Cassidy Speaks On New Album 'C.A.S.H.', The State Of Hip Hop & New Mixtape 'Apply Pressure 2'

Audio After The Jump On Monday, we brought you info from the great Bun B and his journey to tear a hole in every beat he raps on this year. Uncle Bun wants his name next to dozens and dozens of songs this year, whether it's original material, freestyles or guest spots. Another MC known for knocking the lining out of a beat is Philly's Cassidy. Cass has been jumping on a slew of instrumentals, from Jay-Z's "On to the Next One" to Jay Electronica's "Exhibit C."

"I wasn't going to touch it," Cass told us about getting on Electronica's instant classic. "I heard so many radio DJs talking about it, and they talking like Jay Electronica was saving hip-hop with that record, so I said, 'I gotta get up on that joint.' I'm pretty much jumping on everything that's hot. I'm saturating the game, really trying to make people suffocate. ... I wanted to get the mixtape market in a frenzy, to let them know I'm coming back." Cass' new mixtape, Apply Pressure 2, is tentatively due February 5. Besides freestyles, Cass has been dropping original material for the streets like "She's Addicted" and "Henny and Bacardi." Cass said he sampled the voice of his former Full Surface Records CEO, Swizz Beatz, to show there is no bad blood with the super producer and they're still friends. Another friend of Cassidy's, NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, has invested some dollars into the Hustla's project, affording him the comfort of recording like he's working with a major, even though Cass is independent now. The record is dropping through Larceny Entertainment, by way of E1. Cassidy's new LP, C.A.S.H., is coming out later this year. It's his first album since 2007's B.A.R.S. "My album is C.A.S.H. It stands for 'Cass Always Stays Hard.' Some people say it's 'Cass Always a Straight Hustla.' My last album was B.A.R.S., [which stands for] the 'Barry Adrian Reese Story.' They say it's a recession. I call my album C.A.S.H. because everybody needs money. I feel as though everybody that's a fan of hip-hop or a fan of music period, they need to come and support artists like me, because you gonna see hip-hop fall off the map, like other forms of music, if you don't. I don't feel it's going down a good path right now. I think they need to support artists like me that's really gonna put his all into it, go hard, be lyrical and be original, not a follower." Cass said the first single is pretty much done, and it features a "big, big artist" he's worked with before. He has "hundreds" of songs he's been whittling down, and he plans to mix and master this week. "I got a street record to shake up the industry," he said. "I'm dropping that in two weeks. I'm gonna let that rock and come back with the real single." That street banger is called "Face to Face." "It's basically talking about things I would like to see in the industry," he said about the song. "People talking about 'Hip-hop is dead.' I don't feel as though hip-hop is dead. The same people who started hip-hop is living. There's certain adjustments that need to be made to make sure it goes back to normal. I feel it's gonna shake up the game. It's gonna give the industry a lot to talk about. Even if you don't like how I rhyme or my tone of voice, just for the concept alone, you're gonna have a lot to talk about." MTV Follow Me @Twitter.com/ChasinMoPaper

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Cassidy Speaks On New Album 'C.A.S.H.', The State Of Hip Hop & New Mixtape 'Apply Pressure 2'

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