In this episode of “People’s Party With Talib Kweli”, Talib Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with hip hop group:
COAST CONTRA
Here’s what they got into:
- Respect to Pete Rock for bringing so many new ears to the sounds of Coast Contra
- The lyricism of rapper JID and why they used his beat for the “Never Freestyle”
- Drawing inspiration from Biggie’s performances of songs like “Party & Bullshit”
- Performing at the Hollywood Bowl, the same night Dave Chappelle was attacked
- Eric Jamal speaks on meeting his fellow Philly emcee Black Thought
- Taj and Ras being the sons of rapper Ras Kass and singer Teedra Moses
- RioLoz’s experience of being raised in Colombia before later moving to Miami
- Three parts of the crew linking up in high school and bonding over their love for hip hop
- When Eric Jamal came into the fold and what he brought to the structure as the elder
- The crew’s years of building together in ‘Apt. 505‘ after moving out to Los Angeles
- How they all wound up working at the My 2 Cents LA soul food restaurant
- What’s behind their focus on financial literacy in songs like “Get The Worm”
- The constant quest for knowledge and having the right people around you to grow
- Discussing what 2Pac and Biggie might be doing today if they were still around
- How they’ve managed to keep such a strong foundation over the years
- The romantic side of Coast Contra is explored and embracing vulnerability
- Getting the opportunity to make the title song for the soundtrack to “Queen & Slim“
- The group’s move to becoming more in tune with their spiritual side
- What it is about their come up story that sets themselves apart from the others
- What led them to making a conscious decision of a 7 year plan to success
- Their plan to execute the next level of their prophecy by utilizing new resources
- The excitement of having the chance to bring a whole new sound to the industry
- A People’s Party cipher with each member of Coast Contra taking their turn to bar-out
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