The tour is cool. It has its ups and downs, but as a whole if I look at it as if it’s bad or good it’s been good. All of the shows have been cool. With Prince Paul I’m learning a lot and I get a chance to be with somebody that’s a generation ahead of me with experience in hiphop and [I'm] also working with Ugly Duckling and Eyedea is about to jump on the boat so its all good.

It’s kind of an eclectic mix of artists on the tour, how did the tour come together and how did you get down with it?

Stuff like that comes as part of the business with booking agents and stuff like that knowing who’s who in hiphop and different names popped up to Prince Paul and other names came out and then everyone put it all together and visualizes their position. It’s not like groups its like Prince Paul has his own thing, Ugly Duckling has their own thing, Eyedea has his own thing and I have my own thing.

This is one of the first times I’ve seen you hit some East Coast spots how have you been received so far?

It’s tough out here. I always see it as a regional type of thing. We do good in the west, the southwest, and in the Midwest, a lot of places all over but I would say we get that much more appreciation more towards where we are [from]. When we get out here it’s a little less but we still try to maintain, that’s why I’m here now it’s a worldwide thing. It’s loose on the east, but we’re trying to build it (a following) up everywhere else so they have a chance to experience and make a choice on whether or not they like how we put it down.

Do you approach your sets any differently depending on which city you’re in?

I read the crowd whether it’s a real lax crowd, or a real hyped crowd, or a fan crowd that really wants to hear certain things or if it’s a crowd that’s gigging like “Who’s playing again?” We kinda gauge the crowd and it happens at the moment too, although we do a lot of the songs, but the moment in which everything comes together all depends on the chemistry of the night.

Let’s talk about some of your albums. Your last album was “Accepted Eclectic.” What was the goal for that album and how have those goals changed for the Love & Hate album?

Well “Accepted Eclectic” was stating that I accept the fact that I’m eclectic. It’s gonna take a lot of albums to be able to get the whole point across of what I’m trying to do lyrically. Each album might change and go through different dynamics but that’s still apart of something I want to put out there. Certain get a hold of the record and say this doesn’t even sound like the last one. People fall in love with records for the time that it represents for them, but its growth in everything my experiences, my life, my lyrical ability and whatever and it changes. I want to change it continuously anyway and “Love & Hate” is just another progression of what I’m trying to do and the expression at the time that I was trying to get across.

Describe the love and hate relationship you have with hiphop.

I love the art of hiphop. I like the technical grimy aspects of putting the music down, what it does to your spirit, and how it can change people and send messages. That’s the cool shit about it, it’s our culture. It’s a whole subculture. I funnel a lot of the things I do through hiphop [such as] my learning experiences, my world travel experiences, and my people experiences. What I hate about it is the excessive amount of commercialism. You got people out there who only get the music that comes right to them so the one with the biggest flag sells the most records.

Everybody has these love hate relationships why did you choose to make that a focus on this album?

Yea, I don’t know what the rules for an album are supposed to be. I’m making a grand statement or am I making a grand statement or should this just be Aceyalone’s next album? Everything is going to be looked at as what type of thought did you have behind it. I didn’t make it a fully conceptual album like this is the love side and the hate side and these are the dynamics of life. I think we all know those types of things. It’s just a statement of where I’m at. Yea I love the music business and yea I hate different parts of it.

On the album I saw you brought in El-P, which wasn’t too surprising, but you also brought RJD2 in for a couple of tracks. What did you hear in RJD2′s beats that you felt he could add something unique to the Love & Hate album?

I like working with different producers. Different producers get me off. El-P and I talked about doing something a while ago back in ’98 or’99 and the opportunity came up to do it. With RJD2 he reminded me a lot of Mumbles, the couple tracks that he had were different and right up my alley.

What did Deconstruction Company add to the project and what made you want to work with them?

Just being an independent artist I’m going through a series ups and downs when it comes to distributors. The whole idea is to get the right distribution deal and get in the position to have all of our records out the right way. It was just another situation. I’ve gone through Nu Gruv Alliance, Caroline and now Deconstruction Company. They approached me, they’re an art design and video company, and presented some stuff and at the time I didn’t have a distributor for our records. It’s about putting ourselves in the best position business wise.

When you were making Book of Human Language, knowing that you were putting out albums afterwards, did you know that the project could possibly be the comparison that the rest of your albums would be judged by?

I gave that some thought. I knew it was a concentrated album and I knew what direction it was going to take. I kinda had a feeling about how the fans were going to take it. My idea was that it’s better to get an album like this off to let people know the depth at which you’re coming from and then get another album off that is lighthearted so people can understand your dynamics. I felt that if I did this album later people wouldn’t have been as receptive to it. So I just did it and the music just came. I’m not one of those artists that’s thinking everything out career wise. I’m just doing the music that comes from the heart and that’s the result of it. I’ll do another Book of Human Language type of record and I’ll take something that I’ve touched on and make it a whole album. It’s all conversations. We can talk about anything at any given time with anybody and nobody wants to have the same conversation all the time. Sometimes a conversation goes two or three hours on one subject like A Book of Human Language and sometimes you sit up for an hour and talk about fifteen different things.

What can people expect from A Book of Human Language II?

My mentality is different, I was living different, my mind state is different, it’s going to be a different album. What was important to me is slightly different everything from family issues to people in your life at the time. All of that plays a part with the expression of music.

Well the new Hit Squad is PMD, Don Fuquan who’s from the lower east side in Manhattan, and 275 are from Dayton Ohio. All my groups that I work with I ran into them on the road while I was doing a show. So what’s special is that I was off for a while so I was really home in the hood and all the artists that I am working with now were brought to me by cats in the street that had respect. [They were] like yo P when you rocking and when you are doing your album here are some cats that are dope and I took it from there.

What do you feel they bring to the table emcee wise and what do you feel they were able to add to the album?

I felt that they added energy, they brought their skills, they brought their street awareness of what’s going on out there in the street right now and they really actually believe what they were rapping about because they were basically rapping about life. It’s not like this album is industry influenced. These cats was really there so they are rhyming from the standpoint of I’m not out here for a chain or a car I’m really trying to get in the game and be here for ten or fifteen years.

Do you feel your die hard fans will embrace them knowing the history of the Hit Squad?

Yea I think so. To be honest with you my whole point is that this is on my own label, its independent, [and] its different now. I showed you the Hit Squad, the first squad of all squads, and now its like the game has changed and it’s getting out of the hands of the people and going to more corporate politics. My whole point is to not come from an artist point of view, all my artists have their own label, we are coming with a new era. You’re not an artist, we’re not gonna get 500,000 for a budget, we’re going to do this ourselves. We’re going to do a joint venture and then you’re gonna put your album out. That’s the way I’m showing them. So as opposed to having to stress selling a gold or platinum album if you sell 50,000 you’re doing good if you sell 100,000 you really came off.

For you personally “The Awakening” is your 3rd solo album, but first since EPMD has gotten back together why did you feel it was necessary to still do solo albums and not have more focus on the group?

Well because one Erick is wrapping up Keith Murray’s album right now, he is coming out July 15th and also our situation with J Records. EPMD is more or less a street group. The way it’s set up with J [is that] Clive has a lot of vision, but it’s up for the actual record company or indy that’s signed to him to have the street team and everything set up. So to make a long story short we’re not even on J Records anymore we just signed our release. Right now EPMD’s situation is working out which distribution we’re gonna rock with.

On the album you speak a lot about being a pioneer in the game and hiphop seems to be one of the few cultures where a lot of people don’t fully appreciate or understand its history and what others have contributed to it. Why do you feel that is and why do you think that we don’t celebrate our pioneers more?

The object of the game is to keep the artist blind so by the time an artist’s career runs out he has no say so. So when his album is out he is out there promoting and the people in the record company are actually doing the office work. They don’t get their recognition because this is a fast moving industry. Before you had Big Daddy Kane and he was different from Slick Rick, Run DMC was different from Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, we were different from the next group, now in today’s era it’s basically we need you to sound exactly like him, look like him, and dress like him. There’s no individuality or originality in the game, so these guys running out here and don’t even have the knowledge. When we came in we came in off of Run, but then they had groups that go back to Bambaataa and Bambaataa had groups that go back to Kool Herc. Now after EPMD broke up it was just a foundation with a whole bunch of money there and cats without the information, whereas when we came in no matter how fly we wanted to get we had Russell checking us, we had Chuck D checking us, we had Run, D, and J checking us. These guys are just getting a chunk of money, they mad at the world and they don’t understand that in a couple years they are gonna pay for this.

What do you think could be done in the industry to change this type of behavior?

I think to give them a voice, not just some 30 second [spot] or a night interview on a mixshow. I been around people who are happy if they sell 30,000 records. The object of the game is when an artist is 50 or 60 he should still be ok not [just] in here 1 or 2 years. The only way to do that is to show them the real which the industry is not going to teach them because they make money by you being ignorant. Perfect example if you are on an independent label, let’s take David Banner. He went out there and sold 40,000 records he made his money off of that. $40K x $8=$320K that’s what he did from his independent label, but that’s one move. Off of that next move a major will call you and give you seven digits to take it to the next level because they seen what you did without them. There is a big difference between doing it that way and going to get $500,000 and it’s either you happen or you don’t, you put out a single and it’s either you happen or you don’t. There’s no longevity in that, that’s why most artists from my era are getting back on top of their game because they have learned. Now the era that’s here now in five to seven years, you know how the game go, the same cats that you see rocking right now you gonna see them on the street and be like nah. I was talking to one of my boys they was like 50 cent has changed the game. What he did was do all of those mixtapes and bust his ass on the ground level so when the lit came to him he was prepared. [Now] the industry is like oh ok we get it no more big deals just P&D. That’s where you do all the work show them that you can do it and then they hit you off. Now you have to work to get the check instead of just coming in off of hype.

Being that you are so accomplished in your career what do you have to prove (if anything) and what motivates you to keep doing records?

Well my family keeps me going. I’m from a family of seven so a lot of them watch me and they feed off of me. Then off of that family I have nieces and nephews that’s watching. I can give them two looks the look like I made it and I’m that or I can be out here on the grind. I keep it real, when I hang up the phone and go home my moms is sitting there right at the table and there is stress on her face. The older brother is sick with the HIV, the younger brother doesn’t have any direction or whatever and the sister has three kids and I’m her go to man. So before when I was doing all the music and stuff we wasn’t really communicating like that until my success broke her down and put her in the hospital. So now when you come out things still move the same way for the simple fact that people think my life is one way when it’s different. My mother’s day started at 6:30 in the morning with the U.S Marshalls in her house without a search warrant looking for my sister’s boyfriend. So no matter if you out here doing your thing you know where your heart and your mind is. For me this is not about selling records or soundscan, this is about mastering the last piece. I made money for Sleeping Bag [Records], I made money for Def Jam, I made money for Atlantic Records and Elektra and a lot of kids followed. Kids had the opportunity to use different beats to blow up, but they chose to use EPMD tracks. Crews had the opportunity to come up with different names, but I (put together) the first squad of all squads and I walked away from the game because I wasn’t feeling the direction of where people was taking it. It wasn’t like I had a Bad Boy to look at or a Death Row to look at or a Flipmode Squad to look at, there was nobody here so I based my decisions on that. I left it straight up and in a positive state and then the next people who came behind me didn’t do that, they went for the cash and took it where it is now. My point is look at all the squads that followed me after that, Flipmode Squad, Def Squad, Terror Squad, Firing Squad so I left a mark here. I taught em business, but I left one out. I made the money for all these other people [now] my last thing is to try to get these kids to understand you don’t have to try and sell a gold record. When its supposed to come to you it’s gonna come just be prepared. What you should try to do is learn how to be a real independent label as opposed to running to somebody else, them charging you with the big word recoup and at the end you be ass broke in two years and nobody hears about you and nobody thinks about you. Plug in. Get your computer, get your website talk to them. Most people try to get something to people I already did it. But for this last run I got a younger brother who got a crew they trying to get there and they are trying to learn and I’m like damn this is messed up we didn’t have to go thru this. All we had to do is have the incentive, the music, the drive and have people like Russell and them there. These cats don’t even have no one showing them how to make wax. So this is not about The Awakening this is about learning independent, about getting distribution, knowing how to talk to The Source and XXL and really run your business and then be able to go back to your community hire people. Take your time [and] slow your roll so you don’t have to run out there and try to get that cash because the majors are closing their doors. And I’m the one that made them open it. I’m not trying to get cocky, but when Das Efx came thru with the bum skiddy bum that’s when they started opening the checks up two million sold. I came thru we got a little budget, $175K, but it took that to make the record. The object of the game is to be able to run your label and still be able to not sacrifice your artistic point of view.

So the title The Awakening is symbolic for all artists doing business to wake up and not the fact that you feel you’re being slept on.

Yea no question because I went to the real world for 11 years since ’92. No matter what you were hearing I was in the real world. I was home cooling. I had a partner out here so I could do that. I know the game so well from Strictly Business; go home re-up. I did it too many times to not know how to get here. So now I’m here and ain’t nothing changed. That’s why there are songs like “So What Cha Saying.” That’s why they exist you’re supposed to act like this and I’m supposed to say “You Got’s To Chill”, “So What Cha Saying”, “I’m on a Rampage”, now “I’m Mad”. I told you to watch out for the “Gold Diggers”, [and] don’t “Crossover” [but] they done crossed over and lost they mind. Eminem is the only one not crossing over, speaking to hip-hop and letting the people know what’s going on and they still having problems when the only objective in hiphop was for it to not be a fad and to try and spread it as far as it could go.

You and E both have mentioned that you got back together in part because of slain artists in hiphop. How do you feel your continuance in hiphop carries on the memories of people like Big L, Biggie, Pac, Jam Master J, etc?

Well, I got my shell toes on right now I see Jam Master Jay’s face very clearly and its definitely on and that effects me. Because of who I am its not like I [just] think this. My friends and family called me up to make sure I was alright. You can’t let there struggle die in vain. It ain’t about roses for a week and then it’s dead and done. You can’t save the world, but you can teach them by your work ethics. That’s why there were so many groups. I let off like four groups in one year. We were the first ones dealing with money, we were the first ones out there really on the front line like “yo don’t go to no independent no more form your own crew and clique and just do the damn thing”. But then there was a price with that as you look around. The artists don’t know enough about the world they living in [and] that’s why they having these problems. That’s why I put my mic down and [said] let me go learn about this world I live in before I come back again. That’s why this is The Awakening. I already know EPMD is there, but let me really do an independent label, let me sell 30,000 or 40,000. There are so many people out here that are so dope, need jobs, and want to be apart of something. That’s the whole point of this it ain’t about me being large. I’m not a selfish person or Das Efx or Red would not exist. Now the game is screwed up [so if] ya’ll want to do it then I’m gonna put it out there for ya’ll to see it.

Do you feel that your relationship with E is stronger now after you broke up?

On this one coming, but we definitely didn’t get that on Back to Business or Out Of Business. There was just too many politics. Before there was nobody watching us so we got to do what we got to do and then once people got onto us after “So What Cha Saying” you really didn’t know who was who. Everyone had their own motives which just took away from the love of the music.

So do you feel this is the first real EPMD album since you guys got back together?

By far and me and Erick talk about this we be like man we just did music and rapped on that, we ain’t show up. It didn’t make no sense to come Back in Business to go Out of Business that right there look at that. Haha

A lot of people were sad when you guys broke up did that surprise you that you had that much of an effect on the fans?

From my standpoint it wasn’t like I was getting any help from anyone. I was out there on a 40 city tour that I had to get off of and make sure all the artists were straight. I was definitely riding with my fans, but I already went as far as I could go before I burnt myself out. I had to get my stuff together. I took it there, I dropped Das Efx they got theres, dropped EPMD, dropped Redman and dropped K-Solo and after that I didn’t have no help so I was like you know what I love the game and I love myself so I’ll be back another day. I left my mark. Now it’s on. Before I just gave Sleeping Bag the album, gave Def Jam the album, now I’m holding mine. It ain’t about business, it ain’t about money, its just the right thing follow your spirit and see where it leads.

What can we expect on the new EPMD album (We Mean Business)?

First we got a more open mind and listened to the people around us. The last two albums we didn’t listen to none of our albums we just went and did those two. Now it’s like we gotta listen to Strictly Business, gotta listen to Unfinished, gotta slow down. Now we’re listening and what we’re realizing is that the original format is something we already know how to do. So now instead of you do 16 and I do 16 [or] you do 8 and 8 it ain’t working like that. Now it’s tossing it back and listening to the song and saying yo what would sound here dope. Last time Erick and I were working we were doing our tracks separately whereas before on the first album we would probably do it together.

Do you feel it took two albums to just get the chemistry back?

No, I think it took two albums for us to get comfortable with each other again after being apart for five years. In between its not like we had time to rest he was doing his stuff I was doing my stuff. Now it’s like hold up Erick and Parrish, We Mean Business.

What other projects do you have planned?

I’m gonna be on Soul Survivor 2 (Pete Rock). I did a song with Prodigy and Noyd called First Infantry that’s off the hook. I just did a song with Cormega. I got my group with Don Fuquan and 275, we’re doing the indy thing to have fun. We’re doing our promo tour in two weeks, we going to Cali after that and going overseas after that. The website (www.pmdhitsquad.com) will be up in a few weeks. The Awakening (PMD solo album) will be out June 17th.

Brother Ali: First of all I never won them, ha ha. That had a big part to do with it. What I really realized over the course of doing that is that I’m not a person that’s able to serve somebody because of the money that’s on the table or just because I’m supposed to do it. I’ve really only done two organized battles. I’ve done a lot of street battling and I’ll do that for the rest of my life, [but] when I went to the first Scribble Jam I was just shocked at the people that were calling themselves rappers. That was my first time going out of Minnesota in a hiphop sense. The first time that I left Minnesota and went to what was supposed to be this big underground hiphop event and saw the people that were calling themselves MCs. [Seeing] how timid and shy they were and how much fundamentals they lacked I just felt like I wanted to just eat and kill every rapper there. That basically worked for me because I just wanted to fucking kill everybody. The people who were there to support it and the grafwriters were all cool and the djs and breakers were cool, but I just could not believe the people that were passing themselves off as MCs. It just irritated me to no end. I feel like I killed everybody that night and it was cool. I went back again because everybody was like you should have won, you should go do it [again] and I did it. By this time I had been traveling around and I pretty much had got an understanding for what this underground shit was about and wasn’t angry about it anymore as much. Everything that I do is very much heart on my sleeve type of shit and the way that I truly feel is always the way that I show myself to the world and if I don’t feel a real reason to kill somebody I can’t do it. So the # 1 reason is that I refuse to be apart of something I don’t feel.

How and when did you start working with Rhymesayers?

I’m from Minnesota so I’ve been seeing them since the mid 90′s. Rhymesayers changed the way that I looked at a career in music. Up until the mid 90′s I was doing the 12 year old thing; make some songs send them to record labels, meet a rapper and give them a fucking cd and lucky if you don’t get punched in the fucking face. I started going to college cuz I was like this shit ain’t even realistic. It’s too much of a roll of a dice and it’s too much based on what someone else thinks your potential is and what somebody else thinks your abilities are. Basically, when I saw the way Rhymesayers was doing it, [with] a bunch of motherfuckers who believed in each others’ potential and ability and work ethic etc., just saying fuck everything else we are going to take what we have create a scene, put out our own albums and control our own destiny. Once I got my brain around that idea I wanted to be apart of it right away. I was basically going to try to do the same thing on my own. I went and recorded an album on my own, made all my own beats and recorded it myself kinda homemade style. I put it together and I was friends with Siddiq, the guy who runs the label behind the scenes, and I brought it to him to get his advice on it like whether I should pay money to get it mastered or should I make it a tape or a cd etc. He was like yo we’ll just put this thing out for you and I kinda talked to everybody and been apart of it ever since.

Your strong Islamic faith comes across pretty clearly on both Rites of Passage and Shadows on the Sun. Does your faith affect the way you approach the mic or influence your work ethic and how you put an album together?

It’s a little bit different that it was on the first one. On Rites of Passage I kinda had an idea in mind of what I thought I should be, of the way I should present myself as a Muslim in hiphop. I kinda felt like I should put a certain face on. I curse in life, it’s something that I’m good at, but I didn’t want to curse on that record because I felt like I should be a Muslim MC. I realized after I put that out that putting an adjective before MC is where you go wrong. Anytime you start out thinking I’m going to make this or I need to be this or I need to look like this other thing you automatically lose. Making the second one it changed a little bit. The reality is I’m a practicing Muslim. I studied very intensely for a few years before I had my son so that’s apart of who I am and I let that come thru when it felt natural to come through. My thing now is to present myself as I really am. Mingus has this record called “Myself As I Am” and I have that record hanging up in my crib that’s the way I want to present myself. When I have flaws they’re there and where I feel good about myself is there too. If there is something that I wouldn’t do in life then I’m not going to do it on a record.

When you first started producing did it come out of necessity or was there a natural gravitation towards making beats?

When I first started out I didn’t know there was a difference. I hadn’t really chosen which one I was going to do, I just knew I liked hiphop. I have terrible handwriting so my graf is fucking hideous and I’m fat, not coordinated and I’m like legally blind [so] I can’t break it’s just not even a reality. I can two-step like a motherfucker, I can dance, but breakin’ is not an option for me. So that left me djing and emceeing. I started doing both of them because I honestly do love doing both. The thing is I kinda gave my life to emceeing in the sense that I study it and work everyday at mastering it. I have a great deal of respect for all of hiphop culture so I don’t want to call myself [MC] if I’m not giving it the respect that it deserves. That’s a title when you think of it you think of the great motherfuckers who have changed and shaped my life, so if I’m going to call myself that I’m going to give it its due. I’ve spent everyday trying to master that since I was 12. Whereas producing I don’t feel comfortable calling myself a DJ or producer because I don’t have a record collection, I don’t dig, I can’t listen to a record and tell you what snare that is. But my man Ant he gives his life to it the way I give my life to emceeing so I don’t even call myself a producer or a DJ, I’m a cat who likes to play records. I’m a cat who likes to make beats, some of them are good some of them aren’t, but I would feel guilty calling myself a producer when you have somebody like a Premier or Pete Rock, Ant or Dr. Dre or somebody who has mastered that or is mastering that. So when I did it on the Rites of Passage album at that point it was necessity. I stepped to Ant even back then and he was like your beats are not bad, they are pretty good so if you do all your own beats and make your own songs and create your own vision nobody’s gonna be able to fuck with you. So he gave me the confidence to actually do that shit and after I did it I saw what he meant, but I still wasn’t comfortable with that. So we did the second album together.

The album definitely showcases a different sound from Ant since it was catered to your style.

Ant is very slept on for a variety of reasons. One is that what he brings to the Atmosphere equation is intangible. You’re not necessarily going to listen to the beat and be blown away, although on a lot of them you will. Producers now all they do is make a beat [and] give you the beat. That’s all they do is make that beat so the only way you judge them is [by] listening to the instrumental version and your hearing what they contributed. Ant shapes the vision of a whole fucking song and what he adds is not something you can point your finger at. When you listen to a song and it sounds right, the hooks are right, the intro is right and there is an overall mood and feeling that you get from it that’s the intangible shit that Ant brings to the table. That’s why it’s so hard to understand that until you see him in other circumstances like on the Murs record. Murs’ album has a lot of good producers on there, but that song called “Got Damned?” is the most passionate song on there and that’s cuz that’s Ant. Ant brings some shit out of a motherfucker that nobody else is going to bring out of them.

I think another reason he is slept on is because no one really has proof of his existence. I’ve heard people saying Slug is really Ant and not even thinking he is a real person. That comes into play because he isn’t out there for you to see.

He has no interest in motherfuckers saying give me your autograph. The reality is that the motherfucker doesn’t like people in general which most of us don’t, but we act like we do. Ant is not trying to act like he likes people. He has about four or five people that are really in his circle, his lady, the core members of Rhymesayers, and maybe one or two other people and he loves those people to death. Everybody else can take a leave and he doesn’t try to pretend it’s anything else other than that. He is one of the kindest people I know, but people are intimidated by him because if you come off to him like you’re a lazy bastard he is going to tell you, [but] it’s not in a mean spirited way. I remember one time we were making a record and he was dropping me off at the crib and we passed by this bridge where homeless people be holding their signs up and this dude walked up to car like I need some money and Ant was like “Nah quitter.” He was like “You fucking quitter!” That’s the kind of motherfucker that he is. He isn’t going to hold anything back. Another thing is he is very in tuned with who he’s working with. Everybody wants to act like they’re not insecure about their shit, but everybody is. Everybody who cares enough about what their making is gonna question it every now and then. At least you should. It’s only a wack motherfucker that never questions his shit. Like Master P is not questioning whether or not his rhymes are dope, but I bet he questions whether or not his business decision is a good one. So for me sometimes I get really hard on myself like damn this is not right. He’ll know if I’m insecure about something [and] he’ll be like the way you said that was perfect or the way you did this is right without me having to say something. We are so in tuned with each other its some other shit. I’ve never experienced that before.

What’s your take on the current hiphop scene?

Hiphop definitely suffers now from a lack of quality. There is a big quantity of both underground and mainstream and to me they’re both the same thing. Neither one of them is hiphop to me. They’re both extensions of what I remember hiphop to be. Every now and then you’ll come across a motherfucker like yea that’s hiphop, but that’s so few and far in between. Man there is so much wack shit out here [itâ's] like don’t put nothing out unless it’s good. Don’t expect me to care. All these motherfuckers be like hey you want to do a verse on my mixtape? No, why are you making a mixtape? Don’t make a mixtape [or] make a mixtape and play it in your car and understand why you can’t still be scratching fresh. If you’re scratching fresh that shit stays in your walkman, don’t put that out in the world that’s not what we need. That’s like Muslims on tv burning American flags, you’re not helping we’re out here trying to do something and you’re fucking it up.

You tend to be one of the few emcees who bring the same amount of energy on record as you do on stage. Are you consciously aware of maintaining that level, if not what’s going thru your mind before you approach the recording process?

I’ve started approaching it where I don’t even think about the end product at the beginning. I start out and I just do it song by song. Sometimes I bring lyrics to Ant, most of the time I’ll go and get some beats from his house that strike me as something I can really work with and make something good out of. [With] “Room With a View”, the planets lined up right that day, he had that beat and I had that rhyme and I had that song in mind as really a good thing to do with him. When that beat came on it just clicked. Other times I’ll just go over there and a beat will come on and it will be plain as day what I should do with it. Sometimes it will be plain as day what somebody else should do with it, like if Slug did this on this beat it would be the shit. So I just took those (the ones I liked) home and constructed them and once we had them we just put the record together. I really have been sold on the idea that if you start out with the end product in mind you’re constricted by that because instead of expressing what you want to express you’re shooting for the end product. So like my next record will be who knows? It will probably be the same thing though because when you listen to the two they are pretty much the same thing just with a little different fire in it.

Yea, “Shadows on the Sun” is definitely more aggressive.

By nature I’ve learned to be a little aggressive. When I made the Rites of Passage record I was just a happy motherfucker. I thought all that aggression was behind me. I had a job, I was married, I went to Malaysia to study Islam, I was just a motherfucker out here living life and having fun. So all of that aggressive shit that I learned how to do in school because of shit around me I honestly tricked myself into thinking I didn’t need that anymore. That’s what that “Picket Fence” song is. “Picket Fence” is the idea that you get in your head that shit’s ok, that life is good when it’s not. There is always going to be some shit you’re going to have to deal with. So when I made Rites of Passage I was just happy and I made a happy ass album. Even my battle songs on there are kinda tongue in cheek like ha ha Boombaye! I had an apartment, I was just living I’d do whatever I want, but shit changed very much since then.

How would you describe your style?

I’m very much rooted in fundamentals. To me if you don’t have the fundamentals there is no point in getting experimental. I respect a motherfucker who gets experimental for the sake of being experimental. What I don’t respect is motherfuckers who act experimental because they can’t do the normal shit. Like Outkast we know Outkast can fucking rap, they’re experimental now because Dre fucked Erykah Badu.

It seems like she do that to everybody, now she got Common bugging out.

As much as I’m in love with her I would never have sex with her.

Something about her just have you going to the thrift shop buying clothes and last time I saw Dre he was on the Chris Rock show with like a diaper on?

The thing is I believe it with Dre, with Common I don’t know if I believe it, I haven’t decided yet. I think he just ran out of shit to do. I think he was like I don’t know what direction to go in so let me just bug the fuck out.

What unique qualities do you think you bring to the Rhymesayers family?

I think that I’m a lot more straightforward hip-hop. I’m a lot less out there. When I talk about people being experimental everybody in Rhymesayers can rap their ass off. So like we were talking about Dre, we know Dre can rap but you have other guys who bug the fuck out like the Anticon cats. Have you heard of them?

Yea, I remember when Sole was with Live Poets and they put out “Respect”, it’s definitely a vast change, back then he was sampling O.C.

Because he realized he couldn’t rap for real. That motherfucker realized he couldn’t rap for real and be taken seriously so he’s experimental not because he wants to do some new shit but because that’s the only way he can ever be taken seriously. I don’t take his punk ass seriously. They’re a good example of motherfuckers who can’t do the real shit so they get experimental and say fuck the real shit. I hate his attitude, that motherfucker is so arrogant with his shit. The whole Def Jux motherfuckers are experimental because they are trying to do some new shit. All of those motherfuckers can rap. They do the real shit and on top of that they are experimental. It’s the same shit with Rhymesayers, everybody on Rhymesayers can rap, we can all battle, everybody on Rhymesayers can do the fundamental shit. Basically all of us on Rhymesayers have the same feeling. We all feel like the shit that we’re passionate about, the shit that makes us cry or laugh is what we should be putting in our songs. The reason we’re going to win is because we are just honest motherfuckers and that’s so refreshing to people. We don’t front like we have New York accents because we’re not from New York. That bugs me out, there are rappers from the Midwest that got New York accents. I used to [try to front] and as ashamed as I am of that shit I said “nahmean” and called people “son” on the Rites Of Passage album. I said son like 4 times on that record and every time I hear it I just wish I could smash it and never hear it again.

It’s a collection of freestyles from throughout the years that [I've] done on the radio in conjunction with a few written songs. It’s going to be a good sample that’s what I think. I’m glad to hear you say that. That’s what I look at this as, this is strictly a sample, please do not judge this record. This is just something for you guys to say hey [he's] still around. Once you listen to it you obviously figure out what it is.

I liked the songs, but it just seems much more impressive when you freestyle about random topics like the X-Men on WNYU with A-Butta.

That’s the excitement of the freestyle and that’s how it’s supposed to be. The written is one thing, but the freestyle is totally another. It’s two different things with me. Those written rhymes they’re written well, but to hear me rhyme about the X-Men live sitting there of course it’s going to be more exciting. [You're thinking] this fucking dude is making this shit up off of his head he’s crazy! It’s like how is he doing this? That’s the feeling you’re supposed to get. With me sometimes it’s like the gift and the curse. Like you, you’re like hey I liked “Internationally Known,” but it’s not the freestyle. That’s the thing people want the written rhymes to be on the same intensity as the other flow.

In the future you have mentioned doing an album that’s strictly written rhymes. Since you’re known around the world as a great freestyler why not do a completely freestyled album instead?

I’ll probably mix the two together, but in certain situations when I am in a controlled environment doing a freestyle you probably wouldn’t know the difference anyway unless I told you. I’ve done a whole freestyle album before. Most of the albums that I did most of those songs were off the dome. That’s one of the things people really don’t know. I could easily go into the studio tomorrow and do a freestyle album. I am just trying to give people that clean body of work.

How many albums have you recorded?

Two. Three if you count the one from Celestial, but we put that out. I recorded an album with Djini Brown, which was for Elektra when I was on Elektra and the album I recorded with KRS-ONE. Later on all that stuff will come out, we are just focusing on the new record right now.

How did you get down with KRS to do an album and what was that experience like working with a legend?

I was working on Kiss FM. At the time I had my own radio show on Kiss and KRS and Mad Lion were guests one night and that’s how me and Kris started talking. From there we went to do an album. Working with him in the studio was awesome. I was working with a legend like you said. What I took from it was his studio etiquette, being very conscious of time in the studio and some of the techniques he was using. We freestyled the whole album off the dome, so certain songs we had freestyle flash cards, on other songs we would bring the mic out of the booth and into the room where everyone was sitting and do it live. We had different little tricks we tried when we were doing the record. We’re gonna try and make sure it comes out. It’s going to be apart of a lot of stuff that we’re going to put out. This compilation of the “Lost Freestyle Files” won’t be the last one. I’m planning to do about three or four of those because I have a lot more material. This was just to test the waters.

Let’s talk about the Wake Up Show Anniversary battle with Juice. Did you do any preparation since it was such a hyped event?

If you take emceeing the way that I take emceeing there is definitely a point of preparation in anything you do. I just took the time to go research who Juice was after I committed myself to a battle. It’s just like watching fight tapes. If he has bodies of music out there I went to try and find what I could, which was not a lot, but what I did find it helped me. As far as preparation I rhymed everyday as if I was battling him. Even though he wasn’t there in my mind I visualized him there. I could have been on some cocky shit, but I didn’t think like that. I thought to myself this could be a dangerous motherfucker I’m getting in the ring with so let me be ready.

It makes sense to prepare for it just like you would for any other kind of competition, but it’s just rare because I never really hear any emcees talk about doing serious training.

I don’t really like talking about it because a lot of cats don’t look at it like that. I really respect the art form of being able to rhyme. I think there are parameters, styles, and cadences that can be applied in certain situations [to your benefit]. I didn’t sit down and write rhymes about Juice or anything like that, but I knew what I was going to do when I got there and how to try and hold my own.

Do you see a rematch between you two in the future?

No for what? I don’t understand why.

I know a few people were trying to spark some controversy saying it was setup. Has Juice ever mentioned that he would like a rematch?

I never heard him say that. That’s people man. People love entertainment that’s what the world is based on. Nobody was really checking for Juice after the battle was over, but they were praising him before. You can’t always just please the people. I’m quite sure people would love to stir that back up because it’s something else to talk about and something else to see. Just like that night people really wanted to see me lose. Have you seen the video?

Nah I’ve only heard the audio version.

You have to see the video. To hear it is one thing, but to see it was another thing. After the first round honestly it should have been over. If you would have seen the way he looked. It wasn’t just a lyrical thing; it was a mental thing, it was a whole vibe going on that night.

What are some of the things you’ve learned from battling?

The things that I’ve learned are to never underestimate your opponent, always have respect for the battlefield, and never go in too cocky, arrogant or overconfident because humility is the key to winning.

I’ve seen your son freestyle with you at Rock Steady one year. Did he pick that up from watching you or did you take him under your wing?

Yea he picked it up from watching pops. He is getting better too. He gave me a demo for my Christmas present this year. It’s crazy I can’t wait to let people hear it. I am thinking about throwing one of the songs on the “Lost Freestyle Files” just to let people hear it. He is getting really good. It’s scary almost because he has always been dope at it, but this year what he gave me it touched my heart man. It brought a tear to my eye, it brought a sigh to me too like cool we got some future. Coming soon Camouflage Arts.

So I guess you see him following in your footsteps as a fulltime MC?

He can do whatever he wants to do in life. I’m never going to force music onto him. If it’s something that’s fun for him then fine, but it will never be nothing like this is what you have to do.

What are some of the other projects you’re working on besides the “Lost Freestyle Files” and your new album that people can check for?

I’m working on a video game with Midway Games right now called “NBA Ballers.” They are using my voice as the announcer of the game and I’ll actually be a physical character on the game as well. You can put in my code and play as Supernat. I’m also working on a signature series shoe with Pro Keds, doing some old school, retro throwback sneakers from back in the 60s and early 70s. I’m under new management with Guerilla Union and we’re taking on a few projects this year, we are trying to get locked in on this tour with Linkin Park maybe, Jurassic Five, and a few other cats that are still pending. I’m working on a youth program this summer through Hofstra University. I’ll be working with kids teaching them how to write rhymes and freestyle, which will be going on in Long Island this summer.

Those are some pretty diverse projects. How did you get affiliated with so many different groups and organizations?

I have a mind outside of just rhyming. I try to spread myself around as much as I can and it’s a blessing that the vehicle of music opens those doors. But if they open the door for me in one arena and I can get in there and do something or use my talent in that arena I will. That keeps me working and keeps the rent paid too.