said, there’s those that have a choice and those that don’t have a choice. Everybody has a choice, but there’s some that face different levels of that. The point of that is people can be wherever they at by their choice but bottom line what me and Kris is doing is something. We are moving; you can say whatever judgment or say whatever you want about the movement but, bottom line is we are moving you can’t stop it. Whatever your individual thing might be at the point and time me and Kris done did three shows after that already.

AllHipHop.com: Can you guys explain the concept behind the lead single, “Robot?”

Buckshot: It’s being recognized on the commercial level, but it’s not a commercial song. So whenever that happens that means it’s like a volcano. It’s done got so hot that it erupted from the underground, so naturally that it boiled and boiled over. When records like Robot and Survival Skills, anything that when KRS or Buckshot put it out you know because we’re two guys that don’t conform and say lets make a record right now and try to get this on the radio and use a mold of what’s out right to do it. When records like ours get on the radio it’s the volcano effect. You know that it’s hot because it got there through the underground.

KRS-One: That’s an excellent analogy too because it’s exactly what this project is like it’s a volcano. You notice how lava sits in the center of the earth hotter than anything that’s on the surface but it sits at the center of the earth. It’s always there but, every once in awhile it bubbles up to the top and you can’t stop it. It’s the hottest thing on the Earth and it comes from within, from the center from the underground. That’s a great analogy to sum this album up it’s like lava literally.

Buckshot: And that’s the reason why people are now hearing Robot on BET or MTV, it’s in the mainstream, but in reality we’re already on our third single we’re already on the Mary J. Bilge joint. We put out Survival Skills as well, but it shows you that we’re moving at the rate of the volcano or the lava. We’re already on the joint with Mary J. Bilge, but I will give acknowledgement to the fact that people are now hearing Robot, so its kind of new to them but that goes with the example that Kris was giving that’s part of the lava that y’all are just now feeling. What we got coming is terribly hot even if you make a comment of its ok, its good, or its wack; no matter what your one individual opinion is by anybody is the bottom line is you will see it so you can feel the effect of the lava or move with it.

KRS-One: And lava becomes the ground. You know lava after it cools it become the ground like dirt and rocks and s###. It becomes the actual foundation of what the Earth is and Buck is absolutely correct in the sense of saying that no matter what you think of this album we already know the truth and it was revealed to us on the Rock the Bells Tour.

AllHipHop.com: What exactly was it that you guys figured out during the tour?

KRS-One: We kind of knew in the studio what we had because we were kind of feeling it ourselves, but when you get on tour and you start doing brand new songs to people who ain’t never heard the stuff before and they’re vibing to it kicking to it, the lyrics is making them swing; and your competing against a Wu-Tang or M.O.P., Alchemist albums, and all that stuff and we still holding our own. Imagine Buckshot and KRS on Rock the Bells was the openers, we were opening acts you know what I’m saying. Let me even take it over there and speak on that level, imagine KRS-One, I got 26 gold and platinum plaques, I got 19 albums, but yet I’m an opener with Buckshot.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsfree video player

AllHipHop.com: So what is that really saying?

KRS-One: That means that all these old school cats you listen to this s### real quick, and please quote me on this; the bigger you get the smaller you get, and the smaller you get the bigger you get. We’re dealing with quantum physics on this album right now. You get at KRS -One because supposedly this large artist, this legendary guy, this classic icon in hip hop culture, you would expect me to come off like Jay-Z. People ask me all the time, where’s your 50 Cent budget, where’s your TI budget, any of those guys that are selling millions of records. Where’s your Lil Wayne budget, people know, they know KRS deserves that, but that’s not the truth. The truth is hip hop, and with hip hop the bigger you get or if you really want get big, really, you got to get small. What I noticed on the album and I was talking about this with Buck last week was about people’s artwork.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the significance of the album artwork?

KRS-One: You look at the album artwork and it’s a scene of KRS and Buckshot going up a mountain, and it appears that KRS is climbing up this mountain and pulling Buckshot up this mountain with him. that’s one way of looking at the album cover and that’s really one way that it actually is. KRS, philosophical all that, we going to the mountain top, but if you look at the cover metaphysically and you see Buckshot, two hands on my arm which could signify Buckshot bringing KRS to the streets, keeping KRS grounded. Is it me that is lifting buckshot, or is it Buckshot that is grounding KRS-one? When I look at the cover I see both. Whatever your conscious level is on you can see that Buckshot is really grounding spiritual knowledge.

AllHipHop.com: How does that tie into the sound that we’re going to get from the album?

KRS-One: I mentioned Mary J; that song is about getting on grind and what happens when you lose your job. People want to hear that and that’s not our opinion. People feel I got to get on my grind, I need to listen to something that’s going to help me stay on my grind that’s what I need. Cats are sick of these fake ass rappers out here. Everybody claiming number one spots; everybody claiming to be the king of New York, king of Atlanta, the king of LA, king of Miami, everybody’s the king of this until KRS and Buckshot show up on one mic then all of y’all are talking and copping pleas and all of that, that’s the truth too.

AllHipHop.com: What makes you say that?

KRS-One: How many shows have me and Buck been on with platinum artists that don’t even want to go on, scared to go on because we in the building because real MCs are grabbing the mic. I think the people, White, Black, Asian, Latino, Native American, everybody, they want the real right now and that’s what Survival Skills is offering. So now we produce an album and it doesn’t matter what the reviews say. It’s great to get a great review, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you get a terrible review; KRS is old he should shut the f### up, Buck should of done the album by himself, whatever it is it doesn’t f###### matter because at the end of the day we are showing you who the number one MCs actually are. These cats can have their rap music status all day, take your rap s###.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsfree video player

KRS-One: This album is a conscious album except we’re on the album with big guns. I want my conscious community to know what a conscious album is. What does it means these days to be conscious? It ain’t about jewelry, ain’t about p####, ain’t about street s###, ain’t about designer glasses.

Buckshot: and on top of that it ain’t about broke n##### either. Look at how Duck Down Records is doing while majors like Universal are struggling.

AllHipHop.com: Do feel like hip hop is at a watered down state so to say with a lack of real originality in whole and people instead sounding like they’re are just following the blueprint to make a hit.

KRS-One: Well first let me say that no it’s not watered down, and I know that sounds shocking, but it’s not watered down its just corporate. I think its just incompetence, m############ is stupid. You didn’t study. You didn’t study the culture, you didn’t study the music industry, and you don’t even know the real movers and shakers. You know what you really got too much of hype and not enough truth. There’s too many lies and liars, and not enough revolutionaries.

Miss boom bap? Are you feeling out of step with today’s mainstream Hip-Hop sound? Enter Marco Polo and Torae, the answer to all your Hip-Hop woes. For those missing that gritty, sample-driven Hip-Hop should have picked the critically acclaimed Double Barrel LP that dropped over the summer. The album has been the culmination of over a year’s worth of dedication from both men. But alas, many (too many) slept on this LP. Nonetheless, the duo has been touring diligently to promote their project, and recently took time to build with AllHipHop.com following a recent Atlanta performance at the annual A3C Festival. Come check out what you and the game has been missing.

AllHipHop.com: It’s been a few months since Double Barrel been out. How’s the reception been on the road and your opinions of the online reviews?

Marco: I think the reception has been really positive. It was a very simple formula to make an album influenced by the stuff we grew up on. We didn’t over think concepts or try anything futuristic or next level. It was simply hard beats and hard rhymes, with appearances not from trendy whose hot rappers, but people we knew that happened to be the dopest artists out of New York like Masta Ace and Sean Price. All the collaborations were legit. We weren’t cutting checks to get people to work with us. It makes the music that much better, and people really enjoyed. It’s one of those sleeper albums that I feel people will keep discovering over the years.

AllHipHop.com: Regarding keeping the process simple, you’re with Duck Down and all labels have their expectations. Were you guys allowed to create this project without much oversight and micromanaging?

Torae: Yeah, we were fortunate enough to work on the album ourselves. Getting a deal was probably the last thing we did. We wanted to create an album with no restraints or time restrictions. It happened organically. The friendship was the same. Duck Down made the most sense. We made every decision, picked every beat, every rhyme. Duck Down being the great powerhouse saw how dope the album was and wanted to get involved. That’s the best; making the music on your own merit, your own time, your own energy, and thoughts. Because it’ll be something you fully believe in and be willing to fight for. You know that you put your best foot forward. That’s why we’re going so strong because this is the album we wanted to make.

AllHipHop.com: Looking back what’s your favorite tracks off Double Barrel?

Marco: It changes everyday. I don’t have a specific track that I love over the others. One day I’m in a “Double Barrel” mood, and then I want to hear “Smoke,” or “Get It.” And I think that says something about the overall project; that it’s not just about a single. You have to get the whole project.

Torae: Same for me, all 13 songs stand on their own depending on your mood or the mindset you’re in. I tend to bounce it off of people. Some say “yo, I saw the Double Barrel video and loved it!” Then I’ll listen to it and agree “Double Barrel’s” crazy. Then somebody will hit me on Facebook and say they listen to “Get It” everyday to start their morning. Then I’ll start listening to it every morning and be like “yeah, ‘Get It’ is the joint!” There’s no album filler, its 13 hot joints. You got 3 work weeks and you can listen to a new track every day and rock out.

AllHipHop.com: Let me run this by both of you. A few years back Prince Paul was asked about the supposed “decline” of the NY Hip-Hop sound. His reasoning was that the stricter sampling laws had made it harder to utilize that sound. Do you guys see that as an issue?

Marco: With me nothing has changed. No sampling laws have affected my life. I hope I’m not incriminating myself too much [laughs]. I make the music the way I want to inspired by what I grew up on. I buy records every week; I’m inspired by samples and breaks. It’s probably harder to get those type of records out on a huge scale, and I’m sure major labels are reluctant to mess with that type of production. But for me, I always stay disconnected from that.

AllHipHop.com: A lot of artists that were out in 90s are quick to say the money has dried up in Hip-Hop and the music industry overall. But for the artists getting in now who don’t want to be discouraged by that stance, where can one sustain him or herself in Hip-Hop? Is it still just the traditional road work? Or is it all about the Internet?

Torae: There’s definitely still a lot of opportunities to make money. Obviously you need money to live. But if that’s your primary focus, then you shouldn’t be in the music business. For one, it’s not reflective of the art. You are making art for people to enjoy. If you want to generate money, you go be an investment banker [laughs]. The road and merchandising has always been the primary way for artists to generate cash. Even if you got a big advance, you have to get out there to get that show money. That’s what we do. With Marco, he’s a producer so he has relationships with artists to get beats placed. I’m an emcee, so I do features, shows, and my merchandising.

I hear crazy stuff all the time, like “dude, if this was 12 years ago, you’d be a millionaire!” I wish you wouldn’t have told me that, now I’m wild depressed because I’m an hundrednaire! [laughs] But I didn’t do it for a Mercedes Benz and a diamond necklace. I had two careers before I decided to devote myself to music. I could have stayed in banking or education to make money. My primary love was to make music. It’s my fulfillment. My bank is looking off the stage and seeing people mouth my lyrics that I sat in my room and wrote. It’s the best payment.

AllHipHop.com: Marco you’ve always talked about DJ Premier’s influence on you, and we hear him kicking off the Double Barrel album. What would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned watching his career and working with him?

Marco: One thing I take from Primo is he’s never changed his s###. He’s established a brand. Say what you want about other producers, but he’s still here. He’s still a force. With his name, he can work with a completely unknown artist and people will listen to it because of his name…

Torae: It worked for me! [laughs]

Marco: Great example is Torae and Skyzoo did a 12 inch and that’s how I got introduced to his music. And to this day Primo has never got affected by sample laws, this hipster rap b#######, he just does what he does. Hard beats over hard rhymes. He samples and he incorporates hip-Hop culture into his music with scratch hooks. This has always been what Hip-Hop is but we’ve lost a lot of that over the years through trends.

It makes me feel when I’m sitting down looping s###, and my other producer friends aren’t, instead of thinking maybe I should do what they’re doing, I’m like f### that. Primo’s a big inspiration because he’s one of the last doing that boom-bap production that he’s basically the creator of. Myself and him are one the last ones doing it.

AllHipHop: Torae, from an emcee perspective who has given you that same inspiration?

Torae: I love all types of music and can get inspiration from anywhere. I listen to Leann Rimes. “How Do I Breathe” is one of my favorite joints. I can connect to the message. But I can’t leave out Masta Ace. That’s someone I can actually say is my friend. We chill, talk, go out, and I still own his whole catalogue on cassette. Guys like Buckshot I used to watch and emulate growing up. When I listen to my old demos I hear that Boot Camp sound. To be on the label now is a crazy experience. Definitely those two are the premier guys in my life.

AllHipHop.com: Marco you touched on hipster rap, but this year has seen a lot of good releases. Are you hopeful for the mainstream’s creativity, or do you think the underground will continue carrying the load?

Marco: Honestly I don’t know. I had really thought it would make a return to the original form, like the album we just made and Duck Down’s other stuff. But I can’t call it. There’s been glimpses over the last couple years, but then some artist completely not that blows up. It’s a crazy time right now. When you get a lot of rappers together you’ll get a lot of intense conversations about that. A lot of artists are scratching their heads. You can spend time thinking about it, or you do like me and just focus on doing the music you love. The one thing I can do is make quality music. No matter what, it’ll be there.

AllHipHop.com: Songs these days don’t last long because the fans get the music so quickly. An example I thought of is if Illmatic leaked on a Friday, and Ready to Die on Saturday, how the response would be these days…

Marco: That’s a crazy concept to think of…

Torae: Wow, imagine that…

AllHipHop.com: Because the music comes so quickly there’s not the luxury of taking your time and really digesting the art. Is there anything that can be done to change that?

Torae: Everything is moving faster now. 8 tracks became vinyl, cassettes, compact discs, and now MP3s. It’s always about the convenience and the instant gratification. You microwave your food as opposed to baking and cooking all day. You started with Black Planet to Myspace to Facebook to Twitter; a 140 characters a second. Unfortunately the music is the same. You can put your blood, sweat, and tears into it like me and Marco did for a year and a half with Double Barrel. And 2 months later people are like “yo, when is your new s###  dropping?”

I’m like yo I put everything into this project. I want you to digest it. There are thousands of people who haven’t heard it yet and it’s my job to make sure they hear it and gets as much enjoyment as I did making it and the initial fans who heard it. I don’t think there’s anything that can be done about it. It’s just the way of man. Everything that happens fast isn’t good for you…

Marco: The Internet f##### up everything. It has positive things as in quick promotion for new artists. But back in the day buying an album was an event. You had to leave your home and go to the record store and buy it. You spent money you worked hard for so you’re definitely going to spend your time listening to it. In that time it allows you to take in the album, everything. You would rock it for a year or two. Now it’s like you get distracted with the next one 3 days later and push that one to the side. It’s really unfair to the projects that are incredible and some get passed over and slept on. People are gluttonous by nature.

Torae: The key is to make quality, and hopefully people go back to it. A lot of albums have come out after Double Barrel but it’s still in the conversation for Best Album of the Year. So it’s still in conversations, and I attribute that to it being a quality release. You get out what you put in. As we get to the end of the year and the lists starting coming, Double Barrel will get mentioned as one of the best.