From OutDaBoxTV: “Out Da Box TV is happy to bring you the 1st Part of our in-depth interview with renowned West Coast Emcees’ “Souls Of Mischief” and talented producer “Adrian Younge”. We got a chance to chat with these brothers, in regard to their latest and much talked about concept LP, entitled “There Is Only Now”. We also got to hear from the album’s narrator, a.k.a. “Ali Shaheed Muhmmad” (ATQ) in reference to the role he was chosen to play in the story . In this interview, the group talk’s specifically about topics revolving around the creation of the album and storyline. We got a chance to hear details on everything from how they first met with Adrian, to the inspiration for the storyline, the writing process for songs and Busta Rhymes involvement on the album. There’s lots of depth to their new LP and I really wanted to take the time to explore the concept a little more and how the writing process came together. For those of you who already bought the album, I hope this interview serves as a guide to further understanding the greatness of the project. If you don’t have it yer, I hope it encourages you to support these magnificent artists’ and their awesome piece of work. “There Is Only Now” is one of the album’s that I feel will stand the test of time for years to come as one of the most creative and quality contributions to hip hop. Salute to Adrian Younge and Souls Of Mischief for their amazing work! In the meantime, please take a moment to check out the video and be inspired. Also check back next week for Part 2. Enjoy!”

The renowned producer attributes his creativity to another legend: “I was musically charged, man. I had some adrenaline going on then. I’m serious, ever since I — I think after I met James Brown as a kid. I was seven years old,” says Pete Rock. “I wasn’t the same since.”

The man who made “T.R.O.Y.” and “The World Is Yours” spoke with Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley about shaking the hand of the Godfather of Soul and attending his funeral, crawling through a dog door to practice on Heavy D’s equipment, the effects of 9/11 on music and J Dilla. “I’m like, ‘Yo, this guy’s gonna have me out of a job.’”

Ab-Soul, the most philosophical member of the by now vaunted Top Dawg Entertainment, met Microphone Check hosts Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley in Los Angeles two weeks before the release of his latest album, called These Days … After only one listen to the album, the three of them had a conversation about Ab’s high expectations of his audience and what he’s trying to make for them.

“I’ve learned the bulk of what I know from hip-hop music. You understand what I’m saying? Like I learned — from listening to hip-hop music, I learned about things that I would soon learn about as an adult, from listening to it as a child,” he says. “That’s what I got from hip-hop, and so I just want to give that right back.”

From NPR: “Mannie Fresh, the legendary New Orleans producer and DJ, was our guest for the first live episode of Microphone Check. We taped at NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. at the end of May, and the conversation was predictably warm, sharp and funny. Mannie regaled the crowd with stories about Cash Money Records, the making of Juvenile’s 400 Degreez, Lil Wayne’s career, Mantronix and his dad. And he played us a new song from what he’s working on now: an album with Brooklyn rapper Mos Def. What we didn’t anticipate happened after we said our thank yous, when Mannie stood up, walked over to the decks and unleashed a spontaneous set of bounce remixes of everything from Hall & Oates to Earth Wind and Fire.

“For the next 20 mins he put New Orleans behind songs by Kenny Chesney, Hall & Oates and Trouble Funk — leading off with his remix of “September,” which somehow makes the warm embrace of Earth Wind and Fire’s song even more cushy, homey and right on time.”

Set List:

“September,” Earth Wind and Fire
“Beat It,” Michael Jackson
“Showtime at the Apollo Theme”
“Boogie Down Bronx,” Man Parrish
“California Love,” Tupac feat. Dr. Dre
“Let’s Wait Awhile,” Janet Jackson
“(Lay Your Head On My) Pillow,” Tony Toni Tone
“Somewhere With You,” Kenny Chesney
“One More Night,” Maroon 5
“Funky Soul Makossa,” Nairobi
“Billie Jean,” Michael Jackson
“Back That Ass Up,” Juvenile feat. Mannie Fresh and Lil Wayne
“I Can’t Go For That,” Hall & Oates
“Good Life,” Kanye West feat. T-Pain
“Friends,” Whodini
“Trying Girls Out,” The Persuaders (used by Kanye West for “Girls, Girls, Girls (Part 2),” Jay Z)
“That’s How Long,” The Chi-Lites (used by Just Blaze for “December 4th,” Jay Z)
“A Dream,” DeBarge (used by Daz for “I Ain’t Mad At Cha,” Tupac)
“Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City,” Bobby “Blue” Bland (used by Kanye West for “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love),” Jay Z)
“Sunrise,” The Originals (used by Kanye West for “Guess Who’s Back,” Scarface feat. Jay Z, Beanie Sigel and Kanye West)
“Start This Off Right Tonight (Remix),” Trouble Funk

Freddie Gibbs moved away from his hometown of Gary, Indiana, more than 10 years ago. He went to L.A., where he became friends with Madlib, the producer revered for his work in The Lootpack, as a solo artist under the name Quasimoto, for that time Blue Note Records let him do whatever he wanted in their vault and the albums he’s made collaboratively, with heavyweights J Dilla, MF Doom, Percee P and Talib Kweli.

Gibbs and Microphone Check cohost Ali Shaheed Muhammad are quite certain that Piñata, the album Madlib has made with Gibbs, is the most gangster project Madlib has ever worked on. He couldn’t join us in the studio, but Gibbs sat down to talk about what he calls his “homiefied” album.

On April 19, 1994, Columbia Records released the debut album of a 20-year-old from Queensbridge Houses in New York City. It was deft, wise, deadly serious and matched the babyface with unparalleled promise to beats made by the era’s preeminent producers.

Two decades after Illmatic, Nas sat down with Microphone Check for a conversation that moved from his love for Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s group, A Tribe Called Quest, to music journalism (“If you’re Sade, it doesn’t matter. She does what she does. But for all of us, journalism is a huge deal.”) hearing himself on the radio for the first time and his audience:

“My surroundings. The hip-hop community also,” says Nas. “So that meant I made it for other rappers, I made it for other MCs, I made it for other hip-hop groups. I made it for artists, singers, people in the arts — that’s who I made it for. But it comes from the street, so my surroundings wrote that album. I made it for them.”

Nas also reveals that Swizz Beatz, No I.D., and Timbaland are working with him on his next album.

Four or five years ago Microphone Check co-host Ali Shaheed Muhammad told Danny Brown that he’s the hip-hop Richard Pryor. “And I got it, too: making things funny that don’t supposed to be funny,” says Brown. “It’s like putting the pill in the pudding.”

Since then Brown has released three albums under his own name (with October’s Old being the most recent), fully infiltrated the festival circuit, and become both a regular fixture on critics Best Of lists and a character in GrandTheft Auto V. He spoke to Muhammad and co-host Frannie Kelley about his grandmothers, reading bad reviews and what he would do with $100,000.

In the 3rd episode of OkayPlayer’s special Tribe Edition of “The Questions” Ali Shaheed-Muhammad tells us why Twitter gave him a “serenity now!” moment, and gives exclusive information on a new project with Adrian Younge.

Rolling Stone reports that Q-Tip will “sprinkle his album” – The Last Zulu, due next Spring on G.O.O.D. Music / Def Jam – with individual appearances from his A Tribe Called Quest family, including Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi.

“I’ll probably get them on my album,” Q-Tip said at the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding’s Young Leadership Benefit in New York on Monday, where he’s recording for the album.

Tip added that touring is the group’s main focus, however. “We love performing. There’s a lot of places around the world that we’ve yet to hit, believe it or not,” he told Rolling Stone. “We’re probably gonna just concentrate on the rest of the world. We’ve kind of played America.”

Lecture: Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Los Angeles 2012) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, The Ummah and Lucy Pearl fame sits down on the Red Bull Music Academy’s interview couch. This lecture was held as part of Boombox’s 5th annual celebration of the life and music of J Dilla in Los Angeles and hosted by Cognito from Frolab.