Hip-Hop pioneer and Nas’ former mentor Large Professor, born William Paul Mitchell, has announced his sixth studio album. Titled “Down South Up Top”, the legendary emcee has revealed that the upcoming LP will feature guest verses by Freddie Gibbs and Wu-Tang Clan‘s top-tier emcee Ghostface Killah. Reportedly, the LP is a joint effort with Raw Wattage.
Large Professor holds a far-reaching influence over Hip-Hop across the globe. A veteran emcee and record producer straight out of New York City, Professor laid one of the earliest foundations of rap music. In 1989, Professor started out as the founder of the East Coast Hip-Hop group “Main Source” alongside K-Cut and Sir Scratch. Professor produced numerous records on Eric B. & Rakim’s third LP “Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em” a year later.
Besides his work with Eric B. & Rakim, Professor worked with a plethora of rap pioneers including Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Tragedy Khadafi, Mobb Deep, A Tribe Called Quest and more. In fact, he even assisted Nas with his first demo just ahead of ‘Illmatic’.
During a sit down with Rolling Stone, Professor revealed crucial details about his long-awaited studio album. By joining hands with Freddie Gibbs and Ghostface Killah, the legendary emcee strives to bridge the gap between “Southern and East Coast Hip-Hop”. “We got Ghostface Killah, Freddie Gibbs,” Large Professor said. “We doing a lot of bridging of the Southern and East Coast artists, but it’s all boom bap, it’s all relentless ill, boom bap.”
Speaking about the creative direction of his upcoming LP, Professor said that he is “taking a different approach with this album.”
“We taking a different approach with this album. Instead of just recording it and putting it out, we’ve recorded it, and we hit the road with it. So now we going around and we making moves with that, hitting the stage with it and getting the crowd’s feedback, and yo, it’s dope so far,” Professor said.
Notably, Professor is working on a “compilation album” too. The album will reportedly feature “a lot of the new up-and-coming artists” including Atlanta’s breakthrough artist Stahr.
“Right now, I’m currently working on a compilation album where a lot of the new up-and-coming artists that I like, like a female artist named Stahr from Atlanta. She’s kind of fire. I got some joints with my man Al Skratch. So I got the new and the old, just the whole spectrum of hip-hop.” Professor said.
Look out for Large Professor’s sixth LP “Down South Up Top” with Raw Wattage.
Listen to Large Professor’s debut LP ‘Breaking Atoms’ with Main Source here.
