‘Rolling 110 Deep’: DJ Kayslay Makes Hip-Hop History With Extreme Posse Cut

On Friday, June 25, DJ Kayslay premiered “Rolling 110 Deep,” a super posse cut track that features one hundred and ten veteran emcees. Honoring hip-hop’s boom-bap aesthetic, the nature of rappers includes hip-hop pioneers, golden era icons, 90s rap legends, underground stunners, and battle raps sensations.

The song is featured on the Harlem DJ’s new EP Accolades which was released on the same day. The extreme posse cut follows 2020’s “Rolling 50 Deep” and 2005’s “Rolling 25 Deep” forming a trilogy for the Harlem DJ’s historically worthy effort.

The cut was an extension of “Rolling 50 Deep,” as most of the emcees featured, including Dave East, Ghostface Killah, Sheek Louch, Styles P, Raekwon, and Papoose, were also featured on “Rolling 110 Deep” with fresh verses. Each emcee rhymed for approximately twenty seconds on top of an infectiously warm and terrorizing beat produced by Trackateering Music that triggers nostalgic commotion. The pyrotechnic angles showcased by director Benji Filmz top off the track’s sentiment of embracing unfiltered hip-hop.

The moment is deemed by several hip-hop heads to be a classic. The simple idea of gathering one hundred and ten emcees and putting them on one track is unexampled. This has actually never been done before. There has never been a song to feature over fifty-one artists. There is a song titled “119 Remix” by AOMG Official that features fifty-one artists and that is as far as it gets. DJ Kayslay has set the bar. This must be acknowledged. “Rolling 110 Deep” is a moment for the lovers of gritty dexterous rapping. 

Why do I refer to “Rolling 110 Deep” as a moment? Well, it is obvious that this was done for the sake of the culture. As a matter of fact, DJ Kayslay opened the production with the following statement:

“People love to use that quote. ‘I’m doing it for the culture.’ Well, what culture is that you talking about? The one that you claim is the hip-hop artist but won’t do the research on hip-hop history? Or the one where you disrespect, disconnect disregard the founding fathers?”

With the Lox’s Sheek Louch as the first leg to Sauce Money as the anchor of the cypher, there was lyrical representation for nearly every era of hip-hop. Founding fathers Coke La Rock, Grandmaster Caz, and Melle Mel made their presence known as pioneers. While Ice-T, Chuck D, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, MC Shan, KRS-One; who at majority are regarded as the icons of hip-hop’s golden era, stood ground for the late eighties aesthetic.

Heavy hitters from hip-hop’s most beloved era, the nineties caressed the track with their tenacious bars including Redman, Brand Nubian (Grand Puba, Sadat X, Lord Jamar), Treach, Havoc, ONYX (Fredo Starr and Sticky Fingaz), AZ, Black Thought, Inspectah Deck alongside Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Sheek Louch Styles P, and more. Highlights also include MC Serch, Bun B, Lil Cease, Lord Tariq, Peter Gunz, and CRU’s Tracy Lee.

Ghostface Killah, who came with what one of my followers describes as “missiles” for bars right after his Wu brother in rhyme, Raekwon, surprised observers when he reappeared on the song with another verse under the persona of Tony Starks. Starks entered the track, “Grenade bombs we rocking launchers!”

Tony Starks is one of the Wu-Tang Clan legend’s various rap personas. Some observers might argue that the song rolled 109 deep instead of 110 because of Ghostface’s reappearance under Tony Starks. This is likely to be a subjective argument. It is reliant on how a party computes hip-hop culture. The hip-hop sophist might argue that Tony Starks is respectively a singly emcee with a specific theme.

Here is the truth. There are women who are lyricists. Representing this quality in flawless OG fashion was New Jersey’s own Rah Digga, rocking a high bubble ponytail and long black bubble jacket and black lipstick flaring as the first female artist to grace the moment. Proving the longevity of women in hip-hop, New Orleans’ 3D Na’Tee came blazing with atomizing bars along with battle rap notable, Harlem’s own Ms. Hustle.

Making a surprise resurgence was Brooklyn rap veteran Sonja Blade, who was the last female lyricist to appear out of the batch of one hundred and ten. Reigning from the neighborhood of Bedstuy, Blade is known for her distinct caustic approach one that is signature to her East coast barrio persona and classically hardcore as hell. In 2016, Blade was sentenced to fifty months in federal prison for her participation in a drug trafficking ring. “Rolling 110 Deep” appears to be Sonja Blade’s first public musical effort since her release.

Chris Rivers and Cory Gunz, who both are sons of hip-hop; Rivers, the son of the late hip-hop icon Big Pun and Gunz, son of Peter Gunz—presence on the track was a pure recording of hip-hop’s longevity. The simple fact that the offspring of a notable rapper from the nineties is grown, and grown enough to establish an emcee profile is a case of proof for the legitimacy. Rivers and Gunz, despite their identity of being true sons of hip-hop, their lyrical prowess is independent of their genetic associations.

Perhaps, one of the most unforeseen moments of the 2021 classic was the stanzas of basketball players, actors, and boxers. Since 1993, Shaquille O’Neal has been rapping under the moniker Shaq Diesel—also the title of his debut rap album. It was not too much of a shock to see Shaq rap or Roy Jones Jr. The former lightweight champion embarked on a professional rap career during his prime years, with his debut album Round One: The Album (2002). Another class act who contributed to the cypher was Omar Epps, who is also not a stranger to hip-hop’s rap element. Prior to the onset of his acting career, Epps, a native of Brooklyn was a member of a rap group called Wolfpack.

Hip-hop’s durability was another factor that was on full display, as lyrical heavy-hitters in the likes of Dave East, Conway, Ransom, Crooked I, RJ Payne, and Jon Connor also graced the classic track.

We all know it. The veterans do it the BEST. Best. However, you want to call it. Thanks to Bumpy Knuckles, Tragedy Khadafi, Joell Ortiz, Papoose, Jim Jones, Maino, and Cassidy, the track also showcased the multipotentiality of hip-hop acts despite their specialty; bars or bops.

Perhaps one of the most thrilling moments was when living Reggae legend Junior Reid stepped through with his signature vocals, lyrically highlighting his presence on the respective “hip-hop beat.”

Some hip-hop heads questioned if DJ Khaled could pull something like this off. That question might start a buzz for the “You the best” DJ to pursue the same move as DJ Kayslay and take a chance at curating a posse deep cut. However, let’s take note that DJ Kayslay did it first. The idea is endorsed for the aggressive hip-hop head who prioritizes lyrical prowess.

Some hip-hop heads complained and expressed that the track is too long and they are not interested in seeing a bunch of hip-hop veterans rapping over the same beat. Well, is “Rolling 110 Deep,” strictly about lyrical ability? Cultural affection? One more than the other? Or a pure combination of both? It honestly depends on the hip-hop head and their definition of the culture. Like we mentioned earlier in this write-up, it is obvious this was done for the culture.

On Thursday (July 15), DJ Kayslay shared an Instagram post that hinted at the production of “Rolling 200 Deep.” The post was a screenshot of a call forty two minute call from the iPhone phone app where he questions his followers about their recognition of the phone number with Mike Jones tagged at the end of the post.

“Recognize the Number??? They said I need more south spitters presence on Rolling 200 Deep , So I went down to the dirty dirty South.”

Since he hinted at two hundred deep, other than Jay-Z, Nas, Lil’ Kim, and Foxy Brown, Rich Black Earth is just going to list some emcees they would like to see in “Rolling 200 Deep.” These are just a few of them, not all. Somebody holla at Slay:

Watch the legendary posse cut on The Dj Kayslay Show YouTube Channel below: