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Schoolly D back to rap, performing Friday with Public Enemy

Philly rap pioneer Schoolly D is returning to his roots and is just out with two new singles. Schoolly, aka Jesse B. Weaver, has been busy for about a decade contributing music to various Cartoon Network shows such as "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" but was itching to get back to rap. He's now touring with Public Enemy and will perform Friday at the Liacouras Center.

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Schoolly D back to rap, performing Friday with Public Enemy

POSTED: Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 12:40 PM

Dan Gross

Philly rap pioneer Schoolly D is returning to his roots and is just out with two new singles. Schoolly, aka Jesse B. Weaver, has been busy for about a decade contributing music to various Cartoon Network shows such as "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," but was itching to get back to rap.

He's now touring with Public Enemy and will perform Friday at the Liacouras Center.

Schoolly said now that his kids are older, he wants to get back to toruing. "Chuck D. [of Public Enemy] wanted to do this for a while. We got on the phone about six weeks ago and put everything together," Schoolly said.

Public Enemy's label HipHopGods is going to issue Schoolly's upcoming album online, while Goldminded will handle the vinyl and CD. The new single are available on iTunes and were issued by the recently relaunched Ruffhouse Records.

We asked Schoolly D, considered one of the first gangsta rappers, if he thought he had lost any cred by talking about practicing yoga and his vegetarian diet in interviews.

"I'm f---ing 50. I had to start eating right. Part of my job is I have to look good on stage and be able to perform," he said.

"The gold chains are gone, bravado is still there. I still write songs like I'm a 12-year-old Black Panther," Schoolly explains.

He says his doctor told him to quit "booze, weed and beef," and he doesn't miss any of it.

Schoolly plans to release his new full-length CD, "Chocolate Spider vs. Schoolly D," early next year.