Be Kind Rewind • "Loungin" with Skooda Chose, Sir Michael Rocks, and Twista

Year: 2009 • Director: GL-Joe

My Chicago hip-hop history only extends so far. I grew up in northern Indiana, moved to Indianapolis for college, and went to Ecuador for Peace Corps. Directly following Peace Corps, I moved to Chicago, where I tried my best to dive into the music scene while also getting caught up on the past.

That being said, despite my minimal history with the “scene”, one of my earlier memories is watching the music video “Loungin”. Acting as a posse cut of sorts, Chicago rappers Skooda Chose, Sir Michael Rocks (then Mikey Rocks), and Twista go in over production from Chicago duo Blended Babies. I first caught wind of this song after I heard the 2010 track “Oil Money”, which might be my favorite posse cut of all time (sorry, every song on Cruel Summer). For those unfamiliar, “Oil Money” was a Blended Babies produced track on Freddie Gibbs' Str8 Killa EP and featured not only Chuck Inglish, King Chip (then Chip Tha Ripper), and Bun B, but also Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys). The song was so hot, in fact, that I had to find what else Blended Babies had done. Low and behold, I stumbled upon the music video for “Loungin'”, a Chicago posse cut that still sounds great. Clocking it at almost six minutes, director GL-Joe crafted a cinematic experience that goes from the outside of a truck to a hotel to the inside of a car to an underground shooting range to a mansion party. Location scouting game very strong with this one.

Since the time of this job, a great deal has happened with these artists. In between instrumental drops, Blended Babies have worked with everyone from Anderson .Paak to Asher Roth. Mikey Rocks changed his name to Sir Michael Rocks and hasn't slowed down one bit. Skooda Chose released his long-awaited Vulture Kulture back in 2014 and dropped a couple of singles at the end of 2015. Director GL-Joe, meanwhile, helped out with the recent lookbook for Dope Boy Magic. Everyone's workin'. Let this motivate you as you jump back seven years and enjoy this nostalgic piece of Chicago hip-hop.