What's the best way to see every curve in your favorite SG's body while she still has her clothes on? Leggings! It's one step away from body paint. Tight and sexy, just the way we like it. (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) (image) Fashion... more

What's the best way to see every curve in your favorite SG's body while she still has her clothes on? Leggings! It's one step away from body paint. Tight and sexy, just the way we like it.

























Fashion Notes

It's the trend that just won't go away. Leggings are here to stay! There are a lot of mixed feelings about the marriage between tights and pants, but hey- If you can't beat them, join them!

Liquid Leggings

They'll fit you just like water! American Apparel has a great selection of these "shiny" leggings in a multitude of colors and textures. You can try their standard Shiny Legging for $46.00 or the Nylon Tricot Legging for $34.00. They also have a High-Waist Legging for $49.00. As if liquid leggings aren't flashy enough for you, American Apparel has come up with the Polyester Spandex Shiny Stripe Two-Sided legging for $40.00.

To get the liquid look for less, you can always go to Forever 21. Check out these Chrome Leggings for only $10.80 or try their Snake Leggings for $13.80.

Jeggings

They're like really really skinny jeans, only comfortable. Introducing this season's hottest new trend - the jegging! Some say they're a do, most say they're a don't. We'll let you decide.

Good jeans are worth the ridiculous price tag they often come with, but what about designer jean leggings? Try Bebe's Triple Zip Denim Legging for $89.00. The Super Skinny Legging Jeans by 7 For All Mankind $149.00 will be a perfect fit. Or you can go with the Legacy Leggings by Rich & Skinny for $180.00.

Designer Leggings

Got some money to throw away, why not do it on designer leggings? Shopbop.com is the perfect place to scratch your couture legging itch. Check out these Elizabeth and James Melvins Pants for $265.00 or these super cute Mara Hoffman Studded Leggings for $295.00.

Or you can browse Lindsey Lohan's new legging line 6126, named after Marilyn Monroe's birthday. This collection is still available mostly in stores, but will be online soon enough!

Embellished Leggings

The perfect way to spice up any plain legging is by embellishing it with buttons, snaps, zippers, prints, cutouts and even laces.

Wet Look has a great selection of these funky alternatives all available at MyDivasCloset.com. These Lace Up Leggings for $38.00 will definitely make a statement, as will these Hook and Eye leggings for $35.00. Look extra hot in these Crochet Seamless leggings for $15.00 or the White Lace leggings for only $9.00! Got to love the snap, try these Triple Snap leggings for $15.00. Or you can try on someone else's skin with these Lurex Leopard Print for $9.00.

Forever 21 also has a great variety of leggings like these adorable Back Ruffled Leggings for $22.00 or their Floral Lace Leggings for $9.80.

Take a peek at these peek-a-boo cut out leggings. Silence & Noise from Urban Outfitters has some great Ladder Leggings for $38.00 or the Cutout Legging on sale for $19.99. AmericanApparel also has their hand in cutouts. Check out their Cotton Spandex Jersey Slit legging for $32.00.

Lil' Leggings

Even your children can get in on this trend. Have your babies be the talk of the sandbox with this hot new look! AmericanApparel has got you covered, look at these Kids Shiny Legging for $25.00. Your kid will never get in trouble for spilling paint on themselves again with this fashion statement- Kids Printed Nylon Tricot Legging.

Well, that's that! Love 'em or leave 'em, leggings are here to stay.

Check back for more Dirty Laundry and let SuicideGirls show you the best way to (un)dress.

Kevin Smith became more famous for just talking than he ever was for making movies like Clerks, Chasing Amy and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. His public speaking Q&A sessions fill large theaters, including Carnegie Hall. Arguably, his tales of debating a giant spider with producer Jon Peters, finding... more

Kevin Smith became more famous for just talking than he ever was for making movies like Clerks, Chasing Amy and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. His public speaking Q&A sessions fill large theaters, including Carnegie Hall. Arguably, his tales of debating a giant spider with producer Jon Peters, finding a camel for Prince and having unprotected sex with an open sore on his penis contain more laughs than any one of his films. In between public talks, Smith has graduated from journaling his random diatribes online to recording them in podcast form.

The Smodcast is Smith’'s audio sessions with friend and producer Scott Mosier. The name is simply the combination of the names Smith and Mosier with the word podcast. They debate such diverse topics as Helen Keller (was she faking it? Did Annie Sullivan have to explain sex to her?), cloning (would your clone be your best friend? If you slept with your clone, would you be gay?), the metaphysical (What if Smith hired Jennifer Connelly to become Scott Mosier while Mosier was still there observing?) and just plain sex talk (lap dances, puberty education literature, etc.) Friends and frequent collaborators Bryon Johnson, Walt Flanagan and Malcolm Ingram also join in from time to time.

"“On some level, it fulfills that childhood aspiration to have a comedy album,"” Smith told Suicide Girls in an exclusive phone interview. "“That’'s what I listened to when I was growing up, people doing bits on comedy albums whether it’'d be sketches or just standup material. Number one, I’'m not a comic so I could never do that sort of thing. But, because of what I do, I’'ve gotten this kind of backdoor into the world of standing on a stage with a mic and making people laugh, this quasi-standup world of mine with this Q&A or by extension, the Smodcast stuff. So it kind of works like that, where you could put it out there and people could listen to it. Granted, we'’re not selling it like they did back in the day with comedy records, but I kind of dig it. I know on some level it fulfills that desire of the 11 or 12-year-old in me to be Bill Cosby for a minute, but a really filthy mouthed version of him.”"

A collection of Smodcasts is coming out in print form as the book Shootin’ the Sh*t with Kevin Smith: The Best of Smodcast. Smith took the interview call from home, with his wife Jennifer Schwalbach out at Yoga and his daughter Harley at a playdate. That left Smith free and clear to discuss the depraved subjects of his Smodcasts and start a few new ones too.

Fred Topel: Did you always conceive of the Smodcast as potential material for a new book?

KS: The weird thing is, the idea for the Smodcast book came directly from the good folks at Titan. [Editor] Adam Newell was just like, “Hey, we had this idea about we'’re going to do an interview book with you, but why don'’t we just transcribe some of the Smodcasts? They'’re really funny.” And I was just like, “I don't know if it would really work in print form, dude.” He had two of them done, transcribed and then sent them to me. Reading it out loud, I was like, “That is actually kind of funny.” And it’'s weird because I know the material so you’'d imagine that wouldn'’t have caught me off guard but a couple things made me chuckle out loud just by reading it.

FT: Did you ever follow up on Helen Keller?

KS: It'’s so weird you say that because two days ago, somebody on the Twitter feed said, “Hey, here'’s a video of Helen Keller.” It was on YouTube and it was Helen Keller essentially displaying, showing the folks that she could indeed speak, putting her fingers to Annie Sullivan’s mouth and throat or something like that. Then she kind of echoed what Annie Sullivan said. It was amazing. I’'d never seen it before and I’'d never seen what either of them had looked like but I saw the cinematic depictions and sh*t. You'’re always seeing the wild feral girl in the beginning, and she just looked like some old timey lady, but not like this feral wild child that could barely speak or barely knew of its own existence. What was great about that episode of Smodcast was how much we learned after that. I know way more about Helen Keller now than I did before we did it, and it became a kind of signature Smodcast mood for me and Mosier where we would just speak at great lengths about something we didn'’t know that much about. And we never spoke with authority, like, “Oh, this is what really happened” but it was like, “I think I remember hearing it like this and this kind of thing happened.” Then the tradition that follows is you go to the website and you read the 100 corrections that people are like, “Dude, Helen Keller wasn'’t born that way. For a year and a half she could hear and see.” Or, “There is video of Helen Keller.” Stuff like that, where you’'re just like, “Well, I guess we were way the f*ck off base.”

FT: Well, you asked if she had sex or wanted sex, and then how Annie Sullivan explained it to her. A biography by Dorothy Hermann says she did like sex.

KS: That is wild. That gives me a great deal of relief but how does that get explained? I mean, how the f*ck did Annie Sullivan explain that.

FT: Don’'t we have to read the biography now to find out?

KS: I don't know. I don't know if I could commit that much time. I’'d rather somebody else read it, distilled it on the internet, I could read that.

FT: When you talk about having Jennifer Connelly remake Scott Mosier, did it occur to you that that’'s similar to the plot of Synechdoche, New York?

KS: No, is it? I don't know, I never saw Synechdoche but now, to even have kind of a similar idea to a genius like Charlie Kaufman would be kinda cool. But no, no. I don't know if Mosier ever saw it but I love the idea of f*ckin’ Jennifer Connelly trying to play Mosier.

FT: Now since you talk about sex a lot, do you mind some dirty questions?

KS: Not at all.

FT: For some reason I’'m worried about offending you.

KS: Oh, never.

FT: On that note...


KS: Get to the dirty stuff, go.

FT: You always say you like your wife to be on top. Can you come that way?

KS: That’'s the only way I come, brotha’. I mean, I could come any way I guess but, and this is so weird, we were talking about this last night. I have been married for 10 years and my wife has never really seen me do anything physical, up to and including my very limited role in our sex life where she does 95% of the work. But, when she saw me go play in the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament up in Brantford, For a dude of my size I’'m pretty limber. And, I was surprisingly good, for a guy who hadn’'t played goal in 15 years. The wife was just like, it was almost as if I was like, “Oh, you didn'’t know that I could make my c*ck three inches bigger? Like, I’'ve never told you that before? I'’m sorry. I just never wanted to do it until now.” It was just she’'d never seen that side of me. I caught a momentary flash of her being utterly impressed but then she quickly put it down because she’'s like, “I’'m not going to give him this.” Because she thinks I get too much affection everywhere in this world anyway. So I waited for like a minute or two to pass and then I was just like, “Admit that you got just a little bit moist when I blocked that shot.” And she'’s like, “I gotta tell you, it’'s impressive but it’'s befuddling because you won'’t f*ck me. I always have to f*ck you yet I can watch you explode in a display of physical prowess. I don'’t understand why you don'’t bring that to the bedroom.” And I was like, “Because I don’'t have to. What’'s the point? If you do it all, I’'m happy with that. And you like it better doing it also. I'’m happy with that. That’'s a good thing for me.”

FT: Then, isn'’t cuddling underrated? Laying in bed naked playing with boobies is nice too.

KS: It is. I used to be a huge foreplay guy. I married somebody who’'s not. I married somebody who'’s just like, “Why are you wasting my time? Let’'s f*ckin’ bone.” So it'’s kinda hot. She’'s very much the dude in this relationship. I am total femme dude in every way, shape and form with the exception of I don’'t take it. She just controls it on when it comes to that aspect of our lives and I wouldn’'t have it any other way.

FT: Now to get deep. You talk about the ramifications of cloning in the Smodcast and the book. Do you think about the current debates like health care? They’'re worried about death panels. How could they ever handle it if human cloning became a real possibility?

KS: You’'re killing me here, man. You’'re blowing my mind. I mean, we all just sat around goofing about Walt wanting a clone which we all thought was adorable. So uncharacteristic that the dude expressed like, “I’'ve always wanted a clone.” The ramifications of cloning we touch on a little bit only inasmuch as let’'s get the comedy going. I don't think it’'s going to happen, dude. I mean, it ain'’t gonna happen for years. We really have to evolve as a species and a culture before that could ever be considered bringing into practical reality. Like creating whole people just to harvest them or creating whole people, I mean that’'s just more people to feel. This planet has a problem feeding who'’s here now.

FT: Do you think about politics? Do you ever share political views?

KS: Oh, like in practicality, in real life, outside of Smodcast?

FT: Yeah, because you stay away from political stuff in the public forums.

KS: Yeah, just because I'’m not that bright. I could speak knowingly or knowledgably about any number of subjects but politics, not at all. Mosier is our political guy and even he’'s not as immersed in it, but man, he knows way more than I do, that'’s for sure. I always tend to stay away. I'’m not very political. It’'s weird, when I became “successful” inasmuch as I started making money doing what I love, people were like, “You should go Republican, dude, because you’'ve got money now.” I’'m like, “Why? I don’'t understand that.” “Well, they'’ll help you keep that money.” I don't know, the money aspect to this job, I'’ve got a good relationship with it. I’'m never ashamed of it but at the same time, it’'s never been the driving factor so it’s also never been a problem for me. So for me, it’'s always about how cool it is to do it. You look at something like Clerks II. I literally took no salary to make the movie. Nothing whatsoever. I earned nothing off of Clerks II. I just did it because I wanted to do it and I was like, “Thank God somebody’'s giving me the money to do it so I don'’t care. I’'m just happy to do it.” [My next film] A Couple of Dicks, I took a huge price cut to do the movie just because that was the only way the movie was going to get done based on the budget. I was like, “You know what? I always wanted to make a Bruce Willis movie.”

FT: You got to be in Live Free or Die Hard and now direct a Bruce Willis movie. Things really worked out for you since he turned down Jersey Girl.

KS: Yeah, things panned out for me, man. I don't know, you stick around long enough and all your dreams come true I guess.

FT: What can you tell Batman fans about the series you’re writing, Widening Gyre?”

KS: The story, we re-introduced Silver St. Cloud into the matrix. Batman’'s past kinda comes into his present and it’'s good, dude. I like it. I hope people aren'’t getting ready for a f*ckin’ slam bang action-fest run. It’'s really kind of more about what happens when Bruce reaches this point in his life where he'’s seen his kid sidekicks grow up and go onto their own lives and have normal lives and girlfriends, the things that other people have that he’'s always sacrificed, that he’'s always said, “I could never have.” Suddenly, it’'s coinciding with the appearance of this new vigilante who Bruce is just like, “You know, I’'ve always been training kids. Maybe if I f*ckin’ brought an adult under my wing, it might be different and I can take some more time for myself.” So that’'s kind of what it’'s about and I probably turned off everybody that had half an interest in it but I don't know, I dig it. The folks at DC have been so accommodating and wonderful and what not. Everybody, our team on the book is great. This dude Mike Marts is a really wonderful editor that Dan Didio gave us and we got Art Thibert doing the inks on this one. He honors Walt [Flanagan]’'s inks but still kinda brings out a lot of great stuff in it. We got Art Lyon doing colors. Looks really, really f*ckin’ good. It’'s just a really strong book, so happy with it and it’'s something that I’'m going to enjoy. I remember reading the kind of mediocre review and going, like, “I don't know, dude. I’'m sitting here holding my Cacophony hardcover and it'’s just a cool thing. Whether you like the story or not is kind of irrelevant at this point because I'’m holding a hardcover of this comic book I wrote a couple months back and my friend Walt Flanagan, who I’'ve known for over 20 years, drew.” It’'s just way bigger than whether or not somebody thinks I did a good job writing Batman dialogue. This is far bigger than that, dude. This isn'’t about me making a paycheck. This is about a kid getting the keys to the f*ckin’ candy store and being told like, “Hey, go have fun. With your friend!” Like oh, that’'s amazing. Sh*t like that happens to me and I’'m always just like oh, that'’s the best part of the job, man. Don’'t get me wrong, money is f*ckin’ cool and it affords you a lot of cool things but money’'s just never been the driving factor for me.

FT: When will you start work on your Green Hornet comic, based on the script you wrote for a movie back at The Weinstein Company?

KS: Dicks took a lot out of me and rightfully so. I had to devote all my attention to it. For the first month, I was splitting my attention to the movie and the Carnegie Hall thing, the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament thing back in June, but then once Carnegie Hall was done, then it was all I could focus just on Dicks. Everything else went to the side. So now that I'’m done shooting Dicks and I’'m working on fine cutting it right now, I can kind of go back to the Green Hornet script and break it down because I don’'t want to just give them the script that I wrote for the movie and be like, “Here, figure it out.” I want to see if I can maybe break it down for whoever the artist is going to be, the same way that I write any comic book script. [Dynamite President and Publisher] Nick [Barrucci] wants to make it part of the canon for their Green Hornet tenureship so I said, “Dude, that’'s very flattering. I think my script for Green Hornet was all right, but in some places it was goofy. I don't know if you want that to be part of your continuity.” And he was like, “Well, we can have multiple Hornets as you know. We can have Hornet in the past, you’'re doing the Hornet most people would know from the Van Williams/Bruce Lee era so to speak. Then we'’ll do future Hornet as well. No, I want your story to be in continuity.” So I don't know, I’'m still going to fight him on that I think.

FT:You were one of the Weinsteins’ golden boys back in the Miramax days. Even with the recent success of Inglourious Basterds, why do you think The Weinstein Company has struggled? They used to be the masters of indie films.

KS: Yeah, you'’re absolutely right. They were the masters and they invented the game but the problem is, everybody else learned how to play the game too. Like when Wayne Gretzky broke out in the NHL, nobody had ever seen a player like him before but by the time Wayne Gretzky retired, there were a lot of people who played not specifically like Wayne Gretzky but a lot of people were now playing at his level of proficiency. I think it’'s kind of the same thing here. When Miramax got into the game, they were such f*ckin’ game changers, man. Nobody knew what was happening. It was like watching Billy Smith get scored on by Wayne Gretzky. Maybe not Billy Smith because he’'s actually able to f*ckin’ defend against Wayne Gretzky. But it’'s like watching an NHL goalie circa 1983/84 face off against Wayne Gretzky. They just weren'’t prepared. They were like, “Where the f*ck did this come from?” It was the same thing with the brothers Weinstein and Miramax. When they sprang onto the scene, they took the world by storm. They were just brilliant geniuses at doing what they did. But the thing is, you do that long enough and people observe you, they'’re going to learn how to do it too and other people started doing it. For me, to my reckoning, the moment that Dreamworks put out American Beauty, that’'s when other studios figured out how to make a Miramax movie. Once that happened, they had way more resources, all these studios and whatnot, to make those kind of pictures. So Harvey started competing at that level and that’'s where the Cold Mountains come from and The Aviator. The dude created something that everyone else learned how to do from him and then they just learned to do it so well that he kind of had to learn to play catch up. It doesn'’t mean that they’ll never be great again but you’'ve got to stay sharp, dude.

FT: Finally, to preview A Couple of Dicks, how did you end up directing a movie you didn'’t write?

KS: Dicks kind of sprang at me, which sounds so erotic, it was after San Diego Comic Con, not this year but the year before. Jeff Robinov who heads up the motion picture group over at Warner Brothers was at this Q&A I’'d done with Zack Snyder. It was me, Zack Snyder, Frank Miller and Judd Apatow and I guess I was funny because the dude was like, “Send him in because I want to meet with him.” It was weird because we’'d had some friction in the past and we were just like, “Hey, let'’s put that aside.” He’'s going, “I think you'’re funny and I want you to work here and blah blah blah.” And I was like, “Yeah, man, one day, whatever you got, we'’ll see.” He had sent it to me and he hit me with the e-mail with, “What’'d you ever think of Dicks?” I was like, “Hey, man, I don’'t run that way.” Then he explained what he was talking about and all bad d*ck joke puns aside, I read the script. I was like, “Wow, this is kinda like a cop movie if I would’'ve wrote the cop movie.” He loved Zack and Miri so he was like, “I want you to do what you did to Zack and Miri but with this movie.” I was like, “What, give it a f*ckin’ title that nobody will go see it and we'’ll have to fight for?” Because that’'s where we are right now. [Laughs] Fighting for the Couple of Dicks title. Not fighting but it’s weird. It’'s not a fight yet. CBS, NBC and ABC all said that they would not run a spot before 9 o'’clock p.m. Now, that’'s fine because it’'s an R-rated movie but at the same time, you want to be advertising this R-rated movie during sports.

FT: So you might change the name before this movie comes out?

KS: Look, Warner Brothers is doing everything they can but you can'’t fight City Hall. This all comes down to Janet Jackson'’s boobs still. That’'s where the problem is. I'’m just like what f*ckin’ financial crisis are we in where a network can afford to turn down pricey top dollar advertising just because they're like, “We'’re uncomfortable with the word Dicks, what it may infer to people.” I mean, yes, it'’s a double entendre. Of course it’'s a double entendre. That’'s what’'s funny about it. It’'s not even a discussion, dude. In this world, it’'s just like, “All right, of course we'’ll do something about it because why would we go through all this effort just to have nobody see the movie because we can'’t advertise the movie because of the title?” Simply change the title. Movie doesn’'t change.” If they had gotten me prior to Zack and Miri, I probably would’'ve went down swinging like, “No, it’s all about the integrity of the title.” After having gone through the debacle of the Zack and Miri Make a Porno title, believe me, dude. I’'ve been f*cked once. I don’'t want to get f*cked again. Probably not a week of my life goes by in the last year where I wasn’'t like, “Why didn’t I just call the f*ckin’ thing Dirty Movie? What was I, an idiot?” When Humpday came out, I was like, “These motherf*ckers are brilliant! What a great title. Why did I go with Zack and Miri Make a Porno? I’'m such an idiot.” I mean, I like the movie and stuff. It’'s just the title, man. The title really, really hurt us.

Shootin’ the Sh*t with Kevin Smith: The Best of Smodcast is available September 22.

Have I macked my new song on you guys yet? It's going to be on the radio starting today: "You Should Be Doubly Gratified."

KRS-One, also known as The Blastmaster or The Teacha, has been one of the most respected emcees in hiphop since he got his start in the late '80s as one half of Boogie Down Productions. Since building his reputation on tracks like Stop the Violence and Sound of da Police, KRS has enjoyed a long and... more

KRS-One, also known as The Blastmaster or The Teacha, has been one of the most respected emcees in hiphop since he got his start in the late '80s as one half of Boogie Down Productions. Since building his reputation on tracks like Stop the Violence and Sound of da Police, KRS has enjoyed a long and celebrated solo career, with over a dozen albums to his name.

That's why his new album, Survival Skills, is such a big deal. In his first real collaboration since the BDP days, he's teaming up with Buckshot, an emcee who's got a pretty big reputation of his own. Buckshot was one of the main players in Brooklyn's hiphop supergroup Boot Camp Clik, and a member of Black Moon. Together, they're on a mission to spread a bit of hip hop history to a new generation of fans, and teach everyone what it takes to survive in the rap game for as long as they have.

KRS and Buck talked to Suicide Girls about the state of hip hop and the aims of Survival Skills.

Jay Hathaway: How do you feel about selling records to kids who have never heard of Grandmaster Flash or Roger Troutman?

KRS-One: As a historian, it's a straight privilege to be able to influence anybody to the historical and traditional heritage of hip hop. This is one thing we noticed also on the Rock the Bells tour. Everybody didn't know who we were. Some people knew Buckshot, didn't know KRS. Believe that. Others knew KRS, didn't know Buckshot. Some people didn't know either of us. To be out there talking about, "this ain't a diss to nobody's art / 'cause Afrika Bambataa gave you the start," and they barely know who Afrika Bambataa is, this is part of work. This is our job, to educate the masses, let them know that there's an importance to the heritage that we are putting forward. We're not just music merchants. We're preserving our culture, we're preserving our way of life. Anybody who has a critique against preserving your own way of life, all you can call those people are cowards, there's no way around it.

JH: Do you think that a lot of people are going to copy you on this whole anti-autotune movement? Other than Jay-Z, I mean ...

Buckshot: We've moved on. We killed that thing already, and we've moved on. We run a hip hop military mindframe, and one thing we don't do, we don't glorify a kill. We get in and get out. The people don't want this no more, so we're going to represent the people. That's why you see Survival Skills, 'cause we're on to the next lesson. Now we're going to show you what it takes to have survival skills. Buckshot and KRS said "fuck autotune," as far as saying "don't be a biter like everybody else," and then everyone else came to the table and said, "Yeah, you know what? Fuck autotune." So a leader is always going to be a leader, and a follower is always going to be a follower. That's always going to be what it is.

JH: So people are copying you when you say, "Don't copy?"

BS: It's not a person saying "I'm copying Buckshot." You can't copy me, and I don't promote that. What they're doing is they're getting a clearer vision of being able to say, "I didn't know there was an option, before Buckshot and KRS-One said it."

JH: KRS, I know you're The Teacha, but what did you learn from Buckshot by doing this album?

KRS: We always say that we never stop learning. It's not anything that I've learned, it is that I'm continuously learning. The experience is not one that I can put my finger on. It's really the inspiration. This is an opportunity for KRS-One to have a beginning again, to be grounded again. If I'm learning anything, I'm learning about the grounding of KRS-One, the need for KRS-One to be relevant in today's world. Before the Buckshot album, I was pretty much by myself. I did an album with my brother, Kenny, I did an album with Freddie Foxxx, but nothing as important as this album, and that's real. It's like you've traveled 10 miles and back again, and someone else says, "I've got a brand new car. Let's go do those 10 miles one more time." This time, you know the terrain, you know where you're going, but you're not in the same vehicle, and you're not driving with the same people. It's actually new, but it's old.

KRS-One has to constantly reinvent himself in the face of this debate that he may be too old to be rhymin'. Why are you rhyming? Why are you still touring? People ask these dumb questions, as if we're not getting thousands of dollars for doing it. Forget about "love the art," forget all that. As a 40 year-old, 30 year-old, 25 year-old man or woman, if you have a skill at DJing or emceeing, and you make more money than certain doctors or lawyers, why would you skip out on that? People don't think that far ahead, so they say, "You're too old for that." How can you be too old for 50 thousand dollars a show?

I urge all so-called old school artists or true school artists to find your guy from the nineties, your dude, this young kid in you, and do an album with him. Straight up and down, this could be a new business model for hiphop. It unites the young with the old, it unites the beginner with the seasoned vet. Buckshot's no beginner, and Buck is not a youngin' either [laughs] but our album represents that vibe. Buckshot's representin' today's emcee: young, fiery, ready to roll. I'm representin' the tradition heritage of hip hop, the foundation, the pillars.

JH: Buck, what's your favorite KRS-One track? And KRS, what's your favorite thing Buckshot's done?

BS: That's hard. It ain't gonna be political, I'm gonna just say KRS. That's like asking me what's my favorite part about my favorite emcee.

KRS: Right, that's a hard question. Each song hits you a certain way. There's not one song or moment in that sense. It's hard. That question's hard.

BS: Every song has a different aesthetic. Every song. That's why I cap it off by saying, Kris. Period. The answer to that question is KRS-One himself.


JH: When you've got two experienced, well-respected emcees like yourselves in a room together, do you get competitive with one another?

BS: No. I'm gonna say that in my heart. I'm so wrapped up in going, "This is Kris. He gets on the mic, he can't do no wrong." Meaning, fuck that, he can talk about trees and swaying in the wind.

KRS: [laughs]

BS: To be able to come behind Kris is a privilege. It's like ... volcanic gasses are needed, but not inside New York. Negative energy is needed, but it don't exist in our realm.

KRS: This union between Buck and I is so opposite to that, competition. Some people thrive on that. I think some individuals come together, and even though they love each other and respect each other, they thrive on the competition between each other. We're more like Voltron, like a sort of coming together. I'm relying on Buck onstage. Even at the Rock the Bells concert, he's doing my vocals. The album's so new, I didn't even have time to study my shit, Buckshot already studied the whole album. We're onstage in front of 5, 6, 700 people, and I'm freestyling, and Buck's trying to do the vocals. It's that kind of Batman-Robin Justice League-type morphing, becoming two versions of the same idea. That's what Survival Skills is really about: here's a younger and an older version of the same idea, here's a Brooklyn and a Bronx version of the same idea, here's two different eras of hiphop with the same idea. Competition just doesn't come in.

JH: How have you managed to put out so many albums that people want to buy, and stay so relevant to a new generation of listeners?

KRS: A lot of people are starting to put out music that reflects a certain time and tone, and that time and tone was '91 to 2001, that whole 10-stretch. This generation is trying to see what that '91-2001 was like. If you didn't have respect in '91 to 2001, you don't exist today. And that's respect to all my dudes, man, I know dudes that are not around today for no other reason than that they just didn't go the route‚ like my man Tone Loc, that's my dude, no doubt, but where is he today? He's doing movies, he's doing voiceovers for cartoons, he ain't strugglin', but where is he today? Where is Young MC? Where are these guys that were coming up in my era? King Tee. Where are these guys?

Everybody had a plan, everybody was the man, everybody was God body. Everybody knew what they were gonna do, but only a few of us made it into the new millennium, and we weren't the record sellers either. Tone Loc was the biggest record seller of the '90's, and today young cats don't even know who he is. Groups like Wu-Tang didn't sell shit. Compared to the millions that hip hop was selling at that time, Protect Ya Neck was a hot single and that's about it. But now, 2009, you say "Method Man" to a 13 year-old, they're fuckin' in tears, ready to go pay 50 dollars to see Meth walk around and possibly bring Redman out. And why? Because Redman and Method Man gained some kind of respect in the '90s.

What keeps you relevant in the minds of people is stories they can tell about you. What you made them feel when they came to the concert, that kind of stuff. I don't see too many groups working on that these days. They're more interested in the girl, or the ice, or the car. They're not really interested in doing things for respect. The only reason I'm doing this right now is for respect!

And they're not even doing it for the cash, they're doing it for glamor. That's how pussy we got. Even in the '90s, it was all about the Benjamins. In the new millennium, it's all about pussy. That's all it's fuckin' about. Motherfuckers rappin' about pussy, niggas are pussy, niggas talkin' pussy.

BS: Motherfuckers have got so terrible that when they say the ice and the fame, if you take those chains to the pawn shop, they're not even real diamonds!

KRS: They're not even real! [laughs]

BS: We got so low that now it ain't about nothin' else but the pussy.

KRS: Oh, shit! That's all we got left! You either chasin' pussy or you are a pussy. That's the state of hip hop. Lowercase hip hop. Capital Hip Hop is over with Survival Skills, and we ain't pussy. At the end of the day, that's what it really comes down to now.

JH: Who do you think is going to be around in the next 10 years?

KRS: Whatever this album does, me and Buckshot bought ourselves a ticket into the new millennium. There's a generation that now knows, heard, know our point of view. All we gotta do is stay consistent, and we walk right into another decade.

The usual suspects. L'il Wayne'll be around, but over the next 5 years, he has to do more community work. And I'm not saying that 'cause I'm an activist. The community gotta see you out there, even though you're a huge artist. I'd say Wayne. Just look at the people that you remember now. If you don't remember an artist now, you're not gonna remember him 10 years from now. Cats that you just don't think about anymore, those are the cats that are gone. They're on their way out. That could be some of your biggest artists. Wayne if he don't play his game right. That could be 50 if he don't play his game right.

Immortal Technique, if he stays consistent with what he's spittin', he'll make it into the next decade, because what he's saying is so shocking. On Survival Skills, he says, "Fuck the commercial world, I'd rather stay underground." That is a strong statement. You're drawing the line and saying "I will forever scramble for mine. Even if you hand me a million dollars, I will reject you. I'm gonna go down with the ship."

BS: He said, "I'd rather stay raw," and raw means untampered. Unseasoned. Unflavored.

JH: Do you have to draw that line and make that statement to have credibility?

KRS: It's a survival skill. If you don't stand for something, you fall for everything. The line has to be drawn at some point in your life. If you're young, then you've got time to fuck around, play both sides, lie about your associations, say "I'm a gangster but I'm really not," say, "I'm conscious, but I'm really not." After 26, 27, you start hitting 30, and you have to keep it real with yourself, as a man or as a woman, or you're not going to be able to go to sleep at night. As a little boy, you can play that shit, but as a grown-ass man who's got a reputation to hold, you gotta draw the line. I ain't no bitch, let's draw the line. I'm not listening to commercial radio, let's draw the line. I'm not gonna sign up and laugh along with those who disrespect women, let's draw the line. When you draw the line, you ain't surrounded by no bitch-ass niggas. You're surrounded by real brothers, real sisters, real gods and goddesses. When you draw the line, people know what side of the fence you're on, and people can trust you. It's not for credibility or authenticity, it's so that you can sleep at night.

JH: Where do you draw it, personally?

KRS: Me? I draw the line between real and fake, right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice. That's it. I stand with God. I know we live in a godless time and more people every day are becoming atheists, and the church, the temple, the synagogue, the mosque all have failed people, but I still stand with God. I have no choice. My whole life is magical and mystical. I have one foot in the material world and the other in the spiritual world. Two of the people that I love dearly are guiding me right now: Scott La Rock and my son Randy. Both of them are in the spirit world guiding us right now. You can't talk like a pimp if you're a prophet. I draw the line on that. You can hang out with pimps, I do all the time. My nigga Freddie Foxxx will teach you somethin' about pimpin', yes he will. But at the end of the day, I'm the Teacha. There's stuff these cats don't realize about the real hood, about the real streets. The real streets respect teachers. They don't really respect that gangster shit, and we know this, but kids still wanna pop that shit. Them hardened cats in federal pen that's really doing hard time, they're listening to Buckshot and KRS.

BS: Word.

KRS: Real G's, real dudes, they're on their knees asking God for forgiveness for offing that dude last week, or selling that shit, or whatever ... every dude I speak to, they're like, "Yo, Teacha, I got this whole block on lock. Anything you want around here is you, but yo, I'm strugglin'." I could tell you some stories right now that would blow your mind.

BS: Hold on, hold on. Not to cut you off, Kris, but I spoke to
Sanyika Shakur, aka Monster Kody. I speak to his sister and his kids on the regular. Real talk: this is an individual who was a product of what he grew up in, and tried his best to change it. He's not glorifying that. All the people like Tupac or Sanyika Shakur, who grew up in the struggle and had to say "Fuck you," loud, in order for people to hear it, ultimately said, "This is why I said 'Fuck you," so he wasn't just ignorant about it.

KRS: Right, right. Pac is a damn good example. Everybody claiming thug life, and Pac explained that shit outright, explicitly. When he says thug life, he's meaning, "Fuck this corruption, we gonna survive." And that's a survival skill, that real shit. That constant fake gangster shit is such a distraction.

BS: You get no benefit from it, even. It's one thing when you benefit financially, right? But cats can't even benefit financially from it anymore, so you just look like clowns. If I walk up to you onstage and say, "Yo, son, let me get a key of cocaine like you said on your record," you'd say, "Oh, shit, I don't do that! That was just for the record!" The guy who said, "I'm gonna be a gangsta rapper," there's a price to pay for that ...

KRS: Word.

BS: .. as long as you're willing to pay that price and play that position. If you look at everybody who came before you, they'll show you the price. It's either death or in jail.


Survival Skills is available Sept. 15th 2009