“Well excuse me, take a few minutes to mellow out,” Big Daddy Kane sings in his 1989 hit tune, Smooth Operator, leaving listeners with no choice but to obey his deep, smooth voice and chill for a whole four minutes – and then some. It’s definitely hard to find that style of laid back, “straight up dissin’ and dismissin’” kind of rap nowadays. But some artists are clearly (and fortunately) paying their tribute to the old school. One such artist is Kxng Crooked, from Eminem’s Shady Records and the Rap God’s super-group, Slaughterhouse. This tribute is most apparent in Kxng Crooked and Jonathan Hay’s new track.
‘Just Ask Madonna’
For your delight, and yours alone, Kxng Crooked has shared his latest track, produced by long-time hip-hop publicist Jonathan Hay, for High Times to drop before its debut on Spotify and Apple Music on Friday.
Kane Street is the first cut of the upcoming compilation album “The Hoodlum Ball,” which is being released on High Times’ favorite day of the year, 4/20. The record features five tracks with Kxng Crooked, and other songs with Cyhi The Prynce, Riff Raff, Lil Windex, Chino XL, Twista, MC Eiht (of Compton’s Most Wanted) and Eminem’s new artist, Conway
“When I first heard the music I was hype because I’m a long time Kane fan. When he first hit the scene, Big Daddy Kane was an instant trendsetter,” said Kxng Crooked during a conversation with High Times.
“People copied his style like crazy! Jay-Z even mentions this in his song ‘Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)’ [where] he raps ‘I seen the same shit happen to Kane. Three cuts in, your eyebrows tryin to wild out!’ So yeah,