AllHipHop.com: First thing, can you tell people about your new project, what people can expect? Drag-On: On this album, it’s just straight hard. It’s not being like too commercial. Got a few joints on there like "bang bang boom." Did a joint with Eve. The rest is just hard. Like straight up. I got like a lot of homie producers on there. Swizz Beatz, Rockwilder, Needles just a lot of hungry dudes. Got the family on the album, Kiss, Eve. AllHipHop.com: What made you take that approach, like a non-commercial rap album? Drag-On: Because, I’m not really a commercial n####. I’m from the hood so I can only speak that. I can’t really speak that "palm trees" and all that. AllHipHop.com: The album, I really like it. Who did the song with you and Styles? Drag-On: Just a lot of, you it’s a lot of new dudes.. straight up. Because you know, I ain’t got time to be waiting three months for a beat and all that. I ask you for a beat, you have it, well come on, let’s work. It only takes one day to do a beat. You don’t need two, three months.I ain’t got the patience for that. AllHipHop.com: Speaking about that, patience you been, you know it’s been a minute since your last album. What you been up to since then? Drag-On: Working. Well you know, like as anybody can see the promotion for Drag-On, it’d be weak for me if not for Ruff Ryders. Drag-On don’t get heavy promotions like that. But, I mean you know, it’s like the game is making me walk the long way. I been on the grind. All my fans, they just got to follow me. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like with the LOX kind of doing D-Block, X doing this, Eve doing TV and all that, clothing line. do you feel like you the main one carrying the Ruff Ryders flag right now? Drag-On: I’m carrying Drag-On. You know, but I’m still on Ruff Ryders you know, but I’m thinking about Drag. I’m focused on myself. I’m trying to get my name up there. I mean the Ruff Ryder, that name is already. I’m focused on Drag. You know I got love for the R, but I’m doing me right now. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel sort of slighted from like none of that promotion because it seems like the album should be, it’s good enough at least to get a little push. Drag-On: Oh it’s all good. I mean you know, it’s just that every MC get their time. I’ma stay on my grind. I’m a stay nice. AllHipHop.com: You got any other stuff going on? You know like a label businesses or anything like that? Drag-On: Right now I might start my own record label soon, just so I can show like these other record labels how to do it. To prove a point. AllHipHop.com: Growth wise, how have you grown since the last album? Drag-On: I wrote, "H2O’ when I was seventeen. And that was like ’97. I wrote, like most of those rhymes I was like seventeen, eighteen when it came out. Now I’m twenty-four now. It’s not really like a big difference but it’s like a six seven year difference. A lot done happen in that time. I learn. AllHipHop.com: Now on the album, it say you have a song dedicated to your first born. Is that a true story? Drag-On: I didn’t quite happen that way. Actually it was twins and she gave birth to still borns. So I always thought what it would be like thinking when like both of the boys was there. Like on that song, its like I painted a picture for you. Like me raising him and him coming out and me raising and going to school. Then he going do this, then he getting older. And come to find out he was never really there. It was just a thought, because ___ really had an abortion. Had to throw a little twist in there. That’s for those that copped the album. AllHipHop.com: What’s your take on stuff like, well first of all is Ruff Ryder still like a family unit like the way people have seen in the past? Or is it more or less people do for each other appearances or not? Drag-On: Well nah, I mean Ruff Ryder is a family just how Def Jam is a family. Def Jam is a family too and Ruff Ryder is a family too. It’s all the same a record label is a record label that’s just what it is it’s business. That’s what it is. But I mean we all got love for each other. AllHipHop.com: How close you and DMX? Drag-On: Real cool, real cool. AllHipHop.com: How was that.the whole acting thing? Drag-On: I love it I mean right now I’m searching for a movie angent right now. I’m really trying to do it on my own right now. I’m trying to get my own thing. AllHipHop.com: Was it natural for you? Drag-On: Yeah I guess so. I got a lot of like good reports and all that straight up and straight up I didn’t take no acting class or no coaching like that. X is like "yo we got a part for you’ you’d be my little brother and everybody is saying we look similar so it was perfect. I was like "whatever we do it’ . AllHipHop.com: What do you think about him (DMX) retiring? Drag-On: I think it’s bullsh*t. AllHipHop.com: Why do you say that? Drag-On: Because I know X man, I mean X love this Hip Hop too much like to just give it up like that because of his personal things or whatever he going through in his life. I know he can really do it. But, I be trying to talk him out of it. I’m not really feeling that. You only drop five albums and you going to quit, […]

This story is a reprint from BET.com Electoral politics are a hot topic for the hip-hop community these days as many of it’s leaders are seeking to bear influence on the 2004 presidential election. Their goal is to effectively educate, mobilize and get young people out to the polls. The question is can it be done? <font size="2" face="Verdana<@dq@According to Jeff Chang, hip-hop activist and the author on an upcoming book on the history of hip-hop activism, the answer is complicated. As an organizer for the National Hip Hop Political Convention, (this June in Newark), Chang is part of a grassroots push to get people to become more aware overall. "[Whether or not hip-hop can move people to the polls] remains to be seen. It’s dependent on many factors: organizing, messaging, and a sense of urgency," Chang said. "I think NHHPC has been doing a good job on the organizing; HSAN (Russell Simmon’s outfit) had been doing a good job on the messaging. What remains to be seen is if we will feel a sense of urgency." The element of cool If not urgency, then certainly excitement is a factor when it comes to Russell Simmons and his HSAN group. They have registered over 20,000 people to vote so far. Making voting "cool" is exactly what Simmons hopes will inspire hip-hoppers to sway the outcome of the ’04 presidential election. The remaining HSAN summits will take place between now and November, with the goal of registering 2 million voters. Despite all the registering, some statistics show that less than 50 percent of all Americans actually vote. That number plunges even lower when you are talking about 18- to 34-year-olds, according to political activist/radio personality/ hip-hop expert Davey D. But, he feels that dip is due to the fact that politicians don’t value the hip-hop generation or the issues that affect it. "Very few politicians have gone out of their way to make hip-hop a viable audience. If an elected official wants older people [to vote for him,] he/she has an employee that researches that demographic," Davey D says. "But they don’t have a media strategist that has relationships with me, Sway from [The Wake Up Radio Show] or Big Boy from L.A.’s Power 106." Overlooking the hip hop world Continuing, he said that conventional politicians overlook the rap nation, sighting a lack of grassroots promotion for "basic stuff" like passing out flyers at the hip-hop summits. To guide voters, Davey D, scribe Upski and 10 other political experts have compiled "How To Get Stupid White Men Out Of Power," a book "that is going to revolutionize the way young people who don’t do electoral politics do electoral politics." "Its primarily focused on showcasing the examples where young people have mobilized people to vote and used hip-hop to turn this thing around. It shows that we can be effective in electoral process," he says of the book from his office in California. "How To Get…" will be out this fall. Kaine, of the Ying Yang Twins, isn’t convinced of the effectiveness of voting. The Atlanta rapper expressed a serious mistrust of the electoral process. Contrary opinions "I don’t feel like [my vote] registers," he said. "This time they got you scared, and that’s why we is where we is now. [Bush winning] made our vote irrelevant. Why vote if you don’t have a voice. The only voice we got is with the hip-hop community. "I feel that they should have let everybody revote and do it all over again, because that was something too crooked. It’s like, ‘Why should I vote if it don’t count,’ because Florida was way against Bush. But that’s where Bush’s folks are at. How is it that the only state that had to get recalculated was where Bush’s folks are at? How ya like them grapes?" Ghostface Killah, of the Wu Tang Clan, echoes Kaine’s sentiments. "They try and make it seem like we have a choice, but these elections are already set for the next 20-30 years. They know who is going to win before we even go to vote, and it sure ain’t no Black guy." Aside from distrust, apathy seems to emanate from many of the biggest hip-hop artists. AM New York (a free daily in New York City) recently took rappers to task for not voting, even though they have publicly encouraged the youth to do so. From Busta to Banner Rappers, including 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Jay-Z, Eminem, Scarface, DMX and several others, have not been to a voting booth recently, the paper says. Ben Chavis told the paper he could guarantee that the rappers supporting the HSAN’s efforts would vote in November. Busta Rhymes recently registered to vote, even though he has taken a very public stance similar to that of Ghostface and Kaine. "I most definitely plan to vote," Rhymes said recently. "I think that all the young people my age should vote," he said. "At first, I was thinking that my little vote won’t help, and then the thing that happened in Florida, with the polls, was one of the reasons I wouldn’t vote. "When I thought about it hard, though, I see that it really does matter at the end of the day …We should all be involved." Mississippi-bred rapper David Banner agreed. "…[I]t’s something that we’ve got to do until we get it right," Banner said. "It’s like what I tell people all the time: ‘We have to continue the fighting process.’ We have to stay in practice. You can’t expect to hit that game-winning shot when you haven’t practiced in four or five years. You can’t expect people to vote in masses when it’s the real time for them to vote, unless they been voting all the time. We have to stay consistent with what we do."

Longevity is not a common thing in Hip-Hop. Nor is consistency. Only an elite few artists can count themselves among those whose careers have lasted ten years or more.  Even fewer are those who have released more than five albums, each posting similar numbers. And fewer still are the ones who have accomplished this as part of a group, especially one who’s name comes up in beef at least once a year.  Mobb Deep is part of that elite. Eleven years after the release of their shocking debut Juvenile Hell, Prodigy and Havoc have not only done all of this as a group, but they’re individual accomplishments have been as equally impressive.  While his partner was making beats for some of the greatest names in Hip-Hop, Prodigy proclaimed himself the H.N.I.C.  Despite the now infamous incident at the 2002 Summer Jam in New York, no pun intended, he’s now added Screenwriter and Co-Director to his list of talents to dismay the haters.  But this is not a farewell article.  Mobb Deep is not retired, nor have they broken up.  No amount of beef or critics complaints about their lack of growth, Havoc and Prodigy are seemingly on track for global conquest.  The highly anticipated Murda Muzik DVD (Koch Vision) is set to drop April 6.  And now that they’ve launched their own Infamous Records, a joint venture with Jive Records, Mobb Deep can finally deliver on what their fans have been craving since 2001: a full length album.  Recently, Prodigy found time to talk to us about beef, politics, parenting and the continually growing career of Queensbridge’s favorite sons.  AllHipHop.com: I know you guys are about to drop the DVD, that’s real big.  Tell me a little bit about the movie itself. Prodigy: The movie is the first movie shot in Queensbridge. I wrote it. Starring the whole Mob Deep family, Infamous family, the whole Queensbridge.  It was shot out in Queensbridge, and plus out in Red Hook, we did some scenes out there.  AllHipHop.com: How long all together did it take y’all to put everything together? Prodigy: To get everything together? It took like maybe like the whole three years.  Three years of shooting and getting everything we needed  AllHipHop.com: So where’d the idea come from? I mean, obviously it’s a little autobiographical, right? Prodigy: Yeah, it’s just… it’s a fiction story I made up; I wrote the script.  But it’s also based on true things that ni**as go through, you know what I’m saying? So it’s got a lot of real to it.  AllHipHop.com: So who all can we expect to see in there? Prodigy: You got Queen Pen, she did something in there; C#####, she’s part of the family; Alchemist; Big Noyd; Twin Gambino; Tim Lord; Nas; John Otto, John from Limp Bizkit; umm… It’s a few people in there.  AllHipHop.com: I know that it was originally scheduled to come out sooner than this, so what was the hold up behind that? Prodigy: We was just going through a bunch of legal matters to get, to actually get it out there. So once we cleared all that up, then it was just a process of finding distribution.  And the buzz was already crazy, cuz it’s four years that we’ve been talking about it, na mean?  AllHipHop.com: Going into this you already had two, three albums under your belt. How was the process of making the movie different Prodigy: from recording an album? Prodigy: Yeah. It’s like, it’s more intricate. It’s a lot of things you gotta deal with as far as producing a movie         . It’s a lot of things, you know?  AllHipHop.com: Let’s talk about the album, Amerikaz Nightmare. June 30? Prodigy: Yeah, Amerikaz Nightmare.  I don’t know, it’s gonna be June sometime. We don’t got a solid date yet, but it’s definitely gonna be June.  AllHipHop.com: And how’s this one different from your previous albums? Prodigy: It’s just, you know… You just grow with Mobb Deep, you see where we at now.  You na mean, see what we doing now AllHipHop.com: And of course you’re with a different label? Prodigy: Yeah AllHipHop.com: And how’s that? Prodigy: We with Jive.  They gave us a joint venture, so we got our own label now, Infamous Records.  It’s a joint venture with Jive. So you’re happy with your label situation? Prodigy: Yeah, definitely AllHipHop.com: Any collaborations on the new album? Prodigy: We got Nate Dogg on the joint… who else is on there?  Oh, we did a joint with a few people.  We did a joint with Lil’ Jon; and we did a joint with Nelly, we did a joint with with 50.  But a lot of stuff ain’t make the album.  We just picked like the most fire ones out of everything and put those out.  But as far as production-wise, you know, it’s like 90% Havoc. You got, Alchemist did a couple of joints, and Red Spyda, Kanye West, Lil’ Jon. AllHipHop.com: In the meantime, y’all got a couple of mixtapes that’s dropping Prodigy: Yeah we got a lot of mixtapes out.  Free Agents, we put that out first.  And umm, then we put out this Infamous Allegiance mixtape/dvd that’s on the street right now.  And then, like now we got another mixtape, this Whoo Kid mixtape we just put out with Whoo Kid. So that’s out right now. AllHipHop.com: You know I gotta ask about the single, the “R.I.P. Nas” single… Click Here for video clip Prodigy: Yeah, everybody keep saying that.  We never had a song called "R.I.P. Nas." Somebody mighta just called that s**t… You know how DJs, they don’t know what the name of the song is, so they call it whatever they wanna call it. AllHipHop.com: So there’s no beef behind that, there’s no animosity? Prodigy: Nah, I dunno.  There might be! [Laughs] AllHipHop.com: I know you have a son, so as a parent, do you feel added responsibility in your music? How has that affected the type of music you […]

Remy Ma checks in with AllHipHop.com to answer some advice questions. From the absurd to the serious, Remy Ma may just know the answers to the universe! Dear Remy, Me and my girl have the worst fights…she likes to make it physical by hitting me…. Sometimes, I get the urge to knock her a** out, but I don’t… What’s the best way to remedy this with the girl I happen to like (maybe love)… Hit me back, Remy. -Sgt.Mashout! From Brooklyn Remy: What’s Poppin, Sgt. Mashout from BK. First off, I love your name, hope you stand up to it. Now as far as this girl you “like (maybe love)” goes, I think all she really needs is a taste of her own medicine. I’m not saying “knock her ass out” the next time she gets physical with you because nine times out of ten a chick that’s quick to hit you is even quicker to pick up the phone, call police, and get your ass locked up. And domestic violence is such a lame charge. However, getting your sister, cousin, or a hoodrat from your block to put her under pressure is not a crime. But don’t let it seem like you set it up, she won’t like the fact that her man got her smacked. And if that doesn’t work, leave her alone for awhile. She will miss you, hopefully, and start acting right when you take her back. That don’t work then f*ck that b*tch! Dear Remy, A-yo, Doggette, should I stay in school? -Pink Panther Remy: Uhhmm, yeah stupid! (I don’t believe you had to ask that you definitely should focus on staying in school!) Matterfact, drop out. Be nothing. Stay broke. Become a homeless bum, that’s what’s up. Remy, I’m trying to get my career in pornography going…any advice? Also, I saw where you and your girls break a n*gga off and leave him – basically you do him like dudes do women…I was thinkin’ I could be that dude that y’all sexually abuse sometime? -Daredevil, Wilmington, Delaware Remy: Hey Daredevil of Delaware. It’s so nice to know you would voluntarily be me and my friends sex slave. Seriously, I’m flattered to know you would allow us to try and/or practice sexual activities on you, stick foreign objects into your body crevices and openings, and when we’re done act like we don’t know or ever even met you. However, it’s no fun when the guy is willing to do anything and enjoying it. Sorry, you don’t qualify. But as far as your “career in pornography”, thanks to the internet, it could be right around the corner. First, find a s### bag w#### or two that’s trying to start her p#### career. That shouldn’t be hard (no PUN intended). Next, make a few home videos, then get a website. Good Luck Dear Remy, I neeeeeed some great Moral + Investment advice, being close ta broke again, I kinda want some money. Should I sell my dead grandpa’s stock in the Corn Industry??? He told me not to, but then again I’m broke. Should I, & What’s the best predicted date & time ta sell the dead muthaf*ckkas sh*t? Thanks Remy, Caveman, Berkley, California Remy: Caveman, Caveman, Caveman sorry to tell you but, “being close to broke” is the same thing as being broke. I don’t know about the Corn Industry stock but I know stocks period are good investments. That’s long term money. Selling it would get you some paper for now but once that’s gone, then what? I mean if you’re about to get evicted or something serious and can’t get no money from anywhere else, I guess you have no choice. Otherwise, stop being lazy. Get a job, hit the block, go find some b*tch to support you, do something besides sitting around “wanting money.” That’s not cute. P.S. R.I.P. Grandpa Dear Remy, This Is a true question, Me and my girl get into it from time to time but overall we are happy in the relationship. Now Im a young 19 year old man and I hav the sex drive of one, But my girl is only one year younger than me and she seems like she cant handle it. I mean half the time the sex is good but the other half Im doin all the work. Before I got wit her I had plenty broads that was given me plenty good p*ssy but I stopped that for my girl. Now I kinda been thinkin about creepin a lil bit because those same broads still keep in touch. WHAT SHOULD I DO? From, NEBROKSICU in Southside Chicago Remy: What’s really good with you Nebroksicu?! You’re 19, your girl is 18. You want pipe, she don’t. And when she do, she’s roadkill. You call this “a happy relationship?!” You can’t be serious. Instead of thinking about creeping, you should be thinking about leaving. Then you can do whatever, or should I say whoever, you want. If you need help with that I got plenty of friends that love little 19 year olds with a little 19 year old’s sex drive. However, if you want to stay with her for whatever reasons, do like almost every other n*gga does, play like Lil’ Jon and get low with the next chick behind her back. Hey Remy, I have a rare virus called A.D.E.R and the only way I can cure it is if u e-mail me nude photos so could you help a sick guy out? Concepts25 from Los Angeles Remy: Let me get this straight, you have a rare virus, that I never heard of by the way, called A.D.E.R. (Whatever that stands for) and you want me to cure you by e-mailing you naked flicks of me. Yeah, you’re sick alright. And that sh*t might be contagious. And I don’t want it. Sorry!

You may not be familiar with Encore, but after this week’s release of Layover, you will be. In fact, the span of Encore’s career is probably longer than your favorite rapper’s. When he wasn’t a Handsome Boy in Modeling School (the album that is), he was taking over the Bay Area underground with his conscious, yet catchy lyrics. His new album Layover surpasses any and all expectations for what a breakout album should sound like. AllHipHop.com was fortunate enough to catch up with Encore and meet the man behind the music. It’s clear that Layover is not only Encore’s well-deserved baptism into the mainstream, but a revival in the reputation of the underground.  AllHipHop.com:  For those who are unsure, what is your affiliation to Hieroglyphics?  Encore: I’ve known Domino, Del, and most of Hiero for over 5 years. Pep was on my first album as well as this one. I toured with Del in 2000.  AllHipHop.com:  It’s difficult to place a label on your style, but if you had to have a word for it, what would it be?  Encore: I’ve been labeled a ‘purist’ style-wise. I focus on flow, riding beats, and still maintaining lyrics that mean something. I don’t like to cram s### into beats where it don’t fit or forcing a whole bunch of punchlines. I’m a spitter with content. Nothing redundant.  AllHipHop.com:  You had a personal experience that led you to the way of Islam. Briefly talk about that and how it affected your music.  Encore: I had a DUI. Doing a song like ‘.084’ felt good because it showed me that doing songs that have some form of personal relevance to me improves the overall quality of my music. There is more of a vested interest.  AllHipHop.com:  Are you obligated through Islam to keep your lyrics a certain way and do you feel all Muslims in Hip Hop have a reputation to uphold? Encore:  I’m obligated to be as honest as I possibly can with myself in music, whether the results are Islamic or not. Honesty in itself is Islamic, so that would be the only ‘reputation’ I feel I have to uphold.  AllHipHop.com:  You must be incredibly excited for your album release. Do you feel more confident about Layover’s success being on Hiero’s label as opposed to 75 Ark?  Encore: I’m confident in the fact that I know that the music that I put together was an accurate reflection of my state of mind. So yeah I’m excited.  AllHipHop.com:  How do you feel you’ve matured musically from Self Preservation to Layover?  Encore: I think with Self Preservation – it was a good album, but I think I limited myself in some aspects, worrying about how I was going to be perceived. I wanted to make sure cats knew I was no joke lyrically, and made myself appear a little one dimensional. I let some time seperate myself from Self Preservation in a creative sense. That allowed me to be more comfortable showing more facets of my musical tastes and style.  AllHipHop.com:  Explain the title of the album.  Encore: ‘Layover’ is a metaphor for where I’m at in my career musically. Layover is literally like a waiting period before your flight. I look at my music in the same way – I’m waiting for my flight. There are a few areas I want to go with my music, but at this point in my career I have to wait on. If I don’t want to take my listeners along with me, then I gotta bring ya’ll along slowly.  AllHipHop.com:  On Layover you stuck with productions from Architect, Jake One and Vitamin D among a few others. What producers and/or emcees would you like to work with in the future?  Encore: Dilla, Madlib, DJ Khalil, Nottz, Just Blaze, Kanye, Premo, and Pete Rock  AllHipHop.com:  Tracks like "Faithful" give the listeners some insight on your lyrical ability while "Zigga Zagga" provides the radio friendly head nod music. What was your formula in choosing the songs for the album?  Encore: The formula is the music. I mean, I take what the music gives me. I didn’t premeditate anything on this album. I went with my gut and what felt good to me.  AllHipHop.com:  What brought on the collabo with Ladybug Mecca for Real Talk?  Encore: The beat itself. I heard the music and the concept came to me immediately. I did the second verse first, then I did the first verse, Mecca’s part of the first verse too. I didn’t even know her, but her Digable Planets’ image was what I envisioned when I put that together.  AllHipHop.com:  What’s your favorite track on the album and which do you hope gets the greatest response from your audience?  Encore: My favorite track is ‘Way Home’, simply because it’s about and for my family. Getting their reaction to it was all I needed. What I would like to get the greatest response would probably be ‘Faithful’. I think I put alot into those verses. Questioning my religion versus my faith versus my Blackness – it’s all there and all real to me.  AllHipHop.com:  How do you think Layover will compete with the other albums out right now?  Encore: I don’t know. What I’ve learned in these past few years is that the audience has changed. I’ve learned that "underground" heads think the same way that ‘commercial’ heads. What’s good to a listener is based on who he’s affiliated with – what names are producing your s###. For the most part, it hardly has anything to do with the actual music. The names are different, but the mentality is the same – so, who knows? I think Layover is a banger and that’s really all that matters in the grand scheme of things. I can only do me. That’s the only way I’m going to be happy with my music.  AllHipHop.com:  Can we expect some tour dates?  Encore: It’s looking like I’ll be out with Hiero in Europe some time this […]

AllHipHop.com: In the last interview you said that you wanted tto make history. So, why don’t rappers want to make history as much? Cormega: The rap game has been an economic monster from like ’96, ’97 on. Artist are seeing their peers blowing the f*ck up. Like, if I see Jay-Z with a Maybach or a Bentley, it doesn’t affect me, because I was never a Maybach or Bentley type of person anyway. Or if I see Busta Rhymes with a Lamborghini it doesn’t affect me. I’m cool just being able to pay my bills, you know what I’m saying? But I wanna make dope music. See, other artist they’ll see Nelly doing what he do, so they think, ‘Ah I gotta do it like Nelly for me to get rich like that.’ Or they’ll try to do what Jay-Z do, or they’ll try to do what Biggie do. You can’t do what Jay do. You can’t do what Big do. That’s what makes them, them. If you just say consistent to yourself, I think you’ll be successful. It might take a longer time, but consistency in itself is a success. Like M.O.P. didn’t blow up over night. They put in their work, year after year after year. They been in the game for like 10 years and now they staring to get their recognition, you know what I’m saying? AllHipHop.com: So people like M.O.P., are those the people you try to work with? Because I see you’ve been working with them, Kurupt, Jayo Felony, Big Daddy Kane, and Grand Puba. Is there something you take into consideration when you select the artists you wanna rock on the mic with? Cormega: I don’t care how hot you are or all of that sh*t, because at the end of the day, it means nothing to me. Me doing a song with M.O.P., that’s an achievement. Me doing a record with Ghostface, that’s an achievement. Me doing records with Mobb Deep, that’s an achievement. Me doing a record doing a record with KRS-ONE, or Kane, or Grand Puba, that’s not an achievement to me. That’s an honor to me. Me working with Large Professor that was an honor to me. At the end of the day, nobody can really front on me. I’ve tried to do my part as hip-hop person, not as a rap person. I tried to show people that I have respect for the people that I view as pioneers and legends. I don’t call nobody old school, ‘cause I hate that term. So I did my job. There are artists with more prominence, more juice, and more power than me that haven’t done things that I’ve done AllHipHop.com: I’ve also read in a lot of interviews where you say you hate the term “old school.” How do you feel about the term “underground?” Cormega: I don’t mind underground, because there has always been that terminology. I view myself as underground. Lately people have been trying to change the underground. It’s like certain backpackers, it’s like some of the strange rappers or newer white rappers that are coming out, they saying that’s underground. They’re saying stuff like Cormega ain’t underground. I’m not feeling that. That’s b#######. Because Grand Puba was underground. Grand Puba was wearing a book bag 10 years ago. Buckshot shorty was underground. EPMD was making records called straight from the underground and stuff like that. Underground is just people that are not mainstream. Like, Mobb Deep was underground, but now they doing songs with mainstream people. I don’t know if people view them as underground [anymore.] But I consider myself underground, so I don’t take any offense to that. I think people should stop trying to restructure music. I’m starting to see a little racism in rap. Like, at the Rock Steady show at S.O.B.’s (a New York nightspot), it’s like every white person that rhymes people was liking them. And they looking at me and Noyd like we ain’t supposed to be there. I wasn’t feeling that. But the other day I go to S.O.B’s for the D.I.T.C. party and it was a total different feel and total different appreciation, you know what I’m saying. I see people trying to do what they did with rock & roll to rap music. AllHipHop.com: How do you think that change started? Do you think that’s because of the fans? Or because of the technology with the Internet and more fans across the country and world can get into rap? Or do you think it’s the labels? Cormega: I don’t know what it is. I think it’s all of the above. And I think it’s a strategic maneuver by the powers that be. Because I know that a few years ago, a lot of people in the industry was aware that there was some kind of a big meeting, I don’t know if it was MTV, [but] it was with some of the more powerful people and they wanted to downplay rap and make rock & roll more prominent. Remember, at the time rock & roll sales was going down and rap was going up. And it was some kinda b#######, I don’ know if it was a conspiracy or what, but they was on some s### like, ‘We gotta make rock & roll more stronger than what it is.’ I don’t know if that plays a part in it also. There shouldn’t be no racism in music. I think that’s what makes music beautiful, because there are no boundaries. Like, I like Guns N Roses. I respect Janis Joplin. I bought No Doubt’s album. So I don’t think people should bring that b####### to music, you know what I’m saying?

What’s wrong with Bill? The kid just ain’t right. As one third of Brooklyn’s heavy hitters Non Phixion, Ill Bill has carved his name in blood with his rugged, rapid-fire spray of rhymes and his dominating presence. Non Phixion’s debut; The Future is Now was an instant underground classic, and while everyone is awaiting the release of their sophomore effort, Bill offers up the first (of many) solo joints set to jump off from the entire Uncle Howie Record’s camp. If you are already familiar with the Non Phixion style, then Bill’s solo record will be nothing new for you; just that same rugged, melt-your-face-with-bangers-type joints. The only surprises that come are some of Necro’s beats; there are times when the kid really elevates his game to the point where you might not recognize his bloody handprints on some of the tracks. By teaming up with his equally sick-minded brother (who produces the entire album) and enlisting the help of his extended NP/Uncle Howie brethren, Ill Bill cooks up a forceful and harrowing debut. What’s Wrong with Bill? is set to drop on Necro’s Psycho+Logical Records on May 4 and Bill promises that it is the answer to all that watered-down crap that is clogging up the airways right now… AllHipHop.com: So you got this solo joint about to drop, why don’t you go ahead and gives us an idea as far as what we can expect? Ill Bill: The album’s called What’s Wrong with Bill? This album is my answer to all the ”happy rap” out there right now, all the fruit-flavored s**t you got coming out; all that so-called “hardcore rap” right now, that s**t is soft to me, too. Right now I’m doing that punch-you-in-the-face rap, that new s**t; adrenaline rap. And beat-wise, the only dude in Necro’s league right now is Dre. So stay stupid if you want, keep sleeping, but Necro’s making the hardest beats in the game right now and ain’t nobody as hungry for success as we are right now. That’s what this album is about. I’m putting everybody on blast, nobody in the game is as ill as my team, nobody. Ninety percent of the rappers out right now are trash. Either they on some gay s**t or they think they hardcore. Every rapper is either sucking 50 Cent or Cam’ron’s dick, trying to sound like G-Unit, Dipset…and even those dude ain’t f**kin’ with me. Aside from dudes like Scarface or Jay-Z or Ghost and a handful of others, Most of the s**t that’s coming out right now…C’mon kid, that s**t is retard rap. Y’all deserve more than that. I’m dropping this album to save y’all from the m#### music that’s coming out right now. Not all hip-hop is boring, hip-hop is alive and well. We lacing you with that grimy s**t y’all have been starving for. AllHipHop.com: Lyrically you get a little deeper on this album than you have a chance to when recording as one member of a three-man unit. Like in the title track where you delve into some pretty heavy s**t . Is this something you strove for as far as why you are doing a solo joint? Ill Bill: That first joint, What’s Wrong? that’s just about my life growing up, I speak about my grandmother, women in my life, to my moms, to my girl…just the stress that I deal with on the day to day. Being in a group you’re not really able to express as much in sixteen bars on a track. You gotta’ deal with other people’s ideas and concepts and it’s hard to get as personal as I was able to get on this album. Non Phixon is three MC’s and we all have different ideas and we want to get them across, that’s why we’re all doing solo albums right now because we want to let people have a little more insight into us as individuals. AllHipHop.com: Non Phixion has always been known for bringing tracks that are just straight energy, and you keep that same feel throughout your solo album. How do you maintain such a high level of frenzy? Ill Bill: Any kind of music that I’ve always been into, I’ve always been into music that gets my adrenaline up. Not only with hip-hop, but I also listen to a lot of hardcore and a lot of metal and that has an influence on me in just how I deliver my rhymes and how we perform when we do shows, whether it’s Non Phixion, or if I’m solo or I’m out on the road with Q-Unique… we’re just on some real, next level s**t. I look at a group like Rage Against the Machine and the energy they have on stage or even Slayer, you know? Groups like that have the kind of energy that we want to put into our s**t and that’s not really normal with a rap group. AllHipHop.com: How is it that growing up in the housing projects of Brooklyn you were ever exposed to hardcore and metal? Ill Bill: When I was growing up everything was about hip-hop, it was all about hip-hop. I’d go to school and see kids rocking T-shirts of different bands and what not, and I was exposed to it. I grew up on KISS; you know what I’m saying? I was up on that; I was always a big KISS fan as a little kid. But KISS was more mainstream, anyway. It wasn’t like I was really exposed to s**t yet. It was all about hip-hop and I had to really go out of my way to really peep metal. I seen like Twisted Sister videos on TV, you know. But that wasn’t the real s**t. At that point that was pop. It was already in the mainstream. But I would see Iron Maiden T-shirts, Metallica T-shirts… the s**t that really caught me was the “Metal up Your Ass” T-shirt with the toilet bowl with the knife sticking out […]

            When Rawkus Records closed their doors this season, hip-hop fans by and large were hurt. It also meant the end of a great notion, the saving grace to Hip-Hop music. That same excitement that was prevalent in those early Rawkus releases might very well be what’s to come over at Halftooth Records.             Kenn Starr and Oddisee are the promising future of Halftooth. It’s Oddisee’s supreme production, and Kenn’s bold lyrical delivery that have people running to checkout the label’s debut compilation: “You Don’t Know the Half.”             But these aren’t just scooped up newcomers. Both of these dudes have deep visions, and interesting experience that will help make the future bright, each in their own right. Rawkus and similar recording homes might be gone. But it’s our civic duty as Hip-Hoppers to stop, support and investigate new budding independent music houses when they start with such hot product. Check it out as both of these visionaries talk about the first time they were able to get up, future solo projects, and the battle to put D.C. on the Hip-Hop map for good this time. AllHipHop: I have heard that you’re kind of inspired by the underappreciated MC, what do you mean, and why is that? Kenn Starr: When I say, lesser known lyricist, it’s in terms of the mainstream. Really, cats like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Pharohe Monch, Ras Kass. The people who really inspire me are the cats who make the type of music [that] I make, but have managed to attain a certain level of mainstream success without sacrificing their artistic integrity, that’s really big to me. They stayed trued to themselves. AllHipHop: I was mentioning your single to some people the other day. They started laughing at your name. Initially, I didn’t get the connection to the Clinton trials. Why’d you go that route? Kenn Starr: Actually it was just a nickname I had that stuck with me. When the whole Clinton scandal jumped off, it really stuck, because the name was in the news everyday. From that point on, I’m stuck with the name. It kinda worked out. Because what I tell people now is that the Starr Report had explicit details of Clinton and Lewinsky’s sexual encounters and all that. I’m at the same level with detail and vivid imagery to my writing. It kind of all works out. Plus, he went after the President – a seemingly untouchable dude, it just goes to show, anybody can be touched. I feel like I bring the same thing to the industry – regardless of who you are, you can still get served. AllHipHop: I know you had a big album release party in New York a few weeks back. How’s the response in the Big Apple for two cats from the Metro DC area? Kenn Starr: The response has been great. I honestly feel that if people didn’t [already know I was from the South], they wouldn’t know. I’m not with a country accent like a lot of my peoples from VA. I been so involved with Hip-Hop at an early age, a lot of people think I’m from New York because of the accent or my style of my rap. It’s just that the influence of New York Hip-Hop is so strong, and since an early age, it’s all I’ve known. AllHipHop: How did you come into the Halftooth picture? Kenn Starr: Oddisee put me in a position where I was album to submit some tracks to the “You Don’t Know the Half” compilation. They really liked what they heard, and wanted to do something for the future because they had another artist they had tried to sign, but that didn’t really work out, which made room for me. AllHipHop: From the bulk of work you did on the compilation, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a full LP from you soon. How far along are you with that? Kenn Starr: Right now, it’s just the beginning stages. I’m really taking my time with this one. Because you only get one chance to make a first impression. That’s scheduled to come out late this year after solo projects from Wordsworth in June, and Oddisee in the Fall. AllHipHop: “If” is just a mind-blowing track. How did that come about, because it’s incredible on both your parts? Oddisee: I’ll be real with you man. A lot of the beats that I make, almost don’t make it out to other MC’s. That’s when I know when I got really good stuff in my hands, when I get selfish and wanna keep it for myself. I was talking to Bahamadia [recently], and I had sent her a beat CD. She liked a few, and I asked if I could hop on one of the tracks. I told her I rhymed, and she said, “Yeah, I can tell. Because something about the way the drum patterns are, they know to make it accompany the MC. A lot of producers that just produce are too instrumental and don’t leave room for an artist to do they thing.” So when I do a beat like that, it naturally speaks to me lyrically. Making the beat, it was kind of pre-destined for the incredible way that Kenn laced it, and Asheru and Talib. Kenn Starr: Just the song, listening to the track. It’s soulful. It’s the type of beat that just evokes emotion in you when you hear it, from the vocal sample. We just took that concept and ran with it. We all took our own perspectives too. AllHipHop: You both are in this crew, Low Budget. What’s that about? Kenn Starr: I met [him] by way of another MC/Producer that’s in our crew by the name of Shawn Born. He introduced me to Oddisee and a lot of other cats in the crew like Kev Brown and Cy Young, Critically Acclaimed. Basically, we been doin’ joints since then. That’s the beautiful thing about the crew, we all share […]

From the time Mississippi native David Banner and his Crooked Lettaz partner Kamikaze dropped their debut album, Grey Skies, in 1999 on Tommy Boy/Penalty, it was clear that David had something special going both as an emcee and a producer. David followed up solo, and sold over 10,000 copies of his independently released album Them Firewater Boyz Volume I in 2000. With a powerful buzz growing in the South, Steve Rifkind signed David as the premier artist for his fledgling SRC label to a whopping $10 million dollar deal, and in early 2003 Mississippi: The Album was released. Less than one year later, while David was still riding the wave of excitement from the instant success of Mississippi, the label pressured him to release his second album, MTA2: Baptized In Dirty Water – much earlier than anticipated. While he has continually pumped out production on hit songs for the likes of Trick Daddy, T.I., Bonecrusher, Lil Flip, Nelly, Devin The Dude, and Nappy Roots, his own efforts seem to be thwarted momentarily. Reception to the new album may have started out lukewarm, but David Banner is confident that things are just starting to heat up. Mississippi’s rap ambassador is on the road with the Ludacris Chicken & Beer tour through the end of March, and AllHipHop.com caught up with him at the Paramount Theater in Seattle.  AllHipHop.com: How do you feel about your success thus far?  It’s cool, but I honestly feel like God allowed me to see the success of other people, so it allows me to know where I can go. To be a gold artist – I’m thankful for the opportunity, but I’m definitely not happy. I always try to push the boundaries of things, and you can either hit or miss with those. Apparently you have to do something different but still the same, to reach a certain level of success – I’m constantly trying to test the boundaries of music just to see where my niche can be in the middle of pop success and the streets. I’m really not happy at all. AllHipHop.com:When you speak of reaching a level of success, are you talking mainstream success? Success to me equates to finances, and finances come through that level of success. I wanna sell some records, because even with the positive things that I do, the more people who buy your albums are more people who are touched by your message. You can be famous, but don’t nobody buy your record – I mean, the message is accomplished in the cd – they are definitely tied together. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like your new album was released too soon? I do. AllHipHop.com: Was that your decision or the label’s? It was the label’s decision, but I turned it in, and I didn’t have to turn it in. More or less, a favor was asked and I delivered the favor. It just teaches me more that the system is just that. The system isn’t artist-friendly – it’s not set up for your benefit. I was more or less a victim of something that I knew, but with the situation that Steve Rifkind was in, and with me being the head artist on his label, I’m thinking that this is my opportunity to get a heads-up on the game, so while everybody else is sitting back marveling in their success I wanted to attack. It’s just like chess – sometimes when you take the offensive too early you leave yourself out there. On the same token, it gives me a gage of where I am in the streets, because the streets really like the record a lot. It also let me know who my friends were in the industry. I was really disappointed in people that I really cared about. People who I was there when they needed help, more or less left me out there.  AllHipHop.com: It’s not like it failed miserably – anything over 250,000 in this market should be considered successful.  Well, I look at it from the standpoint that it’s still going to be a success. With my first single, honestly, one thing that I fear is that if Southern music becomes one sound, then once people deem that sound no longer marketable, then there go all those people within that circle who push it to the side. With me loving what I do so much, with me loving the place that I’m from so much, with me loving rap music as much as I do, it’s funny because no matter what people do I still have success. T.I.’s single ‘Rubberband Man’ is one of the most played singles in rap right now – I produced it. Nelly ‘Tip Drill’ – I produced that. God is allowing me to definitely keep my foot in the door, but for me it is what it is. I just take it day by day, know what I’m dealing with holistically, and keep it moving. AllHipHop.com: Would you say you notice a significant difference within yourself and the people around you from the time you were underground versus mainstream?  When I was underground, I was more or less alone. That’s one of my gripes. People in general, regardless of what people think and what people say, I was alone for the most part. There was a certain few who helped me, but they only helped me at levels. It may have been a person on the literary side that helped me, but they would never get out in the streets and grind with me. I had people who would grind with me in one city, but couldn’t go city to city to city. I made my own beats, started my own company, pressed up my own records, pressed up my own cd’s – that’s coming from a state where I didn’t have examples. That was actually what people didn’t understand about the first song on the new album, is that through this experience I’ve gained a certain […]

As the youngest affiliate of the Wu-Tang Clan, Shyheim “The Rugged Child” hit the scene at the age of 14. He was lyrically impressive and dropped 1996’s The Lost Generation way before Lil’ Bow Wow and Romeo would hit the scene. He came up as a native of Staten Island and even lived with Ghostface Killah for a period of time. The young future of saw his popularity swell as he appeared in movies, videos like TLC’s “Waterfalls,” and eventually released a follow-up – 1999’s Man Child.  But there was another Shyheim emerging as time passed, one that was pulled into the allure of the streets. The young man was facing serious gun charges for an armed robbery gone horribly wrong from the start. He skipped bail and ran from authorities for a year and a half before turning himself in. He did a two-year bid, but has emerged a wiser man of 26-years-old.  AllHipHop.com:  So what’s been up, man?  You told me that you had did a little jail bid or whatever. We talked about you rhyming with DJ Quik [on Under The Influence – “The Poem”] so what up?  Shyheim:  I’m 40 days in the street, you know what I’m saying?  I’m about to turn it up.  Quick’s a real dude.  And I’mma explain to you how I met Quik.  See that’s why I believe that if you can think it, you can live it.  I was actually on the run, you know what I’m saying?  I’m in New York running around, I’m wanted for two fugitive felonies.  So I’m like, ‘Damn, where the f*ck am I gonna go?  I done ran, so I loss my house.  They took that paper.  So, I’m like, ‘Damn, what the f*ck am I gonna do?  Yo, you wanna go to Cali?’  I said n#### let’s go.  Before I want out there, I said ‘Yo, you know who I like? Who I dig? I dig DJ Quik.  I wanna do a song with Quik.’  I’m driving in the whip, I ain’t got a license, but f*ck it.  I’m driving in the whip, n#### in front of me on a motorcycle, man.  N#### dropped his phone.  So I stops, take his phone to him.  ‘Oh sh*t, that’s Quik.  He’s like, ‘Come to the studio tonight.’  Nothing.  I came to the studio, laid some s###.  Now, the area I was living it, wasn’t too far from him.  I have a mother and I respect my elders.  So every time I would go to the supermarket, I would bump into this lady.  She’s an older lady, mad bags.  ‘Excuse me miss, let me help you.’  Bags, bags, bags.  I didn’t know who she was, it’s just a thing I do.  You black, I’m black, I support my peoples. So what winds up happening is, Quik calls me, ‘Yo, Shy come over my house.’  All along, she telling him, ‘Oh, I met this boy, he comes to the store and helps me with my bags.’  So then I come in his house, I’m sitting on his couch.  We chillin’.  We blowing, drinking.  She comes in.  She like, ‘You know him?  That’s the boy that helps me.’  And it was like that pulled are bond so close [and] tight.  Because I didn’t know that was his mother.  She didn’t know I knew him.  It wasn’t that type of thing.  It was just out of love, loyalty, respect, trust, and honor.  I recorded some songs he put on his albums why I was away.  That was a good look.  And how we roll, I didn’t get a dime.  Homie, that’s you, n####.  Do that.  That’s just the type of character that I have instilled [in me].  AllHipHop.com:  So what were you in for?  Shyheim:  I was in for violation of probation.  I got caught with a cop’s gun.  Then on top of that, I had an armed robbery in the first degree.  It started off on some beefing s###.    But once you I take it to that level and it’s popping, everything goes, homie.  It’s like, you fronting on me and you got some shines, n####.  I’mma give it to you, I’mma shoot the sh*t out of you, and I’mma take your shine.  That’s just the way the ‘hood goes.  I’m not just gonna do it to you and leave and you laying on the floor iced out.  Nah, gimmie that.  So, that’s what turned it into an armed robbery with a deadly weapon.  I served two-and-a-half years; I owe ‘em three years on parole.  But it’s nothing, I learned a lesson from that.  That was Allah’s way of telling me, ‘Look, slow down.’  Because I never had the chance to separate business from real life.  I grew up in this sh*t young.  So every stumble, every fall I make, is in the public eye.  I didn’t have the luxury of growing up, then getting on.  It’s a difference, because your mind state is different.  It’s Allah’s way of saying, ‘Sit down and evaluate your life.  Evaluate what you wanna do. Evaluate the people that’s in your circle.  Learn how to separate.  And now you know what?  Here you go, go back to the world. Succeed. Because now you know and understand your purpose.’  That’s the reality.   AllHipHop.com:  How old are you right now?  Shyheim:  I’m 26.  I got about eight years in the game.  I’m the youngest veteran. I’m a product of the streets, know what I’m saying?  I’m everybody’s little cousin, everybody’s little brother, in they ‘hood.  That’s what it is.  I’m getting a lot of love.  Peoples is understanding my story.  I got something to tell the world.  Not only on the cool parts, cause I don’t have nothing to prove.  I’ll grab my rap sheet.  I got it to show that I could do it.  But now, it’s an opposite side to that story. Dig this, you 14 hours from home, it’s snowing, your moms can’t get on that bus and come see you.  […]

October 30, 2002 shattered the lives of more than just the man the world knew as Jam Master Jay. On the day the news broke, families, friends and loved ones of Jam Master Jay’s seemed to have cracked as well. It’s now apparent that Jason Mizell was more than just a Hip-Hop DJ. He was a man whom many friends depended on and counted on for their livelihoods. Like the countless of other mothers across the world that know the horror of losing a child before their own life expires, Connie Mizell-Perry is trying to cope with the loss of her son and the break up of her family There’s a saying. “Show me your friends and I will show you your future.” If only someone would have shown Jay his future, maybe the present wouldn’t be so painful for those who loved Jam Master Jay. AllHipHop: What did you initially think the reason was for you son being shot and killed? Connie Mizell Perry: I had no thoughts about a reason. I never dreamed that he had an enemy that would want to kill him. AllHipHop: Shortly after Jay was killed, there were a number of theories about the motives behind his murder. Did you know any of the characters Jay associated with? CMP: I never met the ones that you might consider shady, but Jason saw people as people. He didn’t look at them for what they did or how they thought. That’s the way I taught him. I tried to show him that we look at people for who they are. AllHipHop: The theories were that Jay was killed over an old debt. First it was cocaine, then it went to watches, then it went back to a drug deal gone wrong, then it shifted to the people in the recording studio. Did you know the individuals in the studio? CMP: I didn’t know Randy Allen’s sister Lydia High. She wasn’t here when I was living here. I knew Randy from childhood. I don’t know what to think about that. I do believe it was someone that Jason knew. Definitely. AllHipHop: There was a lot of press around Randy Allen’s name and the police said they were investigating him pertaining to the events that transpired that evening. Have you heard from him? CMP: I haven’t seen Randy at all. I saw him at the wake. I haven’t seen or spoke to him since then. AllHipHop: Jay’s nephew Boe, who is your Grandson, and Randy are still very close. What do you think about Jay’s nephew being so close to someone that is being investigated for the murder of his uncle? CMP: My grandson is caught up in a situation. Jason signed an agreement with Virgin Records, I guess. Boe tried to get out, but they said he had to stay due to whatever contract they had signed. I don’t see him as being very happy with the situation. There are some things he may know that we don’t know, but he is still trying to work with Randy to finish the contract. I don’t see him staying with Randy. AllHipHop: The day after Jay was shot and killed didn’t Boe go with Randy for three days somewhere? From what I heard, they threatened Randy with police action to get Boe back. Is that true? CMP: That was me. Boe didn’t disappear. Randy came and told Boe the same night Jay was killed, that they had to finish their Rusty Waters record. It was a must that they finish it. He came and took him to New Jersey or somewhere. He called his mom and told her that he wanted to be with the family after Jason had died and he couldn’t get there because he didn’t know where he was and didn’t have a way to get back. They asked Randy and he said they were working, but they were really just in a room. When he left, he thought he was going to the studio. I got tired of waiting and I’m the one who told the guys to call Randy and if Boe wasn’t back in two hours, I was going to call the cops for kidnapping. AllHipHop: Was he being held against his will? CMP: Yes, he was being held against his will. Look, what friend is more concerned with that when their friend has died? He thought more of making money, than having Boe be with his uncle, when his uncle was always there for him. Boe called me to let me know he was OK and that he would be home. AllHipHop: Is it possible that Boe had anything to do with Jay’s death? CMP: No way. He is still not right. Just the mere thought that Jason is gone is hurting him and he’s still suffering from it. Jason was like the father he didn’t have. He always took care of Boe. That’s the worst thing that anyone could have said. AllHipHop: So from the inside there’s one person that’s the puppetmaster pulling the strings? CMP: That’s the way I see it. That’s Randy. Boe has to go through Randy for everything, even to get his pay. It’s fixed up so Boe can’t get his direct pay from the record label, he always has to go though Randy or his sister Lydia. I knew it shouldn’t be that way. I know Russell (Simmons) and them didn’t hold Jason’s money when he first got started. Boe had relied on Jason, who believed in Randy. Boe asked me “why would Uncle Jason put me with Randy if Randy is so bad?” I said “I can’t answer that.” So he was really confused. AllHipHop: How do you feel the police are handling the investigation? CMP: I don’t know anything about that. I’m the mother but they wouldn’t explain to me, even when I came up from North Carolina for the funeral, they didn’t ask or tell me anything. They haven’t even told me the […]

According to a quote by Henry Bromel, “We all carry around so much pain in our hearts. Love and pain and beauty. They all seem to go together like one little tidy confusing package.” This quote is the absolute essence of the music brought forth by Bronze Nazareth. The young RZA protege possesses the unique ability to combine sweet and bitter sounds that is guaranteed to leave you fixated to your seat. To date, very few Hip-Hop fans have yet to hear the soul-stirring twists and turns that Bronze’s beats are accustomed to making. With swords swinging from both sides and an entire Clan in the offing, Bronze may prove to be an unstoppable force in 2004. The man formerly known as “Half Entity” gave Allhiphop.com a taste of what may be the beginning of a legend. Allhiphop.com: I would like to structure this interview as an introduction of you to the Hip-Hop world. Let’s get into some basic background information about you and what you have accomplished so far. Bronze Nazareth: I live in Detroit, but I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We call it “Gun Rule” because the same thing goes on. It’s all the same, it’s all one hood. It has the highest Black population besides Detroit. I’ve been in Detroit for a couple of years now. Allhiphop.com: You sound just like a New York cat, though. BN: You ever heard of LA The Darkman? Allhiphop.com: Of course. BN: He’s from Grand Rapids, too. He’s back and forth between The Bronx and Grand Rapids. Allhiphop.com: What do you have in the works right now as far as projects are concerned? BN: Right now, I got my own album, The Great Migration, that’s about 50% done. I’m trying to do it right and make it a classic. I just did some joints for RZA’s album. I got four joints that GZA’s f###### with, and I got some joints on the Masta Killa album. Hopefully, all of them will make it to the final cut. You know you got to deal with sample clearance and all that b#######. Also, I’m reaching out to Immortal Technique. We’ve been in contact, so we should be doing something together. Allhiphop.com: How did you wind up becoming affiliated with Wu-Tang in the first place? BN: Back in ’96, ’97 or ’98, me and my brother Kevlaar 7 had done this album called The Unknown. We was selling mad copies off the internet. I was shipping s### to Australia and Japan. I think I sent an email to Cilvaringz, because I was always loved Wu. They started listening to the s###, and they was feeling it. So, we started building or whatever, and we went to New York. We was in D&D for a couple of weeks in the summer, doing Cilvaringz’s album. He took me to see The RZA, and I did three tracks for one of the group’s he got on his label. He came in there, and he was bobbing his head or whatever. They was about to go to the club, and I was like, “yo RZA, let me get five minutes, that’s all I need!” He gave me five minutes; he’s a very gracious man. I showed him one song, and it was Wu Elements from there. Allhiphop.com: Is there one Wu member that more fits your style of production than any of the rest? BN: I’d have to go with Ghost and RZA probably. Ghost the most, because I’m a Soul fiend, man. I got all the old Soul in me that I grew up with like everybody else. When I start digging (in the crates), you get deeper and deeper in the samples, and I got trash bags full of old Soul CDs. I dip into classical, too. Allhiphop.com: About how long would you say you have been in the production game? BN: I’ve been producing since ’94, man. I used to have the straight Hip-Hop style. It’s always been hardcore, like a street style, but I really didn’t start the heavy Wu type of s### until I got with Wu. Outside of Wu, I’ve got a Hip-Hop personality. Allhiphop.com: Do you foresee yourself getting some work on the next Wu-Tang album, provided there is going to be a next album? BN: RZA mentioned something to me about that. They’ll definitely let me turn some s### in for that. Allhiphop.com: With The Great Migration album, who are you expecting to make appearances on the album? BN: I got some n##### on it already. I know my man Hell Razah from Sunz Of Man is going to be on there. Usually when I f### with n#####, it’s like I do a beat for you, and you rock me a verse. I know GZA and Masta Killa is going to be down for it. I’ll probably get RZA on there. Cilvaringz is on there, for sure. My man Baretta 9 from Killarmy is on there, and hopefully I can get (Immortal) Technique on there, too. Allhiphop.com: Is your project going to be pushed by a major or totally independent? BN: I’m searching right now. I got some offers and s###. I might just f### with independent distribution and make more money. I’m in no position where I’m going to be platinum; I’m going to get some attention with this joint. Allhiphop.com: With the style of music that you bring forth, what kind of frame of mind do you have to be in to create it? BN: I’m a deep thinker, you know what I mean? I remember we were in 4th Disciple’s studio one day, and Baretta said my music is like pain. Alot of my music is mad emotional. When I listen to a sample, I hear the pain in the sample. Alot of n##### may hear the rowdiness or the griminess of the beat, but my specialty is pain. I love the grimy s###, but I’m blessed with an ear, man. Allhiphop.com: What do […]

AllHipHop: There is a police station in the area that Jay was shot and killed. How could that have happened with the police being so close? CMP: I don’t know. That’s what makes me think it was all inside. If the security tape was working all along, why wasn’t itworking that night? AllHipHop: What do you think about some of the allegations published about Jay, in particular the drug dealing? CMP: If Jason was into something like that, I would have never known. I don’t think any child tells their mother bad things that they plan to do. At the same time, you have quite a few addicts that said because of Jason, they stopped using. If he was dealing drugs, you would think he would try to keep everyone on it. He wouldn’t have encouraged them to go straight. So that’s the part I don’t understand. AllHipHop: There’s a theory floating around that Jay and three men went down to Baltimore to sell kilos of cocaine and were subsequently robbed by a guy known as Yakin. Do you know who he is? CMP: No, I’ve never heard of him. I can see Jason going, but was it for Jason or was it for Randy? Jason was forever bailing Randy out, all his life he went to bat for Randy. I think it could happen, but the reason for him going, and I knew him well enough to know that if Randy was in a jam and if he could help him out, he would go to bat. So if it went sour, or bad, or wherever it went, I don’t believe it was his, I think he was trying to help somebody. AllHipHop: What was the climate with his friends like before he died? Was there any tension between any of them? CMP: I only saw him during family gatherings when I came up. AllHipHop: How do you feel his friends have handled it? There’s almost a million dollars in reward money being offered to the person or persons that help catch the killer and no one has come forward. CMP: I can’t answer that. The person that gets the reward would be the person that did it. If they know the truth they should come forward and tell the truth. I can imagine that whoever did it is most miserable, not knowing what hour or day someone is going to hit them. I wish no ill will towards anyone but in due time, they will be found. AllHipHop: How is Jay’s wife and sons coping with this? CMP: (Laughs) I really can’t answer that. I have spoken with Terri (Jay’s wife), maybe three times since he has passed. I don’t know where she lives and I haven’t seen the boys at all since he died. AllHipHop: Do you think that’s deliberate? Is she keeping them from you? CMP: Well, I don’t know anyone that can keep them from me, other than Terri herself. I never did anything to her, I held her in high regards as my daughter-in-law and she always treated me well. I don’t understand and I try not to dwell on it too much. I would love to see the kids because I miss them. Those years…the man who took Jason’s life also took my whole family. I see Jason’s oldest son and I talk to him often. AllHipHop: Adidas put out a limited run of a Jam Master Jay sneaker and there were some other fundraising events. Did the family see any of that money? CMP: Right now we have two families. It’s me and my children (Jay’s sister Bonita and brother Marvin) and Terri and her family. Terri and her family benefited from what I gather. But my family hasn’t received anything from anybody. AllHipHop: What happened with Jay’s business affairs? I am sure he gets money from publishing, album sales and the likes. CMP: Terri is the administrator for his estate, so it would all go through her. AllHipHop: What about the physical assets? CMP: I don’t know anything about the business or the things Randy and his sister dealt. The home, that is about the only physical asset that he had. I don’t know about any of his dealings. AllHipHop: So you don’t know anything about an alleged insurance policy that was taken out on Jay, should anything happen to him? CMP: Yes I have heard about the insurance policy. AllHipHop: Here we have perhaps one of the most influential men in all of hip-hop and very important in pop culture dead. His celebrity friends have stopped talking about it and it seems the investigation is at a total stand still. CMP: It’s like a merry-go-round. But it all goes back to that studio, where it started. How did the killer get in and how did they not know who it was? There are so many lies. First he had on a mask, then they gave a description of a man and his son and that threw it to someone else. I wish they would solve it. AllHipHop: Are you involved with the charitable work that Jay’s brother Marvin is doing? CMP: Yes, I am the chairman of the Jam Master Jay For Youth Foundation. AllHipHop: What are your goals for that? CMP: We hope to reach children. We have the Jay Whip that we purchased. We are going to wrap the van and raffle it off to raisemoney for scholarships for 1,000 children that want to go to college. It will be based on their academic and financial needs. Our goal is to raise $2 million dollars to help children across the United States. We want to benefit the young people in the community because Jason cared about them. My dream is to keep the legacy alive and keep the home Jay was raised in. God is going to bless me to do that. If I sell it, he won’t have any ties left to Queens.

My how things have changed. Six years ago, Cormega was a member of rap super group The Firm, and he was signed to the most storied label in hip-hop, Def Jam. But even with a deafening buzz, he hopelessly waited as the release date for his debut album, The Testament, came and went. Nothing. Since then, Cormega has trekked the underground in search of musical freedom. But Mega isn’t bitter. That’s because his two independent solo albums combined have sold more than 250,000 copies and he’s won a Source Award—all without spending money for radio-play promotion or a pricey video. Conversely, the same music industry that shunned him is now in shambles. Major record companies began losing money and merging due to the emergence of rampant Internet piracy and illegal downloading. Note to the Recording Industry Association of America: You can learn a thing or two about the music biz from Mega. AllHipHop.com: So where have you been? What made you take a year off as far releasing an album? Cormega: My daughter was born. She was actually born late 2002, so 2003, I just really wanted to just chill with my daughter and I didn’t want to rush my album. I didn’t want to take anything from my consistency or deprive the fans of a good album. So I said, F*ck it, let me just chill and spend a little time with my daughter. That enabled me to make the album better. The album is going to be incredible when it comes out. I just took that break cause of my daughter. And cause I had a lot of pressure under me to make a good third album, so I just wanted to get my mind right. AllHipHop.com: Where do you feel the pressure coming from? Yourself? The fans? Or just cause it’s a third album? Cormega: All of the above. Cause I always challenge myself. But also, history will show that if an artist comes with a third album then he has staying power. Everybody can make two albums. I don’t give a f*ck if your first album was garbage, the label is gonna give you a second chance. Then after that, that’s when it tells if you gonna be here for a while, or if you not. So the third album has to be real defining, you know what I’m saying? So my third album, right now I think it’s the best album I ever made. AllHipHop.com: Speaking of defining, you album titles are usually real definitive. Is that something you take time in, coming up with concept or ideas for the album titles? Cormega: Yeah, exactly. Because an album title has to reflect the artist, in my opinion. So an album title is usually one of the hardest things for me to come up with. Like Urban Legend doesn’t just fit so perfect. The Realness, The True Meaning, those titles just fit, so I just ran with them. AllHipHop.com: What’s been your decision—with the Ayatolla and Mega EP, the Legal Hustle Compilation, and your solo album—behind your thought process as to when to release each one? Cormega: I’mma keep it real with AllHipHop.com. I’mma say something that I’ve never ever said before. The Ayatolla project, I’ve basically…um…I basically…. How should I put this? I basically fell back from it, because Ayatolla’s work ethic and mine weren’t consistent, you know what I’m saying? Like, I’m the type of dude, if you a producer, let’s say we gonna do an EP, all I need is…what’s an EP, seven songs? So it’s like once you do a beat, I’m basically ready to go. Any n#### that’s worked with me, or any producer will tell you I’m a work-a-holic. So it’s like Ayatolla, like, once we started working on the album and then I got him a little bread from somebody…. I gave him some paper, it’s like, he started slacking, in my opinion. I don’t know if it was from the paper, or whatever. But I don’t got time for—like say I go to the studio and you suppose to come to the studio and you don’t show up. Like, I don’t got time for stuff like that. I said, you know what? I could be doing other things then to be trying to wait for somebody to come to the studio and this and that. That’s the only thing that’s held that up. Like, if he was consistent with the s### he was suppose to do, then the Ayatolla project would have been done. So right now, that’s not one of my priorities right now. When he gets his s### together— AllHipHop.com: Then it’ll be done. Cormega: Yeah. AllHipHop.com: I’ve read a couple of interviews where you mention your work ethic not being consistent with other artists. Can you describe exactly what your work ethic is like on a day for you? Cormega: Everything I do, I’m just on time with it. If I got a studio locked out, they’ll be like, ‘Yo Mega, the session starts at 3:30 and it ends at one in the morning.’ I’m gonna be there at 3:30. I might be there at 3 o’clock. Yo, I’m typically in the studio before the engineer. I like to do what I do. It ain’t just a check for me. It’s professionalism, you know what I’m saying? If an artist is supposed to be at a session at a certain time and they don’t show up, or they come hours late, I’m going to be offended. And certain artists don’t take sh*t as serious at me. So it’s like, if you don’t respect your craft, how am I gonna respect your craft. Like Mobb Deep, I could work with them all day. Because I know how they work. Havoc used to be like an artist that shows up late. He don’t even show up late no more. Like last session I had with Havoc, he was there before me. I couldn’t even believe it. There […]

Game tells his side of the story behind the beef with Joe Budden. Read on. AllHipHop.com: Let’s just talk about the whole beef situation and how it started. You know Joe has already kind of said what he felt how it started but, what’s your view on how it started? Game: Everybody wants to know how it started, right? It started with me and Stack Bundles, who I knew and respected as a young emcee like myself way back before we had deals – on the mixtape circuit. I was doing my thing early before the Aftermath thing. Clue came to me one time when I was out here [in New York] and said, “Can you come out here to do a freestyle?” I’m still trying to finish this album, I’m up-and-coming So I’m like whatever. Stack is in the studio and I’m like “Yeah that’s my n*gga, I f*ck with Stack Bundles.” I’m in the studio we get in and we do the freestyle mix. Me and Stack Bundles, and that’s a wrap. Whatever and I’m thinking just me and Stack Bundles on the song. And like a month or two pass and it’s the All Star Game out in L.A. We outside at the W [hotel], me and my entourage and it’s Fab and a couple celebrities like [basketball player] Sam Casselle. Joe Budden’s out there and he comes up to me to shake my hand but like its like almost like it’s a different handshake. It’s like he’s thinking in his mind “Did Game hear me say that fly s### on this [Clue] tape?” So he shaking my hand kind of phony. I didn’t really pay no attention to it I’m like “I don’t know maybe he just a little weird.” So while Clue is passing out the mix CDs which I’m on, we take it everything is going on it’s All Star, so you put it in your back pocket whatever. So that s### passed over and everybody went back home. All Star was over. I’m working out in the 24 hour fitness two weeks after the All Star Game. 50 called me while I was working out in the gym asking me “Did I do a song with Joe Budden?” And I’m like “Hell no.” I wouldn’t do no song with Joe Budden that’s like not even my genre of rap. I’m a gangster rapper, more like a lyricist and I mix that with my gangster s###. I’m an emcee. Joe Budden is like a rapper. Like I don’t mean to call out names but I don’t even give a f*ck. Like Chingy and Ludacris those are rappers. You wouldn’t classify those as “Aw he got ill lyrics like Biggie and Pac.” Like these are rappers. Like Busy Bee was a rapper. And Kool Moe Dee is more like a lyricist. So that’s the way that I separate myself from different categories and sh*t. So anyway I tell 50, ‘No, I ain’t did no song with Joe Budden.” 50 like "Yeah you did do a song with Joe Budden. It’s on the Clue Mixtape. Joe Budden is on the third verse and he taking shots at G-Unit in the song.” 50 expressed to me that like, he didn’t think it was a good look. I’m agreeing like "n*gga you right. It ain’t a f*cking good look but I ain’t heard it." So I tell 50 I’m a call him back. I go downstairs to my truck and I pop the CD in and then sure enough this n*gga is taking subliminal shots. I can understand if you got beef with somebody [like 50], if you got beef with that man call that man out if that’s who you got beef with or if its them. All you got to do is call them out and they going to come answer. I understand the competitive nature of Hip Hop, of battling and rhyming. But he didn’t do that. And I kind of felt like he disrespected me in the sense that he knew when Clue said I got this song, he looked at it like Game do business with G-Unit. Game is the newest member of G-Unit and he on the song with somebody from Desert Storm and I can come on here and I can certify myself by taking shots at G-Unit. I will look bigger because Game is on the song. AllHipHop.com: Right. GAME: The public doesn’t know how you can just throw a n*gga on a song. They think we were all there and we did it. To the public eye, it looks like I did a song with Joe Budden and condoned him dissin’ G-Unit, which I don’t. I sat down for like a day, a day and a half. I thought about what I should do. I talked to Jimmy [his manager Jimmy Henchman] about it. Everybody agreed that he took a shot. In that, there was no defending the fact that I had to come back at him. That’s what I did. AllHipHop.com: Joe said that people in your camp got calls from people in his camp to make sure there was no beef. If I am correct, he said this happened before All-Star weekend. GAME: No, that is false. That’s 300% false. The calls were made because we didn’t want to over-judge the situation and really end this dude’s career when we didn’t have to. Basically, we were trying to save him. It didn’t end up that way. I know Joe Budden as an emcee that likes to take subliminal shots. He did it with Jay-Z. He did it with 50 Cent. He did it with G-Unit and he’s just that type of emcee. You don’t do that and just jumping on a song – that was phony. I lost a lot of respect for him. I did have respect for him. He’s a young Black rapper coming up in the game – whether he sold five records or […]

Rappers Joe Budden and The Game have a bit of a lyrical feud going on. After an appearance on a DJ Clue song, in which they recorded separately, Game took one of Joe’s lyrics as a personal diss to G-Unit and eventually released the scathing diss song dubbed "Buddens" Set to Ice-T’s “Colors,” the Compton-reared Game says, "You fake like Janet’s t####/one call 300 Bloods in Atlantic City/You bad boy then dance like Diddy/I give celebrity beatdowns/I’ll bring the camera with me.” Wasting little time, Joe promptly replied using the D.O.C.’s “Funky Enough” to back "Game Over." On his verse he rhymes, "Heard your diss track and I aint even play all thatCause I just seen dude and he aint say all that/Was in the same hotel if dude wanted to do me/I’da been Cassidy and gave him the room key/ Got the guns and the vest out that I planted/And then woulda had his chest out like Janet." AllHipHop.com talked to Joe and got his take on the conflict and why things are going down this lumpy road. AllHipHop.com: First and foremost, a lot of people think that this is headed towards violence. Obviously, both of you are talented with a lot of potential. How do you feel about that thought? Joe Budden: I think we can see where beef can lead us to. And people know that I ain’t never with none of the drama. I want to do my music and take care of my family. But if a n*gga comes at me sideways or stupid, as a man you have to retaliate. It’s like in high school, when you go to school for the first time. You know somebody is going to try you and if you don’t defend yourself – even if you lose – you are going to get f*cked up every single day for the rest of the time you are in there. I hope it don’t go there. Nobody wants it to go there. This has the potential to go there. If it goes there, it’s going to be some problems. AllHipHop.com: Can you explain how this started, because most people don’t know. Joe Budden: I will tell you what he is going to say. He’s going to tell you I got on a freestyle on a Clue tape. I called Clue up before the tape was about to drop and said I wanted to rhyme to the Westside Connection beat. Clue said there is already a freestyle done to it already. I said, “Who’s on it?” He said, “Game and Stack.” I said Stack is my n*gga and never had a problem with Game. So even if I beef with every other n*gga in G-Unit, I never had a problem with Game. I said “cool.” I hopped on the end of it. I did the sh*t real quick and I didn’t think anything of it. I knew there might be some speculation over the G-Unit line (To generic person: ‘…he should be in a G-Unit vid with all the gangsta actors’). It was a line that I had been wanting to say but didn’t because 1. I didn’t want people to take is the wrong way and 2. I had already spoken to 50 at Hot 97 and told him, “Look, I don’t have no problem with you dudes.” It wasn’t no beef after that so I thought, “This is a hot line,” Game is on this sh*t with me so I can’t be dissin’ the n*gga [with him on the same song]. Even after the freestyle, I gave the n*gga a shout out to confirm its not really nothing. I’m not with the ignorant listeners. I speak my mind. I speak real sh*t. A whole bunch of people take sh*t and twist it around.. Game and a couple of people started calling my people trying to inquire whether I was blowing up Game or 50 or whatever. And everybody on my side was like, “Nah, nobody is doing all that.” So then I go to All-Star weekend and I see the n*gga. He was already asking around, “Is he going at me?” I see him and it was all peace, it was all love. I daps the n*gga up and we’re standing face to face like m#### fu**in’ men do and it wasn’t nothing. I asked, “What’s good?” He said, “Nothing, man.” It was all peace. I went in the club, he went his way, I went my way. I came back, the n*gga was still there, I gave him a dap again. It was on some man-to-man sh*t. [I was] waiting for him to say something. He never said nothing. I was like, “Alright, cool. n*ggas must have handled the sh*t.” I come back. A week goes by. Another week goes by. And then there is a diss record out. I was like, “You can’t be serious. You can’t be for real, because I just seen you.” I already know what it is, because there is a whole bunch of behind the scenes sh*t going on that the public never, ever knows. 50 got in Game’s ear. So bam – 50 got in the n*gga ear and he’s like how you gonna be on a n*gga freestyle and he’s dissin’ the Unit. Now he goes back, does a little math. If you analyze it like that, its going to seem like I am going after you.” Any rap that’s on a mixtape, if you think a n*gga is coming at you, then that’s how its going to sound. Its all “you, you, you, you.” The whole Westside Connection song on the Clue tape is about fake gangsters. The original song is about fake gangsters. That’s the subject that all three of us stuck to. The hood I’m from – “If it don’t apply, let if fly.” Now the n*gga gets all rowdied up talking about Joe Budden dissed him. But this goes way back. You already know. 50 said […]

Lil’ Flip personally requested that writer Kay Konnect relay a message to his fans regarding the flock of filter in his last Allhiphop.com interview about the drama surrounding Hump and Sucka Free Records. Flip wanted to expand his original statements. Lil’ Flip: Yeah, yeah, we gotta clear some stuff up that they had on Allhiphop.com. They had some stuff that they got from Hump. AllHipHop.com: The Sucka Free Records thing? Lil’ Flip: The whole thing with that was…I really don’t try to put my business out there. Like if you’re a man…you are supposed to settle the stuff so the fans won’t think that I didn’t want to be with him… The bottom line was….I was doing a whole bunch of shows and I wasn’t getting none of the deposits. Like imagine doing thirty shows for $5,000 grand a piece and all you are getting is $1200. AllHipHop.com: That’s Christmas for somebody. Lil’ Flip: Imagine a person telling you that you own a label and when you look at the paper work your name is not there. AllHipHop.com: Some people take moves for granted. Lil’ Flip: Well I was young. He grew up with my dad so I expected him not to mess me over. But he kinda…I was supposed to get paid as a rapper and CEO. But what he did was…he had it that I made more money than other rappers, but I made less than him, and I was doing a lot of work. Like up in the studio while everybody else was up with girls and s###…I was up in the studio grinding. AllHipHop.com: I respect that. Now that you have your company “Clover G” how is your business practices? Because once money gets in the way…need I say more? Lil’ Flip: What’s crazy is that I been having money. I’m not going to say that my family was rich, but I had money. Plus I was working in high school. The money thing…I don’t mind sharing with people, but to some people when you’re young they take stuff for granted. When you are young, you don’t research everything that’s going on. A person could tell you that you own the company and that you got a million dollars in the bank. But if you don’t go to the bank and count that million dollars, guess what, it might not be there!!! So I just want to clear up some of the things because he makes it seem like I don’t want to help nobody. Don’t get it twisted.

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 they raps. But AllHipHop has just as much love for the producer. From eight bar loops, to live instrumentation, to the Trinitron, we love true beat makers and trunk shakers. AllHipHop’s Paine has kicked off a series of interviews with the greatest, most innovative producers in Hip-Hop history. In depth interviews looking back, looking forward, and always looking for the perfect beat.             We begin with the devastating Prince Paul. In his eighteenth year on wax, Prince Paul’s career spans a number of projects, periods, and innovations. Paul began as the DJ and co-producer of Stetsasonic, one of the greatest groups ever in terms of how ahead of their time they were. Paul later helped his native Long Island into a daisy age, by producing De La Soul’s first three, and unforgettable LP’s. Meanwhile, P Squared was still making classics for 3rd Bass, MC Lyte, and Boogie Down Productions. Paul went on to co-create The Gravediggaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School – two concept projects that appealed to two opposite sides of Hip-Hop, but still were cherished by critics and fans alike. In the last five years, Prince Paul hasn’t slowed his roll. His beats still finds their way to some of the most creative MC’s in the underground like Last Emperor, Tragedy Khadafi, and even Chris Rock’s second comedy album. In 2003, Paul dropped his third solo album, Politics of Business, filled with a wide-spanning A-list of MC’s dropping rhyme commentary on the ills of the industry. Prince Paul won’t quit, and if he did, there are a lot of us that just might walk with him. AllHipHop: You were one of the first cats to sample obscure records outside of Funk and Jazz. Sampling was a big part of your formula. As the laws buckled down, how has it affected your formula and your overall sound? Prince Paul: To be honest with you, it really didn’t affect me until very recently. To me, it was worth paying the money, whatever it is, as long as you had a great song. It was always – the song first. Financial gain, it’ll come in time, as long as you had a great song. It didn’t bother me until recently when all these crazy lawsuits started coming from these records I did years ago – like De La Soul days. I thought all of that was taken care of by the label. Now, I guess I really have to be careful and make sure that not just I look at it, but that the label takes care of these things. ‘Cause back then, I just looked at the label to do all the work and that’s how we [De La Soul] got into trouble with The Turtles. AllHipHop: A lot of people blame the artists for suing. But for a true crate digger and lover of music, it’s hard to fault these people. What’s your take on that? Prince Paul: I’m not really mad, definitely not at the artist. I get mad at, I can’t front, usually at the label. ‘Cause they know ahead of time. Their main concern most of the time is obviously saving money. Because they look at it as “what if it ain’t gonna sell?” So they’re taking a risk. But ten years down the line when an artist like me starts to pay for it, but the label’s defunct, it really gets crazy. I don’t blame the artist we sample from. I just don’t like it when they go overboard. Let’s say I made a song and it sold 50,000 copies but yet they want $200,000. I’m like gee, I didn’t even make that much, nor did I get any type of an advance. AllHipHop: Now that you’re on an Indie, do you expect to release work on a more consistent basis? Prince Paul: Even being on an Indie, I gotta worry about getting dropped. Who knows, man? I have to have a meeting with them in the next month here to find out if I have another record coming out – with them, mind you. But I would like to. I started working on the next record already, which I tell you now, is crazy! AllHipHop: Word? Go on, you’ve got our attention. Prince Paul: It’s a very gutter record. Put it like this, just think from ’93 all the way back to the first time you heard Rap records. That’s my record. So I don’t know how supportive the label’s gonna be. AllHipHop: Wow. That’s the answer. What prompted you to go that way? Prince Paul: It’s where my heart’s at. It’s what I miss. It’s what I don’t hear. It’s where my passion is. There’s a lot of guys, my age, like, “Man, what happened?” That’s the question. So I’m like, I’m from that era, why can’t I make a record like that? With the same vibe or the same feel. I can do that. I’m in there. AllHipHop: I heard you and MF DOOM had some stuff cooking again. Prince Paul: Oh, he’s in there! Man, when I first started this, me and him was on the phone. I know he has his own album with Madlib coming out, which is great, but this is where the Old School Hip-Hop ego comes in, which I rarely use, I’m hear to blow all that out the box. This is probably the last Prince Paul record I’ll make, as Prince Paul. Handsome Boy or whatever, that’s that. If I’m gonna go out, I’m going out with a bang. So I’m putting a lot into this. AllHipHop: But you’re still pleased with Politics of Business, right? Prince Paul: Yeah. Personally, I liked that record. It’s just that, other people didn’t [burst of Prince Paul signature laughter]. There’s a concept behind it, and they […]

AllHipHop: What is the personal highlight of your career in your eyes? Prince Paul: Wow, mine are very simple. It’s not even one big highlight. It’s just the fact that – Yo, I’m still working! Everyday I wake up and man, it amazes me. I could easily say that when the Chris Rock records won Grammy’s or when I won this award or did this overseas – Nah, it’s the fact that – Man, I beat some serious odds! And I was least likely to succeed. Coming from an era where, like Daddy-O was the lead member of Stetsasonic, Big Daddy Kanes, Teddy Rileys, Hank Shocklee and the Bomb Squad, and everybody. How is it that  I still make records? I’m not saying that they don’t, but I’m still out there. AllHipHop: Your work, EPMD, and Public Enemy was just crazy for the changes it brought to Hip-Hop. Do you think growing up on Long Island and being close to the city, but far enough away, made your vision so eclectic? Prince Paul: I wouldn’t say necessarily eclectic, I think the eclectic part was just our personalities. We had to make our own voice. It seemed like we had to work ten times harder because we were from Long Island. You say Long Island, the expectations were low. You had to come out with something completely different or better than, or Rakim, just check out his rhymes man – they’re ridiculous. AllHipHop: With this series, I want to spotlight one record that I adore with each. If the reader likes it they like, if not – tough. With you, it’s “Keeping the Faith.” The first twenty seven seconds of that track just tickle me, man. Tell me about the creation of that record. Prince Paul: [Laughing] I could tell one major element in making “Keeping the Faith” and that’s Maseo [from De La Soul]. Cause he came in and more or less said, “This is how I want to piece everything together.” It was just a matter of me – as a producer – piecing it together, and making it work, and make the guys rhyme and sound a certain way. But conceptualized as far as the music, he definitely gets a bulk of the credit. Me, I just wanted the guys to have a nice cool vibe. One thing about De La Soul, especially those days, what I concentrated on with those guys, was always make sure the rhyme style matched with the music. AllHipHop: Funny question. We know Chubb Rock owes you some money. Did Chubbs ever pay up? Prince Paul: [Laughter throughout] Oh, of course not! He’s avoided me. Man – I’m all of 5’9”, a hundred and fifty pounds, and he’s what – 6’3”, maybe three hundred pounds. And he’s avoided me! Man, look! That cat, he owes a lot of people money. And we’re all looking for him. There’s a union of people who he owes money, looking to get at least something back. Yo, you know what I’m putting out? Anybody who gets my money from Chubb Rock, I’ll give ‘em half of what he owes me! He owes me $2200. You get my money, I give you $1100! AllHipHop: That’s a used Geo right there. That’s not bad at all. Prince Paul: [Laughter] Something’s better than nothing. And I’m not talking about violence. Cause if y’all might see him before I see him. If you could politely get my money back. AllHipHop: One odd note is. You don’t get high, never did, and I know you’re not a big drinker either, and you’re dope! Growing up, that helped me get on the straight and narrow. But you never aired it as a role model. Talk about that for a minute. Prince Paul: Well, for me, I’ve always been offered, especially in the early days, in the 80’s, it was cool to sniff coke and smoke weed and everything else. Not that it’s not uncool to smoke weed now. But it just never appealed to me because when I see how some of them dudes act, I see a lot of dudes get robbed, high [laughter], especially from women. Sometimes I don’t see me getting high as fun. I laugh anyway. AllHipHop: You bring your son with you a lot. Does he show interest in Hip-Hop, being around you so much? Prince Paul: I don’t think he takes the interest like I had it because now, Hip-Hop is add water. You add water to [anything], you got Hip-Hop. From the musical instruments they got at Sam Ash, to your clothes, it’s there. I think what made it interesting for me when I was a kid is you had to look for it. It wasn’t there, it wasn’t accessible. And nobody really supported it except the kids around [my] age. Adults didn’t support it. You had to make stuff Hip-Hop. It gave you a whole Macguyver feel. Like, “I gotta make these leaves Hip-Hop” [laughter]. The man who made Cazals didn’t really think, “Urban kids are gonna be wearing these glasses!” We had to make stuff. Whether it was music or clothes or whatever the case is.  For him, it’s for granted. His dad makes music. I come home, it’s around him. There’s drum machines. He doesn’t have to go to a friends house or find one or work real hard to get one. It’s just there for him. I think the excitement is minimal. But he’s a natural talent though, which is kinda scary. He’ll get on the turntables and he’ll cut like Bam Bam Bam! And be, “Oh, I’m done.” I’ll have kick snare patterns on the drum machines. He’ll program a beat, Bam Bam Bam. “That’s cool.” It’s frustrating. He’s naturally nice like that. But I don’t push him neither. AllHipHop: He won’t be squaring off against Lil’ Romeo? Prince Paul: Nah, you know I would love to! I wish I could be like Joe Jackson, like “Go! Go!”  [laughter] But he’s […]

JT The Bigga Figga may not be a household name, but those who have followed Hip-Hop music and specifically the independent rap game know his name very well. JT, who heads up Get Low Records, has been dropping albums since 1991. Since the company’s founding, his label has released an astonishing 70 albums. After using the name for so long, JT said he was stunned when he found out Roc-A-Fella star Memphis Bleek had a record label, Get Low Records. JT says that he extended an olive branch several times to fix the situation, but never received a concrete answer from the Brooklyn-bred rapper. (Bleek has mentioned in other publications that he might consider changing the name of his imprint to Dirty Get Low, a term he uses frequently in rhyme.) The result of JT ire is a challenge to Memphis Bleek for the name of the company and, on the line, may be a hefty amount of cash. Nevertheless, JT stresses it clear that this is not a street beef. He promises that it is strictly business offer in the name of Hip-Hop. In this interview, JT also touches on his discovery of Aftermath artist, Game, who also hails from Dr. Dre’s hometown of Compton and his personal beef with Daz Dillinger. AllHipHop: What’s going on with Get Low Records? And how did this whole thing with Memphis Bleek start? JT: On the Dynasty album is the first time I heard him say Get Low, in 2000. They were out here a number of times. It started in Filmore. They did their shows and after parties here in 1998, 1999. By 2000 I was at 40 albums. He had to know Get Low Records. He knew that we had it and he felt he was on such a large label that nobody would ever really know. AllHipHop: We reached out to him and he hasn’t got back to us about it yet. Are you going to take the legal route? JT: That will only come once he has record out. If you look on his album it says Get Low, but it doesn’t say "Records." It also says Get Low Records coming soon. We talked about it and I told him, you can add Get Low East to your sh*t out of respect for what I’ve already established and I wouldn’t even trip man. He agreed to that. He’s setting the stage for more than competition. I am dealing with Memphis Bleek from a diplomatic perspective and from what I learned from Tupac and Biggie. AllHipHop: What happened to the talks? JT: The first time we talked was at the 2001 at the Soul Train Awards. He was like ‘n*gga you nothing, we millionaires and we Get Low’ and basically just walked off. The next time I saw him was in 2003 at the Roc The Mic tour. I was with 50 Cent and them. Young Buck is my homeboy. I saw Memphis Bleek getting ready so I slipped up on him. That’s when we had a good talk. I had emailed Jay-Z about the situation because n*ggas in the street want to make it a big thing. He was like ‘Ima get yall two dudes together’ and said that he didn’t know about it. Out of respect for Jay-Z I’m reaching out. I went to the top man and let him know, so they can’t say that I didn’t get at them about this. When we finally met again, it was more or less like ‘I remember you now’ and all that. We had a hand shake in front of Jay-Z and 50 Cent. We got witnesses. I don’t know if he was scared, but I told him ‘We aint gonna do nothing to you homie.’ This is business. He basically trying to blow the sh*t off. I read an interview where he said we talked but that’s about it. He’s on the Roc-A-Fella label. Establishing his Get Low is a whole nother thing. We are 2 DVD’s ahead of him, we a book ahead of him and we’re 70 albums ahead of him. It’s just a company name. I’ll put all my albums in an ad in a magazine and then put his name in it and tell him ‘when you can match this, then you can name it Get Low.’ AllHipHop: So what happens now? JT The Bigga Figga: I want it to be about everybody seeing what’s what. I need to set the challenge We can do $100,000. AllHipHop: You want to battle him for $100,000? JT: $100,000. Competition. $100,000 and the name of the company. You win I’ll give you the money and the company name. And we can compete on any level. A physical one-on-one, you know what I’m talkin about? Or we can keep it in the music world and go song for song. It’s whatever. AllHipHop: What’s the situation with The Game? JT: I found Game in LA in 2002 at the Hip-Hop Summit. He didn’t have a demo or no label. I had just started my new company Black Wall Street. I did a one album deal with him and we 22 tracks and I taped all that and some performances for a DVD. He took those songs I recorded and was shopping his deal. That’s all good. Anything you get after this is yours. Only thing I got claim to is what I spent my money on. AllHipHop: How do you think you spent on him? JT: Sh*t man, I aint spend hardly nothing. I spent under $50,000. It was an investment that you spend on a brand new artist. AllHipHop: Are you waiting to try to capitalize on when he gets popular? Are you waiting or trying to maximize that? JT: I met with the staff of Aftermath. I gave them the opportunity for them to buy this back. I brought them the contracts and showed them that I was legitimate with everything. So I guess they are […]