STAY FROSTYBLADES O on to discover would lead him to create one of the most interesting projects I’ve come across in recent memory: a concept album that is as unexpected as it is well crafted, as easily enjoyed as it is provocative, and as educational as it is subversive. Blades of Steel opens with its title track featuring the legendary Lo-Lifer, Thirstin Howl the 3rd and begins with a vocal sample recounting the history of the Colored Hockey League of The Maritimes. Founded by the sons and grandsons of escaped slaves who fled the states to Canada and built communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia, it was active from 1895-1925. The league has been credited with the 1st use of the slapshot, and goalies dropping to their knees to save shots. Based around the church, the league expanded into 8 different communities with over 400 players. It is with this revelation that the album proceeds to go about its business- beats, rhymes, and blocking the puck while staying out of the penalty box. That, and carving up thin ice with a roster of voices who have all showed up in shoulder pads ready to body check production.
Shamon Cassette and I first crossed paths at Computer Jay’s creative compound, The Space Hatch, a little over a year ago while I was recovering from a broken leg. He was there recording an Acid House anthem
The tip of a blade dug into ice anticipating the puck’s drop. Smooth, clean strokes over a frosty surface. Blood stains worn as badges of honor from repeated fist fights. The crunch of plastic and flesh driven into one another over frozen water molecules. These are the images that come to my mind when I think about ice hockey. Black faces? No. Hip Hop? No. Punk Rock aesthetics? Absolutely not. Nat X’s Top 5 Reasons Brothers Don’t Play Hockey:
5. It’s cold out there! 4. They scared to get their gold tooth knocked out 3. Don’t want to be around white guys with sticks 2. Don’t want to be around a white guy with a MASK!
titled Raver’s Holiday; I was there for the atmosphere. We bonded over beats and leopard print hats. He had a great voice and an impeccable flow, but there was no way of knowing that after that first meeting he would soon set about creating a true school inspired concept album that Prince Paul would be proud of. That, and the fact that it’s accompanied by a fully envisioned fashion aesthetic born out of a psychedelic fever dream that would make George Clinton jealous. There was no Covid (that we were aware of yet), and Quarantine was still a few months away. If necessity is the mother of all invention, then it’s definitely the artist’s muse. We all have found ways of coping with the isolation of quarantine. Shamon decided to search for buried treasure. While looking through boxes, Cassette came across a complete set of 1990 Score NHL player cards. Upon opening it he discovered that none of the players looked like him. Not a single one. Surprised? Hockey has always been a dominantly white game, but not knowing the current state of racial diversity in today’s league, he decided to do some research. What he went
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number one reason Brothers Don’t
And, the Play Hockey:
Don’t feel the need to dominate yet another sport (See track 14) I grew up in the south and never had an understanding of the game. We had a couple of teams in the region, but the sport never captured my imagination. It was the stuff of Disney movies, Canadians, and angry white New Englanders. For me and other hip hop heads, our
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