Veteran hiphop artist MC Eiht has just signed a distribution deal for his record label, West Music, Inc. in a joint venture with Paid In Full/Koch. The prominent, longtime rap icon, who played the role of A-Wax in the feature film, "Menace II Society," and also performed the soundtrack’s hit single, "Streiht Up Menace," will release a new album, "Affiliated," this spring.
EIht, who also played the role of Ryder in the mega-hit video game, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," says this record deal differs from his past independent signings. "The promotion will be better, the distribution is better," he says. "The label that I have the joint venture with this time is more professional than what was happening with my other independent projects. They don’t hesitate to get things done."
The album’s first single will be the track "Say Nothing/Comptons Back." In addition to the Compton rap legend, the song also features Comptons Most Wanted’s Chill and Bam, along with King T, who rides shotgun. The Compton-bred banger is already receiving airplay on Los Angeles radio station KDAY.
The Dub-I.N.C.’s upcoming "Affiliated" title is a natural for Eiht, who explains, "I named it that because there are a lot of misconceptions in the street as far as West Coast music, namely, what we do as far as West Coast music, how we get down with it, and what we represent. A lot of my fans have been anticipating a new record from a true West Coast artist. I get a lot of emails asking me questions like, "When are you going to come back and spit the real, because there is all this fake-ism in the game out there right now." As Eiht points out, "You’ve got a lot of cats from everywhere out there, trying to do whatever, and a lot of it makes utterly no sense." Eiht remarks, "This album title lets people know I’m still affiliated with the streets, with the neighborhoods, and what people are going through out there on the streets; it’s not being about glamour and glitz."
One of the most respected hiphop artists on the West Coast, Eiht articulates, "I am still making my music, just being affiliated with the streets. I’m still in Compton, representing truth."
