I do not own the rights
Juicy Fruit (After 6 Inst)
Blacastan (Rest In Beats) - Life of a tape
BLACASTAN
Hailing from Hartford, CT - Ira Osu aka Blacastan was raised in an environment of thieves, addicts, crooks, and liars. Brought from the essence by a mother who herself had every intention of raising Ira as a model citizen soon found herself a victim to the struggle and drug fueled environment that was Hartford in the 80s. Blacastan was also born of an affair. Both Blacastan and his step father thought they were related biologically until Blacastan was approximately 6 years old. According to Blacastan, "My step pop was a good guy. Even after findin' out that I wasn't his kid he still showed me the same love as he showed my brother who was actually his real son". But like any relationship built on lies, eventually the situation got really sour between Blacastan's mother and his step father. Blac explains, "Nah mean, who blames the guy? Thats alot for somebody to swallow." With a family structure under constant strain and an environment that bred mischief, Blacastan quickly fell victim to the pitfalls of the Hartford ghettos. Gangs like Los Solidos, the Latin Kings, and 20 Love were warring for control of every corner of Hartford and drugs quickly soaked into his reality. Not only being forced into selling the the poison simply for survival, Blacastan soon became a victim of the substance as well.

His desire to contribute to the genre only grew as the hip hop songs the radio began to embrace slowly lost the essence of what rap music was intended to deliver.

Ironically, since instrumentals were almost non-existent in the confines of government sponsored captivity, Blacastan was forced to write his lyrics to the self despised songs that ...

MTUME
Mtume was born James Heath Jr., the son of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath, in Philadelphia. He was raised by his mother Bertha Forman and pianist James “Hen Gates” Forman, who played in Charlie Parker’s band. Forman introduced the young Mtume, literally, to some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time.

“Just imagine, you’re 9, 10 years old, and there’s Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins,” Mtume told Red Bull Music Academy in 2014. “I never was hip enough to know just how brilliant a situation that was, but what I did know about jazz musicians were they were an extraordinary group. Witty, funny. There was nothing like sitting around a table of jazz musicians.”

Ver todos los episodios