"Heavy Metal Kings" is a song by American

underground hip hop Underground hip hop (also known as underground rap or simply underground) traditionally refers to hip hop music that is outside the general mainstream canon or counter-cultural in nature, usually with a heavy emphasis on emotion, lyricism, and/or ...

duo

Jedi Mind Tricks Jedi Mind Tricks (JMT) are an American underground hip hop group from Philadelphia, founded in 1996 by two high school friends, rapper Vinnie Paz (Vincenzo Luvineri) and producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind (Kevin Baldwin). In 1999, rapper Jus ...

featuring a guest verse from fellow New York-based rapper

Ill Bill William Braunstein (born July 14, 1972), professionally known by his stage name Ill Bill, is an American rapper and record producer from Brooklyn, New York City. Having gained fame in the underground hip hop group Non Phixion, Ill Bill is known ...

. It was released in 2006 through

Babygrande Records Babygrande Records is an American independent record label based in New York City, founded by Chuck Wilson. Babygrande is distributed by The Orchard and represented by the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood. History Babygrande Records wa ...

as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from the group's fifth studio album ''

Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell ''Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell'' is the fifth studio album by hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks. It was released September 19, 2006 through Babygrande Records. The first single, " Heavy Metal Kings", featuring Ill Bill of La Coka Nostra, was ...

''. Main recording sessions took place in 2006 at Found Sound Recording in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

by Scott "Supe" Stallone, while Ill Bill's vocals were recorded at Powerhouse Studios in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

by Elliot Thomas. Written by

Vinnie Paz Vincenzo Luviner ( Luvineri born October 5, 1977), better known as Vinnie Paz (formerly known as Ikon the Verbal Hologram), is an Italian-born American rapper and producer behind the Philadelphia underground hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks. He ...

, Ill Bill and

Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind Kevin Baldwin, better known by his stage name Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind or simply Stoupe, is an American hip hop producer, DJ, and member of the underground hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks. Stoupe has worked with only a limited number of artists ...

, it was produced by the latter. The song utilises a sample from "Boiling Rage (Estuans Interius)" by German composer

Carl Orff Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...

, taken from his famous

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreveren ...

'', and a vocal sample from

Mobb Deep Mobb Deep was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo formed in Queens, New York (state), New York in 1990. Consisting of rappers/songwriters/record producers Prodigy (rapper), Prodigy and Havoc (musician), Havoc, they are considered to be among the pr ...

's "

Front Lines (Hell on Earth) "Front Lines (Hell on Earth)" is the official first single from Mobb Deep's '' Hell on Earth'' album. The song is listed on the album as "Hell on Earth (Front Lines)". The song samples "October Ballade" by Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, Joe Henders ...

" for the chorus. The single was released in a limited edition blue vinyl pressing, with every copy signed by group's lead vocalist Vinnie Paz. The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was released shortly before the album's release, starring Vinnie Paz, Ill Bill, DJ Kwestion and R.A. the Rugged Man. This title of the song inspired Vinnie Paz and Ill Bill to release an eponymous collaborative album, which was dropped in 2011. In 2017, the duo of Paz and Bill released their second collaborative album, ''Black God White Devil'', under the 'Heavy Metal Kings' moniker.

Track listing

Personnel

*Vincenzo "

" Luvineri — songwriter, first and third verses, chorus *William "

" Braunstein — songwriter, second verse *Kevin "

" Baldwin — songwriter, producer *Dave "DJ Kwestion" Klein — scratches *Scott "Supe" Stallone — recording, mixing *Elliot Thomas — additional vocal recording *Michael Sarsfield — mastering

References

External links

* 2006 songs 2006 singles Jedi Mind Tricks songs {{2000s-hiphop-song-stub