Paris is a San Francisco Bay Area rapper who first broke on the scene in 1990 with his hit single and album The Devil Made Me Do It and quickly earned the reputation as being one of most politically charged MC's in the game who didn't shy away from putting issues on the forefront. His first single from that album, "Break The Grip of Shame," illustrated this as MTV made the decision to ban the video for being too controversial. Since then, his uncompromising stance on political issues, police...

Krayzie Bone of the influential hip hop group, Bone Thugs N Harmony recently hung out with @TheAudman on Down With The Kings and provided some great insights into the origins of group, what it felt like to win a Grammy and some cool behind the scenes stories about Eazy-E, Biggie and Phil Collins.

"At that time, young rappers weren't really being respected in the business. I would say humbly that we opened the doors for a lot of young rappers in the business today. Cause it's not really a new thing now, all you see is young rappers. I think we opened the doors, at least we were one of the first to open the doors for young rappers to get that respect" Chris Smith AKA Daddy Mac of Kris Kross When you reflect on the 90's, there definitely was no shortage of  young rappers to hit the...

The hugely successful and popular Beatles were an iconic rock group from Liverpool, England. They are frequently cited as the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in modern history, with innovative music, a cultural impact that helped define the 1960s and an enormous influence on music that is still felt today.  If you take the millions of record sales out of the equation, Is NWA The Hip Hop Version of The Beatles?  Big Hutch AKA Cold 187um of the west coast hip hop...

The success of the big screen biopic, "Straight Outta Compton" has certainly struck gold and also sparked a land slide of interest in having other hip hop stories told in similar fashion.  Conversations have rumored to be floating around about having the stories of Snoop Dogg, Outkast and Tupac recounted in Hollywood style.  Since the release of the popular "The Book of Luke: My Fight for Prosperity, Truth, Justice and Liberty City", we can now add the story of Luther Campbell AKA Uncle Luke...

As an artist coming out of the T-Dot, THRUST has held an important role as one of the early pioneers that helped cultivate and develop the culture of hip hop to where it is today. Long before Drake became a worldwide phenom, it was rappers like Thrust who were doing their part to shift this underground movement into mainstream. “Toronto is a very special place in the history of hip. A lot of people don’t really know because we only caught the light obviously in the last 5-7 years with...

In the early days of Ruthless Records before N.W.A. and "Straight Outta Compton" hit the scene, Eazy-E signed a team of teenage female rappers called J.J. FAD who helped put West Coast hip-hop on the map.  Their smash single, "Supersonic," and success as a group made them the first all female rap group to receive a Grammy nomination. Despite the success, attention and money that J.J FAD generated for Ruthless Records, their existence isn't acknowledged anywhere in the blockbuster N.W.A....

After more than a decade since the release of his last solo album, the legendary Daddy-O of the hip hop band Stetsasonic offers up his brand new solo effort #EverybodyButKRS. The album title pays direct homage to the lyrical skills of another legend in the hip hop game, KRS-ONE while directly challenging his peers at the same time to step up their game and take back hip hop because as it stands, no one can even come close to challenging Daddy-O's lyricism...with the exception of one...

The fabulous Chi Ali joins Down With The Kings to reflect on his career that saw him break into hip hop at the age of 14.  His run in with the law at an early age was well publicized and it would lead to a conviction of manslaughter  only 10 years after entering the game. Chi was incarcerated for 12 years in prison and was subsequently released. With that chapter of his life closed, Ali is intent on picking up the pieces and begin the work to revitalize his career.  Ali shares insights on...

Kool Rock Ski of The Fat Boys swings by and hangs out with The Audman on the next episode of Down With The Kings exclusively Maximum FM Hip Hop. He talks about the group’s initial rise in the early days, what is like filming the classic hip hop movie, Krush Groove and the personal impact the passing of Human Beatbox had on him. Down With The Kings can be heard exclusively every Wednesday night at 11pmEST on Maximum FM Hip Hop Log on to MaximumFM.ca to check it out or download the MaximumFM...

Down With The Kings is pleased to welcome Speech from the smash group Arrested Development to the next episode! AD broke on the scene in the early 90's and offered a unique mixture of consciousness and colorful sounds.  Hit songs such as “Mr. Wendal“ "People Everyday" and "Tennessee" delivered powerful messages and Speech drops by to discuss the evolution of this popular Grammy award winning group, its unique sound and latest developments.

Hip hop legend, CL Smooth  hung with me on Down With The Kings to get fans caught up with what he's been up to the last little while as he makes his return to the music industry after a bit of a hiatus.  As CL put it, he feel "out of love" with the business as the business side "took over" the creative side.  His new project is called, "The Life and Times of Corey Penn" in which he reflects on a variety of topics from his personal including both the bitter and sweet parts. The vocal half of...

Down With The Kings is joined by veteran Brooklyn MC, King Sun to the next episode on Maximum FM Hip Hop.   King Sun gained underground attention after his 1st album "XL" in 1989 which was released on Profile and featured "Hey Love", "Its A Heat Up" and several B-Boy classics.  This legend is deeply rooted in the hip hop game, never known as one to hold back King Sun keeps it real  and shares personal behind the scenes stories from the likes of LL Cool, Lauryn Hill, Wu-Tang Clan and Run DMC.

President and founder of True School Entertainment, Lion Lindwedel stops by and joins Down With The Kings.  True School is an entertainment firm that's dedicated to handling PR for "old school hip hop and R&B artists.  We typically end up having extensive conversations about everything under the sun when the two of us speak and this chat was no exception.  Lion gives us a history of how he got started in the biz, his connection with the legendary Kangol Kid of UTFO and his love for old...

Down With The Kings welcomes hip hop legend, Kangol Kid of the iconic group UTFO to the next show. In 1984, UTFO became one of the most popular rap and breakdance acts in the country on the strength of their breakout single, "Roxanne, Roxanne." Kangol Kid, a hip hop producer, songwriter, break dancer, and emcee discusses his group's rise to fame and the infamous Roxanne Wars. The Roxanne Wars is a well-known series of hip hop rivalries during the mid-1980s, yielding perhaps the most answer...

Down With The Kings welcomes Roxanne Shante to the next episode! Known for her notorious role in the Roxanne Wars back in 1985, Juice Crew member, Roxanne Shante pioneered the role of women in the very male-dominated world of hip-hop and established herself as a fierce battle freestyle rap who made it her personal goal to be the best ever. Roxanne discusses her early days  when she first broke into the industry at the tender age of 14, the appreciation she has for her career and the general...

Down With The Kings welcomes Sen Dog of Cypress Hill to the next episode! Sen Dog talks about the rapid success of the group and becoming the #1 band in two years out the gate, their contributions to the Latino movement significance and the events leading up to Cypress Hill being banned from Saturday Night Live. Cypress Hill were notable for being the first Latino hip-hop superstars, but they became notorious for their endorsement of marijuana, which actually isn’t a trivial thing. Not only...

Down With The Kings welcomes hip hop diva Yo-Yo to the program.   She has the distinction of being the first female west coast rapper to receive a Grammy nomination and maintained being a tremendous advocate for female empowerment despite her popularity and success.  She was a protege of Ice Cube and first made her appearance on "It's a Man's World on his 1990 album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted`.  Cube returned the favor by appearing on "You Can't Play with My Yo-Yo," which was on Yo-Yo's 1991...

``I was definitely underground you know what I mean and I was glad for that. I was proud of that for a minute. I took on the mindset that my stuff was just too raw for daytime radio and that`s why they don`t play me in the day time and I got real hype about it. I was glad they didn`t play me during the day and then I got that record that they started playing all day everyday and I had to change things up.`` Chill Rob G Down With The Kings hangs out with the talented Chill Rob G on the next...

DOWN WITH THE KINGS welcomes the energetic Krayz Drayz of the legendary Das EFX to the program. Dray talks about the impact that his trendsetting group had on the hip hop game when they jumped on the scene, their unique style and his blossoming solo career!

DOWN WITH THE KINGS is pleased to be joined by Daddy-O, one of founding fathers of the legendary hip hop band, STETSASONIC on the Maximum FM Hip Hop Daddy-O takes a walk down memory lane and talks about the early days of STETSASONIC and the how the group came to be, he'll discuss his successful production career and Daddy-O will also fill us in on the back ground story on a line by Chuck D in Public Enemy's "Night of The Living Baseheads" where he referenced a story that Daddy-O told...

DOWN WITH THE KINGS  is pleased to welcome Young MC to the program. This Grammy award winning artist talks about his music including his smash hit, "Bust A Move" which he originally recorded in 1989. In addition to winning a Grammy for Best Rap Performance, he also won an American Music Award for Best Rap Artist and Billboard Award for Best New Pop Artist. He also has the distinction for collaborating with Tone Loc on songs "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" Log on to MaximumFM.ca to...

DOWN WITH THE KINGS  is pleased to welcome Young MC to the program. This Grammy award winning artist talks about his music including his smash hit, "Bust A Move" which he originally recorded in 1989. In addition to winning a Grammy for Best Rap Performance, he also won an American Music Award for Best Rap Artist and Billboard Award for Best New Pop Artist. He also has the distinction for collaborating with Tone Loc on songs "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" Log on to MaximumFM.ca to...

"One thing about negativity is that you put it out the front door and it can jump back in the back window. So you gotta constantly do things to ward off evil and the songs I write are like a  talisman. You keep them around to ward off evil" Coolio DOWN WITH THE KINGS welcomes the incomparable Coolio to the program! He talks about his music, the 20th anniversary of Gangster's Paradise and some of the challenges facing today's young people.

"It's kinda dope because this is something that I've wanted to do and I didn't want it to be a hobby, I wanted it to be a career. So I found ways to maintain" Kwame Kwame AKA The Boy Genius rolls through as a guest on Down With The Kings and reflects on his sensational career that got started at the age of 16 years old.  He'll touch on his most memorable moments,  share what his life of a music producer is like and current/future plans.  All that and more on Down With The Kings