Ruste Juxx and Marco Polo talk Duck Down
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 13, 2010
To keep tabs on how Duck Down maintains its hardcore tradition despite also expanding with MTV-friendly acts like Kidz in the Hall, you need look no farther than Ruste Juxx and Marco Polo. Next Thursday, the unlikely pair — Ruste a Brownsville pugilist, Marco a self-described “skinny white guy from Toronto” — will celebrate the release of The eXXecution, which is capable of scaring parents the way Ice-T did in the 1980s. So I asked them to guide us through some Duck Down history, reaching back to when they were just fans themselves.What album — old or new — would be the best introduction for someone who doesn’t know shit about Duck Down?
MP: It’s a toss-up between Black Moon’s Enta da Stage and Smif-N-Wessun’s Dah Shinin’.
RJ: Black Moon’s Enta da Stage.
What’s the most tragically slept-on Duck Down release of all time?
MP: Heltah Skeltah, Nocturnal.
RJ: Sean Price Presents Ruste Juxx, Indestructible.
What’s your favorite Boot-Camp track from the 1990s?
MP: Black Moon, “Buck Em Down.”
RJ: Heltah Skeltah, “Operation Lockdown.”
What’s your favorite Boot-Camp track from the 2000s?
MP: Sean Price, “Boom Bye Yeah.”
RJ: Smif-N-Wessun, “Reloaded.”
What Boot-Camp-originated slang term do people regularly use without realizing where it came from?
MP: “Bucktown.”
RJ: “Bucktown.”
What message do you have for people who say that hardcore hip-hop is over?
MP: Please check The Last Stand, Monkey Barz, Jesus Price Supastar, Double Barrel, and The eXXecution, then shut the fuck up.
RJ: Cop The eXXecution and [you] be the judge.
Where do you see Duck Down being 15 years from now?
MP: The last man standing, and still relevant, like they’ve always been.
RJ: With more diverse artists on the roster, doing bigger and greater things.
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