In late 2004, R.A. The Rugged Man released his debut album, Die, Rugged Man, Die. Given that it was his first official LP, the New York rapper’s call for his own demise seemed somewhat hasty. But the thing is, Die, Rugged Man, Die wasn’t the work of a newcomer pushing for shock value. Rather, it was the long-awaited debut from an artist who’d been embroiled in record label complications for more than a decade.

Fortunately, Rugged Man is still living, but his troubled relationship with the music industry hasn’t ended. Despite lofty praise for Die, Rugged Man, Die, he’s delivered just one LP since – 2013’s Legends Never Die. Each of Rugged Man’s records is packed full of shrewd, profane lyricisms and rapid-fire wordplay. And not surprisingly, both albums contain plenty of scorn for the commercial music industry.

“When corporations get involved in the music, they’re no longer pushing the art form,” he says. “They’re thinking, what could they mass market to people who don’t listen to rap music? So then the new school of MCs come on the scene and they’re trying to get a cheque by making hip hop for people that don’t like hip hop. So now they’re diluting and watering down the culture. I will never do that. Every song I make is something that I make for me, my fans and what I would want to hear and what I would want to perform.”

Rugged Man’s talents as an MC are undeniable, but his journey has never been easy. He started out in New York during what’s widely regarded as hip hop’s golden age. Throughout his recording career, he’s teamed up with such heavyweights as The Notorious B.I.G., Talib Kweli and Wu-Tang affiliates Masta Killa and Killah Priest. But despite holding his own next to these MCs, he’s also encountered some heavy opposition.

“When I first started, there wasn’t many people doing it that was white,” he says. “You could count them on your fingers. It was in the ’80s – I was a little kid and people said, ‘Who do you think you are? You think you’re a N-word?’ That was real.

“Hip hop culture is a black culture, so when white folks like ourselves get involved in a culture, in black music, you have to respect the roots, you’ve got to respect the originators of the culture and you have to respect the art form. That’s the bottom line.”

It’s worth noting that the majority of artists who epitomise hip hop’s golden age have also enjoyed major mainstream success. This seems at odds with Rugged Man’s aggressive anti-commercial stance. However, he clarifies that he’s not flatly opposed to hip hop reaching a mass audience.

“When Public Enemy were selling millions of copies an album, I had no problem with that,” he says. “When Heavy D was making commercial records and doing hip hop and selling two million copies with his album Big Tyme,I was proud of him. When Wu-Tang Clan was making hip hop records, they was underground as fuck. But they was the most successful hip hop group in the history of the culture.”

Along with deriding commercial trash, Legends Never Die intro ‘Still Diggin Wit Buck’ takes a swing at listeners who procure music through illegal means. By now, you could argue that the fight to stop downloading and streaming is a lost cause. And as it turns out, even Rugged Man is adjusting to this shift.

“People streaming my music and taking my music, I’d rather them put the money in my pocket, but at the same time, when I perform my songs all over the world, everybody knows the words to them. Maybe a lot of people wouldn’t have known about the record if it wasn’t for the mass streaming and illegal downloads. It’d be nice if they wanted to pay me, but I’m glad that they’re coming out to the shows.”

Australian fans will get another chance to see Rugged Man live when he returns Down Under this June. Stylistically, Rugged Man’s records are distinguished by sample-heavy boom-bap production and his bewildering rhyme speed. He takes no shortcuts replicating this live.

“Live performance is a just as important, if not a more important part of being an MC than just recording,” he says. “I pride myself at being able to do my songs and obliterate every MC live onstage. I pride myself on being one of the best. I can spit a million syllables before I have to take a breath.”

Seeing as though Legends Never Die is just two years old, we probably shouldn’t bank on a new Rugged Man release anytime soon. That’s not to say he hasn’t got something cooking.

“I’ve been touring, touring, touring, and after I’m done touring I come back, I work on the album a little bit,” he says. “I’m getting it done piece by piece, and I’m planning on giving a masterpiece to the crowd. When Legends Never Die dropped, some people said it was the best album of the year and it was a classic. Some people said it was one of the greatest they ever heard. It got some incredible responses from the fans, but my job as an MC is to top myself, so I’m going to make the next one my Citizen Kane. It’s going to be my best ever.”

R.A. The Rugged Man plays Manning Bar onSaturday June 6.

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