Metal Lungies

(Image Source, Bonus: Donvan McNabb in the back shot)

Miami may seem like urban hit central these days. It seems like every other song you hear in the club originated in the MIA-Yayo (no Rick Ross). A relative newcomer, Flo Rida has played a part in Miami’s hit take over in the past year, delivering Low & Elevator off of his Mail On Sunday debut.  We caught up briefly with the man to talk about his career up to this point and various other topics as he gets set to be a part of MTV’s  FN MTV (which kicks off on July 13th).

 

Metal Lungies: You’ve exploded onto the scene in the past year, what has been the wildest fan encounter that you’ve had so far?

Flo Rida: Oh man, I would say going back to the hotel room, you know, miles away, normally you don’t dabble real close to the venue. And the girls find their way back. And I feel like they don’t even know where we at. They’ll just be listening to every door. And I’ll get a call from my security guard, “man, you know, um, there’s some girls outside the door.” I mean, that’s like crazy to me.
ML: Are you happy with how your major debut turned out and the reception you’ve received?

FR: Oh most definitely. It’s got me worldwide exposure, you know, flying over to Japan, Paris, London, you know, going to the Philippines. All over the world. I’m definitely happy with the turnout.

ML: What are some of your favorite Miami-area albums?

FR: Poison Clan – Poisonous Mentality, that’s with JT Money, I mean that’s back in the day, 2 Live Crew – As Nasty as they Wanna Be, Trick Daddy – www.thug.com, Rick Ross –Port of Miami.

Find out about Flo Rida’s car collection, his fitness plan, if DJ Khaled is really that hyper and more after the jump!

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White Denim has been getting some serious ass pats from the blogosphere over the last few months, and I’m happy to join in on the lovefest. Their last two eps have been ball crushing psych rock filled with yelps and jumps and noise. I had heard only good things about the live show, so I ventured out into a lovely Montreal evening to see White Denim with Tapes n’ Tapes at the Cabaret Music Hall. Heres how it went down:

When I first heard White Denim’s music I half expected to go the show and see huge dudes with Abraham Lincoln beards, swigging bottles of red label. Thats not exactly how it turned out, but close. The trio (Steve Terbecki (Bass), James Petrelli (Guitar), and Josh Block (Drums) came on stage to a pretty thin crowd. The lack of enthusiasm did not nothing to quell the bands fury. All three members shredded back and forth. Steve initially looks like the kind of guy that’d be great at dungeons and dragons, and while thats probably true he also busts lines on the bass like no ones business. Josh’s talent comes off in their recordings, but what I really liked about his live show was that he looked like he was in serious physical pain. Really, like he was about to explode from too much syncopated madness. James is as good of a frontman as I’ve seen in a while. He reminded of Justin Harris from Menomena. Singing rawkusly, whilst thrashing the guitar and looping licks left and right. All the guys had their own thing going on, but the sound came together tight, and the effect was a wall of tripped out rock that had me mesmerized all the way through.

Songs like “Mess Your Hair Up” only became cooler when played mind numbingly loud. Understandably, not everyone felt that way (i.e. the girls standing next to me who spent the whole set coming to the conclusion that the band playing was not, in fact, tapes n’ tapes), but the people who weren’t turned off by the booming onslaught were seriously into it. Enough for the crowd to chant “one more song” when the set ended. The band obliged and everyone continued to rock-the-fuck-out.

James was kind enough to hook ML up with an interview. That and some tracks after the jump.

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Hell Razah just released his new Album Razah’s Ladder yesterday on Babygrande. Its definitely a banger. We had a chance to talk with Razah last Friday. He had a lot to say regarding his new album, and he also let us in on some new projects he’s working on in the future. Big shout out to Alex from Killer Beez Promotions for hooking this up.

Hell Razah: Hello.

Metal Lungies: Hi, how are you doing?

HR: I’m good. I am alive and I thank God for that. I want to thank the Universal Father for breathing right now.

ML: You’ve got an album coming out soon and it’s very highly anticipated. Why are you releasing this album on Babygrande?

HR: The project is actually Blue Sky’s Black Death project featuring Hell Razah. I still work with Nature Sounds. I still have projects coming out through Nature Sounds and this is more of a collabo project. Blue Sky Black Death is already with Babygrande[sp]. It was more of a featuring thing for me. I just turned it into an album. Anything I touch — I am turning it into a classic.

ML: Why work with Blue Sky Black Death?

HR: I heard of them before and they sent me some beats . When I got the beats that they sent me, I was in love with the tracks. I heard 1 or 2 singles out of the beats they sent me. If they are sending me stuff right away that hits like that, then we can do a whole album. Me and Kingston just started talking about it and after that, he kept feeding me beats and it was over from there.
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Royce Da 5’9″ is an industry veteran that has ridden the ups and downs of the record industry as many of your favorite rappers have. Royce also happens to be one of ML’s favorites, so we’ve followed him in all that he has gone through so far. Fresh off his reemergence with his post jail bid mixtape The Bar Exam, which is an appropriately lyrically hungry mixtape, we caught up with Royce a few months ago. We talked to Royce about his mixtape, being a boxing fiend and his relationship with many of Detroit’s other rappers like some guy named Eminem. You. know. the. drill. read.

ML: What’s going on?

Royce Da 5’9”: How you doin ML?

ML: Pretty good, how bout yourself?

R: Not bad at all, not bad at all, just chillin.

ML: How’s your day going?

R: It’s going great.

ML: Could you talk about the mixtape you just put out, The Bar Exam?

R: It’s leaked, pretty much everywhere, like all over the internet. The Bar Exam is just something basically me and Prem wanted to get together; myself, Prem and Statik. We wanted to get together and do something; we just wanted to go a different direction from where everybody was going. It seems like nobody’s really taken the art of MCing serious anymore. Rap is kind of going through a phase where it’s not really about that. So we really just wanted to be true to what we do as artist, which is stay true to the art form and just start my way from the underground back up. So, I have no gimmicks or nothing, I just wanted to spit through the whole thing, and then Statik came and they dropped a few different beats under there. Shoot that was pretty much it; it was simple, simple format.

ML: Any reason for the title for the mixtape?

R: Yeah. When I was locked up, when I was at the trustee camp, I came up with it. It really does mean, examine the bar; examine every bar, like; every bar, examine it. Do you know what I’m saying?

ML: Yeah. You mentioned that it’s leaked everywhere, how do you feel about that?

R: I feel good about it. I feel good about it because what I was shooting for was as many people as possible to hear it. So it wasn’t about this, not about the money at all, so I’m not worried about how much money I can stand to lose. You know, by it being leaked and a lot of people having it for free. What’s more important is – just more people hearing it. So shit, I’m happy about it being leaked. Even though I didn’t leak it, I’m happy that enough people wanted to hear it to where they would go as far as to download it and however they got it.

ML: There’s definitely a big buzz for the mixtape and not a lot of mixtapes get that kind of buzz?

R: Yeah.

ML: What was the beat selection for the mixtape? How did you pick out the beats you wanted, the ones that weren’t yours that you wanted to freestyle on?

R: A lot of them I wanted to stick with the Premier theme. You know, when you got a producer like Premier hosting your mixtape I really felt like, let me just use some Premier classics and a lot of other beats. I just wanted to use something, I felt that was classic, every beat was beats that I love; minus the ones that, of course [where] Statik took some of them and took the beats from under my vocals and replaced some of the beats and put my vocals in Serato and synced it up with new beats. But most of the beats I picked myself, I actually round over like, the Feeling It beat – the Million & One Questions beat. All those beats like that, are beats that was always classic to me.

ML: Two personal notes from that mixtape: You killed the Go Getta beat. Then on Million, you killed it. The second thing: I noticed on the mixtape for The Return of Malcolm, the beat is different from the original one I heard maybe two or three months ago, is that what Statik did – he changed the beat?

R: Yeah, Statik did, Statik changed that beat. I gave him complete creative control. I let him just go ahead and do what he does – I trust his opinion. My personal opinion, I liked Return of Malcolm a little better over the Jeezy beat, but I also like what Statik did to it; that’s like a personal preference thing. I think the people who never heard the original version, I think will like it just the same. It was good for a change, ‘cause that original one got leaked out anyway, so it was good to hear it differently on the actual track list.

ML: Yeah it’s like getting two songs for the price of one.

R: Yeah.

ML: You mentioned getting the title for The Bar Exam while you were locked up. What are the conditions of your work release? And do you know when your out of the clear of all that?

R: I’m out everyday, I’m actually out six days a week – I stay in on Mondays. I’m out 10 to 10 everyday, six days a week. So that’s pretty much the conditions. The conditions are…I got a letterhead; it’s like a work paper with my work address as my office in the studio. There’s, actually about three studios on there. I can pretty much go to any one of those four addresses throughout the day and I get an hour lunch, so I can call and say, “Okay, I’m eating lunch here”. And I guess it’s kind of like living with your mother, you just got to let them know everywhere your going, and you got to be on time. That’s the conditions.

ML: So, your typical day is pretty much going to the studio and just working there non-stop?

R: Everyday.

ML: Everyday. Alright so, the first day you got out is that what you started doing? You hit the studio?

R: Yep, the first day I got out. Because I actually had the Royce is Like freestyle the long [version], it was a hundred plus bars and I had Jeezy, The Return of Malcolm freestyle which is over a hundred bars – I had those written already. It was going to take me a couple days to record both of those because it was so much stuff. I was like, losing my voice on them – I had to drink tea. It was like, so much shit that I had to lay down.

ML: Yeah.

R: I got right in there.

ML: How much stuff did you write while you were in jail?

R: I didn’t write until like the last month that I was over there. It took me awhile to adjust. I was over there for two months before I even touched a pencil in that manner – I had to get adjusted. I had never been in jail before so it was new to me, and everybody knew me and I never had a moment to myself. There was always people around me, we was always talking about music, and it was just…*Laughs*…it was a fucking nightmare! So I ended up getting this job over there. Where I was working, I had to walk over to the other jail, and I was getting people’s bags when they went out to court. So I would be like in the laundry room by myself for like hours at a time. That was my moment of solitude that I needed. As soon as I got that solitude it was just like…it just started flowin and I just started writing everything down, it went from there.

ML: You know that’s a really unique story. Like you’d think of maybe writing stuff in your cell. But in your case the only place you could write was during spare time at your job.

R: Yeah, because I never had a moment to myself. I was in a ten man cell and then I went over to a camp, it’s like being it the Army, and so it’s a lot of open dorm room with bunks in it. So I never had a single cell to myself and I never had that solitude until I got that job.

ML: I was reading online, is it true that you never lost a rap battle?

R: Yeah, I’ve never lost a rap battle. I didn’t have that many battles though. I didn’t have that many, I wasn’t battling a lot like Em and all of them dudes. But no, I never lost…*Laughs*…I’ve got a flawless record.

ML: Alright, all knock-outs.

R: Yeah, yeah all knock-outs, all clean sweeps.

ML: When was the last time you battled?

R: I don’t even remember, man. It was before I was signed.

ML: You mentioned Em, when was the last time you spoke to him?

R: I haven’t spoken to Em in a minute – years.

ML: Alright. the other thing I wanted to ask you. Would you say the track, The Dream, featuring Rell; it was originally suppose to be on Papoose’s LP, right?

R: We both had the beat, yeah.

ML: So, you acquired the beat for your mixtape as well?

R: No, I actually…I was recording it for my album and after it got leaked out, after Papoose leaked his version, it was like, well…I mean there’s nothing else I can…I can’t really put it on my album – so from there it was like a leaked record. So I just put it on the mixtape.

ML: Oh, alright I see. Are you still in talks on maybe getting on The Jones Experience with that Nas Label?

R: I haven’t had any conversations with Nas about it, you know, of course I’m open to it. Until you hear about me actually being in a situation – I’m always open to that idea. I think it’s a great idea but that’s going to be on Nas, there’s only so much that I can push for that.

ML: So you’d be open going to a major? You don’t have anything against going to a major?

R: Oh I’m definitely going to a major!

ML: I wanted to ask you the whole Rock City situation, your first album with the majors and all the delays it suffered from. What was that whole experience like, looking back a few years now?

R: It was a learning experience to the 10th power, it’s the only way you’re going to learn anything in this business. Especially if you come from a market or a regent where no one knows really about the business, because the business hasn’t been there for along time – you know since the Motown Era. Like the record industry, as we know it, exists in L.A., New York and Atlanta and a little bit of Miami. You know its like; I dove in head first into it with a bunch of people…with a few people who didn’t know anything about it either. So you know everything I learned from it, I learned just from making mistakes. I figure if I get a record deal – I made it. You know and that’s not the case, you got to be somewhere there’s a perfect fit for you. I can go get a record deal right now with no problem; it’s not about the money. It’s not about saying, “Oh I gotta million dollar record deal” and nothing like that. It’s about going somewhere where the company’s sees the vision that you see, and you guys can collaborate and it can be a perfect fit – and y’all can make money together. You can’t come to the table with ideas and they got different ideas and everybody thinks they know the direction Royce needs to go, and you know – it’s a disaster. And that’s pretty much the situation that I found myself in, in the past. Because I can go so many different directions everybody likes a certain kind of Royce. You know…“You should make radio records” and it’s like, “Aw, no you should do all underground shit” or “You should just spit”, everybody thinks they know all the answers. You know at the end of the day it only hurts me when it doesn’t work. So it’s just about me doing what I’m comfortable with and the label being comfortable what I see, and we go on from there.

ML: Is there a single thing from the whole experience of putting out Rock City that you would change?

R: Not a single thing.

ML: Not a single thing, alright.

R: Not a single thing. But the only thing that was wrong with Rock City, with me looking back, was how creative I was. But I don’t think I could have been more creative. I think I was young and just mentally I wasn’t there. So I can’t go back in time and make myself more focused. Like mentally getting your head in it and being more focused, and knowing what it takes to win – comes with experience. It’s like boxing; you know you got to get that ring experience, once you got it – you got that one up on your opponent. Right now I’ve got the experience; I know what to do, I know what not to do; I know what kind of people to surround myself around. I know all the ends and outs of it now and I’m more ready now than I’ve ever been. But you know, you can’t teach that to no body. I can tell my little brother all day, “Vishis look, you can’t do this – you can’t do that” but some shit he’s just going to have to learn on his own.

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To be signed to Aftermath, no matter what, you got to be nice on the mic. Joell Ortiz is nice on the mic any time, place, or day. We caught up with the Brooklyn MC to talk about his recent KOCH project, The Brick (Bodega Chronicles), what to expect in the future with Aftermath, and most importantly his karaoke game. Oh yeah, perfectly fitting in with our recent DJ Premier beat drop, find out what Joell’s favorite Primo beat is. Read (no ctrl+f allowed)!

MetalLungies: What’s going on, man?

Joell Ortiz: I’m chilling, man. You chilling today, you good?

ML: Yeah, yeah, I’m good.

JO: All right.

ML: The first thing I want to ask you is, for those that don’t know, for those that have been sleeping, tell them, who is Joell Ortiz?

JO: Man, Joell Ortiz is a Puerto Rican dude from in front of a corner store in Brooklyn that just been grinding and doing everything it takes to be a rapper, from dropping his first twelve inch on Rawkus Records in 1999, being Source Unsigned Hype, XXL Chairman’s Choice because of his shows, and being Live ’05 freestyle battle winner. I’ve done songs with Kool G Rap, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, the OGs co-sign me.. I rapped live on Stretch Armstrong’s show in ’98 as a kid, so I’ve pretty much been in rap for the last ten years.

ML: All right, all right. When did you start rhyming, and when did you decide to make a career out of it?

JO: I started rhyming about 1991 as a kid, when I first came out my project building and seen what a cipher looked like, and how much love you got to make two words rhyme at the end of a sentence, that’s when I first started rhyming. I made it serious in about ’97 when my boy Dennis put me in the studio and I listened to myself over a beat and that was pretty much it for me, I said this is what I’m gonna do.

ML: All right, how old were you then?

JO: I was 17.

ML: 17, all right. You were fortunate enough to perform with the late Big Pun, right?

JO: Yes.

ML: Talk about that experience?

JO: The performance I did with Pun was a different performance and incredible because I was alive and he wasn’t. His wife called my management and wanted me to perform at his memorial and I actually rocked with his urn on stage. So he was on stage with me and that’s one thing I’ll always remember in my career, that’s one of the events that I’ll always remember and it’s an incredible feeling when you get that phone call from a pioneer’s wife because he’s a pioneer to me, and a legend, so that lets me know that I’m doing something right and I’m repping the Latino community in an ill way.

ML: I know I was reading the journal that you ran last year and you mentioned that you scrapped half of your album, right?

JO: Yes.

ML: So how many changes overall has The Brick gone through? Talk about those changes.

JO: Well, The Brick’s pretty much been through the wringer, so when new things happen and you get excited and you get new opportunities to meet new producers and new artists, new work is done, and you start beating other records, you understand?

ML: Yeah.

JO: So from beating other records to leaking some just to keep the buzz going and keep your name in people’s mouths, there’s usually a big change for the album, so you’re not gonna really hear too much that you heard, it’s gonna be a whole bunch of different things but it’s going to always remain one thing and that’s hip hop, so if you haven’t pressed the rewind button in the last five years, if you’ve haven’t been excited like I haven’t been excited, this is your excitement.

ML: You ran that journal, you have probably one of the best looking MySpaces I’ve seen, how big does the Internet play in your career?

JO: The Internet was huge in my career. Just from basically people logging on to see who I was, that was huge, but in different other ways it dominated the reason why I am who I am because it let me get one-on-ones with my fans, you know what I’m saying? I have to know who I’m targeting, who’s responding to me the strongest, and I also got a chance to let people know who I am as a person by working through the journals and telling them how my day-to-day was on the grind to try and be successful and try and have a career in rap. So it’s one thing when you hear somebody in music, but when you can read something they write, you feel like you know them better, so outside of just regular promotion it gave me a chance to get a one-on-one with your average Joe like I am, ’cause that’s all I am, I’m just your average fan with a deal. So it makes them feel like I’m no better than them, like I’m one of them.

ML: Do you check your MySpace daily?

JO: I check my MySpace here and there when I get a chance to. Every time I check it I got a load of friend requests, and I got a lot of comments on my page and it’s usually positive so I feel blessed right now and I encourage people to keep hitting me ’cause I do read it.

ML: All right, all right. I know you’re signed to Aftermath, so you’ve probably been getting dozens and dozens of questions regarding that, but how is The Brick different from the project you’re working on for Aftermath?

JO: There’s actually no difference, but the difference is that The Brick doesn’t have Dre and Aftermath will. I don’t change my format of making songs, they’ll always have that feeling. I like hard beats and I like to be an MC over them and Dre’s pretty much going to give me free realm with that. I’m happy that I’m over there because he doesn’t try to switch anyone, he just takes what you do, your art and puts it on a bigger platform, a bigger stage. So nothing’s going to change outside of production, and the phone calls that Aftermath make that Koch can’t get me in bigger places and stuff like that. But as far as the music, there won’t be a big change. I’ll always sound the way I sound.

ML: But you can expect the same high quality.

JO: Of course.

ML: All right.

JO: Of course, it’s gonna be up there.

ML: When I first heard you, you were killing a bunch of Premier beats. What is your favourite beat to ever freestyle over?

JO: *Laughs* Wow that’s ill. Well, to ever freestyle over! You wanna know something!

ML: Share.

JO: My favourite beat to ever freestyle over is a beat that I’ve never got a chance to freestyle over that I’ve always wanted to. It’s the Premier ‘Boom’ with Royce Da 5’9”.

ML: Mm-hm.

JO: I love that beat. L-O-V-E love that beat and never got a chance to get to it. That’s my word, I’m gonna get to it, I’m gonna destroy that.

ML: Right. We can expect that soon?

JO: You know what? I’m gonna do that beat. You can expect that soon. I’m gonna do that, I’m gonna put that on the Internet.

ML: All right. You heard it here first!

JO: *Laughs*

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Recently ML had a chance to speak to Phat Kat. Undeniably one of Detroit’s top MC’s talked about his new album the ‘Carte Blanche’. The album which features Phat Kat working with a who’s who of Detroit’s beatmakers from Young RJ to J. Dilla. Kat talked about how he got 5 Dilla beats for the album, as well as his enjoyment of hockey & the Washington Redskins. It doesn’t need to be said that Phat Kat is ML approved. Read on..

Metal Lungies: What’s going on man?

Phat Kat: What’s up bro?

ML: Not much. How about yourself?

PK: I’m good man.

ML: You’re on tour right now, right, with Slum Village? How’s that going?

PK: Oh man, it’s going great. Man, we are actually back in Detroit right now. We had a show in Detroit. A Detroit show. It was crazy.

ML: That was last night. How did that go?

PK: Oh my goodness man. It exceeded my expectations man. Detroit really came out.

ML: What was the highlight of the night for you?

PK: Just seeing all those people man. It was filled up from the front to the door man. I was impressed, man, with the turnout.

ML: All right. All right. I want to ask you how you have changed from your early days doing 1st Down to today?

PK: I mean I really haven’t changed as far as being Phat Kat. I’ve changed as far as knowing and understanding the ins and outs of the music industry. Then you know I was a kid when I came out. So I’m grown now.

ML: Yeah.

PK: But you know I mean lyrically man you know I grew. The only thing that is consistent is change. You know over the years man I just grew.

ML: Has your approach changed to the way you make your music? Have you gotten more serious? Are you more relaxed with it?

PK: Yeah, I’m more relaxed when I’m going through the process of creating. So yeah, I could say I am more relaxed. I’m just more in tune myself when it comes to the whole process of creating music.

ML: I was wondering what was the first track that you and Dilla did for 1st Down? What was the first track you ever recorded?

PK: The first track we ever recorded was a song called ‘Main Ingredient’. It was crazy man. We recorded that. We recorded ‘Front Street’ and then we recorded “A Day Wit’ the Homies’.

ML: What’s the difference between ‘The Undeniable LP’ and this new album ‘Carte Blanche’?

PK: The difference is the first album ‘The Undeniable’ was a pretty good effort but it wasn’t a ‘Carte Blanche’. I mean, the ‘Carte Blanche’ and ‘The Undeniable’ are two totally different entities because the ‘Carte Blanche’, the whole meaning signifies what I did on my album. I had total control and total say-so over the beat selection, who I wanted on the album. The whole creative process of making this album I had total control over. That was something that I didn’t have on the last album. People will be able to see the difference when they listen to the ‘Carte Blanche’ and go back and listen to ‘The Undeniable’.

ML: Is that what ‘My Old Label’ is referring to with the control that you didn’t have with the previous album?

PK: Yeah, that sums it all up right there.

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It’s a busy California summer for Kurupt Young Gotti, recently delivering a plate full of projects with more to come. He released Tha Dogg Pound album Dogg Chit in March, played a large role in April with Snoop Dogg‘s multi-collabrative west coast project The Big Squeeze. He also plans on dropping Digital Smoke with J Wells in June.The 1/2 of DPG gave me the down low on a pile of topics including but not in the least limited to; working with Dr. Dre, his solo efforts, and Nelly Furtado.

MetalLungies: What’s goin’ on, Kurupt?

Kurupt: What’s up, player?

ML: Not much; how ’bout you?

K: I’m getting old, but I am still here.

ML: Ah, that’s what’s up. Congratulations on your engagement. I just read about that.

K: Well thank you very much. Thank you very much!

ML: I first want to talk about “Dogg Chit”. And, with the finished product out, how do you feel about the album? What’s the difference from “Cali Iz Active” for example?

K: Well this album here is the closest thing that me and Delmar [Daz] have had, with the rhythm that we used to have back in the days, you know being back together, It’s the rhythm, emotion, and this is the closest thing, The Dogg Pound. The next one is going to be even closer. We always look at “Dogg Food” as the pinnacle of everything that we want to do. It has that quality, that musical quality, that feel. Because that, for me and Delmar, was at our peaks; we was feelin’ the most on fire. This is the closest thing to it. This is classic Dogg Pound, full-scale, all-Daz production which is very important in the development of Tha Dogg Pound, for Daz, to get back on their feet, and just start peckin’ ’em out, so we’re very proud of this project right here. And we really put our foot into this one, our heart and our soul. You know what I’m sayin’?

ML: So “Dogg Food” is the standard that you try to always, you know, reach?

K: Exactly! You know, after we did “Cali Iz Active”, me and Daz sat down and had a long talk and we just said, you know what? That’s when we placed “Dogg Food” as the standard of everything that we release from this point on. Starting with “Dogg Chit”. It’s basically that we want to match that peak right there. We got to get on the ballgame. We got to take our careers, our musical careers very seriously, and we definitely take “Dogg Food” and place that as the standard of any projects you’re going to hear in the future from Tha Dogg Pound.

ML: Do you have a favorite track on the album?

K: I definitely do. My favorite track right now on that album is “Anybody Killa”.

ML: Does Daz have a different favorite track? Or do you guys have the same one?

K: I’m not so sure what Daz’s is. You know, but I definitely know mine. My tune is “Anybody Killa” involved with a pimp.

ML: I was thinking, what’s the difference between a Dogg Pound album, and a solo Kurupt album?

K: Well the difference totally is the content. A Kurupt album is really just me solely, and more based around lyrics, being lyrical but still being G’d up. Dogg Pound album is just about not giving a fuck, bangin’ out, making some good gangsta music. Mine is more worldly I guess you could say. You know I go for the gangsta crowd. I go for my Philadelphia East Coast crowd, the fans. I go all around the board. Dogg Pound is West Coast, strictly and totally, we make nothing but West Coast classics. I really don’t see it different, besides just that I go for a different parameter, than when I’m droppin’ Dogg Pound records. When I drop them, we go straight West Coast, bang out. When I drop club solos, I’m goin’ West Coast, I’m goin’ East, I’m goin’ all across the board.

ML: You’re originally from Philadelphia. Do you still go back there a lot?

K: Oh, always; my family’s there.

ML: And, talking about your family… does Roscoe have any projects coming up? Do you know?

K: Yes, he does, he has an album with West Coast Customs, a label that he’s president of; he’s droppin’ a new album with them. His new album we try to be working on that as well. Daz is going to be overseeing that one. Daz and Soopafly, Fredwreck and myself. He’ll still be keepin’ it movin’ too.

ML: ‘Cause I really loved his 2003 album, so I’ve been waiting for a while for a new Roscoe album.

K: Oh, we going to be cuttin’ it… we goin’ to be cuttin’. We just all playing our parts right now. Snoop has an elaborate plan that he puts together, man, that we all just following the leader right now. Following our big Dogg, making sure everything is to the good. Making sure that we could keep this family that we have together as one. The main thing about that is to play our part, according to what the head of our organization has to say. That’s Snoop, so you know, we just followin’ the big Dogg, man. He has his plan; it’s grand. He’s been putting it together for some time now, about a couple years, and now we’re in effect. So we’re going to perk it out man when the big Dogg calls the shot that’s when we follow.

ML: Yeah, so now it’s all coming to form.

K: Oh yeah, gotta do it!

ML: So you’re going to be a part of Roscoe’s new album now?

K: I’m going to oversee it. Definitely, me, Daz, Soopafly, Fredwreck, we’re going to oversee the whole project and and get the boy intact and get him right. Right now it’s really all about “The Big Squeeze” and all about that “Dogg Chit” album, and Roscoe’s playing his part, just waiting for that call for him to get ready to come to the table and put his together, you know.

ML: Alright. Well what I usually do with artist interviews is I like to go through the tracks and maybe get a few tidbits about how the track was made or any background information about the track. So do you want to go through the tracks from the “Big Squeeze” and that you appear on?

K: Why not. Why not.

ML: Let’s start with “We Go Hard”.

K: Oh that’s self-explanatory! *Laughs*

ML: Alright!

K: Self-explanatory, the game’s over, you said the push, man. We push.

ML: What about “Pop Pop Bang”?

K: You know, “Pop Pop Bang” basically the Niggaracci beat, which is basically Snoopy in his production hat, doing it big. When he brought it to the table, I was captivated by it, ’cause it’s classic West Coast music, this is music that the street are banging out to and moves to. So in that record right here I thought I wanted to tell a story. So that’s what I basically did; I told a story about this buster, and that’s the basis of that, man. Oh and plus I got an opportunity to work with one of my big homies, man. A West Coast legend and icon, Kam as well. Snoop put Kam on there.

ML: You’d been trying to work with him for awhile?

K: Oh definitely! You know, yeah.

ML: What is “31 Flavaz” about?

K: “31 Flavaz” is me and Snoop, classic Kurupt & Snoop. We’re the dynamic duo, man; we been that for centuries, man, and you know, “31 Flavaz” was the startup of the dynamic duo again man. Last record we really banged out on like that was when me and Snoopy did “Don’t Get Caught Up”, with DJ Quik for the “Caught Up” soundtrack. And this is just continuing that thing, man. We started from where we last ended at, man. “31 Flavaz” was the reconnection of the dynamic duo, Big Snoop Dogg and Kurupt young gotti, The Kingpin, smashing off on ’em, man classic Kurupt and Snoop. That’s also a Niggaracci [Snoop] beat as well, you know Snoop got that production hat on so swell. And “31 Flavaz” is my favorite record on “The Big Squeeze” album.

ML: I’ll be sure to look for that. How about “Spend Some Time”?

K: Now “Spend Some Time”, is a record man that when I heard it I wished Snoopy would have put me on it, and then after he finished it he said, “Kurupt, I want you on this one right here.” That made my day, because that’s so radio right there… And you know that’s Kurupt’s thing, and we’d be freakin’ and all that type of stuff like that, so. You know “Spend Some Time” is self-explanatory as well. We speaking to nice little fly thing that we like. Standing on the corner over here, and spend some time with the boy!

ML: *Laughs*

K: With one of my closest friends, big Soopafly, Priest, doin’ it big. And my boy Chuck on that chorus with Snoop.

ML: And then another track you have with a lot of people, “Fuckin’ is Good for You”, how ’bout that?

K: Yeah, yeah, you know, fuckin’ is good for you.

ML: Self-explanatory

K: *Laughs* Self-explanatory! *Laughs* It is good for you! *Laughs*

ML: What about “You in Trouble”?

K: You’re busted, bitch. *Laughs* That’s really basically, talk about a player that’s busted up, found out his bitch was cheatin’, doing her own little fuckin’ thing. He thought he was out there getting all the pussy. His bitch was out there getting pussy and dick. Found out from his home boys his bitch was out there acting stupid. He had to let the bitch know you’re in trouble. “You’re busted, bitch!” ‘Cause you know all the time, it’s always about the guy getting busted. It’s always about the guy doing something wrong, where the guy fuckin’ up. The guy is cheating. The guy is out there, always, you know what I mean?

ML: Yeah, but the girls can fuck up, too.

K: Yeah, yeah! And that’s what me and Snoop did on that record right here. We turned the tables on ’em, and showed it from our perspective. That you know, we ain’t the only ones that fuck up here. We only human too. That’s also a true story, ’cause I had a bitch, man, I thought I was doin’ somethin’ man. But this bitch was out there just blowing off the earth… I was like, damn! You bitch! The first time I decide to be loyal, bitch… You decide on chewing on some goddamn balls like it’s bubblelicious. You hanky-spanky bitch, you.

ML: *Laughs*

[K talking in background to someone: “I seen this on the internet today; first time I seen it on You Tube.]

ML: What did you see on YouTube?

K: I seen the first single from “The Big Squeeze”, “Hat 2 Tha Bacc” with Western Union, Delmar, big Soopafly, and big Snoopy. The video is off the hook and I seen it first today on You-Tube. They just put it on.

ML: Were you part of the video shoot?

K: I wasn’t there, I was filming. I was working on a movie right now, called “Days of Wrath”.

ML: Now, this is a good segue to the other thing I was going to ask you. I was looking at your movie profile, and you’ve got a bunch of movies in the process. I saw you have a movie with Bill Goldberg?

K: Yeah.

ML: You wanna talk about your movie career?

K: You know, I’m just really getting started, but you now I’ve been extensive with that movie game. I learned it from 2Pac and from Snoop. You know, the Dogg wears many hats. He’s one of the first ones from our little squad that really started doing that reel, with range. In this business, you got to wear many hats, and I don’t just plan on just being an artist in music. You know, I’m going to do the film thing; I’m going to do the executive thing, you know, I’m going to wear many hats in this game. It’s all about throwin’ up in many fields, not just one.*Laughs* I have a ball with it, man! I have a ball with the movies, it’s a good career to get involved in too. I owe a lot of thanks to Natina Reed, and, William Morris, and Dana Sims. I owe a lot to them, because they really opened up the doors for me to get involved into it. You know, Natina is my son’s mother. She’s my boy’s mom, and she really opened up those doors for me, so I owe a lot of thanks to Natina Reed for that.

ML: Can you talk about the movie “Vice” for a little bit? Because I was reading the cast, and it looks like a very interesting movie.

K: Oh, it’s trump tight too, it’s trump tight. I fell in love with it when I read the script. That’s a movie with Daryl Hannah, and my big homie from waiting to exhale. I think he’s the one that really put that movie together right there, and got Kurupt involved with it, plus my agent, David Weintraub. So, as soon as I read the script, I fell in love with that movie. That’s about the vice; the reason, there’s a lot of sting operations going on. Watch ’em! *Laughs*

ML: When is that coming out? Do you know?

K: I have no clue. I do know that it will be sometime, probably, in 2008.

ML: 2008? Alright.

K: Yeah.

ML: So, I’ll mark my calendar for next year.

K: Oh you gonna like that one. Darryl Hannah does her thing, man. She always does her thing.

ML: Alright. One of the first music DVD’s I really liked was G-TV. Because it had an uncut feel to it, it didn’t hide anything from you. Do you have any plans for a followup maybe?

K: Oh definitely! I’m working on one right now, G-TV2, that Snoop’s doing with me. He’s gonna do G-TV2 with me, because G-TV is just about not hiding anything, just like you said it’s beyond not hiding anything… it’s about being totally in. It’s not like that superstar shit, which you could never catch me slipping, you know. Have you seen those DVD’s? Yeah I got a course in that when I was asleep. And it woke me up, and I’m like, “Damn!” The camera’s rolling on, and I’m like, “You motherfucker” *Laughs* But you know G-TV is real, man. It’s about being on the inside with the gangstas, man. It’s what we be doin’, on tours and shows, and then it shows me goin’ home and seeing my kids, picking up my oldest daughter. See what I’m saying? It’s just showing you from the outside to the inside, from the bein’ in the streets type of thing, to when you’re really at home. Showing both sides, and that’s what’s real big about it.

ML: Alright, going back to the music for a little bit… you’re an industry veteran, and you’ve been in the game since the early ’90’s.

K: Yessir!

ML: What’s the difference that you feel the most from when you first went to a record label, versus today.

K: Well, it’s just, you know, the kids nowadays been through a different thing. You gotta put a little bit more into it, when it comes to making these records. One thing we’re never gonna do… we’re never gonna make records that we’re not satisfied with. Our records is West Coast records, man. We make West Coast records, period. But you know, it’s really no different, I mean it’s all about the grind, it’s all about the push, it’s all about putting out some quality music, whether it’s West Coast, whether it’s East Coast, South, whether it’s Midwest, wherever it may be. It’s all about putting out quality music, so you know that’s one thing that never changed about the game, is that you have to have quality, to make it. So, we just keep the quality up, man, and we change with the times, as far as supporting the times, but our music is gonna always stay West Coast gangstaed up.

ML: Well, being a West Coast artist, is it now easier, harder, or the same putting out the music on the East Coast versus maybe ten years ago or so?

K: I’d say it’s the same, man. ‘Cause you know they really don’t support anybody but themselves. You have a couple people out there that really stay down, and really show support for good music, but the majority of them, they just really to themselves, and you can’t be mad at them for it; it’s their own prerogative, to do whatever they want to do, so I never… as I got older, the anger thing just totally left me, you know since I been back with Snoop, and you know, I had to do the Woosahabah *Laughs* You know, the world changed. It’s always been hard to make it on the East Coast, gotta understand hip hop came *from* the East Coast, so to make it in the town where it came from is always going to be a lot harder.

ML: Yeah, that’s a very valid point.

K: Yea, can’t be mad at ’em; it’s their prerogative, but they did bring this to the table. We love ’em for it, man, because it opens up so many doors for a lot of inner-city youth, a lot of black youth, a lot of white youth. It opens a lot of doors for a lot of people, and a lot of races.

ML: Yea. I saw you on tour last summer, when you were touring with Ice Cube in D.C. You guys have a really live set. I remember you guys were throwing bandanas nonstop into the crowd. Do you have a favorite concert story that you could share?

K: Oh man! With the Cube tour?! You know that my favorite thing was just being back with my homeboys, ’cause I been away from my family for so long, and to finally be back with them, there’re so many stories I could tell. Most importantly, was sitting with Ice Cube, and Ice Cube giving me some game, and when Snoopy was there, we all just had a real long talk about things, and you know, the game they gave me. That was one of the most, one of the biggest exciting points. *Laughs* One of the biggest exciting points of the whole thing. ‘Cause you know they never get a chance to mess with you, ’cause they be moving so much, it wasn’t about the bitches, the whole tour wasn’t about the bitches, it wasn’t about the parties. It was about us being together, West Coast, being out there as one, finally getting to hit the road with somebody we looked up to for so long, like Ice Cube. You know all of us been lookin’ up to Cube for centuries! Snoop, myself, all of us, and so you know, it was really exciting to be there. So you know there’s too many good points, to even just mention just one. *Laughs*

ML: So the whole tour was like one good moment?

K: One good moment. You know the whole inside thing… So you know, it was a grand thing.

ML: Is there a tour in the plans for the summer, maybe?

K: Yeah, definitely, you know what I mean. I think we’re gonna bring the Snoop and Puffy tour to America.

ML: Alright.

K: Got offered that from overseas; I think we’re gonna bring that to America. That’s such a great show, you know. It would be wrong if we didn’t give America the opportunity to see this great show. Puffy really did his thing; he really did an excellent job, rockin’ that mic, and rockin’ that stage, and Snoopy did an excellent job. We all put our one’s and two’s in there, and man it was just a big family. It was big also, because it was showing the East and the West Coasts together as one, that was huge.

ML: Yeah, I was actually reading an article about it. It seems like a huge production.

K: You know, Puffy always got to do it big, you know he *has* to do it big and Snoop, you know he’s West Coast, and he always does it big here on the West Coast. So for those two big individuals to get together to do one big event… that was spectacular.

ML: Yeah, and they’re onstage at the same time, at points, right?

K: Oh man, wasn’t that great?!

ML: Any stories from the tour?

K: The whole thing. 🙂

ML: The whole thing *Laughs*

K: Couldn’t even get me started. But I know I’ll tell you one of the biggest points was Amsterdam. London pissed us off by not letting us in, but all they did was give us a great week’s vacation in Amsterdam. *Laughs* And boy, that’s a story for ya. Nothin’ but smokin’ and lokin.

ML: That’s actually what I was going to say. I was going to say, how was Amsterdam?

K: Oh, outrageous, outrageous, man! We had us a ball out there. The people was real receptive towards us and we had a good time out there. Plus an actual vacation. You can’t beat it.

ML: In Amsterdam.

K: That’s right.

ML: Alright. What’s your relationship with Dr. Dre these days like?

K: My relationship with Dr. Dre is always good, always good.

ML: Are you gonna be contributing anything for the Detox?

K: Well you know, everybody asks that, but the truth of the matter is, you can never contribute anything. You can only wait to be called to the table, ’cause you know…

ML: Have you been called to the table?

K: Well no, I been doing these movies and stuff, and Dr. Dre been doing his thing. I talk to Dr. Dre.

ML: What’s the last thing you bought?

K: Nelly Furtado.

ML: The album?

K: Damn right.

ML: Alright. Have you listened to it?

K: Damn right, I own that record.

ML: What rating would Kurupt give it, out of 5?

K: 5

ML: Alright. So, Kurupt, a Nelly Furtado fan… you learn something every day.

K: I say it right; when I say it right, it’s the ONE.

ML: Alright.

K: Yessir.

ML: Alright, are you a sports fan? And if so, what are your favorite sports teams?

K: What sports?

ML: Any major sports. What are your favorite teams?

K: Cowboys.

ML: Cowboys?

K: And the Lakers.

ML: And the Lakers. Alright, how do you feel about the Lakers this year?

K: Oh they gonna step their game up, I assume they gonna step it up. But I’m a real Laker fan, so you know… They all, they can’t never do no wrong in my eyes. *Laughs* They got a great squad, and they gotta step their game up and that’s what they gonna do. I mean Kobe is just immaculate. He’s so fucking immaculate. But I feel they gonna step their game up. I’m gonna ride with them regardless. By next year I think they’re going to be excellent, and ready to be up in there and go get that ring.

ML: Alright, I feel like every Laker fan I talk to is very loyal. You know they’re never talking down about the team. They’re like, “We gonna get our share.” You know?

K: Oh Definitely! I mean you know, they got some fixin’ up to do; *all* teams have fixin’ up to do. You know, so they ain’t got no problem that none of these other teams don’t have, you know. Dallas Mavericks had the best record damn near for two years in a row, still ain’t got no ring.

ML: Yep, that’s very true.

K: You know, it’s just all about the game, gotta stay supportive, man, let ’em know that you’re supporting them, man, and you know they’ll deliver… they HAVE.

ML: Alright, yeah, so you know they’ll do it again.

K: I think one of the best franchises there is in the game, our history is impeccable, like the Celtics.

ML: Yeah. Alright, the other thing I wanted to ask was, on “The Big Squeeze”, Snoop handles most of the production? How would you describe Snoop’s production?

K: Oh I love it. You know Snoopy’s been producing though. He made “Somebody Somewhere”. He made “Beware of My Crew” for the LBC Crew. You know what I mean, we’ve *all* been producing. I made “Never Leave Me Alone” for Nate Dogg, his first single, back in the day. So Snoop’s always been producing; that’s what people don’t know. So this is just Snoopy getting back into his production side, you know what I mean? And the album is bangin’, hands down, it’s off the meat rack. As soon as Snoopy bring up a beat, you can fill in your style, like “31 Flavaz”, man. It’s off the hook, you know what I’m sayin’? It’s off the hook! So I love it, you know what I mean, and when I do my solo album, you know Snoop’s executive-producing that album, and I’m definitely gonna have me Niggaracci beats. It’s all over that motherfucker *Laughs*

ML: No questions asked.

K: Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

ML: What about your solo album? Probably next year? Or are you going to try to get it out this year?

K: Oh no, definitely not this year, you know right now I’m more along the lines of just playing my parts, and getting my pen up, and putting these things together. When it’s my time, you know Snoopy will let me know, man. We gonna fly off, you know in the meantime, I’m gonna just keep rockin’ out these rhymes man, and makin’ these classics that I’m makin’. Because when I do my solo album this time, it’s gonna be a total different breed of an album. A *total* different breed of an album. I’m definitely gonna be talkin’ with Dr. Dre, I’m be talkin’ with Daz, I’m talkin’ with Priest, and talking with Niggaracci, with Snoopy. Just going to be a whole different calibre of a record. You know, I’m been I’ve been workin’ for like a year and a half to two years, like Dr. Dre, on this thing, on this one right here. That’s what me and Snoopy been doing, so…

ML: Alright, so, you’re gonna put a lot of hard work into this one, huh?

K: Oh, ya gotta do it, ya gotta do it. That’s how I’m doing every solo album, from this point on.

ML: Alright. What I wanted to ask you, you said you’ve produced, like you mentioned the Nate Dogg track. That came out in ’97, right?

K: Yessir!

ML: Alright. Do you have any production that you’re working out? Is there any, you know, Kurupt beats that we should be looking for, either now or in the future?

K: No, my thing right now is doing this film and being an artist right now. That’s the main thing that I’m concentrating on. Who knows, in the future though, you may hear some of them Kurupt classics, you know what I mean. But it’s just not something that I’m concentrating on right now.

ML: Yeah, not enough time in the day for Kurupt beats. You got movies, rappin’…

K: Hey! See what I’m talkin’ about? And kids!

ML: And kids, and future wife!

K: Oh man, you know what I’m talking about man!…

ML: Alright, the last thing I wanted to ask you… I thought you might have some insight into this, ’cause I’ve been trying to find some information on Sam Sneed. Do you know what he’s up to these days?

K: Makin’ them beats.

ML: Makin’ them beats? Is he based out of LA?

K: He’s based out of Atlanta. I thought so, you know he’s from Pittsburgh though, but he’s based out of Atlanta, you know he’s doin’ superbig, man the last time I saw Sam he was smiling, had classics to hand me man and keepin’ it movin’.

ML: Alright, so could we possibly be seeing some Kurupt/Sam Sneed collaboration?

K: Oh you can definitely believe that. Yessir.

ML: Alright. So, just to wrap it up, in two sentences, how would you summarize 2007 for Kurupt?

K: Well you know, 2007 is damn near over, you know, and I just summarize, seeing me on that road with Snoop, seein’ me makin’ more of these bomb movies that I’m a part of, made, and working on my solo album. And working on that new Dogg Pound album, “Westcoast Aftershocc”.

ML: Alright. So that’s the title of the album, “Westcoast Aftershocc”?

K: The next Dogg Pound album, be ready to feel it. Gonna quake in a city near you, man.

ML: People in Atlanta are even gonna be shaking.

K: Wow! Damn, what is that? Must be the Dogg Pound. *Laughs*

ML: *Laughs* They should name a hurricane after you or something.

K: Okay, call it Hurricane Gotti *Laughs*

ML: That’ll be the most gangsta hurricane ever.

K: Okay, dang the whole world gonna be done the whole thing under water!

ML: Alright, well, that about wraps it up. Thank you very much for your time.

K: Yessir, yessir. Pleased to talk to you, man.

Bonus:

Kurupt’s recent Basement freestyle

Digital Smoke Tracklisting:

1.) Smokestra

2.) All We Smoke

3.) I’m Just Sayin f/Roscoe & Tri-Star

4.) Get It f/Goodie Mob & Roscoe

5.) I’m Too Gangsta f/Gail Gotti & Styliztik Jones

6.) Summertime f/Y.A., Gail Gotti & Nire’

7.) Digital Experience f/Bigg Gipp of Goodie Mobb

8.) Smokin f/ Y.A. & James Debarge

9.) History f/ Butch Cassidy

10.) Weed Types

11.) Los Angeles f/ Samuel “Shawty” Christian

12.) Itz Nothin f/ Roscoe

13.) Got Me Going f/ Knoc-turn’al

14.) I Came In The Door f/ Kokane

15.) Likwit Smokestra

16.) Let Em Know f/ Tha Liks

All Produced By: J. Wells

Sphere: Related Content

The hip hop version of The Osbournes, Run’s House is not. The show is real life story of a normal, functional, happy family that sticks together through thick and thin. I had the chance to chat it up with Justine and Rev. Run. We discussed how widely appreciated Rev. Run’s words of wisdom are, how they’ve dealt with tragedy, what to look for in season 3, the family going to Wrestlemania and trust us, like ML always does, MUCH more.

Justine: Hi Metallungies.

ML: Hey what’s up guys? So what are you guys up to?

Rev Run: We are – well, we just got finished doing Oprah. And I felt like I needed to get some relaxation after I did so much press. The kids are off for spring break so we came to travel around a little bit to hotels and just do a little vacation.

ML: That’s cool. So the whole family is traveling?

Rev: No, just me, my wife and the two little boys.

ML: All right, all right.

J: Vanessa and Angela are on tour with their sneaker in Atlanta.

ML: Oh, all right.

J: With a new sneaker called Pastry.

ML: That’s from Run Athletics, right?

Rev: Yup.

ML: Do you want to talk about how Justine’s involved with that?

Rev: My wife actually came up with the idea to make sure that the girls got involved with the sneaker. You’ll see this in an episode. She sets me up to have the girls come and beg for the sneaker deal, which she is always doing. There is a full episode with Uncle Russell [Simmons] and me being coerced into giving them a sneaker deal. I don’t want to give the whole plot away, but they talk about this little birdie..

J: No they don’t believe in it until now. They see how amazing it is ML.

Rev: All right, so that’s the bottom line. They believe in it on the episode and it came to pass. And now it’s doing well.

ML: All right. Can you talk about the design that you have for the sneakers. I checked some models out. They have an Arthur Ashe one, right?

Rev: Yeah, in Run Athletics we have an Arthur Ashe sneaker. This is a special thing to the side. They are their own manufacturer V & A. Pastry is by V & A. Run Athletics is set up separately.

ML: Yeah, I got you. So, talk about the design that you want. What sets run Athletics apart from all the other sneakers that are out there?

Rev: Run Athletics is like an Adidas or a Nike. We went with the legacy program, because Arthur Ashe is one of the top tennis players of all time, if not the top. We are just on a path of quality sneakers. We are not there as a flash in the pan of a colorful sneaker. This is more about Arthur Ashe’s legacy, about his philanthropic efforts in Africa. Run Athletics is a very stable business. It’s not about just chasing teenyboppers to buy some sneakers. In the episode I’m actually arguing with Vanessa and Angela that that’s not what we’re about. We’re not about trying to make it little girly sneakers. That was the fight the whole episode. We don’t want to do this. They convinced us, and it is its own separate entity that’s really kind of like Run Athletics, but it’s really more their project. You’ll see that on the episode.

ML: Got you. With Run Athletics what you’re not trying to do is throw out 20 different models and see which one catches on?

Rev: Hell no. We’ve been with Arthur Ashe, and we’ll be with him forever. It was one of the first things. We might get another legacy going, but at this point we are Arthur Ashe for the next 10 years. You’ll watch us make Arthur Ashe happen. We have the staying power, and the patience until it does exactly what Nike does and exactly what Adidas does. We are going to have a classic sneaker.

ML: What moves do you have up your sleeve for Run Athletics? Is there anything in the future we should be looking for?

Rev: Well, you are going to see us putting on commercials. You’ll see a little bit of magazine articles and you will see us working closely with Jeanie Ashe on protecting the legacy of Mr. Arthur Ashe.

ML: Going onto the show, at the end of each episode, where you have your words of wisdom, do you get any feedback from those words? Have people ever come up to you in the street and been like, “Yeah, I really believe that.” Has anything like that happened?

Rev: I just got an e-mail from somebody who just wrote, “Hey Rev, I just wanted to tell you that I truly appreciate your words. They have hit home so many days. Blessings to your family.” A model Veronica Varekova got on my list through my brother. She just wrote about today’s word, “This is your best one ever.” I get beats back from LL Cool J and a bunch of people, today’s word was very short and to the point. It was just “Good morning, when you are thankful, you are never disappointed.” It’s usually longer than that, but this one hit home for some people. If you are thankful, you are never disappointed.

ML: Yeah, you can take that so many ways.

Rev: I love that one. I had a whole paragraph and I just broke it down, because it touched me so much when that hit my mind. You are only disappointed when you’re not thankful for what you have. When you are thankful you can’t be disappointed. They just don’t mix. That’s what keeps me happy. I’m never disappointed because I am always thankful that the sun came out. There is always something for me to be thankful about even when I went through some situations with tragedy. You’ll see an episode with my wife and the baby, and at the end of the hospital scene, I’m just sitting there going, “I’m thankful, I’m thankful.” You think, “What is there to be thankful about, you just lost your baby?” I’m thankful that my wife is fine. I’m thankful that I have five other children. Thankfulness will always wipe out ingratitude. I’m just a very grateful person.

ML: Yeah. Before we go any further, when I read on MTV news what happened with the Victoria Anne, I just want to offer my condolences. But I truly believe that she is in God’s hands now.

Rev: Thank you.

J: Thank you. You’re right.

ML: I was just stunned by that news when I read it through the wire.

Rev: We’ve handled that. We’ve mourned and we’ve moved on. We are thankful for your condolences.

ML: All right. The show is going into its third season. I want to ask each of you, what have been your favorite parts of the show? And what have been your least favorite parts of the show?

Rev: There is no least favorite part. My favorite part is having the energy of a bunch of people coming into my home with cameras. When my son Diggy said, “We have a nice happy home. But when those cameras come in – it’s just a very happy feeling to have those people with the cameras and the stuff set up in our garage.” It just becomes very family oriented. We love our crew. We love Jason Carbone and we love Mick, his partner, and all the people that put mics on us. It makes a happier home for us. There is no downfall for this particular family in having those cameras there. We like the energy.

J: And for me I would say the good part to this is us showing the sad time that we had about the baby, because it’s showing other people how to deal with it and we feel that that was part of God’s plan, and that he wanted us to help other people. I found out that there are so many women who lost way more babies than one. I thank God that he is using us as a vehicle to help him heal people.

Rev: And to show people how to move on. And to show people how to be thankful. In the Bible it says,” In all things be thankful.” Even in that we are taught to be thankful. We know that all things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes. So since my wife and I know that we are called according to God’s purpose, we know in our heart that that was good for whatever reason.

J: Right. It’s a bigger picture. It’s a bigger picture. I think we are all going to see it later when God is ready to reveal.

Rev: He is revealing it day by day.

J: Yeah, he is. Definitely.

Rev: We did it on Oprah recently. So it is being revealed.

J: Yeah. I think another great episode that I love is that the girls getting their sneaker deal, because I really pushed for it. It was a real thing that they really wanted to do and they believed in it. They designed their sneaker, they designed the box, and they really believed in it. I’m really happy. Like my husband said, there is no bad part because it is our life.

ML: Are there any parts of the show that are twisted by the editing?

Rev: No, we edit.

ML: You do the editing?

Rev: We know what we are doing. First of all, they are not looking for dirt. It’s an American family of happy.

J: What you see is really what you’re getting. There is no wrong edit, because this is real.

Rev: We don’t mind if our hair is messed up. We are not smoking crack and hitting each other in the head with a pipe. So there’s nothing for us to be fearful of. And we are sitting on top of the show. We are not just puppets. Say you edit the show and show it to us later and shut the hell up – that’s not our life. We have power over it. J: And just to let you know, the reason why we are on and we have a show is because we really work hard. Before this show was thought of, we worked hard on making a great family. That’s why Andre Harrell, Puff Daddy, Russell Simmons, that’s why they came to us. We didn’t go to anybody and say, “Put us on TV.” People came to us and said, “You guys should be on TV.” We really work hard. People work hard on a career or work on something else they love. We work hard on having a great family and staying together and having meetings and going on vacation together. So this was our career before we were on TV.

ML: Before the TV, the good family was there.

J: Yes.

ML: All right. You mention Puffy. How did he become involved with the show? He came to you with the idea?

Rev: No. Russell’s friend, Andre Harrell, the former Motown president who just thought it would be a cute idea, approached us. He said,” You guys are a reality show.” Russell overheard him. We went to Hollywood and started to close a deal with ABC Family, because that’s where I wanted to be. So I was getting ready to close that deal and Puffy called out of nowhere, saying, “I have this great idea Rev!” I’m like, “What?” “I think you should do a reality show.” He didn’t know we were closing a deal. He just came up with this bright idea. I said, “You’re kind of late Puff. We’ve already got a show that we are about to sign tomorrow.” He said, “No, I’ve got the president of MTV on the line and we want to do it over there.” It will be better for you. So I sat and thought about it, called Russell, made him and Puffy connect. After that, we ended up on MTV instead of ABC family.

ML: So that’s how it all went down. I know you’ve probably been asked this question a gazillion times within the last few weeks, but what should people be looking for this season other than the things we’ve already mentioned before?

Rev: You should just be looking for a regular family life. Our daughters moved out. Everybody’s growing up. The main thing is the daughters moving out. That’s a something that has changed. They are now living in Manhattan. So you will see that on the show. But other than that it’s the same. There is no shock value, to Run’s House. The only thing that is shocking is that it is unshocking.

J: And also, of course for people who didn’t know yet, they will see that we lost the baby. Most people know, but a lot of people don’t know yet. So I guess that first episode will be shocking for them because they were with us when we found out that we were having one.

ML: Yeah. I know in the new season I have been reading that there is an episode where Daniel complains about getting picked up in the Rolls Royce. How come?

Rev: Because he feels that it is a little heavy on him to be flyer than everybody else. It makes him a little uncomfortable. But he learns. When Ja Rule‘s daughter pulled up in a Maybach the next three weeks, it stopped bothering him as much, you know what I mean. Sometimes it’s a little uncomfortable to be the leader. It’s a little uncomfortable to be so fly. Diggy’s on TV. He doesn’t want to overkill or overshadow his friends too much. But then, he also sees when we pull up they are screaming, “Whoa that’s nice!” It’s just a little bit of concern, but not anymore.

ML: Now he’s rolling with it?

Rev: I drove him up to the door the other day. We usually drop him at the bus stop. I drove him up to the door and everybody watched him get out. He didn’t care.

ML: All right. Do we see progression with Daniel’s and Joseph’s rapping, because I know in the previous seasons..

Rev: Jojo is deep into his album with his boys Teen Blackout. Daniel is into everything, we can’t even pinpoint. Yeah, he’s a clothing designer. We can’t pinpoint what’s Daniel is going to do.

J: He wants to act.

Rev: He dances his butt off and raps. He’s one of those golden children, a golden child. He can do it all.

ML: A jack-of-all-trades.

J: Yeah.

Rev: Exactly. So, that’s that.

ML: All right. Are there any cameos we can look forward to this season?

Rev: Our show is not a cameo type show none.

ML: All right.

Rev: Oh yeah, maybe at my birthday party there are some celebrities at the club, but there are no cameos because it’s a reality show.

ML: Yeah.

Rev: We don’t create this show. I don’t hang out with people. A cameo is my brother.

J: Right, and the other cameo that you saw was Puffy, that’s real.

Rev: We went to his office that day.

J: We are really hanging with him, and just went to his house on vacation in Miami.

Rev: We don’t look to put him on our show. It’s a reality show and you get to see our life.

J: It’s funny you said that, because a lot of people do think it is like that. And they will try and ask MTV, if they can be on. We have to tell them no.

Rev: You don’t hang with us, what are you doing standing in my kitchen? Yeah, if Brad Pitt were in the kitchen, how corny would that be?

ML: “Hey guys, we have Brad Pitt in the kitchen.”

J: The reason why we just said Brad Pitt’s name is because he loves the show.

Rev: He ordered all the episodes.

ML: Ah, nice. Nice.

J: Yeah, pretty cool.

Rev: I guess because he is a family man now, and he has all these new adopted kids. I guess he likes Rev’s family vibe, family man vibe.

J: They’re not all adopted. He has one now himself.

Rev: OK, good. What’s that one’s name? All right. Let’s go.

ML: All right. In one of the episodes, I believe it was last season or the season before, Justine goes to design her own jewelry, right?

Rev: Yeah, we’re working on that now. That’s getting ready to come out – Brown Sugar.

ML: Brown Sugar, right?

J: Yeah, and what I would really hope to do, the reason why I called it Brown Sugar is because I wanted to donate some of the proceeds to Africa. Hopefully, and God willing, if we have a fourth season we hope to go to Africa with Uncle Russell. He does a lot of business over there and just built a school there. So hopefully we will go there if we have a fourth season with the whole family.

ML: What kinds of designs are you trying to have with your jewelry?

J: The thing of it is that it is not just the designs. It’s the color. The diamonds are going to be brown, caramelish colors. The reason why it is called brown is because, of course, the people in Africa are brown. Because we are used to seeing white diamonds or yellow diamonds or whatever. But these diamonds are going to be chocolate colored, caramel color. And I also want classy colors and classy designs also, for older women.

ML: How long have you been working on this, the thought of this and been planning this all out?

J: It’s taken a while. A lot of people on the street ask me all the time, “Are you done? Is it out? Is it out?” It’s a long process. It’s longer than I thought. I thought it was going to be a quick thing. Of course, Uncle Russell is showing me that it takes time, it’s detailed, and you want to get the right thing out. You set a design in your mind. I’ll make a design and it will come back not what I want. Instead of me just putting it out, he’s telling me not to do that. It’s not how it looked in my mind, so don’t put it out, because then I will be disappointed if it doesn’t sell, because I’ll say well it’s not really what I imagined. Of course, he’s the type of person that doesn’t want to hear that. But hopefully it will come out by our fourth season.

ML: All right. That’s definitely something to look for.

J: Yeah, it is.

ML: A lot of people are probably going to be checking for it.

J: Yeah, and you are also going to see an episode with me. I have a new book out called, ‘God, Can You Hear Me?” If you don’t have a copy, I would love to send you a copy. It’s really, really an amazing book. I wrote it five years ago, but it just so happened that the timing that it was coming out was when I lost the baby. I really had to reflect on my own book, because it’s really supposed to be about teaching children how to speak to God or write to God at an early age and have a relationship with God. The book is like a Q & A, questions that kids may have that they may not want to ask their parents. One is, “My mom can’t afford designer clothing. God, can you hear me?” And then the answer to that is, “Just because your parents can’t afford those clothes, it doesn’t make you. Lets people know who you are on the inside and they will get to know who you are on the outside.”

ML: So the book is geared towards kids?

J: Yeah, it’s for ages from five to 10 It’s so great. Just to let you know that the pictures in it, the illustrator is Robert Papp. They are all paintings. Everything you’re going to see is a painting. The people, the things that are around the people were not even there. He painted all that stuff. He added all of that.

ML: Oh, all right. So there was a lot of hard work put into that.

J: Yeah.

ML: All right. Going back to the show, this question is to both of you. You probably get a lot of feedback from the show when you go out in public. Do you have a favorite specific moment of the feedback that you have gotten from people?

J: Well, for me I would say people love the episode where Reverend Run hid the cheeseburger.

ML: *laughs*

J: You’re laughing. You saw that?

ML: Yeah.

J: OK. When we were out, they’d always say, “Girl, you’d better eat that cheeseburger!” Or they tell him, “You’d better let her eat that burger!”

Rev: [in background] It’s wrong. It’s wrong. And now because of that, we have to fast on this vacation.

ML: *laughs*

J: ML, don’t laugh.

Rev: We’re having a meeting today on food control. It’s very true. And she knows it’s true. We have to go and find a bathing suit today and I’ve got to find mine and we can’t be too rubbery.

ML: *laughs*

J: ML, don’t laugh.

Rev: She knows it’s true. Jus, we’re going back to counting points today. That’s Weight Watchers. And she knows it’s true. Am I lying Jus? Do we need to calm down? *Laughter*

Rev: We need to get it under control right now.

J: I don’t want to talk about it. Do you have another question?

ML: Yeah. Run, what is your favorite moment from feedback regarding the show?

Rev: I guess, Kato Mate.

ML: Kato!

Rev: With all the kids. I’m in the kitchen, teaching them about this guy that used to live in Hollis. And I’m explaining to them that he used to come up to me every day and go, “Kato Mate, my brothers” and what I love about it is just my interaction with youth, with my children. I love the vibe of being able to handle a sleepover by myself if I have to and being able to make people, kids happy. I’m able to give them a good time at my house.

J: He’s the biggest kid, ML. And it’s so not true. Now that the kids are getting older he has to beg them. Sometimes he wants to get in the pool, and he’s like, “Come on Russy get in the pool.” Russy will come upstairs and say, “Mommy I don’t want to get in right now and daddy keeps begging me.”

ML: *laughs*

J: I go, “Please just go in for half an hour.” And he’s like, “But I don’t want to get in.” “Come on, let’s play basketball.” He tells them they’ve got to play. Could you believe that, a father making them play?

ML: But I’m not going to lie, I was saying Kato Mate for a little bit too.

J: Yeah, every time we see Puffy he says it.

ML: *laughs* Yeah, it reached a lot of people. Probably people that don’t even watch the show are saying Kato Mate and don’t even know why.

J: That’s true.

ML: A question I always ask everyone I interview is, so both of you can answer this, what is the last thing you bought? It could be anything. What is the last item that you have purchased?

Rev: Me?

ML: Yeah, both of you

Rev: Purchased. Like from a store.

ML: Yeah.

Rev: Condoms.

ML: All right.

J: Oh my gosh!

Rev: First it was the inhaler for Russy; let me see, no wait

J: I purchased the inhaler for Russy on my credit card.

Rev: Then I purchased the condoms from downstairs.

J: Oh

ML: All right. Honest answers. That’s what I’m looking for.

J: I think we could give you better answers.

Rev: That’s the last thing I bought.

ML: He’s being honest.

Rev: This morning. And that’s what I bought last night. What else did we buy? Inhaler, condoms. That’s it.

ML: *laughs*

Rev: That’s the truth.

J: This might be like a family show.

ML: It’s all right. Honesty is what I am looking for.

J: All right.

ML: All right. The other thing I always ask, is it do either of you follow sports? And if so, what are your favorite sports teams?

Rev: We don’t follow sports.

J: No, but we just went to an amazing Wrestlemania.

Rev: We went to Wrestlemania.

J: It was crazy and the boys got to meet all their favorite wrestlers backstage. It was just awesome.

ML: This was just on Sunday, right?

J: Yes, it was amazing. We had front row seats. We were excited. I was happy.

ML: All right. So you guys are wrestling fans?

J: Our kids are. I kind of follow because they tell me a little bit, but I was a huge fan that night. I was probably one of the loudest people in the damn Ford arena.

ML: Who is your favorite wrestler?

J: I like John Cena, is that it?

ML: Yeah, John Cena.

J: I like John Cena and

Rev: Hulk Hogan, that’s all she knows.

J: I love Hulk Hogan, but I know he’s not really wrestling anymore. I love the MVP, but I heard he’s not really so cool. I heard he might be lik

Rev: You hated him two days ago, man.

J: Whatever.

Rev: You weren’t a fan.

ML: *laughs*

J: I told him that, I said I became a fan. I said I

Rev: She name drops.

J: Yeah, like I name drop. MVP is really cool.

Rev: All right. Next question.

ML: Run, do you have a favorite wrestler?

Rev: No.

ML: All right. Honesty.

J: You like Hulk Hogan. He was only shouting for the legends, oh God, oh God Yeah, and Jojo was mad because Jojo wanted the other guy to win. He was rooting for any legend and Jojo was getting upset.

Rev: All right! All right! Next question.

ML: *laughs*All right. I wanted to compare what kind of music you listen to. What’s the last CD that, Justine, you’ve listened to? And what about you Run?

Rev: I listened to Jeezy on the plane on Jojo’s iPod. It was amazing. I love his new single, ‘Dreaming’ that’s coming out now. I love ‘Go Getta’ with R Kelly.

J: And I would say Sade.

ML: What album?

J: All of them.

ML: All of them?

J: Yeah, the’ Greatest Hits’. He didn’t tell you he loves

Rev: I love Sade.

J: He loves Frank Sinatra. That plays all the time in our house.

ML: All right. What are the kids listening to right now? Do they have a favorite CD?

Rev: They listen to the radio stations.

J: Oh God. Yeah, they know everything. Except Russy, Russy doesn’t care.

ML: Russy is not a music head?

J: He knows stuff, but he doesn’t have a favorite. He doesn’t chase it down like Jojo and Diggy and Vanessa and Angela. Knowing Russy, he’ll say something like he loves ‘Bringing Sexy Back’ or something like that.

ML: *laughs* All right. So he knows the popular stuff?

J: [Asking Russy in the background] Hey, what’s your favorite? Do you have a favorite song Russ?

Rev: He says ‘Bringing Sexy Back’. What else?

ML: Oh, all right! That’s all? Of the many contributions, Run DMC has made in hip-hop, numerous ones, which one stands out to you the most?

Rev: Accomplishments?

ML: Contributions to hip-hop.

Rev: I don’t know man. That’s a hard question. I just do what I do. I don’t keep a list of that type of stuff. I just do, and then they name, whatever it is. I just have fun rapping. I don’t know about contributions. I don’t brag like that.

ML: All right. This is to both of you. In rap today a lot of the rappers are bachelors. Would you consider yourself maybe as like the power couple of hip-hop, maybe an example?

Rev: I don’t know. We don’t brag like that. We are not the power nothing. We love each other. We share. We serve on this earth and hope people enjoy watching us. That question makes me uncomfortable.

ML: All right. Do people ever come to you for advice regarding relationships?

Rev: All the time. Everybody. Lots of people ask me for advice, and I give it out.

ML: All right. Well with your phone you are always sending out your words of wisdom. How often do you use your phone? Are you addicted to your phone?

Rev: We are sitting here with it in our hands now.

J: I just got mine a few weeks ago and I’m addicted now.

Rev: Don’t say addicted. We’re not addicted. We use it. It’s fun.

J: We are not addicted. I like it.

ML: You’re just heavy users, not addicted.

J: I feel like I have a Game Boy or something now.

ML: Are the kids going to get some soon?

J: Yeah, they have Sidekicks. Russy wasn’t supposed to get one. Diggy got the new Dwyane Wade Sidekick for his birthday. Russy wanted one so badly but we told him he didn’t have anybody to call, he didn’t have anybody to chat with.

Rev: So now he’s texting Diddy’s kids all day long.

J: He bought his own, and now he has one. He’s a real money guy. We named him the right person, because he went and bought his own. He put up his own money that he made and bought his own. So now he only has Diddy’s kids to text. So he’s texting them to death. Poor kids.

Rev: Justin and Christian and so.

ML: Do you guys text each other?

Rev: My wife just responded to my daily e-mail and wrote, “Good one.”

ML: Oh, all right.

Rev: Sitting here, she wrote it to me.

ML: So you’re never out of touch with text messaging.

Rev: No, we enjoy it.

ML: All right. Do you have your own favorite gadget that you can’t live without other than the phones?

Rev: No, all I do is the Blackberry.

ML: That’s all you need?

Rev: That’s it.

ML: What about you Justine?

Rev: She’s the same way. Hot trailer. Oh, we’ve got to order that stuff downstairs.

ML: All right. And the last question I’m going to ask you and then I’m going to let you guys enjoy the rest of your vacation, is what do you have planned for the vacation? What are you guys trying to do?

Rev: We’re at the Venetian, but we’re going over every day to the Mandalay Bay. They have a built in beach that’s reportedly incredible. The outside bungalows are amazing. They are like houses.

J: Flat screen TVs.

Rev: They have flat screen TVs.

J: Couches. Rev: Couches. The kids are running in and out of the pool, hot dogs flowing, giggling, and laughing. We are not going to have hotdogs today. I’m counting points.

J: They have a wading pool and a lazy river.

Rev: It’s amazing. We are on our way there when we get off the phone with you.

J: You said we’re not counting points?

Rev: We are counting points.

ML: *laughs*

Rev: No hotdogs today.

ML: We don’t want any miscommunication. Thanks a lot for your time.

J: Thank you.

Rev: Bye.

——————

Catch the whole Simmons clan on Run’s House which is currently in its 3^rd season and airs Mondays @ 10pm on MTV.

Bonus, this short interview shows why Run rules:

Sphere: Related Content

Marco Polo, it’s not the name of an explorer or a swimming pool game kids! Marco Polo, it’s the name of the producer that you need to keep your eyes peeled for. Born in Toronto, but now working out of NYC, he is rapidly putting together quite the resume for a relative-newcomer by working with the likes of Masta Ace, Duckdown Records, Kool G Rap, and Large Professor. All of this, achieved only in a few years, scary to think where he will be in a few more years. Producers like Marco will never die, because they know what the core of hip-hop is and the sound like scientists know atoms. He has put in all that he knows and loves about hip-hop into his upcoming album Port Authority. So not to bore you with a long intro, you better get to reading this in-depth interview. The dude loves hip-hop and its evident through every thing he says to the music he makes. So be like Marco, light up a cig and read the interview where we cover everything from hip-hop to dope streetwear:

Marco Polo: Hello?

Metal Lungies: Hey Marco.

MP: Hey.

ML: How are you?

MP: I’m doing good.

ML: Alright, so what’s going on with you man? Getting ready to publicize the album?

MP: Exactly. We started all the press, we shot the video this past weekend for the Masta Ace joint, things have been great man. Press has been good, you know, from the advance we sent out the feedback has been positive, so I’m just rollin’ with it.

ML: Is the Masta Ace track gonna be the first cut?

MP: It’s actually the B-side to the single. The A-side is Kardinal Offishall’s War.

ML: I just wanted to ask you, you’ve worked with Kardinal for the single, “War”, that you just mentioned. Do you think, ’cause he’s from Toronto, do you think that makes him more slept-on than he if was from say, New York?

MP: You know what, that’s an interesting question. I don’t know what the deal is with Kardinal and why he’s not getting the respect or the love he deserves. I think some, I mean personally speaking, all of the singles he’s put out on a big scale, I think have always been a little different and might not represent what he’s capable of. I don’t know who’s behind those decisions, but I know when you get Kardinal on, you know, some rap stuff, you know, a good rap beat like he’s one of the best.

ML: You just said you shot the video. How did that go?

MP: That was amazing, man. It surpassed all my expectations. The director, Chris, and one of my best friends Theo kinda put it all together and wrote the treatment. It was real official, man. We shot on Saturday and Sunday right before Green and Brooklyn where I live, you know Ace used to live around here which is very fitting. The song is called Nostalgia and the video, it just had that, you know a nostalgic Brooklyn hip-hop feel you know, no bullshit in the video, no women dancing around shakin’ it, just some hip-hop shit. It went off really good. You know we had some cool people show up on Sunday to show some support.

ML: That’s cool.

ML: So when is that gonna be finished, do you know?

MP: It’ll probably be on YouTube and all that shit within, I would say by April 15^th the latest, a month before the album.

ML: The other thing I wanted to ask you is, if you just listen to the few tracks, the tracks you have with Skyzoo and the ‘War’ track, you definitely have a New York sound, you know, but do you still listen to, southern hip-hop, current southern hip-hop, or…?

MP: Not at all. I don’t hate on it, it’s just not my cup of tea. It doesn’t speak to me, it doesn’t inspire me, I didn’t grow up in that area, you know. I mean, once in a while there’s a song that maybe is catchy and I might dig it but overall, it’s just kinda, it’s not really my thing.

ML: Say, a southern rapper comes to you and like, “I like what you do with your sound, but can you make something for my style”, would you do that?

MP: Yeah. I mean, it would have to depend on the situation, you know, there’s a lot of factors involved, we’ve all gotta pay the bills, so if the situation was right maybe I would but I don’t really shine at doing that type of production. It’d be more interesting to see one of them on my style. That’s something I’m totally open to.

ML: Another thing I wanted to ask you. Could you describe your setup, what your processes and what tools you use to make a beat.

MP: Sure. I stick mainly with the Akai PC 2000XL, the same one I bought, five years ago with my student loan. I start with that and a bunch of records really in my turntable, that’s all I really use, so my record collection grows all the time, always diggin’, and usually when I sit down and start a beat I always start with the drums, get those soundin’ real good and then I take it from there, and that’s really the process. It’s kind of unorthodox ’cause a lot of people don’t really start with the drums, they might start with chopping up the sample or some sort of loop but I’m always starting with the drums.

ML: Before you make the beat, do you craft a beat with an MC in mind, or do you prefer to get more input from what the MC wants? Which way do you usually work to make a beat?

MP: I mean, I have done that a couple times, somebody will say ‘I kinda want something like this’, but I find that when I just do whatever I do naturally and then present, after the fact, what I’ve made to an MC it works out a little better. Just ’cause I think sometimes trying to force something or create something, it might not [work], I like things to kinda happen naturally. Sometimes I’ll make a beat and an MC, that rhymes in it that I would have never thought but when we connect and do it, it makes sense and it works, it was never planned you know? That’s what happened with the Kardinal joint. Like, you know I love that beat and I sent it to him and he liked it, and I mean I always thought he could have, you know, I could hear him on that beat but when he sent me the final product back it, I would have never envisioned he would have came up with that type of hook.

ML: So, yeah. I guess it could go both ways.

MP: One thing I do wanna make clear is with my album what I did do was, is a lot of the beats that I have for certain artists were picked out for them, but I didn’t, like the Buckshot song or something, I didn’t make it for them, I just made the beat, and then when I made them I thought ‘You know what, this is some Buckshot shit, let me get it to ’em’ and we’ll get some ideas.

ML: Yeah. On one of your first works was Orange Moon over Brooklyn, which you did with Pumpkinhead, right?

MP: Yep.

ML: That came out 2005, correct?

MP: Yeah, was it? Yeah.

ML: Looking back on that album, how do you feel about that album? Would you change anything, would you do…

MP: Yeah, definitely, there was just some beats on there that feel like are, could have been a lot better, and there was some songs that I probably wouldn’t have even put on the record. Overall, as a product, I’m really proud of that album. I think it flows really well, and I’m a big fan of one producer/one MC albums; I think they’re more consistent, more cohesive. But I mean I think if you talk to any artist, when they look back on their older work, I’m a perfectionist, so there’s all these things I look back on, like ‘that could have been better. That snare could have been cracked a little harder’. So I definitely would have changed some things, if I had to on that album.

ML: But you’re still proud of it.

MP: Yeah, I’m definitely proud of it, it’s not a situation where I’m like ‘oh, that was terrible’, I just, knowing my potential now and how I’ve grown as a producer, definitely looking back I would have tweaked some things, but yeah.

ML: Between that album and Port Authority or even before that album, you probably learned a lot of things coming, and going through the industry and whatnot. What would you say is something if you could have done over you would have done over, and what’s the best decision that you’ve made so far in your career?

MP: The best decision hands-down in my career was moving to New York from Toronto when I finished school. That was the best thing that I ever did. It’s the reason why I’m where I’m at now, it’s the reason I know the people I know and who I’ve worked with, all because I moved to New York and got that job at the cutting room, that kinda started it all. Definitely one of the best things I did was, when Masta Ace wanted that track from me for Long Hot Summer, to work out a way to get on the album. A lot of new producers I’m noticing are really money-hungry before they even have any credit to their name and sometimes that hurts you, because sometimes you’ve got to take a loss on the financial end to trade off for other things, and that’s what I did with the Ace situation, you know, it paid off immensely.

ML: Yeah, I notice producers have prices set high and no one knows who they are?!

MP: Exactly, exactly. You’ve got to put in a bit of time and work and get the credits up before you can start, charging a certain amount for your tracks, it’s crazy, so ’cause people are gonna pay you because of your name and because of the quality of the music. That’s what’s going to help them sell, so until you get that up you can’t be asking for a lot of money.

ML: So, what would you… is there anything you would have done over?

MP: Um… hm. *pause* I mean, I’m sure there was a couple little things, nothing really big jumps out to me that I would have done differently, I think everything happens for a reason, you just kinda go with it but luckily I haven’t made any huge mistakes in my career where I was like “damn, I really should have did this”.

ML: Alright. You learned from everything, you wouldn’t change anything because it just made it all came together to put you where you are now.

MP: Exactly. Everything, that’s what I’m saying everything happened for a reason, everything falls into place, every move that I make it just kinda happens. I’m a firm believer in all that stuff, so…

ML: Alright. I was also reading that you first, before you were making beats for a lot of people you were also doing some engineer work. Do you have a favorite story from maybe a studio session that you can share? Maybe from Beatnuts or with Masta Ace, any of ’em? Anything that just pops out at you?

MP: I remember, I mean working at the cutting room there was so many things. Definitely one of the craziest experiences that I was a part of on our engineering trip was when Benzino, who used to own The Source magazine, he rented out the cutting room for about four months, and that I consider to be my initiation into the music industry. It made me a man, it made me see the dark side of the music industry. It was wild, man. You would have so many people in the studio, from people cutting hair, to people, you know, all types of crazy shit, we’d have to order food for like 30 people in his entourage at a time and have interns running around trying to find crazy shit. Once he threw his cell phone against the wall and it broke and he was all ‘oh, I need this fixed it’s broken, it’s not working’, like you just threw it against the wall dude, that’s why it’s not working. Overall he was alright but he had his moments. That whole experience was insane dude, it was insane.

ML: So, you saw all the elements that come to a somewhat big name putting together an album, you saw all that, the circus.

MP: Mm hmm.

ML: That’s pretty funny. So you engineered on his album too?

MP: I mean I definitely, I don’t know if I recorded anything but I definitely assisted in terms of, I definitely got my assistant engineering credits on for… I don’t even know if any of that music ever came out. Maybe it did on an album. There was just so much going on at that point at the Cutting Room. But I was definitely a part of it. *laughs*

ML: He had a lot of random dudes coming in I’m sure.

MP: Yeah, lots of people coming through: producers, artists that he was working with, entourage, you know like I said someone will be rapping in the booth and behind him there would be his hairstylist.

ML: Are you going to get a hairstylist when you make it a little bigger?

MP: Heh, no I’m gonna stay with my boy Trevor in the hood, that’s all I need. I don’t really have much hair I just need my shave and I’m good.

ML: That’s true, that’s true, just a little shave and you’re good.

MP: Exactly.

ML: I was also reading through, and I saw that you’ve worked with Roscoe P. Coldchain. Can you talk about what you did with him or what you have coming up and how’d you hook up with him?

MP: Yeah. That was, that was one of the benefits of MySpace actually. He hit me up through MySpace like ‘yo, I like your beats, send some stuff over to my manager and let’s see what happens’ and I sent him beats and he ended up, using one of the tracks. Will it ever come out and see the light of day? I have no idea, but I heard the song and it’s done and you know, we’ll see what happens with it. But I’ve actually never met him.

ML: Oh, alright. But still, it’s cool that even if you don’t meet him first, just knowing that you’re working with him, I think it must be a real cool feeling.

MP: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I haven’t really entered into the major label side of production yet, so that’s definitely my first experience working with someone [on a major], ’cause you know he had signed to Star Trak label so it’s cool, see what happens.

ML: I was also reading that you definitely would like to do stuff with major labels. How different of a mindset do you have working with someone on an underground label like Masta Ace versus if you have to work with any Top Ten artist right now on Billboard. What mindset would you be in?

MP: Well, I think when you’re working with people that aren’t signed to a major there’s probably a lot more personal interaction in the studio and involvement in the actual song, which I love. I thrive on being a part of every song I produce and I really feel like it makes the track that much better, and from the feeling I get with the majors situation if I were to be working with a lot of those dudes I probably would never be in the studio with them, and maybe I would, but I assume that most of the time they kinda do their own thing and you don’t really hear it ’till it’s mixed, they cut you a check and that’s it. It takes away the personal element of creating a song with the artist and I’m not really a fan of that to be honest but, you know, I’m not opposed to working in that realm and I definitely hope to. I just got a new lawyer that’s pretty official that represents 50 Cent and Eminem and hopefully I’ll start popping up on more major label projects, but yeah that’s one thing I always try to be involved at the creation of a track but just sometimes it’s not possible on that level.

ML: Have you seen Fade to Black, the Jay-Z movie?

MP: Yes.

ML: You know how he’s going through a bunch of beat CDs, you only see he’s only like in studio with only like, select guys, so I guess I see what you mean by that.

MP: Yeah, you’ve gotta build the relationship with the artist so they trust you. If Jay-Z ever picked a beat from me would he call me and be like ‘Hey Marco, what do you think about some verse?’ I doubt it, Maybe, If I have a bit more work under my belt or maybe after like the third or fourth joint that I’ve worked [on], then it starts to happen. It seems that he works with Just Blaze, Kanye, Primo and, maybe those are the dudes he interacts with, the rest of them, he kinda has his team to coach ’em. If you’re a no-name producer they don’t really call you in, which sucks.

ML: Yeah, ’cause that’s where you make the product, that’s where you can improve something.

MP: Exactly, exactly.

ML: Alright. The reincarnation of Rawkus, pretty much, is putting out your album. What do you think the direction for the label is this time? Is it more of the same, just with maybe some behind the scenes things are a little different, but same goals? What is the label trying to do now?

MP: I mean, my involvement with Rawkus is kinda limited to a degree, ’cause I’m actually signed directly to Soul Spazm with a joint deal with Rawkus and now after the fact Rawkus is really getting behind my project and repping it like a Rawkus release. They’ve actually put out a couple albums since they’ve come back with other groups, and I think what’s changed with Rawkus is the financial aspect is definitely not the same in terms of, they’re really really looking for a lot of finished projects before they even sign ’em, and I think their strengths lie more in marketing and promoting finished product and getting it out there. So where as opposed to back in the day Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and all them were signed directly to Rawkus, Rawkus would dish out the budget and, kind of fund the whole project where now they’re looking for finished products. In terms of, where they’re at right now, I feel like my album fit their brand and the history of them 100% perfectly, just ’cause of the artists that I have on the album, and I think it could be a real good thing for them to let fans of Rawkus know that they’re going back in that direction. I can’t really speak on any other projects they’ve put out just ’cause I’m not really familiar with them, to a degree, and I just… I’ve heard some of the stuff and I feel like I’m a little different then them, and I think some of the artists they’ve been putting out have been confusing the fans in terms of [what they are used to hearing]. It’s kind of a little left field from what you’re used to hearing from Rawkus, so I’d like to see them sign a couple more artists in the realm of my album. I think that would definitely help them get back in a zone that you’re used to hearing from Rawkus.

ML: So you pretty much now they’re more one of those logos you see on the back of the album. They’re not like a label that’s working with the artist to make the album anymore, as much at least?

MP: To a degree, yes. I mean, they’re definitely involved in picking what they put out. So I just, I don’t know what the A&R process is over there. It’s just hard for me to speak on it because for me to be, to say I’m really down with the Rawkus reincarnation, their new movement, that would mean that I’m down with all the artists that they’re putting out and to be honest I’m not really familiar with them. Haven’t heard anything where I was like ‘yeah, this is a new movement. I want to be a part of this.’ Kinda like just doing my thing, let the album speak for itself, but I think it fits Rawkus perfectly.

ML: It definitely does.

MP: If I can help them, help the label get back in a direction that the fans are used to from them, and what they put out back in the day, that’s great and I think it’s possible.

ML: Yeah, that’s more good hip-hop.

MP: Exactly.

ML: You’re first signed was Soul Spazm.

MP: I’m signed directly to Soul Spazm Records; that’s who put out the Pumpkinhead, but after the Pumpkinhead release, and they put out a few releases, they left the distribution that they had and they signed with Rawkus and now Rawkus is kinda putting out all their releases. It’s a joint venture, but Rawkus is trying to step it up to a new level with my album.

ML: Yeah, gotcha, gotcha.

MP: So I just gotta be, I like to rep the label that signed me as well so I see it as a Soul Spazm/Rawkus release.

ML: Alright, alright. Some other things I wanted to ask you. I saw you on some MySpace clip. You were wearing a 10 Deep shirt and, you know, you’re based out of Brooklyn so you’re exposed to, a lot of great brands. What are some of your favorite brands, ’cause if you’re wearing a 10 Deep shirt you should know a little something about…

MP: Yeah, definitely. Shouts to my man Josh at 10 Deep who’s always showing me love with the hook-ups. 10 Deep is a brand I’ve been reppin since day one. Always loved their stuff. One of my favorite t-shirts is, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, it’s like a 10 Deep joint, it’s got the heart and all the records and it says “I love all this shit” on the front. That’s like my favorite t-shirt of all time, I’ve got it in like four colors. I definitely rep 10 Deep. I’m really picky with clothes; I’m a simple dude so 10 Deep fits my style in terms of clothes, but other people that I mess with, definitely Stussy got some of the skater roots in me. Stussy another brand I definitely check for, and then you know, the simple classic shit I’ll rock some Fred Perry, or always rockin my Dunks, my Nikes, that’s pretty much it. But Stusy and 10 Deep are definitely two of my favorite brands that I’ll be checking for.

ML: That’s cool, that’s cool. Being in Brooklyn do you, on a daily basis, do you see a lot of people, rocking cool shit, like ‘where’d you get that?

MP: Heh. Yeah, definitely different areas of Brooklyn you see different types of things. The styles in Brooklyn are crazy, from like I said it changes neighborhood to neighborhood. You stay in Fort Green, Clinton Hills you see different stuff. You go to Williamsburg that’s a whole ‘nother world right there. Yeah man, definitely.

ML: Do you have a favorite spot you like to go to?

MP: Not really. 10 Deep is kinda hard to find at times, it’s kinda scattered all over the place. I’m lucky that I get to hit them up and sometimes go see Josh and he gives me stuff but I definitely love going to the Stussy store in Manhattan and seeing what they got over there.

ML: Alright, that’s cool.

ML: The other thing, I ask these two questions to everyone I interview. The first thing is what’s the last thing you bought? And it can be anything!

MP: Umm… the last thing I bought.

ML: It can be anything.

MP: A plane ticket to Toronto. *laughs*

ML: A plane ticket to Toronto? Just visiting friends, or you got a show, or…?

MP: I actually gotta go handle my passport situation and get all that squared away but I’m also going back for Easter. All my family lives up there.

ML: Alright, alright. And the other thing I always ask is are you a fan of sports? What are some of your favorite sports?

MP: I used to be really into sports back in high school, but when I started doing my music I kinda lost touch a little bit and my brother and my dad kinda clown me too ’cause they’re really into everything, from college basketball, to football, to watching the Raptors ’cause they’re from Toronto. The only thing that I’m really into, that I refuse to miss, is soccer. I’m a soccer fan ’cause I’m Italian. European Cup comes around every two years and the World Cup comes around every four. Those I do not miss. Everything stops. Music stops, life stops, and that’s what happens when that’s going on. I watch.

ML: Phone is turned off?

MP: Everything. People call me during, I will not pick up at all. People know the deal when it comes to watching Italians play soccer, it’s like I go nuts, so… and they won the World Cup so we’re the World Champions right now so I’m loving that for the next four years.

ML: Gonna enjoy that, all four years of that huh?

MP: Yup yup.

ML: Not a hockey fan though, living in Toronto?

MP: I mean, I definitely like hockey; the Leafs are always close to my heart, I’m always trying to stay in tune, but I’m not super into it in terms of things where I watch every game. Plus it’s tough being in New York. I don’t have cable and all that shit ’cause I’m so fucking making beats. I’ve got love for the Leafs and the Raptors. I heard the Raptors are actually doing decent this year.

ML: Yeah, they’re first in their division, so.

MP: Yeah man, we’ve got the Italian dude, we’ve got Chris Bosh doing his thing. Every time I go back I’m always at a couple of Raptors games.

ML: Yeah. I mean, well, you should be looking for The Leafs too ’cause I remember, I think like two months ago they had a whole broadcast of a Maple Leafs game in Italian.

MP: Oh wow, that’s dope.

ML: And I know they have like two Italian players.

MP: On the Leafs?

ML: Yeah.

MP: Right. I know the Raptors got Bargnani and he’s doing his thing. The Leafs I’m not sure I gotta check into that.

ML: Yeah, so maybe Italian pride in the Leafs too, you know, you gotta look it up.

ML: Are there any hip-hop artists that you know are hockey fans? I’m just curious.

MP: I don’t know. I mean, anyone in New York that I’ve met, never, I mean in Toronto maybe it’s possible ’cause up north hockey’s real Canadian shit so you’d have to ask Kardinal about all that. But I’ve a feeling that he’s probably more of a Raptors fan.

ML: Yeah.

ML: So, the other thing I always do with every artist, when they have a new album coming out, I like to run through the track list, and you give me a one or two sentence tidbit about each track, and maybe you can get even better insight, ’causeyou’re the producer, sound good?

MP: Yeah, no problem. Let’s do it.

ML: Alright, let’s start with the intro. What can we see on the intro?

MP: I’m a big fan of epic album intros, circa Busta Rhymes classic albums, he always had these epic, dramatic intros, and when I found that sample for the intro, I was like this is real spooky and dark, and that’s kinda how I wanted, that’s where my mind’s at right now, I wanted to set the album off like that. I got my man D.V. Alias Khryst to hum, kinda like a spooky harmony. That’s just what he does so well if you know D.V. Alias Khryst and his hooks from Back in the Daylight that’s his style. And then once I got that, I got DP One to lay the cuts to kinda piece [it] together and set off an intro from me to the world then I got OC to do what he did and speak on the intro and [he] really said a statement about hip-hop not being dead and this is what I’m trying to do. It was just perfect, so I’m happy with how that came out.

ML: So like a huge movie intro type shit.

MP: Yeah, I like that feel man. I just want you to feel like there’s an event about to take place, like “yo, get ready for what’s about to happen” over the next hour or however long the album is.

ML: Alright. What about Get Busy with Copywrite?

MP: That song just came out amazing, so… I always knew that I wanted Copywrite to set off the album ’cause I’ve always been a fan of him, and that’s another beat where it just, it’s kinda a little dramatic and up-tempo and well not so much up-tempo but the sample just feels like some shit, and it’s really just the perfect beat to set off my album, and I sent it to him, and he loved it, and he killed it man, he just went off on a tangent. His verses are kind of extra long on that, and then Linx put together the cut hook. It was the perfect joint for me to set off the whole album.

ML: Alright. Marquee with OC?

MP: That was… I’m so proud of that song. That was… me and O were overdue to do a joint for my album for the minute and we finally connected in the studio. I had picked that beat out and to me it just sounds like some classic DITC, Buckwild sounding type beat, so O came over and I played it, and he was like “yo, that’s fresh” he’s like “this is the one” and I was like “yep” and we started working on it, and it just felt good to hear O rhymin’ on some shit like that.

ML: That’s good. I can’t wait to hear that, ’cause I’m fan of OC and DITC.

ML: Alright, what about the aforementioned War?

MP: I mean, I wanted Kardi on the album a. because he’s Canadian and I’m Canadian and I wanted to have some sort of representation of Toronto, and b. because he’s amazing, more than anything of the Canadian thing. I sent him a bunch of beats, that was the one he picked out, when we set up to do the song I had no idea it would turn out to be the single. I just wanted to make some hot shit, and when he sent me that I listened to it 40 times straight, the demo that he sent me, I was blown away. From the hook, to just what he did with it, the whole message in the song, it just fit, it just fit how I felt at the time too about hip-hop. This whole ‘this means war and we gotta take this shit back’ and it was perfect. It surpassed all my expectations. Shouts to Kardi.

ML: Alright, alright. Nostalgia with Masta Ace?

MP: That was the first song we recorded for Port Authority before I even had the idea to do an album, He kinda wrote that like it was his exit out of rap, his last solo song, and he wrote each verse starting and ending with a classic Juice Crew line and then Linx got the cuts together. He picked all Juice Crew lines for the cut. We got [Roxxane] Shante and Biz [Markie] and [Big Daddy] Kane and [Kool] G Rap and Craig G all cut up and we just shot the video. That shit, to me, just felt right.

ML: Yeah, that sounds like a great concept for that track.

MP: Yeah man, I can’t wait for the world to see the video too. This is going to make it that much more official.

ML: Alright, The Wrong One with Wordsworth?

MP: Words, that’s my dude. We’ve done so many joints that we have in the stash, it was really hard to pick one from him to put on my album. I was this close to using another song, but “The Wrong One” was just some hard boom bap shit that. I think a lot of people aren’t used to hearing Words on a beat like that, like he raps on a lot of soulful, hip-hop type stuff. I wanted to get him on some harder shit, ’cause that just where I’m at with the album, so, we had that song on the stash and Linx added the cuts, it came out real dope and I think people are really gonna like that song.

ML: It’s sort of a posse cut on The Low-Budget All Stars.

MP: Yeah, that song was a pain in my… *laughs* Only because when you’re trying to get five people to rap on one song it takes time, but definitely shouts out to them. I’m a fan of Kev Brown, that’s the reason I know about the other dudes, ’cause I was a fan of Kev Brown’s production, so all those dudes can rhyme their asses off, and I made that beat and it kinda sounded like something they would have been rappin’ on or making, and I was like ‘yo, let me try and get these dudes all on track’ and they’ve never [done that]- even though they’re all from the same crew they’ve never been on a song together, all five of ’em.

ML: Oh really?

MP: So I was proud to make that happen for the album and I definitely see a lot of those dudes as the future of hip-hop right there, so to have them on an album is a good look.

ML: Yeah. I got the Ken Starr album that came out a few months ago and he really is someone to look for, in my opinion.

MP: Yeah, definitely. His verse on that song is dope.

ML: Alright. An artist that you worked with for Speak Softly, Jo Jo Pellegrino, an artist that should at least have an album out by now, but still doesn’t, talk about that track.

MP: Ah, Jo Jo. So painful to talk about Jo Jo ’cause I really feel like he has the potential to do such great things. Me and him have incredible chemistry in the studio, so that song is kind of old but it doesn’t sound old, it’s only old to me ’cause I know it. He is such a raw hip-hop dude, and it’s funny ’cause the actual things he did release when he was signed to Violator on the major, were more commercial singles. People don’t really know what that dude is capable of. Quote me on this if he ever comes out and does some hip-hop shit and people get a chance to hear it, watch out. He could take over this whole shit, easy. He’s on a whole level, I’m talking like Eminem and beyond, as talented as Eminem, his talents as an MC are ridiculous.

ML: Definitely. I’ve heard a few of his mix tapes and I always think, like ‘why doesn’t this guy have an album’ ?

MP: Yeah. You know, I ask myself the same question all the time, but he’s working towards it, he’s just such an artist, he’s got his mind always racing, he’s such a creative dude that sometimes I think it holds him back from just settling down and doing one thing, so you know hopefully I can help him and you know get him in the studio. I’d love to do an album with that dude one day, just me and him.

ML: True. A little side note, you said the album, that track is old to you but you can’t tell it’s old. It’s not like dated by what the current hot sound is. It’s just a representation of like a whole golden era of hip-hop, you know?

MP: Yeah, definitely, I mean that can be a real positive thing and like I take it as a compliment. I don’t sit down and try and make throwback music, I just try and make music that’s dope. I don’t really pay attention at time stuff, but if people wanna come compare it to that era by all means, ’cause that was a classic era and I’m fine with that, but you know when I just sit down to make beats I sit down to make dope music.

ML: Yeah, it’s not necessarily that you’re trying to make a throwback sound but you’re making a hip-hop sound that’s still appreciated, that’s reminiscent of it.

MP: Definitely, ’cause I want people to get that feeling I got when I heard, Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest..

ML: Next is Pete Rock’s homeboy, Ed O.G. with Time and Place.

MP: *laughs* Yeah, my only regret about that song is he said ‘it’s ’06 stupid’ and I didn’t take it out and that’s gonna haunt me for the rest of my life.

ML: *laughs* You’re gonna wake up with nightmares.

MP: Exactly. Talking about things that date an album, those are things that date an album.

ML: Yeah, this track was recorded in ’06.

MP: You know, it just didn’t need to be there. If I would have taken out that 06 no one would ever know when it was recorded, but whatever. Shit happens and the song is amazing. I met Ed O.G. through my boy Jayceeoh. He picked that beat, you know he just sent me the verses and did half the hook and Linx put the cut together, but that song just came out bangin’.

ML: Alright, what about The Radar with Large Pro?

MP: That’s… that song I’m just so proud of. It was so humbling to work with Large Professor. He came to my crib and chilled. That was just one element of the song. He came through and did his verses, and I’m such a Large Pro fan. I made that beat, but it was just a simple hip-hop beat. It just felt right, I felt like he was gonna kill it, and then to put it over the top I got DJ Revolution to do the cuts and he took the song to an entire new level. He destroyed it. He cuts for about 30 seconds at the end of the song. When you hear it you’re just kind of like in awe, it just seems like, I call him the Robot from the Future because he’s fucking crazy.

ML: Yeah, Revolution… he can cut records.

MP: Yeah, I mean I’m even going to be as bold to say he is the best cut DJ on records in the world.

ML: Alright, alright. Did he work with you on any other tracks?

MP: That was our first collaboration and hopefully it will not be our last.

ML: Alright. How about All My Love with Jayshaun?

MP: That was a sneak attack, that song right there. That wasn’t even supposed to be on the album. I just worked with Jayshaun because I know him through Ed O.G. and I sent him some beats to work on for his stuff and he recorded that song and sent it to me and I was blown away by it just ’cause of the content, what he’s talking about is so real and I think it added a dark edge to the album so I asked him if I could use it and he was really excited to be down and we got it on there. But that wasn’t even really supposed to be on Port Authority but I’m glad it is.

ML: Did you meet up with him through Ed O.G.?

MP: Yes that’s how I met him. I met him through Ed O., Jayshaun and this rapper named Slaine, they are in a click..

ML: Special Teamz

MP: That’s the click! Special Teamz is Jayshaun’s fling with Ed O.G. so that’s how I met them, ’cause I did some work for their album too.

ML: Oh, alright. What album was that?

MP: They have an album coming out on Duckdown actually.

ML: Oh, Duckdown?

MP: Yeah, I don’t know what it’s called, but I know one joint for sure, it’s going to be on my new Port Authority mixtape that’s dropping and I think they just took another beat from Jayceeoh for that album.

ML: Another little side note before I forget, talk about the mixtape. What’s going to be on that and you’re doing it with Mick Boogie?

MP: There’s going to be about five, six brand new joints that no one’s ever heard, including songs I cut from Port Authority and new songs I recorded specifically for the mix tape. The new songs include a track with Skyzoo, a track with Grand Daddy I.U. called “The Veteran”.

ML: That’s a good look, Grand Daddy I.U.

MP: Yeah, Smooth Assassin is one of my top ten LPs of all time. It’s an honor to work with him and that song came out crazy. I would have put it on the album if the timing was right. Then I got another song with my man Torae who’s killin’ it right now. Torae was just on that new song with Primo and Skyzoo called “Get It Done” I’m not sure if you’ve heard that.

ML: I don’t think, no. Is that gonna be on anything, do you know?

MP: The MP3 is definitely online and people have it but they’re gonna put it on a 12 inch actually. Skyzoo and Torae on two Primo beats, it’s gonna be an A and B side both produced by Primo, so it should be pretty dope when it comes out.

ML: I’ll definitely look for that.

MP: Yeah, Torae’s definitely doing his thing and we did a song called “Casualties” on the mixtape. Then I got a song with Copywrite and his whole crew, a brand new one separate from the album joint that’s on there. I did a joint with Brooklyn Academy that didn’t make my album that I put on there called “The Growler” which is Pumpkinhead blocking Mr. Met. Then there’s a song that’s the Skoob mix of an old song I did with Skoob (of Das EFX) called “How I Get Down” that was on my Canned Goods CD, I did a remix of that and that didn’t make the Port Authority so I threw that on there. And there’s a Special Teamz joint that’s been on my MySpace page that’s brand new, that’ll be on their album. So those are all the new things, then I got album joints from Port Authority like Kardinal, the Large Professor and the Kool-G Rap on there so people can get a taste of what’s about to come. Then I got old productions I’ve done with Boot Camp, Sadat X, Masta Ace.

ML: Alright.

MP: It’ll kinda be a resume like past, present and future of me so people can maybe hear some of the songs that they might have missed from me or like ‘oh shit, he did that’.

ML: Yeah, yeah.

MP: It’s called New Port Authority in the whole spirit of me chain-smoking like a bastard.

ML: How many packs do you smoke a day?
MP: When I’m making beats it’s pretty bad. I run through like a pack and a half in a session, so…

ML: Alright. When does the mixtape drop, is there a date?

MP: Maybe out in a couple weeks hopefully. Boogie has all the joints and he’s actually piecing it together in the next week or so. I’m just gonna post it for free download, but I will also be selling copies for a nice cover price, five to seven bucks.

ML: Alright, alright.

MP: But it’ll be free, everyone can download it in a couple of weeks if they look out for that.

ML: Yeah I’ll definitely have a link to that once I get my hands on it, on the site.

ML: Next, As I Lie Down from Roc Marciano, the U.N.

MP: Love that song. Roc Marciano is like one of my favorite MCs, he’s another dude I’m supposed to do a whole album with. Him and his group, the U.N. put out a classic album a few years back that-

ML: 2005 I think it was.

MP: Called U.N. Or You Out everybody slept on that. The whole world just fucked up by not catching on to that shit. That was the last classic rap album in my opinion that I just loved top to bottom. Roc Marciano was just a beast with it, just one of those dudes that says, actually, he’s the king of singing absolutely nothing and making it sound good. I’m just such a fan of that dude from his work. When you’re working with Pete Rock and getting that close on there’s got to be a reason and ever since then I’ve been checking for him. Had the chance to meet him and work with him and we’ve done a couple songs together and that was our little, I mean that song actually, he rapped to a whole ‘nother beat and I switched the beat on it just ’cause it fit the flow a little better and it kinda turned into our little “Ode to Long Island” and EPMD and we got the DJ Scratch type cuts on there. You know, EPMD’s one of my favorite groups of all time, so.

ML: Did you make a new beat or did you just replace it with a beat you already had?

MP: I had a beat, and for some reason I had a beat already made in my mind. My boy Shylow was like ‘you should slide that beat into the vocals and see what it sounds like’ and it worked perfectly. Like, people won’t even know he didn’t rap to that beat. I hate remixes that sound like remixes.

ML: Yeah, yeah I know what you mean.

MP: So I’ll be pissed if people go like ‘oh, it sounds like he’s not rapping to that’ [but] I don’t think anyone’s going to have a clue.

ML: Alright, Go Around with Buckshot?
MP: Buckshot is such a cool dude from my work with Boot Camp. I got a chance to know him a little better, and that’s actually the second song we recorded for Port Authority. The first one we recorded came out real dope, but I knew we could do something a little bit more focused for the Port Authority album and we recorded that song and that beat just… when you hear it, it just puts you in that kind of Black Moon state of mind, you know. Then I got Smif N’ Wessun to come in and do the hook with Buckshot, which made it extra-special to me.

ML: Oh, Smif N’ Wessun are on the hook?
MP: They’re on the hook and in the intro, really light. It’s got that whole [feeling], when you’re on the hook you’ll know if you’re a Black Moon fan it just feels so right to hear Buck on the beat like that. It came out dope.

ML: Alright. What about Hood Tales?

MP: Yeah, that’s another special joint that’s working with one of the greatest rappers of all time in my opinion you know, I met G Rap through Jo Jo Pellegrino. That beat is dark, gritty, it’s like a Spanish guitar loop and it’s some real street shit, he kicked some verses about the streets and he did what G Rap does best. Then D.V. Alias Khryst’s crew came in and sang the hook and it’s just perfect in all the details.

ML: Alright. What about Heat with Supastition?

MP: That’s a joint that’s supposed to be a B side to his last album if he did a second twelve inch but with indie labels you’re lucky to get one twelve inch so… I love the song so much I want him to be on the album that I just took it back. I was just like “I’m using this! So if you’re not gonna put it out” and he was cool with it and it made the album. Supastition’s another MC completely slept on. I think when people think about North Carolina they always think about Little Brother and rightfully so but I think Supastition is on even ground with those dudes and doesn’t get the shine he deserves.

ML: Alright. It seems like for the album you had to do a lot of work like putting together a puzzle. Do a trade-off here, get that track he didn’t use?

MP: Exactly. But the thing is, nothing went on the album that didn’t make sense, so I wasn’t just trying to get-

ML: Whatever was left, like you said.

MP: Exactly. If anything, it doesn’t matter how big you are, if you came and recorded something with me and it wasn’t up to what I saw for my album, it got cut. You know, you could be Jay-Z and I wouldn’t use the track, where a lot of people would be like ‘it’s Jay-Z rapping on my beat, let me use it’

ML: Yeah, and have just like a huge sticker on the album promoting some horrible song just because it has Jay-Z.

MP: Yeah, and there was a producer album like that this year, without naming names, it had an incredible cast of people but when you actually listened to it, it didn’t really stick with you too far. I tried to avoid something like that.

ML: Alright, alright. What about Rollin? What’s with Sadat X, AG and Ju Ju?

MP: I don’t smoke weed. I used to, I used to do a lot of things but I stopped now but I’ve always been a fan of [that] part of hip-hop, the classic weed songs. When I made that beat there’s a sample with a girl sayin’ ‘Rollin’ so I was like ‘let me try and play some ill posse cut’ and I reached out to my man Sadat, Ju Ju from the Beatnuts and AG from DITC, like if I can make this happen, get them all spittin’ about weed and hip-hop shit. That’s what happened and it came together and at the end of the song I got Ju Ju to shout me out and make fun of me for not smokin’ weed, called me a ginger-ale asterisked motherfucker. Hilarious.

ML: On the track he calls you that?

MP: He was trying to shout me out on the hook, like ‘Marco Polo be rollin’ I was like ‘nah, I don’t smoke weed I don’t wanna be fraudulent you know what I mean? Let the world know that I don’t’ he did a great job of it at the end, so it was funny.

ML: Then you’d have random dudes coming up to you, like

MP: ‘You wanna smoke a blunt?’

ML: Yeah, that would have made for an interesting situation.

MP: Exactly, so I didn’t want to put myself out there like that. I’m all about being honest. *laughs*

ML: Alright, alright. What about For the Future with Critically Acclaimed?

MP: That was the second joint we recorded for this album. Their part is low-budget, I don’t really think they’re doing music anymore, them two dudes. They were dope when we recorded that song. It was tough ’cause I couldn’t find a spot for it on the album just ’cause it was so mellow but I love the song. It just seemed to find its place at the very end to kind of end off the album in a peaceful, mellow manner and it came out dope, so that’s the way the album ends in my mind, then it goes into a little bit of a gap and then the J Davy joint comes on.

ML: Yeah, talk about that track with J Davy.

MP: She’s, I know her as Brianna. When we did that record I wasn’t even aware that she had a group called J Davy. I figured it out later. I met her through my homeboy Al and we did a cover, she wanted to do a cover of “Electric Relaxation” so I flipped the beat, added my little changes, and extra details and she sang on it and it came out crazy. I was a little worried ’cause I didn’t think it really fit into my album; my album’s a little dark but I mean ultimately it’s still some hip-hop shit. So I included it on the album but you know I made sure to mark it as a bonus cut. It’s actually on the 12 inch too, it’s the C side with the Ace and the Kardinal but that song came out real dope and she killed it.

ML: Alright.

ML: You did the album but what else are you trying to do? What else do you have up your sleeve for the future?

MP: I’m all trying to figure out my next move right now. I really love making albums with a focus where I’m doing all the production. I’m a real perfectionist and real picky when it comes to music so I like to have a bit of a control problem. *laughs* But in a good way, so I see myself connecting with maybe one MC for the next project. Who that’s gonna be, I have no idea. I have lots of people I would love to do an album with like Roc Marciano or Copywrite or Supastition or my man Torae and it could be any of those people but nothing’s confirmed. I definitely see myself jumping into a whole new album from scratch ’cause I love doing it, I love putting it together, I love the stress it brings me, I just love making cohesive albums because that’s what I grew up listening to, albums with one producer and one artist, you know, like EPMD) with Eric Sermon on the beats or early Wu-Tang with RZA or Tribe Called Quest with all The Ummah. Those albums are classics to me because they have a cohesive sound. I’d rather leave my mark doing albums than trying to spread out a million random tracks.

ML: Yeah, ’cause artists of those days, it’s as if they were trying to tell a collaborative story, instead of just the artist picking just producers that he wanted, you know? It’s just I don’t know, albums like that are always more special to me, you know?

MP: Exactly, and I mean I’m always checking for new talent, I would love to find a MC that nobody knows that’s amazing and help shape them, start a group. That’s definitely a possibility for me. ‘Cause it’s hard man, people always look at Nas’ Illmatic and be like ‘well he used different producers’ but that was a different time and for whatever reason that album flowed incredibly even though it was four or five different producers but I really feel like a lot of MCs can’t do that. They’re more interested in picking the names out over does the beat actually fit the album, and sometimes they fuck it up.

ML: Yeah, that’s the other thing that, they’re not even sometimes going for the sound but they’re going for the name.

MP: Exactly, because the producer’s almost become the new artist. Producers are getting a lot more shine now than we’re used to seeing. They’re really getting pushed to the forefront as the artist. I don’t know how I feel about that. I mean, with this album I’m really trying to rep my artist ability as putting together an album but I really feel at the end of the day that it should be the MC who is the face of the music. I just want to play the back and help mold albums and help develop artists, just cohesive projects.

ML: Alright. You mentioned MySpace before. What role does the Internet play in like, your career? What role does it play?

MP: I mean, right now it’s become so impersonal just because the Internet makes it so convenient to send emails and talk over it. I think a lot of people like it for that reason, ’cause you know you stay more private, but for me there’s been a lot of positives in the sense that I can reach out to people, and there’s so many ways to contact people that I never thought you’d be able to contact, because of the Internet. I can go find someone’s MySpace page and most of the time some of these artists, they check it themselves. You can send a message to an MC you want to work with. Will they read it or respond? Who knows! But at least it’s a new way to get at people, and in that respect it’s definitely positive. The downside is you get a lot of people hitting you up for bullshit. It can be tough to keep up with it. In that respect it can be a little difficult, and the Internet also presents the opportunity for anyone and everyone to post up their music and flood the market with a lot of garbage and some of the good stuff gets lost in the shuffle.

ML: Yeah, that’s very true.

MP: It has its pros and cons you know, usually back in the day there was a certain amount of stuff that came out and a lot of it was really good but now there’s just so much junk coming out and so many producers and rappers trying to do their thing and they’re not necessarily that dope.

ML: What’s your take on people, I’m not a producer myself, but do you think people can make hot shit with fruity loops?

MP: Yeah, I definitely do. I really never had a problem with anyone. Whatever you use, as long as the music is good at the end of the day, to me it doesn’t matter what you use. If you use pots and pans in your kitchen and make it up, if it’s good music it’s good music.I remember a lot of people used to get on 9^th Wonder about it, but it doesn’t matter! If they’re making good music they’re making good music it doesn’t matter what the hell you use.That stuff doesn’t make the producer, the producer makes the music, ultimately. Until they make a machine that literally makes the beats for you, I have no gripes with anything anyone uses as long as it’s good music, it’s good music.

ML: Alright. What are your three favorite LPs and what are your three favorite 12-inch vinyls?

MP: Aw, man, so tough.

ML: Alright, to make it easier, what, off the top of your head, are some of your favorites, not necessarily your…

MP: Ok, some of my favorite albums of all time? There’s no way I’m not gonna forget some stuff, so I’ll try my best. GZA’s Liquid Swords is definitely up there, just ’cause I’m real into dark-sounding, you know themed hip-hop and that, I consider that to be production-wise and just on their rhymes they’re both at their peak, the RZA was killing it and that’s when the Wu-Tang was killing it. That album definitely stands out to me. EPMD, what was the second album? Unfinished Business?

ML: Yeah.

MP: Yup. I’m gonna go with EPMD Unfinished Business, man, any EPMD album really. I love EPMD, that’s my favorite of all time. Eric B and Rakim Paid In Full, A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders, Gang Starr Moment of Truth or Hard to Earn, classic Slum Village Volume 2 definitely up there. So much stuff. I mean, for albums that’s definitely a few that stand out. 12-inches… anything with Primo on that shit, you know what I’m sayin’? I’m gonna stay away from the 12-inch one just ’cause there’s so many that are just classic.

ML: Alright. Do you ever reach that point where I feel there’s just so much like, good hip-hop, even like old hip-hop that you want to listen to that there’s just not enough time in the world.

MP: Absolutely, absolutely.

ML: It drives me mad.

MP: Yeah! No, it’s tough man with this whole iPod shit, you get your iPod it’s like you’re a kid in a candy store. You put pretty much your whole collection now or most of it into this thing. I’ll be listening to my iPod and then a song comes up like, I forgot I even had this shit in my iPod! And it sucks, yeah, there’s just so much stuff from back in the day that you forget so much good stuff. Throw it in the iPod, eventually it will come on when you put it on shuffle. The fans will be “oh shit, I forgot about that!”

ML: Oh yeah, he put this out! *laughs* Just like, I know for example I’ll cop your new album, and then there will be like two new reissues come out, you know

MP: *laughs*

ML: So I’m trying to catch up with the new stuff, old stuff coming back up, it’s good music everywhere.

MP: That’s tough man, and that’s why you’ve got to work that much harder to make sure your shit stands out ’cause the next man’s going to release an album and that’s what I was saying, that there’s so many releases every year and I just really want my album to stand out and I really feel confident about it standing out, you know it’s going to do that, so, just because of the time I put in. A lot of this shit is so disposable. Masta Ace named one of his albums Disposable Art. That shit is so true

ML: Yep, yep. On a personal question, you mention EPMD, one of your favorite groups. Did you get Eric Sermon’s last solo album, Chilltown New York?

MP: Nah, I never heard the whole thing. No, the last couple Eric Sermon albums I don’t have. I should have them just ’cause I’m such a fan but I’m really hoping EPMD does another record to be honest.

ML: Yeah. There’s been rumors of that, so…

MP: I would love to work with them, man. That’s a group that, something about their chemistry that, the vibe they had was just, ah it was dope.

ML: Yeah, yeah. Yeah I know they had a little like, falling out but then they got that settled.

MP: Exactly, every group goes, it’s hard, you know what I’m saying?

ML: Yeah, but you should definitely check out that Chilltown New York ’cause I remember I think it came out 2005, summer 2005 or 2006, and that album was definitely slept-on.

MP: Wait, was that the one with… no, that wasn’t the one with “I Love Music” that was the one before.

ML: Yeah, that was like 2001 I want to say.

MP: Ok. Cool, because I love that song. That shit was great.

ML: Alright, and the last thing I wanted to ask you was, you know, you’ve put in your work, you’re starting to finish putting in your grunt work with more artists, you’re becoming real close with groups like Boot Camp. What’s the best advice you would give to either producer or either rapper ’cause you kinda see both ends. You see rappers that are trying to get in, you see producers that try to get in, so what advice would you give to both?

MP: I mean, straight up it’s… if you really want to do, it depends on what type of music you want to do, but if you’re trying to do hip-hop, New York style and really want to establish yourself as a producer. S. I would suggest moving to New York. As much as it’s expensive and it sucks, it’s where you gotta be and it made all the difference for me. And you gotta be ready to sacrifice everything. Personal life, family time, everything. If you wanna do this, you gotta put everything into it 100% dude. No half-assed [shit]. You can’t get a 9 to 5 and make a couple beats a week, you’ve got to be on that machine every day perfecting your beats, ’cause at the end of the day on the producer end of things you’re really not selling yourself it’s the music that sells itself. If the artist likes the music they’re gonna be with it. It definitely helps to put in some work early and not stress the money, just kinda get some stuff out there that sounds dope so people can hear it. Then just keep hustling and show up to shows and get in these artists faces and give ’em CDs. They might not call you back the first 15-20 times but you know that’s what happened to me. Eventually it’s gonna start happening after a while, ’cause rappers are always gonna need beats. That’s never gonna stop.

ML: Yeah, as long as there’s rappers there’s always gonna be a need for beats.

MP: Yeah there’s always gonna be a need for the music. There’s definitely obstacles but if you work hard [you’ll be good]. For every day I don’t make a beat there’s like a thousand producers making ten, you know? Whether they’re good or not I don’t know but it’s all about that hustle. Look at all the success stories, like at Timbaland. Those dudes don’t sleep, they just work. They work non-stop, and that’s the mentality you’ve got to get into. There’s too much competition to jump into and be lackadaisical, you’ve got to put everything into it and that’s what I did. I’m talking about sacrificing girlfriends, everything, having fun, having a social life and I am a troll most of the time. I stay in my apartment, hiding, making music, ’cause I love it and I want to succeed.

ML: Yeah, I gotta add, I just want to say some things to that. Have you seen the documentary Scratch?

MP: I think so.

ML: And they were talking to Grand Master Caz and he was like “you know, I stayed in my mom’s basement for a year and not going anywhere and just perfecting my DJing” so that just goes hand-in-hand with what you said, if you want to do something you’ve got to do it like 100% you know?

MP: Exactly, exactly. A lot of people clown me, like “yo, you never come out man. You gotta come out and hang out!” and it’s like “yo, I would love to but right now I’ve gotta do this” you know, if I want to be on top and keep making it happen, Especially now with people’s attention spans so low. Albums don’t have the shelf life they used to and it sucks. You could make an album back then and chill for two years, now it’s not like that. Everyone’s putting out an album every frickin’ seven weeks. New album, new album! Ultimately I’m not trying to do that ’cause I really think that when you do that there’s no way they could all have lasting power. I believe Port Authority is gonna have a strong shelf life, but it’s definitely not the same.

ML: Yeah, I feel like it all started with like, DMX when he put out like three albums in the span of one year and they’re all number ones, you know?

MP: Yep.

ML: So ever since then it’s like, you just came out with an album and people are always asking like “what’s your new album?” you know? Like I know Redman’s coming out with a new album, he’s already talking about his next album, so…

MP: Exactly. It’s this specific time. No one has attention anymore with all this TV and Internet, and everyone needs instant gratification quick. Like you sit with an album for a couple of weeks and they’re like “cool, what’s the next shit?” Like damn!

ML: You know, like I remember when I first started getting into hip-hop like I could listen to one album for weeks.

MP: Yeah man. I mean, I still do that now. But that’s how it was, you just rock an album like non-stop for like, a couple months you know?

ML: Yeah, until you know like every little sound, every little lyric, and now just like you still listen to albums for a while, but it’s definitely not the same. You feel a lot more pressure to look at other shit as well, you know.

MP: Exactly. The market’s flooded, man.

ML: Alright man. Well, that about wraps it up. Thanks a lot, yo, I had a great time talking to you.

MP: Yeah man, no doubt. You asked a lot of good questions brother, no one’s asked me and I appreciate that shit, ’cause I’ve been doing interviews non-stop and you know it gets real monotonous. *laughs*

Port Authority is in stores Mary 15^th, check out his myspace, as well as check back here for a link to his free mixtape & the video for Nostalgia.

Mp3: Marco Polo Ft. Kardinal Offishall-War

Mp3: Marco Polo Ft. Skyzoo-Block Shit

Mp3: Marco Polo Ft. Masta Ace-Nostalgia

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We mentioned her before, but we got the opportunity to talk to her and find out who Emily King is. Growing up with parents who were both jazz singers definitely molded her to become a musican. One of her first major experiences was writing for Nas, where she penned Reason off Street Disciple. Now the time comes for her to do her own thing with her debut album. Her great sound and voice combined with the backings of industry veterans who have helped modern legends like Lauryn Hill, Nas, Biggie, amongst others in her corner all signs point to major success. Be sure to check the bonus at the end.

ML: Hi, Emily.

EK: Hey, what’s up ML?

ML: Hey, how are you.

EK: I’m doing great, how are you doing?

ML: Pretty good. Having a busy day doing all these interviews?

EK: Good. Oh, you have a lot lined up?

ML: No, I’m saying are you having a busy day. You’re my only one today.

EK: *Laughs* Oh, I thought hey, you’re a busy guy. Yeah, It’s cool, I’m here with OP, he’s always good company.

ML: He’s keeping you sane.

EK: Exactly, that’s the word. *Laughs*

ML: I wanted to ask you – I was looking up stuff about you, and I saw that there was a version of Walk In My Shoes with a Biggie verse on it. Have you heard that?

EK: Yeah, I did.

ML: Do you think that type, I don’t know if you want to call it a remix, but it kind of shows what your sound is like, if you can put a Biggie verse and it still sounds hot.

EK: I think that’s definitely like a cool thing about it. You know, I grew up listening to Biggie and my producer, Chucky Thompson, he worked with Biggie, and produced a lot of his hits. That was actually Chucky’s doing; he had some scraps of Biggie talking and rhyming and he hooked it up with Walk In My Shoes, and I was like, wow, that’s incredible, and it kind of became like an underground thing.

ML: Any chance of that seeing any sort of release on anything?

EK: We’re still working it out, but I would be happy, I would definitely be honored to have that.

ML: And it probably could reach a whole different audience with that alone.

EK: It kind of tears all the rules down.

ML: The other thing I wanted to ask you, I was reading both your parents were musicians. Could you tell me what artists you picked up from them, while growing up? What music were they listening to where you were like ‘Oh, I like that too, I’m going to listen to that’?

EK: They listened to a lot of vocalists. Eddie Jefferson, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross was a vocal group that was incredible – I always try to shout them out – just a lot of songs. Duke Ellington, all those jazz standards. Ella Fitzgerald, classic styles of singing. Really, it’s like a vocal exercise when you sing those songs.

ML: Louis Armstrong type stuff?

EK: Yeah, all that old stuff.

ML: Kind of jumping ahead, I saw on the sampler that you have Ain’t No Sunshine and that’s a Bill Withers original. Were they listening to Bill Withers?

EK: Yeah, they mixed it up for sure, but most of the time they were working on their repertoire so we listened to all that older stuff. As I got into junior high school I started listening to Al Green and Bill Withers, all that stuff is really in the same family. It kind of came naturally. But I just love that tune Ain’t No Sunshine; it’s one of my favorites.

ML: What was the reason you decided to cover that song? You cover it, but you then put your own touch on it, changing a few lyrics around. And before you answer that, I just want to say, the strings! who produced that track, because the strings on that track are incredible!

EK: Oh, that’s all Chucky Thompson.

ML: All Chucky Thompson, all right.

EK: Thank you, though.

ML: I was like, wow…

EK: The idea of a cover came up, we talked about a lot of different things, I did some Beatles’ stuff; all different types of stuff. Ain’t No Sunshine was one of the first ones that we recorded and toward the end of the process it came up again. Everyone was feeling it, it was just kind of like a natural progression. And then those strings came, and then more production came and I was feeling it even more, and I was like, let’s do that, let’s keep it in.

ML: So it kind of grew from a little thing to a big production.

EK: Exactly. It grew, it definitely grew on me.

ML: It grew on me too.

EK: Cool.*Laughs*

ML: Have you heard the DMX song that samples that track?

EK: No, I haven’t.

ML: He had the song on the Exit Wounds soundtrack that sampled the same exact song. I’m kind of ashamed to say that’s the first time I’d heard this song, because of the DMX.

EK: Yeah, that happens a lot of the time with me; I’ll be like, oh, that came from that?

ML: That happens to me all the time too. Also, I wanted to know what is your plan with you and your record label to get your name out there? How do you want people to find out about Emily King?

EK: Right now, I’m really focused on the shows and on live performance. I think that’s always a great way to do it, it’s really like *the* way to do it. Just going back in the day, they didn’t have MTV, videos, internet, all that stuff; you get to know the artist through their performance. Getting ready to go on tour soon I’m very excited about that.

ML: Can you talk about that? Where are you going to be?

EK: I would talk about that but I don’t have all the details, we’re in the works right now. Definitely be on the lookout for that, possibly an international tour.

ML: Uh oh, doing it big

EK: I’m so excited! *Laughs* Get some traveling miles in.

ML: But all that info will probably be on your MySpace site.

EK: Yes, that’ll be on the MySpace site EmilyKingMusic.

ML: You said at your start you wanted to work on perfecting your shows. Talk about the first show that you did once you had a record deal. How was that?

EK: Oh my god.*Laughs*

ML: Talk about that. A little pressure?

EK: You know, I was thinking of that on the subway ride over here, all the little shows I’ve done, I’ve done so many open mic’s, and things like that. Most of the album was recorded in Maryland.

ML: That’s where I’m from actually, Maryland.

EK: Oh, really? What part of Maryland?

ML: Montgomery County.

EK: Is that near White Plains?

ML: That’s about an hour away from me.

EK: Yes, yes, that’s where I was at.

ML: That’s cool.

EK: We would venture into DC and I would do open mic’s. But I don’t know if I can tell you the first show. There have been so many coffeehouse shows, and just anonymous private events. This year, well, 2006 actually, I had the opportunity to open for a lot of people. And that was a great experience for me I went on tour with Lyfe Jennings, and opened for Gnarls Barkley and Floetry, and Musiq Soulchild.

ML: Common?

EK: Common, yes, Even Sean Paul.

ML: You opened up for everybody.

EK: Everybody I know. *Laughs* That was a growing experience. Big audiences. That was an acoustic show, I didn’t have a band yet. Learning myself, and learning performances, and learning the craft of performing.

ML: So you’re on your own?

EK: Well, I have a band now. It’s been great. I think that’s one of the best parts of it is performing.

ML: Being on tour, do you have a favorite story – I always like to ask artists that – from the tour recently that you can think of?

EK: Umm..

ML: Any marriage proposals, random stuff like that

EK: Random stuff, ooh, I wish. *Laughs* We were in Vegas recently and went crazy…I won’t go into that. I do want to tell you €“

ML: Stays in Vegas.

EK: Exactly. *Laughs* I would tell you, but it’s just the law, you can’t tell.

ML: I believe you.

EK: When I opened for Common, I always go back to that. Right when I got offstage – like 20 minutes later – he was about to go on, we were all downstairs. My manager was talking to him ‘Oh, just have Emily sing a song for you, just one song’ and I ended up singing ‘You and I’ for him before he went onstage. Which is kind of crazy, cause I felt bad cause he’s supposed to go onstage. *Laughs* ‘I hope I didn’t distract you before your show.’ Anyway, he ends up going on, and I’m chillin backstage, you know, vibing to the music, whatever – and all of a sudden this dude comes up from his crew and says ‘Common wants you onstage’. I was like ‘What? I have my sandals on!’ *Laughs* I was dressed down. But I ran on that stage and it was outdoors, it felt like Woodstock, you know like a college thing, one of the best experiences. It was like a dream and he totally didn’t have to do that.

ML: He showed you love.

EK: Yeah, he showed me love and then after that it was like he endorsed me.

ML: That’s really dope. Since you don’t have the final album out yet, but you have the sampler, I’d like to go through the track listings and you give me one or two sentences or even more if you’d like, maybe a little tidbit about each track. Is that cool with you?

EK: Yeah, yeah, definitely.

ML: Walk In My Shoes, how about that? We’ll start off with that.

EK: Walk in my Shoes. Ah, therapeutic, just the stress of New York, growing up. Just trying to find your way.

ML: Did that song come to you quick, real quick?

EK: It came so quick. It was the fastest song written on the album and just it came out like it was supposed to.

ML: Color Blind?

EK: Color Blind. Another release; it’s a little more intimate, it talks about my upbringing, an issue being multiracial that I wanted to touch on, finding your place in the world.

ML: You and I?

EK: You and I. A love story. The best part of love, the height of being in love. *Laughs*

ML: The epitome?

EK: The epitome of love, right when you meet that person, you’re waiting for them to call, you’re checking your messages ‘Did they call me?’

ML: Checking your MySpace account…

EK: Yes, checking your MySpace and you see the new message thing and you’re like ‘Yeah!’ That’s You and I. All the way.

ML: Hold Me?

EK: Hold Me. Another love story, but more universal, but not to necessarily a partner. Whether it’s God, or your family, or somebody that you really care about, an animal. It applies to all parts of love.

ML: Ain’t No Sunshine?

EK: Ain’t No Sunshine. My first breakup.

ML: Oh, your first breakup.

EK: Yeah. It came at the right time for that.

ML: Helped you get over it?

EK: Yeah, I definitely cry a lot singing that.

ML: When were most of these tracks done? Did you do them within the last year or within the last few months?

EK: I think it’s been about a year now.

ML: About a year now. What else is going to be on the album? What else can we look for on the album?

EK: In terms of song titles?

ML: Not necessarily song titles, but just what kinds of songs are you trying to go for? Are you going to maybe have a concept song? What other type of songs can we look for?

EK: Wake up in the morning and feel good songs. Go to sleep at night and feel shitty songs. And then wake up in the morning again. *Laughs*

ML: And go back to feeling good.

EK: Right. Then take a trip to DC and picket the war, whatever. I dunno, political songs, just everyday type of songs. Women, what we go through as women.

ML: Is the album all ready to go, or are you still working on it?

EK: The album is done.

ML: Looking back on the album that you’ve completed, how big do you think a part of it, where you come from, New York, play on your album?

EK: It’s a huge part. When you’re in it you don’t realize how unique it is here. It’s a world in itself, so diverse. I learned so much young. I mean, I went to elementary school on Christopher Street, the height of diversity, freedom, free love, free everything. That concept alone, was something that was just natural to me, he’s himself, she’s being herself, that’s fine. It wasn’t until I ventured out into different states, different places where you saw that people didn’t always agree with how other people lived or had problems with it. It formed my belief system, being in New York, and I definitely display that in my songs.

ML: Something to look out for. Do you have a concrete date for the album?

EK: Yes, it’s kind of concrete, June 12 right now.

ML: Has the whole process been stressful for you, because I know the album was originally supposed to drop a little bit earlier and now it’s June. Has it been stressful for you, or how are you dealing with that?

EK: I think it could be stressful if you allow it to get that far, to go that far. I try not to think corporate.. I try just to focus on what I am doing and just get better at what I’m doing. I think it was definitely a blow to me that things take time, *laughs* that’s just nature. Things take time, it doesn’t always come like American Idol, you got a deal, that’s it, you know what I’m saying. It’s grassroots, and I’ve just been working, and I’m really grateful to have the time to work on myself because I think it’s happening when it’s supposed to happen.

ML: Yeah, that’s really true. Did anyone else other than Chucky Thompson work with you on the album?

EK: Yeah, and I’d just like to shout out everybody, cause I went through a process of experimenting who I wrote with, from John Garrett to Angie Stone to Raphael Saadiq and Ne-Yo; there’s Harold Lilly, Marsha from Floetry, the list goes on. Those songs are wonderful, and it ended up to be a collaboration between Chucky Thompson and myself.

ML: So it’s just you and Chucky Thompson on there?

EK: It’s me, Chucky and there were two other producers appearances: Vada Nobles who worked on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and Salaam Remi who’s done a lot.

ML: Yeah, everybody.

EK: So that was definitely cool and then there is some songwriting collaborations: Big Drawz, this writing team that’s amazingly talented, Rasheem Kilo Pugh, who also worked on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

ML: A lot of people, the whole process.

EK: It was, I learned a lot from it, and it really helped me to define exactly what I want to do *laughs* and what I don’t want to do.

ML: With this whole process of putting out your first album through J Records, do you see the road as different, or do you think is it more the same for a female artist as for a male artist? In the whole process of getting your music out there.

EK: I think it depends on what style of music you’re doing, that has a lot to do with it. It depends on who you are, and what you’re representing, whether you’re male or female. Obviously, guys get away with not having makeup on, *laughs* or being a little overweight. That’s definitely accepted a lot for males. When you’re with a major label, they definitely want you to look pretty at all times, which is nice, it’s nice to look pretty. But when I came in I definitely wasn’t really focused on the pretty – I mean I came into a Clive Davis meeting with torn up jeans, no makeup – which is still the essence of who I am, but it’s nice to also grow as a woman, and it’s something to play with. I’m just kind of learning myself as a woman right now.

ML: I was talking to my girlfriend about you and she wanted me to ask you how you would describe your style, cause she really liked your style?

EK: My style…it’s funky, it’s playful, and it’s definitely downtown Manhattan.

ML: Do you have some favorite brands?

EK: Do I have..I like Red Engine jeans…I like expensive shoes. *Laughs*

ML: You don’t discriminate.

EK: No, I’m used to hand-me-downs, which I still love, but it’s nice to get nice things too.

ML: I feel you. The last few things I wanted to ask you, are there any albums you have currently in rotation that you are really feeling, any album like that?

EK: I haven’t really had a full album in rotation for a while.

ML: All right, what are some songs?

EK: I’ve been listening to Amy Winehouse, I really like her voice. Who else…Feng Shui, a song on Gnarls Barkley’s album. I have my iPod right here, let me see…Jill Scott, Golden, Willow Weep For Me, Nina Simone…this isn’t recent stuff; you asked about recent stuff, right?

ML: It could be recent; just what you’re currently listening to.

EK: The Shins, James Brown, I’ve been heavy, heavy into James Brown.

ML: The other thing I always ask everyone I talk to: are you a sports fan, do you watch any sports at all?

EK: You know, I never got into watching sports.

ML: Not a sports fan.

EK: I used to play basketball, and I was really into basketball, but I didn’t even like to watch it on TV. I’m an action person.

ML: The other thing I always ask is what was the last thing you bought? It could be minor, major…

EK: I bought thirty-cent Double-mint gum on my way over here. *Laughs* Which used to be twenty-five cents but now is thirty cents.

ML: You’ve gotta protest that cost.

EK: You know what I’m saying? What the hell?

ML: You could always just have one coin, now you gotta have two coins jingling in your pocket.

EK: *Laughs* Weird.

ML: Not cool, not cool.

EK: So that’s the last thing. What else did I buy?

ML: Newspaper? No newspaper reading?

EK: What’s that?

ML: No newspaper for you? On the train?

EK: Newspaper, I listen to the news in the morning. On 1010 WIN. *laughs*

ML: That’s the way to do it.

EK: I’m a hustler. *Laughs* I get people to buy things for me.

ML: That’s the way to do it.

EK: That’s the way to go. I’m about to go have a free lunch right now.

ML: I wish I was getting a free lunch. I’m jealous.

EK: Come on down! We’ll hook you up. *Laughs*

ML: Alright, well, that about wraps it up. Do you think you’ll be in DC soon for a show?

EK: I would love to. I’m sure I’ll be back down there soon

ML: I’ll definitely cover that.

EK: Oh, thank you.

ML: Have a really great time, good luck with the album. Can’t wait to hear all of it.

EK: Thanks ML, I appreciate it!

Much Gracias to Emily, check out the album when it drops in June and hit up her myspace for all the latest info on Ms. King. Shoutout to cornernstone!

…and do some reading up on Chucky Thompson his resume is thorough.

BONUS ML EXCLUSIVE: Emily King Ft. Notorious BIG- Walk In My Shoes which features an unreleased biggie verse.

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