When you have been rapping for as long as Consequence, you are bound to identified differently amongst different audiences. There is still is a population within the Hip-Hop community that ignore the digital media buzz and respect the Queens MC for his bar-laden deliveries, which all was catapulted from his formidable entry into the game via A Tribe Called Quest’s fourth album, Beats, Rhymes & Life. Also known as “The Consequence LP” if you are up on game.
And of course, there is a certain demo whose sole memories of the Cons revert back to his stint on Love & Hip Hop: New York, which had to be scrubbed of its negative connotation.
But logic tells us rappers are going to rap through it all and Consequence has never been one to let pettiness and distractions get in the way of his true passion. Hip-Hop Wired was privy to get an exclusive listen of his upcoming EP, A Good Comeback Story. (Everybody loves those, correct?) The project showcases the undeniable formidable skills Cons has known to blitz on tracks throughout his entire career but also shines the spotlight on another facet of his skill set that he has been perfectly since his last release in 2013: Production.
Cons and his team laid the sound beds for the entire extender player which he says has been getting him unsuspecting praise.
“You have to be a musician to frame it the right way for the mainstream,” Consequence tells Hip-Hop Wired. “You still need records to cross over because the verses aren’t going to do that. I absolutely learned some of the production process being around Kanye West. Even being around Q-Tip, I learned about top layer production. ”
Read up on some the behind-the-music liner notes ahead of A Good Comeback Story’s due date on January 8, 2016.
“That Dude”
“I’ve been communicating with my son Caiden about Hip-Hop since he’s born,” Cons says of his four-year-old son, who is being billed as the youngest to ever appear as a rapper on a record. “When he came from the hospital, I rapped songs ‘Good, Bad & Ugly and Spaceship’ to him. It was this summer when I brought him to the studio and he asked to get on the mic. We were at Q-Tip’s crib doing his Abstract Beats 1 show and did some drops. If he was good at doing the drops, he could do the chorus.”
He’s actually been taking a liking to music for awhile now too. We recently watched The Wiz Live! together and he came back from school like, ‘Daddy, I wanna watch Michael Jackson’ as in the old Wiz. I’ve had it in the XBox all this time but didn’t even know he knew about it. He’s just a natural when it comes to gravitating towards music.
“Tuck Your Release”
The record, released earlier in the year, latches onto that gritty, blaxploitation-inspired raw rap and is obviously dear to his heart.
“Straight up — I like to rap!,” he says in response to the couplets of bars, as well as the decision to release a single that doesn’t cater to modern day radio. “That’s more some of that “Cons to the Quence” sh*t, like when I rapped with Tribe. We are all chasing a hit record at the end of the day but I still like to give dish out bars and the end of the day. I think [Jay Z] still do that every now and then. I know it’s a lost art but at the end of the day, I think that still makes myself sound different from everyone else.”
“No Matter What” w/ Q-Tip
“It took a little while for me and cuzo to get back in the studio,” Consequence admits, alluding to their publicized rift that spilled into social media before adding, “We have a real music chemistry and the same ideology. When it comes to making records, if it’s not ‘good—it’s bad’ and everybody can’t accept that. It’s like premeditated when we make records and it’s never forced.”
Back and forth with Q-Tip “Remember you had nothing to lose” Every time we get it, we reminisce and the situation we had gotten into with the business.
“Battle Anybody”
“What happens with most MCs is a lot of dope MCs rap over two tracks. So you’re getting two moods. I probably shouldn’t be giving this away [Laughs]. It’s crazy I had to burn through millions of dollars via record deals just to learn this sh*t. Being on Love & Hip Hop, it’s like a gift and curse. People recognize you but they might not remember you in like, the most favorable light, you know what I’m saying?”
“The People Saying”
“I think the idea with this project is to frame it in its proper context,” says of this particular bar extravaganza he produced alongside Mike Cash. “I think what ends up happening sometimes that you have these rappers who are at genius level artistry but the production isn’t married to what the bars are. I think that’s why I started doing beats to begin with. I’m rapping better than the old Consequence.”
“Countdown” w/ Lupe Fiasco
Watch the lyrical ability above for yourself.
