NoreIn 1997, Capone-N-Noreaga released their classic album 'The War Report,' a Queens street-rap masterpiece, which featured the hits 'T.O.N.Y.' and 'L.A., L.A.' Thirteen years later Noreaga (aka N.O.R.E.) and Capone are releasing a sequel, 'The War Report 2.' Nore sat down with MTV to discuss C-N-N's decision to revisit their opus, and the various trials and tribulations they faced along the way.

"We had the idea for the 'War Report' [sequel]," Nore explained. "We was actually calling it 'Report the War.' We was gonna do all the songs [from 'The War Report'] in a backwards order. Like call a song 'Money Blood' instead of 'Bloody Money.' Instead of 'Illegal Life,' we would do 'Life Illegal,' so on and so forth. It was gonna be everything but backwards. Then what happened was, as we started to record for 'The War Report 2,' I didn't want to force it. I didn't want to force calling a record 'Money Blood' if it wasn't that. The s--- started flowing. You don't go to the ocean and say, 'The waves is flowing this way, but I wanna try to force the waves to go this way.' You don't do that. So the way we was recording it, I was like, 'I can't mess with Mother Nature.' It's flowing perfectly. We went and got Imam Thug, a person from the original. We got Mussolini. Tragedy [Khadafi] is on the album. As you know, he's incarcerated. But we got a couple of verses, and he'll appear on the skits."

One artist whose involvement has already been revealed is Busta Rhymes, who recently organized a similar endeavor, executive-producing Raekwon's highly acclaimed 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx' sequel. Busta will be taking on the same role for C-N-N, exec-producing and releasing the album via his Ice H20 imprint.

"It was crazy, because I had a deal with the company [Raekwon is] dealing with," Nore said. "The crazy thing is, he heard about it. His brother K, Kareem, reached out to me and said, 'Why don't we do it as a team?' I was with it. But I said, 'If we gonna do it like that, we might as well bring it back full-circle, C-N-N. Not a Nore solo.' So right now, I'm not even recording Nore records. I got some big-time producers calling with beats, and I tell them, 'Not right now. I'm chilling.' I don't want to record a party record. I don't even want to be near a party. That's not what C-N-N represented. It represented the gutter. If the records could be played in a party, then good. But big-up Rae and the whole Ice Water. Mel, K, everybody. We gonna execute the plan."

Raekwon will appear on the track called 'Dutch Masters vs. Phillies,' which attempts to settle the age-old debate about the superior cigar brand. "I'm a Phillie guy; Rae is a Phillie guy too," Nore explained. "I can't believe he was repping Dutch Masters."

The Lefrak, Queens rapper continued to describe the impact that Raekwon's release had on the rest of the rap community.

"Rae set the platform for everybody to go back in and do their art," Nore explained. "Busta is going back in and doing his 'E.L.E. [2].' Fat Joe is doing 'Darkside.' I don't think I ever been this focused in my whole career. I don't wanna f--- up the 'War Report' legacy. I'm taking it too serious. I'm taking it real serious, because 'The War Report' has its own following, its own legacy. I don't want to take anything away from that. I think we're making a helluva album. Maybe even better than 'The War Report.' I know that's a lot to say, but wait until you hear it."

C-N-N's third record, 'Channel 10,' was released last year.

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