Lords of the Underground...LUV Hip Hop

At aTrue School University Sunday session, we were honored by an in-depth interview with DoItAll, member of the legendary Hip Hop group, Lords of the Underground (LOTUG). With a studio full of emcees present and female rappers A.D. and Lady J, joining us on the phone, DuKelly chopped it up with us about the state of Hip Hop, touring the world and visiting his DJ Lord Jazz in France where he 'lived' the culture and experienced Hip Hop in an international forum. Plus, we kicked it about their new independent project, House of Lords, available now.

Stand out tracks include: I Luv Hip Hop, What is an MC, Hum It Out, and Slick Talk to name a few. The album is laced with True School Hip Hop flavor, with new school/retro dance beats intermingled with Brick City Funk. Production is mostly handled by Rise with other tracks by Sedeck Jean, DJ Lord Jazz and even Marley Marl. Before he left, DoItAll, blessed us with many gems and even anchored an impromtu rhyme cypher....

LOTUG aka the Legendary Lords of the Underground represented by DJ Lord Jazz, Mr Funkman and DoItAll aka DuKelly for blazin' us wit some new Hip Hop flava on House of the Lords. The lyricism is authentic True School material. Our favorite tracks so far after the first listen are...I Luv Hip Hop, Yes We're Fresh, Hum It Out, Slick Talk and What Is An MC. Beats are newwave old school, so you will get that early 90's late 80's retro feel on some of the more danceable tracks. Its availble now so check it out, if you Love Hip Hop!

At TSU this past Sunday, while conducting a conference call with NYC's Lady J and Brooklyn native A.D. from NAN TV, we were joined in studio by our special guest of the week, DoItAll. The Brick City, NJ representative was very cordial, answering every question hurled at him by in-studio guests and participants on the phone. In fact as we parlayed, we were joined by Wiz of Crash Clik and ZAQ Coldly from the Cold Committee via telephone and voice of the Hood Brown Sugah who blessed us with some powerful thoughts during the conversation wit DuKell. One of the initial insights he laced us with was...

" We gotta understand that Hip Hop finally has a birth date which is Aug 11, 1973 on Sedgewick and Cedar in the Bronx NY (pioneered by) DJ Kool Herc which became known as Hip Hop."

During the convo we touched on many topics relating to the music industry and Hip Hop culture. While talking to ZAQ Coldly about touring Europe, DoItAll recounted living in France for a short period...

"When you travel to other cultures as an artist, we might get to go places but we don't get to live the culture...You travel from the airport, to the hotel, to the sound check, then maybe somewhere to eat then back to the venue, the hotel and the airport. So you aint get to live it. I aint understand that til I went to visit my DJ Lord Jazz, who was living (in France) for like 4 years. To me, they were like 5 to 10 years back behind us here dealing with the culture of Hip Hop. It made me feel like I was back in the 90's wit the style and whole feel for it, and how they love it and respect it. Like if they love Kurt Nice, they gonna know everything about Kurt Nice and Shades of Hip Hop, Big Haneef, Ali-Mu and whoever else you fuckin wit. They gonna know them too. If you put somethin out that they love, that's a classic, then they rockin wit you. Even if you put somethin else out ...they don't even have to hear it, cause they still rockin wit you."

Other notable quotes:

"That's how you learn your craft, you had to prove yourself as an artist."

"When you get 30 or 35 it's like 'ah it's over now' but this aint no sport where your knees go bad, it's a culture." And you live that for life!

"The most memorable thing was performing in Cinncinati wit Run DMC and JMJ. I got to rep my city on a national level cause it was on BET...(plus)I wanted to be Run when I was a kid growin up and to have him come in the dressing room later and be like 'yo yall gotta do some shows wit us' (was ill)."

Winter 2007

Kurt Nice