Alchemist x Mos Def joint

[DredScott]

I've said it before but it seems like so many of the true lyricists are so fed up with modern hip-hop they rather sing or make other music instead of actually rhyme...Mos, Monch, 3000, Cee-Lo, Phonte.


I hate it but I can't say I blame them entirely either.

 

[Travellin' Man]

I’m specifically talking about the Mannie Fresh album, the “retirement” solo album and the heavy hinting he did around 2016 of a Premier produced album

i hear you

i remember in an interview with Vibe back in 2019, he talked about the status of the Mannie Fresh produced album and some music he has with DOOM

Vibe: Well, I was first going to ask about the Mannie Fresh record.


yassin bey: All of that is on deck, and you know what? It’s interesting because it’s similar to the process with negus. I have these really special projects. I still have them—Black Star, Mannie Fresh, stuff with me and DOOM on the low. I have stuff with me and Madlib, I work with Glasper and Trill. But it’s all for me, and solely for me, it’s about a matter of placement. Where things go. For me, these works are living organisms. Putting them in the proper environment is just as key as making useful work. So for me, where it goes is just as important as what it is, particularly at this point. To some degree or another, it’s always been that way for me. Who are our partners in this? What are our shared objectives and goals? How are we looking at this? Are we making the same movie, film, album, concert? What are the principles of importance to us as a group? Individually, but as we come together to do this thing because all of it is a collaborative and community effort. None of this happens in a vacuum; it requires the effort of a lot of people, and many people attached to those people. It’s this ecosystem, and that’s why I’ve been very careful, particularly with the works over the last six to seven years, since 2011-2012. Where are we putting what we do? Let’s really explore the options available to us, be patient, and pick the most suitable situation that achieves good aims that we can all participate in, feel good about, and leave feeling good about. We want to have success, we want it to be viable business, we want clear proof of concept. We want to be proud of what we do. But at the same time, it’s no rush. As it’s been said to me, things of quality have no fear of time. It feels like it’s all coming together.

link:

Yasiin Bey Talks ‘Negus,’ Visual Art, And Unreleased Music

Yasiin Bey speaks to VIBE about his listening installation 'Negus,' why he's been sitting on unreleased music, and how he's not in a war against streaming.

www.vibe.com

 

[Ziggiy]

I've said it before but it seems like so many of the true lyricists are so fed up with modern hip-hop they rather sing or make other music instead of actually rhyme...Mos, Monch, 3000, Cee-Lo, Phonte.


I hate it but I can't say I blame them entirely either.

Phonte at the very least has two EXTREMELY dope solo RAP albums and reformulated Little Brother with Pooh and put out one of the best albums of its respective year so he gets a pass so to speak because as a listener, even though he branched out successfully, I never got the feeling he loved Hip Hop any less or would completely leave it behind.

Same thing with somebody like Questlove. He’s an Oscar winning director for gods sake but I NEVER get the feeling he’d actually abandon The Roots.

Cee Lo is a bit different in the fact that he blew up singing so long ago that it doesn’t feel right to dock points from him because he’s been in the “Artist” bag going on twenty years, and even then he’s made his way back to rapping and being part of the group he originally debuted with. It doesn’t feel like its “fake” with Ceelo of he wants to sing or do some other shyt.


And i’m not trying to infer Mos Def is fake or anything its just that, unlike someone like Andre, whose been pretty vocal in not being invested in rap, Mos kind of does have the “one toe in one toe out” thing going and I feel he gets more of a pass for it while Andre gets alot of flack. Yes Mos gave us the Black Star reunion, but we’ve been waiting for the Mannie Fresh, Madlib, Doom, Premo shyt for YEARS and he gets to put out something like Negus, which 98% of us have not nor will EVER hear and its like “Oh thats just Mos”

 

[Travellin' Man]

Phonte at the very least has two EXTREMELY dope solo RAP albums and reformulated Little Brother with Pooh and put out one of the best albums of its respective year so he gets a pass so to speak because as a listener, even though he branched out successfully, I never got the feeling he loved Hip Hop any less or would completely leave it behind.

Same thing with somebody like Questlove. He’s an Oscar winning director for gods sake but I NEVER get the feeling he’d actually abandon The Roots.

Cee Lo is a bit different in the fact that he blew up singing so long ago that it doesn’t feel right to dock points from him because he’s been in the “Artist” bag going on twenty years, and even then he’s made his way back to rapping and being part of the group he originally debuted with. It doesn’t feel like its “fake” with Ceelo of he wants to sing or do some other shyt.


And i’m not trying to infer Mos Def is fake or anything its just that, unlike someone like Andre, whose been pretty vocal in not being invested in rap, Mos kind of does have the “one toe in one toe out” thing going and I feel he gets more of a pass for it while Andre gets alot of flack. Yes Mos gave us the Black Star reunion, but we’ve been waiting for the Mannie Fresh, Madlib, Doom, Premo shyt for YEARS and he gets to put out something like Negus, which 98% of us have not nor will EVER hear and its like “Oh thats just Mos”

i know you were responding to @DredScott but i just wanted to add my 2 cents to the bolded

i honestly think yasiin just became disillusioned with the state of hip hop and it's direction years ago, that he just be on some "when i feel it, i'll embrace and on days i don't, i won't"

to me, it seems like he gets those moments of feeling inspired to write and rhyme from time to time, but those times maybe few and far between than they were 20 years ago for a variety of reasons.

hopefully he releases the album he worked on with Mannie and the music he recorded with DOOM as well as the Premier album i think he'll released them

i look at it like this, many didn't think the black star no fear of time would ever be released but he made good on that promise after years of no album at all.

 

[DredScott]

Phonte at the very least has two EXTREMELY dope solo RAP albums and reformulated Little Brother with Pooh and put out one of the best albums of its respective year so he gets a pass so to speak because as a listener, even though he branched out successfully, I never got the feeling he loved Hip Hop any less or would completely leave it behind.

Same thing with somebody like Questlove. He’s an Oscar winning director for gods sake but I NEVER get the feeling he’d actually abandon The Roots.

Cee Lo is a bit different in the fact that he blew up singing so long ago that it doesn’t feel right to dock points from him because he’s been in the “Artist” bag going on twenty years, and even then he’s made his way back to rapping and being part of the group he originally debuted with. It doesn’t feel like its “fake” with Ceelo of he wants to sing or do some other shyt.


And i’m not trying to infer Mos Def is fake or anything its just that, unlike someone like Andre, whose been pretty vocal in not being invested in rap, Mos kind of does have the “one toe in one toe out” thing going and I feel he gets more of a pass for it while Andre gets alot of flack. Yes Mos gave us the Black Star reunion, but we’ve been waiting for the Mannie Fresh, Madlib, Doom, Premo shyt for YEARS and he gets to put out something like Negus, which 98% of us have not nor will EVER hear and its like “Oh thats just Mos”

I agree with you for the most part and I wouldn't call any of them disingenuous for wanting to grow and branch out and especially for not for singing and it's not an insult nor am I mad at them for it, just simply pointing out how I've seen it play out over the years and my thoughts on it.

I'm sure if you would speak to each and every one of them, they would most likely mention that they grew up watching the church choir singing at Sunday service and inherently wanting to be a part of that so singing is probably their first love and true exposure to them power of music so it's no surprise they would revert back to that once they became disillusioned and lost their lust for hip-hop.