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After the post I did on Freestyle Friday champ Jin a couple of weeks ago, I started to think about the original 106 and Park winner, Harlem's Posta Boy. While Jin managed to release an album during his brief stint at Ruff Ryders, and continues to have a strong following on the internet, Posta Boy seemed to fall off the radar once he finished up his ten week run on Freestyle Fridays.
Based solely on their Freestyle Friday battles, I would have expected Posta Boy to be the first one to find commercial success. While his "freestyles" seemed to rely more on prewritten material than Jin's, Posta Boy faced significantly more talented MCs during his ten week run (including Hell Rell and Immortal Technique). His flow was solid and he didn't rely on punchlines as much as other battle rappers. So what happened to him?
After his appearence on BET, Posta Boy says he was offered contracts from twelve different labels, eventually signing with Universal. His career got off to a promising start, receiving support from Raekwon and Swizz Beats right out of the gate. When it came time to release his album, though, he ended up butting heads with his management team over sample clearance and promotional issues. Things took a drastic turn for the worse when Posta Boy was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2004. After going through a year of chemotherapy, during which he says he received no support from his label, Posta was released from his contract with Universal.
Posta Boy is now running his own record label, Winning Team Records, and working with rapper P-Reala and Jersey-based producers Dilemma and Versatile on his debut album.
He put out a mixtape last year, Real Recognize Real. Here are a couple of (admittedly old) tracks from it:
Posta Boy and Dylon - Young Blood (yeah, that Dylon)
Posta Boy, Nelly and the Clipse - #1 remix
Some Posta Boy videos:
Posta Boy vs. Immortal Technique
Posta Boy and Jin
In the studio with Posta Boy and Talib Kweli
For more information, hit up Posta Boy's MySpace page. Also, check out this interview that HipHopGame did with him early last year.
1/25/2007 8:10:34 AM posted by Fresh