SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND

Staking claim to the home of the original gun clap, Brooklyn’s sharp shooting MCs Tek & Steele aren’t about to back down on this rap game. They’re known for spitting rounds in underground anthems like “Super Brooklyn” and “Get Up” (from Lyricist Lounge 2), but music isn’t the only thing these Boot Camp veterans lock in their scopes.

VICE: Considering the old name (Smif-n-Wesson) and all the Bucktown references, I’d think you guys have a decent gun collection.

Steele: We got a collection all right, but they always close by.

Tek: Fo’ Fo’s, Calicos. We got that! German Lugar, Smith & Wesson, we got that!

Steele: I got mad knives. The Cobra, the G-87, the penknife’s excellent.

Tek: I’ve got a couple pocketknives and throwing stars. Niggas can’t take knives cause you gotta get up close with a knife.

Steele: They for when you up in the Dubs and niggas is popping off at the lip. It’s just all up close action, cuz in Brooklyn we brawl. That’s what Brooklyn’s known for, cuz not everyone here can afford a gun. And sometimes your gun don’t even stop a crowd. There’s been times where dudes pulled out guns and just got bum rushed and smashed down. Sometimes you just gotta move like an assassin.

Do you always carry knives on you?

Tek: Got mine right here, and it’s legal. You gotta have some type of legal shit to be illegal. Gotta have something straight to go narrow.

Steele: That coming from a nigga who got a sword at home.

Tek: Yeah (laughing). It’s from my supplier. He gave me this sword, believe it, it’ll chop a body in half. Sharp! Take a nigga’s hand and head off. The nigga did time in Vietnam who gave me that.

He must have some ill weapons himself.

Tek: Son had some guillotine shit in his crib. They call him Pit Bull, imagine that. The sight or sound of a helicopter and that nigga’ll flip. Son’s a thoroughbred, na mean.

I guess it’s pretty easy to get guns in Brooklyn?

Tek: If you got the right connects. Some niggas in the hood are major. You never know their names and shit but if you need it, and if they ain’t got it, better believe that a phone call or two-way hit they gonna get it in 24 hours or less. There’s corner spot Bodegas where you get a gallon of Henney on Sunday, imagine what you can get when the sun goes down.

Where in particular? Like on Myrtle Ave?

Tek: Shit you called it right out. Myrtle, Flushing, Marcus Garvey all over. The hood is where it’s at, basically.

Steele: Bucktown zone. Popping lotta gun talk.

DEVIN
Take cover when the Cocoa Brovaz new album Smif-n-Wesson: Still Shinin’ (Duck Down/Rawkus) lets loose later this year.

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