The Immersion: KRS-One & Buckshot Test Jay-Z’ “Survival Skills” Posted by Dharmic X on 04/04/13 | Filed under Opinion, The Immersion

On September 8, 2009, two very important rap albums came out. The first, of course, was "Only Built For Cuban Linx II" by Raekwon, the sequel to one of hip-hop’s certified classic albums. The second album to fall on this date was "Blueprint 3" by Jay-Z, the third in a "Blueprint" series that included one of the best albums in Hov’s lengthy catalog. This album, in comparison, was a complete mess. The themes, features, and production on most of the project felt like Jay was reaching, trying to reach to a younger audience by severely diluting his sound and style. Compared to his previous album, "American Gangster", this was a huge letdown.



In fact, the strongest song Hov released in the build up to this album, “Brooklyn (Go Hard),” somehow did not even make the cut. The fact that the song is now getting second wind as the theme song for the trailers of 42, the upcoming Jackie Robinson biopic, is a testament to the strength of that song. How it didn’t make such an album littered with pointless features from Kid Cudi, Swizz Beatz, and Drake is head scratching.

Obviously, most of America was to disagree with me. Blueprint 3 spawned Hov’s first ever #1 single, “Empire State of Mind,” a strong single to be sure, but a song that seemed to be weaker than its apparent namesake (in my mind, anyways), Nas’s “New York State of Mind.” Meanwhile, “On to the Next One” made me puke, but that hasn’t stopped my best friend, among millions of others, to enjoy the fuck out of it.



The first single off "Blueprint 3", while not as successful as the aforementioned two, was the most powerful statement. The message in the song was as blunt as the title itself: “Death of Autotune.” Much like he had done years previous with throwback jersey Hov was going at the growing trend of Autotune practitioners, which at this point had spread past rappers such as Lil Wayne and had reached the point where producers such as longtime beatmaker for Big L, Ron Browz, who was likely Hov’s main target. Think about it: the guy was crooning “Ether Boy” in that horrid autotune-infested voice, referring to a song that was arguably beat Jay in a legendary battle. Enough was enough.

The song received a lot of attention in the hip-hop community. For many, especially those only versed on mainstream music, Hov was speaking out for those who hadn’t been accounted for. He was saying what was on a lot of people’s minds. But for me, “Death of Autotune did not do much. Sure, it was a pretty decent song, but how could somebody do a song called “Death of Autotune” over a beat from Kanye West, who had just delivered to the world a ringing endorsement for autotune-based music with 808s And Heartbreaks? Besides, Hov’s statement was arguably months too late; the trend had started to saturate the market when Lil Wayne started in 2008, and a song had already emerged that represented my feelings on the matter.



As cool as it was for Jay-Z to attack auto tune so specifically, there was a larger issue at stake for hip-hop here, an issue that veteran New Yorkers Buckshot and KRS-One touched upon so eloquently in “Robot,” their lead single off "Survival Skills". No, hip-hop was not necessarily in an apocalyptic state of doom-and-gloom, as many elder statesmen believed, but in the mainstream and in the peripheries of the internet, there was an incredible amount of duplication and trend-following. The lack of originality was appalling, especially with the singles that filled radio rotations. It did not help that any good song that radio got its hands on (such as Drake’s “Best I Ever Had,”) got really annoying after four spins in two hours.

“Robot” is notable for its extreme long-term clarity. KRS points out that skinny jeans were en vogue amongst an earlier generation of hip-hoppers. At the end of the day, “Do you man if that works.” The target of the song was not necessarily rappers who were ahead of the curve with these trends, or artists who had reached assured stardom with this type of experimentation. Instead, it was going after the lowest common denominator of struggler who was going to “fake it until he made it,” copying whatever was considered “hot” to exacerbate the quality control issues of the internet.

Even though I was not raised on KRS-One or Black Moon, I had done my research on them as soon as I had began listening to hip-hop. I am not ashamed to admit that I had “How Many Emcees,” and “9MM Go Bang” in my PSP around the same time that I had “Cyclone” on it. People would argue that this makes no sense; that someone who was trying to listen to these differing styles of hip-hop had no fucking clue what they were doing.

In a sense, they would be right to some extent. I did not know what I was doing when it came to hip-hop, and I had nobody to show me or instruct me. But the fact that I was able and willing to do that research while listening to commercial radio records that everyone else in my grade was listening to allowed me to be exposed to KRS and Buckshot, so that when it came time for the duo to link up and drop an incredible album—one week after "Blueprint 3" no less—I was one of the few people willing to check for it. They had some great songs on that project, with features from Talib Kweli, Mary J Blige, Slug, and Immortal Technique, and production from Black Milk, Marco Polo, and 9th Wonder, to name just a few of the big names that made this an underground gem that year. I felt like a kid in the candy store listening to my favorite rapper (Tech) rapping over Black Milk production.

Yes, in my opinion "Survival Skills" was a better album than "Blueprint 3". Yet despite the latter album’s failings, it introduced me to an emcee whom I was to grow fond of over the next several years…