Sean Price - Mic Tyson (video, tracklist)

STFU pt. 2 - prod. The Alchemist

Out October 30th is Sean Price's long awaited follow up to his 2007 solo release Jesus Price Supastar.   Price's only other solo outing was 2005's Monkey Barz.  Although Price, originally affiliated with the Boot Camp Clik and a member of the duo Heltah Skeltah,  is a frequent and prized guest on others records his own catalogue is a little thin.  Apart from his membership in two Hip Hop supergroups (Boot Camp Clik and Random Axe), three solo albums and three mixtapes (most notably 2009's Kimbo Price), the Brownsville, Brooklyn native seems never to have quite gotten his due.

This is a crying shame.

Price brings humour, bravado as well as a nimble and streetwise sense to his often dense internal rhyme structures.  Prized as a rapper's rapper it's no surprise the calibre of both producers and MC's who vie to work with him.  The tracklist for Mic Tyson, from which Price has been debuting tracks in his live show over the past couple of years, demonstrates his range of collaborations:

 Mic Tyson Tracklist: 

01) Genesis of the Omega (prod. by The Alchemist)
02) Bar-Barian (prod. by The Alchemist)
03) Pyrex (prod. by Amp)
04) Price & Shining Armor feat. Ruste Juxx (prod. by Wool)
05) Title Track (prod. Eric G)
06) Straight Music (prod. by 9th Wonder)
07) STFU Part 2 (prod. by The Alchemist)
08) Hush (prod. by Khrysis!)
09) Solomon Grundy feat. Ike Eyes & Ill Bill (prod. by Eric G)
10) Frankenberry feat. Buckshot (prod. by Stu Bangaz)
11) BBQ Sauce feat. Pharoahe Monch (prod. by Evidence | Co-Produced by Babu)
12) Bully Rap feat. Realm Reality (prod. by The Alchemist)
13) By The Way feat. Torae (prod. by Evidence)
14) Battering Bars feat. Pumpkin Head (prod. by Beat Butcha)
15) The Hardest Ni**a Out  (prod. by Beat Butcha)

A Mic Tyson Deluxe-Edition album is currently available for pre-order through Itunes in advance of the album's release date October 30.

iTunes Bonus Tracks:

16) Haraam (prod. by Team Demo)
17) Remember feat. Freddie Gibbs (prod. by Statik Selektah)
18) I See (prod. by Quelle Chris)

Sean Price, Revival, Toronto, Review, Setlist (08.28.10)

After a competent, brisk moving but ultimately long undercard the well sated audience now bristling with anticipation ecstatically welcomed Brownsville's own Sean Price to the Toronto stage.

Looking like he had home advantage in his solid Blue Jay reds, his wardrobe progressed over the court of his sweltering set to predominantly a wife beater and a towel over his shaved dome (while dropping a line at one point about Ike Turner and Wife Beater's)- this had both a bemusing and gripping quality about it.

Price commanded the audience from the opening notes.  Sean has the ability to befriend an audience with his considerable girth and muscular fortitude in a way that might not seem befitting to a man of his stature, it is in part his kind eyes that perhaps make you forget for a moment that he could smack the white off rice.  This is in part because for all of Price's deeds and misdeeds, he is by at least one jurisdiction's estimation a 'bad man' who has done 'bad things' for which he was imprisoned for a period of time.  But good fruit never falls from bad trees, nor bad fruit from good ones.  But occasionally strange fruit falls from strange trees.

The highlights of his set, of which there were many, included Boom Bye Yeah, P Body and a loving change of pace with Heartburn where he sang his own Barry White style backing vocals while doing a kind sort of shoulder swagger before taking the audience down for another death roll.    This included Peep My Words, Boost and the fitting King Kong (by this point Price was already well into the mechanics of pacing the stage like a panther in a cage) before a brief hit of the Fab 5's Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka.

After the title track of his solo album Monkey Barz, the self-titled Sean P and a well anticipated Onion Head he went into a more full prelude to his forthcoming Mic Tyson (presumably Mixtape).  With new cuts aired near the end of his set being Figure Four and Shut The Fuck Up (having debuted Let Me Tell You with a rewind of the heavy Alchemist beat early in his set).

Sean Price interview (Random Axe, Mic Tyson)

Q: Sean you have such a long discography from your earliest collaborations with Heltah Skeltah, Boot Camp Clik, your countless mixtapes (including Master P and Kimbo Price) and of course your well regarded solo outings Monkey Barz and Jesus Price Supastar, to say nothing of your countless collaborations. What then can fans expect or what do fans expect from your live show, beyond the songs that the heads are always calling out for what are the songs that have stayed staples in your repertoire- that you really enjoy playing live?


A: I like to switch it up a lot at shows. It depends on the crowd, you know. Lot of high energy shit. Always like to do some newer stuff that the fans don't expect me to perform. Figure 4 has became a new favorite of mine. I like to keep em guessing, doing the same tracks every performance would be boring and it keeps me on my toes as well. I can get a better sense for how good my records are based on the crowds reaction to newer material.



Q: You once said that people are "mad 'cause I make music no longer for the fun of it." Yet having fun seems to be at the core of alot of your enterprises (like turning Duck Down Records into Ruck Down Records), what were you getting at when you made this remark and does it still apply?

A:  Basically, I used to just fuck around with it. I took it seriously but at the same time I didn't. Now it's a bit more serious, I still make good music and have fun but I got a family to feed. Does that mean I'm gonna do some wack shit just to get money? naw. The music is still dope and I'm still having fun.



Q: You're known for your frequent collaborations with individuals connected with Staten Island but you also have built ties to alot of other Hip Hop communites such as your priceless stab on Black Milk's Tronic standout The Matrix, or more recent collaborations with members of North Carolina's Little Brother. Do you feel like there's a 'Detroit' or a 'Midwest' sound you can identify with? Or is Hip Hop just Hip Hop no matter where it's from?

A: Hip Hop is hip hop. I've done music with people from everywhere. Little Brother and Black Milk are both amazing and that's why I mess with them. But Detroit is definitlely producing a good sound right now with cats like Royce, Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, Elzhi, etc.




Q: Ever since you Black Milk and Guilty Simpson collaborated on Run from Ode To The Ghetto (where the line 'Random Axe' first appears) and talk first leaked about a possible full length collaboration the excitement has just continued to build. It sounds like the time in the studio with Milk and Simpson was jokes (and single Monster Babies sounds like a good marriage of Milk's production and yours and Simpson's flow). What can you tell us about the collaboration or any random tale about you and Hex* throwing stories back and forth in the studio?

A:  We just finished up recording it in Detroit. The environment was definitely crazy with me, Guilty, Black Milk, and Hex around. We all joke around a lot and it's always a good time hanging with those dudes. Black Milk is mixing the project now.


Q: Random Axe is of course going to come out on Duck Down Records- what other new releases should we be looking for you on?

A:  The main focus right now is Random Axe, but after that is Mic Tyson!!! I may do a children's book too with free audio included.

*Hex or Hex Murda is both Black Milk's DJ in his live touring band as well as his business manager, he also manages the career of Elzhi.  Price and Hex both share colourful prison histories which apparently made the Random Axe recording sessions a hilarious process as each regaled one another with tales of the tape.