"Catch A Bad One" (Prod. by MoSS)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/01-Catch-A-Bad-One-1.mp3]

I had originally planned to hold this for later but then I thought to myself, "There is no later!" I was very well aware of the impact I needed to make with MOD2 and after careful consideration, I knew this would kick shit off! I've been a fan of MoSS' production since "Take 'Em To The Cleaners" The sample that's being scratched by Statik Selektah is Busta Rhymes saying,"Think Before You Move or Catch A Bad One BAAABBBYYY" from Big Daddy Kane’s “Come On Down.” I played it for Busta over the phone and his response was,"Yo son you have a rapping disease."

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"Fake ID" ft. Q-Tip, Large Professor & Havoc (Prod. by The Produce Section)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/02-Fake-I.D.-feat-Q-Tip-Large-Professor-Havoc-Mobb-Deep-1.mp3]

Arguably the most important 'statement' record on MOD2. I remember being in Q-Tip's kitchen and us joking around, that's how I came up with the chorus. In the same juncture of time, I had begun building with Chin Beats of The Produce Section on us potentially working together. I went to my man Ed Roc's studio in Queens and searched through my iTunes for something to rap to and came across the beat. Once I did the chorus, I immediately came up with the raps. I played it for Q-Tip and he loved it. He said he would jump on it, which got me brainstorming. I wanted this to be the reincarnation of [Main Source's] "Fakin The Funk" so I met with Large Pro and he did the hook for me. So now I got Q-Tip & Large Pro on one joint but it needed just one more element. By this time I had dropped "Wax Museum" which has Havoc and I talking. We met up and he was immediately sold on the idea and the rest is history.

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"Bearer of Bad News" (Prod. by J Dilla)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/03-Bearer-Of-Bad-News-1.mp3]

The irony of this record is beyond coincidental and definitely a blessing from The Creator. Just think for a second... Me & Jay Dee's careers essentially started via [A Tribe Called Quest's] Beats, Rhymes & Life. A lot people don't know that we did a gang of records that weren't released together. That was my dawg RIP. So when I was recording with my homie DJ Sammy Needlz, he had given me a few Dilla instrumentals just to vibe to. I went to Da Edge of Madness studio and pulled the beat up. It was immediately magic. It put me back in that zone I was in during '96, but now I'm way more articulate. It was only a one verse joint when I left the studio but I couldn't stop playing it. I told [my manager] Agent it was something special. I had Derek Pike do a poster that Monday and dropped it on the 'net. I was stressing over something that day so I took a nap at like 7 p.m. I woke up with MAD messages on my phone as well as new Twitter followers. Funkmaster Flex had played it 10 Times!!! The next day he plays it 10 more times saying,"This is the hardest record NY!!! Consequence I NEED another verse" I talked to Flex that night and threw the second verse on it the same night and he made a MOVIE for a month straight!!! Thank you Jay Dee for the super assist!!!

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"Wet The Block" ft. Rell, Lil Fame of M.O.P. & Bun B (Prod. by Fyre Dept)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/04-Wet-The-Block-feat-Rell-Fame-M.O.P.-Bun-B-1.mp3]

When I dropped "Man Purses," my train of thought that I would share with my friends is that them "bitch ass niggas" made me 'Wet The Block' and I'll do it AGAIN!!! So me & Agent had gone over to Eric Krasno's studio so I could be introduced to Soul Live, Nigel Hall & The Royal Family movement. We had also spoke with our guy Spice, who works closely with Rell. They met us over there and in a matter of moments Rell & I had constructed the chorus. It took me 15 minutes to lay my verse. After we left the studio, Me and Agent began brainstorming about who should be on the record. My first pick was Black Rob but he wasn't available. I went over to Statik's with Agent and we decided to reach out to Fame of M.O.P. We scheduled the session for a couple days later at 2 in the morning. Although it was SUPER late I was on "10" to hear him on it. Fame's recording process is AMAZING!!! The man is a human "Sound Card." His adlibs sound like actual samples and his verses are the grittiest rhymes NY has to offer. So once I started living with Fame's verse, I knew I wanted one more MC on it and so a light bulb went off... Bun B. I reached out to GLC and he gave me Bun's info. Me & B got on the phone and kicked it for a good half hour. He told he wasn't going to miss MOD2 and "Aye, I heard Man Purses, that shit was TRILL!!!"

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"1st Time" ft. Talib Kweli (Prod. by William Driggs)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/05-1st-Time-feat-Talib-Kweli-1.mp3]

"1st Time" was the first time I had linked with Eric Krasno and The Royal Family movement but not the first time I had worked with Talib Kweli. Our last record prior to this was on his Liberation LP. It was a joint called "Keep The Engine Runnin'" that I thought should have gotten way more burn. While I was building with Kraz, I stepped in Kweli's session to say 'Peace.' We started kicking it and he played me the beat. He asked could come up with a chorus so I went in the both and knocked it out quick. I told him I would have to come back and re-lay it along with my verse since it had gotten late. Man that weekend Kanye asked me to fly to the UK for his Watch The Throne session with Jay-Z. As I'm going thru security, my Blackberry is going off with mad Twitter followers. I'm thinking what happened??? I look online and see that Kwe leaked the joint... I call my manager Agent like "Get me his math!! Damn my verse ain't on it." When I got back to the States two days later I went and purposely crushed that joint. DJ Envy[then] took the joint fresh out the studio and premiered it during Power 105's "New At 2."

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"Alphabet Boys" (Prod. by Kanye West)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/06-Alphabet-Boys-1.mp3]

In New York the term "Alphabet Boys" is slang for Federal Agents. The idea of this record came about when me and my cousin "Duke L" (who does the intro) were driving in Manhattan and Q-Tip called to tell us that the Feds had snatched up our homie. With that conversation being so entertaining, the concept of "Alphabet Boys" had resonated with me for a few days. I went by my dawg Menace's crib and started toying with the chorus. He has a mic so I started freestyling the chorus then came up with the first verse. I knew it was bananas!!! I decided [to make the whole track] about punctuation and grammar. I knew it needed a high quality beat so I went through my "Kanye stash" and found this beat that was from an old Common session. It worked!!! This joint was slated to be on Cons TV but when me and Kanye were on 'speaking terms' we decided it would be better to use as a 'buzz' tool because Lil Wayne had rhymed on the beat and leaked it.

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"Up Against The Wall" ft. Roc Marciano & Kendrick Lamar (Prod. by Lee Bannon)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/07-Up-Against-The-Wall-feat-Roc-Marciano-Kendrick-Lamar-1.mp3]

This joint is ill to me for several reasons. This is one of the first beats that sold me on Lee Bannon's incredible production. I had been meaning to do this record since MOD1. Coincidentally the verse is bits & pieces of what happened to me when Maino and I were filming the video for "Down This Road." We had no permits for the park we were filming in and I got pulled over. The registration for my car had expired, hence forth the situation in my verse. I met Roc Marci at a session Busta invited me to and we kept in touch. I wanted different perspectives of rappers who had run-ins with the law. I asked Roc to jump on it and he sent it back laced a day later. Maybe like a month later I started talking with my homie Naim Ali who works with Kendrick Lamar. I saw one of his videos online and knew that I wanted his perspective on this record. It's scary how good this record is.

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"It’s The Cons Fool" (Prod. by Lee Bannon)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/08-Its-The-Cons-Fool-1.mp3]

This record was part of the "Coming Attractions" series I did with XXLMag.com in conjunction with the roll out of MOD2. I knew I was going to destroy this beat the day Dan Green sent it to me. I actually re-recorded this version the night before the tape dropped just so it sounded completely polished. HARD AS A MOTHERFUCKER!!!

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"Holla At Somebody Real" ft. XV (Prod. by The Produce Section)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/09-Holla-At-Somebody-feat-XV-1.mp3]

When I heard this joint I knew I wanted The Produce Section officially on Band Camp Records. This is a flip of the “Black people backyard" classic (LOL) "I Wanna Thank You" [by Alicia Myers]. This shit is so Queens with it!!! I got the beat and immediately knocked out the verse. "Holla At Somebody Real" is one of my catch phrases so I decided to make it this chorus. I went on Twitter after "I'm V.I.P." dropped and asked the fans who they would like to see me paired with on MOD2. A vast majority had suggested XV so I found him on Twitter and we later talked on phone. I sent him the beat and he KILLED IT!!! So to my Twitter followers "I Wanna Thank Ya'll!"

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"I’m V.I.P." ft. Diggy Simmons & Mac Miller (Prod. by Lee Bannon)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/10-Im-V.I.P.-feat-Diggy-Simmons-Mac-Miller-1.mp3]

I actually thought of this record in my sleep. I dream a lot of my verses up. My verse from "Gone" was something I wrote in my sleep. This rap and chorus was no different. I remember getting a text from Statik asking,"Have you ever heard of Mac Miller?" I replied, "No," but told him I would stop by later. When I got to Statik's crib, Mac was there and had just finished recording a joint. They played it back and I thought, "This kid's pretty good". We started vibing which led to the Cons TV episode where Mac revealed his "Beats, Rhymes & Life" tat. So Mac took the beat for "I'm V.I.P." and sent it back maybe a week later with his verse. For maybe a month I was trying to figure out who else to put on it when out of the blue I got a call from my old lawyer Zvi Edelman. He said that Diggy Simmons wanted to chop it up. We all met at Atlantic Records and decided that Diggy would jump on it. I dropped it on the 'net on Xmas Eve and it Exploded!!!

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"Tell The Whole City" ft. Phife Dawg (Prod. by MoSS)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/11-Tell-The-Whole-City-feat-Phife-Diggy-1.mp3]

This song is special to me for many reasons. Once again with MoSS on the track you immediately have that high quality 'boom bap' that is absent from the game right now. I had originally written the chorus to a Q-Tip track but thought it was a better fit to this. Plus the record has the same sample as “Midnight” off Tribe’s Midnight Marauders LP which is from Albino Gorillas' “Psychedelic Shack.” After Phife's interview with hiphopdx.com I was quite upset with him. We wound up talking three days later and buried the hatchet. When he got to NY to rehearse with Tribe for Rock The Bells we hung out and I played him a few of my new joints. He heard this and wanted to do the chorus. We went over to Da Edge of Madness and he nailed it.

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"Got Me Trippin'" (Prod. by Q-Tip)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/12-Got-Me-Trippin-1.mp3]

This record is very significant in the construction of MOD2. This is another record that I dreamed about and then later executed. I didn't nail this record on the first try. I had about three other rhymes and choruses before we got to where it is now. Shout out to my dawg KC, who co-produced this and is playing the keys. When I finally did have the verses, I got Statik to cut up Amerie. But the most wonderful thing was that, thanks to my nigga Lenny Nickels, me & Sammy Needlz had the honor of watching Amerie actually re-vocal the original version of "One Thing" to put in place of the sample... #Joy

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"Money Talk" (Prod. by 88-Keys)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/13-Money-Talk-1.mp3]

88-Keys is one of my oldest and dearest friends. This is one guy who I can say I never really ever had an issue with. I gave 88 his first major label check in the '90s and in return he plugged me with 'Ye back in '02. This joint is some CLASSIC Cons & Eight shit from the days when we would work out of his mom & dad's basement in Long Island. The groove on the beat is so melodic that it isn't fair. Not to mention that Statik did a great job on the cuts here. "We all wanna drive the Porsche bad as Ricky" line comes from when Kanye's cousin smacked his Porsche in Hawaii on some dumb shit LOL!!!

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"Bitter Pill" ft. Pill, Nigel Hall & Soul Live (Prod. by The Produce Section)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/14-Bitter-Pill-feat-Nigel-Hall-Pill-Soul-Live-1.mp3]

This is probably the most introspective record on the project. I experienced an array of moods of which of I've made the choice to channel through my music. When Chin sent me this track I immediately caught a vibe to it. The words came to me instantly. I referenced the verse and chorus, then sat on it. In the same session for "1st Time" I had Nigel Hall sing the chorus and I re-spit my verse there. I was on rapradar.com and saw Pill then thought, "Perfect." I got in touch with him and he KILLED IT the next night. Once I had his verse I got back with Kras and Nigel. We pulled up the session and I wrote the bridge for Nigel. From there they started pulling out all kinds of instruments and played a brand new musical section for the bridge. SICK!!!

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"Tell Ya Boss 2 Holla At Me" (Prod. by Lee Bannon)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/15-Tell-Ya-Boss-2-Holla-At-Me-1.mp3]

I remember recording this at Statik's crib and he looked at me with much panic before he asked me, "Yo, are getting at 'Ye???" I just laughed and never answered him. The production on this joint is on another level. By implementing Rick Ross' signature catch phrase "Bawse" we took this shit over the top. DJ Enuff played this on Hot 97 and I literally almost crashed [my car when I heard it]!!!

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"The Client" ft. Miss Wildflower (Prod. by The Bounty Hunter)
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2011/02/16-The-Client-feat-Miss-Wildflower-1.mp3]

Cain vs. Abel… And y’all know how that story went!

Download the Movies on Demand 2 in its entirety here.

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