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Last week brought us the seemingly left-fielded collaboration spawned by renowned producer and DJ Statik Selektah and Brooklyn-born, Jersey-bred lyricist Ransom, The Proposal. "We met recently on my Shade 45 radio show," Statik says. "We both had similar views on how corny this "game" can be and decided to get in the studio. We made "Unexplainable" and the rest happened fast." The album offers a comprehensive sound that gives implication it's a partnership years in the making to those none the wiser.

However, you'll be surprised to learn that the album was a product of a simple process: Statik directly messaged Ransom on Twitter about collaborating, the two discussed a theme, and after a mere month of production and recording, as Ransom would recall later, the album and it's ten-track entirety was completed and released to the public. Pretty impressive work, considering the project is the first the two have collaborated on together, huh?

We're not the only ones who think so, with many considering the project to be bonafide homage to the gritty, authentic '90s New York boom-bap type of sound hip-hop was founded and raised upon. "Thats my sound in general, but more updated and bigger sounding," Statik explains of his style. "All my projects have that feel."

The public reaction is no surprise to Ransom. Citing Kool G Rap, Jay Z, Nas and DMX as stylistic inspirations, Ransom believes himself to be the last of a dying breed in hip-hop. "I'm the last one you're really gonna get that sound from. That believable [hip-hop] sound.” He further explains: "It took weeks, but four individual days in the studio to make [The Proposal]." If this is the type of material these two can produce in four days, we're scared to see what the two are cooking up next. Which may be hitting the Internet sooner than you think, as Ransom tells us that a Part 2 to The Proposal is already in the works.

But for now, let's get into the first installment. The former A-Team member discussed their collaborative album with XXL, in a track-by-track break down.Christina Kelly

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"I Do"

Ransom: Well the name of the album is called The Proposal, and it can be taken in a lot of ways, but the way I had it in my head is that I'm proposing to the game. And so this song is my proposal to the game, the street game and the music game. So [in this song], we're actually taking our vows. And then in the second verse, I'm showing that we're kinda involved, and I'm showing the ups and downs of being involved, as far as the drug game and the street game. When I do something, I try to do it a little different, be creative.

23. Statik Selektah
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"Unexplainable"

Ransom: This is the first joint we did, first time being in the studio with Statik. We were going through beats, and he played that beat, and me and a couple of my friends liked it. [We thought] it sounded like stadium music. And from there, Statik started scratching, and that's how we started.

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"Outcast" Featuring Ea$y Money"

Ransom: [Laughs.] "Outcast" is kind of an angry joint. Well, not angry, but when I heard the beat I was like, yeah this is aggressive. And I'm known to get aggressive and speak my mind, so I took the joint and attacked it. We did this joint the second night. [Ea$y Money] was in the studio at the time, with me and Terminology and a couple of other people too. So I cam up with the hook, and he came up with his part [based on] a previous song I had done called "Pain." We kind took the lyrics from there and incorporated that into the hook.

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"Life of Sin"

Ransom: [This song] is basically a real story. I heard the beat and real stories just came to my mind. Everything in that record is pretty much real and really happened to me. I speak about my brother's death [which happened about a year ago]. This story is a 100% real record. I speak on just getting out of jail, and then [having] that happen, so I had a little rough time going on in my life. It was kinda hard making music, and I speak about it throughout the album actually.

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"How It Feels"

Ransom: This is actually an interesting song, because I had these lyrics written already. This song was the first one I wrote when I came home from prison. I had put it on a couple of other beats, but I never had put it out. I kinda held it close to my heart. I don't know why, but it felt kind of shaky [when I first wrote it], because when I was in jail I didn't write any lyrics, so I didn't even know if I could still rap. So when I heard the [Statik] beat, I was like let me put this out, and it came out pretty dope. I've actually never told anybody this, I never told Statik that. This track is the most nostalgic to me, because I had it for like two years before showing it to anybody, because I didn't think it was good enough.

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"Jade"

Ransom: I wouldn’t say this is a ladies joint, 'cause I didn't really aim to make one of those, but when I heard this beat, I was like yeah I like [this], and I just rapped what felt right on this beat. I didn't even plan to have a joint like this on there. Just talking about the ladies, on this one.

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"1996"

Ransom: It's funny 'cause Statik was going through the beats, and he played this one. I was like "That's a Nas sample right?" He was like, "Yeah, that's the intro to It Was Written." And so he played the beat, and I did the lyrics, kinda reminiscing. It was kinda mistake to have Nas on the end of it, because he was scratching the beat and then words came into the sample. And I just thought it would be dope if [Statik] left Nas at the end. So that's why we named it "1996," because that's the year It Was Written came out.

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"It's Ransom" Featuring Styles P

Ransom: This is a joint where I had the lyrics already. So when I got the official beat, I did one verse to see how it [would] sound. I was in New York one day, just playing some stuff for Styles, and I played the verse for him and he thought it was dope. He asked me if I was gonna do anything else with it, and I didn't know where I wanted to go with it, so I was like, "Nah." So I sat back down and next think I know he's in the booth. I heard it coming through the speakers and I was like, "Oh shit." I didn't even ask him to do it, he just did it. I thought that was crazy.

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"Reservoir Scars"

Ransom: This was also a joint I had written previously, when I had just gotten home [from prison]. I wasn't really too sure about it, I had laid it down a couple of times and wasn't happy with it. It's basically about the story of bank robbery or a heist gone wrong. Three dudes who have the heist going, and they're arguing about who get's most of the money. Just imagine 3 people cutting up $100,000 – it's gonna become a problem. At the end they end up shooting each other for the bread, so no one ends up with the money. I feel like story telling is gone from hip-hop, so from time to time I like to tell stories, some true, some not, but all real. The title comes from the Quentin Tarantino movie called Reservoir Dogs, where pretty much the same exact thing happens.

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"Start to Finish"

Ransom: This was the last joint we did on the album. It's interesting because I didn't even know if it was going to be done. I was kinda just talking about my past year in the game, and how a couple of artists used me to come up, but then you turn around and they're long gone. I wasn't even gonna finish it, but Statik was like, "Nah you gotta finish this one."

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