Red Café’s debut album, Shakedown, has been a long time in the making. Before the Brooklyn rhyme slinger finally unleashes the much-delayed opus, he has just one more musical commitment to fulfill.

“This Hell’s Kitchen project is pretty much the 'last EP slash mixtape' that I’m gonna put out before the actual album,” Red tells BET.com during a visit to 106 & Park last week to premiere the new video for his latest banger, “Fly Together,” featuring Rick Ross and Ryan Leslie. “My job and my obligation to the people is to give them their therapy.”

With an already-established catalogue of street bangers under his belt, the raspy-voiced rapper accepts the album delays as invaluable learning experiences. Tight-lipped about the details surrounding his debut album, Café does insist that his final prelude to Shakedown won’t be a letdown. Enlisting the help of Meek Mill, Trey Songz, 2 Chainz and others, the Brooklyn MC says his patient fans can take Hell’s Kitchen as payment in full for their patience and loyalty.

“The business is what the business is, and sometimes it doesn’t work out for your benefit,” he explains “But I don’t think the people should be affected by that.”

Admitting to a few missteps behind the promotion of his last banger/setup record, “Faded,” featuring longtime collaborator Ricky Rozay, Red promises a revamped version with a surprise feature for the unsung single.

“’Faded’ will be on the album, I got another big feature for it,” Red teases. “That’s one of them special records, but at the time I was dealing with a lot of politics that got in the way of the record reaching its full potential”

Moving forward, Red may also look to capitalize on the undeniable chemistry with Ryan Leslie, evident on “Fly Together.” The Bad Boy MC hinted at a possible future collab album with the R&B maestro.

“Me and Ryan got a great working relationship,” Red admits. “I’m a fan of his and what he does. We talked about doing some more records for my album, I’m gonna be doing stuff with him, and we’re going to do a tour together so, with all of those things in the works, you never know.”

But first things first.

While his long-awaited album Shake Down is scheduled for a Valentine’s Day release on February 14, 2012, Hell’s Kitchen mixtape will drop this Halloween.

(Photo: John Ricard/BET)