HHS: Hi Wale. So what have you been up to?

WO: Nothing much.  Just hanging out, working as usual.

HHS: Let’s start by talking about how you got your start in music.

WO: I got my start about 2 years ago.  It kind of fell in my lap.  I wasn’t really trying to do it professionally, just something I did as a hobby like a lot of people.  I got out of college and was looking for work I was sending out demos and at the same time, I wound up winning a contest for producers and then it was a kind of chain reaction thing.  Then I got the deals and signed as Science Fiction.  I put out an album under Science Fiction and now this is my second one, recording as myself as Wale.

HHS: Your newest release is called “One Day, Everything Changed” and it’s due out in August.  Let’s talk about the project:

WO: It’s interesting, because it’s like an amalgamation of different styles.  Everything is in afro-beats to Hip-Hop to Soul.  Being that I was fortunate to travel around a lot, I kind of evolved from a different stance musically and try to infuse that in ways that people haven’t heard or are really familiar with.  It’s definitely a Hip-Hop record, but at the same time, you have traces of Jazz and Rock in there, too.  I think it’s a very universal, a very world music album that speaks to a lot of different people.

HHS: What’s the first single?

WO: The single is called “There’s A War Going On” and features Jay Dee from Slum Village fame.  People might know of him he’s pretty popular right now.  It’s pretty much an anthem, a protest war song that’s basically what it is.  It speaks about the ills of politics and government right now.

HHS: I’ve listen to the CD a few times and you have so many musical styles going on.  Can you describe the vibe that you’re trying to send out with this CD?

WO: I think it’s an album that pretty much speaks on universal messages basically like love and peace is really what I think people need right now.  The album is kind of split into two parts.  The first part speaks on society and just what’s going on and just has a general outlook.  The second half is routed more towards love songs type of vibe.  So It’s kind of like you can’t have one without the other.

HHS: So how do you feel about the state of Hip-Hop and where it’s headed right now?

WO: To me, it’s the kind of thing where there’s always gonna be good and bad.  If you would have asked me that same question 5 years ago, I would have a similar answer.  Commercialization it is what it is.  Hip-Hop is big business like many other things so record labels are just trying to make money.  Therefore, they put out what they think is gonna be the most financially profitable to them.  But unfortunately, that leaves other artists, a lot of other people, standing on the highway.  It’s like I have no problem with going to the club and partying and flossing your ice or whatever.  The problem becomes when other people who have different things to say don’t get a chance to, because there’s so much of the other stuff.  So to me, I think there should be more of a balance.  It’s all well and good to have your party/club joints, but you need to have your “It’s A War Going On” type songs as well just because human beings are not one-sided, we’re multi-faceted.  Since kids are so easily influenced, they should be able to hear different messages that shred more fallacies about the world around them.  There’s more to life than getting tipsy in the club.

HHS: Who are some of the people who inspired you musically?

WO: I listen to a lot of different things.  Being that I’m Nigerian, there’s a very obvious Fela Kuti influence especially on the first half of the album a lot of Afro-beats. I listen to a lot of Jazz people like John Coltrane, Miles Davis.  I listen to a lot of Rock.  Everything really.  Hip-Hop obviously people like The Roots, Common Sense, Mos Def, (Talib) Kweli.   Really quite a broader view of things and to me, you have to be open-minded to everything and that allows me to be a better artist.

HHS: So are there any plans for upcoming tours?

WO: Oh definitely.  I’m leaving for Los Angeles in about 2 weeks and having the album release party there.  From there it’s gonna be a few U.S. dates and then gonna do Europe before Thanksgiving.  I’m gonna be around, I’ll be on the road.

HHS: What’s your advice on starting and building a music career?

WO: I think the most important thing is to set yourself apart.  You have to understand that you have to be creative and original, but at the same time, you have to have an angle.  You look at your 50 Cents and your Kanye Wests and they all have a story, because unfortunately this is business as well as art.  So you have to basically have your angle what is unique about you.  You can’t sound like anybody else.  Most people make the mistake oh I love Jay-Z so much that I’m gonna pattern myself to be exactly like Jay-Z.  Well that’s wrong, because there’s already a Jay-Z so there’s no reason for a record label to pick you up.  You basically have to be you.  I think it’s very important to be genuine and honest, because that comes through in your music.  If you’re phony or a carbon copy of somebody else, it’s very easy for people to dash you in, it’s just unidentifiable.  Basically just be you and obviously stay true to what you are and stay consistent.  Don’t give up, because it takes forever to get into this game.  There are people 40 and 50 years old trying to put records out.  I’ve been fortunate, because I’m so young, but just accept it and be happy with your job and be patient. Just be patient and stick with it.

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.

What’s going on Prodigy?

P: What’s poppin’?  Everything’s good over here.

You’ve got the movie coming out “Murda Muzik” and also the Mobb Deep album, “Amerikaz Nightmare”.  So let’s first talk about the movie.  How did you come up with the title?

P: Basically, we came up with the title and wrote the movie around the time where we were doing “Murda Muzik” the album.  That’s when I started writing the script and started to shoot the movie.  We were trying to coordinate it coming out with that album, but it really took awhile to shoot the movie so we were like aiight let’s just put the movie out later.  It doesn’t matter, because the fans are going to want to see it regardless.

Describe the plot of the movie.

P: It’s the first movie ever shot in Queensbridge.  The plot - it’s about us, Mobb Deep and we play ourselves in the movie.  Rapper, (Big) Noyd he’s one of our clik from out in Queensbridge. We sign him to a record deal with us, give him a bunch of money and he takes his money and puts it back into what he used to do, selling drugs.  He tries to make a monopoly, a little drug cartel and it just backfires on him.

And some of the other people featured in the movie?  I see you have Queen Pen, where has she been?  There’s also Nas, Chinky..

P: We got John Otto, too.  He’s the drummer from Limp Bizkit.  You know, everybody just came through and showed love.  We were on tour with Limp Bizkit for the Murda Muzik album so that’s how I met John Otto.  I told him we were doing a movie and he came through and did his part.  And Queen Pen, she’s a good friend of ours.  We do a lot of music with her and she came through and did her part.  Nas, he’s from da hood so you know he had to come through.  Everybody just came through and showed love.  I wrote parts for specific people and they just came through and did it.

Why did you decide to go straight to DVD/video versus bringing this movie to the big screen?

P: Basically because it’s our first movie. This is our first time trying the waters in Hollywood so were like let’s not take the big step for theaters right now, but start off straight to DVD.  Get people use to use and then get our money up and then we can get a bigger budget for the next one.  Basically, it’s the way I wrote it that’s it’s just for DVD.  I didn’t write it so it can be played in theaters.  You know when you go to the movies and you’re spending your money at a movie theater you wanna see something ill, you know what I mean.  And Murda Muzik is real ill, but it’s like gutter, you know what I mean.  If I was to make it for theaters, they would tell me oh gotta take this part out, you gotta water it down, it’s too violent.  They be on some real double standard stuff with urban films.  So I was like the best way to get our point across is just do it on DVD this way it can be uncensored and we can do what we wanna do.

Who are some of the artists whose music appears in the movie?

P: We got Nas, Littles, Noyd, Mobb Deep, Chinky.  Basically that’s about it.  Just the clik, the whole Queensbridge.  A lot of up and coming dudes from Queensbridge, too.

Isn’t 50 Cent on there?

P: Yeah, 50′s on there.  It’s just a nice soundtrack that we got going with the movie.

Let’s talk about the Mobb Deep music project.  What’s this the 5th or 6th album?

P: Yeah, it’s the 5th Mobb Deep album and you know it’s gangsta.  It’s like right now, we started from a clean slate.  We were on Loud (Records) for a real long time.  Loud folded and got brought out by SONY and we were like man, let’s start our own company.  We’ve been in the game for a long time and we’ve learned a lot so it’s time for us to form our own company.  So we made a joint venture with Jive (Records).  It’s poppin’ now we’ve got Infamous Records, we got the film department so it’s going good. So far so good.

So you’re branching out and doing big things and that’s all good.  So Amerikaz Nightmare, what’s that all about?

P: Amerikaz Nightmare basically means Mobb Deep is back.  We’re here and we’re not playing games.  We got our business together and it’s like our hood music, our “murda muzik” is for the world.  We feel like when people was thinking about Mobb Deep, they were thinking, oh they have dark beats, their lyrics is violent or they just some wild kids.  So we just took that and was aiight, that’s what they think about, that’s what they want to call us  so let’s give it to them how they want it. That’s why we named the title “Murda Muzik”.  Then we made another title, “Infamy”, “Infamous”, “Hell On Earth”.  All our titles we just try to make it real graphic and with the title you just go damn, these kids are real so that’s how we came up with the idea for “Amerikaz Nightmare”.  We’re young, black, we getting paper and that’s America’s nightmare right there.

When is the CD expected to drop?

P: The CD will be out at the end of June going into July.

Has you determined what the first single is going to be?

P: We got the first single right now banging on the radio called “Got It Twisted”.  Benny Boom just shot the video for it.  That will be out real soon in a few weeks.

Who are some of the guest performers on “Americaz Nightmare”

P: Havoc did 90% of the production on the album.  We got Alchemist who did a few joints, he’s new to the camp.  Kanye West did a joint for us.  Red Spider did something for us.  We got Nate Dogg on a chorus.  A lot of fire on there.

You had your solo CD out and you did well.  Do you prefer being with the group or perhaps doing some more solo projects?

P: I like doing both.  I love Mobb Deep we ain’t never gonna break.  We’re always going to continue to put out that gangsta for the world, but at the same time, in between projects, I like to do my own thing and get that extra bit of money.  We just don’t have Mobb Deep.  We also got Prodigy’s solo albums, Havoc’s solo albums.  We got a lot of music and like we gotta get it out there somehow.  Sometimes there’s a Mobb Deep album there’s only like 17 songs that can fit on there and we be having 200 songs.  So we take some songs for my solo album and some for Havoc’s solo album so no music is wasted.

I actually interviewed you and Havoc way back in the beginning of Mobb Deep’s career when ya’ll came through to do a show @ SUNY Albany.  I think it was in ’95 when “The Infamous” came out.  Nine years later, ya’ll still doing it.

P: Yeah, no doubt.

How’s Havoc doing?  I know Halloween 2003 Mobb Deep was headed up this way to Cohoes, NY to do a show at The Cohoes Complex and Havoc got hemmed up?

P: Hav’s alright.  Chilling.  Everybody’s all good.  We’re gonna come back out there and bless them with a performance.  We’ll chill out there real soon.

What advice would you like to share with rap artists coming up in the game?

P: Number one, you gotta have that fire in your heart.  If you ain’t got that fire in your heart and the desire to succeed and be persistent, then it’s not for you.  You gonna fold.  There’s a lot of stuff in this game that will make you frustrated, but you just gotta take it in stride and keep going.  Everybody’s not gonna feel you, but you gotta lot of work to put in just for the world to feel your music.  Nothing happens overnight it takes a long time.  You gotta be serious about it and know that this is what you wanna do.

I caught up with Mr. Murray during his on-air interview with Jamz 96.3 radio personality, Marie Cristal.  Then I waited patiently for him to wrap up an interview he was doing with a cat from XXL.  In the meantime, staff and Keith’s peeps were treated to southern style cuisine prepared by Hattie’s in Saratoga, NY.  After Keith finished his food, it was time for photos.  Then we finally sat down and talked about his day at Tryon and his new album.

HHS: Keith, can you tell me about your experience speaking at Tryon Institute?

KM: Well I was just down there basically giving a motivational speech to the young guys that were in there, letting them know that I came from where they came from.  You can either go one or two ways – the good way or the bad way and it’s up to them to look down within themselves to reach inside their soul and pull out the best in them.  I was just encouraging them and letting them know that life is hard, but you gotta make some sacrifices.

HHS: Let’s talk briefly about your new project.  What you got going on?

KM: I have a new project called “He’s Keith Murray”.  The album is coming out April 1st on Def Jam.

HHS: What’s the name of the single that’s dropping?

KM: The single is called “Yeah, Yeah Ya Know It” featuring Redman and Erick Sermon, produced by Just Blaze.

HHS: So for those who don’t know, where have you been and which direction are you headed in with your music?

KM: I’ve been incarcerated for 3 years.  Where I’m going is a fulfilled career in music.

HHS: For people who don’t know about Keith Murray, he had a few albums out in the 90′s and one of my favorite cuts was “The Most Beautifulist Thing In The World”.  Please describe some of the music on your new album.

KM: Well the music on my new album consists of 14 tracks of just many different aspects of Keith Murray that’s why I decided to name it after me.  It touched down on a lot of things as far as pain, happiness, setbacks, achievements that I really didn’t touch down on my last projects.  So the listener will get a full view of who Keith Murray really is on this album.

HHS: As far as production, who’s on the album?

KM: I got Just Blaze, Trackmasterz, Clark Kent, Erick Sermon, Keith Rock and Jazze Pha.

HHS: And guest appearances?

KM:   Guest appearances by Redman, Busta Rhymes, Erick Sermon and L.O.D.

HHS: What advice do you have for someone who wants to get into music and take it to the next level?

KM: Well you gotta be serious about it so you gotta build up your education on the music field as far as literature. You have to ask various questions of people who are in that field and just be true to what you do. Don’t let anybody deter you from your goals.

HHS: Anything else you want people to know about Keith Murray?

KM: Yeah, this is my comeback album.  I appreciate everybody for looking out for me when I was in jail, the support.  Pick up this album ’cause you’re gonna love it.