Ruste Juxx and Marco Polo talk Duck Down
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 13, 2010
To keep tabs on how Duck Down maintains its hardcore tradition despite also expanding with MTV-friendly acts like Kidz in the Hall, you need look no farther than Ruste Juxx and Marco Polo. Next Thursday, the unlikely pair — Ruste a Brownsville pugilist, Marco a self-described “skinny white guy from Toronto” — will celebrate the release of The eXXecution, which is capable of scaring parents the way Ice-T did in the 1980s. So I asked them to guide us through some Duck Down history, reaching back to when they were just fans themselves.What album — old or new — would be the best introduction for someone who doesn’t know shit about Duck Down?
MP: It’s a toss-up between Black Moon’s Enta da Stage and Smif-N-Wessun’s Dah Shinin’.
RJ: Black Moon’s Enta da Stage.
What’s the most tragically slept-on Duck Down release of all time?
MP: Heltah Skeltah, Nocturnal.
RJ: Sean Price Presents Ruste Juxx, Indestructible.
What’s your favorite Boot-Camp track from the 1990s?
MP: Black Moon, “Buck Em Down.”
RJ: Heltah Skeltah, “Operation Lockdown.”
What’s your favorite Boot-Camp track from the 2000s?
MP: Sean Price, “Boom Bye Yeah.”
RJ: Smif-N-Wessun, “Reloaded.”
What Boot-Camp-originated slang term do people regularly use without realizing where it came from?
MP: “Bucktown.”
RJ: “Bucktown.”
What message do you have for people who say that hardcore hip-hop is over?
MP: Please check The Last Stand, Monkey Barz, Jesus Price Supastar, Double Barrel, and The eXXecution, then shut the fuck up.
RJ: Cop The eXXecution and [you] be the judge.
Where do you see Duck Down being 15 years from now?
MP: The last man standing, and still relevant, like they’ve always been.
RJ: With more diverse artists on the roster, doing bigger and greater things.
Related:
Airman punk, The future is now, Beyond Dilla and Dipset, More
- Airman punk
Perhaps the clearest sign that Afghanistan is not your father's war comes in the person of Airman First Class Peter Bourgeois, who, while deployed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, has been busy managing the career of his former band, Jodi Explodi.
- The future is now
Even with all the promise of the new year ahead, it's hard not to feel a little stiffed in the Future of Mankind department. Here it is, 2010, and there's nary a flying car to be seen.
- Beyond Dilla and Dipset
With a semi-sober face I'll claim that hip-hop in 2010 might deliver more than just posthumous Dilla discs, Dipset mixtapes, and a new ignoramus coke rapper whom critics pretend rhymes in triple-entendres.
- Best in their field
The jazz scene continues to struggle — along with everyone else — through hard times.
- Ke$ha | Animal
If balancing adolescent stupidity and abandon with effortless hooks has been a sacred rite of pop music since time immemorial, then crunk-pop diva Ke$ha is on her way to priesthood.
- Review: In Search of Beethoven
Phil Grabsky's exhaustive documentary doesn't exactly dispel any stereotypes about Beethoven's being a shaggy genius prone to rages.
- The Big Hurt: The decade ahead
As a new decade dawns, it's time to cast a curious eye toward the future.
- Super 8-Bit Brothers | Brawl
It's easy to forget how annoying certain pop-culture artifacts were in their heyday.
- The Big Hurt: Falling down the rabbit hole
Lee, Hoppus, Wentz, Avril, and 3OH!3 fall down the rabbit hole
- 5 for '10
I love baby bands, and I hope the ones I mention here don't mind my calling them that.
- Tight but loose
I had never come across the adjective "jangular" until I visited the Glowkid website.
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, Entertainment, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, More
, Entertainment, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, Music, Underground Hip-Hop, Ice-T, Arts, Marco Polo, hip-hop, Less