MASTA ACE-old school, new
school, juice crew, then Incorpor-
ated-he's paid his dues and still
comes to collect respect. He's
been on the down low between
albums and has kept his on-beat,
off-beat original stylee. In 1995
Ace is still coming through with
his strong original 808 Brooklyn
bass sound and a philosophy
that is multi-layered and deeply
woven within the beat. Ace's
main ingredient has always been
a positive stance with overtones
of just having fun as you cruise.
So recognize the fact that Ace is
coming at you from the heart
with a pocket full of roughneck
vibes and enjoy the conversation
I had with him, seen? -Element
PHOTO BY
BLOCK
Go ahead and break it down
from the concept behind your
last album, Slaughterhouse, and
your new one, Sittin' On Chrome.
Slaughterhouse was dealing with
the hip hop industry, and all the
gangstaism stuff going on, and
the dwelling on the negativity in
the industry. And this album, once
again, it's a commentary on hip
hop, but from another angle. This
album deals with this big East/
West rivalry, which is almost like a
gang rivalry, it's almost to like a
beefing level now. And this album
sounds the way it sounds because
it's dropped right in the middle of
this conflict of East versus West-
pick a side. We have enough kids
dying on the street just right now
from gang activity because of terri-
tory and, "Don't come on this side
of town," and all of that shit, and I
don't want that to spill over into
the hip hop industry, because
that's the last thing we need
right now is division. There's
too much good shit happen-
ing. And I see it happening, so
I did this album and the con-
cept of having a cousin from
Los Angeles come visit me in
New York and us being able to
get along and both have a
good time together in a very slick
way. Trying to cut into the bull-
shit and get them all to wake up
and realize that it's all hip hop. If
it's good music, it's good music, it
don't matter where the work's at
and who likes it. What's good is
good, it shouldn't matter where
the artist is from.
Would you say that your philoso
phy has changed?
No. The only thing I do is to still
uphold this art of hip hop, its cul-
ture, and everything I still speak
about, references I make to graffiti
and breakdancing and whatever, it
might be to DJing, to study the
hip hop in general. Most peo-
ple aren't going to have
deep enough brains to
even see this new
album as a statement
for hip hop culture.
They won't see it
because they're just
looking at things on a
black and white level,
which is like an East
and West level, and
they won't see how
important this album is,
because they're too
busy concentrating on all
the negative shit that's
out there. But my phi-
losophy has not
changed,
I'm still trying to affect things that
have happened in the industry.
Slaughterhouse was an attempt to
affect the term "hardcore" and
how it's used, and some people
got it, most people didn't, and it
just continued to roll on, and peo-
ple still say the same shit, and
we've seen things come and go.
On this album, I'm forewarning
people to let it just be about coast
less music and just about good hip
hop, regardless of
where it's from.
THE NEW ALBUM
AVAILABLE NOW
THE verve
A NORTHERN SOUL
FEELINGS
50
Hole Rib Su
MENACE TO SOBRIETY
Ugly
MASTA ACE
BINACE TO SOBRIET
ON SALE NOM
At all
Newbury Comics
locations for 411)
10.99 CT
featuring
"On Your Own"
0905 vc/d