Statik Selektah and a roster of hip-hop heavyweights stormed New York City’s S.O.B.’s last night (June 18) to celebrate yesterday’s release of Extended Play, Statik’s fifth studio album.

In an interview with XXL after the show, the producer/DJ spoke about having one of the much-hyped June 18 album releases:  “This is definitely one of the craziest days of my life.  Just seeing every conversation about Kanye and J. Cole and Mac Miller—they’re all friends of mine, but I don’t always get put in that circle.  And it’s crazy because I had this release date first, and they all hopped on.”

Extended Play boasts a long and impressive list of guest appearances, including Bun B, AZ, Talib Kweli, Black Thought, Joell Ortiz, Smif-N-Wessun, Joey Bada$$, Prodigy, Action Bronson and Styles P.  An East-Coast-heavy lineup of Extended Play artists took the stage last night, including early performances by Brooklyn’s Push!, Troy Ave and Flatbush Zombies.  When asked how it felt to be part of the release show, Zombie Juice told XXL that, “It feels amazing.  The album is dope, the track that we have is dope, and we’re happy to be here to support.”

The stream of Brooklyn talent continued with Boot Camp Clik’s Sean Price.  Wearing a “Keep Calm and Rub My Beard” T-shirt, the Brownsville MC danced, bounced and joked his way through a relentlessly energetic set.  The audience ate it up, wildly cheering the “Figure Four” line, “Sean Carter is nice but Sean Price is the best.”

Between headliners, Wais P, Termanology and JFK from Statik’s Showoff Records took turns on the mic, and the sons of O.D.B. and Big Pun unleashed a couple of fast and furious a capella rhymes.

Brooklyn’s Joey Bada$$ and Pro Era flooded the stage to wild response, and got the crowd clapping and rapping, mixing dynamic, all-smiles performance with somber salutes to Pro Era’s late member, Capital Steez.  Along with newer material, the crew rolled out a few tracks from 1999, namely “Hardknock” and “Survival Tactics”, including Steez’s verse.

Statik told XXL last night that his favorite part of Extended Play is the way he mixes “a lot of different new talent with old talent.”  This played out onstage as Black Thought of the Roots followed up Pro Era in a continuous wave of high energy.  At the end of his set, the Philly MC rhymed “Rage is Back” over the “N.Y. State of Mind” instrumental, and Statik reminded the crowd that, “This is real legendary tonight, New York!”

Bun B closed out the evening with his legendary Southern flavor, dropping a solid set of classics including “International Players Anthem” and, of course, “Big Pimpin’”.  After the show, Bun talked about his history with Statik Selektah: “I think I met Statik in Boston, we hit it off instantly—he reminded me of me in a lot of ways.  He’s a great artist, makes incredible music, and I just feel very happy to be able to join up and record with him.  It’s beautiful to be a part of good things happening in hip-hop, and I love what’s happening with Showoff and what they’re bringing to the table.”

Patrick Castelo, Director Of Booking SOBs gave his thoughts about hosting the legendary producer/DJ album release party, "I remember listening to Statik Selektah's 'Spell My Name Right' back in 2007. Now seeing him grow into the Dj and producer he is today and achieving a sold out show at SOB's is amazing. I salute him for it. The line up he put together was great from new school cats like Flatbush Zombies and Joey Bada$$ to the legendary Bun B. I am proud of his progress." —Katie Moore

 

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