Bishop Lamont shares details on his upcoming debut

With buzz building for his just-released single “Grow Up” (lyrics NSFW), L.A. emcee Bishop Lamont is busy putting the finishing touches on his first album for Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. If all goes as Lamont plans, The Reformation‘s release this November will see him follow in the lofty footsteps of Eminem and 50 Cent as the latest Aftermath signee to set the rap world on its head. “Look at what’s representing hip-hop right now on the radio,” the 29-year-old rapper tells EW.com. “Look at what corporate America is doing to hip-hop. It’s so ignorant, it’s so dumbed-down. There’s no one saying, ‘Okay, that’s the Saturday afternoon special for little kids, but here are realistic things that are really going on in society.’”

Old-school New Yorker Lord Finesse, late Detroit legend J Dilla, and, of course, Lamont’s mentor Dr. Dre are among the producers set to contribute beats for The Reformation. Other planned collaborators include Busta Rhymes — and, if Lamont has his way, Dave Matthews. (A rep for Matthews said the jam-band king’s management was unaware of any plans to work with Lamont at present.) “Hip-hop can encompass anything,” Lamont explains. “So let’s start pressing the envelope, like when you first seen Run-DMC with Aerosmith.”