‘Luke Fox loves rap music’ valt er te lezen in de bescheiden biografie slash intro van het boek. Dit straalt ook van de interviews af, soms slaat de schrijver uit Toronto hier zelfs wat in door. Fox is nu zo’n elf jaar actief als freelance journalist en schrijver voor Pound magazine en interviewde al honderden rappers, DJ’s, producers en graffiti artiesten. Ice-T shot me in the face & eleven other stories about rap music is zijn eerste boek en tevens verzameling van twaalf interviews, afgenomen tussen 1999 en 2006.
Een selectie quotes uit het boek:
Ice T: “There’s nothing in this world we need more than pornography. All life is based around bustin’ a nut. You get a Ferrari; you get a house; you get a mansion; you on the beach. What the fuck you doin’ on the beach with a Ferrari and a mansion? What the fuck are you looking for? A girl. To do what? Bust nuts! There’s nothing else to do.” (gepubliceerd in 1999)
Een van de mooiste interviews is die met Gang Starr ten tijde van de release van The Ownerz. In een diepgaand, lang artikel smijten Premo en Guru met quotables:
Guru: “Ever since hip-hop started becoming more mainstream, that’s always been a problem. You have people sometime outside of the culture dictating what’s being played and what’s gonna be accepted by the masses – that’s when it gets messed up. Therefore, you get people who will never get a lot of love on radio, and people who get too much love. That’s where the equality doesn’t exist.”
DJ Premier: “I’ve seen people run up and ask other producers or DJs about certain lyrics, and they’ll say: ‘I dunno. Go ask the emcee. That’s his deal. I do beats.’ I study what Guru is saying because he speaks for both of us, and I have to be able to answer questions about his lyrics.”
M-1 (dead prez): “I don’t even like to speak English, because I was robbed of my ability to have my own language.” (gepubliceerd in 2000)
MF DOOM: “Kill them with the verse, and you won’t need a hook. It makes the whole thing a more intense experience. The hook thing is standardized – sixteen bars and a hook. The listener is expecting it to come, so I catch them off guard. What? No hook? This is the end? But they were able to listen to the whole song.” (gepubliceerd in 2004)
Kanye West: “I wonder why no magazine doesn’t say this: I have reached the greatest amount of succes in the shortest period of time, in music, for someone who is not a one-hit wonder.” (gepubliceerd in 2005)
Minputje is dat Luke Fox soms wat over the top schrijft en sommige interviews zijn, mede door de geringe lengte, niet heel boeiend en diepgaand. De schrijver weet zichzelf echter wel te onderscheiden met mooie profielomschrijvingen van de artiesten, geestige opmerkingen en toffe vergelijkingen:
“Ice-T was beefing with LL Cool J before Canibus was an embryo.”
“Allow a writer to KRS on you for a minute.” (voordat Fox uitlegt waarom Gang Starr hiphop is)
“Ah, yes. The flow. What did he call himself? The Michelangelo of flow? Sounds about right. If flows were amusement-park attractions, DMX’s whisper-holler fluctuations would be one of those rickety wooden coasters, rattling as it roars and dips. Nas’s would be an exhilarating, newfangled ride, seamless and unpredictable in its twists and spirals. Jay-Z’s would be a waterslide; Hova’s flow is liquid. It sloshes around and squirts inside the beat – sparkling compositions by studio wizzes Timbaland, Just Blaze and the Neptunes – gushing and surging but never slipping. He speeds up (Poppin Tags) and slows down (Hard Knock Life) but seldom raises his voice. It’s his ciceronian diction, and not his volume, that captivates. Holla never holler.”
“My publisher doesn’t care about wack people.” (begin van Kanye West’s interview)
Met 130 pagina’s is Ice-T shot me in the face & eleven other stories about rap music prima te behappen en je hebt hem binnen no-time uit. Een aanrader voor iedere hiphopliefhebber die zich even wil onderdompelen in de wereld van hiphopveteranen.
Ice-T shot me in the face is nu uit en hier te koop.
Inhoudsopgave:
15 Ice T Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
23 Common Divided Soul Brother Number One
29 dead prez Freedom Fighters
39 Kool G Rap Sensitive Thug
45 El-P Mr. Fantastic
54 Gang Starr Lemonade Was a Popular Drink – And It Still Is
69 Jay-Z Word Is Bond
85 Ghostface Killah Behind the Mask
91 MF DOOM Face/Off
97 Nas Book of Rhymes
115 Kanye West And My Interviews Are Hotter
131 Ludacris Enemy of the Good
Beeld via http://onandbeyond.com