Kool G Rap & Raekwon Are Out For That Life (Audio)

With June 2’s Return Of The Don, Kool G Rap will share with the world his first truly solo album since 2011’s Riches, Royalty, Respect. Produced entirely by MoSS, the LP features Freeway, Noreaga, Cormega, Raekwon, Sheek Louch, Saigon, Termanology, Fame, KXNG Crooked, Conway The Machine & Westside Gunn, and the late Sean Price.

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Today (May 25), the Queens, New York icon has unveiled his collaboration with The Chef, which comes in the form of the hustler’s anthem and ode to the spoils of war, “Out For That Life.” In it, the two spin boisterous tales of street life, but given the pedigrees of those involved, there’s no doubt they are both serving up nothing but reality raps. Both legends are clearly in their comfort zone over the dusty, 1990s-esque production, peacocking their way through verses.

Also today, an in-depth Rolling Stone interview with the MC considered by many to be the preeminent example of lyricism in 1980s Rap, dropped. In it, Kool G Rap discusses everything from The Return Of The Don‘s themes, what contemporary Rap he’s listening to, and much more. Ambrosia For Heads has culled a few points of interest, below.

On working with the Late Sean Price: “Sean Price just told me, ‘Yo, G, if you ever need me for anything, yo, all you gotta do is say the word.’ And I kept that with me, ’cause, you know, me being a lyrical artist, I have a lot of respect for Sean Price.”

On The Origin Of The Technical Artistry In His Rhymes: “To me, it was the influence of hearing artists when I was younger. To me, they was one step into the future, outside everybody else at the time, and that was Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, Silver Fox from Fantasy Three. A lot of people are not aware of them, but Silver Fox was a dope, dope rapper. It was listening to those guys and see how they didn’t just settle for being just like everybody else. They wanted to go the extra distance to stand out and be better than everybody. I was an artist that had the same desires. I didn’t want to blend in with anybody else and what they doing. I wanted to be technical. I wanted to be complex. I wanted to make my act a hard act to follow. Bottom line. And so I just kept pushing and pushing myself. Just do more than what everybody else was doing.”

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On Which MC Bodied the 1991 Posse Cut From Sway & Tech, “Anthem”: “That one was hard to call ’cause it was so many phenomenal dudes on that track that just destroyed it. Psh. … Tech N9ne, oh, my God, yo. I was just happy to be a part of that one. I was content not feeling like, “Oh, I killed everybody on the track this time.” I was just glad that I was a part of it ’cause it was a great track. RZA caught a body on that.”

On his Favorite Kool G Rap Name Drop in Another Rapper’s Song: “The intro to my show is a whole collage of Big Pun, Jay Z, Nas, when they quoted my name or something like that. That’s how my show starts. And the simple fact that R.A. the Rugged Man lives by the slogan, ‘I don’t want fans that don’t know who G Rap is.’ I just did a show up in New Hampshire Saturday and the promoter was telling they had R.A the Rugged Man not that long ago and when he got onstage, he said, ‘Listen. Whoever out there don’t know who G Rap is, get the fuck out the room.’ [Laughs] He’s a beast. He’s a problem.”

Here, Heads can heck out the RS interview in its entirety. The Return Of The Don is available for pre-order.