10.17.2018

Most Slept on MCs of All Time pt. 2 - The Last Emperor





Late 90s, early 2000s The Last Emperor, Jamal Gray,  was  one of the hottest unsigned freshmen emcees in the game. He started recording his demos in 1997, after college he moved from Philly to New York to get on. New York in the 90s was an incubator for an unparalleled avalanche of amazing artists, and the recording industry was paying attention. Every major label A&R department cajoled or coerced their staff into attending open mics and taking notes on the performers, as well as hiring uninformed pedestrians that replied to help wanted ads. Their singular goal was to secure a sign-up deal with an artist and begin a development phase to see how marketable and skilled he/she was. Signing allowed the label to have control over the talent and prevent them from being approached by their competitors, while providing little to no security for the artist. More often than not they were cut loose with nothing to show for their efforts, having spent the bonus check and missed the opportunity with another label.  Populating a roster like this can get expensive quickly but remains, to this day, the industry standard if budget allows. This was an all-or-nothing game with incredible stakes, where being at the right place at the right time could turn the nameless kid at an open mic into the next Pras or Silkk the Shocker. 






 Never one to compromise, TLE was dropped from Aftermath and Rawkus for what appears to be a disagreement in his branding between him and A&R. The banishment from Dre's label seemed to hit a nerve, he had moved to California and was dedicated before Dre unceremoniously took a shit on his hopes and dreams. Emp rhymes  about it on "Let's Ride" off his first album.   More interested in Star Wars than being a trap star,  Emp never found mainstream success bc he couldn't be promoted as another carbon-copy thug. His originality and unique lyrical content proved too difficult to market for major labels so  he never got the exposure needed to reach his demographic. It's a real mother-fucker  there were no terms like 'nerd-core' to promote him by, The amazing success of quirky groups like Odd Future shows there's definitely an audience.



TLE's bio is pretty sparse on Wikipedia and his website has been offline for years. Elusive as he may be he's still recording music, still fresh AF, still all about comic books and vintage action figures. The Last Emperor was featured in a verse on KRS-One's "C.I.A. (Criminals in Action)" with Zack De La Rocha. Two years after moving to New York he was signed to Aftermath Entertainment, and became a protégé of Dr. Dre. In 2003 it was announced that The Last Emperor had signed to Rawkus Records. A few singles were released in a period of 6 months, but the label unexpectedly stopped releasing any music. The Last Emperor then formed Red Planet Music to release his debut album, Music, Magic, Myth. Red Planet's releases are distributed by Raptivism.


He has opened for such acts as the former Def Squad (Redman, EPMD, Das EFX and K-Solo), Common, The Roots, and KRS-One. He has performed at the Lyricist Lounge. He’s traveled around the world performing in places like Denmark (Roskilde Festival), London (Jam in the Park), and Norway (Quart Festival). He also appeared as the guest MC for Gorillaz.


The Last Emperor & Haak Filmore - Jungle Jim: Season 1" is most recent, dropped earlier this year, showcases Emp's capabilities, great beats, solid ass album. Give the catalog a chance, he's a contender for a spot in the TOP 10.





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