When crowning 2004’s hip-hop ‘man of the year,’ the obvious choices may be Usher or Kanye West, but, sit back and think about it for a second and the clear victor is Lil Jon. Producing a bulk of the year’s biggest hits, his track record this year speaks for itself: Usher’s “Yeah,” Ciara’s “Goodies,” Petey Pablo’s “Freek-A-Leek,” and Lil Scrappy’s “No Problems,” just to name a few. The self-proclaimed King of Crunk has spearheaded the evolution of a once mainly Southern musical approach to club anthems into a nationwide phenomenon. From New York natives like Nas and Mobb Deep, to Cali representatives such as Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, Lil Jon’s clientele resume transcends all boundaries. With “Crunk & B” (R&B) generating power and “Crunk Rock” on deck, the Atlanta product’s production prowess seems likely to grasp tightly onto Billboards charts in 2005 as well. Reuniting with his energetic sidekicks The Eastside Boyz, he is now ready to issue the latest, and most crucial, album from Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz, Crunk Juice (also the name of his own power drink, another by-product of crunk’s commercial takeover). With a dizzying array of cameos backed by Lil Jon’s raucous instrumentals, Crunk Juice is the climax for a year highlighted by everybody from your mother to your little nephew constantly yelling out “Yeeaah,” “Okaaay,” and “What!” AllHipHop.com caught up with Lil Jon during his forever-hectic schedule to discuss Crunk Juice, the nation’s craziest clubs, critics, and the rumors of a Lil Jon, Ludacris, and Usher collaboration album. Yeeeaah! (Sorry, couldn’t resist the temptation.) AllHipHop.com: The list of guest appearances on Crunk Juice reads like a who’s who of today’s top artists. What was your mind frame when deciding on whom to feature? Lil Jon: Basically, it was just whoever fit on the tracks. [Laughs] It wasn’t really any method to it. We just did the beats, and figured out who would work over the tracks. It’s just that simple. AllHipHop.com: In what ways were you trying to push the limits of what crunk music has become in 2004 so far? Lil Jon: I went into this record just wanting to make a good record, and by making a good record, we took crunk to some new places. We did the joint with Rick Rubin, taking it to a new level. On the same token, we got the joint with 8Ball and MJG, that’s on a different kind of feel than we normally are on. So, I just try to make the best records that I can make, every time. I don’t try to recreate any success or anything. I go in the studio and naturally take it to the next level. It’s that simple, really. AllHipHop.com: With Kings of Crunk being so successful, the pressure had already been put on this new album to be really successful, but with the success you’ve had this year producing for outside artists, the expectations levels are as high as they can get. Did you have that in the back of your mind while making Crunk Juice? Lil Jon: Yeah, definitely. When you’re a producer and an artist, you’re definitely competing with all of the other hits you’ve had for other artists. I have to compete with the Usher record, “Freek-A-Leek,” and Youngbloodz “Damn.” Every record I’ve had in the last two years, I’m competing against. That definitely stays in the back of your mind, but at the same time, I didn’t let it change how I make music. I approached the album the same ways that I approach record I’m working on. AllHipHop.com: With the work you did for people like Usher, 2004 was a monster of a year for you. Are there any things you didn’t or couldn’t do in 2004 that you wish you could have? Lil Jon: Everything is perfect. I wouldn’t change anything. I was blessed, and I was able to just make it happen. Once “Get Low” blew, it never stopped. Things were non-stop for me. Juvenile and I were supposed to do something together, and I was supposed to work with Outkast. Other than those two, though, I pretty much made everything happen this year. We have all kinds of stuff coming up, though, so I’m good. I just did a song with Jay-Z, for the movie he has dropping. It’s a single that he is dropping, and Rick Rubin produced the track. It’s me, Jay-Z, and Chris Rock. We finished that last night. It’s like the only new track that he is gonna have out, so it’s pretty big. AllHipHop.com: Damn, so now that you’ve worked with Jay-Z, you’ve pretty much worked with all of the game’s biggest rappers, like Eminem and Nas. Is there anyone that you haven’t worked with yet that you really look forward to making music with? Lil Jon: The main person was Jay-Z, and now that me and him done did something, it’s like the start of some whole other s###. The rock groups are the only cats that I haven’t touched yet that I want to really do stuff with. I met Good Charlotte at Diddy’s house one time, and we talked about doing some stuff. I like Blink 182, and people like that. I want to get with these rock cats, and do something different. AllHipHop.com: Do you think the hip-hop world is ready for “Crunk Rock” yet? Lil Jon: Yeah, because we grew up on rock music. Back in the 1980s, it was all played on the radio together. You heard pop music, you heard rap music, and you heard rock, all on the same radio. I think Black people aren’t really locked into rock because it isn’t saying stuff that they can relate to. If you got a cat like me, I can talk to them, and do it over a rock track, and make it something that they would be more likely to listen to. I’ll be saying the right stuff for them, I think it’s just […]

Today could quite possibly be the most important day in America’s history. With the upcoming elections and the state of the world, it seems that Hip-Hop’s political consciousness, long thought to be dormant, has been reawakened. Between rapper’s making bold statements in their lyrics, grassroots Hip-Hop movements were mobilized throughout the country and the more mainstream efforts of Puff and Russell’s voter registration drives have altered the course of the election without a doubt. We pulled together some of the top minds in Hip-Hop and asked them exactly what November 2nd, 2004 means. Nas When it comes to voting, there is nobody there that is going to take care of my people. I’m willing to vote for somebody from our community that really cares for the people. I don’t hear anything human in the conversations from the candidates. I care about people and childrens future and I’m a realist. So, if we are going to vote, vote for somebody from our community and somebody that really cares about our struggle." Lil Kim It’s a part of history to go out and vote in this election. A lot of the issues are health benefits for us in the ‘hood. We’ve got so much construction going on in New York, and we have so many minority people who have been living in those areas for years. I just think that if there’s gonna be a change, you got to figure out where to fit everybody comfortably. Health benefits, insurance, liabilities, all that. You have to really pay attention to that. Sometimes the presidents get so caught up in making their own money and just making the world and the economy bigger for themselves. Method Man F**k both them mother f**kers. I’ma play Soulcom2 online like everybody else. F**k Bush and Kerry. Both them n***a’s is cowards. Willie D. The election is rigged. It’s already been determined who’s gonna win. (Who’s gonna win?) Bush. ‘Cause he stole the election one time, he can do it again. We can vote, but it’s already written. It’s bigger than us. Benzino Right now Kerry or Bush are not addressing the issues that are affecting me or you directly, I’m not trying to represent neither one of them. I’m not gonna be doing too much voting this year. Vote for Benzino. Vote for Zino. Don’t get me wrong, city council and as far as all the lower government spots, get out there. But as far as this presidency thing, I’m not feeling neither one of them. Wyclef Really, the first thing you have to do is educate people on voting. I think part of English, part of history class, like you have American History, they should have a course to teach kids from when they was little, what Democrats and Republicans are. What is a Socialist? What is a Communist? And if they don’t want to be a part of any of that, they don’t have to be. I think it starts off with the education from when they young. Jermaine Dupri Kerry, man. That’s who I got. I’m tired of all the rappers trying to act political, and be politically correct. Jackie O If you don’t vote, you can’t complain. Me, myself, I’m a convicted felon, but I had my rights restored. It’s a very good thing for people to do, for people who had their rights taken away, to be able to vote on Election Day. It’s very important. Young Buck We going over there taking them people’s oil. If dude [George Bush] get into office this year, we might not be here again to be all the way real with the you. Grafh Vote for the lesser of two evils. Get Bush out of there. You gotta vote. You gotta voice, you gotta speak. I think that right now it’s good that Hip-Hop is definitely supporting what’s going on. And telling kids to go out there and vote, because a lot of kids don’t know that their voice really does count—sometimes. I believe the kids should go out there and vote, because a decision is gonna get make whether you vote or not. So you might as well put your hands in it. DMC I am voting for Kerry. We have to get Bush out. This is my slogan: V-O-T-E Vote Out The Enemy! Ice-T "Hip-Hop is political. We got a power structure right here. Do not vote for Bush. He’ll kill us all. The n***a is the anti-Christ. Get that mother f***ker the f**k out of there. F**k him, for real. J. Period The way I look at it, November 2nd is the day of reckoning. This is the day when all your frustrations with the state of this country come down to one question: what are you gonna do about it? I’m getting up early for Hip-Hop, cuz this election represents a real chance to show this country the power of our voice. I’m flying out the crib on a mission, like this whole thing comes down to me… and I am gonna vote. Bumpy Johnson I am voting for Kerry. You would have to be a damn fool not to. Ms. Jade I think whatever kids see celebrities do, they follow. So I think that was a good way to get people involved in Hip-Hop. But I think they need to give them a little more insight besides Vote or Die. Like, give them some information. Dave Mays I would say, that, while it’s a good first step to go out and get people excited by registering to vote and voting, it’s a lot more complicated than that if there gonna really change anything. Our [The Source] concern has been that there’s a lot of hype about voting, but there’s no real education. No understanding of how we can use the power to vote. We really want something changed for ourselves, our community, our children, and our lives. All the issues that we know we know are messed up in this […]

October 30, 2002 is a day that will live in infamy. That is the day Hip-Hop lost a giant, Jam Master Jay, due to a gunshot wound to the head in his Jamaica, Queens studio, blocks away from a police precinct. Jay’s death is symbolic to us. The anger that arose in America after those terrible attacks on New York City was awakened in those that loved Hip-Hop when that someone murdered Jam Master Jay. There were many theories floated. Drug deals, watch deals, rap feuds, neighborhood beefs, all of which confused the public and most likely, the police. Jam Master Jay’s death is the same as Tupac and Biggie’s. We won’t ever stop until we get closure as to who is gunning down Hip-Hop’s heroes. DMC needs no introduction. We contacted Reverend Run for a statement, but he politely declined to comment. We caught DMC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the political trail today (October 30) with the Democratic National Committee. They tapped “The King of Rock” to help get young people to the polls and vote for their Presidential candidate, John Kerry. Here we talk with DMC about Jam Master Jay’s life and death and what he’s doing politically. AllHipHop.com: What were you doing when you first found out Jay was killed? DMC: I was lying in my bed watching the news. I saw it, but then I was like this can’t be true. There had been a rumor in 1986 that Jam Master Jay was shot. It wasn’t true, it was right around the world tour for Raising Hell. So when I heard it, I was like ‘oh it’s another rumor.’ Maybe it was somebody that got shot in Jay’s studio, but I didn’t think it was Jay. AllHipHop.com: When you did find out that it was Jay, how did you react? DMC: I still didn’t believe it. I live in New Jersey, so I jumped in my car and ran out to Queens. When I got there it was like ‘oh s**t.’ The craziest thing was I couldn’t get in touch with anyone. Even when I believed it, I didn’t believe it. (Click to hear a clip) AllHipHop.com: What are your earliest memories of meeting Jay? DMC: When I first met Jay, it was in the park. He was playing basketball. We played a game of basketball and then later that night, he brought the turntables and started DJ’ing. I was like ‘oh wow, this guy does it all!’ He balls, he DJ’s, he’s well rounded. AllHipHop.com: And how old were you when this took place? DMC: I think I was, like 15 years old. Jay was the big DJ in the neighborhood; I think he was like 14 years old. I’m a year older than Jay. AllHipHop.com: Shortly after, you guys started working together in Run-DMC? DMC: Well me and Run went to the studio and made a record, “It’s Like That” and “Sucker M.C.’s.” And then we needed a DJ. We said “yo, we could use Jay as a DJ.” And not only was he a DJ, but he was rolling with the Hollis Crew. They could be like our security so no one would rob us when we started making money. So it was actually like security and he was a DJ. AllHipHop.com: What effect did losing Jay have on Run-DMC? DMC: Jay was the flavor of the group. It was how we represented. Jay gave us that real street element. We represented for Hollis because of Jay and, because of Jay we put Hollis on the map. AllHipHop.com: What effect do you think Jay had on Hip-Hop? DMC: Jay made people realize the DJ wasn’t just about playing records. He was a part of the group. It’s a damn shame they don’t let people know there would be no Hip-Hop without the DJ. AllHipHop.com: You’re out in Milwaukee with the Democratic National Committee? DMC: Yeah, DMC is representing for the DNC. Trying to get people to vote. A lot of people believe that votes don’t count, but we can make a difference. We just have to get up and vote. AllHipHop.com: What do you think about the events that are taking place before the elections, specifically the armies of lawyers and the missing votes in Ohio? DMC: I think politics is one big lie. That’s why I don’t believe in politics, I believe in people. And it’s people that will make the difference, not the politicians. I’m not out here trying to sell records; I am out here trying to show people they can make a difference. AllHipHop.com: When did you realize you wanted to use your celebrity power to make a statement? DMC: I wish I would have started doing it earlier. I didn’t know how much power I had. People listen to us as rappers. Hip-Hop in general will influence everything, right down to how people walk and talk. We need to think about what’s going on in the world, to make change in the world, because we can make a difference. AllHipHop.com: The elections are coming up. Obviously your going to cast you vote for Kerry. Should Bush win these elections, what are you predictions for the next four years? DMC: I predict total chaos. You think it’s bad now? Please do not let that man get back into office. You gotta begin with Kerry. I have a new slogan “‘V-O-T-E ‘Vote out the Enemy!’”

The hype surrounding Shyne has dwindled but the rapper –still serving a 10-year jail bid – has thoughts on everything from the presidential election to 50 Cent to life behind bars. Still seeking an appeal for a first-degree assault conviction, here is what’s going on with Jamal Barrow. AllHipHop.com: Lets talk politics. Any thoughts? Shyne: Bush [is] trying to hold on to be still the President. He had misled the country into going in to war in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction and there was no weapons and capturing Saddam. Now the country is in turmoil and troops are losing there lives for a war we didn’t need to going into. He just wanted to go into Iraq to get oil not to liberate the Iraqi people from the Iraqi regime. AllHipHop.com: People know your gangsta side, but what’s up with your more positive side? Shyne: I did a public announcement on TV to get people to register to vote, a scholarship thing on BET.com, and I’d rather give opportunity to the youth to achieve higher goals. AllHipHop.com: Mark Walhberg, Marky Mark, doing a documentary on you, right? Shyne: He’s Mark Walberg now, man. He’s making 20 mil a flick. He ain’t no rapper, he’s an Oscar nominated Hollywood bigwig. We actually producing a documentary together based on me, a bio-doc. This s**t is actually a venture, too. With a film company, so that’s 50/50 right there with my film company called 13 Films. I’m not just a producer, we got a partnership with that. We gonna put out other movies as well. AllHipHop.com: Are people gonna see the inside of your current situation when they get into this? Will they see some of the things that we aren’t able to see? Shyne: Yeah. As far as the bio-doc, absolutely. Shyne: AllHipHop.com: How did the prisoners treat you? Rappers get treated in various ways when they go behind bars, how did they treat you? Shyne: Well, I’m not rapper and I’m not here for raping nobody. I’m not no child molester. Because that’s when you going to have a problem when you come in here. If you’re a rapo [rapist], if you a molesto [molester], then you’re a rat. Or you a h###. Those is the four no-no’s. I’m none of those, and more important, I’m the exact opposite. I blazed my ratchet, I kept my mouth shut. So I didn’t come in here as no rapper. My bodyguard wasn’t the one that had the ratchet and I got a charge so I could be on the cover of the newspaper. They understood how real the situation was, they watched it on TV. Shyne: And they saw how I dealt with that, so they didn’t look at as Shyne, they looked at me as the dude that was facing 25 years just like they was. Who kept his mouth shut just like they did. And whose co-defendant snitch on them just like me. And when I came in here, you know, Yeah, you know, it’s Shyne, but it was more than that. They just finished watching a movie, and they just finished seeing how I handled that thing, and they understood, like, He let his thing go off. And obviously when I came in here first, anybody that stepped out of line, I let my thing go off then, too. So I set the precedent. Word got around quickly: Yo leave [Shyne] alone. He gonna let his thing go off. But Shyne: I’m a humble dude, I wasn’t trying to prove no points. But once I let my thing go off here, and they knew I let my thing go off out on the town, it was like, Okay, he is what he is, so lets rock. I don’t do drugs. That’s where the problems come. Homos, drugs, if you a rat, if you a rapo, that’s when you gonna have problems. If you ain’t none of those things and you an honorable dude, you ain’t gonna have no problems. AllHipHop.com: Have you changed religion? Shyne: No, I have always been Hebrew. My great-grandmother is an Ethiopian Jew. That’s my heritage. AllHipHop.com: Do you still keep in touch with Conrad Muhammad, the Hip-Hop minister? He seemed to be a person that took a genuine interest in you during the early period when you were first going in. Shyne: I speak to him every now and then, you know. He was a friend of a friend. I didn’t really know him, and he just saw what was going on and he felt nobody was standing up for me. Everybody was talking about the other guy and he just felt that I needed some support. But that had nothing to do with religion. I didn’t really know him. I stayed in touch with him, obviously he’s been concerned, but I really don’t speak to very many people, but I definitely speak to him every now and then. AllHipHop.com: I spoke to Chaz from Blackhand Entertainment; he said he spoke to you, but has anybody else come forward to support you, or written you, or anything like that. Shyne: I mean, you know, just the rap songs to me was good enough. Whether it be Kanye when he go on 106 & Park, talking about Free Shyne, had the whole audience saying Free Shyne. Whether it be M.O.P. rapping about me, or little homey [Juelz] Santana rap about me. Whether it be Suge [Knight] going on the radio saying he trying to sign me. Or Irv, or whoever, I don’t think you get any more support than that. I don’t know if you read the VIBE, but you had M1 in there talking about me from dead prez. Across the board, man, it’s been tremendous. Whether it be XXL giving me a tribute cover, which they only do for Big and Pac. I’ve never seen this type of support for a dude that’s still alive. AllHipHop.com: Do you have any thoughts on […]

Ja Rule continued AllHipHop.com: What are your thoughts on Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles leaving Def Jam? Ja Rule: It’s business. That’s what they have to do to continue their business. I still speak to Kev, I still speak to Lyor, and they’re still my friends. AllHipHop.com: Has L.A. Reid been behind you since he got in there? Ja Rule: Yeah, we sat down a few times. L.A. has been great. It’s tough for him, because everybody that was with the original system is gone, so it’s hard for him to work in a brand new system and not have one person from the old system to walk him through it. We got his back – I’m with him, Gotti’s with him. We’ll definitely be there for him if he needs us to help. AllHipHop.com: Would you ever consider working with artists like Talib Kweli, Mos Def, or Common? Ja Rule: Yeah, I like them dudes. Common is hot. Mos Def, I like what he’s doing. I watch him on Def Poetry Jam. AllHipHop.com: What can people expect from your new album? Any collaborations? Ja Rule: A lot of passion. I ain’t holding no punches on this album. I get out a lot of inner emotions and s**t. This album is definitely going to take people on a lot of highs and lows. It’s not just partying and dancing. Every record you listen to has meaning, it has feeling, it has passion, it has value. I have Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Trick Daddy, R. Kelly, Ciara, Ashanti, Cadillac [Tah], Blackchild – my family. AllHipHop.com: With the election coming right around the time your album drops, would you actively get involved with getting people to vote? Ja Rule: I’ve been involved with Rock The Vote, and Russell [Simmons] whole [Hip Hop Summit Action Network]. It’s all good, to get the kids out there to vote. I don’t believe in just telling them to just go vote. I believe in telling them to go vote, but have an agenda. You’ve got to know the issues. Know why you‘re doing what you’re doing. That’s the biggest thing we’ve got to drive home. AllHipHop.com: Let’s talk about your upcoming movies. I have to say, some of your earlier films weren’t so great, but you stuck with it. What do you have coming up? Ja Rule: [laughs] I’ve got a new movie I just finished called Assault On Precinct 13. It’ll be in theaters in January, with Lawrence Fishburne, Ethan Hawke, Maria Bello, John Leguizamo, we got a nice cast. AllHipHop.com: Wow, that sounds hot! Lawrence Fishburne AND John Leguizamo? That’s no joke! Ja Rule: Yeah, it was great working with them. AllHipHop.com: If your children a few years from now say ‘Dad, I want to be an emcee’, what advice would you give them? Ja Rule: Don’t cup the mic. [laughs] I would obviously manage and take care of their whole situation for them. They’d be straight. I’d tell them to watch out for the sharks, protect your money, get good people around you. Make smart moves. That’s just straight business. Be the best artist you can be. Besides that, everything else, let the chips fall where they may. You can’t guarantee anything, just give it your hardest. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel there are any lessons, life or career wise, with all the things that you’ve been through, that would help any artist coming up? Ja Rule: Yeah, the s**t I’ve been through… I should write a book. I’m not the only artist to go through it. I think you kind of need these bumps to make you great. It’s the great artists that come out of these situations. They’re strong. They’re successful, and people love them even more for dealing with adversity. It’s a beautiful thing to have a humbling experience in life, because you know how to go on. It’s a blessing in disguise.

Ali Vegas has blessed many-a-mixtape in both the mainstream and underground circuit. Representing Queens, the same borough as Nas and 50 Cent, Ali Vegas has crowned himself the “Prince of New York City.” Paying his dues, this young MC was signed to a record deal when he was only sixteen years old and he had a reputation for sounding like a younger version of Nasir Jone. With his family behind him, Vegas is now confident and secure that the best years of his career are ahead of him. As he prepares his next critical link in the chain, The Rebirth Of A Prince, now-West Coast resident and AllHipHop got together to discuss the margin between then and now. With a fledging label and a heart full of ambition, only Ali Vegas knows whether or not he can come twice the first time and conquer. AllHipHop.com: Why did you make the transition from New York to Los Angeles? Ali Vegas: Everything is out here. My cousin plays for the Lakers. AllHipHop.com: Who’s your cousin? Ali Vegas: Lamar Odom. So I’m out here. AllHipHop.com: Oh wow. Has that been a good connection for you? Ali Vegas: He helps me on a regular basis. That’s a key person in my life. AllHipHop.com: Does he fund everything? Ali Vegas: He’s my big cousin, so he really wants me to have my own; my own label, my own everything. So really it makes it easier for me, because I don’t gotta go to no labels. We’re gonna go into the business together. Instead of it being a family thing, it’s gonna be a business all at the same time. AllHipHop.com: Does he have his own artist or are you the main act? Ali Vegas: He judges his talent next to me. If they don’t bring to the table the hard work and stuff that I bring to the table, then it’s really hard for him to focus on you. I’m the main focus [of] Council Recordings. AllHipHop.com: How long has that been an entity? Ali Vegas: It’s a new company, pretty recent. Ali Vagas, Joe Gotti, Kenny J, Abby, Lamar Odom. It’s a big company. AllHipHop.com: I heard that you’re going to be on an ESPN game. Ali Vegas: Yeah, [for] EA Sports. AllHipHop.com: How did that come about? Ali Vegas: A friend of mine [who is] named Abby, when I came out here, she called me and asked me if I wanted to do a song for a game so I linked up with her. We did the track and EA Sports wanted to go with it. It’s on “NBA Streets 2005.” She’s a good connect in LA. I also got the Mad Twinz, they got the “Blok Hedz” comic book. Their like my brothers. I linked up with them when I was [here]. AllHipHop.com: What else do you have going on? Ali Vegas: I got the Big Mike, Ali Vegas CD and DVD called The Rebirth Of A Prince. AllHipHop.com: What’s the DVD about? Ali Vegas: To sum up the DVD, a lot of people heard my music but no body never really saw me. I’m a ghost to the public. I’m the opposite of what they say a child should be “Seen and unheard.” But I’m the opposite “Heard but not seen.” So the DVD is basically about that. It’s a little bit about my past, what I’m doing in the present so you’ll know what to expect in the future. We got Council Recordings. That’s basically it. AllHipHop.com: It feels like just yesterday you were a teen. How old are you now? Ali Vegas: I’m twenty-two. AllHipHop.com: How did you get with most DJ’s? Did you get in contact with them or did they come to you like “I heard you’re hot and I want to put you on my mix?” Ali Vegas: I knew DJ’s from before when I was signed to Trackmasters. A lot of relationships came about because my family is well connected in the streets. Plus my talent combined so that’s how I got up with a lot of people. AllHipHop.com: We all thought that Trackmasters had heat. What really happened? Ali Vegas: They were taking on too much at the time. They had me, 50, Nature. I mean they were just taking on too much and at the same time they were producing. It was hard on them. AllHipHop.com: How has your life been since Trackmasters, from then to now? What can you say is different about it? Ali Vegas: I think my maturity level has changed. I was always ahead of my time. I know the business more now. It’s more of a business to me now then when I was sixteen. I was just happy to be there at the time. Now my business is much more focused. It feels better when the ball is in your court. Allhiphop: Do you think that Trackmasters gave you a bigger push than the mixtapes? Ali Vegas: Well I think that when I was signed to Trackmasters I was well feared. They would always compare me to Nas and Jay-Z. Now, it’s Jay- Z and AZ. A lot of artist of today and yesterday fear them. Naturally it was more like they would fear me. Then when I displayed the talent, a lot of fear came. It helped me being signed to Trackmasters because I learned the business from connecting with people. The mixtapes are just a whole other market. That’s marketing and promotion. I think it just opens up a lot of people’s ears and welcomes them to me. AllHipHop.com: Being in Los Angeles now, do you still retain some of those contacts from five years ago? Ali Vegas: Yeah, like Capone, Nas. That will never break up. Like I said, I’m heard and not seen. I’ve worked with DJ On Point, Big Mike, DJ Absolut, DJ Black Rob in San Francisco, DJ Finger Print in Miami, Green Lantern, and Kay Slay. I gotta give a […]

Since the release of his solo debut in 1999, Ja Rule’s image has ranged from being the epitome of thug fabulous to becoming the poster child for Hip Hop pop crossover. In a seemingly never-ending trail of controversy, Ja Rule faced one of his biggest challenges when 50 Cent began taking serious jabs at Ja’s credibility in 2003. A nation of beef-hungry fans followed 50’s lead in the jeering, and for a while it appeared as though Ja Rule had hit bottom with regard to public opinion. Not one to let adversity bring him down, he pressed on. In October 2004, Ja hit the top of the charts once again with the smooth single “Wonderful” which features R. Kelly and Ashanti, while simultaneously winning the praise of DJ’s across the country for his grittier street single “New York” featuring Jadakiss and Fat Joe. It’s just another day at the infamous Crack House studio in downtown Manhattan, the spot where Ja Rule and Ashanti have taken turns knocking out multi-platinum albums the past couple of years. Ja is upbeat, and flashes a charming smile when I ask him about the logo on his shirt that reads: Never Count Me Amongst The Broken Men. “It’s from my new clothing line,” he explains. “It’s a quote from the revolutionary George Jackson.” The appropriation of that quote in relation to where Ja Rule’s career stands today is almost eerie. Clearly happy with his current state of affairs, he is on the edge of a refreshing new time in his life. In a candid interview with AllHipHop.com, Ja speaks on a few lingering topics surrounding his career, and gives us his thoughts on the next phase of his life – a new movie role, a new clothing line, and his new album R.U.L.E. AllHipHop.com: How do you personally feel about the evolution of Hip Hop, and what do you feel that you as an artist have contributed to it? Ja Rule: The evolution of Hip Hop is incredible – 30 years of it. I LOVE YOU HIP HOP! [laughs] The phenomenon has just grown and grown. I think what a lot of people don’t realize is that there were a lot of critics in the early stages saying that it wouldn’t last, that it was just a passing fad. I think they didn’t realize that the consumer would grow up and still listen to Hip Hop, because Hip Hop is a youthful, rebellious, renegade style of music. I guess they really thought that you would get older and you would fade out of the Hip Hop phase, but here I am, 28, still listening to Hip Hop, and my little son is one and he listens to Hip Hop, and when he’s 15, I’ll be 40… it just keeps growing. I’ve carved my own niche in the game. I’ve gotten ridiculed for it, but sometimes when you create a new lane, you get ridiculed for it. AllHipHop.com: It’s not really a new lane per se, when you look back at Grandmaster Flash or Kurtis Blow, they had singing on the hooks and that R&B thing going… Ja Rule: Yeah, it’s just that when Hip Hop went through the gangsta rap stage, everybody was so hard, that there hadn’t been an artist that was willing to take the dive and say ‘I’m gonna do some s**t for the women’, and I did that. Before me, LL took that. As far as my flow and everything, I have a different flow. I spit it, don’t get it f**ked up, but I experiment with my flow, and as an artist you should want to experiment. AllHipHop.com: Your first album was actually very lyrical, granted you did have some sing-songy hooks, but you did come pretty ferociously with the lyrics. As time went on and you had the more pop type songs, people were criticizing you like, ‘He can’t rap’. How did that make you feel as a lyricist? Ja Rule: People say what they want to, they’re always going to have their opinions or whatever, but people know I spit. I can get on the mic and do what I need to do. It’s just a thing you go through as an artist where you want to do different things. You’ve been doing this type of style of records for a long time, and you want to do something new. As an artist you should want to expand and grow. It’s funny though, because in this business, whenever artists try to go outside and expand and grow, everybody wants you to regress and come back to your original. It’s a funny business, and you’ve just got to learn how to move in it and still be yourself. AllHipHop.com: How do you react to critics who pick you apart for the changes you’ve made over the years? Ja Rule: F**k the critics. Do you. There’s always gonna be someone judging what you do. You know what I’ve found out about a lot of critics? They were aspiring artists. They wanted to do and be, and sometimes they look at the artists like, ‘I could have did that. F**k you’. They give you that s**t, and you gotta understand and know that’s what you’re dealing with sometimes. The ones that can’t sing, they really go through it. I know that I’m talented, and I’ve done a lot of things in this business, made a lot of big records. AllHipHop.com: How do you feel about the direction that Murder, Inc. has taken, most obviously the name change? Ja Rule: That’s something we just had to do… the federal investigation, and it’s kind of hard to do big deals with big companies when ‘Murder, Inc’ is on the letterhead. It doesn’t look right sitting next to ‘Disney’. We had to take that Murder off the Inc. AllHipHop.com: Not to mention that Murder, Inc has gone from a very grimy street sounds to a more pop, user friendly sound. Ja Rule: I wouldn’t […]

The last time AllHipHop.com spoke to Talib Kweli, it was prior to the release of his highly anticipated sophomore solo effort, The Beautiful Struggle. In that interview, Kweli made it clear that he wished the journalism community would spend some time talking to him about his music, instead of his personal stances on things. Three months later, The Beautiful Struggle has been released and has been met with an onslaught of reviews that overwhelmingly proclaim it as slightly better than average. For any other artist, such press would only generate a thumb licking pause as you flip through the latest copy of whatever Hip Hop magazine you favor, but with Kweli’s superb body of work, anything referring to him as average is bound to make you breathe and stop. Here, AllHipHop speaks with Kweli about the album, gives him an opportunity to address the press and gets the word on the "Beautiful Mixtape Vol. 2." AllHipHop.com: This album, more so than your previous work, has received less than stellar reviews. How do you respond to people who think The Beautiful Struggle ranks low in your catalog of music? Talib: Well, I think the music on the album is excellent. I think that most of the criticism, not all of it, but most of the criticism has been off-point. The criticism has had nothing to do with the actually quality of the production, it has to do with what people expect from me. I think a lot of these journalists want to see me in a certain light and want to see me make a certain type of music, and if I make music that doesn’t fit the type of artist they think I am then they question my intentions. The criticism I’ve seen has been a question of what my intentions where in making it, not so much a question of the quality of the actually songs. AllHipHop.com: So basically you feel if this album came from another artist it would have been received differently? Talib: Yeah, this album from another artist, or this album with the same beats but different names for each song. What I realize is that these journalists don’t really know who I am as an artist. I’m getting all this criticism from the music nerds, but real people on the street are coming up to me and telling me ‘we love ‘We Got the beat,’ we love ‘Around My Way,’ thank you for making ‘Black Girl Pain.’’ I’m getting responses that I never got before. Before I use to get all the critical acclaim, and nobody real came up to me to pay attention and now it’s the opposite. AllHipHop.com: Are you getting the impression that these “real” people, to use your words, that keep coming up to you are new to your music? Talib: Umm yeah, they may not be new to my name but they are new to the music. AllHipHop.com: For someone like you, who pursues their craft so passionately, is there any amount of disappointment when you read reviews that don’t speak so highly of your music? Talib: No, maybe a few years ago it might have but for the last three albums I’ve put out, I’ve gotten great reviews, and it hasn’t lead to any more record sales. It hasn’t created a greater connection with me and real people, it doesn’t really do s**t beside make you feel good or bad. So yeah, the reviews aren’t stellar and I’m not used to having average reviews, but I’m on tour with the Beastie Boys performing these songs that the magazines are specifically dissing, and the people are going crazy. AllHipHop.com: Was ‘Back Up Offa Me,’ an anticipatory reaction to how this album might be received? Talib: No, that was one of the first song that me and Hi-Tek had did in a while. When we got into the studio, I just tried to write subject matter that both of us could relate to. A lot of artists have been in situations where you are working hard and you grinding, and then people around you that you may have grown up with feel like you owe them something just because they know you. So I was just speaking to that. AllHipHop.com: What inspires a song like “Broken Glass?” Talib: This album I tried to let the tracks lead to where I was gonna go, and when Pharrel first brought me the track it sounded like glass breaking to me, and he was like, “Yeah, you should call the song ‘Broken Glass.’” I originally just wrote like a battle line type of thing to it, and it was cool, but Pharrell hadn’t heard the track yet and he mentioned to me that he felt the track could use a story. I’m not too good with stories, but I’ve been experimenting, so I wrote a story. AllHipHop.com: But what motivated this specific story? Talib: The track did. I knew I wanted to write a story and I always liked the way The Beatles said ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ and how it was an acronym for LSD. I always thought that was kind of fly. So with the first line I wrote, ‘This is the Story of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ and I just let the story tell itself from that point. AllHipHop.com: You have said many times that you are not a religious person in the denominational sense. Nonetheless, The Beautiful Struggle is full of religious commentary. Talib: Because I think that the way religion is perceived and the way people carry out their worship is dangerous. People run their lives by religion, yet it’s the thing that the most blood has been spilt over in this world. People who follow these religions don’t know the history of these religions or why many of their doctrines exist. The one thing that’s consistent about young people, is that we are all looking for some sort of spiritual balance. You may not […]

Olu Dara is the father of one of Hip-Hop’s brightest stars, Nas. Dara obviously passed some good genes and wisdom to his son, who has seen the heights of the rap industry. Dara himself is an accomplished trumpet player and member of the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame. Nas fans will recall his airy trumpet, as he was featured on his son’s classic debut, Illmatic. In this candid interview, Dara talks about his son’s Nas and Jungle, growing up in Queensbridge and oh yeah – a Thanksgiving chat with his son about what would become one of the legendary battles of Hip-Hop. AllHipHop.com: How did the song “Bridging the Gap” with you and your son Nas come about? Your thoughts on it Olu Dara: When I think about it, I remember when Nas and his brother were younger, 5 or 6 years old. We use to always play around the house with instruments. I use to play on a two-string guitar and they use to always be doing their stuff. They then started to listen to hip-hop; the community was really a hip-hop embryonic neighborhood so it was fascinating for me to be there. We use to always mess around in the house with their thing and my blues and it started then, but I didn’t think of it like that. Then some years ago when Nas started recording he said “one day daddy we are going to do something together,” and that was many years ago. AllHipHop.com: VH1 honored the founders of Hip-Hop. Can you speak on how it was to be apart of such a big event? OD: Everybody was calling me “pops,” I think I was “pops.” I think that’s what they were doing. I guess you can say – I’ve been hopping around. I am very hip in my life so if you turn it around, I’m a hip-hopper myself. I felt that it was something that I must of dreamt about. Just being around the innovators, it was something that would always be in the back of my mind before they were even born. When I was in Africa, I would see people with music in the background telling a story. About what happened that day. So to me it’s just a new day. It’s the same thing. Just with different clothes and in a new area. AllHipHop.com: What are your thoughts on Nas’ career? He’s one of the greats, but there’s been a lot of controversy. OD: It never surprised me. He came from a family of visual artists and dancers – he does both, musicians, poets, educators, so you know I felt like – it was the same thing we used to do when we were messing around. When the song started I didn’t know when to come in or anything – I didn’t know where I was supposed to come in to I started improvising it just flowed. The controversy I don’t know anything about that. It was the day before Thanksgiving and Nas told me that this guy [Jay-Z] is talking about me and the family. I was like ‘what guy?’ He said ‘Jay-Z.’ I said ‘isn’t he a very wealthy rapper?’ He said ‘yeah, he’s well off. I said ‘you don’t have nearly as much money that he has but you need to play the game. Adversity brings opportunity.’ Knowing how some people are, I felt that Jay-Z wasn’t as mature enough or had issues – it’s just human nature because Nas isn’t a mean person. Nas hates controversy. I remember when Illmatic came out and they were taking pictures of him, I remember him saying “I wish people could hear Illmatic but don’t know what I look like.” AllHipHop.com: I’m sure that it’s stressful to not be able to walk down the street freely. OD: I’ll tell you. He misses the opportunity he wanted to be free. But he gained be by being able to help other people. But he never had the opportunity. AllHipHop.com: When Nas battled Jay, were you like “Yeah that’s my boy?” OD: I’m just glad it wasn’t heavy. Not physically, I mean with words. I didn’t want him to hurt his feelings because the man has a mother, – whom I later heard chastised him [for the track Super Ugly]. AllHipHop.com: There’s been a lot said about Tupac’s background – his mother being a Black Panther. Now Nas also has a revolutionary spirit. Is that a part of your family’s history as well, or is it something that he grew into by himself? OD: It was just a family thing. We were always go-getters as far as my community was concerned. In Mississippi where I was growing up, there was a lot of what you would call terrorism in my neighborhood. We had to really be strong, to survive the segregation in those days. So I grew up in a community where it was tight. I grew up where we had our own doctors, our own pharmacies we owned everything. We grew up in a community where you knew all the teachers, nobody was starving. There wasn’t any division between us because we were surviving in the old way. Nas grew up in the integration so to speak. I saw him and his brother experiencing something that I didn’t have to experience. Neither my father nor his father had experienced it either. So now he had white teachers who weren’t in his favor. I had to deal with getting money to feed the family – his Mother and me were separated at the time, but I didn’t want the system to get the best of him. AllHipHop.com: Nas and Jungle are from what I know are brothers. They look very different. OD: They look entirely different because of the way the family looks. You don’t know who you’re going to look like. Same Father and Mother AllHipHop.com: Are you close with Jungle too? OD: Yep. Very close. They are two different entities. And that’s […]

Roxanne Shante’s name recently surfaced and grabbed headlines due to a recent lawsuit she filed against R&B diva Janet Jackson. For those old enough to remember, Shante was [is] one of the most well known and well respected early figures from rap. As part of Marley Marl’s Juice Crew, Shante, at the tender age of 14, caught everyone’s ear in 1984 with “Roxanne’s Revenge.” The record contained the 14-year-old delivering an amazing verse in one of the first of many responses to U.T.F.O’s#### “Roxanne, Roxanne.” The hit took her for a ride on the rollercoaster of the music business and the experience was so difficult, Shante hopped off the bizarre ride by the time she was 18-years-old. She compares Hip-Hop to a ‘bad boyfriend’ and reveals that the rap game didn’t treat her as well as “he” could have. Despite the pitfalls, Shante held on and now runs a successful psychology practice in New York. Her story is inspirational, at the least. AllHipHop.com: Why are you suing Janet Jackson? Roxanne Shante: Personally, I don’t have a problem with her. I just figured, maybe it was just an oversight that they didn’t pay the invoice for using my voice on the record. I figured you know, maybe this is something that she over looked with the breast popping out, it just caught up in the mix. So I fell back off of it, like when they get around to it, they’ll get around to it. But then someone contacted me from their office, trying to say that it wasn’t my voice, which really infuriated me. AllHipHop.com: What song is it? RS: It’s song #13 on Damita Jo, “Like You Don’t Love Me.” It’s the familiar “So Fresh” words that everyone samples. Any true hip-hop head is gonna say, when we hear those words “so fresh,” we know that’s Shante. AllHipHop.com: Do you own the rights to those earlier recordings now? RS: Yes I do. AllHipHop.com: That came out on the Pop Art record label out of Philadelphia, right? RS: Yes. I’ve owned the masters for over 9 years. What people will try to say is that they took it from the Biz Markie record, “Nobody Beats the Biz,” but it doesn’t come from that, it comes from “The Def Fresh Crew.” Biz was on the Pop Art label too. AllHipHop.com: Is this the first type of lawsuit you have had to go through like this? RS: Usually it doesn’t have to go as far as a lawsuit. Usually they rectify it and admit that it’s my voice. All it takes is one true hip-hop head in the circle to say “you know what, that is her voice.” I don’t care how many times you try to say it’s not; you know that is her voice. So let’s just pay her for it. She could pay me for what she would pay for one of her handbags. It wasn’t a big deal. I don’t feel like I am being wronged by the industry or anything like that though. AllHipHop.com: So you’re happy with life? RS: Out of all the old school rappers that I quote unquote know or socialize with, I am ok and I am fine. Shante is happy. Life after Hip-Hop for me has been better than Hip-Hop had ever been to me. AllHipHop.com: What are you up to know? RS: I am a psychologist with a private practice in Manhattan. I also do a lot of voiceovers for certain cartoon characters, I do a lot overseas. AllHipHop.com: What cartoon characters? RS: I can’t really discuss it yet, but I can say is that it’s three little girls who are superheroes involved. AllHipHop.com: With your private practice and your other endeavors doing well, do you ever plan to come back to Hip-Hop? RS: I love Hip-Hop. It will always be a part of me. But Hip-Hop is like a bad relationship for me. When I dated Hip-Hop, it didn’t buy the things for rappers that it buys now. I talk about Hip-Hop like it was a relationship. It was like a man. It wasn’t that good to me. I enjoyed it, but everyone else was making me a commodity and really taking advantage of me. It turned it into something I didn’t like. So it would have to be incredible for me to come back. AllHipHop.com: How did people take advantage of you? RS: Well, you know my age. AllHipHop.com: How old were you? RS: I was 14, with no parents, no guardian, and no accountants. AllHipHop.com: What happened to your parents? RS: They weren’t around. I was on my own. I didn’t really have any guidance. So I was just going and doing as I was told. So when you had people like Marley Marl telling me after a show that I am supposed to split the money evenly, I believed that. AllHipHop.com: Was your relationship with Marley Marl more than a friendship and business relationship? RS: Umm..uhh..My relationship with Marley was, I don’t know how I can explain it. My relationship with Marley wasn’t as good as it should have been. I am not a scorned woman or a mad girlfriend. AllHipHop.com: You were only 14 when this all happened? When did you know you wanted to get out of it? RS: When I was 18. AllHipHop.com: So what did you do, take the money that you made from the rap game and go back to school? RS: No. When I left the rap game, I left with absolutely nothing. I left with nothing. I couldn’t even get books. They would say "Don’t worry about it Shante, I’ll meet you at Barnes and Nobles and we’ll get the books.” I couldn’t even get them to help me with books. They supported the negative things, but they couldn’t support the positive. AllHipHop.com: How did you make it through school? RS: There was a clause in my contract that said they had to pay for my education. Regardless of how […]

There are not many rappers that release their debut albums under a dark clouded sea of controversy. Guerilla Black is one of those rare artists, but he is obviously not concerned by the extra attention. In fact, it is his full intent to use the negativity and spin it into a positive sales and marketing scheme. Amongst other things, he has the unfortunate task of refuting any claims that he is intentionally emulating the style of one Hip-Hop’s greatest fallen soldiers. Fortunately for him, his DNA and natural voice allows him to brush aside those claims and leave little doubt about his pending success in this game. His debut album, Guerilla City, displays amazing similarities to Ready To Die in many respects, but the harsh realities of growing up in Compton is the separating factor of the two. In a touching conversation with Allhiphop.com, Guerilla Black discusses the life he lead early on, the wife that he lost way too soon, and rediscovering the passion for Hip-Hop that lead him to sign a major label deal. AllHipHop.com: A lot of people have questions about your background, so let the people know where you come from and how things began. Guerilla Black: I was born June 23, 1977 at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Most of my family is from Joliet; my mom and dad [are from there]. My grandmother and grandfather are from down south. I stayed out there until I was five, then I went down to the dirty dirty for a year or two. Then from there, I ended up in Long Beach, California. I lived in a shelter for almost two years. That’s when I bounced and hit Compton. We bought our first house in Compton. That’s where it all really began, walking back and forth up the way, fighting with all them little dudes over there. Either those dudes were whipping on me or I was whipping on them. That’s where it really got pop locking, stealing cars, robbing, just all kinds of s**t. At a young age, me and my brother started selling that dope all up and down Oleander, Baron, Palm, and all those streets back there. We were running around and selling dope to keep food in our mouths. Through all of that, my mom was always a big influence upon me with music. She was always [performing] in the churches, playing the piano, organ, and teaching choir. By the time I hit Compton, I thought I wanted to be a DJ. But, I started feeling this Rap thing. At the time, the curls were prevalent, cats had [Impalas] jumping around, and N.W.A. and MC Eiht was on the scene real hard. It was really off the chain back then, you know? AllHipHop.com: Did you have any sort of gang affiliation back in those days? GB: I would rather not speak on all of that. N*ggas robbed me, and in the process of robbing me, they shot me. God blessed me and it wasn’t [anything] bad. A n*gga shot me in my hand and wrist. I tried to grab the pistol, and God blessed so that no massive harm came my way. I was trying to get myself back together and I was still out in the streets. I was always freestyling, and that was thing with me and my n*ggas. We were freestyling everywhere. Even though we were hustlers, we were trying to do our little Rap thing. AllHipHop.com: In the midst of all the madness, how did you wind up hooking up with Virgin? GB: My stepfather moved out and my mom moved with some dude. One day, she came over there and I saw that I was doing real bad. She told me she saw Ice-T down in the lobby. She told me to go get a job with her, and I thought it sounded cool. Plus, I thought that I could link up with Ice-T. That’s when I first ran into my mentor, Glorious. From there, he walked me into the back to Ice, and we were just chilling from that moment on. Me and my man used to go record up at the Crackhouse and that’s when I got introduced to another long time friend, Don Miles. He was the first dude that was willing to invest his own chips on a studio. My brother came up and he was like, “Wow”! They had sent him down south because of some s**t that happened in Compton. He was the one that told me that I sounded exactly like Biggie. He said I was too much like the Notorious [B.I.G.], you know? So, I tried some other s**t, screaming on the mic, and all kinds of s**t so I wouldn’t sound so much like him. Eventually, the s**t fell through. AllHipHop.com: You also got married at a pretty young age, right? GB: I found that woman, man, and the crazy thing is I met Ice-T before I met my wife. I was still young; I can’t remember exactly how old I was when I got married. S**t’s been cloudy, you know? Me and her definitely went downtown and got married. I had to move because yay was on my spot. The D.A. was on my spot, ready to raid my spot, but I got word. It wasn’t like I had some big weight, but I had mad weed to sell. I moved and I was still trying to push this Rap thing. All of a sudden, my wife got very ill. I’ll never forget it. I sat up in the hospital with her for four months. She had spinal meningitis. Whenever you get infected with meningitis, the fluid in your spine that’s separated from the rest of your body is infected by a virus. Whenever she drank something, it passed and usually your stomach acid kills bacteria. It passed and it went straight to her brain and made it swell up. It started making her delirious and the swelling […]

How many of 2000’s releases stay in your car? While KRS was certainly right when he denied the criticism that Hip-Hop was a phase, how many of our Rap records are timeless? With all the money invested, how much are artists investing their souls in a project? And with so little room left on the couch for rappers these days, what unfamiliar artist is worth supporting? Like Jadakiss, I can’t answer my questions easily. But in my own beliefs, Q-Unique and his solo debut is the cut from a cloth too jagged for many rappers to touch. Rooted in the birthplace of Hip-Hop, associated with the most elite groups, suffering the most unimaginable pains, evem enduring homelessness, Q-Unique presents his story. In the first interview concerning his solo music, Q-Unique and AllHipHop discuss his past life with the Arsonists, as well as how much this album determines his future. Backed by Non-Phixion’s Ill Bill, and with Beatnuts, Necro, and self-production, the record speaks for itself. But if you need some incentive first, listen to the story of a true Hip-Hop hero. AllHipHop.com: The record’s called Vengeance is Mine. The tracks are fierce and chilling. But bro, you’ve got a massive press kit. You’re coming like you’ve got something to prove. What prompted this? Q: As dope as it might seem, that’s only a quarter of my press kit. It’s actually like the size of a dictionary. It’s not to brag, it’s just to show, I’ve been doing work. Thing is, to this day, I’ve still gotta convince people in order from them to listen to one song. After a while, it just becomes so tedious. People still give me a very difficult time with things. One day I was sitting with [Ill Bill] in the studio, and I was reading this Donald Trump article. In it, he said, “Revenge is good.” He cosigned it. If this motherf***er can cosign it, I’m with it. AllHipHop.com: But because the market’s so fickle right now, isn’t that just the reality for any MC? Q: It’s a strong reality. It’s split because on one hand, you can have this money or you can have skills and convince people to buy your s**t. That’s the way it is. Unfortunately, me and my camp, we fall under the category of having skills, but being a little broke. Because I can’t present the package to the consumer with me in a video, at the VMA’s, so I have to go around the other way, and be a salesman. When I was at the Warped Tour, I’d hop on stage and rap like a f***in’ demon, get off stage, and convince people to wanna buy my stuff. It’s tedious. AllHipHop.com: I was talking to Masta Ace about vulnerability. It’s rare. Throughout this record, you admit your flaws. Being a dude whose down with Rocksteady, and a purist, is it hard to shift from that classic bravado, to revealing embarrassing stuff? Q: That’s a good question because when Ill Bill approached me about doing this album, he said, “You’re gonna have to get away from this whole Arsonists thing you created, and you cannot be what The Arsonists were. You cannot be some battle-cat coming on with witty rhymes and quirky songs. You’re gonna have to be [the guy I know]. If I don’t hear Q-Unique the scumbag, the pervert, the tortured soul, the sarcastic f***in’ a**hole, I don’t care to hear it.” Because he knew me behind the scenes. He and I worked at Fat Beats together for many years. So like you said, I felt real vulnerable. I never felt like tellin’ people my story. People gonna look at me [differently]. As I told Bill my life-story, he [reacted hugely]. A lot of things, he couldn’t imagine. Yo, this is real! He said, “This is the album, this has to go.” AllHipHop.com: You told Bill your story before anything was done? Q: Yeah, he wanted to know. Just in conversation. We were going back and forth. But as you said, as an MC from back in the day, everything was about being the best. We never thought about exposing. But what was interesting, it became like therapy, bro. I started confronting demons that were locked. It was good. It was bugged out. AllHipHop.com: DJ J. Period told me about your collection of Big Daddy Kane records. I know you loaned him a few for his mix. It’s interesting to meet a guy who is making an unconventional Rap record, but is drenched in Hip-Hop history. Q: I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. I don’t want people to think of me as an Old School cat. I’m a True School cat. The reality is, I was making demos when Big Daddy Kane’s first album came out. I’ve been rappin’ for a long time, but that’s because I was raised in the Bronx at a time when Rocksteady was at the height of their career. I was blessed, chosen, with a lot of other people, to view it. I used to see pieces on trains on my way to school. The pieces you see in books, I seen those. The Rap records I used to listen to, people have no idea even exist. I got down with Rocksteady, I been a member of Zulu Nation. All of that stuff is part of my foundation, and I hold it dearly. Because of the way people have treated it at times, I don’t wave the flag. Certain people don’t give a s**t. Certain people misinterpret it. I feel like it’s a burden to constantly explain the importance [of these things]. People have seen an Arsonists show, and they’ll write their article as, “the breakdancing rappers,” and they’ll misconstrue what we’re trying to do. We were just trying to give you a good show within the realm of Hip-Hop. I hold it dear to myself. I teach my son through that channel. He’s four years old. He listens to […]

After an exhaustive search, I managed to find Willie D of the world famous Geto Boys. In my July ’04 editorial, I let it be known. If you missed it, please take a moment to reacquaint yourself to my views on the H-Town legend. The D was infamous way before Houston exports like today’s Lil’ Flippers and the such and he laid the groundwork (with many others) for the current Down South Explosion. The man was prominently featured in a documentary on Down South rap music, Dirty States of America, a worthy purchase for any real head. Fortunately, the Geto Boys are on verge of a major comeback and a new generation will get to know D, Bushwick and Scarface. There is a time for all Hip-Hop heroes to get honored. This is Willie D’s day. Illseed presents Part I of Willie D: FOUND. AllHipHop.com: You have been quiet. There’s been rumors going around and I wanted to know, are you in Nation of Islam? Willie: No. I support the Nation though. I’m the kind of dude whereas if there’s another organization that’s saying something that I agree with, I can draw something from that organization. I have a hard time committing to one organization so I help and participate with several organizations. But if the Nation call on me, I will be there. AllHipHop.com: I was told that you moved to France? Is this true? Willie: Actually I moved to Baku, Averbaijan. AllHipHop.com: Baku. Now where is that located? Willie: Well that’s about two hours east of Bagdad. AllHipHop.com: What made you move there? Willie: (Laughs) Business opportunities man. I’m the kind of dude where if there’s business abroad and I can benefit form it, well that’s where I’m going. The world is bigger than the United States. I’m back and forth that’s why I’m here right now, but that’s my base for now. AllHipHop.com: What kind of business do you have down there? Willie: Real estate. I have some real estate going on in Houston too. And I’ll say this to my people; find some type of real estate investment because you can’t lose in real estate. You have to be one of the dumbest mother f***ers to lose in real estate. Its way more stable than the music industry. All these young cats that’s jumping in the game using their street money to get the game, 95% of them are going to fail and going to find themselves at square one. The real estate has a 91% success ratio. All you have to do I know where the comps are in your area. It’s very simple. If you have a three-bedroom house and someone wants 200,000 for it, you check around the other homes in that area with that same amount of square footage. And if those other houses are going for around 180,000, that you already know that you aren’t going to get two-hundred for that house. So you have to know what you profit margin is and know what your profit margin loss is. AllHipHop.com: So nothing Hip-Hop related made you do that? Willie: Nah. Absolutely nothing. AllHipHop.com: What’s the new Geto Boys’ sounding like? Willie: I’m really not going to let the cat out the bag, but the one thing I could say about the new album is that I’m very satisfied with it. Very satisfied. AllHipHop.com: Are you guys on good terms? I heard rumors about you guys not getting along. Can you clear that up? Willie: Man, Geto Boys is a strictly business relationship. There’s no use in me trying to get out and start faking s**t, it’s a business relationship. And the one thing I can’t stand is when mother f***ers be like, “Everything is beautiful, we this and we that and we never going to break up,” and they are lying to protect their image. They already shot a new video with new members and they are sitting here lying to you, telling you that they are still together. But I’ll keep it real when you come at me. AllHipHop.com: Didn’t it start out like that? You were somewhat of a solo artist and Face came later and the Bushwick was thrown into the thing can you give me a further description into what went on? Willie: Let me give you a synopsis of what went on. I initially came in as a solo artist. There was a group already out called the Geto Boys but they weren’t selling records. Lil J [J.Prince], the owner came to me and said, “I need you to write some songs for the new Geto Boys record.” I said “Okay,” and I wrote some songs. I wrote s**t like “Do it Like a G.O.,” “Let a Hoe be a Hoe,” and they didn’t like it. They were like it was too graphic. At the time them ni**as had wives and s**t. So I understood where they were coming from, but Lil J gave them an ultimatum; “Either y’all rap this s**t or I would have to move on.” They choose the latter. I then came in as a member of the Geto Boys and J was telling me about this dude he had named Scarface but at the time his name was DJ Akshun, and J was like, “It’s going to be Jukebox, Action and Jukebox.” Jukebox was one of the ones to stay. But Jukebox got a letter from his girlfriend at the time saying that he needed to find a real job because s**t wasn’t working. So he ended up leaving the group. [Bushwick] Bill was in the studio hanging out rapping some Public Enemy songs. You know how Chuck [D] rap, a thousand miles per hour, no breath and I was looking at him and I a light bulb went off in my head. I introduced the idea of Bill joining the group. Nobody was really feeling it. I was like we got some dope s**t and a gimmick wont hurt. […]

Ask any real Hip Hop head, and they’ll fondly recall the reign of Natural Elements. In the late 90’s, L-Swift, A Butta and Mr. VooDoo brought the underground to life as the Indie-Era was coming to an end. By the year 2000, Natural Elements had killed their short-lived career with Tommy Boy Records and the group parted ways. After a thankfully failed attempt at suicide, L-Swift underwent a transition as a human being and MC. Today, the artist now known as Swigga is ready to pick up Hip Hop right where he left it. Armed with a label, Agatha Music, he’s ready to take on the industry. His "Cross Country" mixtape has 21 tracks of Swigga, Eddie Brock, Scram Jones and the return of Natural Elements on the last track. Swigga took some time for AllHipHop to talk about life, death, rebirth, and the reunion of Natural Elements. AllHipHop.com: What brought on the change from L-Swift to Swigga? Swigga: L-Swift died on May 23, 2000. He passed away, but Swigga came to life right then and there. It changed because I went through a real stressful period where I wanted to end my life. I did try, but it just ended a part of my life, which was the L-Swift. I was young. I got that name in seventh grade, so the stuff that I wanted to do as an adult was different so I had to rename. AllHipHop.com: How has the Swigga of 2000 changed to become the Swigga of today? Swigga: I’m trying to break it down in four words: He is super focused. AllHipHop.om: Is Swigga’s style different from L-Swift of Natural Elements? Swigga: Yeah, it kinda takes stuff from L-Swift every now and then. Swigga like borrows certain flows from L-Swift occasionally. AllHipHop.com: With regard to Natural Elements, you guys did big things from like ’96 to the turn of the century. What brought on the creative separation between yourself and Natural Elements? Swigga: Well after the Tommy Boy thing went down, we had a choice right there. Our lawyer wanted us to try and get a deal somewhere else. We had to reevaluate ourselves. When we signed in ’98, we just wanted to be heard on a larger scale. At that point we didn’t fully understand the kind of leverage you had to have in order to execute the project, the way it’s supposed to be. So what we did was we signed and felt like we needed an immediate buzz when really we should have taken our time and negotiated. But we didn’t. After that, me, A, and Voo had to reevaluate where we wanted to go individually. We’re still madd cool, but we have to get our own identities so we could do it how we want to. AllHipHop.com: So there are plans for a Natural Elements reunion? Swigga: Of course. That was never out of the question. It’s all about us being able to do what we want to. Right now I’m trying to solidify Swigga and the Northeast Wildcats. That’s where my mind is at right now, so I have to follow that. AllHipHop.com: Can you elaborate on the Northeast Wildcats project? Swigga: I’m from the Northeast Bronx and Flex is from out of there and so is Slick Rick. It’s like nobody really solidified that the Northeast part of the Bronx is on fire. When I moved to New York from the islands, I moved to the Northeast Bronx, so the crew started from there. The Northeast Wildcats project is me and my man Eddie Brock, we’ve got real good chemistry right there. There’s a couple of other cats on the mixtape that are trying to get heard. But mostly, it’s us two on the mixtape. It’s a project to express myself on a wild level, which I wouldn’t necessarily do on my solo project. AllHipHop.com: You’re hitting the mixtape circuit pretty hard with the Cross Country Mixtape as well. Do you feel that putting out the mixtapes as opposed to putting out a full length first will benefit you more? Swigga: Yeah. See, the thing about it is that it goes straight to the people. Before when I was in Natural Elements and doing my solo stuff before there wasn’t that outlet. There was Kid Capri and people like that but no artists who put it out themselves. I think that’s the way to get straight to the people without the red tape. If the audience only knew what goes on between us doing the song and them hearing it, they’d be like "Wow." It’s real difficult, and I’m talking about it on a big level. AllHipHop.com: When is the full length album coming out? Swigga: I’m really right now putting out singles and mixtapes. If it will lead to that, I mean I’m not going to wait until 2006 to put out an album, but I’m getting my buzz faster than I thought. Right now, I just want to put out two more solo mixtapes, Northeast Wildcats and another single. All I’m doing right now is getting my buzz to a point where I will have leverage when I go to a label. I want the only thing to be missing when I set it up is the paper. AllHipHop.com: What direction do you want your sound to go into? Nowadays you have Hip Hop going everywhere. Do you want it to reach on a mainstream level, or the angle Natural Elements reached – performing with the Roots and the Fugees? Swigga: To tell you the truth, people put us in that category [with the Roots and Fugees]. We started putting out records in ’93 and were getting play on college radio. I only after several years they were like, "Oh, y’all are underground." We were placed there. Some groups and artists, that’s their aim. I don’t battle, I haven’t battled since eighth grade. I’m into arranging songs. I hardly listen to Hip Hop as much. As far […]

Legendary hip-hop names Russell Simmons and Notorious B.I.G., besides their iconic status, have a link between them that is known only by the experienced culture follower: respect and awareness of the one and only, R.A. The Rugged Man. Without ever releasing an official album, R.A. has endured through a career that would make for a classic VH1 "Behind The Music" special. What lies beneath R.A.’s rugged exterior, however, is what makes him much more than just a source of interesting Hip-Hop stories. More than can be said for the majority of today’s Rap heavyweights, R.A. is what a true MC should be: dedication, love for the culture, and God-given skills all rolled into one combustible package. His abilities have even been cosigned by the likes of The Neptunes and Mobb Deep, among others. His time in the game hasn’t been easy, though. A botched deal with Jive Records left his career in limbo, with little more than appearances on various underground compilations to show for it. As the saying goes, though, patience is a virtue, one that R.A. possesses in heavy amount. Die Rugged Man Die, his long-awaited solo debut being released on Nature Sounds, is scheduled to hit shelves in November, and is loaded with solid production and R.A.’s unique lyricism. Upon the album’s release, all rappers should be warned; R.A. The Rugged Man is coming out with guns blazing and opinions firing. AllHipHop.com: Rap has gone through many drastic changes since you first entered it. You’ve been in the game for so many years, and with your first album finally dropping now. So, what are you bringing to the table in 2004? R.A.: I’m bringing real motherf***in’ music. The only thing different about the game is that rappers are getting wacker. I’m keeping it legitimate Hip-Hop music; where as, 2004 rappers are wack. 95% of these rappers that come out are a joke. There are a couple of dudes that are hustling and making good music, but you gotta search for them. Hip-Hop is mainstream now, and when something street gets diluted by mainstream pop culture, it loses something. We need a couple motherf***ers to bring this sh*t back, cuz it isn’t heading in the right direction at the moment, and Hip-Hop is too strong to get messed up by some bullsh*t Pop. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like you are given the proper amounts of respect from people within the industry? R.A.: In this game, motherf***ers are respected when they get all over the TV screens. Does Kool G Rap get the proper amount of respect? Does Big Daddy Kane? Like, if you saw Big Daddy Kane and Lloyd Banks in the street, who would get more love right now? Yeah, I think I’m better than so many rappers out there, but get respect? From who, you know. I think I get it from the important people, who appreciate Hip-Hop. From the KRS-One types, the Clark Kents and dudes who have been in the game; they hear my stuff and know what it is. Other dudes that don’t understand Hip-Hop, they don’t respect me, and that doesn’t bother me. They respect motherf***in’ Chingy more than me. AllHipHop.com: Being that this is your first real album after all of this time, you must have a lot to say. How did you approach the songwriting process for Die Rugged Man Die? R.A.: Well, I never knew that it was gonna be the first time. I didn’t even know I was gonna put this record out. I thought I was gonna do what I’ve been doing, which is pimp Nature Sounds for their money and not put out a record, but the dudes at the label are smarter than that. With the mainstream labels, you can get away with it, cuz you pimp them for their money, and they are like, “F*** him. $300,000? F*** him, that’s less than a video cost. Get him the f*** out of here. He’s a scumbag.” [Laughs] When you go to a Jewish kid at Nature Sounds, he’s taking the money out of his pocket, so he’s making sure you put the record out. So, I didn’t approach it like, “This is my first time!” I didn’t even expect to put the f***er out. AllHipHop.com: Now, after listening to the album, there are a lot of lyrics that stand out. What I want to do is mention certain bars to you for you to elaborate on each. First, “I brought Biggie Smalls to the Long Island w#### pit, he b#### a b#### in the bathroom, and broke the toilet.” What’s the story behind that? R.A.: What that was…the W#### Pit was a spot we used to record at, and we used to all f*** b*tches in that studio. W#### Pit sounds a lot fouler than it is, but it is just a studio, and in the studio, we f***ed. Biggie came out to the studio, and he had his own little chick in the bathroom with him. Next thing you know, he’s walking out the bathroom, and water is pouring out of the toilet. Condoms are overflowing. He f***ed both the toilet and the plumbing up while boning the chick. [Laughs] Basically, anything on this album that you ask me about, it really happened. Rappers act like they are crazy and they say crazy sh*t. F*** all that, I’ll tell you my life. AllHipHop.com: Next lyric is, “I used to bring groupie b*tches up to f*** Mobb Deep.” R.A.: I was known for having lots of s####. I think I still am. I had my little army of s####, and I used to bring them to places like my boys’ houses. One day, Havoc had done some music for me and looked out, so I went up to their room and said, ‘Hey, let me bring a s### up there to handle some business.” Infamous Mobb and some other members of their crew were all there, and we all went one after the other on […]

R.A. The Rugged Man – Industry’s Nighmare Part 2 AllHipHop.com: These next lyrics relate to popular producers, as well. “Alchemist, you’re still my little buddy, even though you stole that Royce Da 5’9 beat from me.” R.A.: He just remade a beat that I had made. Me and my boy Kap stayed up one night and made a beat that I rapped on, called ‘Stanley Kubrick.” The song went on the Soundbombing 2 compilation. About two years before it went on that album, though, I had sold the beat to Rawkus. That was probably like 1997. They leaked it, and Stretch Armstrong played it on Hot 97. Alchemist liked it, and he remade it. He remade the f***ing thing. It wasn’t a sample. He just replayed it all over, and sold it. People come up to me and are like, “I like that Royce beat that you rapped on.” [Laughs] Alchemist is my man, and he’s good people. He will only say good things about R.A. I like seeing him do good, cuz he is right now, and I hope it keeps going for him. That’s why I didn’t say, “You f###*t, you stole my sh*t.” I kept it cute, like, “Hey little buddy.” He’s good peoples, and you know I mean that. If I thought he was a b*tch, I’d say it. I’m not scared of him. [Laughs] But, you remake my track, and I’m gonna say it. I’d say it about anybody. Plus, “Stanley Kubrick” is such a petty underground record. It’s funny to me. AllHipHop.com: On one of the songs, you say how you were the “first Whitey to be grimey,” and in another song you mention Eminem and Bubba Sparxxx. It’s funny, cuz you also say how maybe you should get Just Blaze to back you up, alluding to the fact that a White rapper seems to need a Black man to back him in order to be successful. R.A.: The Just Blaze lyric came from real life, too. When Bubba came out and blew with Timbaland, and Em had blown up with Dr. Dre, that’s what the industry was really saying to me. ‘Yo, if you just get like Timbaland. No, he already has somebody, so get Just Blaze, cuz he’s hot right now!” That’s actual conversations that people were telling me. People say that corny sh*t to me. So, what are you telling me? I need a Black guy, and once I get one, I’m on? I don’t need a producer. That wasn’t a diss to anybody. It was just something people said to me that is funny. Industry people are so formula. Do something original, motherf***ers. AllHipHop.com: So what was going through your head when Eminem blew up, using a similar style to the one you had been perfecting? R.A.: Back in the early 90s, when rappers that were worse than me used to blow up, I would get so heated. I was young, and sh*t wasn’t going in my favor and I would see untalented people blow up. This is like 1994, 1995. I grew out of that. By the time Eminem and Bubba came out years later, I knew that they aren’t effecting my shine. People would be like, “You said what Eminem said before he said it.” What, am I going to whine about it? I’m a grown-ass man. Let dudes do things their way, and I’ll do me. That sh*t isn’t taking away from my money. I ain’t sweating them. Success to everybody. Unless you are really horrible. If you’re the worst, those are the motherf***ers I don’t like to see succeed. Some of these guys are so bad, that they almost make Rap look like a f***ing joke, and that sh*t is not cool. AllHipHop.com: You also talk about how at one point, you had people like Russell Simmons sending limos you way, courting you heavily. Why do you think offers like that were never fully capitalized on? R.A.: I had a big bidding war going on. Every single record label wanted me. I was nineteen, a young White kid that could rap better than everybody. So, they all wanted me. But, what it had turned into was, since every label wanted me, it stopped being about my music. It started being about what label had the biggest d*ck. Which label could lock me down. It became a competition rather than music, you know. And I made a mistake. I went to Jive Records. See, I didn’t know the business end. I thought that if your music is good, then things just went well. I didn’t understand that you had the right machine behind you, with money in the right places, and you had to piggy back certain artists. I thought that the music drops, and people who know music will love it. I went to Jive, and they were good at selling records that were already broke. Like “Criminal Minded”; that had already came out, so they were able to blow up Boogie Down Productions for their second album. Same thing with Too Short. They weren’t able to do the street work. They were just able to take things to the next level after the street work was done. If I knew that they couldn’t do that, I would have went to Def Jam, because they were the best at that time at breaking any artist. I just went to the wrong label, that’s all. AllHipHop.com: That actually leads to the final question. Many rumors surround you, and one that I heard involved you taking a sh*t on a desk at Jive Records’ offices. What kind of toilet paper did you use when you did that? R.A.: [Laughs] That never happened. The rumor that I had heard was that I sh*tted on a studio board. Mobb Deep had told me that one. That I had sh*tted on the board, and did diarrhea all over it, cuz the engineer wasn’t mixing my song right. That sh*t never happened. […]

On November 8, 2002, two complete strangers came together and smacked the s**t out of the streets! Bronx-native, Craig Davis and Queens-native Smack united to create Smack DVD, which means Streets, Music, Arts, Culture and Knowledge. Smack DVDs have become one of the hottest commodities on the streets, whether bought, borrowed or bootlegged. Craig, Smack and their publicist Shonte Davis are the creative forces behind all that all-too-real footage seen on the video. Mainstream shows like “Access Hollywood,” “Making of a Video” and “Access Granted” all give behind the scene peeks at artists, but Smack offers a unique perspective. It show rap’s favorite artists in their most authentic and greasiest form – street. No FCC censors and violations to worry about, as Smack allows artists to be real in the purest sense of the word. “We try to chill with the artists the way a fan would want to chill with the artists,” Craig explains. With Craig being more of the college type and Smack being the atypical street dude, the pair argued plenty about the concept and direction the series should take, but eventually they just put everything to the side and just did it. Craig relays, “We’ve been doing it ever since.” The ongoing series has covered the likes of Juelz Santana, Beanie Sigel, 50 Cent, T.I., Xzibit, The Game, David Banner, Fat Joe, Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Peter Gunz, Lil Flip and the list is high-near neverending. Juelz Santana was featured in their first issue, but the “issue” made their street credibility soar was No. 2 with 50 Cent, who was white hot at the time. Smack admits, “[That DVD] made us real credible with the streets because of the raw and explicit footage we had.” Hip-Hop documentary style DVDs are nothing new, a notion Smack recognizes truthfully. At the same time, he says there are fundamental distinctions. “We structure differently from others. I mean we two dudes that came up on the streets- that’s where I’m from and that’s what I know, so I know what the average street dude wants to see, smell me? We give the consumer their money’s worth and we go at this hard,” Smack says. In VIBE magazine’s Juice issue this summer, Smack was featured alongside of AllHipHop.com as one of the top alternate media sources. The accolades are worth is, Smack says, but the alternate course isn’t always the smoothest road. “The best thing about this job is that I can relate to it. The worse thing is getting up and doing everything your f***ing self. I wouldn’t change it though. We basically are at our own pace, we’re our own bosses, we young black entrepreneurs trying to come up. Everything is done in house, from the camera work, shooting people state to state, to editing – we get out what we put in.” he levels. Agreeing, Craig adds, “It feels good proving to people that we could do it. There were so many people saying you can’t do your own distribution, you can’t do this or do that. So it’s good to show that we set goals and accomplished them.” Smack welcomes the non-believers and he’s come to embrace the negativity. “There are so many talkers and bullsh***ers out there. People saying I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that and they don’t do s**t, so you gotta make people believers,” he barks. Craig and Smack continue to forge ahead, as they plan setting new goals, production companies and new films. While the pair represent the streets as thoroughly as they can, wanna-be rappers should pause before approaching the pair, whether through emails to smackdvdmagazine.com or otherwise. Get your weight up. “We not just gonna give you a free ride and create buzz for you, nobody got us here for free. We were out there hanging up posters, handing out flyers and DVD’s. We want n***as who are out there grinding,” Smack finishes.

It’s widely proven that the Hip-Hop generation fills the seats in movie theaters. While we might talk during the film, or leave our cell phones on, we love cinema. Throughout the last decade, Hip-Hoppers of all sorts have supported two of our own, Allen and Albert Hughes. Since their early years as music video directors for Digital Underground, KRS-One, and Tupac on up to the big time, we’ve been watching. From the jolting final scenes in "Menace to Society," through the epic "Dead Presidents," and most recently "American Pimp," we’ve enjoyed them all – as conversation pieces, as portraits of ill street life, and most certainly, as entertainment. On the verge of releasing the outtakes and outstanding soundtrack of American Pimp, AllHipHop.com and the Hughes Brothers joined to discuss showbiz, the Tupac conflict, Jay-Z, and even a few inside words on pimpin’. Whether you like Coppola or Cappadonna, this feature beckons your read. AllHipHop.com: When I first watched "American Pimp," I was in mixed company. The girls ended up walking away. This movie offended lots of people. Is it too late to show them this other side? Albert: It’s the same thing as saying, can you change a racist from being a racist? No. There’s nothing you can do to change their mind – especially with women. My mother’s a Feminist, and she acted pretty open-minded. Of course, she’s my mother. It’s also the climate we live in America. Everything’s so politically correct. People are so uptight that they can’t sit down and watch a documentary and hear a perspective that may not be theirs. Women get offended with the word, ‘c*nt’. Why is c*nt such an offensive word, but p*ssy’s not? It’s just language. It’s the phonics of the word. People watch a documentary about serial killers, mobsters, but when it comes to a documentary about a woman, a legal adult, selling her body – people have morality issues. Strange times. AllHipHop.com: Because you’re the voice of the Hip-Hop generation, why’d you limit the pimping to Snoop? No Suga Free, no AMG? Allen: We had Ice-T. Almost regretfully we have Bishop in the documentary. He has a great a photo album. He documented his pimping years very well. Snoop didn’t even know about Bishop before he was involved in the documentary. A lot of people got hip. He came up very much off the documentary. As far as any other Hip-Hop characters and stuff like that, we were only interested in mainly Too $hort because since day one, he was about pimpin’. Then Snoop, because he’s more of the pimp look than Too $hort. AllHipHop.com: From one journalist to another, I gotta give it up for putting Snoop on the spot if he indeed pimps. I liked that. We want that answer. Allen: Yeah, yeah. That’s a funny thing. Here’s the bottom line – you ain’t pimpin’ if you rappin’. You’re not sitting in a middle-class home going, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go pimp instead of working at Wells Fargo.’ No. You’re an under-class, you’re sub-culture, you’re in the hood. You’re either a dope dealer, a stealer, a pimp, preacher. It’s out of necessity that one pimps. It’s really fraudulent to hear a rapper, or anyone, say that they pimp when they’re making money. AllHipHop.com: You asked this to Snoop on the outtakes, I’ll bounce it to you. When did pimping come to your attention in life? Albert: It’s a pretty sensitive thing to say now, because we actually got taken to court last year by our father. He tried to sue us for claiming that he was a pimp. I’ll stay away from claiming he was one, even though we won the slander case. He couldn’t prove that it was untrue. That’s when it started though, because we saw all these characters around my dad. We didn’t know what was goin’ on back then until our older brother told us what was going on. AllHipHop.com: Playing off the soundtrack, hypothetically, you were a pimp. What’s your anthem? Allen: ‘Ride or Die’ by Jay-Z. I look at it like, ‘I’m gonna ride, or I’m gonna die.’ Albert: [Laughs] It’d be either “Pursuit of the Pimpmobile” [by Isaac Hayes] or [“Be Thankful For What You’ve Got” by William Devaughn] or some Curtis Mayfield stuff. I’m a big Curtis fan. AllHipHop.com: Another soundtrack bit. While it’s not quite "Wizard of Oz" and "Pink Floyd," Dead Presidents relates strongly to Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt from subject matter, to titles, to samples. You know anything behind that? Allen: Right. It’s funny you say that. I was just driving today listening to this Best of Jay-Z album. I been on Jay-Z’s team the last two months. I always loved him. But lately, I keep peepin’ him and s**t. I was listening to some of the tracks, some of the words, and it’s real interesting, ‘cause he came out in ’96. "Dead Presidents" came out in ’95. About three months ago, he wanted us to do two or three of his videos on his new album. He was pretty adamant. We were tied up doing some bulls**t at the time. He wanted to make it a short-form movie. When I listen to it, it sounds like it, to me. That would just be the s**t to me if you’re right. He’s one of the only artists today, I can just put his s**t in and respect what he’s saying. There’s a lot of similarities. That’d be an honor to me. AllHipHop.com: Allen, your fight with Tupac on the set of "Menace To Society" has been widely reported. The biographers seem to favor Tupac. Can you recount that from your perspective? Allen: Some of ‘em get it right, some of ‘em get it wrong. It’s this simple. Tupac and us, we were good friends. We did his first few music videos. He was going to play the Muslim character, Sharief – everybody thinks it was O-Dog, it wasn’t O-Dog. I was with him when he saw "Juice" for […]

Slim Thug is the absolute embodiment of the hustler mentality. Not only does he tell you that he sees Hip-Hop only as a means of getting cash, he actually out-hustles those who steps in his realm and eats better than most off the land that he cultivates. The Houston native loves his cash more than he loves his fame, but he is destined to have an endless supply of both. Having done more than most on the independent circuit, Slim Thug has signed an exclusive deal with The Neptunes’ Star Trak label and is preparing his debut solo album, Already Platinum, which basically describes his lifestyle to a tee. His independent hustle with The Boss Hogg Outlawz has afforded him the lavish life, now it is time for Slim Thug to reach higher heights. In a recent conversation with Allhiphop.com, he describes what he wants to those higher heights to be. Allhiphop.com: You have already kicked in many doors in the Houston area, and it is time to kick in those same doors nationally. Give us a description of who Slim Thug is and what you are all about. Slim Thug: Well, Slim Thug is the name and Boss Hogg Outlawz is my label. I started out independent in 1998 doing the Screw mixtapes with Michael Watts down here in Houston. That s**t been taking off since then. I’ve been doing this s**t since I was 17, and I just turned twenty-four not too long ago. I’ve been doing it independent until now. We’ve been grinding it out for years down there, making a lot of money independent. People were offering me deals, but I wasn’t interested really. I’ve done all I can do independently, and now it’s time to make that major move. At the same time, with my deal I can still do independent s**t. When I go around the world and let everybody know about Slim Thug, I’m [also] going to let them know about Boyz N Blue, which is my clique. Allhiphop.com: In your opinion, does the independent money stretch out a little further than the major label up front money? Slim Thug: It depends on what you compare it to. Being independent, you really have to have your company together. What’s different about being independent now [as opposed to] back then, we had a place called Southwest Wholesales. They used to be right in the city, and they were a distribution company. You could go right down the street and holler at these people, get your money and they would send your s**t out everywhere. They shut down, so now you got to go to Tennessee and f**k with those people, and you really can’t keep your eye on what they are doing. When that was going on, it was lovely because you could drop a record right now, and in four or five months drop another record. You can sell 100,000 records independent at $7.00 a pop, that $700,000 right there. You see your money faster and you have control over when you want to drop. You are not going to be as famous as you would be if you were on a major because you are not going to have the power of Interscope or another label like that. But, around your parts, you will be able to make a lot of noise. Allhiphop.com: Does money or fame make more sense to you as an artist? Slim Thug: Dollars! I would have kept s**t independent if we had that Southwest Wholesales s**t still going or whatever. [Labels] offered me deals in 2000, so it ain’t like this is my first deal and I took it. The labels in L.A. and New York had been flying out to Houston, flying me to L.A. and New York for years now. They just labeled me as being impossible to sign. They knew I was making money, and what I was going to ask for was ridiculous. When you get a taste of that big money, you be like, “f### that s**t”! But like I said, I did everything I could do independently. I’ve been all around these markets. It’s almost like I was at a stand still and I wanted to see my s**t go further. Allhiphop.com: How does it feel now that you do not have to be at the swap spots and selling records out of the back of your trunk? Slim Thug: Please believe that I will be at the motherf***ing gas station in my Bentley if a n***a wants to buy my CD. If I got my CD and if he wants to buy, he can buy it. Allhiphop.com: Talk about this new release, Already Platinum, and the story behind you initially hooking up with the Neptunes. Slim Thug: Let me explain what Already Platinum means. I feel like I’m doing platinum s**t right now. These n***as have sold a million records and f**k around and have the same size house as me. I’ve been doing s### like platinum rappers out here in Houston and in my state for a couple of years now. That’s why I say I’m already platinum because I’m already eating like that. When they were flying me out all these times to see different labels, a dude that worked for Universal seen what I was doing but he couldn’t get me signed. I built a relationship with him and we kicked it. When people would come to Houston, he would send them my way to meet me. Pharrell came out and I took them n***as out, kicked it and s**t. When I went to Puerto Rico, we met up with each other and we just kept bumping into each other. I did something with Fam-Lay, another one of his artists, and he liked that s**t. When I signed with Interscope/Geffen, he came over there and heard I was there. So, Pharrell was like, “let’s do it,” and Jimmy (Iovine) felt the same way. If a n***a got […]

For an entertainer, Fabolous has been through a lot in the last couple years. With crossover success, he’s seemingly had more encounters with the police, who seemed to be on convert operations against the BK rep. Nevertheless, no legal adversity thrown at him stuck and Fab offers the state of affairs as Real Talk, his latest, is slated to drop shortly. AllHipHop.com: Can you give us a little overview of your upcoming project? Fab: My album is called Real Talk. I think this album is very different from my last two albums, it captures my versatility and growth. It goes down south, it goes to the west coast and of course I have to rep my eastern side. That’s why I came out with “Breathe” as the first single because society has placed me in a box where I could only make party joints or joints for the ladies, so I wanted to give the people something different than what they usually would expect from me. I titled it Real Talk because that’s what I thought I was giving the fans. I’ve been going through over the last year and a half – since my last album. The places I’ve been, experiences I’ve had, I captured its all in song format. AllHipHop.com: Is it true that “Breathe” was a leaked street song and the good response turned it into an official single? Fab: Definitely. We wanted to leak a record and make people see how they feel – like I said before, that’s not the type of record people are used to hearing as a single, so we wanted to leak it and see how people would respond to it and it ended up getting a great buzz so we decided to release it. AllHipHop.com: Now you talked about some of your experiences between your albums, you’ve been arrested a couple of times and there’s been rumors of a lawsuit pending, is that true? Fab: We filed a lawsuit against the NYPD for [me] being wrongly accused and unlawfully arrested. It happens to people everyday, but not too many people go back and file a lawsuit, or make a complaint to the city know that they can’t just keep doing this. Even though the charges were dropped; it hurt me because it could be looked upon as a bad look. AllHipHop.com: Do you think it will be successful? It was for like five million, right? Fab: Yeah. But It ain’t even about the money. We just put that on so they could see that we’re really serious. I wanted to make a statement to show the people that this is what you can do whenever you get picked up and get [unlawfully] searched. Make a complaint. AllHipHop.com: Now you’ve set up your label and I heard that you signed a former member of Destiny’s Child. Can you tell us more about that? Fab: I’ve started a production company Street Family Entertainment. And we signed Farrah Franklin and a guy by the name of Mike Shorey from the song, “Can’t Let You Go” form my last album. The Farrah Franklin situation didn’t work out because she’s from the West Coast and I’m from the East Coast and there’ve been conflicts on the space that’s between us. There’s no bad [blood] it’s just something that didn’t work out. AllHipHop.com: Mike’s a singer right? Fab: Yeah. AllHipHop.com: So there are no rappers on the roster yet? Fab: No rappers on the roster yet. We’ve been trying to do something things with some rappers, but we haven’t locked in with anybody. So we wanted to take every situation and put or most into that, let that grow and tap into other situations. AllHipHop.com: What’s you relationship with Clue now that you’ve branched off to your own brand, so to speak. Are you still under Clue? Fab: Definitely. I’m still with Desert Storm. Our relationship is very cool. Besides the music industry, we get along as friends. That makes the music and everything even smoother. Some people after the studio, they give each other day and walk away and don’t even chill. So it’s definitely an advantage. AllHipHop.com: Then what about Joe Budden? Because I heard that Game was in your video and people wanted to know about that. Fab: Me and Budden is cool. I mean everyone have their differences. I’m pretty sure that everybody has someone they are cool with and then have another person that they don’t connect with. I’m cool with Buddens, I’m cool with Game. Game showed up [to the video shoot], I don’t know why Budden didn’t show up; maybe his people didn’t let him know about it. It’s just two people that don’t like each other. People moms and pops don’t get along and the child be caught in the middle. AllHipHop.com: What’s your opinion of the state of New York Rap in relation to down south who’s dominating the game right now. Fab: Down South has a great sound out right now. You can’t knock it because they’ve been doing it for years, but they’ve never connected mainstream wise. You go down there and they’ll tell you “We’ve been getting crunk down here for ten years.” So now it’s broader and people are getting to see it up here. Also the game changes every once in a while but east coast Hip-Hop is always going to have its stamp on the game. I don’t think Hip-Hop would be as good if it was only one kind of sound. People would get tired like, “I can’t take all this gun-bustin s**t” all day. AllHipHop.com: What do you do in your downtime? You seem like a laid back dude and we don’t see you at industry events, what do you do? Fab: Offtime, I be chilling. I know people in New York say that they see me all the time. Sometimes I’m more of a homeboy. I just lay back watch some DVD’s get some girls, have a barbeque. […]