Ages 21+ Welcome, 8pm til 12am featuring special guests Mad1ne, Apaso, Cooley Fly, Henry B & Juliani, Akomplice Beats!
Killah Priest made his first appearances on such Wu-Tang side and solo projects as Gravediggaz’ 6 Feet Deep in 1994, Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers, and Genius/GZA’s seminal Liquid Swords. His contributions to those releases — especially Liquid Swords’ “B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth),” essentially a Priest solo track — paved the way for the release of the MC’s acclaimed debut album, 1998’s Heavy Mental, and a lengthy and respected career in the hip-hop underground. In addition to his prolific solo work, he was an integral member of the groups Sunz of Man + the HRSMEN (aka the Four Horsemen)
Priest made his return to rap in 1995, appearing on several Wu-Tang projects. All of his cameos were noteworthy, but his role on Liquid Swords earned special attention. By the end of 1996, his own side project, Sunz of Man, was off the ground. In 1997, GZA suggested to Geffen that they should sign Priest, and the label took his advice. Priest worked on his debut solo album with True Master and 4th Disciple, two producers who were also associated with Wu-Tang. The resulting album, Heavy Mental, was dense with religious imagery and filled with evocative sounds. It received excellent reviews upon its March 1998 release and was a respectable commercial success, debuting at number 24 on the Billboard 200. Priest issued his second album, View from Masada, in May 2000, further bolstering his status as one of the most compelling solo artists in the extended Wu-Tang family (even though, at the time, he was disconnected from the crew). Although View from Masada was well-received, it failed to do well commercially, and he was dropped from his label.
While many rappers let go from a major-label either vanish or take years to resurface, Priest wasted no time and established his own imprint. July 2001’s Priesthood, involving no Wu-Tang input whatsoever, was produced by Luminati and Nirocist, and released on the MC’s Proverbs imprint. July 2003’s Black August, however, came out on Recon. Although he certainly wasn’t silent after this — Black Market Militia (featuring Tragedy Khadafi and Hell Razah), the HRSMN (featuring Ras Kass, Kurupt, and Canibus), and Sunz of Man were ongoing concerns — a few years passed before Priest’s next solo album. March 2007’s The Offering appeared on the Traffic-distributed Good Hands Records. His release schedule picked up considerably — Behind the Stained Glass, Black August Revisited, and Beautiful Minds, the latter a full-length collaboration with Chief Kamachi, were all released in 2008. The Exorcist, Elizabeth, and several mixtapes appeared in 2009. The 3 Day Theory, featuring guest appearances by several emcees including Cappadonna, Ill Bill, and the Last Emperor, was released by Man Bites Dog in 2010.
Following several delays, Killah Priest returned in 2013 with the ambitious double-CD The Psychic World of Walter Reed, a reunion of sorts with the Wu-Tang family, featuring guest rhymes and production by GZA, RZA, Inspectah Deck, and Ghostface Killah, as well as an appearance by George Clinton. The more sci-fi-themed Planet of the Gods appeared in 2015, and Priest formed the group Moon Crickets with Toronto-based rapper Lord Fury and DJ Mercilless. The Infinite Universe, with Vendetta Kingz, was released in 2016, and the mixtapes Don’t Sit on the Speakers, Vol. 1 (with 4th Disciple) and The Untold Story of Walter Reed, Pt. 2 appeared in 2017. A 2020 mixtape with frequent collaborator Jordan River Banks, Journey to the Planet of the Gods preceded one of Priest’s deepest, most abstract releases, Rocket to Nebula, an often-beatless record filled with reversed samples and ambient textures. A proper album with Banks, The Third Eye in Technicolor, closed out the year. The cinematic Lord Sun Heavy Mental 1.1 appeared in March of 2021 followed by Summer End Cafe, & Divine Intervention. In 2022 he released Mr. Universe, Horrah Scope & M.O.T.H.E.R. In May 2023 his new album will release “f.o.t.h.e.a” Forest of the happily ever after.
