A Rap Icon and a Rock Elder Find Common Ground on “No Country for Old Men”

Chuck D and John Densmore have teamed up as doPE, a collaboration bridging hip-hop and rock history ahead of their Record Store Day 2026 release. (Photo by Grant Ball)

When Chuck D and John Densmore finally decided to make music together, it wasn’t the result of a sudden idea or a calculated collaboration. It was the slow closing of a circle left open for more than a decade.
The project is called doPE, a collaboration between the Public Enemy frontman and the longtime Doors drummer. Its debut album, “no country for old men,” is scheduled for release April 18 in conjunction with Record Store Day 2026. The album’s lead track, “every tick tick tick,” has been named Record Store Day’s 2026 Song of the Year.

Chuck D and Densmore first crossed paths in 2014 during a Record Store Day panel at Amoeba Music in Hollywood. Chuck D was serving as that year’s Record Store Day ambassador, while Densmore appeared as a veteran artist whose work with The Doors helped reshape rock music’s language and posture. Their conversation did not immediately turn into music. Instead, it lingered. About a year later, Densmore received a brief email from Chuck D that read: “You’ve got the beats, I’ve got the rhymes, let’s make doPE.”

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Densmore (@johndensmore)

What followed was not a rush to release but a measured exchange of ideas. Chuck D began sending verses. Densmore responded with rhythms, textures and reflection. At one point, Densmore sent back a line that would become central to the project: “Everybody gets older, but not everybody gets elder.” The phrase became a philosophical anchor for the album — a meditation on time, responsibility, memory and survival, rather than nostalgia or revivalism.

Recorded specifically for Record Store Day, “no country for old men” relies on spoken word, percussion and stripped-down musical frameworks that leave space for Chuck D’s voice to carry weight. The album does not attempt to fuse hip-hop and classic rock into a hybrid genre. Instead, it attempts to allow each discipline to speak plainly, sometimes uncomfortably, often deliberately.

Chuck D has spent more than four decades using his voice as a tool for confrontation and clarity, from Public Enemy’s foundational work in the late 1980s through collaborations across hip-hop, metal and rock. Densmore, whose drumming powered The Doors’ most enduring recordings, has long been outspoken about art, authorship and cultural accountability. In doPE, those histories are not background context; they are the material itself.

Tracklist: “no country for old men” (doPE)

Side A

1. “every tick tick tick”
2. “no country for old men”
3. “doomsay”
4. “the bones of my father”
5. “i love that i don’t know”
6. “people are strangers”

Side B

1. “breakthru”
2. “ops3ssion”
3. “dajali ii”
4. “everybody dies”
5. “no country for old men (dub)”
6. “saydoom (dub)”

“John Densmore’s beat isn’t just rhythm, it’s history talking,” Chuck D said in a statement. “He’s been scoring moments of our culture for decades, and that wisdom hits different when it meets the now. This collaboration is about locking generations together and pushing sound forward.”

Densmore echoed that sentiment more plainly, emphasizing the project’s balance. “He’s got the rhymes and I’ve got the beats,” he said. “And we made doPE.”

The album’s lead track, “every tick tick tick,” was co-produced by Densmore, David “C-Doc” Snyder and JP Hesser. It was selected as Record Store Day’s 2026 Song of the Year for its sense of urgency and restraint — a piece that reflects the pressure of time without leaning on spectacle. Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz described the song as capturing both the moment and the times surrounding it.

Visually, the project follows the same stripped-back approach. The doPE logo combines elements of The Doors’ typography with Public Enemy’s crosshairs imagery and was designed by Chuck D. The album will be released as a limited-edition colored-vinyl LP in a deluxe gatefold package featuring original illustrations by Chuck D.

Syracuse Coach Says Rapper Toosii May Walk On, Decision Still Pending

Rapper Toosii posted this image on social media amid speculation about a possible return to Syracuse, where the Syracuse native has discussed the idea of walking on to the university’s football program. Syracuse coach Fran Brown said this week that Toosii is still weighing the decision and that no role has been determined. (Courtesy of Toosii via X)

For a moment, it felt like the kind of story hip-hop still loves to believe in.

A hometown artist, successful enough to never look back, choosing instead to circle home — not for a ceremony or a plaque, but for pads and practice. When Toosii said he was committing to Syracuse football, it wasn’t framed as a stunt. It read like unfinished business.

This week, that narrative shifted — not collapsed, but clarified.

Appearing on ESPN Syracuse’s “Orange Nation,” Syracuse football coach Fran Brown said the rapper, born Nau’Jour Grainger, is still undecided about whether he will actually play for the Orange. Brown added that if Toosii does move forward, the opportunity would be as a walk-on, not a guaranteed roster spot.

“He’s still thinking about it,” Brown said, explaining that while he wanted to give Toosii a chance to pursue something meaningful to him, roster realities and evaluation still matter. The coach noted that as more players continue to arrive, the situation has to be reassessed — especially when some prospects come with game film and others do not.

The comments mark the first time a Syracuse official has spoken publicly and directly about the mechanics behind the idea that briefly captured national attention.

In early December, Toosii announced that he was “coming home,” crediting a conversation with Brown and framing the move as something he had carried with him long before the music took off. It resonated because it wasn’t aspirational branding — it was personal. A Syracuse kid, now a platinum-level artist, saying the city still had a hold on him.

COMMITTED 🙏🏽 For every kid who ever had a dream, make it reality. God’s will is the way and no one can stop it not even the devil. I wanna thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ for even giving me the strength to chase what I believed when so many people told me I couldn’t. Thank… pic.twitter.com/WUNyvFV4KV

— Toosii (@toosii2x) December 1, 2025

At the time, reporting made clear that details were unresolved, including whether the role would be scholarship-based or symbolic. Brown’s remarks now draw a firmer outline around the idea: possible, but not promised.

That distinction matters.

Toosii is 25, and while his football background is part of his origin story, his public identity has been built elsewhere — through records that turn vulnerability into leverage and melody into momentum. His success hasn’t come from spectacle. It’s come from consistency. From songs that feel lived-in, not manufactured.

Which is why the football angle hit differently. It wasn’t nostalgia. It was identity colliding with infrastructure.

College football, especially at the Power 4 level, is not designed for open-ended narratives. Roster limits are strict. Evaluation is unforgiving. The transfer portal doesn’t leave much room for sentiment. Brown didn’t dismiss Toosii’s interest — but he didn’t romanticize it either.

That honesty reframes the moment.

What looked like a feel-good headline now reads more like a crossroads. One where desire meets process. Where a personal dream has to survive the same filters as everyone else’s.

And that’s not a knock — it’s the point.

In hip-hop, we often celebrate reinvention without acknowledging resistance. We praise the pivot but ignore the friction. Toosii’s situation puts that tension on display. Wanting something doesn’t make it simple. Saying it out loud doesn’t make it real yet.

Whether Toosii ultimately puts on a Syracuse jersey or decides the timing isn’t right, the story already carries weight. It’s about an artist refusing to flatten himself into one lane. About a coach willing to open a door, but not bend the building around it.

In a culture obsessed with certainty, this moment lives in the gray.

And sometimes, that’s where the truth is.

Ice T Expands His Legacy Beyond Music and TV With Og Network

Ice T performs in 2018. The rapper and actor is a co-founder of OG Network, a new free streaming platform focused on creator-owned urban storytelling. (Stefan Bollmann, via Wikimedia Commons).

Ice T and media executive Courtney “Big Court” Richardson II are entering the streaming space with a familiar argument, one hip-hop has been making for decades: ownership still matters.

This week, Richardson and Ice T officially launched OG Network, a free ad-supported streaming platform focused on urban culture, independent filmmakers and creator-owned programming.

According to the company, the platform has already surpassed 2.3 million viewing minutes during its early rollout — a figure reported by OG Network that suggests early audience engagement, though it has not been independently verified.

OG Network is available in 186 countries across Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, iOS and Google Play, placing it within the rapidly expanding FAST and AVOD streaming ecosystem. That space has grown crowded in recent years, dominated by large-scale platforms such as Pluto TV, Tubi and Freevee, while smaller, culture-specific services compete for attention and sustainability.

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by OG Network (@ognetworklive)

Rather than positioning itself as a mass-market disruptor, OG Network is framing its mission around creator control and curated programming. Richardson said the platform was built to give independent creators ownership over their work and greater control over distribution — a message that aligns with long-standing concerns in hip-hop about exploitation and gatekeeping.

Ice T’s involvement adds historical weight to that framing. Few artists have navigated the shift from outsider to industry institution as visibly or deliberately. From his early work in protest rap to his long-running television career, Ice T has consistently engaged questions of power, representation and access, making his role as co-founder more than symbolic.

The platform’s early programming slate reflects that intent. OG Network’s launch includes “Somebody Had To Say It,” a weekly discussion series hosted by Layzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony alongside Richardson, centered on hip-hop debate and cultural commentary. Ice T serves as executive producer and narrator of “Put The Guns Down — A World Epidemic,” a documentary examining gun violence through a global lens rooted in cultural context. The service is also debuting independent films, including “My Cherie Amour,” a thriller starring Omar Gooding that OG Network says has driven strong engagement since its release.

Richardson’s “Holdin’ Court Podcast,” previously distributed elsewhere, now streams exclusively on the platform, reinforcing OG Network’s emphasis on long-form conversation over short-form virality. The service also hosts a growing library of films, documentaries and creator-led projects, with additional releases planned throughout the year.

OG Network enters a streaming landscape littered with ambitious launches that struggled to scale. FAST platforms, by design, prioritize ad-supported volume over subscription loyalty, and long-term success depends less on buzz than on sustained viewing and advertiser confidence. Whether OG Network’s creator-first positioning can translate into durability remains an open question.