Metal Lungies

ML hollers @ comes back with a vengeance, as we got to talk to Sean Price. One of the best “underground” rappers out, he recently dropped his new album ‘Jesus Price’ at the end of last month. Lyrically and production wise (with help from 9th Wonder and Khrysis) Sean Peeeee steps it up to another level from his great 2005 ‘Monkey Barz’ album. Read below as Sean Price talks about the new album, shoes, new mattress purchases, very hard liquor and oh so much more.

MetalLungies: Sean? Sean Price?

Sean Price: Yeah yeah yeah

ML: What’s goin on? how are you?

SP: Oh good. I’m good. What’s going on homie?

ML: Not much, how about you, how are you spending your Martin Luther King Day?

SP: I’m spending my Martin Luther King Day on the phone doing a bunch of fuckin interviews all day.

ML: How are they going so far?

SP: They corny.

ML: They corny?

SP: Everybody asked me what’s the state of hip-hop? Or they ask me how do I feel about Nas saying hip-hop is dead. I won’t be worried if you don’t ask me those two questions.

ML: I don’t even have those two quick questions written down, so you don’t have to worry.

SP: Thank you

ML: I’m going to change it up a little for you all right?

SP: Thank you Sir, I appreciate it.

ML: All right, first thing I want to know is, talk about the title of your album. How did you come up with Jesus Price?

SP: The people gave me that.

ML: People gave you that?

SP: Yeah, I was going to name the album Mighty Flow Young. So, I mean, to keep it all gorilla, you know, like last album was Monkey Bars. So I was trying to keep it all gorillas. But I started getting a lot of fan mail, like yo Ruck, we like your shit, big, your holding it down. The word I kept getting, was that I was saving hip-hop, you saving it, you saving it. So after too many savings, I’m like, you know what, Jesus? And I just ran with it. I didn’t want to get like crazy religious with it, cause that’s not my thing. So I named it after a Broadway play which was Jesus Christ Superstar, I just named it Jesus Price Superstar, know what I mean? You know, like I said, in the Bible he went through the town and spread the word and the word was God, so Jesus Price is going through the town spreading the word and the word is good hip-hop, that’s all.

ML: True that. What is going to be different on the album and what is going to be the same. I know you are hooking up with 9th Wonder again, you are getting tracks for him, but what is going to be same, what’s going to be different from your previous album?

SP: I think this album is more harder than Monkey Barz, you know, overall it’s harder. This is like I want to let you all know it ain’t no fluke, I ain’t here and I ain’t no fake solo artist, I’m here for real. I ain’t here just till Rock gets his shit together, and we form Heltah Skeltah again, we aint have to form Heltah Skeltah again, I don’t give a fuck, I’m here. That’s what I want you all to know.

ML: All right. Talk about another thing I have wanted to ask you about. I first saw you live about two years ago when you were opening up for GZA in DC and you just, honestly, GZA had a nice set, but your energy was off, ridiculous, I gotta give it to you. You were saying Tuesday Tuesday buy the album, I bought the album on Tuesday. Talk about, what is a Sean P show like for someone who hasn’t seen it?

SP: Oh you know, first of all, it ain’t planned, like I don’t really rehearse, I should but I don’t. I just go in there and vibe, we feed off the crowd. So everything your getting is spontaneous man, ain’t no set to plan. It’s just like, were going to do these certain songs, in what order? I have no idea. Usually I don’t even have a DJ, I got True Hard, True hard hold it down.

ML: Like, when I saw you I just remember, you were just putting on random tracks from Monkey Barz, you were like, I want to play that, you know, (SP *Laughs*) off the top. And everyone was having a good time you know?

SP: I was enjoying it man.

ML: What’s the last craziest thing that happened back stage at a Sean P show?

SP: The craziest thing that happened? You know when I finish off the show I sit on the stage and sign autographs, there is no really, back stage action like that. Like once I’m finished signing the autographs, I go back stage and gather up my shit and leave, it ain’t really like a back stage, you know drinks, it ain’t like that something, now I sit down on the stage and sign autographs and when I go back stage it’s time to go, we out.

ML: You do your business and your out.

SP: I handle my handle, I’m out.

ML: That’s cool. Any tour plans for this year? Maybe a BCC tour or, anything in the works?

SP: Yeah, that might be in the works. We are about to leave on the 26th, I’m going on tour overseas and then when I come back I’m going on tour with Jedi Mind Tricks, that’s a U.S. tour.

ML: You going to be hitting up DC?

SP: I hope so.

ML: All right well I will definitely checked you out.

SP: I was just in DC.

ML: Oh really?

SP: Just last week.

ML: Oh really??

SP: What was it last week, or two weeks ago — two weeks ago. Last week I was in Albany. The week before I want to DC, I just went to do XM radio, torch up some radio joints you know?

ML: XM radio showing you love?

SP: Yeah yeah, they showing me mad love.

ML: Another thing, Boot Camp Clik as a whole movement, I would look at you as one of the spokesman. What do you see as the plans for 2007 for Boot Camp Clik?

SP: Just more hard work, like I said we put out the Triple Threat, then we put out the Boot Camp album, now we back to the drawing board my album, we are doing Rusty Jerks, his album will be out soon, Smif N Wessun in the lab be working on their album, Buck and 9th just got back working on their album, so there is more, you know just continuously nonstop, were going to keep stuffing our eardrums with music all day. You know like I say, on working on this album, it will be out the 30th, then I am doing the Helter Skelter right now, so that will be out soon, and then me and Guilty Simpson , we are working on the album together, I don’t know if you ever heard of him. Me and Guilty are doing and album together.

ML: Now is Guilty someone you found?

SP: Nah, nah. Guilty from Detroit, he fucks with Black Milk, he’s on J. Dilla’s album, the shining, he’s a official, he’s official.

ML: Any other acts that we should be looking out maybe someone you’re going to try to bring up?

SP: Yeah like I said, Rustee Juxx, that’s my artist, look out for his album, it’s called Indestructible, he like 11, 12 songs deep so he be done soon.

ML: He’s on Cardiac from Jesus Price right?

SP: Yeah, he’s on cardiac, he’s on Slap Boxing on the last album, he’s on Magnum Force album, he’s been with me since Magnum Force.

ML: Going back to the album, I just want to go quickly through the track list and you give me a two sentence random fact about that track, is that cool?

SP: All right.

ML: Let’s start with Like You?

SP: Like You. I am not disrespecting nobody on that song, I am not attacking nobody personally on that record, but if you feel the weight, hey, that’s on you.

ML: What about P. Body?

SP: P. Body. That’s like, every superhero needs theme music you know what I mean?

ML: That’s your theme?

SP: Yeah, that’s my theme music baby. I got my homebit Petro with me right, so when I go outside, Petro got a big boombox, he pressed play, that’s the theme music right there.

ML: From now on when you go onstage that theme music should play.

SP: Yeah, that’s it, every superhero needs theme music and that’s my shit right there.

ML: Everybody’s like “oh shit that’s Sean P.” when that shit plays.

SP: When you think of the name Peabody you think of some old skinny dude with a pen protector in his pocket, I am the new P. Body. That is why I ain’t spell it “Pea”, I spelled it P. Body! So when you see it, I’m the new version of Peabody. So be careful when you see a nigga named Peabody, he might not your head off, it’s a warning.

ML: What about Cardiac?

SP: Cardiac. We named it that because when the beat came on I grabbed my mother fucking heart, Ya heard? I’m like that’s song, Cardiac, I am about to fucking croak on that shit.

ML: All right, what about Violent.

SP: The object of that song was like, you go on a picnic with your girl, nice park, nice day, and Godzilla walk through, that’s exactly what Violent is.

ML: The God?

SP: The God. That’s really a 5 Percent Nation thing. My people that slinged it out, I hear people call, yo god, they be havin pork chops in their hand they done broke it down like that so I did the song for those people. I put some Sadat X on there because that’s the god for real to solidify it.

ML: How was it working with him?

SP: That’s my dude, we’ve worked many times together, this ain’t the first time. I’m on his last two albums. That’s a good friend, we’ve been people ever since he put out that first solo album on Loud, we have been people ever since. We have been on the road together and all that. He in jail right now, he be home soon though, he doing good.

ML: So you have talked to him and he is doing good?

SP: Mhmm.

ML: That’s good news, What about Oops Upside Your Head?

SP: The beat was crazy, Mo$$ blessed us with a nice beat, I just started rhyming, I didn’t know what I was talking about until, I started talking about this radio dude, how you call them and you ask them to play this record, they don’t play at, then they see you later at a function and they are like “hey guys”, but I’m not one of those, I’m going to smack this shit out you for that. So that’s what that was about.

ML: Church?

SP: Church. I did that in Norway with Tommy Tee, are you familiar with his work?

ML: Give me a little background on Tommy Tee.

SP: He has done a lot of underground singles, he is a producer from Norway, he has a group called the Loud Mouth Choir with these two white boys and he asked me to be down with the Loud Mouth Choir, so in Norway if you buy a rap album called the Loud Mouth Choir you are bound to hear Sean Price on about six or seven times, yeah, I’m an of official member. I want to introduce them to my American audience so I put them on the album. These guys are crazy! They got an album called Greatest Hits and this is they first album, called Greatest Hits. You’ve got to hear this shit. This shit is awesome. Word up.

ML: What about King Kong?

SP: If you listened to King Kong you would think that was when the album was Mighty Flow Young, that was a continuation of the guerrilla shit, I just went in and beat the beat up, I love that track, it’s actually one of my favorite tracks on that album.

ML: So that’s you being King Kong on that track?

SP: Exactly, I had to guerrilla the track.

ML: What about One?

SP: One. One verse, I put one verse on there and just a bunch of one’s. People use one to say “peace”, “I am out”, I just flipped it.

ML:So it’s more of a concept track.

SP: Yeah, that’s a concept track. Ghostface had a “One”, I wasn’t going to fuck with it at first, but I put my twist on it, it worked.

ML: What about You Already Know?

SP: You Already Know. I had just knocked out a song, and 9th had this record and he made like four beats of one record and I’m like “Yo, let me get that”, and he said “which one” and I forgot which one because all four of them was shot nice and I went that one, and I went in there and tore it down and had my boy SkyZoo, he was out there working with Ninth too, so we just banged that out real quick.

ML: How was Skyzoo involved with this album?

SP: That’s my dude man. I fucks with the Justice League, they are like extended family, Skyzoo was down there recording while I was recording and he nice! He off the chain with it, I’m like yo let’s do this, can I get you on the chorus? And he like “yea”, he laid it down, we hung out, cracked jokes, that’s my dude.

ML: What about Directors Cut?

SP: I didn’t even like Directors Cut, that shit was just like random thoughts, that’s why it turned out, full of this mutual “you hate me” “I hate you”, this is the part where I shoot at you, then I stop and talk, then I go back to the rhyming, then I talk again, it’s kind of narrative, just like some random thoughts shit.

ML: What about Let It Be Known?

SP: I got Phonte from Little Brother, he had me under pressure, I had to go back to the hotel at night write that rhyme, bring it in the morning. That boy can rhyme, he’s talented.

ML: All right shout out to Phonte. What about Hearing Aid?

SP: Hearing Aid. That’s my dude Chaundon on there, from the Justice League. He had a bottle, I don’t know what kind of alcohol it was, that had a truck on the front of the bottle, like a 16 Wheeler truck with two big ass lights on it, the shit said Diesel, 100 and something proof. He took two swigs of the Diesel and went in. I’ll never forget Khrysis’ father came in and drunk some of that shit and I was like “god damn that shit looks harsh, looks like it could take the paint off a school bus.”

ML: So that track was a quart after that right?

SP: Yeah.

ML: What about Mess You Made?

SP: Actually, I made that with Block Mc Cloud a long time ago, it was for his mixtape, but I heard it again, so I’m like, let me get that, let me touch it up, I took a verse off and put two more verses on there, left him on the hook and it’s playing on the radio right now in New York so, that’s a good thing.

ML: The two producers that did that most tracks are Khrysis & 9th, talk about the differences between when you’re working with 9th and when you’re working with Khrysis.

SP: Khrysis plays the beat and I go in, we crack our little jokes, it doesn’t even look like I am writing sometimes, like we be talking so much, I jot something in between, and were start talking, the next thing you know, I’m done. He be like “what, you did it!” And I’m like “yeah, I’m done”. With 9th, 9th is kind of all business he go in there, play the beat, and he’s just “get the fuck out of my face”, he just goes and starts working on another beat, he be “here go a beat nigga” and he goes to start on another one, he is a machine

ML: Even though you say you’re the brokest rapper, but I’ve been reading that’s not true anymore, with that Myspace hustle. What is the last thing you purchased?

SP: That’s worth mentioning?

ML: Either worth mentioning or not worth mentioning.

SP: I bought a new bed, I got a new bed. Shit is awesome too, it’s some real Posturededic shit, a good firm mattress shit.

ML: So you’re getting some real sleep now. So is that worth mentioning or not worth mentioning?

SP: Yeah, that’s worth mentioning baby, now on getting some good rest. You know, the rest of the stuff, I don’t buy too much stuff, you’ve got to understand when you’re in our rap game, I could buy clothes but they give them to me and I could buy boots but they give them to me. I am a sucker for what they call them Grab Bags *Laughs*.

ML: But if you have to shop what are your favorite spots to shop at?

SP: Oh, I am a sneaker head, I am definitely at Subway’s, catch me in the Bathing Ape store on Green St., Atrium in Manhattan on Broadway and Bleecker, did I do with the regular stores like the S and D’s in Brooklyn the Jimmy Jazzes, I do all that. But I am definitely a sneaker head so you will catch me at all kinds of sneaker spots. The Fight Club Sneaker Store I be in there coppin things or wishin I could cop things *Laughs*, I mean my sneaker thing is crazy, I find myself in San Francisco I’m at the Huff store, get some Nikes out of there, matter of fact I bought the Mighty Crowns Nikes at the Huff store, they just put them in the magazines recently but I had them since the summer.

ML: So what’s the last pair of shoes that you bought?

SP: Oh, I just copped another pair of the Nike Gore-Tex ACG’s the other day, I got the brown with the orange stitch but they got scuffed and I’m going on tour so I bought the black Gore-Tex ones.

ML: Another thing I always ask, do you follow any sports?

SP: I fucks with basketball hardbody.

ML: All right, so who are your teams?

SP: I can’t wait to see how Denver turns out, Carmelo on suspension, can’t wait to see what they do when they get together, Carmelo with Allen Iverson, looks like a nice team up, but I am a Knicks fan, I’m from New York, I stick with my home team. They ain’t the best right now but I stick with the home team, I ain’t a fair weather fan. I’ve been a Knicks fan since Bernard King, I stick with the squad, I am a Bernard fan you know, he’s from Brooklyn, my uncle played ball with him back in the day, it started from there.

ML: Where did they play?

SP: I think at Wingate high school in Brooklyn in the Crown Heights Flatbush area

ML: Talk about Myspace and Youtube, how has that changed your whole approach as an artist?

SP: Well it is free promotion if you utilize it. I utilize that and then in return people get at me, like “I do music too”, “I’m you’re fan” “what would it take to get a verse from you”, so I make it profitable. I give people fresh verses all the time, it cost them between a G and $1200 I charge a dude for a verse which is relatively cheap for a nigga like me so they know a bargain when they see it, they jump on it.

ML: That’s a hot deal right there.

SP: Yeah, I’m nigga make between $4800 and $6000 a week just doing that, so, I’m definitely not the brokest rapper you know any more.

ML: You should have made a track Not The Brokest Rapper You Know on Jesus Price.

SP: You know what, some kid ran up on me “Yo, I’m the brokest rapper you know.” I’m like “You sure are.” *Laughs*

ML: He was looking broke?

SP: No, he wasn’t but, I’m not going to argue with you about that, you can have that title, I don’t want to battle for that title. I crown you the new brokest rapper, no problem.

ML: Do you have any DVDs on the way?

SP: Well, like I say, we have The Passion of Price, we are working on another one, I just don’t know how we are going to do it, I just don’t want it to be like the last one, that’s corny. So we might do it in a short film like the Street is Watching type thing, a little movie, a little acting between the songs, so we’re figuring about how were going to do it now.

ML: And I saw a clip, is that from you’re DVD with Buckshot pranking you?

SP: No, that’s on an old DVD.

ML: What DVD is that off of?

SP: I think it’s the Boot Camp one Behind The Lines, yeah, that shit was funny, you caught me out up there, I was mad as a mutherfucker B, If that wasn’t Buckshot back there I was going to punch the shit out of somebody. I can take a joke, once I found out it was a joke I was like, all right, that was cool.

ML: Did you ever get him back?

SP: I have got Buck so many times.

ML: What is the greatest thing, in your eyes, that you have done to him? Or one of the best?

SP: Just like, I left him hanging, like we would be in the studio and he’s waiting for me, and I just tell him I’m going to the store and just get on the train and go home and shit. *Laughs*.

ML: He is left thinking “where the fuck did he go?”

SP: I gotta a code to let you know that I am leaving and not coming back so everybody knows except him, so I’m like “Yo brother I’m going to the store, I’m going to get a 100 dutchess” he’s like “word?, all right!” and I leave and he’s like “he went to get a 100 dutchess” and everybody’s laughing at him, so I did that to him a 100 times and shit.

ML: Well that pretty much wraps sit up, that’s all I had for you, so, hopefully I haven’t been a asking you the same old questions everyone else has been a asking you. Good luck with the album. What day does the album drop?

SP: January 30th.

ML: I’ll be sure to pick that up. Maybe we can have another interview where we focused just on sneakers because you really know your shit on that. Good luck to everyone, BCC, Buckshot, Smif and Wesson, Dru Ha, everyone, 2007 is going to be a big year for you guys I think. I got you friended on Myspace so we got that covered, good luck!

SP: Peace!

The album is in stores now, so go get it, and check out the man’s Myspace (maybe even buy a verse!) Shout to Matt Conaway, for hooking it up as always!

out.

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