AllHipHop.com: Not to open a sore wound, but what was it that made you and Pac fall out? Snoop: We was in New York before Pac got killed at the MTV Awards and Angie Martinez had got at me in the park because Pac had just confronted Nas. Nas had about 50 n***as with him and Pac had about 30 n***as with him and Pac checked him, punked him in Central Park, I mean straight punked him. He went up to the n***a and told him, "N***a, look n***a." Nas said, "Hey Pac, I ain’t got no problem with you man, I love your music." So Pac said, "Well look n***a, if you ain’t got a problem with me, I got a record comin out where I diss you, Biggie, Jay-Z and whop whop whoop, and n***a if it ain’t no love lost, n***a don’t make no reply record, n***a and I wont come back at you no more." And it went down just like that, I was right there. I wasn’t in the circle I was outside the circle looking right [in], so Pac is standing where you at, and he looking at me while he talking to [Nas], and I’m right behind Nas about four steps away. Snoop: I got about fifteen n***as with me but we not trippin’ we just watching, but Pac punkin a n***a broke him all the way down. So after that Angie Martinez get at me and she say, "Snoop I don’t see you in the middle of all that and I say I’m not a part of that so she says would you come to the station and speak on it?" I don’t have a problem with that, so I go to the station and about thirty minutes into the interview [she] says, "So how do you feel about Biggie and Puff?" "Oh them my n***as, I love them n***a’s they make good music." And that did it. That one comment did it. They felt like I betrayed n***a’s and me and Pac ain’t said another word after that. He sent his little homeboy to my room when I got back to the hotel talking bout, "Pac said give him five blunts homie." I said, "N*igga send Pac up here so I give the n***a one blunt." So [Pac] call me on the phone and say, "Hey Dogg, send me some more weed down here I got some b**ches down here." So I’m like, "Aight homie so I give him some more weed. So we riding back on the plane and them n***as don’t say one word to me. They don’t even let my security ride with me on a private plane. They tell my security you can’t ride, so it’s just me and all them n***a’s and nobody says one word to me. We land and I got my Rolls Royce pickin me up and he got his pickin him up and I say, "Yo Pac you goin to Vegas?" and he just give me this real stank ass look and don’t say nothing, that’s it. Snoop: So I’m at Warren G’s house and my pager starts blowing up talking bout turn on the news. We turn on the news see yellow tape and Suge’s [BMW], we hear the words so I call Suge like, "What up y’all alright?" He like, "Yeah I got shot in the head, Pac moving he alright." So I hop in the car me my Uncle, Marcus, and Kenny we rolled down to Suge’s house in my Hummer. When we get there everybody all sad looking, so they let us slip in the back room. But the way [Suge] actin he ain’t actin like a n***a that just got shot. He got a cigar in his mouth he like, "Yeah Doggy Dogg that n***a Pac crazy man when that m#### fu**a start shooting he said jump in the back seat and and try to hop over the seat and I’m pulling him down so he wouldn’t get shot." So I’m listening to [Suge] talk right and his whole attitude just ain’t like a n***a that’s supposed to be hurt right now, he’s more happy and s**t and I’m just like cool aight. So me and my uncle we looking at each other like, "Damn that s**t don’t seem right." So the next day we go to the hospital and Pac ain’t movin or nothing. His mama [Afeni Shakur] in there, Jesse Jackson in there. His mama grabbed me because I just break down. I’m just crying, I think I threw up, I fainted, all kinda s**t! That s**t was crazy for me because that was my n***a, and for it to end all over some crazy s**t that was crazy. Snoop: So I fell out, [Afeni] grab me took me to the bathroom, cleaned a n***a up. [She] stood me outside and she was just being so real with a n***a. She said, "Pac loves you and she was just running down some real s**t," and I’m just like damn I can’t believe she’s being so strong right now. The next time I seen her, my mama went to Atlanta to do something for her for Mother’s Day [Benefit] and she told me some real s**t. I ain’t gonna share it, but it was real some real heavy s**t, so I always look out for his mama cause I know how much he loved his mama. All these other n***as that be stealin from him and using him on songs and all that, them n***as is fake especially all these n***as he dissed and checked. That’s fake sh*t to me. If a n***a diss me and a n***a dead, I can’t take his vocals and do a record with him like we was cool. That’s hoe sh*t to me ’cause if the n***a was here, he’d be driving your ass in the turf right now. Ja rule wouldn’t even exist right now and that’s real s**t. […]

With a successful career spanning well over ten years in the game, Snoop Doggy Dogg has more than paid the cost to be the boss. The Boss ain’t just selling woof tickets, he’s sounding off about the state of Hip-Hop and who and what needs to be eliminated for the perpetuation of the movement. He holds no bones about it as he speaks in an overly candid manner about Suge Knight, Pac, Nas, Ja Rule, Dr. Dre and even resurfaces some coastal criticism. AllHipHop.com caught up with the D-O double G as he was stepping out of the booth at LA’s Record Plant recording studio. With a preacher’s fervor and a gangster’s lament, get a glimpse of Snoop’s in-depth commentary towards the issues that everybody wonders about. AllHipHop.com: When you’re in the booth you look like your having a ball, do you imagine you’re on stage performing? Snoop: (Nods head) When I listen to it back in my headphones that s**t be sounding good as a mah-f**ka. It make a n***a feel like he listenin’ to Sam Cooke or something. AllHipHop.com: Your style is sounding soulful even for Hip-Hop. How would you say it’s changed since the beginning of your career? Snoop: I think I’m more melodic, more instrumental, more musical. Going back to my background from the church. AllHipHop.com: You’re in that booth like your trying to bring the West back or something, What’s that all about? Snoop: I got to. AllHipHop.com: All I’m saying is what took you so long? Snoop: That’s because I don’t’ get no help. Dr. Dre is the Godfather. But remember, I was an under boss. I came up under Dr. Dre, ’til I crept up to the top and moved away and did my thang. See what I’m sayin? He ain’t about helping the West and that ain’t no disrespect. Eminem ain’t from the West, 50 Cent ain’t from the West. Do I need to say more? AllHipHop.com: Who all have you helped in the West? Snoop: Tha Eastsidaz, Doggy’s Angels, Everybody that come out the West come f**k with me, Suga Free all of em. They get on my s**t and I help to get them exposure. If I don’t do it ain’t nobody else gonna do it. Look at all my records even when I was on No Limit. I always brought n***as with me, like come on ‘cuz, come get on this. Even the girls, I put the first West coast girl group in the game, three females. And that wasn’t easy to do because they didn’t even get along, so imagine that. AllHipHop.com: I know we get it on the West but what is it about Snoop that makes him so universal? Snoop: I think people understand me, me as a person and what I went through because I kept it on the plate. I never hid nothing. I was never in the closet. I smoked dope, I gang banged, I did this, I did that; whatever I did it was always out. It was never like, "I didn’t know Snoop smoked weed. I didn’t know he did all kinds of stuff." When you real with the people they give you that back. And I always opened myself up to them and shared that with ’em. I always gave it up uncut even when I first got with Dre I was like, "Cuzz when I’m writing for you I’mma write the realest s**t I can think of. Sometimes I might be involved in it sometimes I might not." But when he gave me the right to do it, I just been on ever since like, "F**k it." I gotta be open and real with people because when you lie and fake then when they find out, they hate you. AllHipHop.com: Speaking of gangbanging, you know it’s the 10-year anniversary of the Crips and Bloods gang truce signing in Los Angeles? Snoop: Yes, I was a part of it. AllHipHop.com: How do you feel about it now? Snoop: I think it set a mark. It put in everybody’s head that it’s time to make a change. I don’t think it’s as strong as it was 10 years ago, but it’s effective. You have more respect now. By that day happening it taught us respect. It taught us how to see a Blood and say, "What’s up homie?" and not just come at him like, "What up Cuzz?" Now our delivery and our lingo is more respectful. If 13 Crips see 5 Bloods they not just automatically gonna try to f**k em up, they gonna give ’em the respect of the fact that that day happened 10 years ago. It’s just real like that because I know I f**k with more Bloods now, but before the peace treaty – none. AllHipHop.com: New York factions are supposed to be incorporating the truce as well. Snoop: Them n***as out there are fake. We’re at a club in New York last week and they put on that Lil Flip song that goes, "Flip, Flip, Flip" and by the end of the song I had the whole club yellin, "Crip, Crip,Crip!" Even the red rags. I bulls**t you not. AllHipHop.com: Why doesn’t West coast Hip-Hop get the acclaim that it should? Snoop: It’s easy to steal from a West coast n***a. Look at the East right now, they stealin all our music, all our words, and our lingo. They gangsta’s now, they wearing Chuck’s now, they wearin braids now, they saggin’ now. Everything we was doin ten years ago, they doing now. But when it comes to us getting play they hide us and take our s**t. We are easily infiltrated because we’re not unified. If we was unified it wouldn’t happen. If we had a n***a’s coalition out here on the West coast any n***a that violated or took our s**t we’d f**them n*gas up or get at ‘m quickly. But since it’s so unorganized, n***as don’t mind, they just like they ain’t takin’ […]

An anachronism is something that’s out of place in a space in time. You’ll hear film critics use it when things don’t add up – like a piece of money in “Titanic.” Rarely is the term good. But in Hip-Hop, the term is almost never used – and if it were, it could mean something great. Everybody’s talking ‘bout the good ole’ days, the golden era, paradise lost. Masta Killa may very well be the anachronism of Hip-Hop. Nobody speaks about the parks anymore. The block party is lost. But in Masta Killa’s world, these forgotten jewels are the very force behind his debut album, No Said Date. This album’s been brewing since Killa touched the mic with his Wu-Tang brothers eleven years ago. The record approaches Hip-Hop with a timeless appeal, and that signature razor’s edge of lyricism, knowledge, and supreme consciousness. Masta Killa reflects on the inner-turmoil of his group, the early days, and how all of it relates into the album. Masta Killa is an anachronism because he has no specific time frame. His world is a lot like his release schedule, No Said Date. AllHipHop.com: I think it’s really something special that you independent route. Of the Wu brothers, you’re kind of the first to do it like this, what has the indie label afforded you as far as freedom and creativity? Masta Killa: That’s exactly what’s it all about, right there. Being able to come from the heart. Hip-Hop to me, it’s just an expression – being able to just be free with that. Without compromising the art. It started from the block and it’s something that’s grown to a billion dollar business. So now, sometimes you have to do what you have to do because there’s business involved, but to be able to capture everything from the essence, even if you make a mistake…I guess that’s why some people do the Unplugged thing. “F**k it, if you make a mistake, keep going.” That’s what’s so beautiful about the independent thing. AllHipHop.com: Over the years, you’ve had lots of material to pull from. With No Said Date, how much is older, and how much is new? Masta Killa: I constantly work. I’m constantly in the studio, doing something. I’ve got songs on No Said Date that I’ve had for over five years. When something is vintage, it is what it is. No matter how old, or how long you might’ve had it…that’s why we still love the old Hip-Hop. What is old really? It’s just vintage. Learn something from it, you can still put it on, it’ll still rock the party. The beats are still banging. If it can’t rock a block party, it ain’t the s**t. You gotta be able to put it on in the park…two turntables and a DJ scratchin’/words seem to have an attraction/when they rhyming. It got to be Hip-Hop, man. AllHipHop.com: “Old Man” is a crazy ODB moment. I’m guessing it’s older, but was that recorded after he go out? Masta Killa: That’s after! AllHipHop.com: Damn, that’ll shut down the ones who saying he changed. Masta Killa: Yeah. Hey, this is a business. That don’t got nothin’ to do with my brother bein’ my brother. That’s personal. If you working at Merrill Lynch, and I’m working at Jacoby & Myers, so what! I told my brother I needed him, I was there. AllHipHop.com: The Wu-Tang presence on this record is very thick. Masta Killa: Wu-Tang is such a multi-talented group, I was just able to just be myself, really. I got Meth, I got Dirty doing something. Ghost is doing that, Rae, GZA. To just take it back to the essence with the block party. Everybody had every avenue covered. AllHipHop.com: But this album is also filled with collaborations. Do you find yourself to be a better artist with others around you? Masta Killa: Well, to me, first I like to listen to other people even before I listen to myself. I loved Hip-Hop [since] even before I was rhyming. I love to hear all the old school cats that was laying it down back then…Kool Moe Dee, Treacherous Three, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Melle Mel, Kane, all the old greats. They ain’t that old. It was just at a stage when Hip-Hop wasn’t everywhere in the world. It went through stages. I always loved this. For me to do a collaborations with someone else, I love that. I got the capabilities to do my own songs, I love to hear other MC’s also. That’s what it was all about anyway, being braggodocious. “I’m nice! I’m slicker than you! Whateva.” So that’s a personal thing, [being] and MC, I understand that. But when it comes to making a bangin’ f**kin’ song, don’t let that stop you. AllHipHop.com: Talking about Hip-Hop, one track that really jumped out at me on the record is “High School.” First of all, I love the story. Who was Masta Killa before Wu, and as a result of them, how did you change? Masta Killa: See, I never changed. Those experiences, like a High School experience was Masta Killa of Wu-Tang. I always loved Hip-Hop. I might’ve wrote a little rhyme myself, and not had the heart to say it in front of a crowd. But you go to school, there’s cats at school in the lunch room that’s naaaasty! Just to be able to hold the crowd, you know I went to school in Brooklyn, New York, so to be able to hold a crowd in the lunch room or the back of the A-Train, just in a cypher alone, you gotta have a certain amount of talent to do that. Your wordplay has to be intriguing, because there’s really no beat. I was always around that, from a child. Wu-Tang forming…that [was] just children growing up to form something that took the world by storm. Hip-Hop was always there. AllHipHop.com: This record is coming at a perfect time. It’s proving the […]

Ghostface (Killah) is one of hip-hop’s champions of consistency. And he’s continuously blessed eager listeners with bars that provoke thought, twisted faces and head nods. But after 10 years, Ghost is going through changes, which these days is commonly referred to as “grown man s**t.” As a lot of surface rappers remain identical to their former selves, Ghostface aka Tony Starks aka Pretty Toney is about to morph again – this time to something more dramatic, personal and uncompromising. AllHipHop.com: So, Ghost tells me where were you five years ago, five month ago and five days ago? Ghostface: Mentally? Physically? I probably was doing Supreme Clientele five years ago. I was in New York City five months ago, running around and getting ready to drop my current album, Pretty Toney. And five days ago, we were running around too. AllHipHop.com: I heard you stopped blazing. Ghostface: Yeah, Toney don’t smoke no weed. No more of that. Its like, I wasn’t like Tical [Meth] where they blaze everything, every day. Some times you have to relax on it. Especially me, I’m a diabetic and it wasn’t good for me. That’s no the reason I quit. If you are doing something for a whole bunch of years, since your teens, and then you are in your 20’s, that’s not good for you? It starts taking a toll on you. AllHipHop.com: Is that a grown man decision or a Ghost decision? Ghostface: That’s a grown man decision. Then, writing music, you start getting stuck, forgetting what you were going to say, you losing lines (rhymes). I had to “Chuck Chillout” on that. (laughs). I ain’t gonna front. Sometimes, it opens that closed door for a second, then after that everything starts coming into my head where I can’t stay focused. I had to leave it alone. AllHipHop.com: Grown man things! Ghostface: It was making me tired. I might have something to do and then (I realized) I’ve missed everything. Two or three hours passed. And you like ‘I gotta light up tomorrow.’ You keep throwing yourself off. You got some people that can smoke working like that and it gives them a battery (energy), but I’m the opposite. It was kinda hard. Since September 16 [I haven’t smoked], discipline. I’ve done a lot of things in my life and a lot of things, I regret. But as you get older, you get wiser. I have to give all praises due back. Any way I can give back to and make God happy… If I have to civilize a nation to give His word, through the music, then that’s what I’m have to do. I’m not going to be talking about what I am talking about in a couple of years. Its time to get out of that stage and give all praise to the Father. AllHipHop.com: Now, I’ve wanted to ask you this for a minute. Are you still a member of the Five Percent Nation? Ghostface: [Pauses] No, but I study Islam. I’m not a part of the Five Percent Nation. I always respected what the brothers spoke about, but I was never apart of it. I respect the lessons and all that. I agreed with a lot of their ideology. AllHipHop.com: That’s a huge misconception. I never knew that. Your “chez la Ghost” video had a lot of scantily clad women in it. I was about to say…there was a contradiction with that and the ideology of the Five Percent Nation. Ghostface: How is that a contradiction? AllHipHop.com: Don’t women have to be covered? Ghostface: That’s really what Muslims go by. AllHipHop.com: But don’t you practice Islam? Ghostface: Yeah, but that’s what Muslims go by. You got Five Percent over here and you got your Muslims over here. AllHipHop.com: Does what you practice in your personal life have to carry over to Ghostface aka Pretty Toney? Ghostface: Well, Islam for me means Peace and Submission, so I submit to the will of Allah. At the same time, I know we are in a time where things have changed. I ain’t gonna front, I’ve had babies by ladies that weren’t Muslim, but in my household they had to follow a certain amount of laws about being very clean and no pork in my house and knowing how to raise my kids. When you do videos, that’s just TV. That’s an illusion at the end of the day. So, I’m not saying that every girl gotta be Muslim. In these days and times, a lot of people are not even dealing with that unless I stay in the mosque all day and catch a woman with her face covered up. Not to say, I don’t want a women like that – somebody that has respect for herself, that’s one of the best [qualities] you can ever have in a woman. The videos and all that stuff are just like make up. AllHipHop.com: Now how are your lyrics separate from the make up? Ghostface: What do you mean? AllHipHop.com: The video is a representation of your music. Your music isn’t just for entertainment, is it? Ghostface: My music is for everything, but I am an entertainer. That’s what I do, I entertain. I’m an emcee so I must entertain the people. AllHipHop.com: But that music doesn’t come from a special place? Ghostface: Of course. When I write my music, I entertain from the heart. AllHipHop.com: You said videos are an illusion, but your rhymes aren’t, are they? Ghostface: No, but I can write rhymes that are science fiction. I can write reality. I can write happy. I can write sad – anything that deals with the emotions. AllHipHop.com: A lot of hip-hop is “keep it real” and we have a lot of cats going to jail and it’s already shown that they are using lyrics against rappers. Where does the separation start? Ghostface: Well, for me, I can talk about drugs or something that I did back then and that’s what is going to […]