By Phillip Mlynar
Photography by Ricky Powell

“I was locked up in jail during the shiny suit era!” laughs Blacastan, an emcee inspired by CNN’s steez who just happened to find himself being bombarded by the saccharine sounds of Puffy and Mase while doing a bid. Now with his thoroughly hardcore ‘The Master Of Reality’ set out on Brick, here’s what’s up with the man who considers the sounds of Roc Marciano soothing…

So how’s life treating you?
“Man, it’s treating me alright as far as the music goes. But personally, I’m going through a divorce from my wife so it’s rough, man. And pretty much it’s because I’m pursuing music professionally so I’m not able to be a very good husband at this time, ‘cos my first love is music. I mean I definitely love her, but I’ve definitely come too far and music has been here for everything in my life. Music has pulled me through it; I use it to escape whatever’s going on at the time.”

So what are you listening to at the moment to help get you through the divorce?
“Oh, man, I’m really listening to a lot of my own stuff, plus Roc Marciano, and a lot of Pete Rock – probably nothing typical that you’d think of as break-up music! Break-up music makes me depressed… I’ve also been listening to Tragedy Khadafi a lot, been bumping that kind of stuff.”

You’re from Hartford, Connecticut, a place referred to as a “cess pool” on your press release. Is that accurate?
“Yeah, it’s pretty weird here. It’s like it goes from one extreme to the next. There’s a lot of violence and drugs, a lot of poverty too in a certain condensed area of Hartford, but then right across from that it’s rich people. You’ve got people struggling with drugs and violence and living in projects in a ghetto situation, then a few miles way in Farmington, West Hartford, some of the wealthiest people in America. Then further over you got real celebrities living, like David Letterman. It’s weird, man. It’s one of the richest place in the USA but one of the smallest, so it’s like any other place but condensed into a small area which makes it real funky.”

If a tourist came to Hartford, where would you take them?
“As a tourist? Well me being from the ‘hood, I’d take ‘em through the ‘hood. I’m mean you’ve got like Mark Twain’s house, the old state house where the constitution of American and the Declaration of Independence was signed and passed and all of that, and the place where the Amistad landed… But somebody from the ‘hood is like, ‘Who the fuck cares?’ So if you were hanging with me I’d bring you through to see the regular people, go to the barbershop, just like on a regular day with me. It might be a bit cliched but it’s what we do.”

So what’s the hip-hop scene like in Connecticut?
“The hip-hop scene is pretty much non existent. There’s me and Apathy and a million other guys that’s trying to rap. No one’s ever generated any real attention besides Dooley-O, Stezo and Chris Lowe and The Skinny Boys back in the day.”

What did people from Connecticut think of Stezo when he first came out?
“We thought Stezo was the shit! He had the dope dance moves, was touring with EPMD, he released a record, he had a helicopter in a video that was spliced into the opening scene of Yo! MTV Raps. It was pretty big. We all took pride in that, saying he was from Connecticut.”

Where does the name Blacastan come from?
“The name started in jail. I was locked up in the era of CNN and Mobb Deep and when CNN came out I was floored by what Capone and Nore and Tragedy were doing. I had already been bitten by Wu-Tang; I thought the Wu was everything, plus Nas and Mobb Deep. But then – boom! – CNN came and took it to the Middle East, tapped into everything from that desert culture, equated Queensbridge with Iraq and all that.

“At the time my cell-mate was rhyming too and calling himself Lebanon, He was like, ‘You should call yourself Blacastan ‘cos everyone already calls you Black.’ I thought it was corny at first, but started to use it, put it in some rhymes and it stuck.”

What was Lebanon like as a rhymer?
“He was decent, man. He was like a typical street cat. I was more into street stuff when I was first writing, like doing it from the perspective of someone in jail committing crimes and going to jail, but our opinions in music varied. I was more into ‘Soundbombing’ and still listening to Mobb Deep, Nas and Wu, but he was dope enough for me to sharpen my sword with him and inspire me to write dope raps.”

What were the biggest rap songs in jail during that era?
“At first CNN was popular, but then things started to change quickly after you got Puffy and Mase, plus DMX getting ready and The Lox. It was the whole shiny suit era. I was locked up during the shiny suit era and it was a culture shock to me ‘cos when I left the streets it was still people playing the Heltah Skeltah album and listening to ‘All Eyez On Me’. But then it changed: the Wu wasn’t as popular as they used to be, you had things like ‘Been Around The World’ and ‘If You Think I’m Jiggy’…

“I wasn’t feeling that whole commercial aspect of it so I started to look elsewhere, getting into ‘Soundbombing’ and the ‘Lyricist Lounge’ album, listening to ‘Supreme Clientele’, Pharoahe Monch, even Eminem. One of my favourite songs was Last Emperor’s ‘Secret Wars’, where he’s rhyming about hip-hop artists against Marvel heroes. I liked comics as a kid and thought that was incredible. He was thinking outside of the box and that shit inspired me.”

Were you aware how big the shiny suit stuff was in the outside world?
“Not necessarily, but I was seeing it more and more on TV, like artist performing on late night shows and being featured on sitcoms. You’re limited to what you can see in jail, and the magazines would come through slowly, but you’d know that these guys were blowing up in the shiny suits. It was just wrong though. I didn’t like it. Nobody liked my selection of music in jail. I’d be listening to whatever college radio station I could get. Everyone thought that I was weird, like, ‘What the fuck are you listening to?’ But that’s where I developed my identity.”

So why should people check out your album, ‘The Master Of Reality’?
“Well first of all it’s not created for the popular masses and, the label might be mad at me saying this, but if you like wack shit then don’t listen to my album ‘cos it’s not for you. It’s just music from people that love the era of hip-hop that’ I’m from.”

(Check out Blacastan’s ‘The Wire’ and ‘The Booth’ by clicking the track titles.)

By Phillip Mlynar

Ludacris has a new album out. It’s called Battle Of The Sexes. Unfortunately, he’s still the king of the curt answer when it comes to an interview – his ‘concise’ sentences make even Havoc’s monosyllabic grunts resonate like insightful nuggets of worldly wisdom. But here’s Luda’s thoughts on lots of important things anyway. Can we have a banner ad now, Def Jam?

On the reaction to his new album…
“Everyone’s been really supportive and said how much they like the album so I’m really happy about that.”

On the female rappers who appear on his album…
“I wanted females from the past, present and future. I got people like Eve, Nicki Minaj, and my cousin Monica. But it ain’t all women on the album. I got Trey Songz too. Some records I’m talking about women and some records I’m talking to women.”

On the feistiest ever female rapper…
“What comes to mind is probably a Foxy Brown or a Lil Kim. Yeah, I’d say Lil Kim and Foxy Brown considering that they were allegedly involved in a shoot out in New York. I don’t think there’s anything more feisty than that!”

On the best characteristic in a woman…
“The best characteristic in a woman is her personality.”

On the worst characteristic in a woman…
“If she exudes sexiness, that turns me off.”

On his first celebrity crush…
“Thelma from Good Times.”

On what he liked most about Thelma from Good Times…
“She was hot.”

On his favorite line from UTFO’s “Roxanne, Roxanne,” reportedly the first ever rap record he bought…
“You should know, she doesn’t need a guy like you/She needs a guy like me with a high IQ.”

On what he imaged a real life Roxanne to be like…
“I don’t really know.”

On what he’d put in a text message to Roxanne today…
“Thanks for making the record “Roxanne Roxanne”.”

On which other fictional hip-hop females he likes…
“I like Bonita Applebum.”

On why people should check out the new album…
“Man, I’m just as hungry as the first day I started and I continue to make people proud.”

HHC Digital’s rap round-up…
By Richard Watson

Leader of the new school: In news that read like a real life, hip-hop version of Dead Poets Society, Jim Jones announced that Dipset will definitely be in the staff room when he takes up a gig as – it says here − a teacher. Mr Jones promised to give students the “funnest” class, which must fill New York’s Board of Education with confidence. Elsewhere, Method Man predicted mere pass marks for his joint project with Raekwon and Ghostface – once again it seems Def Jam is headed to the dunce’s corner.

Bobbito recounted a magical moment he shared with Rakim while dripping in sweat – relax, it’s a basketball story. In other hoops news, Jay-Z broke ground on the site of the Nets’ new Brooklyn arena and likened the sense of hope created by the move to that which accompanied Obama’s election campaign. Given the current state of the Nets, a bloke fly-tipping a soiled mattress onto the Brooklyn pavement might be a more apt analogy, but looking on the bright side, the team’s uniform was the least puke-inducing element of the poster for Common and Queen Lafifah’s new flick.

It was difficult to pinpoint what was holding up ‘Detox’ more this week – The Hewlett Packard ad that Dr Dre has taken the time to film, or the fact that he’s got the Flight of the Conchords’ inept manager Murray distracting him. Meanwhile, the Lonely Island guys dropped the video for ‘Boombox’ and Andy Samberg re-teamed with original rhyme partner Chris Parnell and roped in The Roots for a live rendition of the jam that started it all. In related news, sometime Lonely Island collaborator T-Pain put his 332 top hats up for auction. So far he has at least one satisfied customer – eBayer Flav-88 said, “Toppers arrived in dope condition. A ++++++ Boyyyyyyyyyyyeee!”

With mother’s day coming up on the calendar, we got Krafty Kuts to compile his top ten songs to play to your old earth. Keep reading to check out his picks (though, sadly, he didn’t include Katch 22’s great ‘For My Mum’). Oh, and click here for more info on his gig on March 26th…

1. Chic ‘Good Times’
“A classic track that my mum heard me cutting up two copies of many, many times. While I was practising in my bedroom she would always come in and do that embarrassing mum dance they all do!”

2. 2Pac ‘Dear Mama’
“It’s in all in the title – say no more!”

3. Fat Boy Slim ‘Praise You’
“Because all mothers need praise now and then!”

4. James Brown ‘Mother Popcorn’
“This track proves my mum still has the funk in her trunk!”

5. The Beatles ‘All You Need Is Love’
“I grew up with my mother singing this all the time!”

6. LL Cool J ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’
“Don’t mess with my mum when she is in a bad mood!”

7. Utah Saints ‘Something Good (High Contrast Mix)’
“This one is for the young mothers out there!”

8. Krafty Kuts & A Skillz ‘Happiness’
“It’s all about the thought you put into mother’s day, not what you spend!”

9. SOS Band ‘Just Be Good To Me’
“Always treat your mum with respect!”

10. Deadmau5 & Kaskade ‘I Remember (Caspa Dubstep Remix)’
“So don’t forget mother’s day and getting a car or they won’t forget!”

HHC Digital’s rap round-up…
By Richard Watson

I’m out for presidents to represent me: This week, Jay-Z and the missus popped round Barack’s crib, a cultural convergence that represented either the incredible power of hip-hop in smashing social barriers, or the incredible power of cardigans in rehabilitating the image of a man who once stabbed a peer to boost record sales. Either way, with rap’s biggest name cosying up to the government, Bow Wow – the Twitter generation’s Chuck D – stepped in to launch a scathing broadside at the powers that be.

Girls On Film: The maker of a video in which a woman thought to be the circa-2004 Nicki Minaj recalled knocking Ugg boots with Remy Ma appealed to Ms Minaj to set the record straight. Meanwhile, Trina lost a phone filled with explicit photos that, we’re informed, showed the starkers starlet looking somewhat less than her best. Weighing in on her rival’s sub-par appearance, Khia tweeted, “BAD D*CK IS THE BLAME”, although it’s worth noting that the ‘My Neck, My Back’ girl isn’t a qualified GP. Or English teacher.

E-40 related how he gave an uncomplimentary Biggie a pass back in the day, but DMX received the wrong kind of pass from an Arizona school that had previously booked him to perform. Fashawn showed off his skateboard prowess, while Lil Wayne showed off his much-hyped dental work and Birdman proved himself to be a genuine headcase by showing off his expanded collection of scalp-situated tattoos.

A clip from Michael Rapaport’s forthcoming A Tribe Called Quest documentary found Ludacris revealing that, as a young Tribe fan, he had no idea what Ali did. Luda insists that he’s now more than familiar with Mr Muhammad’s contributions, but the disrespect has already been done – not to Ali, but to Jarobi, who clearly made the what-the-hell-does-he-do? role in ATCQ his own.

Finally, continued best wishes to a recovering Guru, and RIP to Newcleus founder Chilly B, a true pioneer.

The first track from Little Brother’s last album, due out in April, has just been released. Click here to download the appropriately-titled ‘Curtain Call’.

Photography by Alexander Richter

On April 7th the mighty Method Man will be hitting London town for a one-off show at Matter. Support will come from Wu-Tang Clan affiliates Mathematics, Streetlife and Cilvaringz – you can check out more info on it by clicking here.

Even better, HHC has a pair of tickets to give away to the reader who has enough time on their hands to come up with the most Mr Mef-esque four bar rhyme. Send your ‘poetry’ to info@hhcdigital.net (and don’t forget to put ‘Tical’ in the subject box) and the best or funniest will be awarded the tickets.

Wanna get a verse from Black Sheep’s Dres on one of your productions? Simply enter the Black Sheep remix competition – which involves remixing Dres’s ‘The Prelude EP’ – and, if you’re selected as the winner, you’ll not only see your production on the official ‘Prelude EP Remix’ release but also get a hot 16 straight from the man himself. Click here for all the details.

Produced by Domer, the pun-tastically-titled ‘Bohemian Rap CD’ project sees Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ being flipped into six hip-hop tracks, also featuring NY emcees IllSpokinn, Jake Lefco, Ryan O’Neil and Kats. Click here to check it out.

New from DJ Ames is the Rukus mixtape, ‘Back Like I Never Left’, featuring input from Klashnekoff, TY, Baby J and more. Cop it by clicking here.