Return Of The Lox – New Album Filthy America…It’s Beautiful Out Now 12-28-16

Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Jadakiss have been flirting with the possibility of a full-on reformation of The Lox for a few years and the release of Filthy America…It’s Beautiful this month closes the deal.  The tracks deliver tough street reporting and timely observations and includes cameos by Mobb Deep and Fetty Wap.  Gucci Mane appears on the wicked Secure The Bag that closes the record.  

This is the first full-on album from the Yonkers trio since We Are The Streets in 2000 and only the third since their debut Money, Power, and Respect hit in 1998.  The opening salvo came three years ago with The Trinity EP that made it clear The L-O-X were back in business.  That was followed by The Trinity 2nd and 3rd Sermons in late 2014 setting the stage for appearances this year as part of the Bad Boy 20th Anniversary Tour. The final step was signing with Jay Z’s Roc Nation.  The interview took place at Roc Nation’s sexy offices on Broadway a few blocks south of Times Square.

Camaraderie and rivalry may be equal parts in The Lox recipe.  When I suggested the three brought out the best in each other, Sheek said he wanted to beat both of his mates’ lyrics but ultimately it was the three of them going against the world.  Styles compared their collaboration to a basketball team, “It’s all about the win for the team but there’s nothing wrong with being the MVP…but don’t be mad when your brother gets the MVP.”  

The release of What Happens this summer that addressed the deaths of black men at the hands of police can now be looked at as more of a one-off than a preview of the new disc.  Styles made it clear that the new album is not political despite its name.  Here’s a bonus interview bit in which he explains the title of Filthy America…It’s Beautiful.

Bad Boy Concerts Celebrate The Notorious B.I.G. May 20th & 21st at Barclays Center

About as big a hip hop hootenanny as could possibly occur happened on Friday and Saturday nights at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was the start of the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour that sees Diddy on the road with the artists that made Bad Boy Records one of the most important labels on the nineties: Lil’ Kim, The Lox, Biggie’s widow Faith Evans, Total, and Mase as well as relatively recent signees like Carl Thomas (whose debuted was released in 2000) and French Montana (who first album came just three years ago). Those artists will reconvene in late August and begin a U.S. tour that includes dates at MSG as well as in Newark’s Prudential Center in September.

Somewhere along the line someone had the happy idea to schedule the show on what would have been The Notorious B.I.G.’s 44th birthday and what was already a massive event became an epic one…and then two. Junior M.A.F.I.A., Mary J Blige, Jay Z (even though he sold his stake in the building), Usher, Busta Rhymes, DMX, and Nas all turned up as special guests. It was an embarrassment of riches for fans and a love fest for Biggie who grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. As the story goes, in 1992 a certain Sean Combs who had a gig doing A&R for Uptown Records, heard Smalls’ demo and it wasn’t long before Bad Boy was born with Ready To Die leading the charge in ’94.

Bigs knew how to handle success and he invited his talented friends like Lil’ Cease and Lil’ Kim to share in it. As Lil’ Cease said to me, shortly before crushing my head like an empty beer can in a killer lock, “He put his homeboys on and got them record deals.” Junior M.A.F.I.A. – featuring Kim and Cease as well as Biggie himself on four tracks – released their first disc Conspiracy in 95. Cease continued, “He meant a lot not just to Brooklyn and New York but the whole East Coast…” Almost two decades after his death, it’s easy to see how much he meant and still means to hip hop worldwide.