While not the main focus, Touch’s unmistakable PR pride adds a unique dimension to the album.  Joining Touch to slang crazy Spanglish over sharp violin hits and a bumpy bassline on “Capicu”, Fat Joe, N.O.R.E., and Juju Of The Beatnuts bring entertaining belligerence.  Especially the Junkyard Dog, who screams: “Fuck you nigga, how you feel?/You fragile like Ally McBeal/Snap you in half, what the fuck is the deal?”. The Latin-flavored drums on poetic “Spoken Word” and “Tony Navaja,” add to the vibe and are refreshing.  

Although not super lyrical, Touch’s simple similes and old-school braggadious rhymes keep up with his guests.  Forgotten bad boys, Black Rob and G. Dep, sound rejuvenated alongside P. Diddy and Touch on the NY anthem “Non-Stop”.  While the rawness of “Rock Steady”, will give you flashbacks of ’93 with Wu-Tang Clan killing a hypnotic xylophone loop.

    There’s little the listener can be upset with on Piece Maker II, but a couple cuts could have been left off.  “Ay Ay Ay”, is a boring and contrived attempt to capitalize on Sean Paul’s platinum status.  And it’s obvious from Hurricane G’s sloppy spitting, that she hasn’t rhymed since the predecessor, on “Spanish Harlem 2″ with Toca and the Cocoa Brovaz.

      When people talk about real hip-hop, it seems like a hazy ideal.  Even though it’s hard to pinpoint, when listening to The Piece Maker II, there’s a tacit understanding that this qualifies.  Already a legend, another quality album shows why Tony Touch hasn’t left yet, the game needs him.  


Swigga: It’s just because my music is different now.  The things I get across now is different than when I was L-Swift.  I had that name in seventh grade.  For me to step it up to a new era of things, I felt I had to change it.

HHS: On your Cross Country mixtape, you use various styles suited for the targeted region of the track, which shows versatility.  But for listeners confused about your style, what is it?

S: I put out my single “Cruise Control,” one called “Same Old,” one called “Fish & Grits.”  Now “Fish & Grits” is on the mixtape.  But “Same Old” and “Cruise Control” is more like a base of what I do best.  Cross Country is just reflective of what hip-hop is now.  Like if you just came and listened to hip-hop for the first time, you could hear that and know what encompasses hip-hop now.

HHS: That’s good that you are adept at so many different styles, but what’s Swigga’s style?

S: Swigga’s style is all of those things.  With this Cross Country thing I just wanted to show people my versatility more than anything.

HHS: Is the aim of the new mixtape to get a deal for your Agatha Music with a large label?  Or is it kind of a reintroduction in preparation of an independent release?  And if so, when is that coming?

S: Right now, I’m just trying to get my weight up.  Now it’s different from back then where you couldn’t put out a mixtape on your own like that.  The Internet wasn’t that crazy.  I’m talking about ’94, ’95.  Well, now I have to exercise all those things that I have an opportunity to do.  I’m really a firm believer in giving the audience music straight from the artist to them, without the middleman.

HHS: So when it comes to the full-length, are you going to be looking to release it independently?

S: I eventually want a major distribution.  But I’m willing to take the time out to get my weight up.  To go back to what you were saying with the Swigga and L-Shift thing, I understand how to market myself now.  What my strong points are, what I think the audience wants.  I kind of know that now, so I can apply it.

HHS: What are your strong points?

S: I’m a songwriter.  I don’t just write raps.  Anybody can rap.  Anybody can spit a 16.  The kind of music I listen to is more melody driven.  It kind of captures you.  It’s not just oh I’m the illest emcee ever.  That’s corny to me.

HHS: So with the full-length, when’s it actually coming?

S: I got like almost 40 joints recorded.  I’m just taking it step by step, because I want to put out a couple of singles because the people that know me from Natural Elements, I feel like I gave them a lot of singles and I never gave them a full-length, but I feel like I’m gonna get a different audience now.

HHS: You said you got 40 joints, so can we expect something in the next six months or so?

S: Right now I feel like I’m going to be hitting the mixtapes real hard.  Like the Northeast Wildcats, that’s a whole other thing.  I just want to be consistent with it.  Like before I feel like I wasn’t consistent enough.

HHS: What’s the Northeast Wildcats?

S: That’s like my crew in the North.  Me and Eddie Brock.

HHS: Are there any plans to record as Natural Elements again?

S: Yeah.  It’s a lot of people in the past who tried to capitalize off us.  They would act like they wanted to do something for us and they’d want to juice us.  In a lot of ways, we had to wean people off.  So when I got out the hospital…

HHS: You were in the hospital?

S: Yeah, I was going through a lot and I attempted suicide and almost died.  In 2000, I took like 40 something pills.

HHS: Was that caused by the whole Tommy Boy situation?

S: It’s personal things like my living situation, with my mother passing away when I was 13.  Just a lot of things on my mind that made me feel like I didn’t want to be here.  I attempted that and I was unconscious for four days and I woke up.  And when I woke up from that, I realized okay, I made it through this.  What I’m doing now with this whole Swigga thing, I’m just following what God is telling me to do.  And I feel like I have to do this.

HHS: So did the suicide attempt lead to you being dropped?  Or would that have happened anyways?

S: I was in the hospital for three months, so I really couldn’t do anything.  I was really sick of that situation anyways.  Because I feel like we signed a deal prematurely.  We just wanted our fans to see us on a bigger level than what they used to seeing us on.  Before when I was 16 or 17, I didn’t think about it like that.  I was like oh okay, let me just rhyme.  Now it’s more concentrated.

HHS: With other NE members, A Butta and Mr. Voodoo, what was their reaction?  Did they see your suicide attempt coming?

S: Nah, ‘cause I secluded myself.  I kind of left everyone alone.  When your mind starts working like that, you don’t have control, it just kind of takes you.

HHS: So do you think you were clinically depressed?

S: I would say temporary insanity, because before that and after that, I was fine.  Before that, they probably wouldn’t expect me to do something like that because they know me.  I’m more of the laid-back type of dude.

HHS: So it was just like a real dark period in your life?

S: Real dark because, I didn’t want to be here anymore.  This part where I’m talking to you right now, I didn’t even want to get to this part.  I kind of didn’t want to do anything.  When I came out of that, I started developing Agatha Music, that’s my mother name.  It’s a real spiritual thing because I know I didn’t have that before.

HHS: So you said this happened in 2000 after you had toured around the world with The Roots, the Fugees, so it seemed like everything was going good.  And you still felt like you didn’t want to be here?

S: Yeah, because when we signed that deal, we just wanted to get the album out to people and let them see some videos ‘cause we never really got seen.  So we didn’t want people to just say, “Damm, we like N.E., but what could have happened with them.”  It just didn’t work out.  But it was more than just the deal that made me want to do that.  My mother, my living situation with my girl, getting evicted out my crib.  It was just so much at the time.

HHS: So you said Agatha music is more spiritual.  Do you have anything that keeps you grounded now in terms of religion?

S: Not really religious.  I know you can’t make things faster than they’re supposed to go.  When we signed that deal in ’98, we was trying to come out in ’98, it wasn’t supposed to happen then.  So it didn’t happen.  I used to get frustrated.  Now I understand okay, this is supposed to happen this way so you can get to this point.  Thank God I was 16 when I put out my first record.  Now it’s ten years later and I’m 26, and I’m still young.

HHS: So you got to travel around the world at a very young age.  What was that like?

S: It was ill because it showed me that it’s not all about New York.  It’s not even all about America.  We was on tour with the Roots in ’99, and it was ill that people would look at them like they rock stars.

HHS: Getting back to Tommy Boy, you were talking about all the stuff going on.  What was the final straw that led to you cutting ties with them.

S: When our lawyer came at us and said they wanted us to sign the publishing deal with them, from then we got turned off to it.  I wouldn’t say purposely, but we didn’t feel the urge to record.  We gave them a reason, they dropped us.  We was happy, that day we found out, we was like oh shit.

HHS: With the 40 tracks recorded, is there any new stuff in terms of guests or producers, people wouldn’t expect you to work with?

S: Scram Jones.  That’s the dude right there.  After I got out of the hospital, I was in a shelter.  He used to come pick me up from the shelter and take me to the studio.  This was like 2001.  Me and him are real close.  He kind of gave me his top-of-the-heats beats.  With Charlemagne that’s my man too.  Charlemagne did the whole N.E. stuff so I talk to him all the time.  Put it this way, we not going to do the N.E., until we feel like we can do it right, properly, all the way.

HHS: So has Charlamagne been doing work out of the 40 tracks you got?

S: Um, a couple.  He been real busy, but that’s my man.  I knew him since I was ten years old.  I signed a production deal with him.  It’s hard to be on an independent and garner the kind of acclaim that will get you.  I feel like, no matter what kind of artist you are, always try to compete for the biggest thing.  If you an artist and the biggest thing to get is a Grammy, get a Grammy.  If you a basketball player and the biggest thing to get is a championship, go for that championship.  You don’t have to play at Rucker all of your years.  You can get to the NBA and do what you gotta do.

HHS: During that period when you got out of the hospital in 2000 were you in the Bronx?

S: I was in Harlem.  I went down to VA for a few months.  I was going back and forth to my peoples’ crib.  It’s much more stable now where I can concentrate on my music.  I have an injury from the suicide attempt.  The pills made my leg swell up and they had to cut open my legs.  I actually have a surgery coming up on my foot.  I have a little brace on my ankle.

HHS: Is it permanent?

S: Until the nerves come back I would have to wear that brace on my ankle.  I can put it in my sneaker.

HipHopSite: Obviously you’ve made a lot of progress since Weightless started in ’98.  Are you happy with where you are as a label and an artist?

Blueprint: Yes and no.  I’m happy because I didn’t have lofty goals.  I think we set realistic goals.  First and foremost was to be able to have a vehicle to put out our own music and we didn’t have to kick in money.  [The records] kind of paid for itself.  Outside of 300 dollars that we put in ’99, that’s it.

HHS: Didn’t you have to pay for studio time?

BP: No, we had our own equipment since ’97.  It’s been a success in setting [Weightless] up for other opportunities like with me putting out records on Rhymesayers (Soul Position Unlimited EP [2002] and 8 Million Stories), things like that.  The “no” part of my answer is that we’re still two releases, one distributor away from being up a level in terms of recognition.  The level of some of these other indies around here, a Def Jux, a Stones Throw.  Those labels are bigger than one artist.  They’re like movements now.

HHS: So are you signed to Rhymesayers?  Cause I noticed Soul Position is through them.

BP: No, I’m not officially signed.  I’m like a free agent, or like a contractor if you will.  I’ve been knowing [the people with Rhymesayers] for quite a while.  I can put out a record with anyone I want.  I’m signed to them for anything I put out through them.  They own the rights [to the music].

HHS: All the stuff for Weightless, that’s all yours right?  The masters, etc.  You only rely on someone else for distribution.  But the marketing and promotion, everything else is self-contained right?

BP: Exactly.  And also some people have distribution deals with bigger distributors like Caroline [Distribution].  We don’t have that.  We just sell our records to 20 or 30 smaller distributors.  We’re working on trying to get a bigger distribution deal signed.

HHS: I know everything’s not based on Soundscan figures, but what kind of numbers have your Weightless releases, GreenHouse Effect, Illogic, etc., been posting?  Where are some areas you’ve been moving units that have surprised you?

BP: I really wouldn’t know.  I think you have be registered with Soundscan.  We haven’t even had a bar code on any of our releases until 2002.  The Illogic Got Lyrics? [2001] was the first record we had with a bar code.  The GreenHouse Effect [Life Sentences] is gonna be bar coded.

HHS: Are you worried that dropping Life Sentences and 8 Million Stories so close will cause them to eat into each other’s sales?

BP: Not specifically.  I think most people who know about me through Soul Position have learned about me in the last year and a half.  I think the only situation you have is Soul Position is opening doors for Greenhouse at this point.  I see it as completely different audiences.  [Soul Position] is just opening up doors for everything in Weightless to come out ’cause [8 Million Stories] is distributed by BMG.

HHS: In terms of message and purpose, what are the differences between, Soul Position, Greenhouse Effect, and your solo work?

BP: The only difference I would say now is that the Soul Position stuff is a lot more personal than most of the stuff I’ve done prior to that.  I’d say that’s probably the biggest difference outside of production being done by RJ[D2].  Everything for the Soul Position record I wrote to the beat.  Whereas Greenhouse, we would come up with concepts first.  Try to find beats that match.  My solo work is a different, ’cause writing to your own beats is a little more difficult.  I have to know the concept.  I’ll end up going through four or five beats.

HHS: Tracks like “Look Of Pain” and “No Excuse For Lovin” are so vivid and detailed.  Were these written from personal experience?

BP: Well specifically, “No Excuse For Lovin”, that’s a true story about a girl I used to go out with.  I’m not the dude [who hit her].  I was chilling with her one day and I’m like, “Yo, what happened with that dude you used to kick it with…. And she just explained it to me like in that song.  It almost made me cry.  And from that point, I was like I have to tell someone this story.  And “Look Of Pain” was kind of a combination.  Like the specific stories are more drawn from experiences.  It’s not like it happened like that.  But it’s more just talking about general situations while growing up that leads you to a point where you feel like the dreams you had growing up, you’re not going to make it there.

HHS: “Just Think” off 8 Million Stories derives its hook from The Roots’ “Proceed”.  Also, “Fuckajob” derives its hook from Krs-One’s “Outta Here”.  I hear a lot of hooks built off other MCs rhymes.  Do you think that takes away from the overall creativity of the music?

BP: I think if you can do it in a way to where what you’re talking about makes sense and you’re not just stealing it for its catchiness, I think it will work.  I think anything can work if it’s done right.  I would hope at the end of the day, people would be like, “Where is that from?”  And they’ll be like, “Oh, that’s The Roots, or KRS-ONE.”  I see more of it as paying homage.  Cause KRS-One is talking about rap careers ending, ["Fuckajob"] is work careers ending.  So it wasn’t just like I’m going to take his hook, but I’m drawing a parallel there.  I hope people can at least catch the parallel.

HHS: You have a hidden track at the end of the 8 Million Stories LP.  How does that work in terms of artist compensation, publishing, etc.?

BP: Shit I don’t know.  Everyone I’ve done music with to this point, is because they’re my people.  I’m not a dude who does beats for people because they call me and want to pay me $500 or $1000 for a beat.  I don’t even really respond to people like that.  Only people I do music with is cats I know and came up with like Copywrite, Jakki, RJD2.  We’re all from Columbus, so we were going to do music together anyway.  I’ll get on a RJ records, and I don’t expect shit.  So I really don’t trip off shit like that.  And I don’t think they do either.  When you get to a point where money drives you, everything you do is gonna suck.  First and foremost, I didn’t get into rap because I wanted to make money.  I was a computer programmer.  I got a degree in computer science.  I was arguably, easily going to make more money doing that as my career.  Put it this way, for the next six, eight months to year, I’m not worried about rent.  That’s bigger than “Okay, well, I’m on your record, when am I getting paid for that?”

HHS: But don’t you feel like that opens you up to being taken advantage of because people may be like, “Oh, Blueprint, he’s dope.  You can get him on your record without paying him.”

BP: Oh yeah.  But to me I think it’s a lot harder for somebody to just up and be cool with me, than to get me on a song.  So really anybody, if I’m on their record, I am cool with them.  And I don’t have a problem with them using my name to exploit it or for their advantage.  People have given me a gift, allowed me to go out and do things.  I got to go out and tour with Atmosphere ["God Loves Ugly" tour].  They were touring five years before I even got on stage and toured with them.  I was given the gift to go out and get in front of a crowd and make an impression on them and make some of those fans my fans.  Everybody benefits from everybody in one way or another.  Once you extend that friendship to somebody, you give them that gift.

HHS: You speak in previous interviews about having a full-time job as a Computer Programmer until recently.  How has your degree helped you with music, being as degrees seem to be worthless in the music industry?

BP: I’m not going to say that my degree specifically in computer science has helped me, but what I gained in professionalism, what I gained in organization, project planning, none of those things I would have gained without working as a computer programmer or a project leader for five years.  I never would have gained those skills.  There’s a different standard of professionalism that exists in the music industry as a whole that I’m nowhere near happy with.  But overall it’s just like an occupational hazard now.  And the only way I can get around it is to be as prepared as possible.

HHS: Is Inkwel no longer with the group and doing other hip-hop related stuff?  Or is he completely out like Mase?  Do you feel this shows a person lacks love for hip-hop when they do this?

BP: He’s doing gospel rap now.  I think for spiritual reasons.  He’s about to put out his first album real soon.  I feel like anything involving the most high or spirituality are far more important than anything involving rap, an expression or art form that in general is 99% negative.  I feel like how it’s portrayed to the masses, how its participants act is real negative.  So if a person chooses to make a change in their life that gets rid of that part of their life or no longer associates them with that, I don’t knock that.  I think spirituality is number one.  If anything it broke my heart that I would never hear his voice or the people who had heard his voice wouldn’t be able to hear it again.

HHS: Speaking on when you said 99% of rap is negative right now.  What are you referring to?

BP: I mean everything about the hip-hop art form.  Even if you take the music aside and you just turn on MTV or BET and look at how things are presented visually, 99.9% of it is not positive.  If you could say how many positive songs came out?  I’d be like, “Oh shit, ‘I Can’ by Nas.”  It’s the most refreshing positive song I’ve heard in years.  And I’m not saying cats have to be on some happy-go-lucky.  Because it’s not that I believe Nas is the most positive rapper out there cause he did “I Can.” He’s not.  But I think at least he took the time out to cover that angle.  You buy an album from Nas, you get the whole picture.  You get a more diverse depiction of humanity than you do if you buy a record by nine out of ten of the other rappers out there.  I think sometimes at the end of the day, you have to really think about life as a whole outside of personal little things you may do on the weekend and what you’re really saying and how powerful your voice is.

HHS: If a younger person, say a little brother or cousin, told you they want to be in the music game like you, what would you tell them?  Taking into account all the bullshit and hardships one encounters?

BP: I would tell them not to rap.  Leave rap alone.  Find something else to do first that is constructive and do this on the side.  You’ll appreciate it more.  Go to college and get a degree.  All this “I want to become a rapper one day” shit is wack.  You’re either going to become one or you’re not.  I don’t necessarily feel like I woke and I was like “I’m going to become a rapper.”  My life just changed to where it was the point of no return.  I realize just how fortunate I am to be doing this every day.  It’s not like I gotta make ends meet, this is all or nothing.  I could quit today and go back [to work] and make $50,000 to $60,000 a year.  I’m not worried about that.  Whereas a lot of the other people, they didn’t go to college, they got kids now.

HipHopSite: You’re obviously aware of your XL rating in XXL Magazine and other good write-ups for Still Reportin’¦.  What are your expectations for this album in comparison to your previous work?

Tragedy Khadafi: The main expectations for this album is basically that it gets out there to the public and that my dedicated fans pick it up and hopefully to make a lot of new fans.  And also too that people get to listen to my album and sort of go through the journey wit me and just get a glimpse into my mind and my soul and heart and not just take Tragedy and pigeonhole him.

HHS: On the track “Hood”, one of you lyrics is “Magazines write articles and show no credit”.  Are you referring to a specific instance involving you or just in general?

TK: I’m referring to me, as well as other artists, as well as people in business in general.  A lot of journalists, a lot of magazines don’t do their homework thoroughly.  I got love for Big Tigger after I finally got to meet the brother and vibe with him, but I felt a certain kind of way when I saw an article where me and Nore had that ongoing beef.  I guess he was called to critique my song “Bloodtype”, which was an attack on Noreaga’s character.  And he said in his critique that I sounded like Noreaga and bit Noreaga’s style.  To me that’s offensive because if you knew the history and if you knew the truth, you would know that I pioneered Nore’s style.

HHS: In regards to Noreaga, does it bother you that an artist you introduced to the game has achieved more commercial success then you?

TK: Well, I define success in a totally different light.  To me I gotta be successful as a man first.  In terms of Nore, yeah it can trouble someone when you feel that you’ve shown that person nuthin’ but respect and you feel like you were slighted.  But now we’re on good terms.  We deal with each other fairly and justly.  It wasn’t always like that.  So therefore was I jealous of his success?  No.  Was I angry, sort of bitter with him in terms of how he moved and the decisions he made?  Yeah, for sure.  Now in terms of what I put into that project The War Report, I put my heart and soul into it.  That’s why if you notice I don’t really put artists out [anymore].

HHS: Still Reportin’ uses a lot of sound bytes from movies.  Was there a particular theme you were trying to bring across through the usage?

TK: Basically, I don’t watch a lot of T.V.  I’m a movie head.  They’re certain movies that I like or enjoy that have the sound bytes that really left an impression on me and made profound statements in terms of the struggle and life in general.  Whatever I talk about, whether it be a relationship, whether it be the streets, whether it be imprisonment, whether it be politics, I encompass struggle in it.  So I wanted to make a soundtrack to my struggle.  I wanted to not just make an album, but give you a picture as well.

HHS: You had a lot of different producers that you used on this album.  How did you go about getting beats for this album?

TK: Well every time I think about doing a project, I just put the word out.  I’m very close to the streets.  It’s proven to be very fortunate for me because I get to meet a range of people.  This is the era of hip-hop.  Most cats do beats, do rhymes, know someone that does either or and you just connect yourself.  You keep your ear to the pulse of the streets and you get the hot shit.  So I would basically take time to sift through it.  And get with the right producers where I could either share a vision with them or help impress my vision upon them and get them to enhance my vision and also get them to enhance their production skills.

HHS: What was your arrangement like with the 25 To Life label and Penalty?  Is it similar to your situation now with Solid?

TK: In terms of the CNN situation, it was a glorified production deal.  Now 25 To Life operates and functions as a label.  We got a staff.  But I’m hands-on with everything because that’s the only way I know how to work.  Sometimes it’s very hectic for me being that I have a family and my whole personal life and I’m an artist, so I have to be on top of the business and my craft.  But 25 To Life now is a full-functioning label.  We have a staff like I said.  We basically have a distribution deal through Solid/Caroline.

HHS: Earlier you had said you don’t really bring out artists anymore, but are you going to with the 25 To Life label?

TK: First in line would be my brother Castro (featured on Still Reportin’), I don’t like to concentrate on too many artists for a lot of reasons.  One, the reality is that 25 To Life is a small company.  Two, I gotta rock with something I believe in.  Like when I first met Havoc, I believed in him before he was even Havoc.  I believed in his aggression and his persistence and I knew he would make it.  He wasn’t even really nice at first.  But I knew he would do everything it took to become better and that’s what he did.  And thus you have Mobb Deep.  When I met Capone and Noreaga, it was the same energy.  See I have to feel that energy.  Cause once I feel that energy, no one will deny me.  I remember when we first completed The War Report album, Funkmaster Flex, who I respect, I took him the album and he told me “Yo, it’s aright.  But I’ll dip and dab with it since you my man.”  It winded up being a big record for everyone involved.  But I wouldn’t let him tell me no.  I would sit in front of the radio station every day.  Sometimes in the snow, sometimes in the rain, I didn’t care.

HHS: You talk about persistence.  With all the bs that comes along with doing music have you ever had times you felt like quitting?

TK: Too many to count.  I’ve got to that point where I felt frustrated and put it down.  I actually quit twice in my life.  The first time I quit is when I first came home from prison and this is before the Intelligent Hoodlum album ever came out.  And it was a dude I met named Joe Fatel who was actually my DJ, who I mention on my first album who really inspired and motivated me back into it because he knew all my rhymes.  See you gotta appreciate what your gift is and what your desires are.  Once you appreciate that, then realize that’s why you get frustrated.  It’s not necessarily the fame or the money.  Just look for instance at Jay-Z.  Financially Jay-Z is way above Nas.  But Jay-Z felt the need to come and battle Nas because it was a challenge of his craft.  It was a challenge of his passion for the music.  I always felt his shit, but now I have a even greater respect for him because a man with all that material gain and wealth still has a desire to be number one.  That shows that he really loves hip-hop.  People don’t see it that way because he may talk about flossin’ and shit like that, but you gotta look deeper than that.  From that example alone, I can tell Jay-Z is an intimate lover of hip-hop and music.  The second time I wanted to give up, I believe this is like when Dre first dropped The Chronic (Death Row Records, 1992) really wanted to give up and just put it down.  And one day I was walking down the street and this dude was in his car with his girl on Canal Street and he just stopped in the middle of traffic, jumped out his car and chased me like half-a-block, and was like “Yo, I’m sorry to run up on you like that, but I just had to tell you, I know you probably get frustrated in the business or whatever cause you didn’t blow up like all the other artists did, but please keep doing what you doing.  You keep me going.”  And that alone outweighed the times that I’ve gotten frustrated.

HHS: With your recent run-in with police officers in New York, you’ve experienced the alleged abuse of power by the NYPD first-hand.  What factors do you feel contribute to this problem and do you feel it’s gotten worse then it was in the past?

TK: It’s gotten worse, I mean you always had examples where they would take it to the extreme of course and those are examples like Diallo, and crimes of that nature, which are unforgivable acts.  But when it comes down the situation with the man of color, that’s always going to be a factor until this government adheres to its promises and it’s so-called “constitution.”  But just in terms of the present day, things have definitely gotten worse and there’s a lot of factors that contribute to that.  The terrorism thing, I mean you got police using that “terrorism” mentality and the so-called fear of terrorism in the United State basically to go buckwild on the streets and profile.  Bottom line is they [government] use excuses to make a police state.  To declare martial law on motherfuckers.

HHS: Yeah, it’s crazy how they passed the Patriot Act because at time everyone was so traumatized from 9-11 that people just let it pass through.

TK: Which leads us to wonder why [9-11] happened.  Everybody knows that when you traumatize someone and then come with a false sense of security, the people are going to automatically run with you.  Now would the Patriot Act benefit the government?  Of course, cause you can go into everyone’s privacy.  So therefore government is always watching.  And therefore always informed, and therefore always controlling.  So when we look at that, we say “Damm, why did this big traumatic this happen?” How could you not know that these people were doing all these things when you keep such a close eye on everything?  Maybe you had a hand in it.  Maybe you were involved because it’s so ironic that the same person you trained and supplied with U.S-issued weapons happened to be the same man that you claimed spearheaded the attack on the World Trade Center.

HHS: Many rappers including yourself (Col. Muammar Qaddafi) haven taken names from leaders in the Middle East?  Also, taking to calling Queensbridge Kuwait.  What is the significance or correlation there?

TK: It goes back to when you had the 5 Percenters, my thing was at a certain point in hip-hop, everyone wanted to be mafia-affiliated or take on the attribute of a mobster.  With me, I was raised with Islamic influences in my life, so I was educated on the fundamentals of Islam, and I read somewhat about Muammar Qaddafi and I respected him as a leader.  He didn’t rule with cruelty.  But overall, even from the CNN aspect, like when we started that, basically we were reporting from the streets.  Thus you have the title for the new album Still Reportin’.  Like if you listen to the song on my album “Walk Wit Me”, I’m just breaking down, not just about the World Trade Center incident, but also about just straight-up persecution and assassinations in the black community and the urban community.  And if you listen to songs like “Crying On The Inside”, I’m just talking about losing people and almost losing people in my life whereas people may think we’re artists and we making money, we always happy.  But in terms of redefining myself by adding on Khadafi, it’s like I’m a leader and I’m not just going to take something on because it’s popular to do.  So when we came with the whole Middle Eastern thing, everyone was like “Oh shit.  It came out of left field.”

HHS: Speaking on the song “Crying On The Inside”, is your son okay now?  He doesn’t have any lasting injuries?

TK: No.  That’s why I made the song.  If you listen to the beginning I’m saying how I believe in angels.  My son fell 30 feet from a project window and all he had was a hairline fracture.  The doctor who worked on him came to me and said “I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what you doing in this life, but God loves you.”  But I say in the song when I’m talking about my son, how my moms and pops, they held his arms and broke his fall.

HHS: Aright, that’s all I had.  Do you want to leave off with any last words?

TK: October 21st, Still Reportin’ in stores.  Show love.

Judging from the belligerence spewed on the initial bars of “F The Law”: “Slap a white boy!/ Snuff your landlord!”, toning down the lyrical content that made them one of hip-hop’s most controversial groups doesn’t seem to be a concern.  Topically the album builds on many themes from their debut Lets Get Free and also delves into more autobiographical works.  “Windows To My Soul” finds Stic.man painfully recounting the horrifying experience of watching his older brother become a drug addict.  More reminiscing takes place on “Coming Of Age”, where the negative impacts of growing up in the streets are explored.

Sticky Fingaz echoes the fatalistic sentiments of the inner-city youth on “Last Days Reloaded”, spitting “I ain’t got no time to think about who’s really oppressing me/ I’m too ready to smash the first nigga stressing me/ Far as I’m concerned they got us trained so well/ Look like we doing a good job of killing ourselves.”  Sticky’s keen observations are sad because he has enough awareness to understand the problem, but doesn’t seem to show a willingness to be part of the solution, which makes his collaboration with such an image concious group like dp even more surprising.

With the incredible buzz that RBG… generated, it was important for dp to release material with the album’s status in limbo.  Get Free Or Die Tryin’ employs a mixtape format, giving a quick and stimulating look at two MCs battling on society’s front lines.  Conclusion… dp’s still got dat crazy shit!!

    Babu’s Dilated cohorts assist him on the intense “Ends To Means”.  Questionable decision-making involving an aspiring MC, a stripper paying for medical school, and a drug dealer are presented over a soulful vocal sample intertwined with high piano notes and soft horns.  Chace Infinite gives more intellectual nourishment with “Do For Self”, encouraging people to eschew the “getting on through my mans and them” mentality so pervasive in hip-hop today.

     Babu also gives light to previously released material like Gang Starr’s dope “Deadly Habitz” and Defari and Dilated Peoples’ “Behold My Life (Remix)”.  The latter is easily one of the best Babu beats of recent memory.  Although Duck Season Vol. 2 runs long at 20 tracks, it’s easy to overlook considering the rarity of good hip-hop.  Babu can add another successful accomplishment to his impressive musical resume.

HipHopSite: Talk a little about the album.  I know you have Jay-Z, ODB, Freeway, etc.  But what can fans expect from you?  Conceptually and with your flow?  Guests and production?

Kanye West: See, here’s the thing.  All those usual questions that you ask about an album don’t really apply.  Outside production, that’s not what this album is about.  This album is like, back when uh, trying to or attempting like when Raekwon made Cuban Linx or when Tribe would make an album.  One producer.  One sound for the whole shit.

HHS: Okay. The fact that you dropped out of college and pursued your dreams of music is well documented.  But it seems like everyone wants to be a rapper or producer these days.  What advice would you give to these aspiring artists regarding school because unfortunately not everyone can make it?

KW: You’re putting your life in your own hands.  You got certain niggas that was drug dealers.  And certain niggas was drug dealers and was able to go off and start businesses and get houses from it.  Other niggas got killed or locked up.  You’re taking your life into your own hands.  If you not conforming to what society wants you to do, you’re taking your on life in your own hands.  Hold on… [Clicks over]

KW: Hello, what were we saying?

HHS: Yeah, you were just answering the question about school and saying ‘That’s your own choice.’

KW: Nah, that’s not what I said.  Whenever I speak in interviews, I hate that.  I did not say ‘It’s all your choice.’  I said ‘You’re taking your life into your own hands.’

HHS: Aright, I apologize.

KW: I’m real specific and they [media] always change my words.  Your own choice and your life into your own hands are two different things.  You know what I’m saying?  That’s why I hate written and printed interviews because they don’t fuck with how I talk.  They gotta cut the words down.  Let’s go into that.  Yo, I hate interviews, Source, XXL, whoever, they cut the words down.  They try to cut your words down.  They got something they want people to, whatever vibe they called it.  They want to portray you to the listeners.  Instead of having the listeners make their own decision about you.

HHS: So you feel like the XXL story [September 2003], they portrayed you the wrong way?

KW: I mean it’s all good, they [XXL] just changed some of my words.  And The Source definitely portrayed me in the wrong way.

HHS: Like when you say they changed your words do you mean they actually changed some of your direct quotes?

KW: Yes, they changed some of my direct quotes.

HHS: I know sometimes journalists may cut down words in a quote.  But I’ve never heard of actual words being changed.

KW: Right.  So how do I get on top of that?  The thing is I’m out here trying to do records and working on Jay’s album and doing different shit, and touring doing shows.  How can I be concerned?  I don’t have the time to be listening to the tapes with the transcripts.  XXL, they gave me a “Nigga [Negro] Please”.  I said ‘I’m not competing with producers right now.  I’m competing with rappers… I’m don’t spit lines, I spit conversations.’  So are you trying to say that I’m not going to compete with rappers?

HHS: I think the way that that they’re looking at it is, the producers that have come before you, and you were an MC from the start so its unfair for me to characterize you this way, but I’m just trying to give you an idea of how it’s being perceived.  The producers that came before you that rhymed, they were producers that rhyme.  Where as you’re a MC that produces in a sense from what I’ve been reading and hearing your flow.  You flow a lot nicer than most of the producers that rhyme.

KW:  Thank you so much.

HHS: Yeah, I’m just saying its going to be hard for you to overcome but…

KW: Yeah, I love the challenge.

HHS: Given that you had a near death experience as you recount on “Through the Wire”, what are your beliefs on death?  Reincarnation?

KW: I feel like I’m here for a reason.  I don’t believe in reincarnation.  Sometimes I wonder if I believe in heaven.  I know I believe in Jesus.  I think 50% because it was instilled in me.  That’s what we call on.  Like Kweli said ‘We need something to rely on.’

HHS: I had read about your Good Records label.  Are you planning on doing any kind of movement in Chicago like how Beans went back and got Philly rappers?

KW: Yeah, I got one rapper from Chicago right now, GLC, the hood celebrity, the knockout king and I got this artist from the Midwest named John Legend, and I got Consequence.  He’s from Queens.  I don’t have the time for the type of music I make.  I don’t make fast food, so I can’t have too many to focus on.

HHS: Are these projects that are coming real soon?

KW: My album has to come out first.  Consequence and John Legend have managed to put out their own CDs.  That’s the one thing I like.  They’re getting their work on.  Waiting for me, they’re just using me, we’re using each other.  Like that’s how it is for me up at Roc-A-Fella.  I get a lot of fame off that Roc-A-Fella chain.

HHS: Speaking on Roc-A-Fella, I had read that you funded the video for “Through The Wire” out of your pocket.  Does that concern you in the sense that maybe Roc-A-Fella is not fully committed to this project?

KW:  Nah, they will because I did that.  That put me on everybody’s radar.  You gotta think about it, I’m on TV.  Can you imagine how many calls Jay-Z, Dame, and Biggs get talking bout’ ‘Yo, this Kanye kid, I like him.’  Or don’t like him, or whatever they want to say.  Basically, people are talking now.  And for the most part, ‘Through The Wire’ is such a good look for a new artist.  It’s like the past five years in five minutes.  You know I came up with the entire concept.  And I did it with Coodie and Chike.

HHS: Okay.  How did your collaboration with Little Brother come about?  How did you hear about them?  Also, when will the two joints be released and on what vehicle?

KW: Well Source had never given me a quote and quoted one of Little Brother’s rhymes ['Yo-Yo'].  I thought that’s something I would say.  That’s another thing.

HHS: What’s up?

KW: The fact that Source ain’t give me a quote or XXL never gave me no quote on no rhymes.  It’s like I could give a fuck about any of their opinions.

HHS: But how credible is that?  They gave Benzino a quotable.  As soon as The Source did that, they lost all credibility.  Everyone was like ‘Yo, it’s over.’  I’m not even looking at this anymore.  You don’t need that to signify that your rhymes are dope.  I mean how did you feel when you saw Benzino’s rhymes up in there?

KW: I don’t know.  It was fucked up.  I just feel like good people should have quotes though.  Certain people have rhymes that you love, but they don’t look that good on paper when you read them.  I got rhymes that I wish people could just really read them.  I’mma definitely print out all the lyrics on my album.

HHS: So joints that you did with Little Brother, do you know when they’ll be released?

KW: I don’t know.  I think someone is going to have to pay dearly for that [laughing].

HHS: You have a lot of unreleased work such as Royce Da 5’9 ‘s “Heartbeat” that has received really good feedback.  Do you have any other unreleased tracks that you worked on that you would like to be released?

KW: The Royce Da 5’9′s “Heartbeat”, I’ll never do anything for Royce.  He never paid me for that and someone had bought the beat. Well, he two-tracked it off the Pro Tools and put it out.  And then the people who were going to buy the beat decided they didn’t want the beat because of that and never cut me a check.

HHS: So you actually didn’t authorize that?

KW: No.

HHS: You come from a politically charged background, are there any current social issues that you have strong feelings on?  And if so, are you doing anything to actively try and remedy that?

KW: Um, The school systems are similar to the prisons because a lot of times, there are so many behavior problems that you have to deal with that you never actually get to learn.  The kids that are able to learn have to deal with the kids with the behavior problems and it’s like your trying to teach 30 kids at once.  And half of them are acting bad as hell, it’s like almost impossible for people to excel .  The test scores are crazy low.  It’s like a vicious cycle.  Where white kids, they parents use big words around them when they little kids.  So when it’s time for school, they know these words like ‘We can get past that.  Quick, keep moving.  Keep moving.’

HHS: What was your experience like going to school in Chicago?

KW: I went different schools.  I went to a magnet school in the suburbs.  I went grammar school in the city.  Vanderpool.  It was a magnet school also.  And I went Chicago State University.  That’s the last college I dropped out of.

HHS: So you seem like if you weren’t going to be an MC or Producer, you were going to be a scholar.  You were going to Magnet schools.

KW:  That’s not what I was trying to be.  I actually got a scholarship to go to art school.  I used to draw.  I was into something creative.  Something more influential.

HHS: So did you do any artwork on the album?

KW: It’s not really that much artwork on my album as of right now.  It’s more based off pictures and concepts.  Like “Through The Wire” [the video] is a piece of art.  I was very involved in how the board moved, the color of the board, the color of the Polaroid around it, the grain put on top of it, when to take the grain off, how we pulled away from the board at the end, and Chaka Khan, like, the actual spot where it says ‘We bring you through the wire.’  All that is going into graphics and art.  Art is not just ‘Yo, I can grab a pencil and put something on paper that’s in your likeness.’

His own Allido Records artist, Saigon, makes one of the strongest showings on the album with “Diduntdidunt”.  A spry bassline gives this track a jazzy feel contrasting Saigon’s aggressive chastising of the “type nigga to get knocked out and say you was drunk.”  The Cuban-flavored “Tomorrow” meshes Devi Nova’s sweet spanglish vocals perfectly with Q-Tip, who sounds like he recovered from his “Amplified” identity crisis.  Ronson’s heavy rock influence is evident on tracks such Mos Def & M.O.P.’s “On The Run”, which uses hard sampled guitars to drive the mood and sound.

His ambitions to incorporate rock with hip-hop do get the best of him at times though.  The album’s title track is overdramatic and lacks chemistry between Nikka Costa and Freeway.  The other miss “Bout To Get Ugly” starts off innocently enough with humorous narratives from Rhymefest, but quickly digresses on an elongated rock tangent that gives the track a very disheveled feel.

Here Comes The Fuzz plays like Ronson’s DJ sets showing an awareness and appreciation of all the different genres of music.  Integrating all this into an album and Ronson’s enjoyable production makes this a worthwhile listening experience.

Big Noyd: 80% of the album was done by Alchemist and Havoc.  The other 20% was by Noyd Inc. which are producers coming underneath my camp that I’m helping.  I did a particular song with PMD from EPMD.  And the track ['Going Right At 'Em'] was done by this hot producer Sebb that’s coming up right now.

HHS: Yeah, the producers you have on there are crazy.  So what are your expectations for this album from a commercial perspective and establishing you as a solo artist considering that most of your material thus far has been as features with other artists?

BN: You know what, honestly, I’ve never been that type like a lot of these artists trying to get on since they was young and all that.  Honestly, god bless the dead, if it wasn’t for my other half Twin, I wouldn’t even have been rhyming or talking to you right now.  I usually just get weeded up and be on the block chilling with 40′s and shit, busting rhymes to my man.  I was just chilling and it wasn’t even about getting on but my man was like ‘Yo, son you gotta rhyme for these niggas.  Let them niggas know how nice you are.’  So I kicked a rhyme and Mobb Deep heard it and they were like ‘We’re going to put you on this song we working on’ and that was that.  So I really was never the type to try and make an album.  But what really is making me put it together right now, every time I go on the road with Mobb Deep that’s all I hear. They say ‘Noyd what’s up with you?   When you coming out with that shit?  I got that EP, it wasn’t a full-length album but I love that shit.’  And I’m like ‘Word?, I didn’t even put that album together.’  It was like when I got locked up they [Tommy Boy] wanted to put everything together themselves.  Like shit that had two verses and needed one more verse, they took a verse I just did on another song.  It was my rhymes and Havoc’s beats, but they just put it together like it was Tommy Boy’s album, like they was the artist.

HHS: So this one [Only The Strong] is more a representation of how you would put songs together.

BN: And not even like, I know it’s been a long time.  But it’s not even a representation of what I’ve been doing for the whole length [since Episodes Of A Hustla].  I’m just giving niggas something I’ve been doing for the last six months.  Like a lot of songs that you hear on the album, all that stuff was done this year.

HHS: So you saying this is kind of like a preview a bigger full-length?  Is that also going to be on Landspeed or are you shopping a larger label deal?

BN: Nah, I’m goin to shop a larger label [deal] and if I do do independent, I mean I’m really going to do independent.  I’m going to put up every fund.  I’m not going to go to anymore of these [independents].  Cause they’re not even independent people, they’re trying to act like they’re a label now.  They acting funny like they really doing something for somebody where I done did everything myself.  That’s why I put Noyd Inc./Landspeed.  Far as the production, I paid for that.  Far as the studio time, far as getting Parrish Smith on my shit, far as getting Mobb Deep, I did all that.  I did every fucking thing.

HHS: So your like what do I need a label for.

BN: Exactly, so what the fuck do I need you for then?

HHS: “All 4 The Luv Of Dough” has some very encouraging lyrics, mainly “Black Man, Let’s take a stand now, put down the toaster/ Cause it’s time to raise our kids, marry the wiz”.  What inspired you to write these lyrics that contrast with the more combative feel of the rest of the album?

BN: I’m honestly a ‘shoot ‘em up, bang, bang’ nigga.  It’s ain’t nothing to be proud about.  It ain’t to be glorified.  But that’s just who I am.  But my mentality is still, I’m older, I definitely going to make this money, I got a daughter now, if you don’t cross me we are fine.  No problem.  The whole thing is god forbid if I get into any drama, I’m not picking up the phone and calling police.  So that’s why the album comes across like ‘shoot ‘em up bang bang’, but honestly, like you said that song ‘All 4 The Luv Of Dough’, that’s how I want to live.  Black man, let’s put the toast down you.  You’re in a position where you got millions of people listening to you.  It’s not cool.

HHS: So that’s how you want it to be?  Like what you aspire for?

BN: Definitely.  It ain’t like that now.  But that’s how I would love it to be.  Before everyone talk about how many bitches they boned.  But now with AIDS and all that it’s not even cool no more.  I’ve done that also.  I’ve been on the road and I’m not even Mobb Deep and I still got as much pussy as them if not more.

HHS: [laughing] But people know Noyd’s basically like a third member [of Mobb Deep].

BN: I know a lot of people say that I’m like the third member.

HHS: Okay, you haven’t had any official material since Episodes Of A Hustla.  What’s the visible growth within you as an artist from then until now?

BN: I mean the difference is definitely I was sort of deaf dumb and blind to the world [before].  I didn’t have no cares, no worries, or no nothing. Now I’m making more sense in my rhymes because I’m still thuggin’ it out, but it’s for a cause now.  Really the difference is growth.  It’s not a game anymore.

HHS: Okay.  Switching topics, you were talking earlier about having some legal difficulties during the release of Episodes Of A Hustla.  What type of impact did that has that had on your career?

BN: I hate to say this because it’s me, but I really believe I would have been a star right now because I was coming out with songs like on Episodes Of A Hustla, there was a sample from the Isley Brothers and it was like back then Snoop was doing shit like that when he was coming out.  I’d have been on a major label and had the biggest videos.  Me and AZ had one of the biggest deals.  I had a deal bigger than Mobb Deep when I got signed to Tommy Boy.  So it played a big role, me getting locked up and shit like that, because it set me back so much.  My belief is the road I was on, the way I was headed, I was ahead of my time already.  I got signed to one of the biggest rap deals from one verse ['Give up the Goods (Just Step)'].

HHS: So having first-hand experience dealing with the American criminal justice system, what would you change about it if you could?

BN: Honestly, before they go and lock niggas up give them some help.  It’s not like they [lawmakers] don’t understand that they come from poverty.  When someone gets locked up for the first time, instead of sending them to jail, give them a job.  Instead of giving niggas 5 years probation, how about 5 years probation and a job.  They don’t give a fuck.  They get money to lock niggas up.

HHS: With everyone from Shyne to Styles P having trouble with the law, why do you think artists, who are in a position that many would envy, continue to get in trouble with the law?

BN: I don’t like saying anyone’s name, like Beanie Siegal for example.  They like the dumbest people on Earth to me because….

HHS: You want me to take that off the record?  We can keep that off the record.

BN: Nah, I mean you can print it, I don’t give a fuck.  My thing is niggas are assholes to me because everyone trying to ‘keep it real.’  Keeping it real means I don’t got to go to the strip club with guns no more.  It means now that I got enough money that I can hire strippers and I can have them come to the hotel.  I don’t got to go there no more.  We’ve been through the struggle.  Who wants to go somewhere with a 9 mm just to have a good time?  Not saying that you shouldn’t change you lifestyle or anything like that like ‘Oh I can’t do certain things more.’  But no you can’t.  Too many people try and play both sides.  And again, I don’t like saying people’s names but I’ll keep it real, Jay-Z.  Everybody know or feel that he played a big part in the streets before his career.  Do you think he’s going to take a chance of keeping it real in the streets cause that’s where he came from?  Come on.  He’s smart enough to be like ‘I don’t do that no more.’

HHS: Having a family (young daughter) that depends on you, do you ever worry that your lyrical content may endanger your well-being and your ability to provide for them?

BN: Definitely.  Because it’s so crazy now with, not only just rap but the gangs and all that.  Like honestly and I’ll take nothing any from him, I think 50 solds more records because people looked at him and said ‘Oh he got shot, he’s really a gangsta.’  I mean he’s really nice on the hooks and he’s really nice on the raps.  But I think it was glorified how much of what happened to him.  I definitely feel like if this shit don’t change around, the kids that growing up now including my daughter, they going to walk outside everyday and there’s going to be nowhere for them to play anymore because you’re going to have too many people trying to so-called ‘keep it real.’

HHS: There was a lot of beef involving Prodigy at one point.  What was your perspective on this?  It must have been hard to see your man getting dragged through.

BN: I mean it was hard for me when Prodigy was going through it, but it was fake to me.  I caught people saying shit about him and it hurt me.  Like Nas, that was like family to me.  But it didn’t bother me as much as what the public sees because I hear Nas saying ‘Prodigy this and Prodigy that.’  But what the public didn’t see is I go to the studio and Nas trying to hug P like ‘Yo, we need to get together and conquer the world.’  It was corny.  Even the Jay-Z shit.  If you look on Backstage [Backstage: A Hard Knock Life], ‘Keep It Thoro’ was first song off the album.  He [Jay-Z] was sweating P.  He took it where a smart businessman would take it.  ‘Okay, you say my name, now I’m going to use my power to shit on you and make myself look bigger.’  P started that.  It’s not like Jay-Z went at P.  P called him a bitch in a magazine.  Only the public bothered me when they would come up to me and ask me about P and P was going to do and this and that.  It’s like wrestling now.

HHS: Aright, what other areas of the industry are you interested in?  Production?  Managing artists?

BN: The biggest thing that got me enthused is acting thing.  I did an independent film Murda Muzik: The Movie.  It was one of the best experiences I ever had because to do something for the first time, cause I’m like this, even with my raps, I do it and I can’t listen to it.

HHS: You don’t listen to your own music?

BN: Hell no.  I did my album and don’t even have a copy in my car.  I don’t like taking pictures, I don’t like hearing myself on the radio.  But the acting thing was one of the first things I ever done where I felt like ‘Oh, shit’ I’m looking at the playback and I enjoyed it.

HHS: Last thing for people not familiar with the album [Only The Strong], why should they buy the album?

BN: For those that said I killed it on ‘Burn’, for those that don’t know, it’s the R-A-P-P-E-R N-O-Y-D.  It’s that nigga that said ‘You don’t think I live a pop verse now?/ cause hey, you can get popped right now.’ If you liked that one verse, get ready for a million more.

With Dilated Peoples’ DJ Babu and Evidence, and the Alkaholiks’ E-Swift handling a majority of the beats, the beats continue to bang.  Nevertheless, what really determines the final verdict with many of the album’s tracks is subject matter and hooks.  Defari’s forceful and serious delivery generates more favorable outcomes when tackling subjects with more substance.  

This is evident on “Behold My Life (Remix)”, where Babu’s subtle vocal sample underneath rich violins melds perfectly with guitar string plucks, providing a soulful backdrop for Defari and his Dilated cohorts to expound on various aspects of their everyday existence.  Another favorable outcome is “For The Love” which gives thanks to the various role models that Defari had growing up.  E-Swift’s jazzy horns are very germane as Defari’s first two verses reference various jazz greats that his role models exposed him to. 

It’s ironic that Defari expresses contemptuousness for other MCs’ choruses on “Hooks”, because his hurt him on several tracks, this one included.  Examples of this can be found on the generic “Cold Pieces” or “Slumpy”.  The latter exhibits Defari hurling acrimonious retorts to Traci Nelson’s lifeless vocals.

Even with bad hooks tainting some of the album’s tracks, production and lyrics compensate resulting in a triumphant return for this respected Left Coast MC.  Odds And Evens shows how persistence and talent can be used to overcome Industry Rule No. 4080.

C-Rayz is compelling because there are so many aspects to his style.  On some tracks he sounds as if he just got in the booth and freestyled his verses.  While on others he gives the listener complete coherence so that they understand how much thought is put into his creative process.  His carefree approach is epitomized on his lead single “The Essence”.  Here C-Rayz makes use of clever word association, random cultural references, and a delivery that fluctuates between calm and excitable to entertain listeners.  He leverages these tools again on “Battle Me”, where C-Rayz spits humorous braggadocios rhymes over a hyper string arrangement, with a playful and childlike hook complementing his gruff voice perfectly. 

On the other end of the spectrum is the subversive “Dead Buffalos”, which juxtaposes the slaughter of wild buffalos to the plight of his ancestors and shows sarcastic appreciation to those whose despicable actions in American slavery can be traced.  Tracks such as these show C-Rayz in a more conscious mindset and fit his aggressive persona with ease. 

Unfortunately, there’s frequently a positive correlation between a high track count and filler material.  “Yeah” has a very unimaginative call and response hook that just doesn’t work.  Equally disappointing is the ubiquitous sped-up vocal sample style used on “Camouflage” that hip-hop has been suffocated with for the past couple of years. Despite these mishaps, after listening to his album most may have no idea what Ravipops are, but they will know that C-Rayz Walz is versatile and talented MC.

Boston, MA – Unfortunately the city of Boston is traditionally known for having some very antediluvian perspectives on race relations and all things associated with minorities.  Having an understanding of this would make one realize how monumental the hosting of the first annual Hiphop Peace & Unity Festival in this great city was;  a cosponsored event by Boston’s own fledgling Grit Record/Inebriated Rhythm imprint and the Mayor’s office that not only brought together the city’s Hiphop starved masses, but did so without one incidence of violence.

With a lineup for the concert that included everyone from legends like KRS-One to underground favorites like Pharoahe Monch, the City Hall Plaza buzzed as the 25K plus in attendance unified in their love of Hiphop and all things Bostonian (more Paul Pierce and Nomar jerseys then you could shake a stick at).  Other acts like Little Brother and DJ Honda came out to support the artists and share in the festivities.

Although, the impatient crowd nodded along approvingly with some of Grit’s fledgling talent, including Shuman (who quickly gave all out of towners a vocal tour of the city with his Boston anthem “Landmark”).  However, you could feel the excitement surge through the crowd as local on-air personalities started announcing the arrival of some of the bigger name artists (Krs-One, Big Daddy Kane, PMD, Skillz, and of course Beantown’s own ED. O.G. & Krumbsnatcha.

With his brown full-length jumper now weighed down with sweat and loosely tied around his waist, the residuals from rocking the crowd into mass hysteria, I huddled with Pharoahe Monch as he decompressed in the greenroom and between the pounds he exchanged with some of the day’s fellow performers and backstage onlookers (Little Brother & DJ Honda) to discuss life, politics, the future direction of Hiphop, the insightful lecture Krs-One lead on the eve of the festival and why his forthcoming LP has been so laboriously delayed.

HHS: It’s been almost four years since your last album.  What kind of things have you been doing?

Pharoahe: Basically for like the first two, I was uh, like the first one I took a little hiatus.  It got crazy after “Simon Says” and I was on the road and I just took a break after that and about a year after that I started working on the album.  Priority dropped their distribution with Rawkus.  That held the whole project up and um…

HHS: I thought I saw that it’s through Geffen now?

Pharoahe: Right, after Priority they went to MCA, then MCA folded and now they’re with Geffen.

HHS: Oh, so it’s not even with MCA anymore?

Pharoahe: Right.

HHS: So did Common get picked up then?

Pharoahe: Pretty much, fortunately and it’s good for hip-hop, Geffen is dropping a lot of the R&B and they’re keeping straight hip-hop and it’s going to be like Hip-Hop/Rock.

HHS: Oh yeah?  And that’s the direction it’s going in?

Pharoahe: Yeah.

HHS: Okay.  That’s hot.  Okay, this is kind of a long one.   You seem to show a certain amount of disdain for beats on tracks such as “Rape” and “Thirteen”.  Is this just your way of showing that you stand on your own as a lyricist in contrast to a lot of MCs who seem to need dope beats as a crutch to compensate for lack of lyrical skill?

Pharoahe: Are you saying the “Rape” beat wasn’t dope [laughter]?

HHS: No, no what I’m saying is that you’re showing that you don’t need the beat to make you dope where a lot of MCs seem like they need the beat to be dope in order to sound dope.

Pharoahe: On the real that’s a good question because I have a lot of things written that I wait to find the proper music for because I think lyrically the stuff might overpower the music and it’s a thing of mine where when I do hear good music or challenging music or upper echelon tracks, it is a challenge for me not to be defeated and I guess it’s something that hurts me.  I learned how to work within the frame of music which is important too and it takes a skill as well, but just coming from a realm of MCs and admiring a lot of top MCs it’s like when I hear something that I’m attracted to, it’s like I have to beat the beat.

HHS: Do you feel like earlier in your career some of the beats sometimes overpowered your lyrics?  Because right now you seem like you really kill it when you come on the track, like the beat is not even there.  So do you feel like earlier it was something that overpowered you?

Pharoahe: I think it was more prevalent earlier then it is now actually.

HHS: What is your perspective on the lack of nuclear weapons turning up in Iraq?

Pharoahe: It’s a false war.  And people are more afraid of sex in this country than war.  We have a president who have us fighting a false war but if he gets busted having sex with someone that’ll be the end of his career.

HHS: Yeah, you heard about what happened in Britain right?  How the guy that was possibly going to testify against Tony Blair, they think he might have got killed.  But it was suicide supposedly.  That’s the “official” story.

Pharoahe: That’s crazy.

HHS: You’ve always been an extremely creative lyricist.  What are some of the elements that you use as stimulus?  Books?  Art?  Current events?

Pharoahe: Right now, it’s just life, man.  I went to a speaking engagement yesterday and I was really enlightened and I know that I’m going to create something from that.  Like I tried to record…

HHS:  Where was the speaking engagement?

Pharoahe: It was at the Strand Theater (Boston) and Kris (KRS-One) spoke and then we had a panel and even some of the politicians enlightened me to a lot of things.

HHS: What kind of things?

Pharoahe: One of the politicians said that just as you guys are asking us not to view commercial pop hip-hop in the same vain as underground hip-hop, conscious hip-hop or whatever stereotypes, he was like all politicians are not the same.  Some politicians are in office trying to fight the same fight that we’re fighting.

HHS: It’s hard to see though.

Pharoahe: It’s very hard to see.

HHS: Because you’re always reading about the crazy stuff politicians are doing…

Pharoahe: And people just spit at him like Rrrrghhh [laughter].

HHS: It’s a perspective I’ve never thought about.

Pharoahe: Yeah, exactly.  It just made me think and maybe I wouldn’t speak on it in the realms of politics but just in the realms of how people are quick to judge.

HHS: Right, because I’m sure a lot of politicians are frustrated everyone thinks they are crooked just like artists are frustrated that everyone thinks hip-hop is just violence when it’s not.

Pharoahe: Exactly, but if you’re a part of a regime in a government that is designed to stifle the fact that people need to free their minds, I’m not even going to go into a long answer.  Part of a government that’s engraved within the matrix and can’t be a part of something good.

HHS: Right.  Okay, when you see everyone from major label artists such as Joe Budden to underground favorites like Gang Starr suffering low sales, does that worry you?  Like just the state of the industry right now.

Pharoahe: Nah, I’m not concerned with sales.

HHS: Okay.  But you have to live.  I mean this is what puts food on the table.

Pharoahe: I haven’t had a record out since ’99. I’ve been touring.  I just did eight shows with Mos and Kweli on the West Coast.  We got a tour coming up.  I got a tour with Fishbone and M.O.P and artists make more money performing than they do with their record sales.  I’m more concerned with, the next record I put out, I need people to feel it.  That’s why it’s taking a minute because my record label (Rawkus) is trying to force me to make some pop bullshit.  That’s not going to happen.

HHS: Aright.  Being an established artist that’s seen hip-hop become a worldwide phenomenon, what direction do you see the music going next, in terms of the vibe?

Pharoahe: Hip-hop is going to go where the audience allows it to go.  Not to sound corny and cliché, but if they allow it to go in a certain direction and they’re fooled, then it’ll go in that direction.  My thing is a fight for quality in terms of, we need to get on the airwaves, conscious, ignorant, hardcore, gangsta, just a variety of music instead of it always going one-sided.

HHS: Okay.  What can your fans expect on the new album in terms of production, guest features, and concepts?

Pharoahe: It’s a very conceptual album.

HHS: Very conceptual?  Like Prince of Thieves conceptual?

Pharoahe: No.  Straightforward.  Not a lot of skits but the songs are provocative.  They ask you to use your mind a little bit.

HHS:  Since fans haven’t heard a new album from you in about three years, what changes can they expect from you as an artist on the new album?

Pharoahe: It’s just a natural growth, man.  I mean in that time period, love lost, love gained.  Just the wisdom that you gained from getting older and experiencing new things.  You put your life on the record and I’m that much more wiser than I was before.  My idea is to help somebody who’s 18 get that lesson before reaching my age and have to experience it.  I think that’s the beauty of music and speaking and art in general has power to do that so I mean that’s why I try and create in the form the way that I speak and bring it to people metaphorically.  And one thing that does, like jazz your interpretation of a record the first time you hear it and the 100th time you hear it might be two different things. Your interpretation of “Agent Orange” now might differ five years from now once you hear it as a turn of events and the world changes and you get older, those words might mean something different to you metaphorically.  So it’s important for me to stay in that vain when I’m writing.

HHS:  So when can fans expect the new album?

Pharoahe: Hopefully near the end of this year.

Assuming that Joe Budden’s is just another cocky and one-dimensional rhyme spitter from his radio singles, “Focus” and “Pump It Up”, would be a mistake.  He demonstrates the ability to discuss a diverse palate of subjects and divulge his pain without blatantly seeking sympathy.  This album is compelling because it’s so honest and revealing that you feel like you are witnessing a catharsis of his demons in front of you.

Scoring this purging is White Boy, a relatively unknown (not for long) producer who generates a majority of the album’s beats.  Budden’s struggles are communicated through tracks such as “Calm Down” where he talks about overcoming drug addiction and circumstances that led to his destructive behavior.  Budden gives another musical confession on the appropriately titled “10 Mins”, where he yearns for a little time to himself and acknowledges the anguish his father’s current incarceration brings over a peaceful acoustics and strings influenced beat.

Showing range beyond melancholy subject matter, Budden conveys annoyance at wannabe thugs who crave notoriety and tries to reason with a girl who gives up the ass too easily on “U Ain’t Gotta Go Home”.  This slow, turbulent, and orchestrated backdrop with synthesized horns, cymbals, and a continuous “go” chant brings out Budden’s animated delivery and provides comic relief with DJ Clue expressing disbelief about White Boy’s race.

Budden also displays an unexpected maturity and a seasoned veteran’s perspective on several tracks.  On the Busta Rhymes collaboration “Fire”, produced by Just Blaze, Budden gives a compendious and insightful hypothesis explaining slumping record sales.  He excoriates his peers for relying too heavily on producers and hit singles while urging them to put their egos aside to focus on giving fans a quality product.  He drops more gems on the ironic “Pusha Man”, where he rhymes, “Shit, Back in the day, niggas looked at jail like school/ Now new jacks is spittin about jail like it’s cool.”  It’s interesting to hear this perspective from a member of the same generation (not to mention a recovering drug addict) that brought in this disturbing trend of glorifying incarceration.

Budden does hit the rookie wall at times though.  “Walk With Me” satisfies the “everyone is hating on me now that I’m successful” concept that every new jack with a buzz generates and “Porno Star” is an unnecessarily misogynistic bonus track where an outdated flow of using the same word to rhyme in practically every bar of the verse is employed.

These miscues are infrequent enough that it would be impossible to not declare Budden’s debut a success.  At a time when many say hip-hop is dying, there’s a necessity for new blood that can reach today’s younger fans while simultaneously providing material that a more mature audience can appreciate.  Joe Budden seems ready and willing to take on that responsibility.

     Ja’s first single “Clap Back” gives ample evidence of his ability to make a street record.  Scott Storch’s addictive two-bar guitar loop, supplemented with thunderous kicks and Ja screaming “Let’s take them to war!” could induce even the biggest of pussies to fight.  But his incessant insult hurling at the Aftermath clique on the title track and “Things Gon’ Change”, is unnecessary and will test the patience of even his most loyal fans. This is exemplified by
the scathing freestyle, “The Wrap”(which burrows the instrumental from Mobb Deep’s “The Learning” (Burn) where Ja touches on Murda Inc’s money laundering rumors (“if its dirty/then we rinsing it off”), his R&B offerings (“they say I rap to rhythm and blues/but when I turn on the radio I hear ya’ll niggas rapping it too”) and further insults aimed at Dr. Dre (“Niggas want to ball but can’t on the West Coast/Dre day’s been dead a long time ago”).  But of course Ja saves his most venomous pot shots for 50 Cent “ay yo this nigga/this nigga running around talking bout/I got shot nine times/I got shot/want everybody to be motherfucking sympathetic/ay yo 50/pull your skirt down B/ay yo niggas get shot everyday B/you tough.”  While 50 has certainly played his part in escalating the feud, with the amount of time and anger Ja dedicates to 50 with Blood In My Eye, he comes away sounding like a stalker and further disputes his claims to want to end the beef (although the conversation with Minister Farrakhan did come attached with a disclamier that stipulated Ja was in a more combative state of mind when this LP was recorded).

     Aggravating matters is the myriad of JV rappers who sneak onto the album.  James Gotti  enhances the wackness level of “The Life” with his stiff delivery and puzzling similes (“That’s why cats don’t hang around me like Chinese stores”).  Other posse cuts like “The INC Is Back” gives shine to more varsity rejects like Black Child and Shadow. 

            As expected, Ja’s 2Pac fetish continues on Blood.  He mimics Pac’s rhythmic enunciation on “Race Against Time II” drawling “Ridadadadadadie” during the hook.  Also, he allies himself with former Pac affiliate Fatal Hussein throughout the album in hopes of maybe channeling Pac’s energy and mystique (not to mention gaining more ammunition for the war he is waging with 50 Cent).

            In the end, Blood In My Eye clears up little about where Ja currently stands as an artist.  The album shows no growth and feels like a mixtape with all the guest appearances.  Ja’s far removed from the highly sought-after songwriter who helped Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige, and others collect tons of plaques.  Instead of reestablishing himself, he wastes our time reigniting a beef he claims he wants to end.

So you got your solo album coming on Loud. Why did you feel it necessary to do a solo project?

“Rap Life”  I didn’t feel it was a necessity, but when me and J-Ro first met, we were both solo artists. We then became a group and I never got a chance to do my own thing. It’s just a goal I set more for myself.

What kind of sound can we expect from the album?

It’s like a Tash sound, same Tash the rapper, over different beats you never heard me rap over before. East coast, west coast hip-hop. It’s got all kinds of different flavors, like a pack of Now and Laters.

Who is doing production?

E-Swift did three joints, Rocwilder, who does stuff with Redman and EPMD did two joints, Younglord from Bad Boy, Battlecat, Fred Wreck, a lot different producers.

Do you have anyone guest appearing on the album?

I got Outkast, B-Real , Xzibit, of course the Likwit Crew, Raekwon from Wu-Tang, J-Ro’s on a few joints.

Are their plans for a new Alkaholiks LP?

Yeah, we started working on it soon as we finished my album.

What do you think about when people say the west coast is falling off?

That’s their opinion and they are entitled that, but if they don’t feel my stuff, they don’t know what up It ain’t about where you at east or west, it’s just more about hip-hop.

How do you feel about the new east coast thug sound, and the southern bounce sound that is dominating right now?

I feel like music is here for all people to listen to. I don’t judge it by whether you are from the east or west. I don’t say “I can’t listen to Nore cause it’s is east coast thug shit” All that labeling doesn’t make sense to me. If you are a dope emcee, I listen to you. If you’re wack, I don’t fuck with it. As far as the South, I think it’s dope that young blacks in the south are getting a chance to express themselves.

What other outside projects are you working on?

I did a song with Rah Digga for the Beatminerz album on Rawkus…. I did a song for De La Soul for their album. I just did some stuff for Xzibit’s new album. I did song with Scritti Politti overseas…. I’ll work with anybody that I feel is dope…

Do you think that there will ever be a full length project from The Likwit Crew as a whole?

Yeah, we got a deal on the table right now for that. We want to put out ourselves, but we are still thinkin about it. Plus, Me, Xzibit, and Soopafly who used to do stuff with the Dogg Pound are starting a group. We’ve already recorded a few tracks, but we still don’t have a name yet…

What artists are the most influential to you?

Ice-T, who put the sound the west coast got on the map. I also have to give it up to Freeestyle Fellowship.

What emcees are you feeling right now?

Cappadonna from Wu-Tang, DMX, I like Outkast, Goodie Mob, Trick Daddy’s hard, Mack 10, Ice Cube….

What albums are you listening to now?

I’m bumpin’ the Whoiridaz, Brand Nubian, Kurupt, Gang Starr, Big Pun, Ghostface, and Mobb Deep.

Anything you would like to add?

Tash has been in the game for a minute. I need peeps to support me, like they support the other top notch emcees. This isn’t another Alkaholik album. As a solo artist I need ya’ll to support the new sounds.