Large Professor Supplies Fashawn With A Vintage Beat & He Skates On It (Video)
Decked out in a red t-shirt supporting one of Mobb Deep’s favorite spirits and bandana as a sign of respect to the “late, great Prodigy, The H.N.I.C,” Fashawn takes to Flushing, Queens with a local, Large Professor, in this new eponymous visual.
One of XXL magazine’s 2010 Freshmen, Fashawn has since cemented his reputation via collabs with Nas, Evidence, Murs, The Alchemist and 9th Wonder. After signing to Nas’ Mass Appeal Records, his record The Ecology garnered praise as a long-awaited follow-up to Exile-produced benchmark debut, Boy Meets World.
“Fashawn” is off the Fresno, California native’s Manna EP, released this past August. The visual has Fashawn/Large Pro’ walking around Queens, with Fash’ on a skateboard dressed in Che tee at one point, in motion, but still delivering his verses.
Many of the tracks on Fashawn’s Manna tackle heavy, political themes linked to the Amerikkkan nightmare. In comparison, the tone of “Fashawn” is light, with the MC talking up his prowess, “No remorse shown, no love given.” It starts out tough: “I got a fully loaded cartridge and thoughts and enemies / Rhymes razor sharp, that’s that Rawkus energy / My heart pump Hennessy / Veins pump Don Julio, rock rubies / Assorted color stones in the jewelry …” Fashawn’s smart wordplay is there in all these imperfect rhymes and word cadences that don’t symmetrically match. Something maybe that he learned from label boss, Nas, who helped make the practice commonplace.
As for the Large Pro’ beat: it shows how (as always) he is one of the Hip-Hop masters, as this track embodies his signature style made up of a rich bass-line and under-stated groove. The music changes on the hook, getting scattered with increased depth: fantastic, to then just as smoothly return to where it was before.
Yesterday (October 18), Large Pro’ joined Masta Ace on his “Extra P” remix for “Come A Long Way,” by Son of Sam.