Tekashi 6ix9ine is setting himself up to reveal what he knows about the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods gang, and he’s already expressed fears about testifying against his former affiliates. Prosecutors in the case have asked the jury in the matter if the rapper’s snitching will sway how they decide the case in any way.
According to documents obtained by The Blast, federal prosecutors have filed the questions that they would like to ask during jury selection.
The reason for the loaded question is to gauge whether anyone on the jury can be fair and impartial.
Interestingly, a section of the questioning will deal with the federal investigators and cops using “confidential informants,” like Tekashi, and how the jury may feel about somebody who turned in all their former cohorts.
Tekashi is not specifically on trial in this case, but he will be a cooperating witness, so officials want to find out how the public feels about his cooperation.
The outlet shared some of the questions asked of the jury in order to determine how impartial they will be. Tekashi is testifying in the matter to reduce some of the years he’s facing after pleading guilty to a number of felonies.
Guru famously proclaimed “It’s mostly the voice” on a Gang Starr song of the same name. Like the late, great Keith Elam, Cypress Hill and Prophets Of Rage member B-Real has one of the most recognizable voices in music. The Los Angeles, California veteran raps with clarity and a nasal breathing pattern. Live, songs often sounds just like they do on albums, which is one reason why his groups have dominated the festival circuit for nearly 30 years. Even before Cypress showed their faces on early single covers or their 1991 eponymous artwork, B’s voice (along with Sen Dog’s) stood apart from the Rap pack. The MC/producer/entrepreneur and media host is the latest guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. In the last several days, the newly-inducted member of Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame gives an incredible two-hour interview about his passion for cannabis awareness, his teens in a street-gang, and how almost overnight, Cypress Hill became celebrities that had a hard time being in public places. Cypress Hill’s Entire Next Album Will Be Produced By Black Milk (Video) At 48:00, Joe Rogan asks B-Real when he developed his trademark vocal style. “Once we started working on our Cypress Hill demos,” B responds. “[DJ] Muggs came to me and said, ‘Ay man, you gotta do something different. Otherwise, you’re gonna [only] write for Sen [Dog].’ ‘Cause Sen had a good voice; his sh*t was locked-in. My voice, I was rapping in a voice similar to the one I talk in. Although the rhymes were good, it didn’t cut through on the style on the beats. It just sounded like some regular sh*t. So…I didn’t want to be someone’s writer; I wanted to write for myself. There was a guy we used to listen to, coming up, his name was Rammellzee.” The New York City graffiti writer, painter, MC, and sculptor gained profile through Wild Style and Style Wars. The latter film, a documentary, included the K-Rob collaboration “Beat Bop.” Rammellzee died in 2010. “He was this rapper who was very obscure, but he was an artist too—a graffiti artist [and also a professional artist in galleries]. What he’d do is he’d rap in a regular style, like his talking voice, ‘This is the brother they call the Ramm-ell.” He had a deep voice like that. And then he’d flip, right in the middle [of a verse], ‘Take it uptown to Cypress Hill with the shotgun.‘ We were always freaking out that he had two styles. So I tried throwing my voice in that sort of similar style. And it ended up sticking. I didn’t think anybody was gonna like it.” They did. B-Real recalls exactly when this transformation happened. “I think the first song that came about in that style was the song ‘Real Estate.’ That’s where I tried it the first time. They liked it, so then [‘How I Could Just Kill A Man’] came next, then ‘Hand On The Pump.’ It just became [my] flow after that.” Cypress Hill Is The 1st Latino Hip-Hop Group On The Hollywood Walk Of FameB-Real notes that the effort caused him strain on stage. “For the few years, I was trying to do the voice and I’d be getting over-hyped ’cause the crowd is hype, and I’d start yelling the verses instead of rapping them, like on the record. I’d throw my voice out. My voice would get scratchy; I’d start sounding like Busta Rhymes and sh*t. It took me five years to actually harness how to actually do the shows with this voice. I had to go to this Opera singer coach. Using former Opera singer and Hollywood veteran vocal coach Elisabeth Sabine, B-Real learned to project through his diaphragm, use circular breathing, and preserve his unmistakable voice. “I never went hoarse again after that. People often compliment me on sounding close to how the records are. I gotta give all props to her.” At 39:00, B-Real opens up about surviving some severe trauma in the streets of South Gate. Joe Rogan asks B-Real about his lung health, given all the years of heavy marijuana smoking. “I get physicals and stuff like that. Occasionally, I’ll have my lungs checked, and they’ll tell me they’re [in] great [condition].” The MC says that his fitness is to thank. “It’s a funny thing, ’cause in [approximately] 1987, I was 17, and I was gang-bangin’. I got shot. I got hit by a .22, and it—as hollow point [bullets] do, it broke into three pieces. One of them punctured my lung on my left side.” B-Real says that as a teen scared for his privacy, he did not divulge to doctors that he was an active pot smoker at the time of the shooting. “They said, ‘That’s good [you do not smoke], ’cause you’ll never smoke again. They punctured your lung.’ They thought I was gonna have to work off of one lung. But in the three days [of hospitalization at Lynwood’s Martin Luther King Hospital], they were able to get the blood out of the lung. I was able to get it back through the exercises they told me [to do] to get it back to its regular size. I’ve never had a problem since then, knock on wood.” Alchemist Tells B-Real About Just How Much His Time With Cypress Hill Shaped HimB-Real adds that the bullet fragments are still inside of his body. He reveals that the other two pieces are near his heart and spine. The one piece near his lung has moved. B-Real admits that he feels the lead on cold days. “I was livin’ crazy before I got into the music; the music saved my life.” Moments later, Dr. Greenthumb is very transparent about how street-gangs recruit. “Falling into the gangs, it’s easy. If you don’t have a good home-life, the guys on the street are your second family. They eventually become your first family. If you don’t have a father-figure at home, one of the guys in the gang becomes your mentor. He could become the guy you look up to as your father-figure. There’s that. Again, there’s not enough programs out there to keep people [engaged in] doing something different than falling into that. Sometimes it’s just a matter of you growing up in this neighborhood. If you have to walk down that street and they approach you and say, ‘Hey, you live in this ‘hood; you gotta be with us. If you don’t, we’re gonna make it hard for you.’ So there’s that peer pressure,” B-Real says. “Fortunately, I had friends that weren’t gang-bangers. They had talent for music, which was Muggs and Sen, and Sen’s brother Mello [Man Ace]. I did music as a hobby before I got into gangs, and they got me back into the music. ‘Cause they recognized something in me, and said, ‘Hey, we want you to come back where we got these opportunities over here. Come join us.” Elsewhere in the interview, B-Real admits that he was always carrying a handgun between 1989 and 1997, well into Cypress Hill’s stardom. At 43:45, B-Real is very blunt that one can never really leave a gang unless they are “jumped out.” However, he says that he changed his ways around 1988 when he was 18 years old. “I was too into it to be jumped-out like that. That wasn’t something I was gonna do. My boys that I ran with, they understood that I was trying to do something different. I made a choice to try the music and leave that sh*t alone, ’cause there’s no way you do both. If you do both, you see the results today with what’s happening with a lot of cats…when one bleeds into the other, it f*cks everything up.” Erick Sermon Discusses His New Vernia Album & Previews Music At 57:00, B-Real recalls Cypress Hill getting on. Philadelphia’s Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo was instrumental in getting the group signed to RuffHouse/Sony Records. Additionally, the MC says that EPMD helped spread some of Cypress’ biggest awareness, despite no formal affiliation. “When Sony put out our snippet tape, guys like EPMD [rallied for Cypress Hill]. They were one of our favorite groups in the world. They were Top 5 for Cypress Hill. It was Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, and EPMD. F*ck, they were the sh*t. Those were the guys that took our snippet tape, and they were showing our snippet tape to other rappers. Like, ‘Hey guys, look at these new f*ckin’ guys.’ Busta Rhymes told me this story: ‘Yo son, I heard your sh*t from EPMD way back in the day. They was playin’ it for Public Enemy, and I just happened to be in the room.’ Ice Cube, when we met him for the first time—and we had our ups and downs with him—but he’s one of my homies, he [said the same thing]. They were like our first street team, man. EPMD.” B-Real plugs Erick Sermon’s just-released album, Vernia. Later in the interview, B-Real reveals that his rapping style emerged out of writing poetry first. He says that he planned for a career in journalism and adapted those principles of non-fiction storytelling to songs like Cypress’ “Throw Your Set In The Air.” Elsewhere, he recalls House Of Pain’s Everlast “choking out” somebody in the Rainbow Room for continuously talking about him from a nearby table. The MC praises KRS-One as one of his leading influences. Redman Highlights Cypress Hill’s Green Thumb In Cultivating His Career (Video)Cypress Hill released Elephants On Acid last year with DJ Muggs back at the musical helm. The group has confirmed that Black Milk will produce their next LP.
While the masses still grieve for Nipsey Hussle some good news has come from this tragedy. The gentleman who was also hit in the shooting has been given his freedom back.
As reported by Page Six Kerry Lathan has been released from a detention center in California on Saturday, April 20.
The Los Angle native witnessed the assassination of the “Racks In The Middle” rapper on March 31 where he too took a bullet to his back. Upon his release from the hospital, he was promptly put into police custody. As a felon who served 25 years for murder being with a known gang member was in direct violation of his parole terms.
Luckily the legal system was able to apply common sense to his situation. His lawyer Lauren Noriega claimed that the 56-year-old was at the scene by chance. “He wasn’t there to propose any business to Nipsey. He had no idea that Nipsey would be there” Noriega explained. Previous reports alleged Nipsey was meeting him to give him free clothes.
Lathan suffered a stroke while in custody and still has the bullet lodged in his back. His representative said he started crying when was told he would be let go.
“This world will take your dream from you quick if you don’t stay locked in,” Boogie says on a cold day in Lower Manhattan. He is referring to a lesson intended for his young son, but it comes from personal experience. For five years, the Compton representative has been persistently pushing the line with his art. The MC and singer who used a student loan to purchase recording equipment has transcended from reaching out to blogs for posts to signing with Shady Records and going bar-for-bar with Eminem. In 2019, his dream seems to be manifesting in real-time. Boogie has already released one of 2019’s best albums so far in the form of Everything’s For Sale. It marks the Compton, California representative’s first drop with Eminem’s label and his first time on the charts. Twenty-nine-year-old Anthony Dixson is a different kind of act on the Shady roster. Although a cutting lyricist, Boogie’s music also offers melodic deliveries in many places. His sound and style pull from the church and Southern California’s gangland, in a cohesive way. On the microphone, Boogie shuns the cheap maneuvers so many rappers seem to rely on. He speaks his mind, confronts aspects of his personal life, and makes no bones about wishing to be remembered as a great. Although the presentation is quite different, the approach is not unlike that of Marshall Mathers some 20 years ago. Boogie Disrespects Eminem In The Most Respectful Way In His New Video
In speaking with AFH TV, Boogie unpacks the messages found on Everything’s For Sale. Along the way, he discusses his career, and his views about parenthood as well as love. He also details an emphasis on writing the kinds of songs that not only make him so easy to listen to, but someone that is relatable to so many. Before joining Shady in 2017, Boogie existed without the kind of cosigns that many emerging artists seem to seek and rely on. While he admits that he no longer cares, the MC notes, “It was irritating at a point for me, ’cause I felt like I was working so hard but was getting ignored. But I’m realizing that confirmation from another rapper or another man, period, that don’t define success. That’s just some stuff that was all just in my head. So now I don’t need they cosign, ’cause they’re competition at the end of the day.” By 2016, veterans and peers took notice. Boogie appeared on songs and projects by hometown heroes such as The Game, DJ Quik & Problem, as well as fellow sensation Buddy.< Boogie & J.I.D. Reject Industry Gimmicks In Favor Of Real Rap Now, Boogie’s latest single, “Rainy Days,” features Eminem’s first music of 2019. Asked how Shady’s founder discovered his music, Boogie says, “I have no idea.” Like Yelawolf, he was an Interscope Records act before inking with Shady. The label distributed some of Boogie’s prior releases including 2016’s Thirst 48 Part II. “I think [Eminem’s] manager, Paul [Rosenberg] got wind of me, maybe from the ‘Ni**a Needs’ video, ’cause Rihanna posted [it on Instagram]. I’m just guessin’; I have no idea. I just got a call one day that Em was interested. Then I was in Detroit like a day or two later.” Ahead of the 2017 Shady display for the BET Hip Hop Awards, Boogie showcased his skills alongside Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher, following Eminem’s blockbuster political freestyle. Royce 5’9, who later put Boogie on 2018’s “Dumb,” watched in the background.
On “Rainy Days,” Boogie begins his verse: “So word to my idols and word to the GOATs / I ain’t sayin’ I like ’em, I’d kill all them ni**as, and wear ’em as coats.” He reflects on those bars. “At the end of the day, I’m not tryin’ to be nobody’s little homie. That’s just me tellin’ y’all I’m on your head; you can get the same sh*t that everybody else gettin’.” AFH TV asks Boogie about the lyrics’ context, given the collaboration. “Yeah, he changed my life; he put me in front of 80,000 people. I’m signed to him; that’s the big dog. He’s one of the greatest rappers of all time, if not the greatest. But my purpose in life isn’t to be second to nobody at the end of the day; my purpose is to be bigger than Eminem, bigger than anybody else who wants to step in my way.” Moments later, Boogie acknowledges that JAY-Z is his favorite MC. In addition to the “Renegade” MCs, he says he considers J. Cole, Tupac, and Kendrick Lamar to also be in that elite class.
Boogie Shows Why Eminem Signed Him With An Off The Top Freestyle (Video) In terms of Hip-Hop, Boogie also provides his definition for “Real Rap,” a term that can mean different things to different people. “[It means] honesty, emotions, and just not trying to avoid the fact that you’re human and you’ve got real feelings. That’s what it means to me.” In looking at his evolution as an MC, Boogie notes, “I think sometimes I just need to learn how to come off more subtle. I think if I want people to be open to what I’m saying I need to not be so aggressive when I’m doin’ it.” For an artist who regularly bemoans personas “on social,” he later admits he had to learn to put himself on display. “If you want to have change in the world and more impact, when you show people that you’re just like them, it’s easier for them to accept it so people know that I go through sh*t too.” While Boogie reps Compton, he was born in Los Angeles and raised in Long Beach. During adolescence, his mother got him involved with a church in the Hub City. While the move was intended to clean up his act, it became a pivot to the streets. “The church is the reason I started gang-banging. I wouldn’t have been in Compton in the first place if it wasn’t for this church, ’cause I wasn’t born in Compton,” he says. On his 2019 album’s artwork, Boogie is dressed in a red suit, carrying a casket outside of the church with red doors. “Everybody from that church just happened to be from this neighborhood. So after church, I was always in Compton streets. Just transitioning to that it was a super easy transition. The crazy thing about Compton, church and gang-banging, they go hand-in-hand. I don’t know why. It’s a dark thing though.” Like past collaborators Quik and Game, that affiliation also sticks with artists for life. Kendrick Lamar Details What Saved Him From The Streets Of Compton After becoming integrated with the CPT streets, Boogie’s musical direction changed from Gospel Rap to songs covering all aspects of his life. “I had to tell what I was really goin’ through in life. [I was not] just goin’ through Christian wars. I was really goin’ through street battles, and you can’t really talk about that in church. I had to talk about what I was goin’ through, like the gang-bangin’ stuff. It just happening like that.” While it may have introduced him to gang affiliation, Sunday services also contributed to his musicality. “That’s 100% from the church choir and me listening to R&B all day.” He notes that Lauryn Hill, Brandy, and Usher also reinforced those interests. Westside Gunn & Conway Explain What To Expect From Their Partnership With Eminem “I’m from Piru,” he confirms. Notably, neighboring Long Beach is known for its Crip sets. Boogie is asked if that presented any problems near his home. “It just worked out; I’m respected in Long Beach. Long Beach don’t get into it with Compton; Long Beach has their own issues [internally]. There’s not really a Compton vs. Long Beach war.” Carson, California’s Reason is another artist who has worked across gang boundaries and neighborhoods. Boogie, Reason, and J.I.D. have developed a friendship as three artists with similar principles. “People always put us in a box together, me, J.I.D., and Reason,” notes Boogie. Besides Em, Dreamville’s J.I.D. is a standout guest on Everything’s For Sale video single “Soho.”. He appears on “We [all are] rappin’, and not like on some corny back-packer stuff, but we got substance, concepts, and stuff like that—not sayin’ other people don’t. [People hear] similar vibes I feel like, even though we all rap so different. J.I.D. rap way faster than me. ‘Cause I got a lisp, I can’t rap that fast. Reason’s super punchline-head-ass, like I tell him all the time. I got more melodies than both of them. They’re my boys though.” Eminem Returns To His Battle Rap Roots With 2018’s Best Freestyle (Video) Elsewhere in the discussion, Boogie explains why he is intent on winning a Grammy. He also discusses the value in finding a partner who embraces flaws, and the importance of his son. The full conversation is available at AFH TV. We are currently offering free 30-day trials.
