“Bloody Money” produced by EZ Elpee who came to prominence in 1995 by helping secure a hit for the Notorious B.I.G. With a production lineup perhaps only outdone by Nas’ 1994 debut LP Illmatic, a host of the East Coast’s finest stepped in to collectively reshape the sound of the Empire State.
Now the older god, Tragedy’s pop-up quotables set the tone for the LP and seasoned the stew of what appeared to be the next great movement from the historic borough. “2-5, we on a deadline, read the headline / Noreaga blast with nines / Move fakers, get ya back blown in Jamaica / lay you in the earth and curse you and ya maker.” Tragedy’s street wisdom interpreted the more aggressive rhymes delivered by his two protégés, particularly Noreaga, whose storytelling could get lost behind the blend of the group’s theme of the war-torn Arabian Peninsula and the New York dialect influenced by the Five Percent Nation vernacular. He actually appeared on more songs than Capone, who returned to prison for a parole violation before the completion and release of the album. Tragedy seemed to sit in the most comfortable position of his own career, at the driver’s seat, steering the young duo and acting as the grand architect of the entire project. Nore’s speaker box style of sporadic words sometimes seemingly thrown together, focusing more on the melodic pacing along the hard drum patterns, was balanced by Capone’s strained vocals, which in the tradition of Queensbridge lyricism, expressed in great detail the intricate navigation of street lure and mastery of criminology. Unlike other groups at the time who leaned toward a back-and-forth scheme that emphasized chemistry, CNN embraced a yin-and-yang dynamic, complementing each other’s glaring differences. The new group, with their names reflecting hip-hop’s fascination with the criminal underworld and rhymes having a Middle Eastern aura, entered the game with a musical savvy, originality, and penitentiary pedigree that stood out amongst the genre’s lyrical adaptations of Martin Scorsese films.ĭubbing their Queens neighborhoods Lefrak City as Iraq and Queensbridge as Kuwait, Capone and Noreaga-shortened to CNN-interrupted our regularly scheduled programing to offer The War Report in 1997, with special embedded correspondence from Tragedy whose name now had the extension of Khadafi, a reference to the former leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi.Įarning a healthy buzz through their close alliance with Mobb Deep, who was represented on CNN’s first two singles, “Illegal Life” and “LA, LA,” helped the first round picks earn a coveted spot in The Source magazine’s Unsigned Hype column, before striking gold with the street anthem “T.O.N.Y. Rap, Capone and Noreaga reaped the benefits of being mentored by the former Super Kid and youngest member of the legendary Juice Crew. Hailing from separate sections of the New York City borough that produced hip-hop pioneers Run DMC, LL Cool J, and Kool G. Tragedy), the street certified band of brothers known as Capone-N-Noreaga were commissioned to frontline warfare as defenders of hip-hop’s birthplace. Stamped by fellow Queens natives Mobb Deep and accompanied by a familiar face from earlier in the decade, The Intelligent Hoodlum (a.k.a. With the echoes of the collapsed New York City skyscrapers kicked over in the video proving enough to wake a sleeping giant, the overt imagery drew more than a subliminal response from a combat ready squad, prepared to rep for the Big Apple. Apparently not receiving the desired response, Snoop responded to what he felt was the prejudice of the crowd in attendance, and the East Coast consumer base in general, with “New York, New York,” the lead single from close affiliates and label mates Tha Dogg Pound’s debut LP Dogg Food. “Y’all don’t love us?” surveyed then Death Row Recording artist Snoop Dogg to a sneering crowd at the inaugural Source Music Awards held in New York City in 1995. During the years when the beef seared over low flames, different contingents of the West Coast hip-hop scene-including notorious Death Row Records executive Suge Knight-stepped in front of microphones to offer opinions on big-name NYC-based artists, while voicing frustration with New York radio’s perceived bias against artists on the opposite coast. (Noreaga) helped break New York City’s silence 20 years ago, during the bicoastal turf war between some of rap’s most prominent artists. Happy 20th Anniversary to Capone-N-Noreaga’s debut album The War Report, originally released June 17, 1997.īursting onto the scene amidst a storm of controversy, the Queens-bred duo of Kiam Holley (Capone) and Victor Santiago, Jr.
0 kommentar(er)
