Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Music news The end of Supreeme, the end of an era (God Bless the Child)
Posted by Rodney Carmichael @Rappin_Rodney on Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 12:27 AM
SEE DOWNLOAD LINK BELOW
I had an epic phone interview today with Shaka Girvan (aka Dope Pope aka Tom Cruz) of Supreeme. Wish I could just post the audio flat-out because not even a full transcription is going to do it justice, I don't think.
In case you haven't heard, the Atlanta-based rap group recently announced that it is no more. That's right, Negashi Armada, Sam (King Self) Terrell and Shaka have gone their separate ways. But along with the surprising announcement of their split (received by email) came a link to their new and final album, God Bless the Child -Supreeme's Last Testament.
For the past week or so, I've been pouring through the album trying to digest both it and the finality of their demise. Rarely do music writers/critics get the pleasure to cover local acts of which we can truly count ourselves as personal fans. For me, Supreeme was such an act. As MCs, they always seemed to walk a fine line between intellect and immaturity in a way that was endearing even though they were bratty as hell. And Shaka's production has always been, well, supreme. That they were natives who represented everything "Atlanta rap" didn't to the eyes and ears of the mainstream made them all the more infectious.
We (CL) honored them with a Best of Atlanta award in 2007 (Best local hip-hop act that's not OutKast), and since then I'd been eagerly awaiting their major label (Warner Bros.) follow-up to Supremacy (2006) to run a more in-depth feature on the group that preceded the hipster rap sub-genre while, arguably, giving birth to it.
Shaka made some pretty bold assertions regarding that and the trio's legacy today; but we also talked in-depth about their split — which caught him off-guard as much as it has fans. Apparently Sam will be starting cooking school soon and Negashi has moved to Oakland, where, he told me via email, he'll begin work on a solo effort.
Again, it'll probably be a couple of days before I can post the full transcript of Shaka's interview, but I just wanted to post some initial thoughts, along with a link to the new album, asap.
Stay tuned...
UPDATE: Listen to the full version of their hard-to-find, 2003 independent release, Church and State, considered by Shaka to be their best work next to God Bless the Child.
(CD cover art by Corey Davis)
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