[video] The Mafia | “The Introduction” (Maino, PUSH!, Twigg Martin, Lucky Don, HustleHard Mouse)

Maino and The Mafia: “This Our Wu-Tang Thing”

By ralphbristout

Not many artists are willing to share the spotlight with their assembled crew before (or even after) they properly establish themselves in the market place. That’s not the case for Bed-Stuy Brooklyn product Maino. Though he’s already created a lane of his own—he’ll be quick to tell you, “Never did I say I was the illest on the mic/I only ever said I was the realest nigga right?”—as a platinum-selling artist (“All The Above”), with two championed solo albums under his belt (If Tomorrow Comes… and The Day After Tomorrow), as well as a slew of street-approved mixtapes, Maino still has mountains to climb in his career. He’s aware of that, too. “I still got a lot of things that I want to establish as a solo artist,” he tells XXL on a mid-October afternoon on the eve of a project that clearly hits closer to home than his previous solo releases. “But you know what? This helps me,” he continues, motioning towards the four-man set surrounding him atXXL’s Manhattan offices. Push!, Hustle Hard Mouse (Don’t forget the Hustle Hard), Lucky Don and Twigg Martin all make up Maino’s new collective, who go by the name: The Mafia.

Hip Hop n More:

Maino & The Mafia ‘MTV Rapfix’ Freestyle

Maino brought his mafia crew to MTV Rapfix couch earlier this evening and before leaving, spit some bars for the camera.

Hip Hop Wired:

Maino & The Mafia - “What Up, Son?” [LISTEN/DOWNLOAD]

Maino and his Brooklyn cronies are up to no good on this new joint, “What Up, Son?” Along with PUSH! Montana, HustleHard Mouse, and Lucky Don the collective keep it real street on this new joint. Get a listen to the new joint after the jump. Maino’s The Day After Tomorrow is in stores right now, so if you haven’t got it, get it.

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Hip-Hop Wired:

Exclusive: Maino & The Mafia Speak On “The New Energy” In Brooklyn [VIDEO]

Maino went back to Brooklyn to bring his homies along with him for the ride in his new mixtape introducing “The Mafia.” Hustlehard Mouse (who isn’t pictured), Lucky Don, PUSH! Montana, Twigg Martin and Maino spoke with Hip-Hop Wired about the new energy that’s been brought to Brooklyn with the opening of the Barclays Center.The new collective, who have known each other since they were children, also talk about the importance of bringing quality street music back to Brooklyn as well as getting to make their big debut at this past Hot 97 SummerJam in MetLife Stadium.

Mar 02

BEASTS FROM THE EAST: PUSH! Montana

Via AllHipHop.com By DeOnna Hicks

A native of the same borough as many Hip-Hop Hall-of-Famers, Brooklyn resident PUSH! Montana is paving his own way and solidifying himself as more than just a money and drugs rapper, but a musician as well as a businessman. Applying street hustle techniques, pairing them with professionalism and work ethic, was the recipe used to get Montana on major releases, and featured in the most reputable outlets of urban media.

In the process of shooting visuals for every song off of his most recent release, “FRESH Dope.” recoding the P.U.S.H! EP, When PUSH! Comes to Shove, the mixtape and the “Brooklyn Boys” documentary, the rapper behind the popular moniker is well on his way to outranking everyone else in the game baring the name.

AllHipHop.com: I have to know, what’s the deal with the exclamation point in your name?

On The Radar: PUSH! Montana

PUSH! Montana

When it comes to street rap, specifically hustler music, there’s usually either that boastful shit or the reflective, honest music, and when it comes to the latter of those, PUSH! Montana is easily the nicest out right now. Through his words you can feel his stories and the emotion he puts into them, oh and he also has some of the sharpest, most clever bars as well as that Brooklyn swagger and flow which has proven time and time again which borough is the best. PUSH! Montana is a complete package MC and definitely a rapper that real mafuckas can relate to, and that anyone who’s gone through struggle will relate to.

Pouring his life into every line and proving himself as one of the most prolific and substantive MCs in the game, his latest effort, Fresh Dope is amazing from start to finish, something so rare these days. Right from the start the mixtape proves to be epic with “Who I Am” which boasts a beautiful hook over a hype but soulful beat while PUSH! introduces himself and his life with clever bars like “I remember filling out FAFSA, thinking bout the weed I was finna cop after” as well as simple but harsh truths like “no man can say he never sinned”. Elsewhere he notes that “they don’t need no work for a conspiracy charge”, this is real life music.

PUSH! has this ability to make you care about his stories from the jump the way you would care about an MC whose career you’ve followed for a decade, just like Nas did on Illmatic. Whether it’s the intense “Income” (“what good is income when the end come?”) or the somber yet informative “FreshDopeBoy” every bar PUSH! spits is filled with heart, every line is a lesson or an observation such as “got a jail record so we can’t find work, so we buy work…”. On “The Next One” he takes a phrase that is so constantly spoken in hip hop, that of the next big MC, and he asks how that rapper is supposed to live in the mean time, “what the fuck I’m supposed to do until the check come”. Songs like this are what set him apart from everyone else in the game as far as concepts and ideas.

Most rappers these days seem more concerned with popping bottles or bragging about how much money they got, but even when PUSH! is spitting those boastful rhymes he manages to do it in a way that lets you know he’s just telling it like it is, you gotta take the bad with the good and PUSH! manages to bring that perfect balance which is what makes his music so relatable, there’s droughts in the streets too and he lets you know that above all else surviving isn’t as easy at some rappers make it seem.

With Fresh Dope you get exactly that, as PUSH! Montana not only grips you with his bars, but spits over music so emotional that you truly feel it. This isn’t just another street rapper spitting cocaine lines, PUSH! Montana is a rapper’s rapper, an MC whose lyrics are powerful as well as clever, this is true artist who is telling his story for the world to hear. Check out Fresh Dope from PUSH! Montana as well as Rebirth of Fresh Vol. 1 with Don Cannon and look out for more from this incredible street scholar.

(Source: reppghhiphop.com)