From the most hedonistically concerned club hopper, to the most obsessively analytical college kid, and everyone else in between, Brooklyn’s Talib Kweli is respected and admired. “Get By,” from 2002’s Quality is Kweli’s biggest hit, and it proved to be a sign of things to come for Kweli. Many who have followed his career felt the song to be a perfect hybrid of the uncompromising substances Kweli is revered for and the head nodding production and flow necessary to garner a wider audience. His unquestioned skills and transcending respect were boldly underscored when one of hip hop’s most universally deified Emcees spit the following line, “if skillz sold truth be told/I’d probably be/lyrically Talib Kweli.” The verse from Jay-Z’s “Moment of Clarity” left all who know Kweli cheerfully affirming, and left those that didn’t hitting Google.com. Recent developments in Hip-Hop, the emergence of Kanye West and a seemingly growing appreciation from the mainstream of potent lyrics, have Kweli poised to transcend his status as superb Emcee, to full fledged superstar. Birth from the fertile, and sometimes divisive mid-90’s underground, Kweli has become an Emcee that will destroy our understanding of what underground and mainstream are suppose to mean. When the dust settles and all the labels, categories, adjectives and genres are gone, there will only be the music, and that’s exactly the way Kweli wants it. AllHipHop.com: What’s the biggest difference between Talib Kweli of 1998 and Talib Kweli of 2004? Kweli: The two biggest differences are experience and resources. I have way more experience and I have way more resources available to me, and that of course, changes how you view the world. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel that anticipation of greatness on the eve of your sophomore album, The Beautiful Struggle? Do you have a feeling like this one is going out of the park? Kweli: Ummm, yeah, yeah. Ummm, out the park I don’t know, but I do feel changes around me as simple as more people recognizing me. I know something’s going to happen, I can’t call exactly what it’s going to be. My success has never been related to records sales, but I have been successful. So even if it doesn’t sell out of the park, I do sense something successful happening with this album. AllHipHop.com: I know that you are very calculated; did you consider any other titles for the album to sum up this opus? Kweli: Umm, the title is something that Mos Def has said around me many times and I’m sure I kicked around some other titles but I can’t remember what they are. Me and my manager, Corey, we don’t always agree with everything, especially titles and stuff, but when I said that to him, he said ,‘that’s perfect.’ So we just stuck with it. AllHipHop.com: Did you consider changing the title after the leak, or did the leak make the title more relevant? Kweli: Yeah, the leak made the title more relevant. Before the leak, I finished the album in three to four months, so the album wasn’t necessarily a struggle to make even though it was about struggle. Once the leak happened, the album then became a struggle to make – as far as having to get the mixtape s**t out, having to deal with the leak situation, and having to deal with the record label falling back on what I thought was its support of the record. AllHipHop.com: Because you are such a deeply personal Emcee, would it be correct to say that your lyrics are directly related to your growth outside of music? Kweli: Yeah, I would say I strive for that. I haven’t always been that but I’ve always ran towards that? AllHipHop.com: With that said, are there any verses in you catalog that you don’t necessarily agree with or even subscribe to anymore? Kweli: Sometimes. A question I use to get all the time was, “Does “The Manifesto” still apply to your life?” That’s a song that I probably would have written differently in 04’ than I did in 98’. I would have made it more clear that the ten point program I said in the song was for me, and not for Emcees in general. The stance I’ve taken since then is, while I am going to speak about the state of Hip-Hop and how upset I am about it, I am going to do it strictly from a personal perspective. Any other way, I feel, just isn’t any fun to listen to. AllHipHop.com: You’ve said that a true fan of the music likes anything that’s dope and doesn’t really get caught up in the labels of underground, gangsta, blah, blah. At one time did you ever get caught up in the labels? Kweli: Oh definitely, the reasons I’ve strongly said those statements in the press, is because I’ve found myself falling victim to that stuff the press creates. I came out of a tight knit independent scene and there were a lot of people in the commercial world who just weren’t around that scene, so they were always viewed with suspicion whether they were being suspicious or not, and vise versa. I found myself appreciating artists, but not realizing that those artist appreciated me. Ultimately ,I just had to get out of that. AllHipHop.com: This leads us into the next question. On one of Jay-Z’s most personal songs, and on what is said to be his last album, he big upped you. Were you surprised to hear that? Kweli: Yeah, I was surprised. Ya know a lot of journalists have asked me that question, but you’re the first one that mentioned the fact that he mentioned my name on a personal song. His lyrics were intensely personal on that song, and that’s the thing that surprised me more than anything. Jay-Z is an Emcee that just never ceases to amaze me. I met him a couple of times, and had kicked it with him a couple of times before he dropped that line, […]

Back in 2002, the mixtape scene was rapidly launching little-known New York City rappers into the forefront of the hip-hop game. Names such as 50 Cent and Joe Budden were dominating the streets with various freestyles while making bootlegs by the likes of Kay Slay and DJ Clue must-haves. One MC whose name appeared alongside 50 on many of these releases was Jamaica, Queens native Grafh, but unlike his fellow Q-borough chart-topper, Grafh’s debut album has yet to see a street date. While his buzz rang heavy through the five boroughs, Grafh’s exposure had been limited to endless mixtapes due to inevitable label drama. 2003 saw his future flirt with potential success, with his signing to Sony/Epic in preparation for his official long-player, AutoGrafh. Unfortunately, his story’s pages continued to turn for the worse, as problems with Sony led to further delay for his album. Possessing unique talent backed by confidence and focus, Grafh continued to cement his Blackhand family’s name into the minds of listeners with a stream of independently issued music. Now in 2004, Grafh’s career is at its most exciting point, as he and Blackhand have inked a deal with Roc-A-Fella Records. With Dame Dash and The Roc cosigning, Grafh is ready to finally capitalize on his hype and prove to the world that he has next. AllHipHop.com: You’ve been on the grind for awhile, with little help behind you. So how does it feel to be a part of the Roc-A-Fella family right now? Grafh: It feels good, man. It feels good to have a strong label behind me that feels what I’m trying to do. It feels good to have somebody behind you that feels the music and sees the vision, because at Sony they couldn’t see what I was trying to do. They don’t understand my kind of music. I tried to bring somebody a record that’s different and that nobody has done before. It might seem like the future and it might set a trend, and they can’t see and understand it. To them, it’s not hot because they are only used to what they have heard before. AllHipHop.com: How did this deal between Blackhand and Roc-A-Fella come about exactly? Grafh: At first, we had a film deal at Roc-A-Fella, and we have a movie coming out called Inside Out, that should be out by the end of next year. So we had that already. They felt the music over there and understood the vision, and they actually wanted to do the deal before Sony but they had so many artists to put out first that it wouldn’t have been the best move at the time. Plus, I was in a big bidding war at that point, so I was just feeling out everybody. Sony won the bidding war because they were talking that million dollar talk. They made it seem like they were gonna do what they were supposed to do, but they don’t know how to do rap. Sony is history now. So Roc-A-Fella came out through the history they have with Blackhand. I’m the president of Blackhand, but the CEO is my man Chaz and he had a relationship with Dame Dash. We did the movie deal, and after that it just led into the music. AllHipHop.com: You touched on this a little already, but why do you think Sony wasn’t able to handle your project? Grafh: I think they will never break a rap act at Sony unless the artist is on some real sweet s###. I’m not B2K, you know, they don’t know how to market me. It’s not like my music is mad underground. I do s### for the hood. I make big records, and I have hit songs that they just couldn’t seem to market. A lot of the records I brought to them they couldn’t understand cuz I don’t bring you what you have heard before. They were looking for records that sounded like what was on the radio already. I’m innovative and I do new s###, and you have to get with me or just forget it. I’m never gonna bring you a record that sounds like somebody else’s. That isn’t gonna happen. I’m not gonna bring you some B2K-sounding sweet s### cuz I don’t do that. A lot of labels don’t understand that you have to market the artist, not just the record. You can’t just sell people a record, because people buy artists. You can have a hit, but nobody knows who the artist is, and that’s why n##### don’t sell. People just like the song but they don’t know who the f### made the record. AllHipHop.com: So what’s going to happen to the AutoGrafh album you recorded for Sony? Grafh: The album is still gonna be called AutoGrafh. I made so many records that I have like three albums, man. I’m just weeding through the songs and making sure everything goes together. When I recorded the album, the theme was just me, my life, my struggles, and my introduction to the world. Every song is basically from the same point of view. It’s going to be a cohesive album where everything makes sense. So what I’m gonna do now is weed through the songs I got, and keep making more records with the Roc-A-Fella producers. The album that Sony has, they can keep that s###. I don’t need it. “Bang Out” and all that, they can keep it. It’s in the streets already and n##### love it. AllHipHop.com: Can we expect any collaborations with the Roc-A-Fella artists to prepare for the album release? Grafh: Yeah, we definitely gonna do some things. I don’t know what yet. Kanye West is my man, and I got mad joints that I did with him before he even blew up. Two of them are on my mixtape out now, The Oracle, the songs “Damage Is Done” and “We Ridin’”. I like Beanie Sigel, and I did something with Juelz Santana already. I’m working, not just […]

In the Land of Milk and Honey, where everything isn’t always so sunny, it seems like it gets more difficult for musicians – especially Hip-Hop – to find the keys to longevity. Jurassic 5, however, one of West Coast hip-hop’s pioneers, has figured out how to allow six individual voices to stand out and stand together as they venture out but not away from. Charlie 2na, a faction of one of the underground’s favorite throwback groups, is sounding off as he takes his turn at letting his voice be heard as he tells us how J5 has maintained and how he as a man has grown. AllHipHop.com: So what’s up, you the latest to fly solo? C2: Well it’s a sole venture, It’s not like I’m going solo and leaving my crew because without my crew I wouldn’t even be here. We ain’t finished making music together anyways. It was just one of those things where something had been brewing inside me since the conception of me being an mc and just going one day I would like to just get this off of my chest and today’s the day. AllHipHop.com: How is what you have to get off your chest as an individual different from what you have to get off your chest in the group? C2: Well, it’s a lot more personal and a lot closer to home. It’s a lot more audio-biographical if you feel what I’m saying. It’s like a lot things that have happened in my life to shape me into being who I am are being exposed on this album. Along with a lot of collaborations I’ve always wanted to do with Jacks but wasn’t always necessarily able to pull off being in the group because you know being in the group and having six minds having to bounce around these ideas, it wasn’t something I was immediately able to do like working with Beenie Man and Raphael Saadiq and for me it was more than just getting to work with them, I’m a big fan of their music so it was really big for me to finally be able to do it on my solo project. AllHipHop.com: Tell me how you would classify J5’s sound versus your own sound or style. C2: J5 is unadulterated hip-hop. People always try to make us out to be like we’re the alternative’s of hip hop today when in actuality I feel like a lot of these cat’s out here are the alternative’s to hip-hop. But to sum us up it’s a line in the song we got called “Break This” that says we paying homage as well as returning favors and that’s basically what Jurassic is. We draw from the past and we draw from the future as well but we just try to acknowledge what happened in order for us to see where we’re going. With my stuff, I’m 1/6 of that conglomerate that makes that unadulterated hip hop so I’m basically showing you that percentage of Jurassic. That 1/6 of what I bring which is a little different from what everybody else, because all of us are on different levels as far as bringing different things to the music but with me like an extreme dancehall lover and house music, salsa music and stuff like that where as Mark 7 or Zaakir will be into real live old school soul like Marvin Gaye and Al Green, I believe my influences really show on this album. This album displays all the different facets of me from all of the different side projects I’ve done, which displays all of the different music that I like. Each song is different in that aspect because it covers all the genres of music I’m into. AllHipHop.com: So what are we going to learn about you that we don’t already know about you? C2: Well your gonna get a little history on my Mom and Pop and my son. I have a song called the righteous way, where basically it’s like those little Russian puzzles that are shaped like a person and you open it up and there’s another little person on the inside of that. Well that song is basically about me from that perspective. It’s about my father which is the first me and all the things that he had to go through to raise me and the second verse is about me and all of the things I had to go through to become a man and the last verse is about me as parent and all the things that I’ve had to go through to raise my son. AllHipHop.com: I might not be a man but I can so relate to that right now, so was this kind of like a therapy session for you? C2: Definitely, I’m glad you said it like that, I appreciate that. AllHipHop.com: Well I understand, what’s the album called and when is it dropping? C2: It’s called A Fish Out of Water and it should be dropping around the beginning of October. AllHipHop.com: What are your immediate plans? C2: Just finishing up the album I’m gonna be touring and doing some promo dates for the album and we’ve already started working on a new J5 album, we’re about 5 songs deep into that one. And you know we’re just gonna tour like crazy once that’s done, that’s what we do. AllHipHop.com: As one of the more culturally conscious groups around would you like to share any of your opinions on the upcoming elections? C2: Well I wrote this song with Ozomale that’s called “who’s to blame” and there’s a line it that says “while wars are waged over pathetic turf, we elect leaders with no regard for planet earth” and that’s how I feel about it right now. These cat’s aint really caring about life. They’re caring about money and things like that. I’m not a super-duper active cat when it comes to the voting process because I know people […]

The Beatnuts are one of the most criminally slept on crews, ever. “Off the Books” and “Watch Out Now” are gems for the history books. But while MTV might play an instrumental while their cornball hosts talk, you won’t see a Beatnuts heater getting airplay. Like a lot of artists, JuJu and Psycho Les have accepted the fate of their talent, but suffered because they kept it too street for nearly everybody. Their ability to tap into the life blood of our favorite clubs and bring frenzy to dance floors while remaining grounded in the art of sampling and the essence of Hip-Hop is unmatched. You can always rely on The Beatnuts to dig in the crates, and craft some unique head-nodders that stand out from the mainstream but that are meant for the masses. The Beatnuts’ JuJu, spoke with Allhiphop.com about his love for Hip-Hop and how the current state of things may cause him to change his proximity to the art he loves so much. With a new album, Milk Me, on the way, the Hip-Hop community is given yet another opportunity to show The Beatnuts how relevant and necessary they are. AllHipHop.com: I hear you’re on a new label. JuJu: Yeah word up, we’re on Penalty and s**t. They’re re-launching Penalty Records through Ryko Music Group and we the first act on the label and s**t. AllHipHop.com: Your new record is called Milk Me, what’s up with that title? JuJu: Actually Psycho Les named the album. We was in Europe one time and was all watching some p####’s and the n*gga [in the video] was like ‘milk me’ and we thought the s**t was mad funny, and it just stuck. We don’t really be thinking too hard when it comes to the names of the albums. We on some party s**t, anyway. None of our albums are real conceptual. It’s just about hot beats and rhymes. AllHipHop.com: Speaking of hot beats, The Beatnuts’ beats are top notch. Why aren’t cats beating down your door for beats or is that the case and we just don’t know it? JuJu: It’s weird man, a lot of the beats that we use, we make them hit records, right. But when we go play these beats for n*ggas, they don’t have the vision. Right now n*ggas are into a whole other sound, n*ggas don’t wanna clear samples and we sample a lot. ‘Cause we think feel that s**t is like the essence of what Hip-Hop is about. I know that there are n*ggas that’s nice with the keyboard s**t, and we use them sometimes too, but a whole album of that just gets redundant. Right now there’s a lot of MC’s out there that’s mad nice. And just because of the s**t they’re rhyming over, I don’t even wanna hear they s**t. We are all about the beat, that’s our formula when we produce s**t, the beats gotta be hot, it’s gotta grab you. ‘Cause I’ll be the first n*gga to say that we’re not the best MC’s in the world. It kills me to hear these nice MC’s rhyming over f***ing garbage. AllHipHop.com: Last time we talked with Psycho Les, he was pretty upset about that “Jenny from the Block” single. How did that whole J-Lo/Trackmasters situation ever pan out? JuJu: The actual producer of the song was totally with giving us our props and even giving us some money. I think it was the powers that be, like Corey Rooney and rest of the people behind that s**t that were the d*cks in the situation. As far as J-Lo, I ain’t bitter about that s**t. I don’t give a s**t. ‘Cause everybody knows that’s our beat. Les is a little bit more bitter about that s**t than me. I look at that kind of s**t like it’s a compliment. AllHipHop.com: Did any paper ever change hands? JuJu: Nah, no paper ever changed hands, cause it’s a sample. But the bottom line is that if we never made that record, nobody was gonna make that record. AllHipHop.com: I heard ya’ll have been doing a lot of traveling. JuJu: Yeah we went to Spain, we went to Columbia, we went to Australia. Man that s**t was crazy. Ya know how crazy it is at JFK, man it was like that when we got to Columbia. We thought people were waiting for they families, but all them muthaf***as was waiting for us. They had to rush us to the van, it was like some real Michael Jackson s**t. AllHipHop.com: You were talking earlier about all these nice emcees not having hot beats to flow over, but what emcees would you like to see flow over your stuff? JuJu: Man, there are so many, that n*gga Skillz from Virginia, Dead Prez, Eminem. I would have loved to do something for that n*gga Jay-Z, I know he would’ve gone berserk over something like “No Escaping This.” Ghostface, too, there’s just a lot of cats. AllHipHop.com: What you got banging in your car? JuJu: Right now the only s**t I got banging in my car is Dead Prez, Ghostface, and that Talib Kweli. AllHipHop.com: You feeling any of the southern sound? JuJu: Not really man (laughs). I can’t say that I do, I’m a straight city boy. I wanna hear some beats. I wanna hear some New York sounding s**t. I wanna hear some Large Professor. AllHipHop.com: What producers are you feeling? JuJu: Just Blaze, Vitamin D, Kno, No I.D., there are a lot of up and coming cats out there AllHipHop.com: Let’s do some quick word association. JuJu: Cool. AllHipHop.com: Psycho Les JuJu: Crazy. AHH: Beatnuts. JuJu: More Crazy AllHipHop.com: George W. Bush JuJu: A fag**t. AllHipHop.com: John Kerry. JuJu: Another fag**t. AllHipHop.com: J-Lo JuJu: Disappointment. She’s so stupid, cause the hood would have loved her more if she would have done that with us. She’s supposed to be so pro-Latin and BX and all this s**t, the hood would have loved her for […]

There is not an MC on Earth that knows the fall from grace better than Cuban Link. He was once a member of one of Hip-Hop most prominent groups, the Terror Squad. The glue that held the group together, the great Big Pun, died suddenly, and from that moment on, his life in Hip-Hop spiraled out of control. Fat Joe, the recognized leader of TS, supposedly turned his back on Cuban Linx. To add insult to injury, Link suffered a cut to his face in a fracas at Jimmy’s Café in the Bronx and reports began to swirl that Fat Joe was the perpetrator in this unfortunate incident. With claims of being blackballed in major circles of the industry and being left out in the cold by his former family, Cuban Link has re-emerged on M.O.B. Records and he will release his album, tentatively titled Chain Reaction, which is slated for a September, 2004 release. In a recent conversation with Allhiphop.com, Cuban Link decided to step out of the shadows to silence rumors about recent events involving Summer Jam, his manhood, and his relationship with former friend, Fat Joe. Allhiphop.com: Let’s begin things by telling the fans how deep Cuban Link has been in the trenches as of late. Cuban Link: Right now, we are working on our own independent label. It’s called M.O.B. Records, which stands for “Men of Business.” It’s an independently owned company, but it’s moving like a major as far as the power and strength behind the capital. We are trying to do big things. Basically, I’m the first act under that. The album is going to be called Chain Reaction, and should come through sometime in September. Allhiphop.com: I take it you have the distribution and all the politics of the game worked out so things will go smoothly? CL: Everything is lined up, man. All the politics and s**t is good. We made sure we had everything lined up before we made a move like that. The album is pretty much done. We probably need about two more cuts. It got some fire this time around, man! The last album never came out due to a lot of bulls**t on the business side. Allhiphop.com: Who can people expect to make guest appearances on the album? CL: I got Avant on a joint. I got Syleena Johnson on one of my favorites songs, called “Life Goes On.” Pac’s spirit got in me [on that one] and it’s crazy, man. The pen just went crazy on that one. I also got Mya on a track called “Sugar Daddy,” which is definitely a contender for the singles. Allhiphop.com: Are you still a heavy contributor to the Source Foundation and everything they had going on? CL: I’ve lost touch with those brothers. It’s still going, but we’ve lost contact. It’s much love to them. What they had me doing by talking to the kids shined a positive light on me when I had negative thoughts. Allhiphop.com: Talk about some of the things you were doing with the Source Foundation. CL: Basically, I went to different schools talking to young kids, kicking that positive message to them. I would tell them to stay out of jail, hit the books, and do positive stuff. Sometimes we forget. Allhiphop.com: I want to double back on the politics of this industry. How have all the setbacks you have gone through birthed you as an independent artist? CL: Well, in my situation, what happened to me doesn’t happen very often. I was rolling with what I thought was family, so I put my career into the hands of that. In case anyone doesn’t know, I came up through the Terror Squad with that Fat Joe character. Now, I’m doing my own thing with the cards that have been dealt. I had Atlantic Records behind me, but I wasn’t paying much attention to that side [of the business]. I let Joe handle that, but at the end of the day, it just crumbled in my face. I was busy doing the shows and all of that. I was playing my role as an artist. I got lost when it came [time to do] my album, even though it was ready since ’99. Of course, the bulls**t with Atlantic and Joe coming back with information that was far off made me wonder what the hell was going on. I got the short end of the stick because my album never came out. It soured between me and Joe. At the end of the day, the real comes to the light. I’m happy where I’m at now because I control most of the things that go on. Allhiphop.com: I want to talk one of my all-time greats in Hip-Hop, and you know who I am talking about. What did Christopher Rios mean to you in terms of being an artist and being a man? CL: Pun was crazy with everything, man. He was the “vivid poet.” He painted pictures with a million words, man. Pun was incredible. Besides us being best friends, and coming up in this game together, he taught me more than I could ever repay him for. He wasn’t just talented in Hip-Hop, man. He was talented all around. He was a comedian, and he was a genius. He never went to school, but he read encyclopedias and taught himself. He supported a family as well, so there was much respect by just being a man. I was kicking it with Pun when I was 15 and he was 19. There were times when I wanted to quit and he dragged me along with him, even against the wishes of other n**gas. I owe this Hip-Hop s**t to him. He was one in a million. Allhiphop.com: I know you’ve run this subject into the ground, but I want to touch on the Joey Crack situation. Has there been any attempt at reconciliation? We would like to see that. CL: Crack is a dude […]

Hip-Hop hurts. I’m not talking about swinging bows and throwing fists. Hip-Hop, the industry, can cut deep, and some scars don’t heal. While most fifteen year olds might not know who Kwame was, they undoubtedly know the opening bars to Biggie’s “Unbelievable” that affirmed Kwame’s decline, and nearly blackballed him from ever being taken seriously again. But while Hip-Hop can certainly hurt, it’s rare to see somebody endure it and come back swinging. Kwame isn’t angry, bitter, or outdated. Truth be told, more people are following his work now than ever. No, not by way of his classic, (yeah-classic!) Day in the Life, but because Kwame is the producer, along with Eminem, behind Lloyd Banks’ chart-topper, “Fire”. This isn’t the first time either. Kwame’s been creeping on a comeback, supplying heaters for LL Cool J, Cam’ron, Mary J. Blige, and others. You won’t even believe what he’s got cooking next. Ice Cube and LL Cool J have always been at the top. Maybe it’s talent, maybe it’s the labels, and maybe it’s everything. But few successful Hip-Hoppers from fifteen years ago are still involved in the Top 40, or Platinum status discussions. Ten years ago, Miss Cleo couldn’t have predicted that Kwame would be at the top today, but as Kwame told AllHipHop: “You’re gonna have to accept me, sometime.” Read what he has to say, ‘cuz like AllHipHop, Kwame doesn’t know what it means to quit. AllHipHop.com: Congratulations on “Fire”. That surprised a lot of people, and will surprise even more who don’t know it yet. Tell us how that came about. Kwame: It was weird. I [knew] people were looking for stuff for they albums. I tailor-make CD’s of tracks I think would be good for [the artist]. So I sent some out to Sha Money XL. It’s like an actor. You go in, you do your audition, and keep it movin’ – if they call you back, they call you back, if they don’t, they don’t. So months later, he gave me a call and said, ‘I like this particular track. I feel strongly that this is Lloyd Banks’ first single.’ I hear this all the time, so it’s, ‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Okay. Keep it moving.’ I get another call: ‘Eminem is crazy about the track, he wants to get involved. He’s got some ideas to put to it.’ I’m a team player, so I’m like, ‘Yeah! I always wanted to work with Em also.’ He put some horn embellishments on the track or whatever and they sent it to me, and I approved it. Next thing I know, the record is everywhere in the country, like ‘Damn.’ AllHipHop.com: You were able to be in the recording sessions with Banks on this? Kwame: Yeah, I was. Then they transferred some stuff to Detroit for the mix. I wasn’t able to be [in Detroit]. AllHipHop.com: So even though you said ‘Beat Tape’, you’re a true producer? Kwame: Let me tell you, I’m a producer! I’m not a beat-maker. A lot of people get that twisted. They send in beats or they Pro-Tools or whateva, and they call it a day. I don’t go for that, personally. I’ve been around too long to be treated that way. I force my issue on it. Of course you wanna do it for the money, but at the same time, I do it for the love and do it for the credit. Because that’s pretty much all you have in this game is the credit and your name in situations to get you more work. AllHipHop.com: Do you think there’s a future with you and the G-Unit camp? Kwame: Things are in the works right now. I’m not gonna be the G-Unit producer or anything. We’re finalizing some stuff with 50 for his new album and also with Em, but until things are recorded and done and actually making the album, I can’t put my stamp on it. AllHipHop.com: I also know you’re working with Big Daddy Kane and Black Sheep – so you’re true to where you came from, as well. Kwame: More than just Kane and Black Sheep. As far as ‘old school’: Kool G Rap, Kane, Black Sheep, and possibly Heavy D’s album on Bad Boy. Also, Dana Dane. A lot of people seem to forget the era that they come from or what they were in to, and they just go into keeping everything new. For me, I consider it a give back, because these are the people I looked up to before I came out. So with Kane, we’re just developing records. There’s no deal on the table. We’re just doing songs and looking for the best situation after that. Same thing with Black Sheep. These are people that I came up with, went on tour with, and developed friendships. So doing songs for them, isn’t a big deal. With older artists – unfortunately, there’s a stigma attached to the older artists. Their only recourse is to do independent records, because I can do a hit single on a Big Daddy Kane record, but Universal isn’t gonna sign it. AllHipHop.com: Well, the radio won’t play it and neither will MTV. Kwame: Yeah, it’s my biggest goal in Hip-Hop is to break down that barrier between old school and new school, and let it be based on your talent, your merit, and how you perform [each] record. Because when the Rolling Stones or the Isley Brothers put out a record, every radio station will jump on it. Fans from sixteen to sixty will jump on it. Why can’t Big Daddy Kane be that same way? I feel that’s my duty to break it down. Support what supported you coming up. Rap is the only art form that’ll tear down what created it. AllHipHop.com: How hard was the transition for you from old Kwame the MC to Kwame the producer? Kwame: Very. The mindset that I had was never hating the industry. What I learned a long time ago […]

“I’m the King of Rock, there is none higher! Sucka mc’s should call me Sire!” These words are embedded in our psyche as representatives of one of the best groups to ever be birthed in the genre of Hip-Hop. As one third of the trio who basically grew up in hip-hop and brought it from adolescence to adulthood, DMC of Run DMC is still schoolin sucka mc’s on what’s good, and not so good in this rap game. Still carrying the love for his brother Jam Master Jay in his heart and in his music, DMC has seen some of everything there is to see in this business. With a new solo album about to drop, the evolution of the pioneer takes us higher. AllHipHop.com: – There’s a whole lot going on in hip-hop right now, what’s your take on it? DMC- Right now the competition level is much higher because of all the money being made,,when it used to just be my rhyme is better than your rhyme, your dj is fake my dj is better than yours. I think a lot of people feel like they have a lot to lose, I mean it’s good to get paid, but that’s not the essence of hip-hop. Hip-hop is a culture, it’s a way of life. AllHipHop.com: – So you think the money is what messes up everything? DMC- Yep, well no, the money doesn’t mess it up, the love of money messes everything up. The love of money is what’s evil. AllHipHop.com: Why do you think it’s so hard for the old-skoolers to get paid their just due? DMC- The people controlling the industry don’t spend the money to keep the memories alive. They don’t respect it enough. Like when you look at Jazz or Rock & Roll, they spend money to keep putting out albums to give the artists a chance to make the music forever. It’s ridiculous when somebody says when I get 35 I don’t wanna be rapping. Rapping is a form of expression. It’s like Frank Sinatra saying when I get 50 I ain’t gonna sing no more, it’s music. The difference is you don’t want to be rapping about what you were rapping about at 22 now. Cause when you get 40 years old it’s gonna be different stuff to talk about. But hopefully I can break that barrier because I have a solo album coming out. AllHipHop.com: – Great segue, what’s the album about and what’s the title? DMC- It’s called Checks, Thugs, & Rock-N-Roll It’s about life. You know I can’t rap about things I used to back in the day, I can’t go around sayin I’m the King of Rock or rapping about my Adidas because those things aren’t important. For me, I gotta educate the little kids, I gotta motivate the little kids, that’s what’s important. AllHipHop.com: – What are some of the things you see that’ s wrong with hip-hop right now? DMC- I just think all the images are repetitive. Everybody’s doing the same thing. Everybody’s rapping about the same things, we need a little versatility. Everybody’s driving the same cars, having the same party, but hopefully things can begin to change. AllHipHop.com: – Speaking of change, are you voting in the upcoming election? DMC- If there’s really someone worthwhile to vote for (he laughs) But I do believe everyone should exercise their right to vote. Voting is very personal. It’s a very personal decision to make. AllHipHop.com: – If you could nominate any hip-hop artist to run for office, who would it be? DMC- Chuck D, and that’s not because he’s militant, but because he has knowledge of history. Not just his Black history but he has knowledge of all history, government, community and he’s my idol. I love him. AllHipHop.com: Are you and Run going to be doing anything together soon? DMC- Well on my solo album me and Run do have a record together but we’re not going to perform as Run DMC anymore out of respect to Jay, but he’s on the album. Although it’s Run & DMC we’re just not gonna call it that, even though that’s what it will ALWAYS be.

One of the fiercest MC’s to ever grip the microphone is the Soul Father Rasco. The beautiful mind who is often quoted for his line, “My mind shines harder than your chain” has been grinding away for a decade, and been making records for over half. One of the leaders in the Bay Area movement, Rasco’s debut Time Waits For No Man is largely considered one of the major independent releases of the “Underground Movement.” But while the times have changed, Rasco truly hasn’t. His focus is still making ground-breaking, defiant, and revealing records – and running a budding label. Fresh from a show with KRS-One, AllHipHop.com caught up with Rasco to discuss the re-release of his classic, the continuous comparisons to Rakim, and even a few more off-topic jewels that may surprise you more than you ever imagined. Some cats are doing it with help, but regardless – Rasco will always be the unassisted. AllHipHop.com: I see you re-released your classic on your label this time. How’d you pull that off? Rasco: We came to an agreement on that, and I was already puttin’ stuff out – you know, reissued stuff on my label. I just got a deal with Caroline [Distribution], and was making everything available, and wanted to be sure Time Waits For No Man was available. AllHipHop.com: You had some label troubles after that album. I was always curious as to why you never stayed with Stones Throw, considering your album was a key player in their foundation. Rasco: It was just, I felt like I wanted to start building something myself at that point. I learned a lot of stuff from [Peanut Butter Wolf], so he was going one direction, and I was going one direction, not really on no beef. It was just, I wanted to have a label after I was doing this. AllHipHop.com: Are there any bonus treats on the re-release? Rasco: Yeah, it’s got two remixes on there that we did back then. It has a Lord Finesse remix on there, and a 45 King remix that we did back then, that wasn’t available. AllHipHop.com: For an “underground” MC, to be able to release an album says a lot. Non-Phixion and Jedi Mind Tricks, that’s like Platinum status. How do you feel to be able to put out an album less than five years old, back out. That’s gotta be great. Rasco: It feels good because I had a lot of people asking if it was available anymore and different stuff like that, so that makes you feel good. But the way I look at it man, is, it’s kinda a double-edge for me because I’d like to be able to add something else to that. I want everything to be that way. I look at it as, “How can I get that status back?” AllHipHop.com: Now that time has passed, what made that your most successful album in your opinion, as opposed to an Escape from Alcatraz or Cali Agents? Rasco: I think the reason it is, it was just a different time then. You didn’t have as many people out with records. You didn’t have a lot of cats out. You had Company Flow, myself, Defari, Dilated. We was at the beginning of the whole thing. Now, it’s a little bit different. And then, if you try something a little bit different, people may not accept it, or it just may not come out the way that you expected. If somebody now can tell me that I was better then than I am now, I don’t believe that. I didn’t know what I was doing on that record. Maybe that’s why. AllHipHop.com: That’s a perfect lead in to your fan base. How does your following differ on the coasts? Because frankly, you have mass appeal in the East. Rasco: It’s weird because with the Cali Agents, the top market for us was New York, then L.A., [then] San Francisco. But on my stuff, it always flips around. It’s like, L.A., then New York. So I don’t know if it’s the addition of [Planet] Asia that helps it with Cali Agents on the East, but’s always those three cities. AllHipHop.com: We talked about your recent work as overlooked. One recent track that I really liked was, “My Life.” It has a timeless hook. You rarely hear the hook get love in the underground, but for such an intimate track, what made you write that? Rasco: One day I was watching Donahue, and it’s funny because it was [also] on the Dave Chapelle Show, but dude was talking ‘bout angry White men. It was dudes talking about Black people taking their jobs. I was like, “Wait a minute. Where the Hell these dudes yappin’ from?” So let me just write as, it’s my life. But it’s also my life as a Black man and the way that I see things. Just how I see Black men in America. AllHipHop.com: One thing about Bay area cats is…in the liner notes, you’ll see a group like Latyrx shout out gangsta dudes like San Quinn or Brotha Lynch Hung. I always marveled at that beautiful Hip-Hop unity. How does that come into play with you? Rasco: Back when I came out and a little bit further, you had Hobo Junction and the Living Legends and Blackalicious and Hieroglyphics, and everybody had their own thing, and we’d support each other. I always liked the Bay area for that. Then you have people like San Quinn and Messy Marv who are dudes who know that they don’t do what you do, but they like what you do. It’s never been like, “Aw, these n*ggas are backpackers.” It’s always just been, “I’m really feelin’ what you doin’.” For that reason, it’s been good. A little bit of that [Bay Area unity] has been lost with people goin’ away and movin’ to L.A. AllHipHop.com: The Rakim vocal tone comparison is something you must get a lot. How do […]

It’s crazy how an area that is so imitated can be so overlooked in the grand scheme of things. That is the case for the San Francisco Bay Area’s Hip-Hop scene. Whether it’s the slang that has been borrowed by the masses or the independent game that made virtual unknowns millionaires, the Bay is all about setting trends. One of the major players in setting those trends is Messy Marv. After being critically acclaimed and street certified for ten years in the game, Messy Marv is ready to take his career to a higher level. Allhiphop.com: The new album Disobayish is doing very well. How does it feel to be back grinding with renewed focus? Messy Marv: It feels good homie, I been grinding, I ain’t never went nowhere AllHipHop.com: Yeah but the radio play and the media support is heating up now like it never has before with the murder dog cover and the Source story and whatnot. MM: I just went down to the radio stations and the magazines and was real sincere with them. I deserve this so I came at it with that approach. AllHipHop.com: With your albums you bring sincerity to the game of saying what’s on your mind and your heart regardless of what people may think. Do you think the music industry is ready for that? MM: Actually man, when you dealing with underground artists, that’s always been there. The game been dealing with it since the NWA’s and the "f**k the Police" days. It just depends on if a muthaf**ka’s gon’ be scary or not. It’s a lot of scared muthaf**ka’s out here that don’t want to deal with the real s**t and whether they like it or not they gon’ have to deal with it anyway. AllHipHop.com: What do you think needs to be done for the industry as a whole to shine more light on the rappers in the Bay Area? MM: Everybody just needs to stay consistent and come with the cream, the good dope. In the Bay Area what we’re known for is being pirates, everybody has their own label, we like an industry within ourselves and I hate to say [it but] it’s a lot of bulls**t coming out the Bay because everybody wants to be a rapper. Everybody’s been looking on the Bay Area because I’m hearing our slang and everything about the Bay in these other people’s lyrics and on they albums. The Bay has always been a major part in this music industry whether they like it or not. We trendsetters out here, its just that you don’t know if it came from The Bay Area because these other people have put it out on their songs and you think its coming from them, but all the time it came from here. AllHipHop.com: On your new album Disobayish, you are dissing 50 and Obie Trice. What made you even give them any light on your album? MM: As far as the Obie Trice situation I just took it real personal that that dude came down to my city of San Francisco, got on the radio station and said ‘the city showed him love but he had to walk around with his ass on the wall’ and made a joke like we was fa**ots or something, I took that real seriously. As far as 50, real ni**as speak on a situation like the J. Prince’s and the other real rap moguls of the industry and you see a dude live on TV dry snitching on another man’s company. We put snitches out there like that, and that’s always been a street thing, snitches don’t get no street credibility. So when you got real ni**as speaking on it, other real ni**as pick it up and speak on it too. It’s just like if you get your paperwork on a snitch ni**a, we put it out there like that, now everybody around town is talking about it. AllHipHop.com: After getting offers from major label’s what makes you continue to stay independent and do you ever plan on going the major label route? MM: It’s just going to take the paperwork making sense. In order for me to sign a deal its’ gotta be right. I’m not scared of that, I want that. AllHipHop.com: On the last few albums you always have songs relating to women that are a different vibe from your normal material. What makes you do that, are you looking for radio or is it just something that you just decided to put down? MM: It wasn’t the radio, because the radio really doesn’t support me anyway, the streets support me. It was just my maturity; it’s just a part of growing. AllHipHop.com: Unlike a lot of artists that aren’t on majors you have a lot of markets supporting you, how did you get that love? MM: It’s real man, I feel like the world is a ghetto and everybody goes through the same struggles and that’s why they pick up the tapes. They go through the same s**t I go through so of course they gon’ pick it up just like they pick up the Jay-Z’s and whoever else, they feel it. It’s funny, I went to New York and the hood really supported me like ‘yo this s**t is real and it ain’t too many real muthaf**kas coming up out The Bay Area like this and we could learn to love this and respect this.’ It was weird. I’m talking bout Cypress ni**as in the Cypress projects, Brownsville ni**as, Brooklyn ni**as was really like this is some real s**t. ni**as is sleeping on the Bay because it’s a lot of saturated weak ass s**t coming out The Bay so muthaf**kas ain’t even looking at it. AllHipHop.com: What is your take on the whole New Bay movement considering you fall into it a bit because although you’ve been putting it down for a long time, there are a lot of new fans peeping you […]

Finally, a battle that goes back to the roots of the battle – a title. T.I. called himself, “The King of the South,” and all across the southern states, MC’s took offense. Most notably, Houston’s Lil’ Flip stood up. In the last six months, T.I. returned from a bid, to reclaim his throne. In doing so, he and Flip have come toe to toe, running the rumor mill extra hard. The hearsay level is huge, and what might be beef, might also be a complete misunderstanding. Whatever the case, AllHipHop wanted to pick our boy T.I.’s brain. As his album stacks up sales, and in between his charities, we let T.I. reveal his perspective on just how the whole thing started. AllHipHop.com: You in the news homie, has it had any kind of effect on you? T.I.: I will say man I couldn’t have paid for this kind of publicity, this kind of promotion. So in this industry, I’ve been told by many people over and over again man, [that] all publicity is good publicity and all press is good press. When Peter Jennings from News Tonight called me, “One of the biggest rappers in the world,” it gotta be kinda positive. He used [it] in the midst of negativity. AllHipHop.com: I was looking at CNN Friday and they had the story about you doing an unauthorized video and the tried to make it look negative, but you know how they do, you wanna tell me about that? T.I.: To make a long story short, I went to shoot some footage in a Florida County Jail, one of the jails I had been in for weeks from these past few months, when I’ve been away from the scene. I went to shoot a video and at the same time I was shooting the video, an inmate escaped, so you know, that was a pretty big deal. AllHipHop.com: Do you think it would have been a major issue her maybe not got escaped from there? T.I.: It wouldn’t have been a major issue. AllHipHop.com: Was it hard for you to get clearance to do that? T.I.: It wasn’t necessarily hard, it was just a matter of asking someone and them asking someone an waiting on them to [approve] and that was that. AllHipHop.com: So is it a video that we are going to see? T.I.: It was actually an introduction to my show at Birthday Bash, which was the big major concert by one of the major radio stations in Atlanta, 107.9, but you know deputies, sheriffs and what not where kinda guarding the teleprompter and keeping me from playing it so it never got shown. But you know I’m not gonna let it go to waste, I got everybody from the news media, even Lyor Cohen [CEO of Warner Music, TI’s parent label] wants to see it. AllHipHop.com: Yeah I was hoping I would get a chance to see that there, because I heard some other things went down where you kinda barked at your boy Flip from Houston. What’s really good with that? T.I.: Yeah, me and that guy have an issue. Well, I have an issue with him. He steady tryna’ say he ain’t got an issues with me. Well then, I created an issue then if that’s how they wanna put it. I created one because while I was away, he was in Atlanta doing shows in several different venues man. [There] was one in Music Midtown, which is the concert that Z103, the other radio station in Atlanta got. In the middle of the shows, he would ask the people, “Who’s the king of the South?” and when my names mentioned he would tell them, “Well yeah, well tell that n*gga T.I,. I wrote this song for him and tell him I said game over,” and he do his song [Game Over] and this is while I’m locked up. I suppose he thought I was gonna be gone for a lengthy period of time and he wouldn’t have to see me and whatnot. And the n*gga just felt comfortable in my absence. So now that I’m back and out, the n*gga coping deuces talking ‘bout what he ain’t say and what he ain’t do, [saying how] he ain’t got no problem with me and it’s all a lie,’ man. I mean, he really insulted my intelligence ‘cause I know better. There were several people at all three events that saw what went on, not to mention that Music Midtown had him on tape. And at the show on prime time, he was tryna holla at some girls, who actually know me personally and he told them, “I run Atlanta, this my city. I’mma shut that n*gga T.I. down and just watch when I get onstage.” You know saying all that hating s**t and all while I’m locked up. I ain’t even know that n*gga. I ain’t never had no dealings with the n*gga’s projects. It’s a total contradiction. If you recall, he was just on the cover of The Source with J-Kwon, and the Young Gunz, and Cassidy and initially, before I turned myself in, I did a photoshoot for the cover, it was just me, him, and the Young Gunz. And so I guess they wanted to reshoot the cover while I got locked up and I couldn’t make it so they had Cassidy and J-Kwon to fill in. And on the n*gga’s remix, the n*gga say, “You know you mad cause I’m on the cover of The Source.” And in Houston on the radio, on the morning show mind you, he said he ain’t say nothing about me, he ain’t got no problem with me, but he telling them, “Yeah, I had that n*gga taken off the cover of The Source.” Now why would you have them take me off the cover of The Source then you wanna drop a song hating on me behind my back? Why would you do that, how is […]

Those that say the West Coast’s Hip-Hop is slippin’ just aren’t looking hard enough. Take The Strong Arm Steady Gang as a case study. The team of Xzibit, Mitchy Slick, Krondon and Phil Da Agony (and others) are running rampant on the streets out Left. They’ve managed to carve a niche as a unit and individually. As an individual, Krondon has stood out for his physical features as much as his ability to murder mics from Xzibit’s upcoming CD to the 2003 Anger Management Tour to his mixtapes that pilfer the streets. He’s already dumped the ‘Crack music’ mixtape, and with SAS (Strong Arm Steady), the D-Bo series of mixtapes, O-Dog series and True Crime. All of that Hip-Hop and a SAS DVD that was released earlier this year, read why Krondon is one MC that you should look out for. AllHipHop.com: How long have you been rhyming? Krondon: Seven or eight years, putting records out since 1997. AllHipHop.com: What about solo-wise? Krondon: And for me as a solo artist, I got this [album available in] Tower and Sam Goodie with the push and promos behind it. For me, it’s just a milestone. I’m happy to have been buzzing. We having been getting mad love – especially on the West Coast, because it’s home. As far as what we are doing, and the caliber of music we are doing, radio and all of that, [success] has been coming full force. AllHipHop.com: How did the group actually start? Krondon: It’s a real mini story, man. First, we were all friends, [then] artists that have [had] individual solo projects come out at separate times. Being on the West Coast, you already know the [small] amount of artists that got as far as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog and Ice Cube… that got connections. X to the Z [has been an] exception. When you look at that, like that there’s a need and a hunger for a new platform and foundation for the West Coast for us four come out of, but for Hip-Hop. [We] live and walk along anonymously. When Dogg Pound is Tha Dogg Pound, West Side Connect is West Side Connection and Aftermath is Aftermath, we needed a new label and brand in the West Coast, that kids could attract to and aspire to be part of and that we, the artist could use as a vehicle to get us where we want and need to go. [We took] on the name of the label [as] Strong Arm Steady, we basically live by the name. By definition, to have a strong hold on the music industry from a street and corporate level, be consistent and or persistent with it, and to hold it steady and the word steady in slang means. We use that to describe, to be about it. The Strong Arms Steady we are about what we are about though.. With the release of the DVD, I really feel comfortable where X to the Z is at right now. I’m not comfortable where we are at around the world, so we have to move around the world to make it more less like a buzz; an uproar. It’s bigger than music. Think about all magazines with the N.W.A. family tree. It started with N.W.A. and it brought you to all the way to now: Post Death Row days that came from that tree, we don’t have enough “Rap Trees” growing in the West Coast. So, Strong Arm Steady is the new tree on the block that’s going to grow, we are going the have lots of branches growing from it. AllHipHop.com: How do you deal with the fact that members of SAS have varying rapping styles? Krondon: If the other members of the group like each other’s styles… Other groups have members doing solo projects they just work on one project. Only G-Unit, the Roc, Cam’ron and the Diplomats have members in their group doing solo projects, the West Coast rappers don’t do that. If we can trust each other, it can work in the music. AllHipHop.com: When is X’s album coming out? Krondon: The album is coming out soon. The album is called the Weapons Of Mass Destruction. AllHipHop.com: What can people expect from you what they don’t know already? Krondon: I was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. My perspective is strictly Los Angeles [as is] my content. All of the perspective of South Central Los Angeles, it will be put and presented to you like a mixtape presented to you in a way were no matter where you are Queens, St. Louis anywhere – you can relate and get it. A lot like what Ice Cube use to do, I pride myself on staying hood. Where I grab my energy from, I don’t care. I have been around the world twice performing and everything. I still keep the perspective of that brotha on the block, and I take the block with me everywhere and it comes out in my music. AllHipHop.com: Challenging the status quo of things, I’d be interested to hear who you admire or who influenced you? Krondon: I admire like the Snoop Dogg’s, Redman’s, Ice Cube’s, Xzibit’s of the world the finish the way they started in music. Never sway, like Redman, my favorite [MC] in the world. He never changed hid styles whether he had a bad year or nothing he roll with it. Same as Cube. This brotha’s had bad years musically, but it’s refreshing when they come with what you are expecting from them. The styles, they might be a little more advanced, more Pop or grown but they still have the same styles and are consistent. All my favorites are like that. They expect me to start like that. Stress Magazine dissed me years ago it wasn’t a diss per-say but it was a diss. They said i sounded like Big Pun Rest in Peace that wasn’t the bad thing. They said all Krondon is talking about […]

Willie D of the Geto Boys. The name is one that is loaded with so many aspects of Hip-Hop that I don’t know where to start. Let me begin this with one word: BOLD. Willie D., who was one of the lead rappers in the Geto Boys, is a man that exemplifies the word bold, because he fearlessly said whatever he wanted, regardless of the repercussions. Many people consider Scarface as the foundation that kept the Geto Boys solid, but I beg to differ. I say Willie D was to the Geto to what Ice Cube was to NWA. He had everything a person could want in a rapper – political opinions, street cred, nice with the ladies, and outspoken as all hell! What he didn’t have lyrically, he made up for in more ways than one. [I might add, this is a real ode to Willie D, not some twisted joke.] With all respect, Public Enemy might have said “Fight The Power,” but Willie D, of similar mind state, would specify, “F**k The KKK.” [From his debut album and rare gem Controversy.] On his 1989 epic, he said: "They said this song was forbidden, it couldn’t be written As you can see them muthaf***kas weren’t’ bullshittin’ Many feel the Klan would hush ’em But I snatched the pen and said f### ’em Wrote the rhyme, put it in time My mind, it ain’t blind to their kind Muthaf**k a gotdamn KKK" Willie hated the Klan, as most of us do, but he also had disdain for those in the community posing as dons. On the burgeoning drug dealer, Willie said: Everybody’s coming with guns N***as gettin pimped by Columbians They put em on the streets like a b#### N***as slangin’ but the Puerto-Rican getting’ rich I never sold the mess But if I did, it would be for my gotdamn self (“Do It Like A G.O.”) Ingenious? You damn right it was. That sort of frankness can’t be found these days as rappers neuter themselves while killing innumerable, nonexistent Black men on wax. A former boxer, Willie D was also the type to throw the fist, “because he loved to chunk toe to toe.” His song, “Put the Gun Away,” was a cautionary tale for so-called men that pull out their burner in fear of getting their a** kicked. In that same song, he make it clear that he was down for a fight, but had no problem putting a bit of lead in you. "He was waving a .357 at me He didn’t know I had a m#### f***in’ UZI If he took another step I couldn’t refuse to put his a** on the 10 o clock news” Willie’s ill lyrical content didn’t stop with fake gangstas and white supremacists; dude had endless songs that went against Black and White America’s collective grain. One example is “F**k Rodney King.” Oh, and this was made at the time Rodney’s lips quivered, “Can’t-we-all-just-get-along?” The D was not a fan of such passive notions, especially as it pertained to racist, brutal cops. Here’s how he felt about Rodney. "F**k Rodney King and his ass When I see the muthaf***a I’ma blast Boom in his head, boom, boom in his back just like that Cause I’m tired of you good little n***as Saying increase the peace and let the violence cease When the Black man built this country But can’t get his for the prejudiced h#### Rodney King, gotdamn sell-out On TV crying for a cop The same mother f***as who beat the hell out ya Now I wish they would’ve shot ya Cause this s### is deeper than Vietnam And ain’t no room for the Uncle Tom" Now, certainly you might not agree with his lyrics, especially the use of the word “h####.” Willie might have used a more powerful word that doesn’t remind us of George and Weezie Jefferson. Nevertheless, the message is clear – No Justice, No Peace. A champion of justice, Willie D wouldn’t hesitate to put our own United States politicians on full blast like heat in an Artic winter. “Bar None” was a slogan of the Geto champ and he didn’t neglect anybody. "J. Edgar Hoover I wish you wasn’t dead So I could put a bullet in your motherf***in’ head Gotdamn fa***t motherf***in’ drag queen I know you put the hit on Martin Luther King And Fred Hampton, Malcom [X] and the others You red neck punk mutharf***er Bob Dole keep you muthaf***in’ mouth shut Before a n***a beat your old a** up Jumpin’ on the rap bandwagon ain’t helpin’ it You need to be concerned about the muthaf***in’ deficit While he was on the cutting edge of political rap, Willie D was not one to appreciate women that hacked too much off the top. That’s right ladies, he had a song called “Bald Head Hoes,” which was funny as Dave Chappelle. Check the lyrics if you think I lie. “What the f**k is goin on in this gotdamn world What are you b***h a boy or a girl? I can’t tell cause your [hair] on the sides is gone You remind me of that monkey lookin’ b***h Grace Jones F***ed up is how you look to Willie D I just gotta have a b***h that has more hair than me Some try to cover up by weavin’ it through You ain’t foolin’ nobody We know you’re bald headed too” Within his own relationships, The D showed flashes of vulnerability. One such moment was “Homie Don’t Play Dat” from the Geto Boys smash album We Can’t Be Stopped. In the song, D worries about his friends trying to take his girl. Ni**as say I’m crazy When I say keep your comments about my lady They say “You’re lucky, I wish I had a girl like that!” I never smile cause I know where they heart is at All in front of my girl sayin’ how pretty she looks Game recognized, I wrote the book “Got […]

Some would argue that there’s lil’ to understand about Lil Wayne. Others have proved differently, keeping Lil Wayne around longer than many of his counterparts. In either case, Wayne is releasing a benchmark album in his life, and speaking on topics that will raise a few eyebrows. AllHipHop.com caught up with Weezie to clear up some of the buzz, and allow Wayne to straighten some things out as well. Check it, as Wayne sets the stage for his fourth album, The Carter, discusses some turmoil in his label and personal life, and even reveals a new label that dude’s started with WHO? Peep game. AllHipHop.com: Tell the people about the album. Why did you name it The Carter? What’s it all about? Why do they need to cop it? Lil Wayne: It’s my fourth solo album; first as a 21 year old. So it’s kinda like my first, as an official adult. I’ve been a man for quite a bit now. The reason I named it The Carter is because everybody knows I’m Lil Wayne. I ain’t dropping the “Lil” because I am a junior, so I can’t drop the [it]. Carter is my last name, so I kinda feel like since it’s my first solo album as an adult, you’re getting the Carter of me. Also, in the movie New Jack City, Nino Brown and the Cash Money Brothers had a building called the Carter, and they did their thing outta there and they had a product that they produced outta there that was very successful. So, I kinda feel like this is “The Carter”. Buy my product. Hopefully you’ll get addicted. AllHipHop.com: I’m sure you’ve been getting this question like crazy. At the end of the first single, “Bring it Back” with Mannie Fresh, you say, “I’m the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired”. Should we take that literally? Lil Wayne: I meant every word I said. So I feel like, you should take it how you want to take it. But I meant it. Yes, I’m the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired. But now I hear that he didn’t retire, so now I gotta step it up. AllHipHop.com: What do you base that rank on? What did Jay have that you have that gives you the ability to fill that roll? Lil Wayne: I have nothing that Jay has, because he’s him. I just felt like, he was the best at him and him as a person, was and is needed in Hip-Hop and needed the most. And I feel like, I’mma do me to the fullest and hopefully, “me” will be needed the most. AllHipHop.com: I see, I see. At Cash Money, you are definitely needed but there have been a lot of changes since the first platinum selling Hot Boys album. Artists have left and come back, been imprisoned, etc. How has that affected your position over there? Lil Wayne: The only way I can say that it affected me was that I’m getting more money. A lot more money (laughs). I’m getting a lot more shows. I’m doing a lot more things. It used to be just Juve [Juvenile], and Geezy [B.G.]. Then it used to be all of us. It never was just me. But now it’s always just me, so I’m getting a lot more money. That’s the only way I could say it affected me. I’m a lot more richer, I guess. ‘Cause I’m all about me. I mean, I’ll sacrifice my life on the line for the team, but first, I’m all about me. AllHipHop.com: So would you say the team is reassembled? I know there were some diss records between you and Juvenile after he left Cash Money. How are things now? Lil Wayne: Can I clear something up? AllHipHop.com: Sure, you can always clear things up… Lil Wayne: Lil Wayne never put out a diss record at Juve. Because if I would have it would have been the biggest record. I never put out sleepers, I’m sorry. A lot of people is like, “Ya’ll was dissin’.” I mean I heard he put out a record. But I never heard it, so I don’t even know if he put out a song at me. I heard he put a song out at me, but I didn’t never put no song at him. I probably said something in a song. But the song wasn’t for him. If I did it would’ve been bananas. I didn’t take the time to do that. But as far as the team goes, it is still Juvenile, the Big Tymers, me and whoever else on the label. But I mean, I still ride or die for the team and Turk and B.G. They are still a part of my team as a personal thing, you know what I’m sayin’. I still ride or die for them, also. I mean, that’s me. AllHipHop.com: You have your own team as well. Even though you’re young, you have a family. How does that affect your life as a rapper? Lil Wayne: I don’t let it do nothing to me as a rapper. I let it do something to me as a person in general. I know what type of person to be. I mean I have a five-year-old daughter, so she kinda know a little about what’s goin’ on. Therefore, I have to watch myself. And it’s not like I don’t want to, it’s that this is the way it has to go, because I have a daughter so that affects me as a rapper. AllHipHop.com: For a minute, you weren’t cursing on records. Not until you were 18. You’ve mentioned a couple times, the significance of you being 21 now, are their any changes or transitions you’re making now that you’re what you called, “an official adult”? Lil Wayne: I’m just makin’ better music: more deeper, more serious. A lot more people can relate. What I mean by that is when I […]

When most people think about Seattle, gourmet coffee and the birth of Grunge Rock often come to mind. Producer Jake One plans to change that thought process. Still relatively unknown, he has supplied various artists including Rasco, G-Unit and Rah Digga with beats. His passion for his craft is evident. Jake still holds down a regular nine to five job as a criminal court clerk to get the bills paid. With a combination of persistence and hard work, he is finally seeing the fruits of his labor. Jake sat down with AllHipHop.com to discuss his past, present and future. AllHipHop.com : How did you get into producing and how long have you been producing professionally? Jake One: I got into producing from just watching dudes from around my way make beats and seeing them make songs [that] got me inspired to do it. And you know, obviously just being a fan. I have probably been producing professionally since ‘97 or ‘98 when I sold my first beat. AllHipHop.com: Who did you sell your first beat to? Jake One: I sold a beat to this acid jazz group called The Sharpshooters. I had the only Hip-Hop song on their album so that was kind of cool. It was weird to see them break out the wax of something I just did, which was just crazy to me. AllHipHop.com: What was it like coming up in Seattle and the Hip-Hop scene there? Jake One: We have a lot of people doing Hip-Hop, and we’re not close to any major cities, so we are kinda on our own thing out here. I think Seattle is most influenced by the Bay area more than anything. When I first started doing Hip-Hop, E-40 and all that kind of stuff were running the city. People were still into Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Brand Nubian and what not, but it wasn’t competing with the Bay Area stuff. I like both of it so I kinda come from both sounds. AllHipHop.com: Go through the steps of how you go about making your beats. Do you lay your drums down first or do you lay down the music? Jake One: It kind of depends, A lot of the times, I do a dummy drum track, just having a kick and a snare going and I’ll go through some records, chop that up, play something on top of that, and then add another record to it. Sometimes I’ll just have something in my head and I’ll just play that out on the keyboard first. It can happen a bunch of different ways with my stuff. I come from records, just digging through old records and listening to them. AllHipHop.com: What’s your most prized record in your entire collection? Jake One: Umm there’s so many of them, but if I were to pick one record I would have to say Roy Ayers’ “He’s Coming.” It’s not even that rare of a record, but when I first started, It was the dopest record to me. The cover looked so hot! I probably have records that would sell for a lot more than that, but to me it has a lot of personal value. AllHipHop.com: What equipment did you start of with and what are you using now? Jake One: I started with a sampler called the Emax. It is made by the same people that made the SP1200, but it didn’t have a sequencer. I started with that, but now I moved on to the ASR-10. I pretty much use the ASR-10 for everything, along with a Motif and a MS2000. AllHipHop.com: So no MPC or specialty gear, like a Fender Rhodes? Jake One: You know what I had an MPC and it just wasn’t for me. I never really started on a drum machine. So you have you drum machine guys and you have your keyboard guys like me. So you kind of think about making beats in a different way. I was thinking of copping the new MPC-1000 to see if I can get into it. But it’s all about what you are doing in your head. AllHipHop.com: What producers inspired you to coming up? Jake One: I would say back in the day Premier and Pete Rock are my two biggest influences. When I was first coming up, I was just really trying to be them. Another guy around my way Vitamin D., he’s been really dope. I got to see that first hand, so it was like he was more influential in terms that dude is making heat and he is right here in Seattle. AllHipHop.com: Do you cater your beats specifically or do you let your beat tape do the work? Jake One: I kind of get into my moods. After I did that G-Unit thing people were asking me for records with that kind of sound. So I get into my mode and make a record that isn’t the same thing, but has the same feel. Sometimes I’ll make something and it will make me say dam so and so would sound hot on this. But it’s hard to get in touch with those people sometimes. But thankfully I am kind of advancing in the game, and making connects has gotten a little bit easier. AllHipHop.com: A lot of heads still don’t know your name in association to G-Unit. How did you doing the beat for “You Betta Ask Somebody” come about? Jake One: Um basically Fusion who is Skillz DJ was out on the road with them and I know Fusion. He had a beat tape of mine and gave it to G-Unit. They contacted him and a couple of weeks later. He called me and was like yeah, G-Unit wants the track. I didn’t’ really think anything of it because you hear so many things like that, so you start not to take it to heart until you see something. A month before the album comes out, they needed the pro-tools sessions so […]

Remember Consequence? Two years ago, that question might have probably yielded a puzzling look followed by a sudden recollection that might sound something like, “Oh yeah, I remember that kid, you talking about that cat they added to A Tribe Called Quest.” Yes, Consequence is “that cat” from A Tribe Called Quest’s 1996 album, Beats Rhymes & Life. As a member of ATCQ, Consequence dropped memorable verses on songs like “Phony Rappers,” “Jam,” and “Stressed Out,” but soon after, it seemed like Consequence fell off of the earth. Tribe’s next and purported final album came and went without even a mention of Consequence, seemingly confirming his ouster from the ranks of Hip-Hop. Then six years later, in late 2002, Con emerged back on the scene with the mixtape, The Cons Vol.1: All Sales Are Final: a collection of underground songs that shined light on Cons new relationship with a gifted rising producer named Kanye West. Well, fast forward two years and we all know how the story ended for West, but Consequence is the still crafting his fairy tale ending. With a collection of popular mixtape tracks and freestyles called Take Em To the Cleaners, Consequence is hustling on every possible level. A member of Kanye West’s Kon Man Music, Con is not only working on his debut release, Don’t Quite Your Day Job, but a novel of the same name. Having gotten a second breath in a game where even some the most talented don’t get a first breath, Consequence refuses to let this opportunity slip through his hands again. Just minutes before he was due in the studio with Hip-Hop violinist, Miri Bin-Ari, AllHipHop.com spoke with Con about dealing with this Hip-Hop game, his relationship with Kanye West, and how for him, there just isn’t anything else. AllHipHop.com: What’s really good wit you? Con: S**t, ya know, I got this new CD out and I’m [also] working on my commercial released album, a novel, touring – just working man. My album is called Don’t Quit Your Day Job, and I’m gone have a novel that’s gone be of the same title. AllHipHop.com: What is it like to be able to get a “second chance” in such a fickle game? Con: I’ve been blessed enough to be able to resurrect. I thank God for that, ‘cause not too many people get to debut and re-debut. I still have a lot more work to do, but I feel like that is an accomplishment in itself. ‘Cause when I came into the game with Tribe, not too many people from that era are still hot (laughs). So it is what it is. I’ve been kind of suspended in time for about eight years and I’ve learned a lot of lessons because of that. But it feels good as a mothaf***a to be back. It was a point where I thought I would never be doing this again. AllHipHop.com: What do you think Kanye has done for Hip-Hop? Con: The game is the game. It’s just like the NBA, it’s only as exciting as the players that play. The game needed a superstar and he’s like this year’s superstar. He’s having a breakout season. AllHipHop.com: I know that you were hustling in the mixtape circuit before people were really connecting you to Kanye, but what role did he play in your re-emergence? Con: We’ve been working for like a couple of years now, since about 2002. We have a give-and-take relationship: I give him advice, he gives me advice. We write together, we make music together. It’s been times were we haven’t agreed on everything and we’ve had to be honest with each other. But I think that honesty made our working relationship even better. AllHipHop.com: Will your album also have a Roc-A-Fella imprint on it? Con: Ummm, hmmmm, I, I mean (laughs). In all likelihood, maybe so. Most likely. You can put, “most likely,” (laughs). AllHipHop.com: What is the album gonna sound like? Who are you working with? Con: As far as production, I got Devo Springstein, he’s Kanye’s cousin, my man Baby Paul, my man Geology, 88 Keys, Scott Storch hopefully will do something, 9th Wonder, and my cousin (Q-Tip) may actually do something for me. We’re just in the beginning stages of the album though, only about six songs deep. AllHipHop.com: You got any features planned? Are there any cats you really want to work with? Con: Nope (laughs). Nah, you got to understand, with me being out of the game as long as I’ve been out the game, I’m real selfish with my album right now. I need to get my s**t off. I don’t know, I mean, I’ll f**k with the n*ggas [that] I already f**k with, but I’m not feeling outside dudes. Now there are dudes I could do something with, but I ain’t like, “Yo, I can’t close the album out without having Fabolous on it.” It ain’t like that for me. AllHipHop.com: Your verse from “Spaceships” was cold man, but how true was it, was it really like that? Con: Yeah, that’s the absolute truth. All the s**t I say in that verse is for real. I had to go get a job working security for Estee Lauder and s**t. One day I go to work and a muthaf***a comes in there like, “Yo, what up son? Yo son, I seen you last night son in a Busta Rhymes video.” I was like, “Nah, not me kid.” Then he was like, “N*gga that was you or you got a twin.” I was like, “Kid, I don’t really know what you talking about, you think I’d be here if I was in a f***ing video?” I couldn’t even be myself. AllHipHop.com: What prevented you from just saying, “Yeah, that was me?’ Con: I couldn’t let him know that Consequence was doing that. ‘Cause I didn’t give up. I still was determined to get back in the game. I was going to the studio after work […]

Columbus, Ohio’s RJD2 first earned a name for himself with 2002’s Dead Ringer, an engaging and creative instrumental hip-hop album that quickly garnered massive critical acclaim and put him in the upper echelon of the genre. After numerous side projects and remixes, he recently released Since We Last Spoke, a wildly eclectic album that focuses as much on his songwriting abilities as on his beat-making ones. Like his beats, RJ’s speech takes multiple ideas and lays them all down at once, with many more sentences started than finished. Allhiphop.com was one of the first media outlets to buzz in RJ, so we had to see how our boy was kicking. AllHipHop.com: When Dead Ringer came out, you said you wanted your next album to be more cohesive. Did this goal change while you were making Since We Last Spoke and if not, do you feel you’ve accomplished this? RJD2: Personally, I feel like it’s a cohesive piece, but it might be a little bit schizophrenic for the listener. If you were listen to the most quiet moment on the record and then the loudest song on the record, it might not make any sense, and I didn’t realize that going into the record. To me it’s cohesive because other than this one vocal performance, everything else I did, so for me this is kinda a selfish record, ya know? AllHipHop.com: Was it a conscious decision to put more of an emphasis on songwriting on this one? RJD2: It’s been my goal for a long time even with Dead Ringer, when I started on that record. When I started doing solo records, I kinda thought, well what is everybody else doing and what are peoples’ specialties and what aren’t people doing. So-and-so can do drums better than me, and so-and-so’s got the fresh loops. I can’t do any of these different things so I gotta find something that I can do. I feel like the biggest challenge was to approach things like a song and try to make a bunch of s**t happen in close to three and a half minutes. AllHipHop.com: It sounds like you’re making music based on your own perception of your limitations. RJD2: Yeah, but I want to get past the limitations. By nature, if you’re working on a sampler and you’re making beats and stuff, there are easy tendencies to fall into. One of those tendencies being just making things that’s repetitive and loopy, and that’s just the nature of making anything that’s sample-based. That’s why Rap music is repetitive. Because it’s easy to make it. A lot of Rock bands’ songs are in E because it’s the easier key to play in than another key. For me I try to meet those things head on. Early on I decided, the hardest challenge on a sampler would be to make it sound like it’s not a sampler. Approach it using the methodology and approaches that bands use and I was trying to do that on Dead Ringer, I just don’t think that I had my s**t together. AllHipHop.com: Did you have any sort of concept for the album going into it? RJD2: Initially, there was. But I abandoned it. I was thinking, what if I could try to make a record that was what I was hoping these Rock records by The Strokes and The White Stripes were gonna be? I like the Strokes a lot, but the rhythm section didn’t smack like I wanted it to. I wanted the album to be melodically inspired by those groups but the rhythm section inspired more by R&B. So I started on that and that’s why some of the first songs sound maybe a little bit rocky and then after a point, I just said, this is stupid. And there were times when I’d be just making s**t not like that, but fun and I was enjoying myself. So I abandoned the idea of having an agenda or a concept album. AllHipHop.com: Did Rock have as much of an effect on you growing up as Hip-Hop? RJD2: Yeah, it definitely did. Rock is my thing. I think the overall, general ethic behind my favorite Rock records and my favorite Hip-Hop records is exactly the same. It really, really makes sense to me from a musical standpoint why Rock played such a huge part as sample fodder in early Hip-Hop. There’s a part of me that kinda feels like I’m almost shooting for the same thing. There isn’t a lot of difference in my head. AllHipHop.com: Have you heard any songs that you’ve given other rappers that you wish you kept for yourself to experiment with more? RJD2: Nah, I’m glad that that s**t’s out there. I don’t want to be the guy that gives all of his second-rate s**t to the rappers. I’d like to have some decent s**t floating out there. Maybe 100% of that attention isn’t diverted directly back to me. I can live with that. For the small handful of people that know I did [Diverse’s] "Big Game," these are dumb, little 4-bar loops that are as least as difficult and important as any of the technical s### I pulled off on [this album]. AllHipHop.com: How much of the live show is improvised? RJD2: Oh, none of it. Little parts can change here and there but the segways from one portion to another can’t change because that s**t’s so hard to work out. It’s not the kind of set where it’s like, "Oh you got two minutes of an outro so just mix in the next beat whenever you want." Even the MPC s**t is set up in a manner that’s like, ok, well this beat, you’ve got eight bars of outro. And when it’s done, the beat stops. So if you don’t have the next record cued up and blended in, you’re f***ed. There’ll be silence. And you’ll be standing there, in front of a big crowd of people with no music playing. AllHipHop.com: […]

"Like a Prayer," Roc-A-Fella CEO Dame Dash pleaded to MTV brass as if it were 1989 and his artist’s video was Madonna’s religiously loaded and intensely controversial clip. But Kanye West is no Madonna and, according to Dash, the network offered only limited airplay to the second version of the rapper’s video for "Jesus Walks," the latest single off his debut, The College Dropout. Much like the Material Girl’s video, West’s own clip featured a burning cross and overt racial references. The uncompromising video also included scenes where a slave is beaten while in a Christ-like stance, cocaine packs in the trunk of car morph into doves when opened by police ("A drug dealer’s dream," West quipped.), and a Ku-Klux Klan member is shown carrying a cross. Nevertheless, Dash fought for its addition to video outlets because he said West believed it was important. West was already dissatisfied with the first video, which cost $600,000 to film, and decided to film a second, which, according to him, "if you never saw this video again you’ll remember that imagery." But then MTV told Dash the second video, which cost $500,000, would only air before 5 a.m. on any given day due to the controversial elements. Though West relented, he initially wanted to protest the decision. "I was going to fight it like the stance that Jay took [with MTV for "99 Problems"], but a lot of people like the first video," he told a group of journalists and music industry members gathered inside Tribeca Cinemas earlier this week for a screening of all three videos. "I feel like God would want me to get the message out as best as I can." In the first version of "Jesus Walks," West makes an attempt to please God by portraying himself as his conduit-the preacher. Dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and thin black tie, he delivers his lyrics in a rousing sermon at a church. Throughout the Michael Hausmen-directed clip, a drug dealer, an alcoholic, and a prostitute make their way to the House of Kanye to be saved. West polled the audience on all three videos and after the first version tallied the least votes, he sardonically told the crowd: "MTV added the one we least voted on." Of the Ku-Klux Klan scene in the second version, directed by Chris Milk, West described it as "a form of baptism." The Klansman carries a cross to the top of the mountain only to have God blow it down once it was lit on fire. West then explained the KKK member was so determined to express his hateful views that he grabbed the burning cross, but God still spared his life by making it rain. "I felt like the imagery on the second one, you’ll never forget it," West said. "I’m not trying to go for number one [on a countdown], I’m trying to go for number forever. "I’m trying to make something that’s impactful," he added. The third clip-"And the cheapest," joked Dash of the $50,000 video-was inspired by a vision West had while recuperating in Los Angeles from his October 2002 car accident. In his revelation, Jesus would actually walk with West as he traversed from his home, through the ‘hood, and to the house of a family member. The audience laughed at the Coodie and Chike-directed version as West is depicted attempting to sneak away from a napping Jesus. Presently, MTV will play the first version of "Jesus Walks," while the second one will be relegated to MTV2 and the third one will be available on MTV.com. While Dash appealed to the network-as well as the Roc’s parent company to greenlight budgets- on behalf of West, ultimately, he acknowledged, getting the rapper’s message out to the masses was the best decision. "Sometimes to a degree there’s a compromise," said Dash, who favored the third video. "And I’m a guy that never compromises. But when MTV says they’re going to play three videos for you, let’s sacrifice and compromise just a tad." This isn’t the first time the censors at MTV have taken note of West’s work. On his previous single, "All Falls Down," the network edited out the phrase "white man" when West raps: "Drug dealer buy Jordans/ crackhead buy crack/ and the white man get paid off of all of that." J. Ivy, a spoken word artist featured on West’s album who also made a cameo in the third video, felt MTV was being too cautious in the post-Superbowl era caused by Janet Jackson’s breast-baring halftime show. "Let real be real," he said frankly. "It’s all art, whether it’s spoken or whether it’s a visual. When you put an image out there that’s real and to the heart like that, it’s a shame that the industry is scared to show it sometimes." Ironically, West cut a jewelry store scene in the third video himself because he felt it fringed upon promoting his line of Jacob The Jeweler Jesus pendants. Added Dash on the MTV incidents: "The more records he sells the more power he will have. You know, Kanye is very important to the culture of hip-hop, because he shows it from a different angle and different perspective." Dash went on to explain next album West will be able to make all the videos he wants to about Jesus. Just as long as papa don’t preach.

He gave you Operation: DOOMsday and Vaudeville Villain, and now MF DOOM, along with the layered production of Madlib, gives you the long awaited collaboration album, Madvillainy. Awkward and beautiful; revealing and whimsical – Madvillainy was met with many classic reviews (including AllHipHop.com) and is again proof of why MF DOOM’s unique delivery, superb lyricism, and intricately woven storylines make him one of Hip-Hop’s most intriguing MC’s. A rhyme spitter that lurks in the shadows, only allowing the public to gaze upon him in disguise, MF DOOM not only decloaked, but unmasked himself for AllHipHop.com. Remember when Dorothy actually met the Wizard? Well, this time around, DOOM’s bigger than his image…see why. AllHipHop.com: Bring cats up to speed on the history of MF Doom? MF Doom: I’ve been rhyming ever since I was like 12 years old, man that’s been a while, like 83’, 84’. But it wasn’t until 8 years after that in like 90’ that I got into it professionally through MC Serch of 3rd Bass. When he got his Def Jam deal, he was like, “Yo, you wanna do somethin’” and from there he brought me under his wing to record that “Gas Face” joint (Rhyming under the name Zev Love X.) And also at that time me and my brother Subroc had a whole album’s worth of demos, but we was just doing it for fun we wouldn’t really trying to get a deal or nothing. And at that time there wasn’t really a lot of Hip-Hop albums out, the business aspect of Hip-Hop was really just starting to set off. But under Serch’s management, they got us a deal as KMD, so we knocked out the album and the rest is on some history type s**t. AllHipHop.com: There was a “dark” period after your brother passed where you quit rhyming? MFD: We didn’t have the avenue to put music out. For a time it got real hectic, with not having a deal n*ggas is broke so we didn’t even have no equipment. This st was the real dark days, but I always had a pen and a pad, just the matter of the recording was mad difficult. Around 93’ once we got off Elektra, and I lost my brother [Subroc], God bless, it was like, “No deal, fine.” I was still shopping. But it turned out that everybody turned they back on a n*gga, it was like I was black-balled out the game, I don’t know. Maybe it was because the game was changing, ‘cause we was on some experimental fun stuff like De La and Tribe was rocking, but then it started with that whole gangsta st, where you gotta be talking about some type of gat in order to catch peoples ear. It was a money thing, it seemed like that was thing that the companies wanted to capitalize on and I never started doing none of that s###, I stuck to my style. AllHipHop.com: So when did things turn around and turn Zeb Love X to MF DOOM? MFD: Then my man Bobbito heard some stuff I was doing, and he was like, “Yo let me put this out.” And I was trying to come with a new angle cause I didn’t wanna ride out the coat tails of KMD, so I’ll straight out like a new character, bang, to give the people something new for one, and at the same time gauge it to see like, “If I get good feedback on this then I know that these experimental like styles is worth doing as far as the people is concerned,” and it took off way more than I thought. So I kept repping it and Bob asked me to put out a whole album based on the reception to the singles, it wasn’t too much of a budget, but it was enough to live for a second and get the record done and st. So once Operation DOOMsday was done, by hook or crook, man like a lot of things was going on at the same time that could have prevented it from happening, but we all stuck together and helped each other out and finished the album, and that st right there was a milestone in my whole career, like that was one of the illest albums I’ve ever did. AllHipHop.com: A lot of cats feel that way. MFD: Word, that s**t, forget it. I still do songs from that s### on the road, and it steals the show every time. “Rhymes like Dimes,” it’s like, forget it, I couldn’t leave off the stage without playing that joint. AllHipHop.com: King Geodorah, Viktor Vaughn, DOOM, Zeb Love…You take the aliases mad serious. MFD: Oh, yeah, I take ‘em seriously, each of them need to be as distinct as possible. When I’m in Vic mode, I’m thinking from the perspective a 19 year-old cat. Now DOOM is the older cat. He’s a lot more reflective than Vic. See, I think a lot of the Hip Hop s**t is a little limited when it comes to MC’ing if you just stick to what you do everyday, it’s just different people talking about the same s### over and over. When I delve into a character like DOOM, he’s like a scientist, but he’s a b-boy too and he’s an older cat, there are just so many different angles I can play that at. So I’m not limited to my own regular, boring human existence. So I definitely dive into these characters even if I have to like detox myself. AllHipHop.com: What role does the mask play? MFD: The mask allows me to be the other character and when I’m in my real life I can just be me. I would hate to not be able to go to the grocery store without some cat being like, “Yo!” Also the mask allows me to get a clearer perspective of what the fans like, cause they will talk to me about it, ya know, they […]

AllHipHop.com: Ghostface has a new album out, and so does Masta Killa, but not everybody from Wu Tang putting out solo albums is going to match the success that you’re having. At what point do you ever feel like you need to reach back to help, or do you? Method Man: They don’t need help, cuz it’s like yo, whenever they call for the next Wu Tang album I’ll be there. My brothers don’t need help – grown men do grown things. You gotta be a man and stand on your own two feet. You don’t wanna f**kin’ carry nobody, cuz he’s useless to you, you know? He’s gonna get used to getting carried all the f**kin’ time and he won’t do nothing for himself. That was RZA’s plan for us in the first f**kin’ place – that’s why we got the deals that we got. It’s like ‘Now you got your solo s**t, now hopefully you don’t always gotta come to me for beats. Go out here and explore’. That’s all I did was grow as an artist, and I think I should have been judged on my merits as far as growing as an artist. [Critics] should have compared each album to each album and judge me on that, instead of thinking ‘he hasn’t done this in five years, and we’re gonna tear him apart – we’re gonna listen extra careful. I don’t give a f**k if it is bangin, I’m gonna say it ain’t.’ That type of s**t. AllHipHop.com: So it comes down to be unfairly criticized? Method Man: Unfairly criticized, exactly. I’m gonna say names anyway. I like Lil Flip. I like that song he got out. Lil Flip got four mics in The Source. Listen to his whole album, then listen to my s**t, and then tell me where the problem is occurring at. It’s because I’ve been in the game ten years, and they feel like ‘okay, we know this [guy]’ – no. I said that on my first f**kin’ album. You don’t know me, you don’t know my muthaf**kin style, so don’t ever act like you’ll get familiar enough with me to know exactly what I’m supposed to say out my mouth, or what beats I’m supposed to pick. Get the f**k outta here. Q: How would you define yourself? What is the path that you’re making? Method Man: I just do me. I’ll give you an example. When I read the first bad review I almost cried, and I haven’t cried since I was 11-years-old – because I knew I was unfairly judged. Anytime you start a g###### music review off with ‘The Right Guard pitchman’ or ‘Ever since he seen the glitz of Hollywood’ and all that s**t – you’re hating off top and you killed your credibility with me. Q: Do you blame any of it on the record company or promotions? Method Man: You can’t blame the record company because the record company is the people that brought you to the light in the first f**kin’ place. It’s what you do with it when you get there. Q: How about the marketing? Method Man: The marketing could be blamed… you have a lot of times, even in Def Jam, you walk up to Def Jam in certain peoples’ cubicles who work at the label, and they’ll have their favorite artists pinned up there. It’s like they’ll work [that artist’s] s**t even harder than they would yours, and I think it should all be fair. It’s a job, you do your f**kin’ job. It doesn’t matter how you feel about the artist. When me and Doc was on the Hard Knock Life tour, the publicist that was there, our Def Jam publicist, would come with different interview people and walk right by our dressing room for the Jay-Z’s and DMX’s, and I ain’t knockin’ [the artists] – go ahead, do that thang, but we’re here and we got something to say too. When I made a complaint about that, it just spread through the whole office – okay, now I’m the bad guy, now nobody really wanna f**k with Meth on the road. I go out by my f**kin’ self – it’s all gravy though, because I’m here. Q: Wu Tang is going to be performing together in Los Angeles. Are you going to join them? How is that going to feel? Method Man: Yeah. If I’m out there, yeah. I don’t know how it’s gonna feel for them, but for me it’s gonna be alright. I got off tour right before we started doing the sitcom, so I’m ready. Q: With all of you together, do you think you’re going to have that same old feeling? Method Man: I hope not, because I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a Wu Tang show, but it’s little chaotic. It’s hard to tell who’s rhyming sometimes. Our last tour was a whole different angle, and everybody came out and did their own set and then we all came together. If it’s like that it’s going to be a beautiful thing. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like you’re a lot more focused these days? Method Man: That’s so cliché and s**t, but you know what? That’s exactly what it is. I’m perfect 20/20 vision right now. Q: Have you learned anything? Method Man: Well, obviously I have – I got my own TV show that I’m executive producing, and as far as my albums go, yeah – I learned a whole hell of a lot man. I got a crash course in ‘they don’t think you’re hot no more’. AllHipHop.com: We heard that you fired the director from your show because you didn’t like the direction they were trying to take it. Method Man: I didn’t fire him, the studio did, because they saw the vision. They knew when they signed me and Redman on to those thirteen episodes, this was before they even seen an episode, they knew what they wanted […]

Even in the early days of Wu Tang’s glory, Method Man stood out to the masses as an emcee of distinction. His deep, raspy voice complimented his lyrical artillery, and he continuously brought a rugged intensity to the mic that fans hungered for. He earned the respect of his Hip-Hop peers, while still effortlessly managing to win over all the ladies with his charm. After several projects with Wu Tang, a collaboration with his partner in rhyme Redman, and a trilogy of solo joints, Meth is as hungry as ever – and he’s not about to let anyone step on his head with regard to his current wave of commercial success. Having survived Loud Records’ closing shop and Def Jam’s changing of the guards, Method Man stands tall in the aftermath of industry woes. His latest album, Tical 0: The Prequel, has been selling exceptionally well since its release in May, giving Meth good reason to thumb his nose at the critics who came out swinging in their reviews of the project. He has been reaching beyond his music into acting, both on television and the big screen, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. He took some time at Hot 97’s Summer Jam last week to speak with members of the press about anything and everything we wanted to know. [Note: Thank you to the press associates at Summer Jam ’04 who participated in this interview. Questions asked specifically by AllHipHop.com have AllHipHop.com.] Q: What kind of differences have you experienced at Def Jam since the changeover? Method Man: I was feeling that before the change. It’s just different. It’s always with Hip Hop artists that the more you promote yourself the more they pay attention to you. That’s basically what it is. Def Jam has always given me exactly what I needed. If I asked for it, I got it if it wasn’t too outrageous. It’s cool over there – I’m glad to be playing for the Yankees, but it also has its quirks. You gotta go out there and promote yourself, or else you’re not on the radar because there’s a lot of other artists over there. Q: Is there going to be another Red & Meth album soon? Method Man: Absolutely, this fall. Be sure to go out and get it in August – s**t is off the chain, it’s crazy. Q: In between the taping of your TV shows, have you made arrangements to make new music in the studio? Method Man: Not yet – I’m gonna let this album ride first, then go back and work on my next joint. Honestly, I was filming all week on the show and going back and forth to Baltimore on the weekends to do The Wire. Y’all should look out for me on that too. There’s got to be some balance to it too. I ain’t mad at comedy, but I don’t like doing comedy, because people get it twisted. AllHipHop.com: How many episodes do you have on The Wire? Q: Method Man: I’m on two episodes – not much in the first, a lot in the second. It’s a recurring role. Q: Are they gonna kill you off like they did on Oz? Method Man: I don’t think so. I did an excellent job I believe, at least that’s what they told me. I got to work with dude that plays McNulty and the Black dude that works with him. They had me in the interrogation room, I had to fake tears and all that. Q: Lil Rodney Cee from the Funky Four said that when Hip Hop became an industry, that’s when we lost it. What do you feel about Hip Hop becoming an industry? Method Man: Well, I think first of all, dude from the Funky Four is a little soft if he can’t get his foot back in the door – and I love the Funky Four Plus One More. They should be glad that it’s industrialized now, because when the right dudes get up in there, they make such a f**kin’ impact that we don’t need the Grammy’s to televise the rap category – because now the ‘rap’ category is an ‘album of the year’, so it gets televised. It’s a double-edged sword, because there’s a lot of dudes out there that are underground or ‘backpack rap’ or whatever you want to call it that ain’t bein’ heard. It’s for them to step up their s**t and come up out the underground and bring it to the surface. AllHipHop.com: As far as the underground right now, who do you like that really hasn’t got a lot of attention? Method Man: M.O.P. don’t get a lot of attention and they should, UGK don’t get a lot of attention and they should. There’s a lot of dudes out there – you got those street corner dudes that’s just nice with theirs – they be on those smack mixtape magazine joints – that s**t be out there. But what they have to do is… those dudes is good for battling but they can’t make songs. AllHipHop.com: Are there any of the mixtape guys that you like right now? Method Man: I don’t really listen to mixtapes. I been watching a lot of movies, perfecting my craft. Q: What about the situation with the movie Soul Plane? Anything on the rise with that? Method Man: I’m not salty with Jessy Terrero, who was the director, but I am salty at the people at MGM for the simple fact that if that was a movie by David Cronenberg or the big name directors, it never would have got [bootlegged] like that, and if it did they would have put a stop to it and cracked down on it. That movie was out two months before it even f**king dropped, and that’s a shame, and they did nothing to stop it and they knew. Jesse got the word and he went to them, and they didn’t do […]