Tank Washington

Tank Washington made his first appearance in the Booth last fall, when he was met with reader acclaim for Pot Luck, and the Texas spitter and LNS member looks to continue the positive response with the world premiere release of his latest single. Like his previous offering, Never Again sees him trading verses with LNS crewmate Kydd, this time over some J. Money production well deserving of a cruise with the windows down. Expect this to land on Tank’s upcoming, still untitled EP, slated for release this fall. - DJBooth

Texas emcee Ike grabs Melat, King Mez and Tank Washington on for "Last Days," as they ponder what their final day on Earth would be like.

All emcees involved believe some sort of violence or the government will be a part of their death, but they won't go down without a fight. "Whichever way I go, I won't be on my knees. Know that if I'm armed, I'mma squeeze," spits Ike followed by similar sentiments from Mez and Tank. The boom-bap production from Haris Qureshi adds a layer emotion with its descending bass line and ascending guitar samples. - 2DopeBoyz

Up and coming MC, Kydd decided to drop his latest track upon the interwebs today, this one is called “Russian Roulette”. Kydd gets joined by GLC, Tank, and Max Frost for the incredibly dope track. The track is a dope, mid-tempo jam driven by a slowed down vocal sample that is backed by some highly addictive drums.

The Austin, Texas native delivers some potent bars before the rest of his friends pick up the mic to drop some dope lines themselves. Whew, this shit is something serious. Do yourself a favor and get familiar with Kydd, and definitely check out “Russian Roulette” after the jump. - StupidDope

Austin, TX’s own Sertified has been getting a great response since releasing his latest mixtape FilthyFckingHumans earlier this year. Today Sertified drops another single from the project, this one titled “What I Need” and featuring Pacboi Tank and Mr. Ride Thru Tha D. “What I Need” was produced by Heartbeatz. - YouHeardThatNew

We heard our first teaser of Bay Area rapper Stunnaman's new project, Stunner, back in April when he appeared on Star Slinger's "Bad Bitches" with fellow Pack member Lil B. Since then, Stunna's been putting the EP together and sharing cuts like the SpaceGhostPurrp-produced "Blvck Luxury."

Stunner arrives today with a total of nine varied tracks from Stunna, who's also joined on here by Ethelwulf, Trouble Andrew, and Pacboitank Lns. You can stream the entire project below. - Complex

The former 20/20 and Poise emcee made sure to leave an imprint with "Last Days," which is why he brought along King Mez, songstress Melát, and Tank Washington for an ardent offering. Speaking on social injustices, violence, and ongoing system letdowns, the quadruplet kick in their emotive cadence for an unforgettable collab. - HipHopDX

A couple years back, hip-hop powerhouse LNS Crew looked like ATX hip-hop’s next big thing. Then rapper Cory Kendrix moved to Denver and Kydd Jones decamped to Atlanta. At the end of the 2015, producer Haris Qureshi told us the crew had largely restructured as a record label. LNS crew as a whole will be back in town for South by Southwest, but rapper Tank Washington is still holding down the fort for Austin full time.

“My sons Trae and True live here so I’m probably not moving unless it’s very lucrative for me,” he said this week.

That’s good news for Austin hip-hop. His latest album “Pain,” released at the beginning of January, is a fully realized platter, loaded with thoughtful, mid-tempo meditations on the struggles of a young artist ready to break out. He recently smoked a Free Week performance at the Mohawk and he’ll be at the Weird City Hip-hop Festival on Saturday.

Austin360: You open this album with a very moving memorial for your father. What was your relationship with him like?

Tank Washington: My dad was one of my best friends. Our bond was very strong. Our birthday is on the same day!! He taught me so much about life and pretty much everything I know, I got from him. I miss him a lot.

Did losing him drive you to finish this album?

Of course it did. I lost him in the process of completing this album. That’s why the “RIP POP” track is first. His death is still fresh on my brain since it’s only been 4 months since he passed away from cancer.

What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the Austin hip-hop scene?

Our strength is in variety. There’s so many different sounds in Austin hip-hop that if people actually paid more attention and listened, they would have their mind blown. The weakness is consistency. I think a lot of artists get fed up with not getting anywhere. At times, they give up. I feel like we need to keep pushing and putting our music in people faces!

Sonically, this album covers a lot of ground, from soulful Southern stuff to a kind of chilly OVO vibe. Who did the production and what sounds inspire you?

Pretty much everything on the album was produced by my crew. Kydd, Cory, and Scott Pace helped me a lot with the beats. Also, DJ Anna Love blessed me with some heaters when I went up to Denver to rock a show with Cory earlier this year. Chamothy The Great let me use the song “MT4Ts” for my album and J Money from San Antonio produced the track “Never” which is one of my favorites on the album. As far as inspiration, I’m inspired by whatever sounds good. I went in a lot of directions and sounds with this album. I don’t just have one sound and my life is like that: it’s up and down and I expressed a lot of my personal life on this album.

What is the one thing everyone should know about you as an artist?

I’m real and I’m something people should pay attention to.

What’s your signature breakfast taco?

Bacon, egg, potato, sausage and cheese with red sauce! In case you were wondering, Kydd gets potato with either bacon or sausage tacos (no egg) with green sauce. I don’t know what’s up with that but that’s what he likes.

Follow Tank Washington on Twitter @pacboitank. - Austin360

Tank Washington plays the role of both therapist and patient in his new video for “Never,” wherein the native Austin MC smokes a blunt on the couch while clearing the air about the problems weighing on his mind: fake friends talking trash behind his back, the competitive nature of the rap game, and poisonous past relationships.

He severs ties with those frustrating factors with an uncompromising hook:

“I will never fuck with you again!”

Ultimately, Washington-the-therapist assures Washington-the-patient: “I don’t think you’re crazy or insane, I really think you’re just going through a lot of pain.” That’s a running theme throughout Washington’s recent full-length debut, Pain, which features fellow LNS Crew members Kydd Jones and Cory Kendrix, plus other prominent Austin hip-hop heads Dowrong, Chamothy the Great, and Jonathas. The rapper’s father passed in October during sessions for the album.

“This record is self-therapy,” admits Washington. “I started Pain off with losing my dad and I ended it with a song about my kids. Everything in the middle is an update on my life: I partied, I got hurt, I lost, I won.

“It’s just real stuff, man.” - Austin Chronicle

Austin’s never been known as a hip-hop town. It’s had plenty of rappers grinding over the years, but when it comes to reputation, it’s no Houston. Heck, it’s not even Dallas. But the LNS Crew—made up of rappers Tank Washington, Kydd Jones, and Cory Kendrix—have been representing the city for years. And though the group have since gone nationwide (Jones moved to Atlanta, Kendrix to Denver), Washington remains in Texas.

As Washington prepared the release of his most recent album, Pain, earlier this year, he and younger brother Jones knew they had to pay tribute to the man who raised them right off the bat: Jones sent Washington a beat he’d made about a month before their father died of lung cancer, and Washington heard in it something that captured his family’s emotions.

“My dad died of lung cancer, and this is my way of letting it go and saying farewell and R.I.P. to him,” Washington explains of the song, which he recorded a month after their father passed. He and producer Scott Pace were in the studio when he found the track. “I started going through some of Kydd’s beats that I had. I’m a fan of soulful samples with Southern drums, and so when I heard the beat, I definitely felt inspired,” he says. “As strange as it seems now, at first I thought I would write a song about women over the beat—but Scott encouraged me to come up with something more unique, so I dug deeper in my emotions to come up with the hook.”

In the video for the song, presented exclusively by Texas Monthly, Washington embodies that feeling, walking among the tombstones and pouring out a bottle as he recounts the lessons learned from his father over Jones’s low-key beat and stuttering drums.

“What’s crazy is that a lot of people actually slept on that beat,” Jones says. “I met back up with Tank after coming down to Austin for our father’s funeral, but the track didn’t end up getting cut until after I went back to Atlanta. I didn’t really think that it would become the type of song that Tank made it into, but it was dope. I probably teared up a little. The song felt perfect, and meant to be, so we ran with it.” - Texas Monthly

After releasing several tracks last year, Austinite Tank Washington has finally rolled up with his debut album titled, Pain. Siting at 10 tracks, the album features fellow LNS Crew members Kydd Jones and Cory Kendrix, as well as Dowrong, Chamothy The Great and Jonathas. And if you’re wondering about the title? Tank says, “I was going through some real shit during the recording for this project. Real shit never fails.” - Boi1da.net

This shit jams. ATX artist Pacboi Tank drops off his new single featuring 2 of ThaFixx favorites Worldwide and Killa Kyleon - ThaFixx

Most recently, you've worked with emcees like Killa Kyleon, Dee-1 & GLC but a lot of people don't know that you and your brother Kydd were signed to 33rd St Records which was part of Tower Records back in the day. What was that like?

Man, I was young and it was a lot of fun but also definitely a learning experience. Big shoutout to Checkmate and Above All for putting us in a position like that at the age of seventeen.




As someone who grew up in the projects of South and East Austin, what are some of the craziest things you saw as a kid growing up? What are some of the differences between old Austin and new Austin to you?

One of the craziest things I seen? Some family stuff I won't mention, but I guess also seeing the drug game up close and just witnessing how things have changed. Now everybody's recording everything and you got Instagram and YouTube and all that. There's way more dry snitching and senseless bragging nowadays haha.




Many consider you the most street or hardcore style rapper in LNS Crew. Why do you think that is?

Cause I don't give a fuck about art. I just rap and say what I feel. I don't care about being the best... Not to take away from my brothers but I listen to a lot of stuff that they don't. I feel like musically I can do it all, but a lot of my friends are still in the streets and that's where I came up so I talk about that so people like me and them can understand it.




A lot of people hadn't heard a whole project from you until 2013's "6 Shots EP." You've been heavily featured on both the LNS Crew mixtapes, what have you got cooking up next?

Right now I'm knocking out this mixtape with DJ Knowledge that I wanna drop soon. I also got another EP that I'm working on too, that's in the rough stages. You know us, we stay cookin nigga! - LNS Crew Blog

Mixtape from Austin TX’s LNS Crew ft. Yelawolf, Pac Div, Skyzoo, GLC, A.Dd+ and more. - UGSMag

Tank Washington of LNS Crew keeps the heat coming… this time, it’s in the form of a music video for the remix of Faded. This video is powerful in its simplicity… no big posturing, no outlandish scenarios or idealism, just straightforward talk and face to face realness. - Chief & The Doomsday Device

While you were out on break, Austin’s hip-hop collective LNS Crew dropped a video for their smoked-out track “Leaders Life 4 Ever.” Great for a foggy day like today, the song merges that down South, windows-down, cruising sound with old soul, slightly jazzy, stoned chilled vibes. Full of whisky, blunts, and buds, this video has everything you’d expect from a band who just opened for Curren$y. There’s even an appearance by what looks like the Barton Creek Mall food court.

Even though a lot of folks saw LNS Crew for the first at last year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest, the MCs have been serving beats in Austin for a long time. In 2012, the group had a monthly at the Mohawk. In 2013, members of the group, composed of Kydd, PacboiTank, Cory Kendrix, Deezie Brown, and DJ Charlie, dropped several mix tapes. 2014 hopes to bring more noise around the group with full-lengths dropping soon. - Republic Of Austin

"Cheers
to the life that we live. it’s a war going on out here-better stay prepared.
‘Cause everywhere and anywhere it can go down, from my town to your town everybody livin’ wild
We see body after body out here in Travis County,
These cops killing brothers and we killing each other.."

From the LNS crew, Tank aka PacBoiTank has a new EP coming out on 10/28 called 6 Shots. “Cheers” is the first single and video from EP. You’ll hear verses from fellow Austin emcees Kydd, Cory Kendrix, Deezie Brown and Lil Milez as well as Philadelphia’s Asaad AKA Saudi Money. On his new EP, Tank describes his everyday struggle as an overtime worker balancing his touring life and fatherhood. Enjoy “Cheers” from PacBoiTank. $upport PacBoiTank at Bandcamp on 10/28. - Groove Loves Melody

Similar heights are reached on LNS Crew member PacBoiTank's "Getting My Thoughts Together," the Scott Pace-produced hit on October's rugged 6 Shots EP. Claiming, "I do it for the town even though they hating on my sound," Tank embodies a more hardcore style than his affiliates Cory Kendrix and Kydd Jones, who shows up on the title cut, and "Leaders Life Forever," which evokes Kydd's "Jungle." - Austin Chronicle

The LNS Crew from Austin, TX may mistakenly be labeled as a crew that follows Kydd around but that is one serious misconception. Comparable to the League of Extraordinary Gz, possibly no other crew represents the ups and downs of the 512 better than them. If Kydd is the group’s outright star in the making thanks to his duality on the mic and the boards then Tank, its bearded everyman might be its most notable lieutenant.

6 Shots, the Austin native’s latest EP runs on the blood of West Coast DJ Quik inspired synths (“Whatever”), colossal drum landscapes (“Six Shots”) and a general connection to keep things eye level. He jokingly attempts to discuss lyrical miracles between stomping drums and his breakfast routine of weed and cereal but nothing seriously bites hard. Punchlines don’t immediately move mountains yet they feel quite conversational — and easy to run along with. 6 Shots decides to make most of its coin on the charisma of its main character, a father and family man who divides his time drinking, smoking and setting up his own misadventures in Austin. Stream the EP below via Tank’s Soundcloud page and watch videos from two of the tapes singles, “Cheers” and “One Deep”. - DayAndADream

Tank a.k.a. PacBoiTank recently released his latest musical project, 6 Shots. Tank uses his lyrical ability to translate his present struggles as a father and as an artist into his craft.

This EP includes verses from fellow Austin emcees Kydd Jones, Deezie Brown and Lil Milez, as well as native Oregonian Cory Kendrix and Philadelphia’s Asaad AKA Saudi Money.

Accented beats and erratic rhythms, make Whatever a song filled with a lot of swag. Seconds upon listening to this track, and you’ll eventually get an idea why this EP is a great attention-grabber.

For hiphop fanatics, Six Shots gives more than six reasons why you should keep this EP in your everyday playlist. With the hard-hitting beats followed by extensive blows, this track will keep you psyched all day.

Drunk as Fuck‘s solid production gives this EP that extra boost to the hiphop scape. There were moments when an electro rhythm will cut into the song, which gives it that ultra-party vibe.

All in all, PacBoiTank has created an ideal dance EP that features of a solid hiphop foundation. 6 Shots is true to its skin in unraveling the artist’s sentimentality without loosing its spark to get you moving. - FrostClick

Late on this one, but Tank from the LNS Crew dropped his 6 Shots EP about a week ago. Stream it now. For all the talk about there about bringing ATX together and crossing over, this dude actually made moves in the local scene. For most of 2012 LNS was doing a hip hop monthly at the Mohawk. Not DJs, but live hip hop. The payoff comes at around noon this Saturday as Tank and Kydd and the whole LNS Crew opens the Blue Stage at Fun Fun Fun Fest. BIG - Pushermania

Tank of the LNS Crew return with a new hiphop single, “It’s Nothin” featuring Austin’s Cory Kendrix (LNS Crew) & San Antonio’s Kyle Lee, formerly of 3rd Degree. Following his most recent project, “6 Shots,” Tank (better known as Pacboi Tank) is currently getting ready to drop his new mixtape with GoDJ Knowledge next month! - I Still Love HER

LNS Crew stalwart Tank Washington has been doling out strong tracks all week, including a pair of singles mastered by now confirmed Drake collaborator Eric Dingus, but my favorite of the bunch is “Complicated,” an (anti)romantic Valentine’s track produced by Magna Carda beat maker Dougie Do. “Complicated” has the lushness of a Magna Carda single, what with all the digi-strings and organ-driven low end, but Tank has a much grittier voice than Megz Kelli, which makes for an intriguing sweet and sour contrast. Tank is also a more conversational vocalist, with his flow having the lilting rhythms of Tarantino dialogue rather than Megz’ melodic daredevilry. If you’re still reeling from Valentine’s and need a little respite from the coupled life, “Complicated” has you covered. - Ovrld

Cory Kendrix always has his hands in something good, and does a great job keeping me in the loop. Check him laying the foundation for this track from LNS Crew-mate Tank Washington and DoWrong of the LOEGz. - WeOutHere

LNS Crew are mainstays in Austin’s hip-hop scene. They’ve cut enough tracks that there’s bound to be something that works for everyone. But their new track “Pot Luck” might be my favorite thing I’ve heard from this collective of up-and-coming rappers. With thudding bass drum and snare over distant keys, the track harkens back to classic boom-bap style production. “Pot Luck” features verses from five rappers, three from LNS Crew as well as guest appearances by New Orleans rapper Dee-1 and ST 2 Lettaz, the Alabama-based rapper who is half of acclaimed duo G-side.

Cory Kendrix kicks off the track without wasting a second before ST 2 Lettaz works his rhymes in a standout verse. The flows on “Pot Luck” work traditional rhythms and tones; they’re loose and relaxed. This is least true for Kydd Jones’ contribution, which comes third. With choppier lines delivered as the beat drops out, the verse acts as a change of pace before Dee-1 and Pacboi Tank’s verses wrap it up. It’s great to see true hip-hop believers returning to these basics. Too often, people try to do too much and tracks are vastly overproduced. Hype is overhyped. Fuck the party. This is the late night, living room groove after all the assholes have passed out. Dig it here: - Pop Press International

Diggin around various internet points of interest to see what cool shit I might have missed, came across this obscure head nodder from Texas. - SteadyBloggin

The AAE CEO is gearing up his upcoming Enemy Of The Industry project. A pretty catchy record and that hasn’t been said about Check in a long time. Featuring TWeeze and PacBoi Tank - Sermons Domain

Texas natives Tank and Kydd Jones, both of Austin, get together with Houston’s Roosh Williams for this mellow track about wanting the money without the fame. Look for this to be apart of a new album that will be released in December. - JoeHovasMF

Austin rapper and LNS Crew member Pacboi Tank releases his new bottoms up anthem Drunk, featuring Houston’s Killa Kyleon and San Antonio’s Worldwide. Read more on the release below:

Austin’s Tank Washington (aka Pacboi Tank) drops off his newest single, “DRUNK” featuring rising Texas stars Worldwide of San Antonio and Killa Kyleon from Houston. Tank will be performing alongside Kydd Jones at the Mohawk in Austin, TX for the LNS Crew SXSW Hangover Part IV on Thursday, April 9th.

Check out Drunk from Pacboi Tank featuring Killa Kyleon and Worldwide. - Trillmatic