Rosco P. Coldchain & Nicholas Craven Talk New Tape, Chemistry and Mainstream vs. Underground
Categoria: Musica
The North Philly rapper and Montreal producer sat down with Billboard to give insight on their new collab album Play With Something Safe.
Por Billboard | 21/05/2026
Back in 2002, Rosco P. Coldchain had a couple scene-stealing features on the Clipse’s debut album Lord Willin ‘ where the then young North Philly rapper held his own next to guys like Jadakiss , Styles P and Ab-Liva on the tracks “Cot Damn” and “I’m Not You,” before his promising career was cut short due to legal troubles. He was signed to Pharrell’s Star Trak imprint and was supposed to drop his debut Hazardous Life , but it was eventually shelved after the subsidiary left Arista for Interscope during the early 2000s. Then in 2008, he was arrested for his connection to a fatal shooting (he still maintains his innocence) and spent the next 14 years in prison. Now, back home for about three or four years, Coldchain is picking up where he left off. He’s dropped music since being back outside, but fans got excited when it was announced that he would be doing a tape completely produced by underground darling Nicholas Craven, whose distinct sound has become a fixture in that scene, and has led to critically acclaimed projects with Boldy James, Tha God Fahim and Ransom. The Montreal producer’s penchant for finding and flipping unique samples into loops is the perfect backdrop for the North Philly rapper’s oft-kilter reality raps, and their most recent tape certainly didn’t disappoint. Featuring Malcolm Kamal, Jimmie D, Bruiser Wolf and Ab-Liva, Play With Something Safe puts ‘Sco’s elite lyrical ability and Craven’s versatility on full display. We caught up with the dynamic duo over Zoom a couple weeks ago to talk about their new found chemistry, Rosco’s journey to get to this point, their process and the importance of being independent during the digital era. Check out our convo below. Rosco , I watched an interview you did that went up a couple days ago. You were saying that you’ve been working to get to this point since you came home about three and a half years ago. Can you talk about that journey? Because you were putting out music here and there. Rosco P. Coldchain: I was, but I don’t think it was landing quite how I needed it to land — simply because, to be honest, I think a lot of people just didn’t know I was here. And so outside of them not knowing I was here, I was still trying to come up with a real sound. And so, long story short, couple of my comrades kept bringing up Nic Craven. I wasn’t super acclimated on how many artists and things of that nature, but I was familiar with the sound, and so I reached out and told him, “Hey, bro, I like you a lot. Can we work?” And the rest is history. When you say sound, do you mean production wise? R.P.C.: Yeah, in terms of the production because when I come home, I experimented it a little bit, and in all actuality, I liked all the stuff that I did. But I do know that people wanted to hear me with a specific type of sound and a specific kind of producer and he fit the mold