Jadakiss: Top 5, Dead or Alive

Jayson Phillips is a man’s man, a rapper’s rapper, a hoodlum’s thug and a D-boy’s kingpin. More Nino Brown than John Wayne, Jadakiss speaks his soul in a raspy narrative, reminiscent of Marlon Brando’s Godfather. In the streets and on wax, the Yonkers native proves that he is cut from a different cloth…Possibly that army fatigue, clothing Generals and cadets alike. He’s never forgotten where he’s come from. Whether Vh1’s The Glamorest Life or the sidewalk of Nepperhan Avenue, from concrete he was molded and on it he forever stands.

Everyone’s list is different. Not only are we talking ingenuity and strength of catalog, we are talking talent and success. It’s your list versus mine, each with it’s own handicap and quirky criteria. We’re talking Hip Hop and it’s storied hall of fame legacy that is finally being done justice with the likes of Vh1’s annual Hip Hop Honors. If nothing less, Jadakiss can be ranked as one of the top five emcees out of New York—all time. Which is a heavy crown for any rapper repping the birth-state of Hip-Hop.

Jadakiss’ first solo effort arrived in 2001 with Kiss Tha Game Goodbye. He did just that with hit singles that topped the Billboard 200. Jadakiss’ strong reputation in the rap industry proved notable on his debut, as he commanded top tier producers (DJ Premier, Timbaland, The Neptunes) and artists (Nas, DMX, Snoop Dogg) in Hip Hop, considered heavyweights by many. Kiss The Game Goodbye became certified gold in a matter of months. The L.O.X. front man reached platinum status with his sophomore follow-up, Kiss of Death that also earned him a Grammy for his pointed political commentary on “Why” featuring Anthony Hamilton. The most memorable line, “…why did Bush knock down the towers,” sparked controversy and spoke to the hearts of everyday Americans.

He’s come a mighty long way from the shiny suit era of waving the Bad Boy flag. Jadakiss has matured as a man and taken off the fatigue, from trading scathing verses with Beanie Seigel to surviving verbal warfare on mixtapes with G-Unit. Now he just wants the world to “Kiss My Ass,” as his latest fourth quarter offering promises. Jadakiss chops it up with HipHopDX about the streets, his new Roc-A-Fella venture and reminisces on his most memorable moment with rap legend, Notorious B.I.G.

HipHopDX: What kind of influence did The Notorious B.I.G. have on your career as an up and coming rapper?
Jadakiss: I thought Big was incredible. We grew up…right about the time we was about to get in the game, is when Big was poppin’. So when we was sittin’ around writing together we'd be like “I wonder what Big would say if he heard us.” After we got the time to meet him and he was feeling us and it was mutual, that was like the greatest inspiration ever. "This nigga we been trying to meet, and he feeling us? It's no turning back now."

DX: What’s your most memorable moment of Biggie?
Jadakiss: My best moment; I had a birthday party one year, uptown, and Big came to the party. It was him and [Lil] Cease. No security, no other people, none of that. He stood on the wall, popped bottles with me and smoked all night.

DX: What do you think of the new Notorious movie, that portrays his life, soon to hit theaters?
Jadakiss: I hear it's aiight, I'm glad they made a movie. I just hope they portray him right on there.

DX: Lately you've been like Barry Bonds; hitting it out the park with freestyles, mixtapes and guest verses. Where has this recent inspiration come from?
Jadakiss: Well you know, it's a certain formula for when you gonna come out and now with this Internet shit you gotta put out even more music. That's what it is. You gotta feed the people, feed the streets and the net.

DX: The "Hi Hater remix" is dope. I was listening to Hot 97 and Maino was on the radio saying how you were one of the first people to support the record.
Jadakiss: No doubt, I heard it in the club and was like, "This is gonna be something." I let him know that I was gonna hop on there when he did the remix. I try to help the new niggas out 'cause they can't get in touch with [Jay-Z] or Nas or their favorite artist. I'm the only favorite artists that they can get in touch with, so I try to keep that love with 'em.

DX: Are you like an O.G. in the rap game to up-and-coming emcees?
Jadakiss: Yeah, I am like an O.G. I'm like niggas’ fathers in this...like a forefather that ain't too much fore. [Laughs] I’m like a young parent. You know when you see niggas with they pops, chillin’.

DX: The hottest song in the game right now is "We Run This" featuring Jay-Z.
Jadakiss: Yeah, that's something I let out for the streets.

DX: How did that come about?
Jadakiss: Well you know I'm on Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam, Ruff Ryders, Vivendi and a couple other shits before the money even get to me. So, I just hollered at him. I don't need him to hold my hand or walk me through this joint. I just needed some light love and I'll be alright.

DX: Explain the sit-down between bosses that led to the Roc-A-Fella deal.
Jadakiss: "Ayo, you wanna make some money? Let's make it happen." He already know where the skills is at 'cause we came in the game somewhat together. It's not like a new artist where he don't really know what it's hittin’ for. Who wouldn't be happy to have 'Kiss down with 'em?

DX: Plus, you were a free agent.
Jadakiss: Yeah. I was flirting with Star Trak and Roc-A-Fella, back and forth.

DX: Why are you going with Kiss My Ass for the album title?
Jadakiss: That's how I'm feeling right now. At the third album, this is what it is. The game is all rearranged right now, it's all digital, this and that, not selling. Not really to the fans, but whoever ain't feeling my movement; kiss my ass. It's always love with the fans, that's why I keep giving you music. That's why I do all the handshaking, picture taking and rent paying. But even you feel like telling your boss that, every couple of times a month. Everybody feels like that. Even kids feel like that without talking but with gestures and hand movements. There comes a time when you gotta tell somebody that. You get fed up and you say, “Kiss my ass.” It's almost legal. It ain't like nigger. I ain't gonna have the same problems as nigger, because even white people tell other people to kiss they ass.

DX: When can we expect the album to hit stores?
Jadakiss: Trying to get it out late November, early December. We just heatin' up right now so when we get to a full sizzle and it feel right, we gon' let it go. It's right around the corner though. I only gotta do prolly two, three more songs, finish up some hooks, do some interludes and we gon' be ready to rock.

DX: Who are some of the artists and producers you worked with for this project?
Jadakiss: I got Buckwild, Alchemist, this new kid Success. Eric Hudson, Pharrell, Baby Grande, Barrington Levy, Styles [P] and Sheek [Louch], [Lil Wayne], [Young] Jeezy, Baby Storm. I'm a have Faith [Evans] on there. You know I'm trying to give you a nice voluptuous project.

DX: What's different on this third go around?
Jadakiss: I just really did it by myself; picked all the beats and all that. I really started working and then I got my team right as I started the project. So it's not like before; people was giving me beats, telling me...I did every beat that I wanted to do. I don't care who felt they liked it or not, if I liked it I did it. I did whatever I wanted to do on all of the songs and that fits in with the whole Kiss My Ass thing. I never got to do that on my other projects. It wasn't like I was cooped up and told what to do but I had to wait my turn to get to this point and do it all by myself.

DX: Are you still top five, dead or alive? Where did that originate?
Jadakiss: It might have been a couple people coming up to me telling me that or is just how I see myself in the game. I'm up about number three now. I moved up a couple notches.

DX: Who are the other two, if you're top three?
Jadakiss: Nah, I don't know right now. Hov is alive, so he got that number one spot. The number two spot is just floatin' around and it keeps switchin'.

DX: But it always comes back to Jadakiss.
Jadakiss: Yeah, it's gon' come back. When they make that next MTV list, I'm on there.

DX: I was actually watching Vh1 and...
Jadakiss: Yeah! I was in the bed watching that and seen me come up on The Most Glamorest joint. It was on my sneaker game.

DX: What's the deal with your customized Air Force 1's?
Jadakiss: You know…I'm old-school baby. You know how we feel about sneakers. I gotta get all the exclusives. Keep my Nike game…Jordan connects. You know how we do. 914. Fly baby!

DX: Vh1 said you had an Asian artist working on your sneakers.
Jadakiss: Yeah, my man Hue. I knew Hue before he blew up. I used to order wild shit from him. I got a good stylist, Groovy Lou, he put me up on the hot stuff.

DX: You’ve spoken about how bizarre the rap game is with kids wearing tight clothes and all that.
Jadakiss: I'm not really playing when I say tight clothes people, 'cause to each is own. I even stepped my clothes down a size smaller, not too small but, you gotta touch on stuff like that. That's what people like to hear. Whatever is hot or contemporary, they wanna hear what's going on.

I was in the sneaker store the other day, this young kid told me about some sneakers that's the hottest shits that I ain't even know about. You gotta stay in touch with the young people.

DX: I have spoken with Styles and Sheek before and one thing that always impressed me about The L.O.X. is that ya'll are close to the concrete; riding through your old neighborhood and showing love. You make it a point of stopping through the local car wash just to say what's up.
Jadakiss: That's how we maintain our love. We're hands on with the people. There are people that like us that don't even like rap music. 'Cause it ain't always about the music or profession, you gotta have a good rapport with people, no matter what job or field you in.

DX: On tracks you often talk about the state of the community, specifically with kids running wild today. I remember hearing you on the "Smile remix" with Trae and Styles P...Are you referencing rap, the community or both?
Jadakiss: All of that. I'm from the hood so I gotta let it be known. And I got kids and you gotta let 'em know what's really going on out here. I can't pull the wool over my son or daughter's eyes. I gotta try to show them the best of both worlds like my mom and pops did for me. I lived in the crib but I went over to my cousin's house in the projects a couple of times a week, feel it out over here. This is what it could be like. Gotta let 'em know both sides of the fence.

DX: On your last album you had the song "Why" which was very political and earned a Grammy. In this election year, when can fans expect a Barack Obama endorsement on wax?
Jadakiss: Nah, I aint really gonna do that too much. I'll probably vote this year, but I'm a stay away from that. I might throw a little reference in here and there.

DX: Nothing too political this year...
Jadakiss: Yeah, I'm a keep it official. They didn't expect it, that's why I did it before. You gotta always come from left field.

HipHopDX.com
October 6th, 2008

Ice Cube - Raw Footage Album Review

Ice Cube's Raw Footage is cinematically orchestrated, moody and insightful. Scored by John Murphy [All About The Benjamins] and neatly trimmed to a solid hour [16 shots], Cube's eighth wonder is a more polished collective in comparison to 2006's Laugh Now, Cry Later [click to read]. In alignment with the menacing album cover is the politically charged street single "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It." Cube refutes the notion that "prior to gangsta rap music, the world was a peaceful place." Compton was dangerous before gangsta rap! With over three million views on youtube, the controversial leadoff video from Ice Cube just might be his edgiest one to date. So accurate in its portrayal of American hypocrisy and global crisis, the video shows spliced news footage of countries at war, government scandal and racism in the media [Don Imus and Michael Richards]. Cube approaches the subject with twisted irony, and fights back by bearing the burden wholeheartedly for all of the world's ills at present time and prior to his birth. He cynically snarls "blame me."

The question "What is the definition of a pyroclastic flow?" is the underlying theme [intro] of this album asked by narrator and film thespian Keith David [First Sunday]. Cube answers with intense heat from tracks like "Tomorrow," "Cold Places" and "It Takes a Nation." The latter, produced by New York's own Emile, is an aggressively unifying track, reminiscent of the days of the Bomb Squad [click to read] and Amerikkka's Most Wanted. "Where the fuck is Afrika Bambaataa at…" Cube angrily spits. It's pure King Kong over that familiar West Coast synth and trunk-heavy 808.

Raw Footage ciphers a bevy of special guests. Most notably, heir to the West Coast rap throne The Game. "Get Used To It" is a sonic bubbler backed by a continuous chant that can only be described as West Coast crunk. The simple hook makes it too weak for radio spins and it wouldn't inspire club anarchy. But with Ice Cube, WC and The Game [click to read] all on one record…this is as G'd up as it gets! Being the youngest amongst two of his rap gods, Mr. Taylor attacks the track with a point to prove and pours gasoline on the rumor mil, ablaze of him possibly being inducted as the newest member of the super-group, Westside Connection. "I'm 'bout to join the Lench Mob, that's me squirtin' the mac, motherfuckers!"

Fortunate enough, Raw Footage is low on filler; "Get Money, Spend Money, No Money" and "Here He Come" being the exception that falls short of average. The unique addition of R&B keeps pace with Cube's maturity as he collaborates with soul singers Angie Stone and Musiq Soulchild on songs like "Hood Mentality" and "Why Me?" This unexpected turn from Cube proves fruitful, as these two gems shine brilliantly on an otherwise dark, penetrating album. With more God references than usual on a Cube disc, stop the violence messages like "A 187 don't make an O.G." can be appreciated in the hood. Especially when it's coming from an O.G. Choruses that advocate responsibility, "If you don't wanna shake that hood mentality/How the fuck we 'sposed to change our reality…" leave a powerful, lasting impression.

Only Ice Cube can tight rope this kind of subject matter in today's rap game without coming off as soft or preachy. He has always been the artist you love and "nigga you love to hate." Anyone feeling stubborn at the gate of acceptance, just better get used to it.

HIPHOPDX.COM August 18, 2008

Ice Cube: True To The Game

It’s Friday night and the young New York working class has milled into a small venue on the Lower East Side. The crowd is a cultural mix of young and old Hip Hoppers. The scene isn’t fancy or friendly. Everyone seems like they’re in the mood for some gangsta shit. The local deejay takes a break from spinning the top 100 and introduces the man of the hour: west coast boss of all bosses, Ice Cube. Fans cheer and rush the stage as he and long-time friend and partner-in-rhyme, WC, rip through recent cuts off of Laugh Now, Cry Later and his latest album Raw Footage.

Cube aggressively commands the stage and electrifies his audience. As he surfs farther back in time through his catalog of classics, the wave of the crowd grows into a frenzied tsunami. The venue quakes as fans flow word-for-word with Cube on “Today Was a Good Day” and finally erupts with “Straight Outta Compton.” That’s where it all started. 1980s. N.W.A. Los Angeles. That’s the Cube they first loved and the primary reason they ride for him to this day.

HipHopDX catches up with the rap icon, fresh off an international promo-tour earlier that morning. He talks about flexing his independent muscle in the rap game and why the music aint to blame for the world’s ills.


HipHopDX: What was the statement you were trying to make with the music video "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" [click to view] ?
Ice Cube: I wanted to make a video that was raw and uncensored. It was strange 'cause I had done so many videos over my career and you always gotta censor yourself and you always gotta try and think about "Will they play this?" and it was cool just to do a video where I didn't have to worry about that. I used whatever footage I felt should be in there. It was the dirty version. We never did a clean version. Freedom. Man...finally I can do things the way I envisioned instead of doing them the way some programmer likes it.

DX: The video was actually straight raw footage, real life events. Was that the inspiration for this new album Raw Footage?
Ice Cube: In a way. Not really the events, but the hypocrisy. I wanted to show all the stuff that was going on in the world that didn't have nothing to do with the hood, nothing to do with rap and show that these problems in the world are bigger than gangster rap music. A lot of people want the Crips and Bloods to stop fightin' in South Central, but the Israelis and Palestinians can't stop fighting, so how the Crips and Bloods gon' stop fightin'? If you can't stop it on a big major scale, how you gon' stop it on a small scale?

DX: This is solo album number eight. That's a huge accomplishment to still be relevant today. You made a comment about being "loved by the grandmamas and the babies." How does it feel on the eighth go-round?
Ice Cube: It feels real good in a lot of ways man because it's an independent record. We had a lot of success with Laugh Now, Cry Later [click to read]. We're excited to get another crack at it and just the fact that I did the record how I wanted to do it and not how people maybe suggest [I] should do it. When you're doing records, you got a lot of people in the mix sometimes - you know from the record companies to the promotion team, to the radio team; everybody got something to say on the kind of records you make. Here at Lench Mob Records, we ain't got all that. We just got our team dedicated to push and promote whatever I do in the studio.

DX: With John Murphy (All About The Benjamins) doing the score and Keith David's (First Sunday) narration, listeners can pick up a more cinematic vibe on Raw Footage...
Ice Cube: I always want to make the record feel like a complete album and not just a bunch of songs linked together. I want the record to feel like it's telling a story in its sequence and skits in between. I wanted this record to feel big. I knew I wasn't going to do a lot of skits but when I did 'em, I wanted you to feel 'em. Keith David adds that continuity throughout the record. He was a voice that's distinct and powerful. I'm glad I'm able to use him on a record like this. John Murphy is probably one of the most versatile score guys in the business right now.

DX: Tony Draper and I recently had a conversation with respect to Nas' new album. It was originally titled Nigger [click to read]. He had to eventually change it prior to release mainly due to label pressure. The sentiment in the air is that Ice Cube can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Is that due to you presently being an independent artist or because of your history and reputation in the entertainment business?
Ice Cube: Hopefully, it's a bit of both but being independent allows me to do what I wanna do without having to bow down to any pressure from any label… I feel an artist should be able to present his art how he feel it. The record is distributed through EMI, but that's all they do is distribute it. There's nobody that has the power to tell me no. That's a big factor, and it gets political sometimes in this game and it's just a shame. An artist should be able to present his art how he feel it. But it didn't affect the record [Nas' Untitled]. It sold very well - still selling, and Nas is on tour so I think he...even naming it that and getting it snatched away it, might've showed how big Nas and that record is.

DX: Veteran rappers like yourself, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Nas are maturing as men. What is the catalyst behind the recent surge of concept albums with more meaning from our rap icons?
Ice Cube: I think really it's uh, people are sick of bubble gum pop rap to the point where...especially the older heads, we don't want that. We want something with some substance in it. I just think we're catering to our fan base. I'm pretty sure Nas got a fan base that's similar to mine and he caters to them and that's what we gon' do. We're not gonna cater to the whole Hip Hop universe, we're just gonna cater to our fans and everybody else is gon' have to come on in.

DX: Who are some of the music-men that you worked with on Raw Footage. How did a song like "Cold Places" come about?
Ice Cube: "Cold Places" is Hallway Productions. They did a few songs on Laugh Now, Cry Later, some young dudes out of Northern California and they're incredible. Emile from New York got down with us and he did "It Takes a Nation of Millions" and "Get Money, Spend Money, No Money" and Pablo Beats is a new dude who did the single "Do Your Thang" and Maestro [click to read] did "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It." We got a few people on there, new heads that's comin' up in the game. I always like using new producers 'cause it aint really about the name it's really about the music.

DX: Recently A Tribe Called Quest reunited. When can fans get an Ice Cube and Sir Jinx reunion? 2009?
Ice Cube: [Laughs] You never know. Jinx, he's always hangin' around, you know? But you know Jinx is a free-spirit kind of dude with his own personality and flavor so you know, it's hard to catch up with him and keep him under lock and key. But you never know, man.

DX: So there's nothing the way of y'all working together again? There's a history of classic material...
Ice Cube: No, not at all. Jinx is my homie first. That's Dr. Dre's cousin, and without Jinx, I wouldn't be where I am today. It's always love.

DX: How did the song "Get Used To It" with The Game come about?
Ice Cube: Well you know, me and The Game [click to read] been down since the start of his career and ya know, we always looking for ways to work together and collaborate...

DX: You're like a mentor in a sense...
Ice Cube: I hope so. I always try to give him advice on things I see or he asks about. He wanted me to do a hook on his record ["State of Emergency"] and I wanted him to do a verse on mine. "Get Used To It" was the perfect song with me, [The and WC [click to read]. So you know, I think it's hot.

DX: Is there any truth to the rumor that The Game is the newest member of Westside Connection?
Ice Cube: Maybe…

DX: He went off on "Get Used To It."
Ice Cube: Yeah. He can rhyme, no doubt.

DX: Have you seen the recent CNN special Black In America?
Ice Cube: No, I didn’t see it.

DX: The series takes a look at black people in America and focuses on the family, as well as independent black men and women. They actually ran a segment disparaging Hip Hop, criticizing the music and message, and they played one of your videos. Did the network reach out to you and give you an opportunity to speak your piece in defense of your music and culture?
Ice Cube: Not that I know of. Anything that I do goes through [my publicist], and we ain't heard nothing. They ain't contacted us to get on these shows at all.

DX: How do you feel about that? We see it all the time with CNN and other networks throwing stones at Hip Hop, but our artists and real rap leaders aren't given a fair chance at rebuttal...
Ice Cube: I don’t worry no more about people who ain't down with Hip Hop and what they gotta say. I expect them to criticize. If you ain't no B-Boy or B-Girl, you ain't down with it like that, then you ain't gonna understand it. It’s foreign to you and prolly gon’ scare you and all that stuff so, you know…their response to the music is expected. All I really care about is the response of Hip Hoppers and B-Boys and people that’s in the music, down with the music and understand the music. You don’t have to teach them what it is, but all these outsiders with something to say…let ‘em keep bumpin’ they gums. It don’t do no harm, no good. It’s just scary people talkin’ ‘bout something they don’t know nothing about.

DX: Briefly, tell us about the new movie that you've got coming out...
Ice Cube: Yeah, it's a movie called The Long Shots that comes out August 22nd. It's inspired by a true story about a girl named Jasmine Plummer; the first girl to play Quarterback in Pop Warner Football and take her team to the championship. That's kind of the backdrop of the story. I play a dude named Curtis Plummer, her uncle, who is down and out and feels like his best days are behind him. He's an ex-football player that kind of shows her the ropes and through football, they both kind of get their swagger back a little bit. It's a good movie.

DX: Is this an ode to your days of playing football back in the day?
Ice Cube: Yeah. I've always wanted to make a football movie ever since I got in the game and started producing. And this was the only one that made sense in a lot of ways. I was happy to be able to do it, get out there with the kids, see 'em hittin' and be able to coach 'em.

DX: Any Oakland Raider cameoes?
Ice Cube: [Laughs] I wish. Nah, no cameos from the Raiders. Hopefully they in training camp doing what they supposed to do.


HIPHOPDX.COM August 18th, 2008

David Banner: Train of Thought

"This is for my Bloods, and this is for my Crips/Throw your sets up, one nation in this bitch/We so quick to kill each other in the hoods where we from/But we hide the AKs when them fuckin' feds come/When there's a pedophile that's lurkin' 'round where we stay/We turn our fuckin' cheek and let them faggots walk away/But God gave me a vision, and now a thug sees what would happen in the hood if the Vice Lords and Gs/All came together, blue and red flags/Raisin' a nation of Black men, but ain't it sad?/We got too many cowards that'll let them bullets fly/'Cause they'd rather get paid and watch the young kids die/You muthafuckin'...bitch-ass nigga."—David Banner, "B.A.N."

AREN'T YOU A LITTLE LATE WITH A STOP-SNITCHING SONG, OR DO YOU THINK THAT MESSAGE IS STILL PERTINENT?

I think it's like the Malcolm X caps [in the '90s]. What Malcolm X stood for was powwerful, something that will transcend time, as long as human beings are on the earth and we interact with each other. So I think the foundation of what "stop snitchin'" was based upon is needed, but once you put it on T-shirts... Anytime you put something on a T-shirt or hat you done fucked it up.

WAS THIS SONG INSPIRED BY T.I.'S MOST RECENT RUN-IN WITH THE LAW?

Well, I wouldn't really say it was inspired by Tip. I think Tip was just the extra fuel on the fire of shit I really been feelin'. You know, it's becoming too much, man. From Mike Vick, to Jena 6, to the young lady that was raped by all them White folks, now the oral-sex case in Georgia... It's like, man, come on, when are we gon' realize and admit that there is [a problem]? One thing that I want to say—and be sure to print this, this is very important—you know and I know that there are some things that our people can do better, right? But we don't get in front of these White folks and air it out!

IS THAT WHY YOU SAID, "WE SO QUICK TO KILL EACH OTHER IN THE HOODS WHERE WE FROM/BUT WE HIDE THE AKS WHEN THE FUCKIN' FEDS COME"?

What I'm really saying is, dawg, to be clear-cut, we gangstas only in our community. We'll shoot a muthafucka for steppin' on our shoes and not bringin' our dope back, but we won't stand up to these pedophiles. We so tough, but when the feds is coming and kickin' in our doors and doing unlawful shit... We gangsta about the wrong shit. Be gangsta about [Hurricane] Katrina!

DO YOU THINK GANGS LIKE THE BLOODS AND THE CRIPS CAN EVER REALLY UNITE?

I think the Bloods and Crips can, but it's gonna take our elders to stop being so selfish. There's money in conflict, and it's gonna get to the point where, if we don't combine, we gon' die. What helped groups in the beginning was that they were community protection groups. We ain't gotta like each other or hang out every day, but when it comes down to preservation of our people, sometimes there's a higher calling.


XXL Magazinie
JAN/FEB 2008 No. 99

Broken Equipment Productions

DUO TAKES AIM AT RAPPERS WITH THEIR YOUTUBE SKITS

No rapper is above ridicule these days, especially when the Internet makes it so easy to rag on your favorite MC. Reveling in that tradition, 19-year-old twin brothers Jordan "Fatt Kidd" and Jared "Twinn" Kennedy have created an online buzz with their animated YouTube rap parodies.

Under the alias Broken Equipment Productions, the New Orleans natives have been pursuing music since 2003. Looking to gain exposure, Fatt and Twinn decided to turn their longtime recreational rap skits into Web cartoons via MySpace and YouTube. Using Photoshop to create visuals, the brothers recorded their own rapper impersonations with ProTools over thier own beats. Debuting in August 2006, their first video- the Jadakiss sketch "Jokes on Jada" -recieved more than 600,000 YouTube hits. From there, the duo released their popluar Dipset series and a spoof of the father/son relationship between Birdman and Lil Wayne ("Makeup Sex"), which earned nearly a million views.

In addition to getting props from Cam and Jeezy, Fatt and Twinn's controversial comedy has drawn interest from MTV and HBO execs. With videos released bimonthly and a cartoon series, A Bad Rap TV, in the works, the high school seniors promise to keep entertaining at rappers' expenses. "We don't pick a certain person to make fun of," insists Fatt. "Whatever topic is hot at the moment, that's who we come at." Watch out- they got fully loaded clips.

XXL Magazine
Issue 98
December 2007

Project Pat: Gangster & A Movie

November 9th, 2007 Author: Brandon Edwards

HipHopDX.com

Memphis rap legend Project Pat is in a good space. He coolly chooses his words with an undertone of optimism and rightly so. 2007 has been a good year for Patrick Houston and his Hypnotized Camp as Three-6-Mafia earned an Oscar nod for penning the seductive “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” off of the Hustle and Flow Soundtrack, struck a deal with MTV for the famed reality series Adventures in Hollyhood, and the fall release of Pat’s fourth studio album, Walkin’ Bankroll. The recent success isn’t overnight or unwarranted.

In 1999, Project Pat made his debut with Ghetty Green; a sonic introduction into the harsh urban terrain of Memphis, Tennessee. He rose to stardom with his sophomore follow-up Mista Don’t Play: Everythang’s Workin’ which featured chart topping hits like “Chickenhead” and “Don’t Save Her.” After numerous run-ins with the law, Pat was eventually booked on a parole violation for felony gun possession and had to serve a brief jail sentence at the height of his success. Post American Gangster madness, a prison-free Project Pat divulges on his particular taste for mob flicks and hood DVD classics as well as his plan to further conquer the Hollywood hills. Read on as "Mr. Googly Moogly" raps with HipHopDX about diversifying ones hustle and sets the record straight on what a real gangster is with the upcoming sequel Choices 2 and a long awaited autobiography.

HipHopDX: What are some of your favorite gangster movies?

Project Pat: I just like Scarface and Superfly.

DX: What is it about those movies that standout to you?

PP: I just like Scarface 'cause it shows how he came up and kind of showed what was going on at the time in the '80s with the Columbian drug trade and all that and you know, it kind of fascinated me a little bit. I liked it and Al Pacino is a good actor and I think he did his thing in the movie. Superfly was the '70s and talking about cocaine in the '70s you know, it just showed us back in the day and I was always fascinated by the '70s. Memphis is a city that thrives off pimpin' and all that... It was just something that I caught onto.

DX: What's the correlation between gangster movies and rap music?

PP: Well, what they're basically saying in the rap industry right now you know, people are talking about the streets and the streets is what's motivating the rap game and down south that's all we really wanna hear. We don't wanna hear nothing else, I mean you know the gangster shit, the shine, the hustlin' you know… People look up to what they know, it's all they know and grew up around and they see everyday and it's what they can relate to better.

DX: Did you ever star in a movie?

PP: Yeah, we had the movie Choices.

DX: Right. It was like a straight to DVD hood flick.

PP: It was about a guy named Bad Choices. Me, DJ Paul and Juicy J wrote the movie. It's a straight hood movie and we supposed to make a Choices 2.

DX: What influenced y'all to do that?

PP: We working on the Adventures in Hollyhood string of movies. We got the script already written for Choices [2] so we'll drop the Adventures in Hollyhood and prolly drop Choices right after it.

DX: Three Six Mafia and Project Pat have been making gangster music forever. Was it always a dream to get into movies?

PP: Well man you know, when it started coming and happening...it just started happening. God gave us the talent and ideas and we just run with it.

DX: Was in the back of your mind and just waiting on the right door to open?

PP: Yeah, we just saw the door open and we ran with it. It's all about the money and we just trying to get it.

DX: Okay. I hear that. We got hardcore classic gangster films like Menace 2 Society and Goodfellas, are you familiar with those movies?

PP: Aww man, I keep 'em in my DVD player. They're in there right now!

DX: Which do you prefer; street movies or mafia flicks?

PP: I love 'em all but I like the mob flicks. The street movies is cool and I like them too, don't get it twisted but the mob flicks be hood. It be stuff that really happens. I like all the mob flicks.

DX: I guess you can relate more to the hood flicks because it's nothing new to you…

PP: Mob flicks are interesting. You hear stuff about 'em then see what they was doing. That's all that is. Just to see what they was on back in the days and see what they was doing.

DX: Have you seen the film American Gangster yet?

PP: Nah, I haven't been to the big screen.

DX: But you've seen trailers and I guess hearing about Frank Lucas is interesting?

PP: Yeah and I've always been a Bumpy Johnson fan anyway so...with Frank Lucas, when I heard about it, I didn't know he had a dude that carried his thing on like that. I didn't know that and I wanted to see how that was and see how they rolled.

DX: Do you think gangster movies influence rap albums or the music influences the films?

PP: Well...you said the movies influence the rap?

DX: Take for example recently where the movie American Gangster influenced Jay-Z to make a new album. Often at times it seems like gangster movies influence many artists and rap albums. Do you think it will continue or the tide will change and music will start influencing movies?

PP: I don't know, I don't know what Jay-Z was doing. I think it was a good move on his behalf but that's about...I don't know, I think the streets is what's motivating the dirty south records down here man. Just the grind and how dude's is hood out here and that's what we talking about, what we seeing and what's going on. I don't think the movies...You got dudes that come out first rapping and then make street movies, they got underground movies on DVD and all that so I don't know if it's the music that motivates a lot of stuff. Like the American Gangster story is about Frank Lucas and he's like an old icon that a lot of people didn't really know about, some people did. I think it's a good story and good concept and you know, I thought it was gonna hit pretty big.

DX: You kind of proved to be a real American gangster because at the height of your success you put in work, served time in prison and you're now back to doing the music again. Would you agree?

PP: I mean, yeah I would agree. I'd accept that, yeah. It's like a lot of people, a lot of fans and we got a big fan base in Hypnotized Minds and people just glad to see me out and everywhere I go people is like, "Man, it's good to see you out. You're doing your thing; you're back on, TV and rapping, you making good music…We buying it and we loving it." "Don't Call Me No More, Don't Text Me No More" is off the album Walking Bankroll and it's in stores right now! It’s the number one ringtone in North America. Anybody else say any different they lying!

DX: How was it making the new album Walking Bankroll?

PP: Aww man it was beautiful. Real talk, I had got my vibe you know, going on these promotional shows. I had got out and people was booking me for shows left and right. I was out in Alabama, little towns in Georgia, that's where I get my vibe from mainly, them little towns. Them little clubs they be wiling and I get my vibe from up in there. I went up to LA to the studio Paul and them got and murked it. It didn't take me no time. We just signed this dude Young D, Hypnotized Minds signed him and he real hot. We just working and out here trying to get all the money we can.

DX: Can we expect a Patrick Houston version of American Gangster anytime soon…If not a movie, maybe a book?

PP: I got a book out and I'm still working on it. I finished it but I got some more stuff to add to it and I'm gonna try and drop it like once we drop this Adventures in Hollyhood [movie] and get some more things off the ground, I'ma try and drop it around that time. In the book I'm talking about the whole Fed thing and talking about these streets and how dudes...it's all falsified now. It's no honor and dudes is talking about they this and they that and it's all garbage. There are some real guys and real soldiers out here but you know, then I'm also bringing the truth to the streets. There's nothing to glamorize, this is real and if you get in this, this is what's coming with this. That's how I always try to keep it. Basically like the raps but I'm just writing a book version. It got my life in the book and it got people's lives in it who I was around. And it's real, the whole book is "fiction" but it's based on a true story. I can't put people out there and incriminate people. I'm working on a title now and it's gonna be fire!

TWISTA: Follow My Lead

After scoring the first platinum plaque of his career with his 2004 LP Kamikaze, Twista’s career finally seemed to be heading in the right direction. A year later, though, the Chicago native followed-up with the underwhelming, The Day After. Even though the album garnered a gold plaque, Twista was displeased with Atlantic Records’ decision to replace various street songs for more commercial tracks. Looking to rectify Atlantic’s mistakes, Twista focused on satisfying his hardcore fan-base with his new LP, Adrenaline Rush 2007, a sequel of sorts to his 1997 album Adrenaline Rush. Once again, though, the album was met with mixed reviews and the Pharrell assisted lead single, “Give It Up,” failed to gain any mainstream attention. While on tour promoting Adrenaline Rush 2007, Twista talks to XXLMag.com about his frustrations with Atlantic Records over his first single, the album’s lack of promotion and why hip-hop needs to stand up for the Jena 6.


What was your mindset going into Adrenaline Rush 2007?

I always got a strategy and plan with each album, but to be honest, the label and me don’t always see eye to eye. They’ll hear my music and try to put out songs that they think are better to sell me as an artist than the song that I’m putting out. They’ll mess up the whole vibe. I love Pharrell to death. Last album, I wanted “Lavish” to come out first, which was one of the hottest songs on the album that he produced. But they ended up going with a different single. Now, with this album, I love “Give It Up,” but I was going in a different direction. On The Day After, all of my street stuff got stripped off the album. The A&Rs took off my song called “If Only For One Night,” where I was talking about if I could have the microphone for one night. I did “Stick ‘Em” over with an old-school flow. I had a song called “Welcome To My Home,” talking about the hood. They took all of those songs off and put all the happy and clubby songs on there. That upset me and was really one of the reasons why the new album is entitled Adrenaline Rush 2007. Some of [my fans] be like, “Man, you should’ve dropped this,” or, “We wanna hear that Adrenaline Rush sound.” So I wanted to let people know it’s the same Twista, don’t get it twisted. And this album I went into it with a certain type of plan, but “Give It Up” ended up being my first record. At first, I wanted “Whip Game Proper” to be my first record.

Why didn’t Atlantic Records like “Whip Game Proper?”

I could’ve got [“Whip Game Proper”] cleared, but I think the label was geared more towards the Pharrell look since they felt like they missed out on the last album. That’s the only problem I have as an artist: the label not really believing in me to the point where they let me pick my first singles and just ride with it.

Are you happy how the album has been received so far?

Actually, I’d be happier if it was doing better. But for the reason that I do music, I’m happy. Somebody else that’s in it for the money, trying to be the number one artist and all that type of stuff, then they’ll be a little bit more upset then me right now. But for me being a humble person and the reason that I got in the game and the type of love that I got for the music, the reaction that I got from the album makes me happy.

Still, it seems like the publicity push wasn’t what it was for past albums.

That’s the upsetting shit right there. You were the only one to ask me that and everyone else would skirt around it. But that’s the upsetting part, when you feel like your label ain’t doing enough to push you. So I feel like a lot of attention is getting spread out so thin at the label that I’m not really getting the same effect as I did when I dropped Kamikaze. We got different people at the top, [so] I gotta get familiar with new people, new faces and stuff like that. It had an effect on me, but I’m going to put out a strong album regardless.

Production wise, this album has a lot of hometown flavor to it. Was that intentional?

Yeah, that was me taking it back to my original sound. It was the simple thing of, okay, the people [at] the label picked a lot of songs to be on the last album that made it seem watered down, where if you took three or four songs that I wanted, instead of three or four they felt were more commercial, then my album would sound the way I wanted it to sound and be a proper representation by me to my fans. But my representation from my album to my fans is always tainted by some of the choices that the label makes with my music. So it forced me to go hard to make people see that I’m still Twista and the best way to do that was…it’s been 10 years, fuck it, Adrenaline Rush 2007. Twista’s back with that original sound, when, in essence, it never really went nowhere. I just had to really go hard to force what I wanted represented to my fans.

You recently headlined the Jena 6 Empowerment Concert in Birmingham, Ala., but Mos Def has been vocal in his displeasure that more rappers aren’t voicing their support. Is that a fair criticism?

Yeah, the thing that made me step up is really hearing about the story itself [and] listening to Mos Def talk about it. His words are powerful enough and it just hit me, like, “Man, I just wanna be apart of it and do what I can to contribute to the situation.” It’s bogus, man. You know it’s bogus. Everything evolves. Rappers had a chance to be wild, then we started getting conscious and now we’re at a point where we’re forced to be role models. So I think it’s just time right now. We eventually have to elevate into intelligent fucking people. [Laughs] I think it’s time for hip-hop to start representing itself on that intelligent level, man.

You’ve also been a lightening rod for controversy lately. McDonald’s canceled a tour you were supposed to headline due to your “vulgar content” and a Chicago church erected anti-hip-hop billboards stating, “Stop listening to trash.” Why are you being targeted?

It was a reverend and his congregation that decided to raise money and put up billboards that said, “Stop listening to trash.” His version of trash was Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, 50 Cent, Twista and a few others. By me living in Chicago right where he put these billboards up, it was just a coincidence that McDonalds had me involved in a tour to perform and they wanted a clean show. Usually when I have clean shows it’s me just doing a clean show for the kids. I got a bunch of songs that the kids love that I can do. But it was right up his fucking alley. He ended up on Bill O’Reilly and he got his juice out of it, which I think it what he was trying to do anyway. We’ve been taking the backlash…and would you believe that the same reverend, about a month later, I heard that him and Jesse Jackson were trying to do some things together and couldn’t hold what they were trying to hold in his church because they had failed an inspection because some of the pipes and other things in the church were considered unsafe. And I’m like, “You spend the congregation’s money on billboards to hate?” When you don’t like something, don’t go against it, just put your energy into what’s the opposite of it. Why are y’all attacking us? Attack the porn industry, attack the movie industry, something else that parents have the choice for. Why are you attacking music that parents have the choice to choose for their kids?


xxlmag.com

Next Up: JOELL ORTIZ

Joell Ortiz is a Puerto Rican kid from in front of a bodega in Brooklyn that just likes rhyming.” Please allow him to introduce himself. Born in the summer of 1980, an only child to a single mother battling a drug addiction, Joell Ortiz was raised in Brooklyn’s Cooper Projects on food stamps and welfare checks. But as the young Boricua with a gift for writing rhymes grew up, he became a model student and star shooting guard at Manhattan’s Lower Eastside Prep. After graduating, though, with various scholarship offers on the table, he opted to stay home because he feared for his mother’s well-being. “If I go away to play ball at school and get this wild phone call or letter talking about, ‘Come view her…’” He shudders at the thought. “Nigga, fuck basketball! I’m not leaving my moms.”

To pay the family bills, Joell took to hustling the same stuff that had his mom stuck, honing his rhyme skills on the side. When his mom cleaned up—she’s been sober since 1999—Joell started looking at music as a serious career option. Years of days and nights at studios in and around Brooklyn and Queens yielded a 2005 mixtape, Who the F*@k Is Joell Ortiz? that showcased its author’s witty wordplay and strong sense for honest, emotive storytelling. Industry interest was piqued, and Joell started taking meetings at
record labels.

Koch Records offered a one-album deal, and papers were signed. Before the ink could dry, though, a twist of fate brought Joell’s demo CD to the place where pretty much every artist in rap music would most want their music to be: the desk of Aftermath Entertainment’s head honcho, the greatest producer in the history of hip-hop, Dr. Dre. Impressed with what he heard, Dre flew Joell out to Los Angeles. “I can’t lie, man,” says Joell, recounting his meeting. “I’m human. I’m nervous as hell. Shit! Whoa… N.W.A, nigga! Like, whoooo! I got the jitters and shit. I think I got some things to say. He comes in the room, and everything I had prepared flew right out my shit. He’s like, ‘What up,’ and I’m like, ‘What up.’ And that nigga like, ‘I love the music. It speaks for itself.’ He stopped and paused. ‘So if you want to be Aftermath, then let me know.’ I’m like, Oh shit, so this is it? He said to have my people call his and get the paperwork together. ‘Welcome to the family.’” (A deal was worked out that let Koch release Joell’s acclaimed The Brick: Bodega Chronicles this past April.)

That day in L.A., a rapper whose dreams had just come true stepped outside of the Aftermath offices and called his mom back home in New York. “‘Ma, I’m on Aftermath.’ To hear her scream with joy, ‘Get out of here!’ She’s ecstatic on the other line.” Joell Ortiz smiles. “I ain’t make the wrong decision. We wo00on!”


XXL Magazine November 2007
Issue 97

Sheek Louch: Watch Your Mouth

Why is former D-Block member J-Hood dissing the LOX? Sheek Louch has the answers in this xxlmag.com exclusive.

Two weeks ago, in the midst of his five-borough concert tour in New York City, 50 Cent appeared on stage in the Bronx and incited controversy by bringing out former D-Block member J-Hood. For some hip-hop fans, Hood’s appearance with a known adversary of D-Block was met with disbelief. For the past five years, the young Yonkers rapper has been signed to the LOX’s imprint, D-Block Records, acting as the group’s unofficial fourth member. But earlier this month, the self-proclaimed “baby faced gangsta” asked for his release from the label after suffering numerous delays for his debut solo LP, Tales From the Hood. At first, Hood’s departure seemed innocent enough, until a YouTube video appeared on the Internet showing the 21-year-old verbally disrespecting his former LOX brethren Sheek Louch and dragging his D-Block chain on the concrete.

In the midst of the controversy, the LOX have been relatively mute. But with J-Hood personally calling out Sheek, the Wolf has decided to fire back. XXLMag.com sat down with the LOX member to discuss the origins of J-Hood’s beef with D-Block, his upcoming solo LP and the long-awaited LOX reunion.

What prompted this beef between J-Hood and D-Block?

There was never tension. He’s tight. He’s mad, like, Damn, I been with these guys for the longest [and] my album hasn’t come out yet. So he has every right to feel that way. But he’s going about it the wrong way. He’s hanging himself right now. Like [Funkmaster] Flex said the other night on [Hot 97], “Sheek used to beg me to play your records.” I think he’s just fed up, especially with his friends in his ear.

Why did Hood want to leave D-Block in the first place?

Hood spoke to Styles and said he wanted to go his own way [and] we were like, “Okay, cool.” Styles gave me the word he spoke to him and I said, “Alright, say no more.” ’Cause I been down that road, as far as wanting to leave and get off Bad Boy [Records]. I understand wanting to spread his wings and do what he gotta do. My thing is, say me and you aren’t doing business anymore. That doesn’t mean y’all gotta be enemies. Fam, you’re doing little YouTube videos, running around, jumping on stage with 50 [Cent], looking [like a] groupie. What are you doing, fam? Don’t think them boys, Yayo and them, don’t remember every last thing you said about them. They see all that. They know what’s what. You don’t even know when you’re being a puppet. It’s sad. When 50’s album [is] done, and he’s done running around and using Remy [Martin] and you…Yo, dog, you don’t get it. Why are you acting tough? I ain’t get on that with you, so why you coming at us like that? Hood, you know how we get down, fam. I really don’t get it. These New York DJs are hanging him. Flex said, “I’ll never play another Hood record, ever in my life. It doesn’t matter what label you go to, don’t send me nothing.” That’s crazy. No artist wants to hear that. Without me calling a DJ to say, “Yo, I need you to shut down Hood,” they’re calling [me]—from Cosmic Kev to Flex—[saying], “Yo, I ain’t playing nothing from him. I don’t respect his move right now.”

So there’s going to be no diss tracks toward J-Hood?

I would never rap with [Hood] lyrically. There is no way in the world you can get with me or my two partners [Styles P and Jadakiss]. I would never go to that level. I just want to spank Hood. I just want to take my belt off and give him a beating. Then, when you’re ready, say sorry. I still gotta let you off [the label], Hood. I still gotta sign the papers to let you go wherever you need to go. So who’s telling him this and advising [him] before he’s even off? I’m really just baffled. Does your manager know that you still [have to] come to us to get off?

Are you gonna release him from the label?

I would, gladly. I been in that situation, as far as holding you, saying you can’t go nowhere and all of that. We don’t get down [like that]; we cut from a whole different cloth. I spoke to Sha Money [XL]. They called up and spoke to Super Mario [D-Block general manager] and told ’em, “Yo, fam, we ain’t talking about signing no Hood. That is all a publicity stunt. I don’t got a clue what that boy is doing.” 50 even said on the radio, “He’s running around doing all that. He’s gotta see them boys in Yonkers. That’s bigger than me.” He’s dead true.

There’s rumors you were trying to take Hood’s D-Block chain back. Is that true?

Never would I take [J-Hood’s] chain or put my hands on [him]. You know that, fam. I love you, fam. What are you doing? We the niggas that told you not to buy that fake, 800 dollar, big ass, 600 diamond chain. I said, “Hood, you gonna have us murder somebody for taking a fake chain off you. Don’t buy that jewelry, fam. You gonna walk around, your niggas are not build like that, and you gonna have us…’cause now we gotta do something, ‘cause this nigga felt he could take your chain.” It never happened, but I’m just saying, I’m not taking your little chain. Are you stupid? I remember when you bought that costume shit. You talking about I’m gonna throw it in the crowd. Hood, you’re not hurting us if you throw some fake ass chain in the crowd that you bought for fucking 600 dollars. That shit looks like it’s worth millions, [but] if you throw it in the crowd, you’re going to play yourself when the person goes and checks the chain.

Hood is only calling you out, not Jadakiss or Styles. What is that?

[Laughs] I swear to God, I go outside and my niggas say the same thing, “Yo, Louch, this nigga, he want it with you.” I didn’t even have the talk with him. Him and Styles had the talk about going their separate ways. I don’t know why he’s calling me out. Yo, Hood, when your stepfather was touching on your body, fam, I went and ran in your house and got ’em. Me and my goons ran in and got your step-pops for you. And a list of other things, but I just want to throw that one out there to sting him a little bit. That was me. Remember, Hood? That’s big homie. And I still don’t have no beef with you, until this day. But you getting out of hand. I may have to smack you on your head a little bit and [make him] stand in the corner or something. [Laughs] After I work out every day, at least four times a week, I go eat my lunch in front of [J-Hood’s] house. I sit there, beep the horn, make my calls, chill [and] wait to see who comes in. [Laughs] Yo, Hood, did you move or something? Why are you doing all this tough guy shit for? Business-wise, I get why he’s saying, “Damn, I want off and I just want to spread my wings and do my thing.” Hood, I been there and I definitely get you on that. You feel our business relationship is exhausted and you wanna try some other stuff. People are [just] not respecting that you’re trying to get with 50 and the way you’re going about talking shit about us.

Drama aside, it’s hard to believe its been seven years since the last LOX album. What’s the status of the long-awaited reunion LP, Live, Suffer and Celebrate?

The next LOX album…ain’t nothing in ink yet, but as far as the lawyers, they’re trying to deal with Def Jam as we speak. A lot of people think the deal is done, but it ain’t done yet. It’s getting closer.

How long have you been at the roundtable with Def Jam?

Like seven or eight months. Before it was all talk that they wanted us. [Jay-Z] was like, “If I get these boys over here, it would be game over.” So Hov was trying to make that whole shit happen, as far as meeting with Ruff Ryders and Jimmy Iovine [to] try [and] smooth shit out as far as us and Interscope. Then [Def Jam] came with the offers and we sent it back. Then it was to the point of like, alright, we cool with that offer, now let’s work it out.

Realistically, when is the deal going to be finalized?

The LOX album will come [out] early next year, realistically. We got 15 [to] 20 songs already done.

Have you guys been working with some big producers?

Definitely. So far we got a couple of people: Timbaland, Pharrell, Rockwilder, will.i.am.

What can fans expect from your upcoming third solo album, Silverback Gorilla?

The album is sick, fam. I just finished mixing and mastering [it]. I got my boy Avant on [the first single] “I’m So Hood.” It’s insane. I think the single is [going to be] crazy big. I got my boy Fat Joe on there and of course Styles and ’Kiss. I got my man UNK on a Southern joint with a New York edge called “Get Up Out My Way.” I got Bun B and Ice Cube on “Got A Problem.” Oh my God! That’s monstrous! I also got a song with Dipset that’s gonna shut New York City down. It’s “Dipset, D-Block” [with] me, Kiss, Jim Jones and Hell Rell.



xxlmag.com

Twista: Adrenaline Rush 2007

CRITICAL BEATDOWN
XL

Living up to his old Guinness Book of World Records title of the fastest rapper in the world, Twista has been delivering rapid- fire bars since his 1991 indie disc Runnin’ Off at Da Mouth. But it was his major-label debut, 1997’s Adrenaline Rush, that catapulted the Chi-Town MC into the national spotlight. Unfortunately, his career has been plagued by numerous false starts. After a pair of projects with the Speedknot Mobstaz—1998’s Mobstability and 1999’s Legit Ballin’—Twista got tied up in a tug-of-war with Atlantic and Roc-A-Fella Records that delayed his Kamikaze LP ’til 2004. Containing Kanye West’s smash hit “Slow Jamz,” the album earned Twista his first platinum plaque. In his eagerness to keep the mainstream love going, the Windy City word-smith oversaturated his next project, The Day After, with R&B duets and pop production. Although the disc went gold, its saccharine sound rubbed die-hard fans the wrong way. So as a show of good faith, Twista dubs his latest effort Adrenaline Rush 2007.

While the new album borrows its name from Twista’s classic, these are still two separate projects a decade apart. With longtime collaborator Toxic and newcomer Cuzo handling a bulk of the production duties, AR2K7 holds true to the overall feel of its predecessor. Toxic’s choppy, ice cream truck–inspired score for “7 Day Hustle” and cinematic board work on “The Come Up” evoke the Tung Twista of old, as he fires off lyrical rounds with Megatron-like efficiency. Meanwhile, Cuzo’s bell-heavy trunk rattler “Whip Game Proper,” featuring Lil Wayne, inspires bombastic bars like, “Vocalistic cataclysms, I spit the biggest words/Fuck you and your bitch-ass crew, I spit the sickest verbs.”

The verbal onslaught continues on the oppressive “Trouble,” and again with the trombone- and bass-fueled “Wrist Stay Rocky,” produced by Basement Beats. While few MCs can keep up with Twista’s speedy spit game, it’s actually a rappa ternt sanga that winds up going flow for flow with the Chicago veteran. Mimicking the cyclic guitar lick of “Creep Fast,” T-Pain chucks his robotic vocals out the window and not only keeps pace with his host, but almost outshines him. Feeling the pressure, Twista turns up the heat with, “I’ma see ya when I see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya/Got the Desert Eagle/And I’m rollin’ through in the Regal/Lookin’ at you from the eye of a needle.”

Unfortunately, Twista veers off course and begins to test the mainstream waters once again. Enlisting the once-guaranteed hit makers the Neptunes for “Give It Up” results in Pharrell’s rigidly stale hook being the foundation for a contrived club cut. Trying to recapture the crossover magic of Kamikaze’s “Overnight Celebrity,” Twista pens misplaced serenades like the R. Kelly collabo “Love Rehab,” which stands out amid the album’s harder material. Then, of course, there’s the inclusion of “Trappers Delight,” a throwaway cut from Cee-Lo and Jazze Pha’s unreleased collaborative project, Happy Hour.

Finding the perfect balance between commercial and creative content is difficult for any artist—even an OG like Twista. While Adrenaline Rush 2007 is a definite return to the raw, the aforementioned tracks, coupled with a bloated track listing, subtract from his fully recapturing the past glory of the original. Still, with potent material like the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony collabo "Ain’t No Hoes” and the high-octane “Pimp Like Me” loaded in the chamber, the Midwestern rhyme slinger proves that, even after more than a decade in the game, he still got that fire.


XXL Magazine 2007
October Issue #96

Pride: Miami Tattoo Artist

"CAN'T GET ENOUGH"
MIAMI'S TATTOO KINGPIN HAS RAPPERS COVERED.

They say tattoos can be addictive, and based on the multiple pieces of body art on Lil Wayne, Baby, Young Jeezy and Yung Joc, there's some truth to that theory. The man responsible for easing those and many other rappers' ink obsessions is Miami-based tattoo artist Luis Bustos (a.k.a Pride), whose custom line work has made him tops in the game.

Born in Brooklyn, the 27-year-old tattooist split his youth between his parents' native Bogota, Columbia and Miami, where he developed a passion for drawing portraits at age 12. After viewing the Latin crime flick Bound By Honor, Pride was inspired to turn his artistic flair into a full-time career. "I saw Mexican dudes in jail [with] tattoos that were really good," he recalls. "That gave me an idea, like, that's what I want to do." Dropping out of high school in ninth grade, Pride spent his teen years apprenticing at local tattoo shops. In 1999, he scored his first celebrity client—fellow Dade Count resident Trick Daddy—after meeting him through a mutual friend. Having seen Pride's work around the way, Trick solicited him for four tats, including one of a smiling clown with three dice and the words "head crack" on his arm.

Pride kept perfecting his craft until 2005, when he opened his own parlor, Prides' Tattoo Gallery, in Miami's South Beach. The skilled ink man soon landed high-profile clients like Miami Heat players Udonis Haslem and James Posey and quickly became known as the area's best portrait tattooist. So when M-I-A transplant and Cash Money co-founder Baby wanted etchings of his loved ones on his skin, Pride, who has also inked Pharrell, Cee-Lo and Jacki-O, was the obvious choice. "Most of the newer stuff, from the past two or three years, between [Baby] and Wayne is all my work," says Pride. "They got something, like, every three weeks." While Birdman boasts tats of eight family members on his stomach and chest done by Pride (including the infamous portrait of Wayne on Stunna's right pec), Wayne has serveral nonportrait drawings, including a depcition of Hurrican Katrina and a Jay-Z verse, by the skin artist. "He the talk of Miami 'cause he a real dude, and it reflects through his work," says Baby of Pride. "Dude is gifted. That's why everyone comes back."

With prices ranging from $300 to $15,000, Pride can accommodate the common man's budget while still setting the benchmark for originality. "I don't want to repeat my tattoos, and I don't want my tattoos to be duplicated," he says. "Whenever [people] come in here, they're gonna get an orginal piece."
That's why he's the besssst.


XXL Magazine 2007
October Issue #96

Outkast: Men of the year 2004

"TWO GREAT TASTES THAT GO GREAT TOGETHER."

OutKast had 2004 wrapped up before the year even started. Already on the short list of greatest rap groups of all time, Atlanta’s Andre “3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton were in midascent to total pop culture dominance when the calendar flipped. Released late 2003, their bold, double-disc opus Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was on its way to selling over five million copies (earning just the third diamond plaque the RIAA has ever bestowed upon a hip-hop album), while their twin tower singles—“Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move”—held the top two spots on Billboard’s pop charts for eight weeks running. When “Hey Ya!” finally dropped from No. 1, in February, “The Way You Move” replaced it. That same month, at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, they took three trophies, including the big one, Album of the Year.

It was all the result of a novel production process. Andre, bored with a rap game he’d been pushing the boundaries of for years, wanted to make another kind of music. Big Boi, always the duo’s tether to the streets, wanted to keep it hip-hop. So they recorded separate albums—Andre’s The Love Below, an eclectic collection of purple-funk love ballads and genre-melting hummables, like “Hey Ya!,” and Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx, a hood-certified juke joint full of monstrous 808s, state-of-the-art rhyming and smooth, brass-backed come-ons, like “The Way You Move”—and released them as one under the OutKast rubric. Together, they cast an awfully wide net. Pitched an awfully big tent. OutKast became that rare phenomenon in pop music—the act loved by everyone and their mothers. And everyone’s mothers’ dentists’ aunties’ plumbers. And... Anyway, XXL got the guys on the phone recently to learn what
that’s like.


XXL: What are your fondest memories from 2004?

Big Boi: The craziest was the back-to-back performances of “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move.” Whether it was on Leno or Letterman or the VH1 Awards, BET Awards or MTV—whatever it was—it was just back-to-back. At one point, we was running from one award show and going to the next one to perform. We were moving maybe nine to 10 pieces in each of our setups, to go change clothes and jump into your suit and go ahead and do it, man. It was a lot of fun.

How did it feel to lock down the Grammys?

Dre: Shit, man, that was amazing, to be honest with you. I mean, OutKast, we been around since ’94. But a lot of people, believe it or not, that was their first time hearing about OutKast. So a lot of people don’t even know that I rap, which is funny. To get that kind of award and have old OutKast fans be like, “Oh, y’all just now catching on?” You know, it’s kinda cool.

Big Boi: I flew like maybe 40 of my family members out there that never been out of Georgia—aunties, cousins, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandmama and everything. So to have my family and Dre’s family out there to enjoy it, and we win and celebrate after that, you can’t beat it. It was like a big-ass family reunion. I mean, the energy in the whole house, and when the music cut off and they announced “Album of the Year.” First rap group to win Album of the Year—period.

XXL: Were you surprised by how well your music was received by the mainstream?

Big Boi: Umm, yeah, I was. We didn’t know that the album was gonna be that big. Like, we put out the singles, and that shit just took off. We knew the music was good, but a double CD, two solid albums’ worth of two guys who’ve been in a group together just almost... What it did was just solidify that identity of Andre 3000 and Big Boi. Okay, cool. These niggas been in a supergroup since they was teenagers. Believe it.

Dre: I really was, because it wasn’t your everyday stuff. That sounded nothing like anything on the radio. It came at a great time, and I think people were just ready for something new. It was great timing, and it could’ve gone either way, and I’m just happy that it went this way.

XXL: Do you consider yourselves pioneers in the emergence of Southern rap music?

Dre: I feel like we’ve played a significant role in it. But it wasn’t just us. It was our whole Dungeon Family crew at the time. We were the first people to come out of the gate, but even with our first album, that was pretty much everybody involved. You had Goodie Mob on the album, you had Witchdoctor, Cool Breeze, Big Rube, Rico Wade. Even the name of the album at the time, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, that was pretty much ushering in our Southern lifestyle at the time when L.A. and New York were reigning supreme.

Big Boi: That’s for the people to decide. We’re definitely on the fore-front, along with the Geto Boys, 2 Live Crew, UGK, 8Ball & MJG and those that came before us. But we definitely was holding the flag. How it is now is crazy to know that we was a part of that whole movement. 1996, bruh, they ain’t wanna hear our shit. But now, they can’t get it away from ’em.


XXL 10th Anniversary 2007
Septemeber Issue #95

TJ CHAPMAN

iN the bizness

FORGET THE BROWN PAPER BAG—TJ CHAPMAN BREAKS RECORDS THE RIGHT WAY.

TJ Chapman is no criminal, but he's got a rep for breaking and entering. Chapman entered the recording industry as a manager for Miami Bass veteran Beatmaster Clay D, then switched his hustle to breaking records for artists like T-Pain and David Banner. The 36-year-old Florida transplant keeps his network tight as founder of TJs DJs, a global record pool started in 1994. Now, Chapman shows us how to break a record off...properly.

CAUGHT IN THE WEB
[DJ crews like the] Core DJs, Bum Squad DJs, Hitmen DJs—they have websites, [so] go to the websites. We all have message boards that all these DJs frequent. Post your music, introduce yourself and get to know these people. Hang out where they hang out—online!

PASS IT OFF
While feedback is important, the purpose [of networking] is to pass your music to the club DJs, mixtape DJs, strip club DJs, mixshow DJs, satellite radio show DJs and the Internet DJs. In Florida and a lot of these other Southern states, we have pirate radio.

PHONE TAP
Each [DJ] organization has weekly conference calls. So talk to the person in charge and see how you get on the conference call. Don't send me a link to your MySpace page talking about, get at ya.

THE BLAST
Find out what it takes for one of the DJ organizations to e-mail your song out. Get on the email list that includes their members plus other DJs. My e-mails go out to about 35, 40,000—it's nothing to spread a record like that.

LIVE AND DIRECT
All these organizations have retreats. You're nobody if you don't know anybody. You go to these events to meet people and build with these DJs also. It's hundreds of DJs at these events.

MYSPACE JUMP-OFF
MySpace is the best indicator of what kind of fan base you have. You can see that by the number of plays that the music gets and by the number of comments and friends that people have. Nowadays, [labels] are giving deals to people who are top artists on MySpace that don't even have radio play.


SCRATCH issue #19
September/October 2007

Rhymefest: Train of Thought

“You don't know what death is, until your ass left breathless/I'm the bomb nigga catch this/I'm Saddam [ex]'cept I got weapons/Make like a frat get steppin’, [be]'fore your punk ass get stepped in…You can't do it like I do/I don't care if you Moes, Folks, Bloods, Crips or Piru/I'm a Pyro’, light it up and fire too/Off in a bag lady back ask Badu/Before Common or Andre or D.O.C./If they all fucked her then I want my piece/I'm a conscious rapper two fingers up bitch peace/Your revolution's so fake it's like I gotta release/See you dudes with grills is more real/I don't like what they say but at least they ain't living in bone field/Ducking and dodging, acting phony as hell/Coming home when you got a damn record to sell/You'se a bitch nigga/I'm a say it again, you'se a bitch and something in this bitch gotta give/I hope you fake niggas die so real niggas can live/Or God just forget about the fact that he can forgive and kill us all/'Cause all of us is killing the children/They sold Myspace for $500 million/Sold Youtube for $1.6 billion/You in the projects fightin' over a building/You'se a bitch nigga!” —Rhymefest, "Angry Black Man on an Elevator"


WHAT DOES THE TITLE OF THE SONG MEAN?

The whole thing is, the elevator represents the ghetto. So it's like the ghetto is a small, confined space. And it's like, when you trapped in a small, confined space, it brings out our anger and our frustration with the world.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY, "I'M SADDAM, 'CEPT I GOT WEAPONS"?

Our government is looking at people overseas in Iraq, talking about, do they got weapons of mass destruction, when there is a weapon of mass destruction growing in the ghettos of America that ain't no attention being paid to...Black people are not on the agenda. And what you do, when you leave us off the agenda, there's a weapon of mass destruction being built in our attitudes.

WHY DO YOU CALL ERYKAH BADU OUT LIKE THAT?

At the end of the day, this is hip-hop. I guess I said it in a real crass way, but I'm just saying I think she's fly and I want a chance, too. She's a desirable woman, and I don't wanna cause no offense to her, but, hey, she likes rappers.

WHAT'S A FAKE REVOLUTIONARY?

You got these guys out here rapping about something, but then you don't even come to the hood until it's time for you record to be released. Don't nobody see you until you're like, "Yeah, man, we gotta suppost each other, brother." Come on, man!

WHAT'S YOUR GRIPE WITH MYSPACE AND YOUTUBE?

This wasn't no 60-year-old man or Viacom that created MySpace—these are young, independant people that created these mediums and sold them to the bigger companies. Why, as Black and Latino people, are we not htinking on a way bigger level?... We are the ones that spawn the growth of these forums.

HOW IS THAT KILLING THE CHILDREN?

We're killing the children by giving them false illusions of what wealth, value and worth is... We've gotten into this thing where money is so important that we've made it our God. And we've taught children that money is God.



XXL Magazine/August 2007 No. 94

Hot Dollar: Show & Prove

Chances are, if you saw a gold-grilled, cornrowed rapper handing out autographed dollar bills to high-school kids in a New York City subway station in May, it was Jermaine Dupri's latest signee, Hot Dollar. As part of an ingenious new promotional campaign, the 27-year-old MC really went underground to promote himself.

Born Leon Gray in the rural city of Hattiesburg, Miss., Hot Dollar was raised in an environment where money was hard to come by. In 1989, his family relocated to Los Angeles in pursuit of a better life. "Ain't no real jobs or opportunities down in Mississippi, so we moved," says Dollar. Unfortunately, the coastal transition wasn't exactly positive, and before long, he was running the streets as a full-fledged Crip.

Not wanting to succumb to the pitfalls of gang life, at 14, Hot Dollar started to explore his talent for rapping. His earliest inspiration came from his older brother, Compton rapper Guerilla Black. Counting bars and crafting choruses gave the youngster hope and a much needed way out of his dangerous lifestyle. "I finally realized that gangbanging wasn't for me," says Dollar. "I just had a daughter named Sierra. She influenced me to rap."

In 2006, Dollar recorded a demo he dubbed Rags 2 Riches. He pressed up thousands of copies and passed them out in L.A. to anyone who'd listen. As his buzz grew, Hot Dollar's disc found its way into Jermaine Dupri's hands, through close friend and video director Pop Gates. The song "Streets on Lock" was already spinning on West Coast radio, and lucky for the rookie MC, JD couldn't get the sinister chopped-and-screwed track out of his head. Knowing he had found the next big thing, the newly anointed president of Island Records Urban Music signed Hot Dollar this past April.

"His style is a mixture of the South meets the West," says Jermaine. "He also has the ability to write songs, and that is hard for a lot of good rappers today." Executive produced by Mr. So So Def himself, Hot Dollar's debut, My Dream: Tha Day in Tha Life, will feature additional production from DJ Toomp and Shawty Red. Hopefully, he can turn a dollar into a dream.


XXL Magazine/August 2007 No. 94

Showtime Audio: Custom Car Shop

Pimps and brutal winters aside, Chi-Town is known for the Bulls' NBA reign. MJ's squad blazed through the nineties on the backs of a triangle offense and Zen master that dominated the competition. Fast forward ten years, replace rings with trophies, hoops with hydraulics and you'll find a Midwestern goliath that also scores major points in the world of custom cars. Widely known for their success at nationwide car show competitioins, Illinois powerhouse Showtime Audio Inc. owns a trophy case that'll make Jordan envious. "We would build show cars, go to the shows and do real well there and get referrals," says 32-year-old owner Jerry Villa. "Other people in the shows would see that we'd win a lot of trophies, and they would want us to build them a car."

Around the corner from downtown Chicago's manufacturing district is the shop's 10,000-square-foot base. "We do it all, basically, from day-to-day radio, speakers and iPod interfaces to high-end show cars," says Villa. "We always have at least one or two custom cars being worked on at a time."

Villa attributes his team's tireless intensity to a simple love of cars. As a Los Angeles native by way of Chicago, the 12-year vet has been customizing interiors for his friends since his days as the head of a lowrider crew he ran out of his parent's grage. A "perfectionist to a fault," Villa understands that subtle intricacies play an important role in progressive customization. "The smallest things make the biggest difference," says Villa. "That's where we try to set ourselves apart. We're always pushing the limits of what can and can't be done." This championed automotive squad knows no limits as they get set to defend the newest Chicago dynasty.

NAME — Showtime Audio Inc.
WEBSITE — Showtimeaudio.net
LOCATION — 1317 W. North Ave., Chicago, IL 60622
OWNER — Jerry Villa
YEARS IN BUSINESS — 5
SPECIALTIES — Custom Show Cars, Hummers
CELEB CLIENTELE — Twista [Rapper], Criss Angel "Mindfreak" [Magician]
STANDOUT CUSTOM JOB —2004 Blue Hummer H2, Best of Show winner at Dub Show '04, '05 and '06. The car was built in 30 days and has blue ostrich leather seats, blue suede roof, blue candy paint, matching chrome spinners with a blue background, lowered, custom exhaust and satellite TV
TURNAROUND TIME — Between one week and three months for small to large jobs


RIDES magazine July/August 2007

Aasim: Spit Yo Game

It’s a rainy New York afternoon and Aasim the Dream is holed up in Daddy’s House, Bad Boy Records’ storied Manhattan studio. It’s here, in these hallowed confines, where the career’s of the Notorious B.I.G., Ma$e, Black Rob and the LOX all started. This is also where Aasim has written some of his best material—for Sean Combs, that is. While the average hip-hop fan may not be familiar with the Jamaica, Queens native’s name, they’ve certainly heard his work as a ghostwriter for Diddy’s most recent album, Press Play.

Aasim got his start at the age of 17, signing a production deal with Loud Records in 1996 after freestyling for A&R Schott Free. Although a solo album never came to fruition, Aasim continued to record material and honed his skills under the tutelage of label mates like the late Big Pun and dead prez. Frustrated with his standing on the label, Aasim left Loud in 2000 and decided to take his music career into his own hands. Teaming up with former Loud A&R, Sean C, and producer LV, he signed on with a new production company, Grind Music Inc., in 2001. The trio began to hit the mixtape circuit, churning out freestyles and radio drops for the likes of Fat Man Scoop, DJ Clue and Kay Slay. By 2004, Aasim’s material landed in the lap of Diddy, who was so impressed that he signed the upstart MC to Bad Boy Records. Since then, Aasim has stayed busy, ghostwriting for Mr. Combs while keeping the streets buzzing with mixtapes like 2005’s Spell My Name Right with DJ Big Mike and The Departed with DJ Green Lantern earlier this year. XXLMag.com chops it up with Aasim about his humble beginnings, ghostwriting and carrying on the tradition of success in the house that Diddy built.

Your got your first deal when you were just a teen. How did you get your foot in the door so young?

I was in the studio with Akinyele—who’s like an uncle to me—and Dr. Butcher, Kool G Rap’s DJ. [Butcher] was like, “Yo, that’s an A&R right there.” He was talking about this dude, Schott Free [from Loud Records]. I didn’t know what the hell an A&R was ’cause I’m like 16-years-old at the time. So they threw a beat on and I just said every rhyme I had, non-stop. People came runnin’ into the room like, “Who’s that?” Schott Free was like, “Yo, you the illest nigga I heard since Nas.” So I signed to Loud and stayed there for a minute under a production deal. The label didn’t want the production company, but they wanted me. So they shelved me in hopes that the production company and me would fall out. But that didn’t happen [and] we stayed together. We figured if they wouldn’t put us out together, we were gonna leave. [Plus], we noticed the label was folding, so we got out [of our deal].

After you left Loud, you did your thing independently and then signed with Bad Boy. What’s it been like working with Diddy?

It’s great! Over the years, we’ve bonded. We got a different type of relationship than most. He doesn’t really give his friendship [out] ’cause you can imagine somebody with that status—everybody always got their hand out expecting certain things. We had a certain connection when we first met. He told me, “I don’t wanna be your friend; I don’t want you to be my friend.” I was like, “I don’t need no more friends.” We just kept it funky like that. If it happens organically, then cool. I’m a likable nigga. I’ll give you the shirt off my back. I’m a nigga that’s gonna tell you the real. I’m never gonna sugar coat it or lie to you. So he saw that and I think that’s when he was like, “I can fuck with that nigga. He’s a good dude.” When you actually spend time with him, you see all the rumors you hear about him ain’t true. He’s a businessman. So there’s certain shit he does as a businessman that you can’t put on a personal [level]. I have to be a businessman, too. I can’t get caught up in being a rapper. So it’s a mutual respect.

What songs have you written for Diddy?

I wasn’t necessarily a ghostwriter because I got credit for every joint I did off Press Play and Biggie’s Duets: The Final Chapter. I did the “Nasty Girl” verse and “It Has Been Said,” the joint he had with Eminem and Obie Trice off Duets. For Press Play, I did “Testimonial (Intro),” the Christina Aguilera song [“Tell Me,”] the Brandy song [“Thought You Said,”] the joint with Nas [“Everything I Love”] and “We Gon’ Make It,” the joint that sounds like Jay-Z.

What separates you from other artists in New York City?

I don’t do the type of music [that’s] poppin’. I go on websites and get a lot of great comments. Out of the 100 comments I might get, the worse thing they say is, “He sounds like he’s stuck in the 90’s. His flow is old-school.” They don’t understand that a lot of these rappers are trying to fill that void, but I’m not following the norm. When you play my records on [New York’s] Hot 97 FM against anybody else’s, they sound totally different. We’re not using no keyboards and all of that. We’ve been using gritty samples. Whatever I do is gonna be my way and have that Aasim sound. When Dr. Dre brought you The Chronic, with live instrumentation and all that, you felt like you were in L.A. When you hear my music, you gonna feel like you’re in South Jamaica, Queens.

Is there anything Diddy says you have to improve on?

Hooks—[he’s] always preaching about hooks. You gotta write million dollar hooks. Honestly, I’m not really good with hooks. I’m just like, have somebody do it ’cause I don’t care. R&B artists get songs written for them all the time and it’s not a big deal. I don’t care; have somebody write the hooks.

You’ve been in the game for a minute now. Are you finally working on your debut album?

Definitely. The album is called, The Dream…The Answer. The Dream [portion] is where I cater to the ladies. I’m real into women. It’s the easiest for me to do. It’s just been my steez forever. I never really had a problem talking to females or getting with a female, so The Dream is real easy. And The Answer… I guess that’s whatever’s going on in hip-hop. People [who are] starving for real hip-hop, I’m the answer for that.

Being that your boss is so much of a star, do you feel overshadowed by Diddy’s fame?

Not overshadowed [because] it is what it is. We went to Miami to work on Press Play and [Diddy] said to me, “I know what you want. I never noticed it before, but I seen this look in your eyes when Cool & Dre came up in the Bentley GT.” ’Cause Missy had the Lamborghini, Scott Storch had the Ferrari, and there were all these cars [outside the studio]. So Diddy was like, “The look in your eyes was like you were about to go crazy and just start shooting shit up. But I seen it in your eyes and I know what you want. I’m gonna help you get there and you’re gonna get there because you have the drive. That’s the same determination I had, but I was never in a position where I seen what you’re seeing.” And I’m like, hell yeah— private jets, Phantoms and Ferraris. It’s a transformation for me. I wanna be fly. I don’t wanna be no bum.



xxlmag.com

The Fixxers feat. Quik & AMG: Can't Get Enough

In the confines of San Bernardino County’s West Valley Detention Center, DJ Quik did some soul searching. It was the summer of 2006 and Quik was spending time in prison on a parole violation. The charges stemmed from an incident where he allegedly pulled a gun on his sister back in 2003. The production legend was ordered to serve 45 days in jail on the weekends, but after failing to report, he was thrown in the pen for five months.

Quik used his incarceration as motivation. Upon his release in October 2006, the self-proclaimed “mad scientist” went into the studio with longtime friend and collaborator AMG and formed a duo called The Fixxers. The veteran MCs soon released their first song, “Can You Werk Wit Dat,” to local radio and the record started to generate a buzz, catching the attention of Interscope Records. The monstrous label promptly signed The Fixxers making it the first time that either Quik or AMG had been signed to a major in almost 10 years.

DJ Quik and AMG helped lay the foundation for West Coast hip-hop. Quik’s influence dates back to his platinum debut in 1991, Quik is the Name. The veteran MC then went on to release six more solo albums in the next 15 years while also producing for everyone from 2Pac, to Snoop Dogg to Jay-Z.

AMG hit the scene in 1991 with his debut album, Give a Dog Bone. But 1992’s gold album, Bitch Betta Have My Money, was his coming out party. With pimped out lyrics and party anthems like “Jiggable Pie,” and the DJ Quik produced “Nu Exasize,” the album was hailed by many as a West Coast classic. AMG’s success, however, was short lived. His following two albums: Ballin’ Out Of Control (1995) and Bitch Betta Have My Money 2001 didn’t fair as well.
Now, after working together for over a decade, the Compton, CA natives are releasing their group album, The Midnight Life, this summer. XXLMag.com talks with The Fixxers to about what these veterans can bring back to the game.

How did the group form?

Quik: We always talked about it but never did it. We had obligations that wouldn’t let us together. We created these high maintenance worlds for ourselves that wouldn’t allow us to focus on it. But there’s a lull in the sound here and we realize, in a sense, that we play a part in the barometer of hip-hop on the West Coast.

How did this deal with Interscope for The Fixxers album come about?

AMG: They caught wind of what was going on. We had the radio stations smashing, “Can U Werk Wit Dat.” We actually went to Interscope first, then we were gonna do the deal at Warner Bros. It was one of those, who wants us type of thing. But the record has picked up speed. We started doing appearances and putting the songs into the shows we did. The crowd responded, the reps came out and saw it. It’s a good surprise and something that’s needed. The label [Interscope] was like, “Let’s see what these guys can do.”

What’s the vibe on Midnight Life? Is it more fun and partying?

AMG: Oh yeah, definitely. My thing has always been more of a party atmosphere. I keep it light because that’s the element [needed] to make this record work. Nobody is coming with deep messages. We’re not trying to save anybody. So I think the concept of this album is to just keep the party going. If you wanna learn something, you’ll learn it with or without a record. I don’t think records are here to teach you.

So this album isn’t going to be as heavily West Coast influenced as your previous collaborations?

Quik: Yeah, it’s not. We’ve done it before, over and over again. When the results don’t match the input — if you’re putting a lot in and getting a little out — I think it’s time to walk away from that slot machine and go gamble somewhere else.

AMG: I think we need to do something different besides the same old West Coast thing. We gotta get on some new dance shit. Niggas got a million styles. It just so happens when you get into the record business, you gotta make those certain records. A lot of Quik fans are saying, “It looks like you’re selling out. You’re making down South records.” But you gotta change. You can’t be walking around with bell-bottoms when straight legs are in.

Quik, many regard you and Dr. Dre as the best West Coast producers ever. But it seems Dre gets most of the mainstream attention.

Quik: Of course he will. Dre is a good businessman. He knows how to sell stuff. My thing is — I was always emotionally driven by the music. I think when you give so much of yourself to one thing, you become one-sided and out of balance. So I think that caused the industry to not respect me as much as other people. I’m not a ruthless guy. I’m not robbing anybody for their publishing. I guess you gotta be a shark in this game. I just wasn’t a shark. And I guess, me being dyslexic as I am, or whatever, I thought I didn’t know the business and that’s the furthest from the truth.

As veterans, how do you stay relevant in a game that changes so fast?

Quik: We’re giving people what they want, as opposed to trying to force a structure on people, like, “This is the way it’s supposed to be. This is real hip-hop.” They don’t give a fuck. If it don’t strike them for that moment, then they’re onto something else. We conformed into giving people party music — the feel good music they want.

Quik, last year you went to prison for five months. What happened there?
Quik: That was a real dark time in my life. I was fighting with my sisters. Some of the things they put me through, they probably didn’t really intend it, [but] they were trying to extort me. I always gave them everything and I told them I appreciated them for helping me buy equipment when I was younger. After we got older, I told them, “I really don’t owe you anything. You spent five or six thousand dollars on me when I was coming up. After I became successful, your money didn’t end. I was giving y’all money that I hadn’t even paid taxes on yet.”

[Then] I found out my sisters were trying kidnap my kids for money. So I was like, “Are you guys on crack now? Is that what this is? Are y’all trying to keep it from me? Do you think y’all [are] slick? You’re trying to play me. I’m not ignorant. I’m a genius.” So I could see what it was. It’s just that I’m left-handed and I’m a giver. I’m a philanthropist and I give from the heart. So I love you guys, but I’m not gonna let you hurt my kids. That’s retarded.

I had a strap on me for some dudes. I can talk about it now [because] it’s my situation. My sisters had incorporated some guys involved in the streets into the plot. I caught an assault case and I didn’t pistol whip my sister. She’s little, you don’t have to pistol whip her. But I had my pistol there to shoot them niggas in the face if I would have saw them. I would have blown their ass away. So I snapped. I was out of my mind. I went through therapy and anger management for it and did my jail time. To me, it was more like rehab [rather] than a prison sentence. It was like, go in here and find yourself. Don’t be crazy. Don’t be a victim of the system and don’t let them own your mind.


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