The Queens rappers are bringing their rivalry to an end…
From the outside, New York is a colossal, almost infinite space, a warren of streets, alleys, communities, and boroughs. The lived experience, though, is a little different – in each locality, the boundaries are tightly defined, meaning that in real terms, almost everybody in your area will know everybody else.
It’s worth keeping in mind when looking at the twin trajectories of Nas and
JAY-Z. Two iconic rappers of a similar age, and from a similar areas – Queens - Nas broke out first, with his iconic debut album ‘Illmatic’ remaining the LP most often cited as rap’s finest. JAY-Z emerged from the shadow of Biggie Smalls, and when he gained the limelight he never let go – currently a billionaire, he’s without doubt one of the most commercially successful musicians of his or any other era.
Body Meat makes mind-bending future pop, but it comes from its maker’s past.
At the beginning of the video for Body Meat’s Ultima - a hyperactive rush of mutated pop with dextrous, dense rhythms - a woman’s voice speaks out over the footage of a rundown trailer that’s battling subsummation from the surrounding woodland undergrowth. This dusty steel box is situated outside the tiny Maryland, US town of Elkton and was home to
Body Meat’s Chris Taylor, alongside his sister and mother, for two years of a childhood that was punctuated by repeated upheaval, financial and emotional hardships.