AllHipHop represents for those who can recite a verse from beginning to end, those who quote lyrics to explain serious life situations, and those who have an arsenal of punch-line snaps in their raps. But AllHipHop has just as much love for the producer. From eight bar loops, to live instrumentation, to the Triton, we love true beat makers and trunk shakers. So we continue our series of interviews with the greatest, most innovative producers in Hip-Hop history. In depth interviews looking back, peering forward, and always looking for the perfect beat. Diamond is the MC who made your favorite rapper today rhyme better and inspired favorite producer. With his early work on projects by Fat Joe, Brand Nubian, Show & A.G., and his must-have debut album, Diamond D was a link in the chain from the birth of Hip-Hop to the future. Diamond’s style has always been centered around funk loops and floor-shaking percussion. The sound is simple, but it reeks of true Hip-Hop then, now, and always. Like others, Diamond carries the professionalism including a Grammy, and multi-platinum status. But unlike most, Diamond D is deeply rooted in the streets, and carries a credibility with Hip-Hop that few can even get close to. In an ultra-rare interview, AllHipHop and Diamond chop it up. We get brutally honest on our end, and he follows with his. We discuss the old albums, the new album, the legends, and even the unlikely punks who jumped up to get beat down. Ladies and gents…the self-proclaimed and undisputed best producer on the mic. AllHipHop.com: You’ve only released three albums so to speak, over twelve years. On a day to day basis these days, what is your work ethic like? Diamond D: I don’t know, I try to make at least four or five beats a day. Sometimes, some beats I might leave up on my drum machine for two or three days. I might feel it’s missing something. Some beats come quick. AllHipHop.com: Obviously only a few ever see the light or get used. What do you do with the others? Diamond D: Some [of the] beats I make, I have no intention on sellin’. I just make and I just make it for myself. It depends. AllHipHop.com: Last year you worked with Akrobatik. I thought that it was great that you still get involved with the underground. What motivates you and allows you to keep it live on all levels? Diamond D: I just try to keep those lines open. I don’t want nobody to think that they need twenty or thirty grand to work with me. If we vibe and we connect on that level, then it’s all good. AllHipHop.com: On your new record, Grown Man Talk, I know it’s self-released. But it’s nice to see you’re not afraid to rock an obvious sample or two. But with the official releases, how has sampling laws changed your style in things? Diamond D: Wow, well, I mean, it’s like a double-edged sword. I’ve been able to live comfortably for the last thirteen-fourteen years. There was a period when sampling was frowned upon at one time. Everybody was keyboard crazy. What goes around, comes around. Now you’ve got guys like Just Blaze, Kanye West, they always biggin’ me up in they articles, and you know, now sampling has come back full circle and that’s a plus. But you know, I also make beats where I use no samples. I try to think of myself on a level of Dr. Dre productionwise. He samples, and plays instruments. So I try to do both – although, I know the majority of the music in my career is a heavy sample base. But I’m not close-minded where I wouldn’t use a keyboard at all – if only to enhance to what the samples are doing. AllHipHop.com: What instruments do you play, besides the keyboard? Diamond D: Drums, flute. AllHipHop.com: Did you learn drums as a young guy or later on? Diamond D: Younger guy. I learned in High School. AllHipHop.com: I’ve always wanted to know about Fat Joe. His debut which you largely did, is a timeless record. I still respect that hell out of Joe, and I think he respects Hip-Hop more than most. But even though he’s part of the D.I.T.C. team, how you feel about his “new sound” which kind of goes against the Diggin’ sound? Diamond D: I’m proud of Joe. I’ve seen Joe from his humble beginnings til’ now. Well, well damn. I want to be truthful with this too. I don’t have anything to say. Me and Joe are still cool. I’m supposed to be working on this Terror Squad album that’s coming out. As far as him making the production decisions that he makes, he’s his own man. Of course you got to change with the times. So, I’m not mad at him. I don’t know what else to say. AllHipHop.com: One thing that’s great about you is, you’re usually with cats who came before you, Jazzy Jay and 45 King to name two. You really pay respect to those who paved the way. What have those two guys done for you? Diamond D: Both of them were on and both of them were hot before me. I respect Mark [the 45 King] because back in ’92 when Mark was doing stuff for Madonna and all these big name people – back then Russell Simmons had a producers’ management and it was called RPM, Rush Producers Management. There was a lady over there named Fran, she works for Bad Boy now. Back then, Fran was trying to court 45 King so she could manage him. And Mark, she felt my sh*t so strongly back then that he actually told Fran, “You can manage me, but you gotta pick up this new guy named Diamond too.” Which she did. One of my first jobs I did under RUSH was, remember that song, “Tom’s Diner?” I did the remix for that […]

Sampling is back, but who are we really cheering on? Some popular producers may have pocketed a way to get the radio and video markets to play sample-based tracks. But before its new resurgence, Kon and Amir mastered the art and appreciation for classic records with classic sampleable elements, and doesn’t lift them at all? The pair may very well be New York’s answer to Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow. Even that, may be an understatement. Amir is a man you cannot deny, if you know his real work. As the A&R for Fat Beats, Amir decides if your record will be in the crates for all to see when nearly the majority of Hip-Hop’s doers buy their records every week. Kon, has produced stellar works to the likes of Ed O.G., Mr. Lif, and beyond. But as the saying goes…it ain’t even bout that! Together, Kon & Amir are sound restoration masters. These guys and their buzzworthy series of mixes have sewed together rare and dusty classics that have defined Hip-Hop’s conventions for what is dope. Kon & Amir have also spotlighted records in their mixes that while never used, are just begging for the next great butcher to rehash. With a deep appreciation for the “dig”, Kon & Amir and AllHipHop discuss the logistics of Manhattan’s vinyl underbelly, we discuss the new, official debut mixtape installment in the Uncle Junior series, and we get down right dirty with dusty dialogue. What the funk! AllHipHop.com: I loved the Djinji Brown debut installment of the Uncle Junior Friday Night mix. How is your mix different, and reflective progression of his? Amir: The way it’s and progression and the way I look at ours, is, ours is more like a party vibe. But it’s a party vibe that’s for grown folks. A lot of people that are into Neo-Soul, and Soul, and stuff that reminds them of a Marvin Gaye kinda vibe whateva, partying when they were young – that’s kinda what we’re doing. The music on there is a little more up-tempo. It’s pretty much the same kinda music as real Disco and real Funk. With Djinji’s joint, it’d be like he’d play some Hip-Hop, then play some Afro-Beat. It was a progression of a lot of different kinds of music. We wanted to stay consistent in what we were doing and create a party vibe. AllHipHop.com: Did you pick the records yourself, or because of the Friday Night history, were you working within perimeters? Kon: No, no. We picked what we wanted. In fact, we didn’t even pick them to put them together with each other. We just picked songs. I ended up mixing them to the degree where I thought they gelled together. AllHipHop.com: Is that usually the formula? Kon: I’m the DJ. I produce as well. We usually just put our collections together and brainstorm. I get records everyday. Anything I think might make it on to the On Track genre, I just put in that pile, and let it build. AllHipHop.com: Your On Track mixes are very grab bag-esque. You don’t know what you’re gonna get because you don’t list. That’s so Hip-Hop, but it’s gotta be hard marketing that. Kon: The first On Track was done more or less of, “Hey, let’s make a tape of our favorite breaks.” One, Two, and part of Three were done in the theme of “F**k tempo, we’re just gonna put this together on producer’s set. Here’s a Beatnuts section. Here’s a Pete Rock section.” That was for people who were ignorant to what was going on, on the tape. Gradually, when we got to Four and Five, I wanted to do it more [based] on tempo. So it would have a more fluid feel of a mix. I like the later stuff. But yeah, it’s not like we can put our faces on there and sell. We’re still, I guess you’d say, underground. AllHipHop.com: Is there a high point in your career as a duo? Kon: Yeah, I would say right now. The Uncle Junior stuff. So far, so good. AllHipHop.com: This Rare Groove culture is growing so quickly and so sincerely. But I think it’s growing by West Coast people like Shadow, Peanut Butter Wolf, Egon, and Chemist. How is this culture of digging in New York different? Amir: It’s not that much different. When Shadow and all them dudes was doing stuff, we actually started at the same time. ‘Cuz we first started doing our mix CD in like ’97, and my partner and I have always been into Breaks. I think a lot of the West Coast culture learned a lot from the East coast guys. For instance, when you would go to a lot of different record shows in New York in the early 90’s, I used to see Lord Finesse, and Pete Rock, and all them. I’m sure Shadow and all them used to come out here and record shop as well. You used to see those guys out there record shoppin’, and you’d pick up the vibe of what was going on. A lot of East coast collectors are super super collectors. They like to collect Disco to Afro-Beat to rare Hip-Hop. It seems like a lot of the West coast collectors are more into the Funk. But that’s the difference right now. AllHipHop.com: Every day it seems like there’s ten new diggers out there. I lost all my spots to the new cats. You guys are top-notch at this. How does the island of Manhattan and the greater New York area still get good records and crazy finds? Amir: It’s real hard to go digging right now. Especially if I get lazy and I just want to go to the Sound Library and I don’t want to go digging. There’s so many collectors. I feel like ten year old kids are digging for records right now. The cats like me and older, the advatnge we have is we still got a […]

Is Cam going to paint the world purple like he did with the color pink? If the Harlemite’s past influence is any indication that would be a resounding affirmative. With Purple Haze on deck, Cam revealed what’s really good in his life these days. AllHipHop.com: Cam can you speak on the new album and what you’re bringing to the table this time? Cam: The new album entitled Purple Haze is coming out this summer; I’ve been doing it for the past six, seven, eight months. I always grow every album and I talk about current events. Fifty percent of the album is about what’s going on right now. But as far as me growing, I’m around nice artists, Jim, JR, Juelz, and being around them is keeping me on my toes. It’s like tough love. Every album I grow. AllHipHop.com: What about the theme of this album? It seems like there is a story line. Cam: What we are basically doing is a short film to coincide with the album. So when you hear the album with out even seeing the video, I want you to have a visual just by listening to it. You don’t even have to see the movie because when you hear it, its like a book. That’s why I put a more theme to it. I put skits in between so that they keep you in track with each song so that you understand. AllHipHop.com: How would you say you have grown as an artist? Cam: If you do five albums and don’t grow you are just stupid. You are going to end up growing. At the end of the day, I don’t want to be in the game five or six years and still be a regular artist. I went from artist to CEO to selling cologne, to liquor, to clothing deals, to nightclubs, whatever I could get in to. You got to take advantage of the music. Even though I have longevity, who says I want to do this forever? AllHipHop.com: Can you speak on the new liquor you just came out with? What made you do that? Cam: Honestly, with the liquor, they came at us with the deal and I told Jimmy to take care of it while I was doing the music thing. We always said that if we got liquor we would name it "Sizzurp" for the simple fact that people are familiar with that name in the south because of the real Sizzurp. At the end of the day when you look at the numbers it wouldn’t make sense not to do it. I would be stupid to turn it down. AllHipHop.com: What’s this thing with you and purple? Cam: To tell you the truth all of that is coincidental. It doesn’t matter if I come out with the star spangled banner, it will be fly. AllHipHop.com: How much of your style is you? How much is it your stylist? Cam: I had no stylist that came here with me today. I’m Cam before the day start. Don’t get me wrong my girl Monica [his clothing stylist] knows what I like. No stylist can make me who I am, but Monica does help me out. AllHipHop.com: Are you still trying to patent your own shade of pink? Cam: We were working with this dude on trying to get our own color. I was mad on not patenting the color pink before putting it into the market place. If I could do it I’m going to try to do it. AllHipHop.com: Do ya’ll have a clothing line coming out? Cam: We talked to a couple of different people but at the end of the day, for me, the money has to make sense. Obviously people are going to follow what I do. AllHipHop.com: On that same tip of people who follow what you do, it seems like you have cults of kids, especially on the net. Do you know about these dudes? Cam: I don’t know every situation you are talking about, but I appreciate all the love. I’m not running a cult like David Koresh or nothing, but I guess people can relate to stuff I am saying. As long as they are putting their energy in a positive direction, I appreciate it. AllHipHop.com: So, those not in the Cam cult, what’s the difference between Purple City, The Taliban, and all the sub-Diplomats? Cam: We all from Harlem. Purple City is from 158th and Broadway, Taliban is from 145th and Broadway, Diplomats we just everywhere. It’s just a couple of guys. We all used to hang out on 145th and Broadway and it’s like 40 of us, we all had our little blocks, but not only that, like I said we had entrepreneurs. They had their own entertainment companies. It’s just a bunch of different crews hooking up with each other so we can all promote our stuff together. You know after we got stuff popping we branched off a little. Shiest got Purple City coming out, my man Luch got the Taliban Records. AllHipHop.com: Who is in Dip Set right now? Cam: Me, Jim Jones, Juelz, and Freeky Zeeky originally started the Diplomats. Now we got JR Rider, and Hell Rell comes out of jail Aug. 13th. AllHipHop.com: What happened with Freeky Zeeky? Cam: I don’t want to go into it but he will be home 2006. AllHipHop.com: Is Juelz coming out any time soon? Cam: Right now what we are doing is trying to put together the roster. Right know he has about 80 songs and he just finished building his own studio. We’re trying get Jim out there a little bit before Juelz. So we’re looking at the Jim in August and Juelz in October, then start the year off fresh with J.R. AllHipHop.com: Now that Jay-Z is sort of moving along, aside from DJ Clue and Kanye too, you are the only other artist on The Roc to go platinum. Where do you think […]

While most artist decide to dedicate 16 bars to Jacob’s pricey jewels or whatever reality lies in the street, Common reflects a more socially aware side of Hip-Hop.  Drawing from a more organic blend and shunning conformity, The Chicago native has carved his own niche – even if it causes critical chatter.  Obviously, being different (and very good) draws attention, but Com Sense has always managed to handle pressure. Chicago is now the new haven to harvest Hip-Hop talent, but even Hip-Hop’s present Golden Boy Kanye West puts his cocky swagger on hold for the hometown hero. We have a candid conversation with this enigmatic emcee on Ice Cube to Erykah. AllHipHop.com:  How did you get started rhyming? Common:  Actually, I used to go to Cincinnati with my cousin and these cats from his neighborhood. I was into Hip-Hop just for the break dancing, and just the way Hip-Hop was as a culture. It was so masculine and so raw and I was feeling that element of music. I always loved entertainment and the spot light; even if I was shy I still wanted to be a star. Hip-Hop was my vehicle, my way, and my vessel for me to become a star. And through Ajile, my cousin, I got into Hip-Hop. We started writing our first raps in 7th grade. That was my inspiration that sparked up my first rap, and through he travels I just pursued my dreams and I am here promoting the real hip hop movement. AllHipHop.com: You are such a well-rounded artist. Even Kanye told us that you are one of he people he admired, because you were "free."  He named Andre 3000, dead prez, and you.  Common: That is a big complement; Kanye built his own highway and continued on his highway of his own individuality. He really brought something pure and innocent into this music light. University people can really get into Kanye cause he enjoyable. You can tell the student of music and students of the game, and he a student of music and a student of hip-hop. When you find yourself, you going be like nobody else, cause God only created one you and if you can show that to the world. Your individuality is going to shine and its going to set its own lane. I believe in creating my own lane. I’m definitely going to get into my own lane if I gotta go on the shoulder and come back. I’m gonna take my way because I never felt good being somebody else. I mean I admire other people, I mean I always wanted to rap as good as KRS One, or Rakim, or Nas or whoever but I ain’t never want to be that person and I don’t want to move like them. If I did, I grew out of that stage. That was a stage when you kinda young.A lot of artist ain’t find their individuality. AllHipHop.com:  You have been in the game for a while so you kinda matured. On AllHipHop you and Cube’s battle was regarded as one of the top 10 list for beefs. Common: Yeah it was fun thing to do, but at the same time I was aware cause I didn’t know where we was gonna take it. In my heart, I felt like this was Hip-Hop so I’m gonna retaliate on a verbal level, but I don’t know who ignorant cats can get. But I felt to us like I had my guys to a point where they was just going to stand strong and not start nothing. But we didn’t know at the time that [beef in] Hip-Hop was escalating. Things escalated and got into physical confrontations and stuff, so it was a good battle cause it stayed on wax. I released that song and didn’t even put it on the album.  AllHipHop.com:  How do you get in tune with your music now? A battle is easy, what’s the draw now? Common: For me now, I’ve been drawing on the fact that I love life and I love Hip-Hop, and I really love Hip-Hop. I go to the things that I really love about Hip-Hop and the things that I don’t like, so I go to what did inspire me and what inspires me, and I go to the fact that I’ve been loving to do this and express myself for so long. I don’t let anything completely contaminate those feelings that I got for Hip-Hop. When it does, when I get real industry influenced, I shake it away and go into my own world so I just listen to music to inspire me. Whether it be Marvin Gaye, Kanye, Nas or John Coldtrain, I listen to music that inspires me. I get inspired by life. The creator give us all different gifts, different gifts that we can work with and develop and I believe that this definitely was a gift I needed to nurture and develop. I am still nurturing and that drives me a lot and I know that I got a mission and I know that I got things to say to enlighten myself and to enlighten my love ones and to enlighten the world. I am striving to do that, striving to just make good music that cats can enjoy.  Those things drive me and I know that Hip-Hop is a vehicle for me to support my family, but I can’t live off of the love. AllHipHop.com:  You and Erykah, y’all not engaged no more? Common:  No. AHH:  The song that you were on with Kanye and Malik Yusef "Would You Like to Ride" each of you were talking about 3 females. Was that female on your verse Erykah? Common:  Nah, a lot of people consider that. The irony of that whole thing was when I did that song which was about 2 years ago, I was going to see Erykah and we was in a relationship like, in a love relationship. It definitely wasn’t geared towards her. If you […]

Young Buck has done more dirt in his tumultuous 21 years than, than most will endure in their entire life. Hell, one might think he’d be labeled “Old Steed” rather than Young Buck based on life experience. Regardless, as one of the celebrated factions in G-Unit’s lyrical militia, he’s the next bullet out the chamber to blast you with more of the patented gangsta we’ve come to expect from the crew that made bulletproof fashion vogue. Young Buck’s upcoming album, Straight Outta Cashville, is dropping soon and the Nashville native tries to kill any preconceived notions about his hometown. With dues paid, Buck is ready to reap the rewards as he tells AllHipHop why he deserves to be let in. AllHipHop.com: Ok, let’s start with the name, you’re 23 years old. How long are you gonna be a young buck? Young Buck: Till my dying day, I’m always gonna be young at heart. That’s why tattooed it on my chest over my heart. AllHipHop.com: When you get older are you gonna drop the young and just be Buck? YB: Then I’ll be Uncle Buck. Or you can call me Daddy Buck. (laughs) AllHipHop.com: Are you daddy buck right now? You have any kids? YB: Yeah I’m daddy buck, I have a little girl. AllHipHop.com: How does being a father affect your career? YB: With her being a little girl, she brings out a side of me I didn’t even know I had; ya know that ole sensitive side. AllHipHop.com: Thugs and gangstas aren’t supposed to be sensitive. So do you consider yourself a thug or a gangsta? YB: I consider myself as someone who handles his business, if that’s what a thug and a gangsta is, then it is what it is. I just get down. AllHipHop.com: To be so young you have been getting down for a while. Do you think it’s good for someone to start in this industry at such a young age. YB: Hell yeah the sooner, the better. AllHipHop.com: It hasn’t been easy on you personally or professionally. YB: No, I wouldn’t recommend the lifestyle I lived on nobody. It was far from f##### “Silver Spoons” or anything like that. I come from nothing. My father was a crack fiend and my mother was a single parent and she did whatever she could to provide for. Me and her two kids, plus she got custody of her sister’s kids because her sister was a crack fiend too. My house was always full from the beginning so there really wasn’t a childhood for Young Buck, it’s like you’re the man of the situation from the very beginning, so that’s where the whole drug selling thang and all that extra s### came from. AllHipHop.com: Knowing what drugs did to your family, why is that the way you chose to take care of your family? YB: That was the quickest way that I could take care of my family. You can work a 9-5 but you gotta wait a week for a paycheck. It only takes 24 hours for someone to starve to death, ya heard? AllHipHop.com: Do you regret having done it? YB: Naw, I don’t regret nothing, I don’t regret one piece of crack I sold, I don’t regret one n#### I shot at, and I damn sure don’t regret the m#### f#####’ police I ran from. I feel like the s### you go thru in life makes you who you are. AllHipHop.com: So who are you from having gone through all that? YB: I’m David Brown aka Young Buck. All the s### I done been through makes up who I am, all of that before the age of 21. Buck is about the situation. A lot of people are like damn that n#### was shot and everything. People think that s### is gangsta, that s### ain’t. AllHipHop.com: Is that what it takes to get street credibility these days is to get shot? YB: I think maybe people think to get credibility you gotta get shot but that ain’t the s###. AllHipHop.com: That’s because they’ve never been shot. YB: I think what’s gangsta is being able to overcome that, handling it from that situation and then coming back and taking care of your business, that’s gangsta. AllHipHop.com: Did you jump right back into the same thing that got you shot once you recovered? YB: Hell naw, I realized that that s### wasn’t really for me. It wasn’t like it was a life threatening shot or anything I only got shot in the arm and the leg, but the way that the s### happened caused me to say f### that I’m about to really get off into this music thing and see what’s up. AllHipHop.com: So that’s when you hooked up with Cash Money. Do you think if you had’ve stayed with CM as opposed to rolling with G-Unit that people would still label you as gangsta or would you be more of a party type artist? YB: People get that from my real life experiences, I’m not new to these streets or the street life period. I’m young I’m only 23 years old but in my life I’ve done some s### and I’ve maneuvered like a 29, 30 year old would all before I was even 21. The gangsta side was there even when I was with Cash Money, no matter what I’m gonna get that thug outlook because of the s### that I’ve been through so I’m always gonna be looked at like that. I’m not no n#### who ever had a job or nothing like that, I really sold drugs, I really did this s### and got down how I say so in a sense it’s thug or gangsta or whatever but I don’t like to label myself like that. I let you be the judge of calling me what you want. I’m just a n#### who handled his business. AllHipHop.com: What are you about if you’re not about the gangsta stuff? AllHipHop.com: I’m […]

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

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

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

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

J-Kwon, the St. Louis born rapper who burst onto the scene a few months ago with his hit “Tipsy,” acts a lot like someone who doesn’t have a set course or destination. The Arista/So So Def artist maintains that only God knows the true path to what will transpire from his rap career. Obviously, based on the hear-and-now, he seems to be on the path to success. Still he seems rather uneasy and secretive about where he is heading and what he wants to do next. Perhaps his reluctance is due to his highly unstable past and the 17-year-old is just like other teens – caught up in the ebb and flow of reality. AllHipHop.com: How has growing up poor in St Louis helped you become who you are today in the rap game, how has it shaped you? J-Kwon: I don’t think it really mattered where I’m from, I could be from Italy. Its all about your life and your mentality. The streets don’t make you, the streets just follow you, they just make you stronger. It doesn’t matter if I was from the boon docks. AllHipHop.com: Now when did you start rhyming? J-Kwon: I started at 12. That’s when I decided I wanted to do this the rest of my life. AllHipHop.com: When you were out there struggling out on the streets, who did you admire the most and who did you look to as a role model? J-Kwon: I didn’t have no role models. I’m pretty sure if I had one they’d pull me in. I’m my own role model. AllHipHop.com: You didn’t model yourself after anybody at all? J-Kwon: I modeled myself after Jay-Z a little bit cause I liked his style, but its not really like that, because I’m on the streets I can’t call it how he going about it because he a made man. We living in two different realities. I’m wishing on God, he’s wishing his album sales, so that’s all I had. AllHipHop.com: How has your record, Hood Hop, impacted your life physically and emotionally over the past few months? J-Kwon: It is me. It is my slogan as you can say. That’s what I represent. I’m just thinking about my next album. I got versatility. It’s helped me get through, yah I got money, I’m trying to get more. It really ain’t all that, my kids cool, my momma cool, I’m straight, and the people handling business with me straight. But what that mean ya know what I’m saying, we trying to sell records and that ain’t about the money, if I end up with nothing ain’t nothing missing because I never had it. AllHipHop.com: How much creative control did you have over the record? J-Kwon: I had a lot, I had all of it. If you open up the notes and look in the credits I wrote every song, everything. AllHipHop.com: But I understand, as we’ve seen in the past, Jermaine Dupri likes to guide a lot of his younger artists to a point? Did he take you under his wing at all? J-Kwon: I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not talking, I love JD. JD is a great marketer, put that in there. AllHipHop.com: Did the success of your single and your album surprise you? J-Kwon: Am I surprised? I’m surprised my single hit number one. AllHipHop.com: What contribution do you feel you’re making to hip hop as a whole? J-Kwon: I don’t know yet. Its too early for me to decide, plus its not for me to decide. You gotta go around with a tally sheet and go around and ask kids and people, ‘yo is J Kwon hot?’, okay what do you think you’d change about the new s###, and whatever they change that’s what it is. You can’t judge yourself. I can’t look in the mirror and say I’m cute, you can’t judge yourself. I’d be straight hypocritical if I judged myself. Only God can judge you. AllHipHop.com: Where were you one year ago at this time? J-Kwon: I was in the studio. I was starting recording Hood Hop. AllHipHop.com: Do you see yourself having a long career in hip hop or do you plan on using this as a stepping stone into some other field of the entertainment industry? J-Kwon: I don’t know yet. Like I said once again, I cannot predict my life. I can’t even try that. I’m doing me, that’s what I’m doing, I’m doing me. AllHipHop.com: What message would you give to all the people or kids out there trying to make it as a rapper? J-Kwon: Don’t do this s###. Stay in school. Do what you believe in. If you believe in being a rapper, just do you, have fun. Just stay focused, I don’t want anyone getting the wrong impression, just stay focused. AllHipHop.com: I noticed Daz Dillinger in your video for “Tipsy”, whats you’re relationship with Daz, and how has he shown you some rules to the game? J-Kwon: I’m not gonna comment on that. I’m just gonna say me and Daz’s relationship is good. He in the new video too. Me and Daz are cool, me and Daz have a relationship. AllHipHop.com: What are your plans for the rest of the year? J-Kwon: The plans for the rest of the year is, get as much attention as I can, cause as much trouble as I can, and sell records.

Tapemasters Inc.: Flooding the Masses By Paine One of the reasons Kid Capri abandoned the mixtape formula he helped revolutionized was the exclusive. Back in the early nineties, if you leaked a track or played a certain cut, you might find Eric B. or Kool G Rap pounding on your door at three in the morning. Today, the rules have changed. It was not a coincidence that DJ Clue was a staple in Roc-A-Fella’s original seed planters. He was able to test new material on the streets, hence perfecting albums like Hard Knock Life, the Reason, and Come Home With Me. For better or worse, the exclusive sells the mix these days. Whoever gets its first, gets the dollar in most instances. It’s a hard margin to break. But when an unknown crew comes out of left field with exclusive joints from M.O.P., Cam’ron, Mobb Deep, and others, people start wondering. Who are these cats? Where are they from? And how in the hell are they getting exclusives before the established DJ’s we all expect? On top of that, Kanye West and Just Blaze among others are stepping in and hosting these tapes. MTV and The Source have spotlighted the mixes, we’re here to show you the DJ’s. We don’t really Sammy the Bull’s style, but we’ve conducted an exclusive, revealing interview with the elusive Tapemasters Inc. crew. You can hear first hand why people are wondering, and draw your own conclusions as how the operation really works. Just like the Tapemasters crew, we got exclusives all day long. AllHipHop.com: First of all, so little is known about Tapemasters Inc. Give the people and the competition a little something something. Tapemasters Inc.: We came out with this CD two months ago hosted by Cam’ron and Kanye West. It was the first one we did [called] “The Last Shall Be First.” I’m in Florida right now, I’m in Miami. [My partners] are in New York. I’m down here, I do college radio and sh*t like that, that’s how I got up in the game. I worked at Universal Records last year. I’m twenty-one, still a full-time college student. I got involved in the game like maybe two years ago just trying to get involved on a grassroots level, which led up to college radio, then led up to meeting people and going back and forth to New York all the time building relationships and knowing people as friends and not just business sh*t. This summer I got close with [my partners], and we kinda came together and we’re all big fans of mixtapes, but we wanted to come up with idea and step up the current game with improvements, put ourselves on the map, and shut everybody down. We all work in tandem. That’s basically how it is. We moved over 6,000 units for “The Last Shall be First.” So many of the songs on [the first mix], at the time, nobody had them. We shocked everybody with the exclusives [and] having Kanye and Cam’ron host it. Nobody would ever expect those two to host together on a DJ’s first mixtape. After that, we did this tape called “Red Heat,” hosted by Just Blaze, which was a big success. AllHipHop.com: I know that your hosts aren’t the only major players in your mix. What about some behind the scenes action? Tapemasters Inc.: We have a lot of sponsors. We receive sponsorship from many major players in the urban market. The first was sponsored by LRG clothing, that’s our family right there. We’ve had Converse, Akademiks, [and others ]. Red Heat was LRG’s number one promotional tool for the Magic Convention in Las Vegas. It made a lot of noise out there. We just did the “Brooklyn Queens Expressway” tape. It was supposed to be hosted by Mobb Deep and M.O.P. But Mobb Deep was hosting a lot of tapes at the time, so we got Capone-N-Noreaga. Jim Jones and Cam’ron got a new liquor coming out, Sizzurp, and they’re sponsoring it too. It’s about making all the other DJ’s nervous. “What’s Tapemasters Inc. gonna do? Who are they gonna have hosting?” There’s definitely people who know [who we are], but I’m not trying to get fame off of it by mentioning [my name]. We’re just trying to change the game a bit and have everybody on their toes. AllHipHop.com: You guys popped up so recently. If you put yourself in the shoes of established DJ’s, because you have inside sources, isn’t that kind of a monopoly on the scene, and isn’t that dangerous? Tapemasters Inc.: Yeah, it kind of is. We’re using that to our advantage. These DJ’s are inquiring and trying to get exclusives, but meanwhile the record companies are happy because the music is getting out there. As long as it gets out there, it’s all good. A lot of the time we’re fortunate enough to get exclusives before any other DJ which is the key to our success, so they can’t f*ck with us. And if you wanna say it’s a monopoly, and it could be a monopoly in a sense – we use that to our advantage all the time. Frankly, [it’s] what people want to hear and it’s the hottest sh*t on the streets right now. The big DJ’s right now are Kay Slay, Big Mike, and Clue. All those tapes are the ones with the exclusives on them. Not The Essence of DJ’ing, all the crazy mixes and that. It’s just exclusives and new music and sh*t. AllHipHop.com: How have other DJ’s responded to this? Have you faced any animosity yet? Tapemasters Inc.: We encounter them all the time. Because other DJ’s are coming up to the labels’ offices and trying to get songs, they’re asking, “Tapemasters Inc., who the f*ck are these guys? They get this joint. Why don’t we get it” A lot of DJ’s are nervous because they’re not getting these songs. They’re not able to. If they are, they’re not getting […]

AllHipHop.com: What you think about Hip-Hop in general not taking any risks? BD: I mean trends is dope, but it got to be something that really means something. Like who really cares, I was just telling a homie the other day: I got a lot of respect for B.I.G., always had a lot of respect for B.I.G. he’s a good dude. B.I.G. brought us ‘Fasache.” After a year had died out, the people that was buying [it], was dudes and females that wanted to the clubs and flash and show chicks that they had a $600 sweater on and the year was all over. But realize that $600 for a sweater is a lot of money. That was a lot of money. I’ve been making money all my life and I’ve never paid $600 for a sweater, that’s not me. It ain’t going to happen. For one, I don’t want to look like you. For two, I got these kids at the house, what the f**k I look like with a $600 sweater on that sh*t? Don’t make sense. We continue to do it our way, we do it for the street. Not only the street but we do it for other people who don’t know how it is in the street. The street don’t go nowhere, my father was there, God bless him, my brothers, god bless them, all the other homies god bless them, whatever, I was there, I just try to prevent my kid form going there but it’s still going to be there. The street will never die. AllHipHop.com: What made you guys tour with Pharaoh Monche and Scratch? BD: You ever seen Pharaoh rock? Pharaoh rocks, gets down. Scratch, you ever seen Scratch rock? We just want to make good music. And tour with people that really down for it, that go out there and give it their all, even if their all ain’t banging, you still give it your all. Like don’t come on the stage, you not coming on the stage all dolled up and sh*t, this is Hip-Hop, and this is the bottom, and that’s how you got to bring it, you got to give all your effort. And I know that Scratch and Pharaoh do that. So that’s why we ride with them. AllHipHop.com: What about the Indie route, do you guys think you’ll take that route? BD: It can be Turkey and Cheese Records, it doesn’t even matter. As long as I can get to where I need it to be, and I need it to be global. It don’t make a difference. We can work something out right now. I got the burner at the crib, we go out and burn a thousand copies, ship them s**ts out, whatever, as long as it can get there. AllHipHop.com: How’s Teflon [crew member]? BD: Tuff chilling, I was listening to some joints, like two, three days ago. AllHipHop.com: He coming out again? BD: Yeah. He f**king with Black ass Def Jam, of course. AllHipHop.com: What do you mean? BD: I don’t know. That’s wack ass Def Jam. Tef been signed to Def Jam for like two years though. And Tef got smokers though, smokers, see they don’t know Def Jam personally. I ain’t afraid to say it, I don’t give a f**k who’s who. I’ll stomp a n***a the f**k out. So like them fa**ots at Def Jam, them is not, like we’re not friends at all. Like I don’t want to have no meeting with none of ya’ll none of that, don’t act like we cool none of that, let’s just act, a s#### is a s####. F**ker you don’t like me, and I don’t like you, that’s it. I don’t try to stop. AllHipHop.com: How come you didn’t like them? BD: You know what, and this is any label that’s like this, it’s not just them, but you take Onyx, Boss, everybody over there, even Ja Rule now, major millions, now you can’t pick up the phone fool. Cause their s**t ain’t smoking no more, I don’t like that s**t. This wavy bastard should be stabbed. Stabbed, I’m talking about in the back and ripped down to their ass. All of them, I don’t care who the f**k it is. Any disloyal n***a I don’t f**k with them. So that’s why I don’t like them. AllHipHop.com: How are things with the Roc? BD: Roc-A-Fella is good; I mean you know the history on them. They know how to go get it, they put your music where it need to be, that’s all I can ask them for. I don’t ask for nothing else. AllHipHop.com: What’s been the hold up? BD: Man what else? You got to be comfortable. You got to really be so comfortable that it’s so comfortable with talking about the deal. So it doesn’t really get comfortable with it. Like as of right now, there’s no other artist on Roc-A-Fella on the M.O.P. album. AllHipHop.com: Not even that Jay-Z joint [“Throw It In The Air”]? BD: No, well that’s it. But that s**t probably won’t make the album. Hopefully. I didn’t like the song. Not because Jay is on it, just because of the tempo on the song, I didn’t like the song. They good at what they do, and like every time I get the question, “So, how’s Roc-A-Fella treating you?” We don’t know, we haven’t put an album out yet, don’t ask me that. As a person, I think Dame is a good business man you can’t front on him. He got out and did it. Biggs, real good dude, Jada, homie from back in the day, always good to work with him. But as far as the M.O.P. album coming out on Roc-A-Fella, I don’t know yet. AllHipHop.com: I guess some people have heard Fame saying things on mixtapes. BD: Like what? AllHipHop.com: On the song lyrics about your album not coming out yet… BD: Oh yeah, but if we was mad, we’d […]

The Mash Out Posse, aka M.O.P., is one of the few hip-hop products that continues to live up to the rugged ideology that embodied the 90’s. But while the M.O.P. grinded for years, plowing through the underground, they didn’t meet the mainstream face-to-face until “Ante Up,” from their Warriors CD. Now, M.O.P. will take their audio street fight to heavy metal with an album backed by rock band Shiner Massive. The Brownsville team has always given way to unstoppable energy and aggression, which often manifests itself in mass mosh pits. During a rehearsal, M.O.P.’s Billy Danz steps speaks on the rock album, (listen to 2 new tracks, Raise Hell and Conquerors), that elusive Roc album and how they plan to rock the industry off its high horse. AllHipHop.com: What made ya’ll do a rock album? Billy Danz: Well that’s us. We make a lot of aggressive music. We did a joint a few years back called, “Handle Ur Business” a lot of screaming guitars in it. People took a liking to it and we wasn’t uncomfortable with it. And it’s a sound like [that], we don’t reach, if it don’t work – it just don’t work. So this is something that worked for us. So we put a couple joints together see how it happened, if people don’t catch on to it, I’ll still like it, I’mma still listen to it. AllHipHop.com: For the EP ‘Handle Ur Business,” that was more of an in the studio type of guitar right that wasn’t live? BD: Yeah, well no, on a couple of them joints we had a live guitar, I think it was ‘The Way of The World’. We had live guitar on that joint. But most of it was trinity. It came out banging though, I’m really proud of it. AllHipHop.com: As far as the group can you talk about how you got together? What’s their name? BD: You know what; I don’t even know how it happened. They came out of the blue, Laze [group manager] hooked up with them. They name, I don’t even know the name of the group, I just know they’re dope as hell. I’ve really sat down with them and see how the way they play with each other. That’s it, you got to be dope to be playing with another dude, another dude on drums, three guitars, I mean they smoking. We smoking. AllHipHop.com: [They are rehearsing] How’s the show going? BD: We have fun. Just another regular M.O.P. show and they tight with they s**t. It’s like working on the turntable, we play anyway. Them dudes is just dope, it’s a pleasure to work with them, whoever the f**k they is. But they dope. AllHipHop.com: Do you guys think this will broaden your market with this project? BD: Maybe it would, but our concern is not that. Our concern is just, we try to let people know how it is, where we from and why we make music the way we make music. So it’s real obvious with the rap and roll stuff that we doing, that’s really not going down in the Brownsville, up in the Bronx. And it’s something that works for them, the guitars and the loud drums and all of that that works for them and we still comfortable with doing our thing. AllHipHop.com: Do you think people in Brownsville will go cop the album or will they feel it even if they buy the bootleg? BD: Of course we yelling and screaming all on it, cursing all on it, violent, everything is still the same. And that’s what people here listen to, where we from. AllHipHop.com: So this was something that ya’ll also did in the mean time with the album coming up… BD: Yeah. Well, we need to keep something in your face. Like when you think about the greats, all the dudes that really helped us, helped Hip-Hop to get to where it is right now, people don’t even speak about them, people forgot about them. And you still put them on the mic today, with the newest, most sellinest dudes and they’ll blow them off. So some people hurt themselves by not being out there. We ain’t them kind of people, we ain’t out there out there like that, we ain’t in every club, at every party and all of that, but as far as just music goes, we got to keep it going.

Right now, one could argue that Trina is leading the pack of female rappers, if only by default. But, regardless of what side you might debate for, the fact is, the Miami native is on her grind and focused on making things pop even though she is now a seasoned connoisseur of getting all eyes firmly focused on her. As a visual example, just peer into the pages of some of your favorite rap magazines. Sonically, she is expanding her repertoire as well with her latest, The Glamourest Life (that’s not a typo). The lead single “I’m Leaving You,” has gotten those ears listening like her 1998 Trick Daddy collaboration “Nann N***a.” See what tricks Trina has in story this year. AllHipHop.com: Talk about the album, what kind of album is The Glamourest Life? Trina: The album is really great, it is very versatile. It’s different. It’s actually like the upgraded version of [Da Baddest B*tch]. It’s just my form of expression. Everything I feel like saying, however I wanted to say it. I didn’t go as far to worry about what other people was going to think. Whether it was too explicit, whether it was too raw. With [Diamond Princess], I got a little twisted with worrying about what people kind of expect and want to see a certain side of you and see this and see that. But really they don’t care they want you to just be who you are. Either they going to like it, love it, or they not going to listen to it at all. That’s basically my whole agenda and persona about it. I got a classy side and I also got that extra crunchy raw sexual side as well. You can have two different classes of people. Everybody don’t understand Chanel, Roberto Cavalli and [people who] still can only afford Nike and Reebok. A lot of my fans is like, “You know what, you really kind of left us so far behind because you elevated so fast.” I wanted to make it equal for everybody. You got the classy sophisticated girls but you still got the ghetto girls that’s going to come to the shows and be real wild and stuff. AllHipHop.Com: What about people that are coming up after you. Do you feel those people will take away from what you’re doing because you really are kind of leading these days? Trina: I just think that people that’s coming up after I don’t think that [they] could ever take away from you. I think it’s what you make of it. You have to stay up on your game. The whole industry is competitive. Everything is based on competition and then comparing you to this person. Me myself personally I don’t mind being compared to somebody if they’re a classic, if it’s somebody that has a good rep to follow. Like Kim to me, I think she paved the way for a lot of female rappers to come in and feel free to say whatever they want to say and not really hold back. As far as people that’s coming up behind me, I send love or wish them the best. I just think you have to have the originality about yourself and how you do it. AllHipHop.Com: Why do people seem to want to keep beef going on between the females like you and that [Miami rapper] Jacki-O? Trina: Actually, I’ve been in this business for 6 years and I’ve never had beef with anybody and I think anybody new comes into the game they always compare them to somebody else. I think there’s going to be beef. [We] are from the same city. They want to compare [us] which is cool. I don’t care and I don’t get involved in that. That’s really not my repertoire and I’m too fly for that. I don’t have time to do that. AllHipHop.Com: What about you on the business side, I know you wanna get more into acting? Trina: I’m working on a sitcom right now, it’s called With Friends like These, it’s basically a comedy. It’s like a beauty salon and it’s just about the day in a life of a girl, like what a girl goes through as far as just sitting up hanging around her girls – the drama, the gossip, girl’s man sleeping with other girls. It’s like a whole bunch of girly life but it’s really funny and it’s really interesting and that’s something that we’re working on. I have some movie offers that just came in. I didn’t really have time to sit down and go over the scripts yet. I’ll grab on something that I really, really like. I did this one DVD movie down in Miami, and it’s out now in Blockbuster. I was the lead person in the movie but it was a small movie and I did it just to gain the experience of it and to see what it would be like. It’s a lot of things that I’m doing now that I’m looking forward to coming up within this year and the future. AllHipHop.Com: Now I know this is sensitive subject with a lady, but we heard that you have a new diet and fitness regiment, a lot of people want to know, “Why?” Trina: For myself, it wasn’t more so what people was saying oh she gained weight. I had to really say you know what, I want to wear this when I perform. I want to look like this. I know I can walk on the stage and have my whole stomach and body out because I did it before and know if you get on stage and you feel kind of uncomfortable you don’t want to do that. I definitely would not walk on the stage if you got a stomach that’s hanging over some low jeans, that’s very not sexy so you definitely need to cover that up. I just think about self-confidence and just taking time […]

While Dylan and Fred made names for themselves as memorable TV characters with their antics on the finale of Making the Band 2, Ness remained focused on his craft in hopes of becoming just as memorable, but in the music business. Because of his focus, he, along with Babs, was selected by P.Diddy to remain with Bad Boy, albeit on a probationary basis. “All I wanted was a chance,” Ness told AllHipHop.com of his being retained. But some band mates believed Ness was the recipient of unwarranted favoritism. “Diddy love Ness,” Sara remarked during one episode. He contends, however, it was his work ethic, coupled with his talent, which earned him the respect of the Bad Boy CEO. With numerous shots of the Philly-bred rapper in the studio, it appeared he worked harder than Donovan McNabb trying to find an open receiver in the NFC Championship Game. Here, Ness sets the record straight and talks about the show, Bad Boy Records and what’s next. AllHipHop.com: So what’s been going on with you since the show has ended? Ness: Just working on my album, trying to get Diddy to put out [my solo] album. It’s nothing official, right now everything’s just been words. In the midst of all that, I just dropped a mixtape called Rhyme or Crime: The Leak Vol. 1 Elliot Ness Presents. I jumped on a remix with Carl Thomas—the “Make It Alright” remix. They about to drop the single “My ‘Hood.” The album’s called Nessessary. So I got a lot of things cookin’, man. In between that I take care of my daughter. I just got my plate full. AllHipHop.com: On the last show, Diddy talked about keeping you and Babs, but on a probationary basis. Is that still the case or has it since been lifted? Ness: Just yesterday he hollered at me and told me that we’re just gonna start putting songs out there. Basically, Diddy gave me a chance; he gave me a shot. Whether you sink or fail is up to you. I think I got the material to sail off into the sunset. I don’t think that I’ve been putting mediocre stuff together. AllHipHop.com: I saw a DVD that had a bunch of Philly cats rhyming on it and you were on there going hard. Have you had a problem with the show where people see you as a character, rather than as someone who has skills? Ness: From the jump, people saw it as a TV show, they didn’t actually respect the fact that it was [the] actual recording [of an album] and s**t. Now I’m just trying to get all the votes up in my favor. I’m definitely a real Hip-Hop artist. I love doing it. I would be doing it even it I wasn’t signed to Bad Boy. I just love creating and coming out with hot music. All you can do it keep coming with that music and after a while they ain’t gonna be able to deny it. It’s the same thing Jigga said, “Come into the game they try to play you/ drop a couple of hits look how they wave to you.” So everybody’s time is coming. AllHipHop.com: You mentioned how MTV focused on the drama, we’ve already talked with Dylan and Fred and they both complained about the editing of the show— Ness: Man, I really…MTV is a TV show. [But] most of what you saw is real, so I can’t really be mad or complain about how they edit it. They chop up the situations and the comments about certain situations and try to stick it and paste it with another situation, which made it seem like we were talking about each other when we wasn’t. But in reality, these were the things that we said and these are the things that we did. Whether they showed a lot of the good parts or a lot of the bad parts, we signed a contract and really it was up to MTV. AllHipHop.com: What’s your take on Fred and his phone call in the last episode? Ness: I really didn’t feel no way about it. Fred talked like that all the time. That wasn’t the first time I heard Fred say that. Or that wasn’t the first time Fred told them he didn’t want to be in the group—to Bad Boy or to Puffy’s face. Fred, Chopper, they always go around saying they don’t want to be in the group no more, they tired of it, so it wasn’t new to me. AllHipHop.com: Have you heard Dylan’s song “Dear Diddy”? Ness: Nah, I’m not really focused on the negativity and all that with Dylan and Fred. Diddy gave us all the opportunity and it was up to us whether or not if we wanted to ride or fall off. Dylan is a grown man and chose to do what he wanted to do. He knew he had trouble with the system and you know you suppose to stay on point. Then again, I heard he left it up to Bad Boy to handle all his business, which is wrong because Bad Boy ain’t on probation he was. You can’t put your life and you future in the hands of another person. It was kinda like both sides tried to point the finger, but it was just a lack of communication. Dylan wasn’t communicating with his people, he left it up to Bad Boy. Bad Boy was telling Dylan everything was good and he was able to leave the city and perform with us. Then when he came back everything was screwed up. AllHipHop.com: I wanted to ask you about your experience from season to season. I believe it was during the second season that you were caught up fighting and then this past season, as Fred told us, you were the quiet one. Ness: Anybody who watched Making the Band they could see the growth. I’m talking about everybody. You seen other people get […]

More than four years after their last album, Goodie M.O.B. is back, and this time they’re out to prove a point. Cee-Lo or no Cee-Lo, Goodie M.O.B. (Khujo, T-Mo, and Big Gipp) is still standing, still relevant and out to show why One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show. In the 90’s, Goodie M.O.B. blessed the hip hop community with two unquestionably exceptional albums in Soul Food and Still Standing. But with an early ninety’s hip hop community still largely segregated by regions, dialects, and production taste, the superlative consistency and overall dopeness of Goodie’s work went largely underappreciated by hip hop communities outside the Dirty. But as with anything great, neighboring hip hop fans began to take notice and the Goodie—along with brethrens Outkast—found themselves truly becoming usher’s of Southern hip hop’s soul and dexterity. Unlike Outkast, whose propensity to speak of social ills with wit and clarity came more with maturation, Goodie stepped into the game with a depth that placed them above mere rhymers. But with any group (See The Beatles or Tribe Called Quest) it’s not long before the public begins to love one member above the rest and when Goodie’s second album, Still Standing hit stores in 98’, it became clear to some Goodie fans that the short, stocky guy with the high-pitched voice had a special talent. More and more Cee-Lo became the public face of Goodie M.O.B., despite the irrefutable talents of Big Gipp, Khujo, and T-Mo. Then when fans and critics alike were put off by 1999’s World Party, the typical tensions of a music group ballooned into irreconcilable proportions. A devastating car accident involving member Khujo, the defection of Cee-Lo from their ranks, and being dropped by their label left Goodie M.O.B. seemingly in the burial ground along side many of hip hop’s forgotten finest. Big Gipp hollered at Allhiphop.com to drop some science on Goodie’s relationship with Cee-Lo and the state of the Union in the ol’ U.S.A. AllHipHop.com: Everybody is familiar with Goodie Mob being pretty aware of the things going on in their community and in the country, what do you think about this upcoming presidential election? Big Gipp: It’s not really what I think about it, it’s about what we gone do. I don’t think neither one of the men really represents us. The close thing I could say is the dude, the Kerry guy. I think I’d try anybody besides Bush right now. First of all, Bush got into the White House on some farce s**t. Second of all, his family is an oil company. His father was one of the people who helped put Saddam Hussein in power, his family also put their oil company’s in control of saving the oil out of Iraq, it’s political dawg. So to a certain extent our war against Irag is really a family business that the country has been put in the middle of. So right now I think the biggest thing that we have to do is to get Bush out of office. At the end of the day Bush is a punk, he’s a punk cause anybody who could just go to war, and ain’t never been to war before…ya know, soldiers don’t go to war over money and he’s not a soldier, so at the end of the day I can’t really be led by a dude who never experienced combat himself. We deal with that whole situation on the album on a song called “Shorty Wanna be A Gangsta,” just asking people what’s really gangsta? Is it the folks that’s out here in these streets that will shoot you over this crack rock, or is it the muthaf**ka that’ll sit up in a house and send bombs and s**t and kill your whole family, then take your oil and then tell everybody you a terrorist…what’s really gangsta? Or these other folks out here like Enron who can steal 300 and 400 million dollars and the folks still walking around here out of jail. It ain’t gangsta when you got a gun, it’s gangsta when you can destroy a persons whole way of life. AllHipHop.com: In reference to getting Bush out of office, could the minority community’s even unite to mount such and effort? Big Gipp: I think so, but what you gotta understand is that the next person who gets in office might not be there long. It’s almost time for another assignation. AllHipHop.com: Wow. Big Gipp: That’s as real as I can give you, that the climate is setting up for another assignation because of the way the cards are falling right now. The Bush family is gone have to do something to stay in power, it’s something that’s gone have to happen to somebody that they feel is powerful enough to take them out of their position. AllHipHop.com: Are you gonna vote? Big Gipp: Yeah, probably for that Kerry guy. Democrats to me just a lot safer then them republicans any day folk. Them what I call crackers man, them crackers folk. Them crackers don’t give a damn about none of us folk. Them crackers about keeping they people and they family in power and f**k black folk, f**k Hispanics and f**k all us. And ya know, white folks is becoming the minority, so the only thing they got is they power, they money, and they f**king property. But at the end of the day in man power, oh they short as macaroni man. AllHipHop.com: What would Big Gipp do you were elected president? Big Gipp: [Long pause] Uhh, If I was elected president, man first of all…the only thing I would change about the United States is that I would give everybody education for free man. Then it wouldn’t be nobody’s excuse why they couldn’t make it. To a certain degree I can’t fault a dude that came up around nothing and had nobody really to teach them. I got sympathy for a person who comes up and may get caught up […]

Performance Poetry can be a lot like Stand-Up Comedy: Great for an evening out, not what you really want to hear in your CD player. In the mainstream, it’s worked. Kanye’s appearance on "Def Poetry" was priceless promotion for his album. One of the only memorable elements of Nastradamus, may’ve been the intro and outro from Jessica Care Moore. But the underground isn’t so lucky. Acts like Anticon and Scienz of Life have struggled to grow acceptance for almost a decade. Critics and fans alike hold a red flag that accuses many efforts as “pretentious” off the bat. One person that seems to have found that difficult balance between MC and poet is Illogic. Ohio’s own golden child is releasing his third (and most exciting) studio album. Illogic and AllHipHop decided to chop it up – on poetry, the difficulties in making an emotional album, and we even got on dude’s case for not pressing the vinyl. Without albums like Celestial Clockwork, and artists like Illogic, groups like The Last Poets would never see their foundation applied in Grassroots Hip-Hop. Now, imagine that! AllHipHop: In your mind, how is Celestial Clockwork a progression from your other two albums? Illogic: I think it’s a lot more personal, and it really shows my growth as an artist. To do an album that’s as consistent as Celestial [Clockwork] is, in comparison to my other albums, it’s a lot of personal experiences on there. A lot of real personal, introspective stories of things that really happened in my life. It’s a good release for me and it’s really good to see that people are enjoying it and taking it for what it is and not expecting some grandeous thing. AllHipHop: When I listened to the album the first time, there was a sense of urgency in it. Like, ‘Now or Never’, is that the case in your overall attitude? Illogic: Not really a sense of urgency. Originally, Celestial Clockwork was supposed to be the follow-up to Unforseen Shadows. But we did Got Lyrics? And some other things happened in the meantime. It was more, we really took our time with it to get it right. We made sure all the production matched the concepts. We really wanted to take our time and not rush it. I wanted it to have as much power as it could possibly have. It was one of things where we had to let it age a little bit and wait a little time to drop it to the world, and now’s the right time. AllHipHop: “Hate in a Puddle” was the joint that really made a big impression for you. It’s just so potent. How did that gem come about? Illogic: At the time, I was in college. I was dealing with a lot of things – trying to learn who I was as a person, trying to find myself. In doing that, I went to Cincinnati for school, which is where my biological father lived – who I had no relationship with whatsoever. I didn’t really meet him til’ I was thirteen years old. So I went there to build a relationship with him, which didn’t happen. That kinda got me really down. Plus, I had a girlfriend at the time that was acting crazy. I was at a loss. I needed some kind of therapy – and writing is my therapy. One day on the walk home from Dose One’s [of Anticon] house, it was raining. I stopped and I saw my reflection in a puddle. I saw at on the balcony of my dorm room in the rain and wrote the song. It was one of those things that I needed to do to get out of a rut that I was stuck in. AllHipHop: Out of curiosity, why don’t you press your albums on vinyl? Illogic: Well, Got Lyrics? Was pressed on vinyl. It sold out. I think we maybe only pressed up two thousand copies. And we sold out. One, being that we’re a self-funded label, vinyl is extremely expensive. Celestial Clockwork is gonna be on vinyl though. We really want to get everything on vinyl. That’s an area we need to touch. AllHipHop: How do you find balance between Hip-Hop and spoken word? Illogic: Personally, I don’t try to find a balance. Because I think they’re one and the same. The difference is the beat aspect of it, of course. But the words is really the power of anything. You can tell an MC is really dope as an MC when they take his beats away and his words are still powerful. That’s how I always have looked at Hip-Hop and viewed myself as an artist. AllHipHop: What does Ohio offer to Hip-Hop. What’s an Ohio B-Boy like? Illogic: I think the benefits is that we’re in the middle of New York and the West Coast. We have all of that convergence on us. The drive in us to become more than what we see on television, or [hear] from anywhere. I think it’s given people like us in Columbus a drive to become more what they think we are. I think a good example of that is RJD2, Blueprint, and I coming from Columbus. We just have a nice view of the entire spectrum of Hip-Hop. It gives a good balance to build on. It’s encouraged here, to be yourself and not sound like this dude or that dude. AllHipHop: The album’s out. What’s next? Where do you go from here? Illogic: Well, right now we’re trying to get some different tours and things together. Nothing’s solidified. I’ll be doing a week with the Eyedea & Abilities Tour down the East Coast. That’s gonna be the second week of May. Everything else is being still worked out. I’ll be all over the country in the next six months. AllHipHop: How hard is it to be fulltime? Illogic: It is hard. Every tour is a dice roll. You hope people show up. You […]

On the final episode of MTV’s “Making The Band 2.” the world saw Fred just quit, refusing to return from his Florida home to venture back to New York. In a profanity-laced blaze of glory, the Miami-native cursed out P.Diddy’s handlers (and Da Band’s manager) in a way that truly oozed exasperation and frustration. Things are often different they they seem, especially in reality TV, he maintains. Through the power of editing, he feels as if his (and the entire band’s) image has been distorted unfairly. Nevertheless, the appeal of the show cannot be denied and its popularity translated into Da Band’s “Too Hot For TV” moving roughly 800,000 units strong. Much of that success grew into emptiness to Fred, who was known for his gritty rhymes and animated stage presence. In an exclusive with Allhiphop.com, Fred speaks on his former band mates, why he feels the show was ended, and the possibility of life after Bad Boy. AllHipHop.com: Tell the world your side of the story with Puff breaking up Da Band. Fred: Basically, it was nothing. It is what it is. It’s a show and they did what they had to do. The reason for me leaving is I got my own issues, you know what I’m saying? Everybody in Da Band had somebody that took care of them. I ain’t never came up like that, dog. I’m came up a different kind of way, man. All the issues them motherf**kers have, you know what I’m saying? It’s like, it’s all love and you grow fond of a motherf**ker like they are your brother or sister, but in reality, it’s not. Therefore, why am I suffering for these problems? That’s how I felt. I’m through with that s**t, man. On top of that, the money wasn’t right. Ni**as should be halfway millionaires, but everybody’s getting f**ked. Everybody in the f**king band had problems. The only problem I had was being away from my family. AllHipHop.com: Rumor has it, the first contract you signed was for something like $8,000? Fred: Man, that s**t was crazy. We signed contracts before we met Puff. So either way it goes, we was f**ked. We wound up having to get [Diddy’s manager] Phil Robinson [as Da Band’s manager], which was kind of a bad idea and kind of a good idea. In the long run, it hurt us, but at the time we needed him. That kept a lot of money from coming our way. Shows were getting canceled and all types of s**t. I’m the type of ni**a that feels like if I got to get it like that, I’d rather get it on the street. I don’t need to be hustlin’ for another motherf**ker who’s getting way more money than I am off a project. But it’s all love. A ni**a ain’t got no hate. What more can he do for me but take from me? I’m focused on my own project. I got a clothing line called “Eddie Kane.” The name of my group is “Hardheadz.” My diapers and pacifier game is about to hit the streets in a minute. I’m fittin’ to do it different. A ni**a can’t hold me down. I’m rich. I didn’t make more than $65,000 with Bad Boy, but I’m rich. Not with money, just my face. My face can generate money at any time. I got a couple of deals on the table now, but I’m looking for the major label deal. I got this album fittin’ to come out called Life’s What You Make It. The streets need to know about that. AllHipHop.com: What did the whole Bad Boy experience teach you about the game and the music industry? Fred: I learned a lot from Puff. He didn’t teach us nothing, but we watched from the outside. You’ve got some CEOs who’ll teach you about the game and want to see you do good. Then you got some ni**as that’s only about business. We didn’t even have a budget; you know what I’m saying? We don’t know what was spent. We didn’t do too much spending because MTV paid for everything. They was paying Puff rent for us staying in the house and they was making money off the show. Money was generating everywhere for them. I feel them, though, because when you look at something like that, it’s an opportunity. [Puff] looked at it like there was more money to be made. He didn’t know us from a hole in the wall. In the beginning when he took a crack at it, I could see he was pimpin’ us the first season. He got off hard. The second season, I could still see he was doing it, but he was looking out for ni**as. His whole intention was to show the world that he brought these ni**as from the hood, did something for them, and he didn’t have to. That’s the whole thing they are trying to get the world to believe. If your heart was really like that, around the second season, you would have made sure ni**as was straight. Due to the success we brought them, I would have made sure Da Band was halfway millionaires. You would think he would have the audacity to at least look out for a motherf**ker, but it’s all good. He brought me where I’m at. And he can’t take that from me. That’s something God took me through. I had to go through that to get here. AllHipHop.com: Talk about some of the portrayals of the band members and if all of what we saw on TV was actually true. Fred: How could you tell the world you are going to kick out somebody like me? They convinced the world that Dylan is a rebel, Babs starts s**t, Chopper is immature, and they tried to convince the world that Ness was quiet, but due to the second season, we all know that he has another side. But I respect that; I respect all […]

When Dylan of Bad Boy’s Da Band signed on the dotted line, he made history to become the first dancehall artist signed to the monolithic label. Now, he might make history as the first to depart as he is slated to drop a mixtape entitled "Life After Diddy," which is hosted by Brooklyn’s DJ Sickamore. Tonight, is the finale of MTV’s "Making The Band II" season and Dylan had opted to add to the furor as millions tune in. "It’s called "Life After Diddy." Dylan told AllHipHop.com. "With all the controversy surrounding Da Band, I felt it was time to really let my lyrics out, make them feel me," Dylan said. "Any question people have about me, it’s on that mixtape." The band came to fruition as Sara, Young City (Choppa), Ness, Babs and Fred were all hand picked to be the next generation of Bad Boy artists. However, all of their exploits – good or bad – were captured on film by MTV’s camera. Now, Dylan is about to tell his side of the story, much of which was left on the studio chopping block, he contended. Dylan said he and CEO Sean Combs simply didn’t see eye-to-eye the direction his career would take and refrains from using the word "beef" to describe their current relationship. "I wouldn’t say that we have beef. I would say it’s more like creative differences," Da Band’s reggae leg stated. "I felt disrespected by some things he said on TV so I responded and I gave him some words too." Continuing, he said, "I’m like the only person that can make somebody worth $500 million feel p##### off. I got him real aggy right now. Me and him, we have our differences. I’m not f**king with [Diddy]. I’m cool with other people at Bad Boy." He also said that he wasn’t fond of the editing process behind the show. "There is so much f**kin’ editing. There are certain episodes where it seems like I am bugging out, but it never really happened like that. There are a lot of time when I respond to comments [Diddy] made and [the people] never get to see my response, dog," he said. "They made it seem like I was just quiet and taking it. You can’t talk to me anyway – this is Brooklyn. I was like ‘Where is my part.’" While the ending of the show has yet to be revealed, he said he knows where he stands with himself. "I am a dancehall lyricist above anything, yo. People look at me like ‘Oh, he’s just an act.’ But, its more than an act. I would rather people respect me for my lyrics than because I am on MTV. I’m like let’s take it to the root, lets take it to the streets," Dylan said. Dylan not only took it to the streets, he took it to DJ Sickamore, one of the most popluar DJ’s nationwide. "It’s all me and him," Sickamore said. "I’m co-signing like a mother fu**ker. It’s all his music." As the pair interview, Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs, Bad Boy CEO and executive producer of "Making The Band II" walks past with his entourage. There is no exchange, but Sickamore expected it to come at some point. "Any ramifications, people can’t tell me anything – I do what the streets tell me. I’m the streets. If the streets want me to do something, I do it. Every time I put out a diss record, the other rapper comes at me like ‘Why’d you play that?’ he said. "The reason why I am what I am right now, because I don’t really care. When I start adjusting, that’s when I am dead and I feel that [Dylan] is putting out great quality music. I’m not going to just put my neck on the line." Dylan admitted that he is still contractually bound to Bad Boy and would have to contend with the industry politics later on. "I’m not out of the contract," he said. Despite his conflicts with Diddy, Dylan said he still had love for his cohorts in Da Band. "Da Band is my family, dog. No matter what the label head [says], we are the ones that walked to get the cheesecake. We still f**k with each other. We might do something together tomorrow, but I also got to establish myself as a solo artist. People gotta know what I am dealing with and [I have to] make myself shine." A huge part of getting that shine was starting his own company, Nu G.U.N., the dancehall artist said. "That stands for Nu (new) Gorilla United Nations. I incorporated that. I have to make sure my family eats too," Dylan stated. Although Dylan is doing his own thing, he refused to confirm or deny whether or not he truly wanted off Bad Boy, no matter how powerful the mixtape title suggested. "I’m just taking it one step at a time. I’m not actively trying to [get out of the deal]," he emphasized. Since Wyclef appeared on "The Band," there has been speculation that he would become the musical statesman’s protégé, but Dylan only recognizes them as good friends. "You never know what can happen. Wyclef is a big supporter of everything that I do. He Co-signed the first song ‘Dear Diddy,’" he said. "Me and ‘Clef chill every other day if I am in New York City." More than signing to ‘Clef or staying with Diddy, Dylan said he wants the masses to feel what he is doing right now. "This album is something," he said. "I need the people on the streets to hear what I am doing. This is the end of the show, but it’s the beginning of Dylan."

Miami’s Diamond Princess Trina sat down with AllHipHop.com for a candid talk about acting, female competitors, men and her new CD, The Glamourest Life. No need to waste time – you know her. AllHipHop.com: Talk about The Glamourest Life. What kind of album are we going to hear this time? Trina: The album is really great, it is very versatile. It’s different. It’s actually like the upgraded version of [Da Baddest B*tch]. With [Diamond Princess], I got a little twisted with worrying about what people kind of expect and want to see a certain side of you and see this and see that. But really they don’t care they want you to just be who you are. Either they going to like it, love it, or they not going to listen to it at all. That’s basically my whole agenda and persona about it. I got a classy side and I also got that extra crunchy raw sexual side as well. You can have to different classes of people. Everybody don’t understand Chanel, Roberto Cavalli and [people who] still can only afford Nike and Reebok. A lot of my fans is like, “You know what, you really kind of left us so far behind because you elevated so fast.” I wanted to make it equal for everybody. You got the classy sophisticated girls but you still got the ghetto girls that’s going to come to the shows and be real wild and stuff. AllHipHop.Com: What about people that are coming up after you. Do you feel those people will take away from what you’re doing because you really are kind of leading the patent these days? Lil’ Kim is falling to the wayside according to a lot of her fans. Foxy is working, but hasn’t splashed down anywhere… Trina: I just think that people that’s coming up after I don’t think that [they] could ever take away from you. I think it’s what you make of it. You have to stay up on your game. The whole industry is competitive. Everything is based on competition and then comparing you to this person. Me myself personally I don’t mind being compared to somebody if they’re a classic, if it’s somebody that has a good rep to follow. Like Kim to me, I think she paved the way for a lot of female rappers to come in and feel free to say whatever they want to say and not really hold back. As far as people that’s coming up behind me, I send love or wish them the best. I just think you have to have the originality about yourself and how you do it. AllHipHop.Com: Why do people seem to want to keep beef going on between the females because I had heard you and Miami newcomer Jacki-O? Trina: Actually, I’ve been in this business for 6 years and I’ve never had beef with anybody and I think anybody new comes into the game they always compare them to somebody else. I think there’s going to be beef. [We] are from the same city. They want to compare [us] which is cool. I don’t care and I don’t get involved in that. That’s really not my repertoire and I’m too fly for that. I don’t have time to do that. AllHipHop.Com: What about you on the business side, I know you wanna get more into acting? Trina: I’m working on a sitcom right now, its called “With Friends” like, it’s basically a comedy. It’s like a beauty salon and it’s just about the day in a life of a girl, like what a girl goes through as far as just sitting up hanging around her girls – the drama, the gossip, girl’s man sleeping with other girls. It’s like a whole bunch of girly life but it’s really funny and it’s really interesting and that’s something that we’re working on. I have some movie offers that just came in. I didn’t really have time to sit down and go over the scripts yet. I’ll grab on something that I really, really like. I did this one DVD movie down in Miami, and it’s out now in Blockbuster. I was the lead person in the movie but it was a small movie and I did it just to gain the experience of it and to see what it would be like. It’s a lot of things that I’m doing now that I’m looking forward to coming up within this year and the future. AllHipHop.Com: Now I know this is sensitive subject with a lady, but we heard that you have a new diet and fitness regiment, a lot of people want to know, “Why?” Trina: For myself, it wasn’t more so what people was saying oh she gained weight. I had to really say you know what, I want to wear this when I perform. I want to look like this. I know I can walk on the stage and have my whole stomach and body out because I did it before and know if you get on stage and you feel kind of uncomfortable you don’t want to do that. I definitely would not walk on the stage if you got a stomach that’s hanging over some low jeans, that’s very not sexy so you definitely need to cover that up. I just think about self-confidence and just taking time to just getting into yourself and loving yourself and devoting yourself to eating healthy. My body feels better to not eat beef. You might as well say it’s a diet but it’s also really like a nutritional program. Basically, I just eat baked chicken, baked fish, vegetables, and drink a lot of water and cranberry juice. I eat special K for breakfast and that’s basically it. That’s a daily routine for me everyday. I may have a cheat day if I want to eat something different but I’m so used to doing the same things now for these past two months […]