Masta Ace Cont....
dedicated to the memory of my mother. It features MF Doom and Big Daddy Kane on one song. I got my man Pav Bundy of the Bundys singing a couple of hooks. Another singer by the name of Reggie B is on another hook. Those are all the people who are featured on it. It's available on Amazon, iTunes, and in select stores on vinyl and CD. For the vinyl collectors you got to dig and search out there.
Royalty Magazine: Tell us more about Masta Ace. Can you take us back to the moment when you fell in love with hiphop...what was that feeling like and how did it happen? What pushed you to take that next step with music and make it career?
Masta Ace: The thing is I wouldn't want to over glamorize it. Growing up in New York, hip-hop was what you did. It was what you did as a kid. If you think about the era of video games when they got really popular, no one remembers how it felt to fall in love with video games. It was just the thing to do. And that's pretty much what hip-hop was. Hip-hop was video games before video games. The cool thing to do in the summertime was to go out to the park. Dudes were out there dancing, rapping, deejaying, and writing graffiti. As a kid I ventured into all those things. Eventually I settled on rapping because in my crew I was the best at that.
Royalty Magazine: You got your big break in the late 80's when you made your recording debut on the hiphop posse cut "The Symphony". The track featured yourself, Marley Marl, Craig G, Kool G Rap & Big Daddy Kane. How did the opportunity arise for you to do the track? Did you know then that you would end up being one of the most influential and highly skilled emcees in hip-hop?
Masta Ace: Actually the track was supposed to be Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Craig G, and MC Shan. Shan actually declined to be on the song and Marley just decided it would just have the three MCs on the song instead. Only by virtue of me tagging along to watch the recording process did I wind up on the song. The guys had already written their rhymes but were hesitant to go into the booth. No one wanted to be the first one in the booth. Marley asked to jump on and warm the mic up, get those guys loosened up. I went in and spit a verse I had memorized at the time. That wound up being on the record. I don't think he planned to keep me on when he asked me to go in there, but I guessed he liked my verse enough to keep it. It's because of that decision that people know my name.
Royalty Magazine: Tell us about the Juice Crew. Who were some of the original members and how did yall end up hooking up? How do you feel your crew influenced hip-hop and/or changed the game in general? How did being part of the Juice Crew strengthen or add to your skills as an emcee?