Camu Tao, the legendary MC, producer, and singer, whose life was tragically cut short on May 25th, 2008 after a protracted battle with lung cancer, will have his debut solo album and final statement, King of Hearts, posthumously released on August 17, 2010 as a collaborative release between Fat Possum Records and Definitive Jux. Described by friends, peers and colleagues as “wild, proud, loving, tough, outspoken, spontaneous, and brilliant,” Tao was a creative powerhouse whose output was as staggering in its scope of influences as it was emotionally evocative. El-P describes King of Hearts as “raw, exciting and unlike anything anyone has heard.” Even newer school rappers feel the impact of Camu’s work, “These songs are so before their time it’s ridiculous” says Kid Cudi. Cage sums up the album as “a masterpiece in the making.”
Camu got his start in the late 90’s alongside RJD2 and Copywrite in Columbus, OH’s seminal hip hop group MHZ whose releases were issued by Bobbito Garcia’s legendary vinyl only label Fondle ‘Em Records. After dropping his cult classic solo debut 12-inch Hold the Floor on Definitive Jux in 2001 he went on to become a central fixture at the label, his distinctive contributions playing a key role in The Weathermen (his crew with Aesop Rock, Cage, El-P, Yak Ballz, Tame One and Breeze Brewin) and as one half of S.A. SMASH (alongside Keith “Metro” Lawson) on their 2003 Def Jux full length album Smashy Trashy. As a producer his brilliant contributions are evidenced on Cage’s seminal album Hell’s Winter, and The Perceptionists’ Black Dialogue, as well as appearances on Aesop Rock’s Danger, Fire & Knives, El-P’s Fantastic Damage and Collecting the Kid, Prefuse 73’s Surrounded By Silence, and many, many others.
At the time of his death Camu Tao was working on what his friends and colleagues anticipated to be his breakthrough solo record, King of Hearts, initially scheduled for release on Definitive Jux in 2008, but left incomplete in the wake of his cancer diagnosis. Pieced together from the demos and home recordings he left behind (which have subsequently earned him fans amongst such esteemed peers as Dangermouse, Kid Cudi, and many others), the new release offers a privileged view of a magnum opus in the making by a blossoming visionary who was denied the opportunity to bring his unique masterpiece to fulfillment. The record marks a departure from his former works, most notably as it finds Camu favoring a distinctively playful, semi-soul croon as well as the off-kilter and wild rapping that earned him a reputation among peers and fans as an innovative genius. Musically King of Hearts delves into realms of gritty, electropunk pop, alternately veering between the dark carnival-esque and the sublimely summery. Pleasantly disorienting electronic tones cascade and pulse as dense, propulsive beats build a solid foundation upon which Tao constructs immensely hooky and infectious choruses. Written and produced by Camu himself, King Of Hearts is the last vision of a criminally underrated talent in the midst of a major artistic breakthrough cut short before being fully completed.
Also prior to his death Camu Tao formed production crew and side project Central Services with longtime friend & collaborator El-P, whose long awaited 2004 debut EP Forever Frozen in Television Time has gone unreleased until now. In conjunction with the release of King of Hearts Definitive Jux will be issuing Central Services’ EP as a free digital download.
Nice unreleased joint from El and Camu, heres some info and lyrics via El’s Bandcamp
this is a song off the upcoming CENTRAL SERVICES EP “FOREVER FROZEN IN TELEVISION TIME”. it was recorded in early 2005 and was never released. the EP will be given away for free in conjunction with the CAMU TAO album “KING OF HEARTS” which drops on august 3rd on DEF JUX/FAT POSSUM.
i want a crazy girl all in my life theres a new drug that id like to try theres a fast car that i’d like to drive god should give me the power to change your minds
but the cops are knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor but the cops are knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor
theres a new sex position that i wanna try cause these girls got my brain fucked in my mind dont forget this shit baby keep it in mind god should give me the power to just change your mind come on god give it to me
theres the cops knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor theres the cops knocking at my door there’s bills scattered on my floor
something change your life something that you wanna try fuck this shit baby, cause lifes a crime god should give me the power to just change your mind
i changed my mind fuck this shit baby, while we’re on the subject i apologize god should give me the power to just change your mind
theres something that you might buy fuck this shit baby lifes a crime god should give you the power to just change your mind
you should do yourself a favor and take your life put a gun to your head and just close your eyes dont do that shit you crazy? everything thing i said was a lie im ready for the handcuffs come on copper give me a ride
now the coppers knocking at my door the bills scattered on my floor and the coppers knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor
Nice unreleased joint from El and Camu, heres some info and lyrics via El’s Bandcamp
this is a song off the upcoming CENTRAL SERVICES EP “FOREVER FROZEN IN TELEVISION TIME”. it was recorded in early 2005 and was never released. the EP will be given away for free in conjunction with the CAMU TAO album “KING OF HEARTS” which drops on august 3rd on DEF JUX/FAT POSSUM.
i want a crazy girl all in my life theres a new drug that id like to try theres a fast car that i’d like to drive god should give me the power to change your minds
but the cops are knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor but the cops are knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor
theres a new sex position that i wanna try cause these girls got my brain fucked in my mind dont forget this shit baby keep it in mind god should give me the power to just change your mind come on god give it to me
theres the cops knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor theres the cops knocking at my door there’s bills scattered on my floor
something change your life something that you wanna try fuck this shit baby, cause lifes a crime god should give me the power to just change your mind
i changed my mind fuck this shit baby, while we’re on the subject i apologize god should give me the power to just change your mind
theres something that you might buy fuck this shit baby lifes a crime god should give you the power to just change your mind
you should do yourself a favor and take your life put a gun to your head and just close your eyes dont do that shit you crazy? everything thing i said was a lie im ready for the handcuffs come on copper give me a ride
now the coppers knocking at my door the bills scattered on my floor and the coppers knocking at my door the bills scattered all on my floor
i have never wanted to participate in any sort of public ugliness with people i once considered friends. its negative and builds nothing. its only purpose is to hurt. its a shallow action. a desperate attempt to satisfy the ugliest parts of your ego. there is no example of me disparaging, insulting, blaming, defaming or casting doubt on anyones character who i’ve had any type of real love for and considered crew at one point no matter how things may have turned out… no matter what they may say about me or what i may think about them behind the scenes. for me, i always thought it made one look small and angry. i always felt like that type of public ranting and vitriol reflected failure, weakness, insecurity and pettiness and i’ve seriously regretted it when i’ve been involved in anything that resembles that, even peripherally. as good as it feels in the moment it almost always backfires. the same person who (non artistically) desperately seeks public affirmation of his anger and resentment ends up actually hurting himself more in the eyes of the strangers he’s trying to communicate with. by the same token, defending yourself against that type of attack plays right in to the whole thing and immediately puts you on the same level as the person attacking you. beyond that the fact is that for me, the relationships that i’ve had in my life that have fallen apart make me sad, not angry. the friendships that have ended in my life are a source of huge regret for me and i constantly wonder if there was something i could have done to change the outcome. so i don’t have it in me to kick and scream and curse the world for not handing me everything i think i deserve. i’ll do that in my music, if need be. its better that way. that much i have learned.
I’m also not the type of person who feels like he’s a victim of circumstance. every choice made along the line has different results. it seems irrational and immature to me to create a world in ones head in which somehow, magically, there is an external reason that justifies every single reality of your life… and not one of those reasons is you. a world in which you are just in every action and innocent in every interaction. a life in which you only consider and retain the ideas that justify your perspective and completely ignore all other realities that exist and might, if you took a moment to consider them, make any (rational) person think a little longer before they lashed out and tried to destroy some one else’s character.
it takes a special type of ego to literally delude oneself in to thinking that you have the moral right of way in every scenario. it takes clinical insanity to think things are one way when in fact they are the opposite. for instance:
lets say (as a metaphor, of course) someone was morbidly obese but thought he was a ninja. that would be kind of crazy, wouldn’t it? or if that morbidly obese person didn’t make the connection between his eating habits and his weight. crazy. now if that same massively, morbidly obese person walked around calling people who were less than half his weight “fat”, how should they react? on the one hand its obviously crazy for this hugely fat man to be calling you fat. but on the other hand he keeps fucking saying it. over and over. to anyone who will listen.
i’ve tried to ignore it. i’ve tried to squash it. i’ve tried to take the high road because i assumed that like me, everyone must have better things to occupy their time with. apparently not. every other day there is a new vitriolic rant aimed at dismantling me or someone i care about, despite the fact that i haven’t fired one single shot in the direction they are coming from. not one.
now i don’t have any interest in trying to make anyone see things the way i see them or arguing about/defending the past. i wont do the back and forth point by point defense with someone whos only path to generate any type of publicity for himself seems to be exactly that type of public argument. a person who literally is interviewing himself in order to push a smear campaign forward. a man who has made it his personal mission in life to focus all his energy on the very people who were close to the friend he claims to have loved with a constant barrage of misspelled and badly punctuated lies, insults, accusations, epithets, slander and threats. someone who seemingly has no humility or perspective on his own fallibility. someone whos anger has driven him to the edge of sanity. whos own life is seemingly so joyless and directionless that the only thing he can think to do is reach out and try and inflict pain.
and by the way, when i say “close to the friend he claims to have loved” i mean close. I’m talking that our lives will never be the same close. the real deal. the kind that comes with pain no one wants and that no one with a soul would brag about as though it were a credibility issue or as though love were something you had to prove as opposed to just feel. not the idea constructed to make you feel good about yourself or justify your perspective in the eyes of other people or yourself. friendship isn’t the collective little favors you’ve done for someone that you keep record of and hold against them even after they die. its not a song you may have recorded with someone years ago and its not a conversation you may have had. its bigger than that.
its sad to me that you, and you know who you are, don’t understand that. its painful to sit here and take your abuse knowing the true nature of your character and how utterly easy it would be to expose it. the temptation to publish certain correspondences you’ve been a part of is overwhelming. i have no doubt in my mind that any one who would see those would walk away from reading them with a very different perspective on your moral fiber and your character in general. a younger me would do it in a heartbeat. and yet what good would come out of it? what are we all trying to prove to each other? it would only lead to even more ranting, more insults and more bullshit. no one would learn a thing and i would have wasted another minute of my life.
and i don’t hate you. i don’t want to hurt or destroy you. you were my friend. i wanted you to succeed. now i just find you to be a sad character. twisted, angry and resentful and squandering your time on mean spirited pursuits. its depressing.
now i’m sure the person i’m writing this all about will just respond in his usual manner after reading this. denial, anger, threats, capital letters, misused question marks and exclamation points and more accusations. but i’ve got a suggestion for a better way to proceed… just let it go. you’ve gotten your rocks off. you’ve said your peace. now make some music. stop lecturing the world and contribute while you still have time. none of this shit means anything. at all. go make the art you believe in and spend not one more second trying to take other people down or blaming people for the place you find yourself in life. spend time with and cherish the people you love while they are still alive so you dont find yourself feeling like you have to defend the validity of your commitment to them after they’re gone. be grateful for the things you have and wish no man harm. be happy or die trying. i know i will.
by the way if you truly did love Camu and were close to him then I’m sure you feel the same pain my friends and i do. if that really is the case then I’m sure the futility of arguing and fighting with people has never been more obvious to you. it is to me.
if you loved him then you are one of us… the heartbroken members of a club we never wanted to join… and I’m sorry for your loss.
el
ps: im not going to be approving comments about this blog. i didn’t write it to rally people against anyone or to create “sides”.
i have never wanted to participate in any sort of public ugliness with people i once considered friends. its negative and builds nothing. its only purpose is to hurt. its a shallow action. a desperate attempt to satisfy the ugliest parts of your ego. there is no example of me disparaging, insulting, blaming, defaming or casting doubt on anyones character who i’ve had any type of real love for and considered crew at one point no matter how things may have turned out… no matter what they may say about me or what i may think about them behind the scenes. for me, i always thought it made one look small and angry. i always felt like that type of public ranting and vitriol reflected failure, weakness, insecurity and pettiness and i’ve seriously regretted it when i’ve been involved in anything that resembles that, even peripherally. as good as it feels in the moment it almost always backfires. the same person who (non artistically) desperately seeks public affirmation of his anger and resentment ends up actually hurting himself more in the eyes of the strangers he’s trying to communicate with. by the same token, defending yourself against that type of attack plays right in to the whole thing and immediately puts you on the same level as the person attacking you. beyond that the fact is that for me, the relationships that i’ve had in my life that have fallen apart make me sad, not angry. the friendships that have ended in my life are a source of huge regret for me and i constantly wonder if there was something i could have done to change the outcome. so i don’t have it in me to kick and scream and curse the world for not handing me everything i think i deserve. i’ll do that in my music, if need be. its better that way. that much i have learned.
I’m also not the type of person who feels like he’s a victim of circumstance. every choice made along the line has different results. it seems irrational and immature to me to create a world in ones head in which somehow, magically, there is an external reason that justifies every single reality of your life… and not one of those reasons is you. a world in which you are just in every action and innocent in every interaction. a life in which you only consider and retain the ideas that justify your perspective and completely ignore all other realities that exist and might, if you took a moment to consider them, make any (rational) person think a little longer before they lashed out and tried to destroy some one else’s character.
it takes a special type of ego to literally delude oneself in to thinking that you have the moral right of way in every scenario. it takes clinical insanity to think things are one way when in fact they are the opposite. for instance:
lets say (as a metaphor, of course) someone was morbidly obese but thought he was a ninja. that would be kind of crazy, wouldn’t it? or if that morbidly obese person didn’t make the connection between his eating habits and his weight. crazy. now if that same massively, morbidly obese person walked around calling people who were less than half his weight “fat”, how should they react? on the one hand its obviously crazy for this hugely fat man to be calling you fat. but on the other hand he keeps fucking saying it. over and over. to anyone who will listen.
i’ve tried to ignore it. i’ve tried to squash it. i’ve tried to take the high road because i assumed that like me, everyone must have better things to occupy their time with. apparently not. every other day there is a new vitriolic rant aimed at dismantling me or someone i care about, despite the fact that i haven’t fired one single shot in the direction they are coming from. not one.
now i don’t have any interest in trying to make anyone see things the way i see them or arguing about/defending the past. i wont do the back and forth point by point defense with someone whos only path to generate any type of publicity for himself seems to be exactly that type of public argument. a person who literally is interviewing himself in order to push a smear campaign forward. a man who has made it his personal mission in life to focus all his energy on the very people who were close to the friend he claims to have loved with a constant barrage of misspelled and badly punctuated lies, insults, accusations, epithets, slander and threats. someone who seemingly has no humility or perspective on his own fallibility. someone whos anger has driven him to the edge of sanity. whos own life is seemingly so joyless and directionless that the only thing he can think to do is reach out and try and inflict pain.
and by the way, when i say “close to the friend he claims to have loved” i mean close. I’m talking that our lives will never be the same close. the real deal. the kind that comes with pain no one wants and that no one with a soul would brag about as though it were a credibility issue or as though love were something you had to prove as opposed to just feel. not the idea constructed to make you feel good about yourself or justify your perspective in the eyes of other people or yourself. friendship isn’t the collective little favors you’ve done for someone that you keep record of and hold against them even after they die. its not a song you may have recorded with someone years ago and its not a conversation you may have had. its bigger than that.
its sad to me that you, and you know who you are, don’t understand that. its painful to sit here and take your abuse knowing the true nature of your character and how utterly easy it would be to expose it. the temptation to publish certain correspondences you’ve been a part of is overwhelming. i have no doubt in my mind that any one who would see those would walk away from reading them with a very different perspective on your moral fiber and your character in general. a younger me would do it in a heartbeat. and yet what good would come out of it? what are we all trying to prove to each other? it would only lead to even more ranting, more insults and more bullshit. no one would learn a thing and i would have wasted another minute of my life.
and i don’t hate you. i don’t want to hurt or destroy you. you were my friend. i wanted you to succeed. now i just find you to be a sad character. twisted, angry and resentful and squandering your time on mean spirited pursuits. its depressing.
now i’m sure the person i’m writing this all about will just respond in his usual manner after reading this. denial, anger, threats, capital letters, misused question marks and exclamation points and more accusations. but i’ve got a suggestion for a better way to proceed… just let it go. you’ve gotten your rocks off. you’ve said your peace. now make some music. stop lecturing the world and contribute while you still have time. none of this shit means anything. at all. go make the art you believe in and spend not one more second trying to take other people down or blaming people for the place you find yourself in life. spend time with and cherish the people you love while they are still alive so you dont find yourself feeling like you have to defend the validity of your commitment to them after they’re gone. be grateful for the things you have and wish no man harm. be happy or die trying. i know i will.
by the way if you truly did love Camu and were close to him then I’m sure you feel the same pain my friends and i do. if that really is the case then I’m sure the futility of arguing and fighting with people has never been more obvious to you. it is to me.
if you loved him then you are one of us… the heartbroken members of a club we never wanted to join… and I’m sorry for your loss.
el
ps: im not going to be approving comments about this blog. i didn’t write it to rally people against anyone or to create “sides”.
i have never wanted to participate in any sort of public ugliness with people i once considered friends. its negative and builds nothing. its only purpose is to hurt. its a shallow action. a desperate attempt to satisfy the ugliest parts of your ego. there is no example of me disparaging, insulting, blaming, defaming or casting doubt on anyones character who i’ve had any type of real love for and considered crew at one point no matter how things may have turned out… no matter what they may say about me or what i may think about them behind the scenes. for me, i always thought it made one look small and angry. i always felt like that type of public ranting and vitriol reflected failure, weakness, insecurity and pettiness and i’ve seriously regretted it when i’ve been involved in anything that resembles that, even peripherally. as good as it feels in the moment it almost always backfires. the same person who (non artistically) desperately seeks public affirmation of his anger and resentment ends up actually hurting himself more in the eyes of the strangers he’s trying to communicate with. by the same token, defending yourself against that type of attack plays right in to the whole thing and immediately puts you on the same level as the person attacking you. beyond that the fact is that for me, the relationships that i’ve had in my life that have fallen apart make me sad, not angry. the friendships that have ended in my life are a source of huge regret for me and i constantly wonder if there was something i could have done to change the outcome. so i don’t have it in me to kick and scream and curse the world for not handing me everything i think i deserve. i’ll do that in my music, if need be. its better that way. that much i have learned.
I’m also not the type of person who feels like he’s a victim of circumstance. every choice made along the line has different results. it seems irrational and immature to me to create a world in ones head in which somehow, magically, there is an external reason that justifies every single reality of your life… and not one of those reasons is you. a world in which you are just in every action and innocent in every interaction. a life in which you only consider and retain the ideas that justify your perspective and completely ignore all other realities that exist and might, if you took a moment to consider them, make any (rational) person think a little longer before they lashed out and tried to destroy some one else’s character.
it takes a special type of ego to literally delude oneself in to thinking that you have the moral right of way in every scenario. it takes clinical insanity to think things are one way when in fact they are the opposite. for instance:
lets say (as a metaphor, of course) someone was morbidly obese but thought he was a ninja. that would be kind of crazy, wouldn’t it? or if that morbidly obese person didn’t make the connection between his eating habits and his weight. crazy. now if that same massively, morbidly obese person walked around calling people who were less than half his weight “fat”, how should they react? on the one hand its obviously crazy for this hugely fat man to be calling you fat. but on the other hand he keeps fucking saying it. over and over. to anyone who will listen.
i’ve tried to ignore it. i’ve tried to squash it. i’ve tried to take the high road because i assumed that like me, everyone must have better things to occupy their time with. apparently not. every other day there is a new vitriolic rant aimed at dismantling me or someone i care about, despite the fact that i haven’t fired one single shot in the direction they are coming from. not one.
now i don’t have any interest in trying to make anyone see things the way i see them or arguing about/defending the past. i wont do the back and forth point by point defense with someone whos only path to generate any type of publicity for himself seems to be exactly that type of public argument. a person who literally is interviewing himself in order to push a smear campaign forward. a man who has made it his personal mission in life to focus all his energy on the very people who were close to the friend he claims to have loved with a constant barrage of misspelled and badly punctuated lies, insults, accusations, epithets, slander and threats. someone who seemingly has no humility or perspective on his own fallibility. someone whos anger has driven him to the edge of sanity. whos own life is seemingly so joyless and directionless that the only thing he can think to do is reach out and try and inflict pain.
and by the way, when i say “close to the friend he claims to have loved” i mean close. I’m talking that our lives will never be the same close. the real deal. the kind that comes with pain no one wants and that no one with a soul would brag about as though it were a credibility issue or as though love were something you had to prove as opposed to just feel. not the idea constructed to make you feel good about yourself or justify your perspective in the eyes of other people or yourself. friendship isn’t the collective little favors you’ve done for someone that you keep record of and hold against them even after they die. its not a song you may have recorded with someone years ago and its not a conversation you may have had. its bigger than that.
its sad to me that you, and you know who you are, don’t understand that. its painful to sit here and take your abuse knowing the true nature of your character and how utterly easy it would be to expose it. the temptation to publish certain correspondences you’ve been a part of is overwhelming. i have no doubt in my mind that any one who would see those would walk away from reading them with a very different perspective on your moral fiber and your character in general. a younger me would do it in a heartbeat. and yet what good would come out of it? what are we all trying to prove to each other? it would only lead to even more ranting, more insults and more bullshit. no one would learn a thing and i would have wasted another minute of my life.
and i don’t hate you. i don’t want to hurt or destroy you. you were my friend. i wanted you to succeed. now i just find you to be a sad character. twisted, angry and resentful and squandering your time on mean spirited pursuits. its depressing.
now i’m sure the person i’m writing this all about will just respond in his usual manner after reading this. denial, anger, threats, capital letters, misused question marks and exclamation points and more accusations. but i’ve got a suggestion for a better way to proceed… just let it go. you’ve gotten your rocks off. you’ve said your peace. now make some music. stop lecturing the world and contribute while you still have time. none of this shit means anything. at all. go make the art you believe in and spend not one more second trying to take other people down or blaming people for the place you find yourself in life. spend time with and cherish the people you love while they are still alive so you dont find yourself feeling like you have to defend the validity of your commitment to them after they’re gone. be grateful for the things you have and wish no man harm. be happy or die trying. i know i will.
by the way if you truly did love Camu and were close to him then I’m sure you feel the same pain my friends and i do. if that really is the case then I’m sure the futility of arguing and fighting with people has never been more obvious to you. it is to me.
if you loved him then you are one of us… the heartbroken members of a club we never wanted to join… and I’m sorry for your loss.
el
ps: im not going to be approving comments about this blog. i didn’t write it to rally people against anyone or to create “sides”.
Vast Aire on the track with Genisis of LXG produced by Brotherhood 603 so I’m assuming hes from NH, word New England, Vast goes at Def Jux and then Cage on the 3rd verse of this track. Check it,
Vast Aire on the track with Genisis of LXG produced by Brotherhood 603 so I’m assuming hes from NH, word New England, Vast goes at Def Jux and then Cage on the 3rd verse of this track. Check it,
Vast Aire on the track with Genisis of LXG produced by Brotherhood 603 so I’m assuming hes from NH, word New England, Vast goes at Def Jux and then Cage on the 3rd verse of this track. Check it,
FIRST, PEACE LOVE AND RESPECT TO CAMU TAO {R.I.P.}
i would like to say i never started any beef, but i will an end to it im going to answer some questions from the fans so a basic understanding can be reached.
WHY DID YOU LEAVE DEF JUX? AND WHEN?
I left def jux in late 2002 / 2003, i started working on my lp “Look Mom No Hands” at this time, me and camu {SA SMASH} were living together in BKNY. camu was working on “Smashy Trashy” his only lp on Def jux. at the time, Def jux was trying to expand their amount of artist, and they staterted giving out “recording advances”. at the time COLD VEIN had sold over 100,000 cd’s and a maxi single of the F-word sold about 30,000 at the time {140,000 records sold}.
can ox at the time didnt have a “deal”, we recorded everything as friends, but we blew up over night, and def jux didnt know how to handle it, so you can imagine that can ox was mad! {CAN OX WAS ONLY MAKING MONEY FROM SHOWS}
we bult this label with you {el-p} but your giving money to outsiders first???? DEF JUX SHOULD HAVE PAID CAN OX AND RJD2 BEFORE YOU PAID MURS AND 9TH WONDER, C-RAYZ AND ETC? {PEACE TO THEM, IM JUST MAKING A POINT}
at this time, dj Mr Len told me that El-p’s biz-partner {DEF JUX / OZONE} Ameechi stole $5000 from co-flow, and this is why MR LEN didnt hang around or do cuts for def jux any more!!!!
so, its 3 years after my great lp {cold vein} blows up, but el-p and ameechi dont have any money for me and vordul??????? but more than 5 groups are getting advances???? AND MR LEN SAID $5000 WAS GONE! DUE TO AMEECHI!???
THAT STARTED A HUGE BEEF! me and el-p had some VERBAL fights, and i moved to red hook brooklyn. this is when me camu and metro had a crib, they moved from ohio to do their lp for def jux,
CAN OX GOT A LAWYER AND THEIR MONEY…but the vibe was different, its like when your girl friends catches you cheating, its never the same after that! we should have never had to chase our own money!!!! we could record as friends, but when it was time to pay me i was told to get a lawyer?????
so we {can ox} wanted to move forward, but when it wasnt the biz problems, we had creative problems and lack of control.
El-p is a control freak, if he cant produced every song, he starts to throw fits! at this time {2003} im getting crazy ill beats from Mf doom, Madlib, Ayatollah Camu tao etc. i wasnt thinking about el-p, his sound was dope, but its was limted. it was the same type of style, i wanted somthing new, and i wanted control! hence the name LOOK MOM NO HANDS! all that ment was “freedom” at def jux in those days, el-p was cencering a line or 2 out of dudes rhymes. i watched him do it to camu tao and vordul mega!
el-p told camu tao he could not “slap a girl” in his rap song, and he told vordul “you put to many ‘nigga’s’ in your raps”
the last thing i needed was some emo white kid telling me how many ‘niggas’ i can have in my rap songs! and one of my favorote hip hop songs is “top billing” and in that song milk says very clearly “if your girl is out of line…its your girl i slap” and as far as black people using the word ‘nigga’ q-tip already broke tha down! so ME CAMU AND VORDUl hated that day! this is why i left def jux bad biz and lack of creative control!
WHAT WENT DOWN WITH CAN OX’S 2ND RECORD?
To be real, we started that project, but vordul dropped the ball on that, vordul became very distant and was drunk and coked up all the time, he became this way after his jaw was broken in a bar fight that was ment for el-p. long story short, that helped wake up vorduls “dark side” and we only did like 5 songs. El-p got mad at me as if i should have been vordul’s baby sitter! vordul is a grown man, he mad his choices, dont get mad at me! so then we had our final fall out and the last thing we recorded was Mr Lif’s songs “Brothaz rmx wit can ox” me and vordul are cool, and we still are recording! thats my family! he’s on my new lp “OX 2010”
WHY DID YOU LEAVE WEATHERMEN CREW?
AT THIS TIME….I WASNT ON DEF JUX BUT I WAS STILL A WEATHERMAN MEMBER! I did a Tour with SSS {TAME ONE AND D-DONS in late 2006} with my homie 4th p, it was called the teen wolf tour, it was fun and cool, but then it turned for the worst! cage claims i took money from yak ballz and tame one???? according to whom since cage wasnt on the tour??????
the tour was set up for me to get an average of about $850 a night {i was told i was going to get $1000 to head line, but i left it alone because im wit my peoples, SO I THOUGHT}
one of the shows was not part of the tour, it was a show i already had as a solo artist, but i added it to the tour {teen wolf tour} long story short, I should have gotten $900 dollars that night, but yak ballz felt i should take $750. now….i understand yak ballz was paying for extra gas {and i was also} and i understand that yak was feeding Tame one {and so was i} but he had no right to to try and get more money from a show that was never his? he got the same money he got every night, that $150 or $75 bucks had nothing to do with him? AND ITS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO STEAL MY OWN MONEY!
so if that makes me a crook, then im muthafuckin robin hood! i dont have anything to hide! i gave yak the $150 THE NEXT DAY! we had 4 more shows and i wanted to dead the beef, but i made it clear it was my money to begin with!
also on that same tour we had dinner at a mexican spot, and we all are talking about projects etc. i told every one at the table {yak incluuded} that i didnt like aesop’s new lp at the time {bazooka tooth} I LOVE AESOP! but i didnt like that record, all i said was “you cant hear his words anymore” and yak turned that into me being a hater!!!!
meanwhile all these bitch emo kids do is talk shit about you in emails, blogs and or 2-ways!
Tame showed me a 2-ways convo with cage trying to get votes to kick me out of weathermen! THATS RIGHT TAME SHOWED ME A 2-WAY EMAIL WIT CAGE TRYING TO VOTE ME OUT! SO BEFORE THE ELECTION WAS DONE, I LEFT THE NEW LEFT. BECAUSE I KNEW THEY WERE ALL FAKES.
AT THE END OF THE DAY IF CAMU HATED ME, WHY IS HIS RIGHT HAND MAN {METRO} CLOSE FRIENDS WITH ME AND IS ON MY NEW LP? WHY AM I STILL COOL WITH ALL OF CAMU’S OHIO PEOPLES LIKE BIG JT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
METRO IS PROOF THAT ME AND CAMU WERE GOOD, HOW ELSE DID I GET MY BEATS FOR MIGHTY JOSEPH {BLOOD SPORT PROD BY CAMU!}
THE ONLY LIARS AND CROOKS HERE ARE THESE EMO BITCHES!
like i said before if they are angels that never did nothing wrong
WHERE IS
SPACE? BIG JUS? MR LEN? J-TREDS? BREEZLY BREWIN? C-RAYZ? MASAI BEY? MURS? RJD2? CAN OX? MR LIF? AND B.M.S.?
NONE OF THEM WORK WITH DEF JUX ANYMORE…LETS BE REAL ABOUT THIS!
and look at cage’s history!!!!
he worked with NECRO? and HIGH AND MIGHTY?
…ONLY TO TURN ON THEM???
HE TURNED ON COPY, MASAI BEY, B.M.S. SPACE AND ME!
JUST THINK ABOUT HOW CAMU FELT WHEN EL-P’S CENSORSHIP DESTROYED SMASHY TRASHY THE LP! CAMU HATED DEF JUX’S CENSORSHIP, IF HE HATED ANYTHING AT ALL!
WHAT TYPE OF RECORD LABEL IS THAT??? AND I CANT BE DOWN WITH A CREW OF “YES MEN”
IF I DONT LIKE YOUR BEAT I DONT LIKE IT, YOU FUCKING EMO BITCH! AND EL-P IS A BITCH BECAUSE HE KNOWS CAGE SHITTED ON HIM!!!! BUT HE KISSES HIS ASS!
ANY REAL FAN CAN LOOK AT THE PATTERNS AND FIGURE IT OUT!
LAST BUT NT LEAST, I HAVE A SECRET UNRELEASED “BLAIR COSBY” SONG OF CAMU TAO DISSING DEF JUX AND EL-P!
BUT, DID I RELEASE IT, NO!
IM GONNA LET THEM KEEP DIGGING THEIR SHIT HOLE AND THEN IM GOING PRESS PLAY AND BRING CAMU BACK TO LIFE DISSING THEM!
i have never wanted to participate in any sort of public ugliness with people i once considered friends. its negative and builds nothing. its only purpose is to hurt. its a shallow action. a desperate attempt to satisfy the ugliest parts of your ego. there is no example of me disparaging, insulting, blaming, defaming or casting doubt on anyones character who i’ve had any type of real love for and considered crew at one point no matter how things may have turned out… no matter what they may say about me or what i may think about them behind the scenes. for me, i always thought it made one look small and angry. i always felt like that type of public ranting and vitriol reflected failure, weakness, insecurity and pettiness and i’ve seriously regretted it when i’ve been involved in anything that resembles that, even peripherally. as good as it feels in the moment it almost always backfires. the same person who (non artistically) desperately seeks public affirmation of his anger and resentment ends up actually hurting himself more in the eyes of the strangers he’s trying to communicate with. by the same token, defending yourself against that type of attack plays right in to the whole thing and immediately puts you on the same level as the person attacking you. beyond that the fact is that for me, the relationships that i’ve had in my life that have fallen apart make me sad, not angry. the friendships that have ended in my life are a source of huge regret for me and i constantly wonder if there was something i could have done to change the outcome. so i don’t have it in me to kick and scream and curse the world for not handing me everything i think i deserve. i’ll do that in my music, if need be. its better that way. that much i have learned.
