By Ismael AbduSalaam
As the release date of their joint LP (Survival Skills) approaches, Buckshot and KRS-One have declared their single "Robot" as the official "Death of Auto-Tune" track. KRS-One made the bold statement this past week in Chicago at a Rock the Bells tour stop.
The duo’s lead single is a scathing critique of the deluge of Auto-Tune inspired songs that have dominated the airwaves over the last few years. The title is a direct indication of what the artists feel is a lack of human creativity and drive in urban music.
Despite this, Buckshot and KRS are quick to clarify that their song is not an attempt to piggyback off Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 lead single. The duo point out that their single was released six weeks prior to Jay’s through iTunes and other digital outlets.
"I don’t want people to get the averaged clichéd version and thinking that we’re dissing people,’" Buckshot explained to AllHipHop.com. "What we’re calling out here is the biters, the people that feel like because this guy sold X amount of records doing this, that I’m going to turn around and do it as well."
The group felt the need for clarification was necessary, as the past several years have seen Jay-Z release material similar to both KRS-One and Buckshot. In 2003, Black Moon released the song "Stay Real." Six weeks later, the song’s sample ("Seed of Love," Little Boy Blues) was heard prominently as the musical backbone of Jay-Z’s "Public Service Announcement," off the critically-acclaimed Black Album.
Back in 2001, Jay-Z seminal Blueprint album held a similar title to boogie Down Production’s Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop. In the same year, Queens lyricist Nas would use that fact to disparage Jay-Z during their famous lyrical battle.
Aware that accusations of a publicity stunt for album sales would be leveled, Buckshot dismissed the notion and stated the focus was to give factual information to the fans. Additionally, the Brooklyn emcee explained that a "beef" would be antithetical to the purpose of the LP.
"We are not manufacturing a beef with Jay. There is no love lost," Buckshot told AllHipHop.com. "We are just merely stating facts and people can take them for what they are worth. From an artistic standpoint it is important for people to know what came first… Hip-Hop was started as an option to not killing each other. We were in the ghettos and we were real f**ked up. We created Hip-Hop so we didn’t have to do that anymore. The album is called Survival Skills, because that is what it takes."
Survival Skills hits stores on September 15. It features appearances from Mary J. Blige, Slug, Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique, Naledge (Kidz In the Hall), Sean Price, Smif N Wessun, and Rock. Production contributions include Havoc, 9th Wonder, Black Milk, ILL MIND, Nottz, Marco Polo, and Khrysis.
Fans can catch KRS-One and Buckshot at these select dates:
KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT Upcoming Tour Dates:
Rock The Bells
Toronto, ONT, CAN - Sunday July 5th
Molson Amphitheatre
Washington, DC - Sunday July 12th
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Boston, MA - Saturday July 18th
Comcast Center
New York, NY - Sunday July 19th
Jones Beach Theater
Vancouver, BC, CAN - Saturday August 1st
Deer Lake Park
Calgary, AB, CAN - Sunday August 2nd
Shaw Millennium Park
Denver, CO - Thursday August 6th
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Los Angeles, CA - Saturday August 8th
San Manuel Amphitheatre
San Francisco, CA - Sunday August 9th
Shoreline Amphitheatre
Myspace Album Release Show
New York, NY – Friday September 11th