QUEENS, NY – I was invited to the home of Consequence to talk with him about his mixtape, “Take ‘Em To The Cleaners”.  I called Consequence around and he asked if we could meet up around 3:15pm so he could tidy up his place.  Come to find out, Consequence stayed around the way from where I was at for the weekend in St. Albans, how convenient.  He greeted me at the door with a smile that brightened up the day which had been overcast.   He said, “I’m just getting off tour and it’s been awhile since I’ve been here so you gotta pardon my place.”  I didn’t mind the mess well I guess that’s a man for you.  At least he was hospitable and offered me some refreshments.  Before we sat down and kicked it about his upcoming projects, I asked Consequence to take a picture for the website.  He said, “I don’t usually take pictures unless I’m dressed.  I got my pajamas on right now and I need to go upstairs and change”.  What he called pajamas was actually a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants which looked alright to me.  So after going back and forth about taking the picture, Consequence finally cheesed up.  Now that he was relaxed, it was time to ask Consequence about his CD.

JB:  What’s going on Quence?

CON: What’s up, what’s up?

JB:  Why are you sitting over there?  You need to come a little closer, because you’re going to be doing most of the talking, ha ha.

CON: What’s good Albany?

JB:  Let’s talk about your mixtape coming out June 22nd, “Take ‘Em To The Cleaners”

CON: Like you said, “Take ‘Em To The Cleaners is coming June 22nd.  The new wave of Hip-Hop has already been in stores and the next phase, “Take ‘Em To The Cleaners”, my mixed CD features Little Brother, Talib Kweli, Common, of course, my dog, Kayne West, my m-f team, GLC, Linden crew you know how we do. 1-I-2 is in the building.

JB:  What are some of the songs featured on the mixed CD?

CON: The white label we pressed up is called “And You Say” featuring John Legend.  The B-Side of that is “Doctor, Doctor”.  “Wack N*****” featuring Kayne, Talib Kweli and of course, Common and me woofing at the end.  “I See Now” which  is the joint with Little Brother.  “So Soul” featuring Kayne, Khayree and John Legend singing the hook.  There’s a lot of joints on there.  “N***** tried To” is my personal freestyle on there.  Me and Kayne also redid a version of The Souls of Mischief joint “’93 ‘Til Infinity” called “’03 ‘Til Infinity”.  “Getting Out The Game” is on there which is gonna be on my official album, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” which is most likely coming out on Roc-A-Fella.  I’m also working on a novel, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” that will be out the same time as my album hopefully.  I got a DVD coming out hopefully before the end of the summer.  It’s gonna be called “The Comeback Kid” which is sort of like an autobiography just to catch people up on what I’ve been doing, what I’ve done, where I’m going.

JB:  For the people who aren’t familiar with Consequence, you have done some things with A Tribe Called Quest. Is Q-Tip your cousin like blood relative or is he your cousin like Snoop Dogg refers to everyone as cousin?

CON: Q-Tip is really my cousin, family.  That’s initially how I got started.  First thing I ever had in the marketplace was “The Chase Part 2″ which is the B-Side to “A World Tour” from the “Midnight Marauders” album. Then I proceeded to join A Tribe.  I was featured on the “Beats, Rhymes & Life” album and was on the first single, “Stressed Out” and on half of the album.  Then I had a deal on Elektra, but it fell through and I asked to be released.  I had an album called “Hostile Takeover” with Busta, Havoc, and … whatever.  Then I went through my turmoil and shh for a couple of years trying to get back in the game, because I had left A Tribe for business reasons.  I caught two more deals between now and then, but you know what I’m saying, they also fell through, but I just kept with it, kept with it, kept with it.  So this is what I feel is my college degree, rapping.  So I just kept going until I got shh to turn my way and eventually I met Kayne. We clicked up and he opened his home to me.  He gave me access to all the beats that Roc-A-Fella artists were rhyming to so I just started making joints.  I eventually dropped which was my first mixtape “The Cons Vol. 1 – All Sales Is Final”.  It got real good reviews.  MTV gave me Mixtape Monday Pick of The Month.  Source gave me Off The Radar, XXL gave me Show and Prove section at the same time in April so we just kept going from there kept doing new joints.  Kayne was working on “College Dropout” and we eventually did the “Spaceship” joint and DJ Enuff was playing at least 5 songs that we did on the radio.  So now we’re here.  “Take ‘Em To The Cleaners” is the next step and from there is my album.

JB:  So when is the album expected to drop?

CON: Hopefully, most likely the first quarter (2005).  Until then I’ll probably just put out a couple of singles.  I’m on Rell’s first single.  I have a song on “State Property II” Soundtrack ’cause we’re in the movie and shh.  I’m just trying to set everything up.  Then we’re shooting the video for the Rell joint “Real Love” with me and Kayne rhyming.  “Spaceship” is gonna be a single, too and is gonna be coming out in the fall.

JB:  So out of all the songs on “Take ‘Em To The Cleaners” which song is your favorite and why?

CON: Umm.  Umm.  I don’t know.  That’s a hard question ’cause I like them all.  I like all of them for different reasons.  I’m trying to think which one is my favorite song.

JB:  I can tell you my favorite song, “Wack N*****”

CON:  So why is “Wack N*****” your favorite?

JB:  I guess because I was going through something and I heard this song and I could I.D. with it.  Even though I don’t care for the N word, I could appreciate the humor of the song.

CON: You know what?  One of my favorite songs is “You and Your N****”.  That’s actually one of my favorites.

JB: That’s the one about baby daddy drama, right?

CON:   Yeah, yeah that’s it.  I know a lot of people like the Little Brother joint.

JB:  Aaww!  “I See Now”.  Yeah, but some big chicks might be offended by that.

CON: Hey, listen.

JB:   Oh, so what you saying?

CON:   The views and opinions of individuals are that of their own. I like “And You Say” to that’s also one of my favorite songs that’s why I chose that one as the single.  I just like how John Legend killed it (starts singing) “and I wanna know where you are ah, ha”.  It’s a few joints on there that are my favorite.  I like “Incredible Hulk”, too, just because, you know (laughing).

JB:  Yeah, that little concoction (laughing).

CON: I think people are going to enjoy it, I hope so.

JB: It’s banging. Definitely banging.

CON:   Oh, good looking.  I definitely appreciate it.  If you like “Take ‘Em To The Cleaners”, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” will probably be probably be your favorite album next year.

JB:  Sounds like you’re planning to take over first quarter.

CON: I mean, I just wanna do what I do.  I just wanna do my numbers and keep it moving, know what I’m saying?  I know that the game is the game and I just hope I get my time to show people what I do that’s all.

JB:  So are you on tour right now?

CON:   We just got off tour.  We did the School Spirit Tour.  I came out on Kayne’s set and did “Space Ship”, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” or the “’03 Until” joint.  Also Dilated Peoples performed with us and sometimes the Young Gunz came out.  It was good though.  We had fun.  It was cool.  Everybody was just doing what they do.  There were a couple of incidents where I also wound up slapping somebody in their mouth.  Not nobody on my team, just some dudes at some of these little schools.  Their momma paid for their schooling so they really don’t think before they speak and they mouths get them into shh until a real n**** jumps on their back, but we had a real good time.  We’re supposed to be going out on tour this summer with Usher.

JB:  We’ll ya’ll gonna have to come to Albany, because Usher loves Albany.

CON:   Cons loves Albany, too.

JB:   Yeah Cons knows peeps in Albany.  It’s definitely a small world.

CON:  Albany is like little Linden.  For all my Linden and Murdock n***** living in Albany doing what they do, ya heard.

JB:  Yeah people be sleeping on Albany.  Albany is the capital of New York State, ya heard.

CON:   Yeah, hopefully we’ll be up there in Albany.  When I was with A Tribe we were up there, I forgot the name of the park.

JB:   Lincoln Park.

CON:  Might have been.

JB:  You were there?  I was there.  That’s when SUNY Albany held their SpringFest in Lincoln Park.  I didn’t get a chance to meet A Tribe Called Quest.

CON:   It was us, C.R.U. that’s when Black Rob was…

JB:  Yeah, that’s the same event.  I remember CRU.

CON:   I remember that show.  That show was good.

JB:  I talked to C.R.U. and Black Rob and got pictures of them.  By the way what happened to C.R.U.?  What’s up with Black Rob?  I guess that’s another subject.

CON:   That’s neither here nor there, you know.  Shouts out to my n**** Black Rob, that’s my man.  Word up.

JB:  What advice do you want to give about getting into music ..

CON:   Don’t quit your day job (laughing).

JB: That line came right on time.  A little plug for your upcoming CD.

CON:   On the real, just do what you do and do it to death.  Whatever you do if you play ball, you’re a journalist, you’re a rapper, a doctor just want to be something.  Inspire to be something and if you’re real about your shh, be real about your shh.  Don’t ask nobody to put you in a good position if you know you can’t do nothing, but put them in a bad position.  You can’t ask for a person to give you a look.  People make their choices, but you have to be real about the choices that you make.  If you make a bunch of f’ed up decisions how could want for somebody to put you in a good position, immediately?  Goodness comes in time.  Greatness comes in time and time is a gift from God.  So if you want something, everything goes in steps.  Nobody becomes… Barbara Walters is who she is because of all the groundwork she put in.  Oprah is who she is groundwork that she put in.  It’s been years you just don’t (snaps his fingers) become Oprah!  Oprah just didn’t become Oprah.

JB:  Yeah it’s important for artists to know that.

CON:   Michael Jordan wasn’t just Michael Jordan.  (Tu)Pac wasn’t just Pac.  Pac started out as a roady for Digital Underground.  So you gotta give yourself room to evolve and you gotta be willing to evolve as well.  How can you expect your income to grow if you’re not growing as a craftsman or woman, a person who does what they do if you’re willing to stay up those late nights, chase those interviews or be in the studio until 5 in the morning?  If you’re not willing to do that, you can’t ask a person who’s already done that to put you there, because they can’t even do it anyway it’s something that you have to do for yourself.  My advice is anybody trying to get in, do what you do and if you’re real about your shh, be real about your shh.