Metal Lungies

From dropping last year’s best mixtape, to cavorting with Alex Ovechkin and ML’s very own DJ01 at a Washington Capitals game, Wale has been overdue for a conversation with ML. The DC rapper turned MVP touches on his relevance to hip-hop, progress on his upcoming album Attention Deficit, the status of the Back to the Feature mixtape, and whether or not he’ll still like us after he goes eleven times platinum.

ML: A lot of people see you as a new breed of rapper because you’re the first rapper to come up on the rap blogs. Do you feel like you’re setting a precedent?

Wale: In a lot of ways. Even from touring 40 cities and doing an hour a night. That’s roughly two days on stage with no album out. That’s somewhat of a precedent. I’d like to think so.

ML: Do you feel like there’s a lot riding on you? Do you feel a lot of pressure?

Wale: Not really. You gotta understand, I’ve managed to have a consistent fan-base and be consistent with the music without having a hit record like a lot of my peers. Mine is more of a being the brand. As long as I continue to be the artist that I am and the person that I am, everything will work out. A lot of my other peers have got big records that are larger than life right now. That’s where I could see pressure. I’ve been maintaining fans and selling out shows in major markets with no album. What’s gonna happen when I give ‘em the album? That’s when it’s gonna be like, ‘Wow, and his album is great?’ Hopefully.

ML: What would you say is the biggest difference between being signed to an indie label and a major?

Wale: Indie, you can do more. Independent is a gift and a curse — you get less help, but sometimes you don’t want help. Sometimes you wanna do things yourself. Like, you don’t somebody telling you what or how to do what you’re doing.

ML: How’s the relationship with Interscope? How involved are they from a creative standpoint?

Wale: That’s why I went there, ‘cause they let me be the artist and they be the label and we work well together. I don’t play for a coach that wants to play in the game and I’m not trying to coach. It’s a great situation. If you can remember, a year and a half ago, I could’ve went to any label I wanted at that point. So I went to the place that I felt would let me be the person I want to be.

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From the first time I saw his refrigerator video, I constantly wondered whether Mr. Chi-City was playing a character or if he was just a naturally hilarious person who had the good sense to videotape himself. As it turns out, Mr. Chi City is a little of both.

Even though Mr. Chi-City lets the world into his life via his autobiographical videos, he doesn’t strike me as someone who craves attention. As you’ll see from reading this interview, the fast-talking, ass-chasing Internet legend is an introvert who enjoys his peace and quiet. But ayo, fuck that shit! CHI-CITY MAYNE IN THIS BITCH!!!!!

ML: What’d you do today?

C-C: Went to work, worked too damn hard. Basically I’ve been at Buffalo Wild Wings damn near for the past three hours and I came in here and I’m trying to answer all these messages. I remember back in the day I used to get three messages. Dude, I got 489 messages, I’m trying to answer every single one!

ML: You’re famous now.

C-C: But that’s the crazy thing, ’cause I’m really not though. Dude I can go anywhere at anytime. Don’t nobody know me. A few people know me here and there, but I personally don’t feel like I’m famous. I ain’t even in the top biggest people on YouTube or any part of any Internet man, I’m just a smalltime dude that a few people like to watch.

ML: So you don’t feel famous?

C-C: Hell nah! Hell motherfuckin’ nah. When I go to work, they don’t treat me like I’m famous, my relatives don’t treat me like I’m famous and when I step outside the crib, ain’t nobody askin’ for autographs or nothing like that.

ML: You never get recognized?

C-C: Hell nah. The only way you could recognize me — you have to really watch my videos and you really have to know my voice and when I’m out in public I don’t really talk that much. It depends on where I’m at, I may not even be speaking, which is cool about my situation: I can do my thing and still just be undercover with it.

ML: What does Mr. Chi-City aka Mr. 7.63 do for a living?

C-C: Well, I do it like this because a lot of people ask that question because everyone’s trying to figure out like, ‘Damn, you say you make x amount of dollars but you seem to have things that a person who would have to make more can afford,’ right? But people not understanding, truth be told, I get money for these videos now. YouTube — they cut checks. I can honestly say this: no matter what I do right now, like in terms of wake up in the morning and go to work, I make more money on YouTube than anything I’ve ever done in life.

ML: How do you make money on YouTube?

C-C: Aw, you never heard of the partnership program?

ML: Oh, that’s what it is.

C-C: Yeah, mayne.

ML: They pay you for your views, right?

C-C: Views, videos, it’s a whole long list of ways for you to get that dough, but the funny thing for me is, if you look at anybody on there — and a lot of people don’t know this — behind the scenes, when it comes to YouTube, dude, when you in that top 100, or every time you drop a video and you was ranked high or whatever, yo it’s big business, man. Real talk, it’s money over there. But the difference between me and those people is, those people do it strictly for the money, so that’s why you seem them post a video every other day, or once a day, or they advertise other people stuff, or they giving stuff away. And if you look at me, dude, I’ve only posted 22 videos and I’ve been on there for a year. I mean it’s cool, the money come in, but at the same time, the money doesn’t motivate me, because if that was the case, if I was about that dough, dog I would post every day.

ML: You put your heart into it.

C-C: Yeah, but I feel like for me to be posting every day, it would really be garbage because, I gotta be honest dog, shit don’t happen to me every day. Some days I just wake up in the morning, go to work and come home and nothing happens and I can’t really post nothing on that. I only post when something pops off.

ML: Has anyone ever not taken kindly to being videotaped?

C-C: Maybe the one dude at McDonald’s, after the fact though. At first, you could see him in the video he was all excited to be on camera, but after he saw how it turned out, like he hates my guts to this day and shit.

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I had been waiting in the lobby of the W hotel with one of our unpaid interns for half an hour when Capone-N-Noreaga walked out an elevator and sat down by the bar. They had with them a strange bottle of a drink they called Tiger Bone. Before the interview could start, Capone asked a waiter for two more shot glasses so that we could take shots. Not being much of a drinker, I declined. Capone insisted.

Curious, I looked at the bottle’s label, which did not put me at ease. There were no nutrition facts; rather, it was mostly in Chinese and read, “A traditional Chinese herbal formula used in the orient for thousands of years. Recommended usage: take 2 teaspoons (approx. 10 ML) twice daily.” The label also cautioned that Tiger Bone is 130 proof and that “it should not be used by pregnant women.”

Seeing no way out, I reluctantly took a shot. I slammed down the glass halfway through coughing and pounding my chest. When I could breathe again, all I could bring myself to say was, “What the fuck is Tiger Bone?” Capone answered, “It’s real.”

And that’s the best way to describe CNN. For better or worse, they’re “real.”

ML: What’s poppin in Queens in 2009?

Capone: Everything.

Nore: Same thing that was poppin in Queens in ’96.

ML: Who’s hot?

Capone: Everything in Queens is still the same. You still got the same beefs, still got the same whores, still got the same crackheads. But you got Capone and Nore back together so that’s the only thing different. But a new album.

ML: Channel 10 has been called your comeback album. What would you say is your goal with the album?

Nore: Just for people to listen to it high volume and love it.

ML: Just to put CNN in the streets again, right.

Capone: Yeah, we’re not really giving a fuck about radio and video right now. We are, but at the end of the day, we want to give the people that made us back. And that’s the street. And right now they holdin’ us down. They held us down for ten years. So at the end of the day you gotta appreciate that we giving back to them. ‘Cause they didn’t play CNN videos. You never seen mad CNN videos, or CNN all over the radio. So we’re not geared toward commercial records. We’re geared toward getting back to our core.

ML: I’m gonna call you out on the commercial thing.

Capone: OK, go ahead, call me out baby. You gotta take a shot though when you call me out so we play fair.

ML: The Ron Browz record — isn’t that a commercial record?

Capone: Music today — they censor music so much that you have to make the thuggest record commercial to some extent. To get your albums in certain stores, your shit gotta be squeaky clean, because that’s just where music is at right now. If you look at Ron Browz, he’s not on nobody’s record that’s not a gangsta. It’s not like he’s on a Ne-Yo record, it’s not like he’s on a Chris Brown record and we’re doing a record with him. He’s on fuckin’ Jim Jones’ record, he’s on Busta Rhymes’ record, he’s on CNN record, Fat Joe. So you look at all these people who record he on-

Nore: Nobody soft.

Capone: That shit is hard

Nore: Nobody wears bowties there. Read the rest of this entry »

Fonzworth Bentley is known for a lot of things including being a butler, a recording artist, and an umbrella line owner. Not the least of these things is his hosting his own MTV show From G’s to Gents which has just started it’s 2nd season. We talked to Mr. Bentley a few weeks back (on his Birthday none the less) and he spoke on his whole experience with the show up to this point. Also being a former Ralph Lauren employee, we get his take on who is the best collector in his opinion (hint: it’s an ML friend).  We only began to scratch the surface, so expect a Pt.2 where you find out more about, Mr. Bentley the person, coming soon.

Metal Lungies: With it being your Birthday, what do you have lined up to celebrate?

Fonzworth Bentley: I usually have a bit of the birthday screws first thing in the morning, my girlfriend understands that, so…. What she does is she kind of helps out and plans accordingly. A good friend of mine has a restaurant, actually we were colleagues back in the restaurant business back when I worked from 1998 through 2001, it’s called Braeburn, it’s downtown. Really really nice restaurant, [the] menu’s exciting.  So about 25, maybe 30 folks total are gonna go down there and have a really good dinner. But other than that, I think it’s pretty cool that my birthday starts off Fashion Week.

ML: So you are going to have a nice big gourmet cake?

FB: Yeah, now the cake, I’m a red velvet fan. Any form of red velvet. My woman’s surprising me, so I don’t know. I heard the other day, [someone told me] about a red velvet cheesecake and I’ve never had that.

ML: Let’s get into some questions about the show- How do you feel season 1 of the show turned out?

FB: Season 1 of the show was a tremendous success, because first of all my goal going in was to get the gentlemen on the show to feel that it was more important for them to learn these lessons than it was for them to win the money. Ultimately, when it boiled down to those final guys, they really got it and they understood what these different tools mean and how they can help them to move forward and reach those dreams and aspirations they have. It was real transformational for them. One of the the things I didn’t know, but I found out after moving around, that it was transformational for the audience from the other side of the coin. So many people who came to me and said “Hey, now I see folks with the pants below their behind, with grills in their month, and instead of judging this individual, I see there is a real person with real dreams and aspirations who probably didn’t grown up with the same type of nourishment and community that I did, and you don’t know what you don’t know”, and that’s actually OK. But it’s about you understanding that and you wanting to fundamentally move forward to be a better you. These people are now saying when they see folks like that instead of judging the individual they think “Hey, let me drop a gem on them, let me say something or speak something into their lives”, so that’s a huge win. Obviously the ratings are fantastic , it’s in 30 countries right now. So those are the really big wins for me, and that’s what’s really exciting.

ML: You said it’s in 30 countries, do they have versions where they dub you voice over?

FB: Oh yeah, you ought to hear it, it’s kinda funny.

ML: What’s your favorite dubbing?

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If you’re a rapper today, you can do one of three things: constantly talk about restoring hip-hop to how it was ten fifteen years ago, air out pointless rivalries on YouTube, or wear spandex. Amidst all these shenanigans, there’s Curren$y, a rapper from New Orleans who has the audacity to spell his name with a dollar sign in the place of a ‘c’. Laid back and amicable, Curren$y is one artist who is just out to make genuinely entertaining music.

Peace to the homie Devin for hooking up the interview.

ML: What’s it like being an independent artist from New Orleans?

$: It’s refreshing and I feel like a pioneer. I’m happy. Shout out to Master P. We’re black armed and ’bout it ’bout it.

ML: What’s going on in New Orleans right now in terms of hip-hop?

$: I’m seeing a change, man. I didn’t really know that people out here was really even listening to me, to the shit that I’m doing now doing since I’m doing my own music and I’m doing what I really want to do. But I had a show recently and I saw the turnout. I’m seeing that it’s not as behind as people think. People don’t really think that New Orleans has a real, true hip-hop scene, but it does and it’s living and breathing. And I’m a part of it.

ML: The mixtapes had really random themes like Super Tecmo Bowl and Fear & Loathing. How did you pick the themes?

$: I used different titles and shit just to let people know what I’m about. I’m figuring because my album didn’t come out when it was supposed to, like, I went through some things and people didn’t really know enough about me. So, while I was doing the mixtape hustle and everything and I was giving stuff away for free, I figured that I needed to let ’em know everything about me that they can’t get from interviews and stuff, because I wasn’t doing them. Nobody was really checking for me, so I wasn’t doing any interviews. So, I needed to put in the mixtapes shit about me that would express what kind of person I am. Through them titles and shit, using moving titles and shit, and through the pictures and shit that I used and shit, it let’s you know what kind of stuff I must be into to even come up with that kind of shit for my mixtape shit. From my seven tapes, you can deduce that I’m a game head and I like shoes and I don’t sell cocaine and I’m just chilling and everything’s alright.

ML: You’re big into gaming?

$: Yeah, but I got what I like. I’m online on Rainbow Six: Las Vegas 2. Gamertag spitvicious, all one word if anybody’s looking.

ML: What kind of response have you gotten about the mixtapes?

$: I got a fairly good response about the mixtapes. It seemed like it picked up more after Fear & Loathing in New Orleans. Once I put that one out, I started to really see that more people were recognizing what I was doing. It was making them go back and pick up the other ones too, so that was good. People appreciated what I did and I put out a lot of music. And they feel me for it, so it was well worth it.

ML: Did you get any industry response?

$: Yeah man, like Lupe Fiasco called me, reached out, told me he respected what I was doing and shit. And Pharrel, just a couple of people I bumped into that gave me my credit for shit I’m doing. And that’s what was pushing me too, man. Just like doing this interview is going to push me to do more shit. As long as shit keep going the right way, that’s what’s driving me like that.

ML: Have you gotten any interest from labels?

$: Yeah, a couple of labels have reached out, but nobody is really prepared to understand that I’m not going to make the radio single. Not the one that they want. I feel like any song you put on the radio is a radio single. I think they want another “Where da Cash At” and I’m not gonna do that. If you hear my tapes, you know what kind of music I really make. I can’t force that on the labels. I can’t force them to put me on. Rather than even trying to compromise with the labels or take a lowball, I just decided to do it independent.

ML: A couple of the tracks I’ve heard you on have kind of techno, electronic type beats, like “Drug Flow.” Can we expect more of that?

$: Yeah man, on the album, I did everything that I know worked for me on the tapes. The shit that sounded right those times, that same vibe is going to be present on the album. This is my baby. I’m not tooting my own horn, like I was putting a lot of work into the tapes, I wasn’t just putting no bullshit out, but this is my baby. And everybody who was a part of it looked at it the same way.

ML: When’s [This ain’t no Mixtape] coming out?

$: March 31st.

ML: The “Blown Away” track — who produced that?

$: Monsta Beatz. The snippets that we released to the Internet – it was produced entirely by Monsta Beatz. Everything.

ML: Do you ever regret leaving Young Money?

$: No, I never regret leaving Young Money.

ML: When was the last time you spoke to Wayne?

$: Nah, I don’t. I really don’t, because like I was on the cover of XXL a couple of months ago. It’s just a lot of shit that’s going on now. I got more acclaim myself. I got more shit popping on my own. I didn’t do an interview with you when I was with Young Money. We’re doing it now. So I can’t regret, because I’m doing so much now. I’m caught up in it right now.

ML: I heard a little while ago that you were working on something with Wale. Is that ever going to happen?

$: Yeah, man. We’ve been collaborating, man. We’re doing some shit. We trying to get together for the album right quick, but we got some shit in the vault, but I don’t know if I’m going to put that on the album, I’ma just hold on to that. We’re trying to knock some more shit out. That’s my man though. Shout out to Wale and everybody else who was on the XXL cover with me.

ML: Is that how that came about?

$: Nah, we was friends before that. I hit him on MySpace one time like ‘Dude, we gotta get down on some shit,’ and he was like ‘Yeah, I bet,’ and it’s just been good.

ML: How long did it take to make This Ain’t No Mixtape?

$: Maybe a month? Not even? I wanna say like two and a half weeks. I ain’t gonna lie, we had the album before we knew we was putting the album out. It just so happened that I had so many records. I was working with Monsta Beatz to get a couple of records to add to my album and then I did so many records that I was like, ‘Fuck, this a album.’ So I’ma do This Ain’t No Mixtape in volumes, because the majority of one is produced by Monsta Beatz. I got so many other records that I had done with other producers that was supposed to be on the album, but I’ma just gonna drop it in series, man. It’s gonna be wild for a minute. It’s gonna be tight, man. Don’t worry, I’ll send you a Lamborghini or something. It’s gonna be awesome.

ML: Apart from that, what are your future plans? Do you plan to do anymore mixtapes?

$: Yeah, I’m about to get back to the mixtape shit. Trademark got a mixtape coming out next, at some point. [laughs] He’s got records. At some point he’ll put them all on one disc and get some artwork. But shortly. And you could look for a Jets tape collectively and other than that, the Fly Society clothing line — we’re just about to start showing in places like Bloomingdales and Macy’s and shit like that, so shit about to be legit. We did a deal with KR3W, Supra and those guys. We merged, we did a nice deal with those guys, so shit’s about to be overdrive on the fashion tip and that’s only making me more dangerous on the independent because I got more bread to fuck around on this shit for.

ML: What was the last thing you bought?

$: The last thing I bought was two pepperoni personal pan pizzas with breadsticks and a Mountain Dew and a tea for Trademark da Skydiver and the homie Devin. And two Mexican pizzas, one with no beans, and two Taco Supremes with no lettuce.

(image source)

Aside from being half of the legendary duo UGK and an icon in the South, Bun B is one of the few people in hip-hop who doesn’t scramble to say something retarded when he has the spotlight. Rather, Bun is one of the most knowledgeable and insightful people in the business. I talked to Bun B almost three weeks ago for our Pimp C Beat Drop and he was cool enough to field some extra questions.

ML: How would you describe the final UGK project?

Bun: It’s still not in the position to be describable, I think. We have a lot of music and a lot of vocals. Right now, we’re in a position with enough music to merit a release, but it’s all about making sure that it’s the right music and that it’s presented the right way and if we do decide to let people be a part of this project, that it’s people that would make sense to be part of a UGK project were Pimp C still alive. I’m not gonna go get Norah Jones or some shit. No disrespect to Norah Jones. I’m not gon’ bring people into the equation that wouldn’t have been into the equation. You know.

ML: Has the attitude toward the South changed since “[Quit] Hatin’ the South” off Underground Kingz?

Bun: That’s a very good question. Honestly, I think you would have to ask the haters. I couldn’t answer for a hater, I have no idea how long a hater hates for. Mostly, the people that hate on the South, they hatin’ on New York rap for different reasons, they’re hatin’ on West Coast rap. They just have to hate on something. I don’t even take it personally, because the people who hated on me down south for being popular, even if they’re from the East Coast, they hated on East Coast people for being popular.

ML: What are some of your favorite 90s non-UGK Southern rap albums?

Bun: Definitely On the Outside Looking In, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Soul Food, but even like the early Dayton Boys stuff and, well this is probably going back to the eighties too, but Gucci Crew and the first Poison Clan album and stuff like that. A lot of stuff like that was real influential on me as well. When I was making my own music I was still a fan. Then of course R.I.P to MC Breed. Definitely his first album. Not to mention the “Tight” album [The New Breed] as well and especially for me as a lyricist with the “Tight” album collaboration between him and D.O.C.

ML: What would you say is your best verse?

Bun: I don’t think I’ve written my best verse yet. If you asked a Bun B fan, I would imagine ninety-nine percent of them would say “Murder” simply because of, I guess, the state of Southern rap in general. We were really getting pigeonholed into a certain position and the only person that was really getting any real credit for lyricism from the South was really Andre 3000 and Scarface. And I’m like, ‘You know what? I’ve been down here wrecking too.’ And in the South everybody knows and they give me my card, but I was like ‘I need a song where I can just go in and wreck where it’s unequivocally a lyricist on the mic and it’s not just a Southern or West Coast or Eastern, but this dude is a lyricist and I don’t know where he’s from or who he is, but he’s a lyricist. He can go.’ And “Murder” was the one song that finally opened up the doors to that. Then after that, I went in on a lot of other songs. Some people may say “Three Sixteens,” some people will even say my verse on “Big Pimpin’,” but I think the one that really caught everyone’s eye like ‘Whoa, this dude got serious flow’ will probably be “Murder.”

ML: A lot of people that wouldn’t have heard of you otherwise have heard of you because of all this work you’ve done with smaller acts like Wale and Termanology and Kidz in the Hall. You reached out to all of these guys right?

Bun: Right. A lot of these guys I knew before and these were people that I called personally. And the whole reason being is that even though he’s from Boston, Termanology is really me fifteen, sixteen years ago — well not Boston really, Lawrence actually, to be exact. To be more on point about it, Lawrence is no bigger a town than where I’m from. The neighborhood that Wale’s from in Maryland is no bigger than the neighborhood that I’m from. And I know what it’s like coming from that kind of an environment trying to make your way in this world. Not just in your immediate vicinity, but in the world. And even a person like a Killer Mike from Atlanta, from Adamsville or a young Lansky from California. It’s about really just trying to give these cats as much inspiration personally and professionally as I can and direction personally and professionally, because it’s a thing where it wasn’t available for me and I know how hard this game can be and how frustrating, and I know how it’s gotten me down to the point where I probably wanted to quit. And I just wanted to make sure people knew that they had somebody that they could call that didn’t want nothing from ’em other than to seem them do good.

ML: Did you know Termanology and Wale personally or did you just hear about them?

Bun: Nah, I just heard music.

ML: Where do you hear about them? Are you on the blogs or-

Bun: Yeah, I’m on the Net, I still cop mixtapes, check my spot from the hood, Nah Right or anybody in the New Music Cartel or XXL or Vibe or Fader or one of these will put something up and I’ll peep it. It’s just about understanding what music is and not to mention where it’s going. I know what music was because I was there when a lot of it was being created. I make a point to know today what exactly music is and where it’s going tomorrow. So I’m just paying attention and making sure some of these kids who are in the perfect position to really take advantage of the game and life in general don’t make any missteps, because it benefits us all for a Wale or a Kidz in the Hall or Termanology to win in this game. It benefits everybody because for one, they’re real dudes, two, they’re talent, and three, it’s not a gimmick, they’re really standing on some real shit and the game needs more representation like that.

ML: Tell me about working with DJ Premier. That’s amazing.

Bun: Oh absolutely. He’s somebody that I’ve known for years, I consider a good friend. A good friend to the point where — most people, if they have DJ Premier’s number in their phone, would be burning him up for music, but I really valued him as a friend, his opinion, the interaction that we have, the way that we see the game, just like a Kay Slay or somebody. Kay Slay is a friend of mine, but he’s never hosted a mixtape for me, because when you meet real people in this industry on a very real level, you don’t want to fuck it up with business. So with the Termanology situation, it was just something where ‘I wanna rock with this dude, this dude is hard lyrically’ and also it gives me a chance to see where I stand today amongst the best of the best, which I think maybe some of the people from my generation are probably a little leery to do. You have to be very careful if you’re a Jordan to put yourself with the rock in front of an AI and allow yourself an opportunity to be shook. But that’s cool, you can’t win every game but you can still leave with the NBA title.

Either they were really tired or I was really boring, but Kidz in the Hall, the duo of Naledge and Double-0, seemed extremely disinterested when I hollered at them. Nobody is ever that excited to talk to a blogger about their favorite foods and colors, but Naledge sounded like I woke him up from a nap or something. Their sophomore album The In Crowd was well received when it came out earlier this year and the single “Drivin’ Down The Block (Low End Theory)” even landed a spot on TRL (which is now sadly defunct). Right now, they’re on tour with Murs who makes a surprise cameo in this interview!

Remaining tour dates:

11/22 – Boulder, CO
12/11 – Los Angeles, CA

ML: First thing’s first, Naledge you take a pretty nice mug shot.

Naledge: [laughs] Yeah, nah, I mean I figure if you gon’ go, you gon’ go smiling.

ML: You guys went to Penn right?

Double-0: Yeah, University of Pennsylvania.

Naledge: Definitely.

ML: What did you guys study?

Naledge: I studied communications.

Double-0: I was a systems engineer.

ML: Double 0, you were an Olympic runner for Belize, right?

Double-0: Yeah, that’s the way the story goes.

ML: What did you compete in?

Double-0: Four hundred meter hurdles.

ML: How was that?

Double 0: It was a great experience. Obviously I wish I could’ve done better, but at the end of the day you can’t predict how any of these things turn out and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted, but it is what it is. It was a great experience, kinda gotta just learn from it and keep going.

ML: So how did you guys get into hip-hop seeing as you’re Olympic runners and Penn graduates?

Double-0: Hip-hop was well before that. We’ve been doing this stuff for a minute. We’ve been working together since 2000. While all those other things were going on, we were doing this as well.

ML: Would you say college was a waste of time then?

Double-0: We would’ve never met.

Naledge: Never would say that. Definitely wouldn’t say that. College serves its own purpose. It has social aspects beyond the academic aspects. Most people make lifelong connections that are gonna ultimately determine their fate. Kinda develops your network. To be honest with you, I met my manager, I met Double-0, I met a lot of different people in school that quite honestly if I didn’t meet, I might not have taken music as seriously as I did. ‘Cause at that time when I entered school, I didn’t envision this being something I could do for the rest of my life. Saying school’s a waste of time is definitely a misquote. You’ll never hear that coming out of anybody’s mouth in Kidz in the Hall.

ML: A lot of my friends wish they went to Penn.

Double-0: Really?

Naledge: I get that. I don’t know, it’s weird. I think Penn has a certain aura about it. It’s in Philly, so it’s like a getaway city and then if you’re trying to get into a business school, it’s probably the best option in the country. I think a lot of kids try to get into Wharton [School of the University of Pennsylvania] more so than try to get into Penn and Wharton is very selective.

ML: Yeah all my friends in [NYU] Stern [School of Business] were trying to get into Wharton.

Double-0: Yeah that’s what’s up. I mean, they shouldn’t have fucked around in high school, they’d have been aight. [laughter]

ML: I’ll tell them that.

Double-0: Tell them when their parents stuck ’em in those PSAT classes they should’ve paid attention. [more laughter]

Naledge: To be honest with you, I think people focus too much on their grades and less on being well-rounded. At Penn in general, most kids I’ve met had a unique story. It wasn’t like ‘Oh, I have a 4.0’ it was like I would meet somebody who was like a concert pianist at the age of like fourteen or like some kid who was in some nationwide contest about picking socks. Stuff like that.

Double-0: The student body at Penn is always a fairly diverse student body. I think that being well-rounded and being fairly adjusted socially is an important part of the Penn experience ’cause you can’t just jump into west Philly being so far into the books that you don’t realize anything else in the world around you, ’cause you’ll quickly get a reality check.

ML: Do you have any advice for young people trying to get into hip-hop?

Double-0: Don’t do it! Nah, it’s an excellent time to really try to get some sort of satisfaction in expression in terms of hip-hop right now and my advice always is tell your own story, be true to yourself and always operate as if you’ll never get a record deal.

Naledge: I would question somebody’s love. If this is what you really love to do, what you’re passionate about, that in itself is going to carry you, you’re not going to quit. And if you actually have talent people are gonna recognize that. The only other advice I have is going to a major city. I would recommend going to New York or going to Los Angeles. To be honest with you, it’s like if you gon’ be heard in those cities and you’re good, you’ll be found. That’s my advice.

ML: What about young people in general, people trying to pick a career right now? Do you have any advice for them?

Naledge: It’s the same thing, pick your passion. Don’t pick hip-hop because you think it’s cool and it’s on TV. Go out and do something you love. I think parents oftentimes steer kids in certain directions to cover for their own insecurities about where their life has gone or has went and being protectors and providers, they want to see their kids go on a certain route and reach a certain level of success monetarily. For many, especially working class, middle class, lower class families, parents oftentimes, and specifically with minorities, they don’t know any better than to tell their kids to be a doctor or a lawyer or something that has to do with counting money, like being an accountant or working at a bank and that might not be what your child has a vested interest in, that might not be where their skill set lends itself the best. You can’t be scared to go outside of the box and do what you want to do and go your own way.

Double-0: Yeah, exactly. Your parents are always gonna want, honestly, to create stability for you which is why they chose those things, because they require a certain amount of stability and once you get to that point, you’ll advance to a certain class and tax bracket that they always want to see you do better than they did. But the reality is, you gotta let your own life figure it out and more than that, you can’t be afraid to just let life lead you where need to go, because you don’t always figure it out immediately. Most of the people that have graduated college will tell you what they graduated in is nothing they’re even doing right now. So, you kind of have to let life lead you and just go along for the ride and eventually it’ll lock itself in as long as you continue to work hard. And the other thing is, things that you’re good at sometimes, aren’t even things that you even necessarily like to do. So, you never know what’s gonna happen.

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I chopped it up with DJ Babu of Dilated Peoples recently about his new album Duck Season 3. Dude was forthcoming and humble. Much respect to Babu!

ML: You were in town for CMJ, right?

Babu: Yeah, I was there all last week.

ML: I meant to see you at the Santo’s for the Meet n Greet thing. I missed you at Fat Beats also.

Babu: It’s all good. Do you want me to be honest with you? CMJ was great, but there was like four things going on every afternoon or evening. But I am a bit of an old cat these days. Like I said, ‘I’m going to these four things tonight’ and I was lucky if I made it to one and a half of them. The Santo’s thing was really dope though, that was one of my favorite things of the whole week.

ML: Album’s great, did you produce the whole album?

Babu: I did produce the whole album. I’m glad you liked it, thanks a lot.

ML: How many beats did you make for the whole album?

Babu: Including the eighteen that are on there, songwise I think I have about twenty five or twenty six. There were a bunch that didn’t make the album which is gonna be part of this Duck Season 3.5 I’m gonna be releasing top of the new year. As far as beats, I make beats all the time. I always like to have a big arsenal of beats to always show people. I’m always ready to bang on the spot if someone wants to get together and startfrom scratch, but where I am in the production game, it’s like more the merrier as far as the ammo I have and the range of people that I want to mess with. A lot of my free time is spent on just stacking new beats whenever I can whenever I’m not DJing or on the road or even while I’m on the road, I’m always just chopping up samples and just putting beats away.

ML: Why did you format it like a mixtape?

Babu: I knew for this third one, I wanted to make a full evolution. I felt as if my beats were at a different point, my production, my engineering. Everything was just at a way higher level and I knew I wanted to take the challenge upon myself to do the whole thing production-wise. The new one really is my production album disguised as a mixtape and I still do that to continue the vibe of the series. And I can never turn my back on my DJing foundations. For that reason alone, I still love presenting my album like that. I’m definitely gonna make the album available on vinyl. It’ll be separated for a lot of the DJs that do the mp3 thing and the leaks and the record pools. I’ll have instrumentals and unmixed versions definitely out there, because I’d love the for DJs to play them also. But yeah, that’s kind of the reason I stuck to that format.

ML: Probably my favorite song on the album was the A.G. song. How’d you hook up with him?

Babu: I’ve known A.G. for years. Put it on the record, I’m a huge D.I.T.C. fan. Show & A.G.’s Runaway Slave is like one of my top five albums of all time. A few years ago with Dilated, we were able to play at a Fat Beats anniversary in Amsterdam. We were lucky enough to be sharing the bill with A.G. and rest in peace, Big L and ever since then we’ve kind of kept in touch. I luckily caught him in LA, he was out doing a show. We went to the Dilated studio. He’s such a raw MC and he really comes from that school of like – he’s gonna do his job. A lot of times, MCs these days, they’re very much like – especially if they’re paying you to work – they’re expecting a hook and a chorus and a song idea, everything’s built in. He’s one of those MC’s that just takes pride in doing everything themselves. He made it real easy for me. We talked about the idea, I played him three or four beats and it all just happened like in a half an hour. Before I knew it, he was in the booth spittin’ fire again. But, that was a dream come true, man. Like I said, Andre the Giant is just so raw to me. I’m glad you liked that song, that’s a sleeper on the album, I love that one.

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I come bearing gifts. The homie Mulatto Patriot just passed me this heater off his album Sonic Visuals. The beat is real paranoid and he’s got Razzy on some sinister ish. I’d be blasting this right now, but my roommates are sleeping.

Download: Mulatto Patriot – Audio Terrorist (feat. Ras Kass, Casual, Prosper Jones)

I shot some questions at Mulatto too:

ML: How did you first get into hip-hop?

MP: My longtime friend DRIP (R.I.P.) introduced me to hip-hop in the 90s. The first show I went to had Common Sense and Guru on the bill. It was one of the greatest memories of my childhood.

ML: What’s poppin in the Chicago scene?

MP: Chicago has many great artists putting in work. Just to name a few Pugs Atomz, Awdazcate, Decay, Primemeridian, Astonish, Longshot, Wes Restless, Seal Fresh, Verbal Kent, Chekk Famous, Q-Billa, etc…

ML: Where’d you get the name Mulatto Patriot from?

MP: The De La Soul Song “I am, I be”. I am Mulatto and I be for America.

ML: Any MC’s you’d really like to produce?

MP: Common (Sense), Black Thought, Dice Raw, Slug, Phie Dawg, Mos Def, Talib, Busta, MFDoom, Murs, C-Ray, EL-P, DEL, Rakka, Evidence, Cee-Lo, wordsworth, JSands, Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, E. Badu, Jill Scott, Method Man, Redman Man, Ludacris, Mad Skillz, Styles P, KRS1, Nas, Pharoahe Monch and any MC that puts on a dope show.

ML: Were you in the studio with everyone on the album or did they mail in verses?

MP: 75% of the Vocals on the album I recorded @ my studio.

ML: Anybody particularly impress you in the booth?

MP: Everyone brought their own flavor and that’s one of the things I like most about the Album.

ML: Hardest part of getting the album off the ground?

MP: Having to keep telling my family and friends “I’m in the studio, we’ll get up on… scratch that, I’ll give you a call when I’m free.”

Sonic Visuals is now on sale at iTunes (US, Europe, AUS, Japan), Amazon, Rhapsody, and other major digital distributor joints.

Major shouts to Mulatto Patriot for hooking it up! Tracklisting and the video for his single "Cadillac Vinyl" after the jump.

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You already know we’re fans of Black ELement here at Metal Lungies, now I linked up with EL for a proper interview. Black talks about his meeting with Talib Kweli, his favorite New Jersey and Boston rappers, among other things.

ML: First of all, the meaning of the name. How did you come up with the name Black ELement? What does it mean to you?

Black ELement: Well there are 4 other elements of hip hop, graffiti, mc-ing, b-boying and turntablism. I’m the forgotten element, black people created hip hop as a form of self expression and a way to get through the day. My name is a homage to the culture’s creators.

ML: What rappers would you say have influenced you? Go into detail – this is always something I find interesting.

BE: I was heavily influenced by various emcees, besides the obvious (Jay, Nas and Biggie), I’d have to say I went to Rawkus Prep School as far as where I picked up the most. Mos Def showed me that soulful and funky music is still relevant, Talib taught me consciousness, Big L showed me swagger and Pharoahe Monche showed me how to think outside of the Box. They were the foundation of what molded me into what I am today. Outside of the Rawkus family, I would have to say that Outkast was a HUGE influence on me musically due to the fact that they pushed the envelope on every album they dropped. That’s something I admire and aspire to do throughout my career.

ML: I read in your bio that you got a chance to meet Talib a few years back. Tell me what that was like.

BE: I met Talib when I was 16 at a Common show. I was really nervous cause I was scared that homey was going to be a asshole and crush a younging’s dreams [laughs]. But Talib was real cool, when I told him I spit, he left me with the simple message “Do You. Don’t let anyone dictate your art.” and I have taken that message to heart every time I make music, I always do what I feel.

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