Marco Polo The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo
New Album in Stores June 29th on Duck Down Music

Lacing the world with hard-hitting bangers that maintain the head-nodding traditions of that raw East Coast boom bap, Toronto’s Marco Polo is back with another classic release through Duck Down Music. Since dropping Pumpkinhead’s Orange Moon Over Brooklyn in 2003 on Soulspazm Records — Marco’s first full-length production — until his latest 2010 Duck Down release with fire spitter Ruste Juxx, The eXXecution, Marco Polo has collected a catalog of records that would make any new jack producer second guess his career path.

Throughout his eight-years of relentless recording on critically acclaimed albums Port Authority, Double Barrel and The eXXecution, the numerous unreleased tracks, b-sides and remixes that are as ill as the rest, but never found a home, have been collected and compiled by MP to create The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo. “My crew and I, which includes Shylow and DJ Linx, put a lot of work into this music and just because something is older and has never been released doesn’t mean it’s scrap — we put a lot of work into it and we want people to hear it,” explains MP. Marco further laments, “there are a lot of tracks on here that were never available on CD before, or even iTunes.”

Blessing MP’s production on The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo are rhyming heavyweights like Large Professor, Skoob of Das EFX, Grand Daddy IU, Royce da 5’9,” Elzhi, Torae, Skyzoo, Ruste Juxx, and Diamond District. The album also features MC’s like Red Clay, Shylow, Saga, Promise, Surreal, D-Story, Bad Seed and Arcee.

“This album was an opportunity for me to introduce people that my fans may have never heard of before — guys like Shylow, Red Clay and Saga,” explains MP. He continues, “I want people to know that when they see my name attached to something, they’re getting quality and consistency. This album is for the hardcore MP fans out there that just wanna have something to rock while I’m working on Port Authority 2. I’m locking myself in the lab on some caveman status for that one.”

And what’s the meaning of the interesting album title? “The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo was a title Shylow came up with as a joke but I loved it and instantly wanted to rock it as the title for this project. It’s sh*t loads of fun to say and my pops use to say “Stupendous” all the time growing up so I thought it fit perfectly. My pops says a lot of crazy sh*t!” jokes Marco. He may be a funny dude with a classic sense of humor, but you better believe that what is blasting out of his tattered MPC2000XL in his Brooklyn lab is nothing to laugh at.

Track List:
D-Stroy & Bad Seed – Buggin Out
Large Professor – The Radar Remix
Promise – The Bridge
Red Clay – Official
Ruste Juxx – Bomb Sh*t
Shylow – Whylin Out
Saga – Think of You Now
Torae – Combat Drills
DJ K.O. – Best To Do It ft Royce Da 5’9,” Elzhi & Supastition (Marco Polo Remix)
Skyzoo – Block Sh*t
Diamond District – Who I Be (Marco Polo Remix)
Skoob of Das Efx – How I Get Down (Marco Polo Remix)
Surreal – So Basic
Grand Daddy I.U. – The Veteran
Arcee – Ambition
Exile – Radio ft Ruste Juxx & Torae (Marco Polo Remix)

It’s a tricky situation. When you have a job that keeps the bills paid, but your extra curricular passion is what really makes life worth living, you have to lead a double life. There’s really no way around it unless you want to work, sleep and die. Obviously, you gotta be responsible and keep the money coming in, but that doesn’t mean that your life should end there. My girlfriend Cara really opened my eyes to this way of life. She has a full-time advertising career at MTV, but her passion is writing and journalism. Since being at MTV, she’s been able to use her contacts to enable her to write for MTV News, AOL Music, Hollywood Crush … and she’s constantly striving for more outlets to express her creativeness. It’s crazy because she just wrote up the new “Mic Check” for the legendary hip hop mag, The Source, and she’s the last person you’d expect to be interviewing rappers. Oh, and let’s not forget … she’s also wrote a book. YES, a book. And she’s currently in the process of getting it published. Chick’s amazing.

So, after being inspired by my boo, I decided to start reaching out to hip hop institutions that I wanted to get in with. First on my list was New York City’s Duck Down Records. Duck Down may not be the biggest label when it comes to popping out hit singles and signing the latest hipster hip hop homos, but that’s what makes them so dope. For 15 years, Duck Down (owned by Buckshot and Dru Ha of Black Moon) has been dropping REAL hip hop, and just within the past few years, they’ve been adding some insane talent to their roster. Does the name Pharoahe Monch ring a bell? How about Pete Rock? And let’s not forget their current roster of dudes like Sean Price of Heltah Skeltah, Marco Polo, Blackmoon, Da Beatminerz, Smif N Wessun, Ruste Juxx, Torae and more. Yeah, Duck Down is knocking fools out for 2010 and beyond.

Now, to make a long story short, I got the “gig” and I’ll be helping the Duck Down team out with whatever they may need my skills for. I even got my own Duck Down email addy! So, my first assignment? Interview beat maker extraordinaire Marco Polo and write an official press release for his new album The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo. Mission accomplished. To say that this has been a dream come true would be a bit of an understatement. Obviously I’m not in it for the loot, but the excitement, motivation, and inspiration that has been re-injected into my life is totally worth more than any amount of money. Thanks for reading and let’s see how long I can ride this wave of inspiration. Bring it on suckas!

I’ve had the opportunity to meet some amazingly talented people in NYC, but the entire DXA crew takes the cake. Dface, Calamity Chris, Dome Peace and Ice Rocks create the best hip hop coming out of New York at the moment. From one hip hop fan to another, give their latest album, “Progression” a listen… it’s FRESH!

You can also download one of their dopest tracks yet, featuring Skyzoo. Click here to download “Searching.”

Here Dface schools Iggy Chop on the importance of vintage equipment. You can’t mess with the MPC3000… so I hear…

Let’s start with this gem. I didn’t cop it, but I should’ve. The cover is all time!

Stay tuned, if all goes according to plan, this will begin to become a daily part of my life…
]]> http://iggychop.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=110