Legendary producer and rapper Pete Rock returns to record stores next week with his new album NY's Finest, his first in four years. caught up with the hip-hop icon to discuss his upcoming disc, why New York rappers need to stop hating the South and working with Jim Jones and D-Block.

For NY's Finest, Pete Rock unites with featured artists including Raekwon, Masta Killa, Papoose, Redman, Styles P, Sheek Louch and Jim Jones, resulting in some collaborations he admits were surprising.

"My music with the Dipset, people look at like 'Word? It should be interesting to hear what it sounds like,'" Pete Rock told. "Certain people have their opinions about Pete Rock and Jim Jones, but I think it's interesting we work together."

"Working with Styles P and Sheek Louch -- this is what the rap generation is today, if it ain't real I don't really want to deal with it, ," he said about his work with the D-Block emcees. "Those cats have some realness with them and a story that's real that I'd like to bring out of them. mixing with the new cats means bringing them out of their realm and doing something different with me."

Like Pete Rock, most artists featured on NY's Finest hail from New York, but Pete denies regional prejudice, even pointing to one of his tracks, "Til I Retire," where he decries the heavy bashing Southern hip-hop has endured.

"In rap media you hear people complaining about the South, then you hear people complain about New York," he explained. "I'm in New York, so I hear the South beef, I'm like 'you all need to stop that and just get on your grind and do your music and stop sitting there bickering about who's wack, who's this, who's that."

Known for his role in crafting tim