AllHipHop.com: So why did Napoleon leave the group?
Kastro: I really couldn’t answer that, I think it’s because he wanted to pursue a different type of music on his own. I took it as, he was getting heavier into his religion, and we weren’t going on the same path. We believe in God, but aren’t extremely religious. But overall, he was just trying to fix his life, and it’s all good. I just spoke to him the other day and he is doing fine.
Noble: He hasn’t been in the group for almost two years now, but I couldn’t point out one reason why he left. We still love him though, that is our brother. I don’t really think it has anything with him becoming more religious, because our music is religious. This album was supposed to be called Ghetto Gospel. We changed it to Outlaw 4 Life. But getting more religious is a beautiful thing. Napoleon has been through a lot in his life, so he needed that. I just think his departure was due to a chain of other events, which I would rather not speak about. There is no hard feelings, and we still love him.
AllHipHop.com: I just want to set some records straight. What about Fatal? I know he hasn’t been apart of the group for along time. But can you tell us why he did leave in the first place?
Kastro: I can’t answer that either, but I know he left right after Khadafi and Pac passed. Maybe that had something to do with it. I know Khadafi was his homebody from his neighborhood. He never really told us why he left either. He just kind of went to Jersey and never came back. But there are no hard feelings at all. It just is what it is.
AllHipHop.com: What’s going on with Big Syke?
Noble: Big Syke is still doing his thing, he has been dropping independent albums. I know he has a new album coming out soon. We support Big Syke and we are doing an album called Outlawz Presents: The Immortals. And it’s going to be me, EDI, Kastro, Fatal, Big Syke, Stormy, and this kid from Harlem called New Child. He is our Harlem Outlaw basically, and he is the son of “Pee Wee” Kirkland. We are actually getting started on that album at the end of this month.
AllHipHop.com: And Storm? I was actually listening to the Gang Related Soundtrack today, and realized we haven’t heard anything from her in years.
Noble: It’s just life, like I said. When we got off Death Row, she was still on. So we weren’t doing music with her because we knew it would have been a problem getting things cleared. But I haven’t talked to her in awhile. I know she had a baby, but I really don’t know what she is doing with her career. But we have love for Storm. We did some classic joints together. I would love for her to pop back up and get things right. I did reach out to hear in an attempt to get something done, but I guess she wasn’t really receptive to it. I don’t know if she is not doing music or just focusing on raising her kids, but that is life.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, she was dope though.
Noble. Yeah, definitely. She could have been and can still be one of the hottest female emcees in the game. I’m sure she still has it in her. But it takes more than skills to make it in this game. It takes strength and determination, this s**t is not easy. And sometimes people don’t stick around long enough to get the rewards. You have to be in the game to win it.
AllHipHop.com: Being political, what did you think of Puffy’s Vote Or Die campaign?
EDI: I read something in the paper when the whole campaign was going down that he was selling t-shirts for $25. So I look at it like he was trying to get his money. He saw another opportunity to go ahead and get that paper.
AllHipHop.com: What happened to the deal you guys were supposed to have with Cash Money?
Noble: I’m gonna tell you the thing about that situation. We haven’t put out an album since 2001 with Novakane. Then Napoleon left the group and we decided to search for a deal. We felt that our music deserved to be heard by the masses. So we ended up hollering at every label two times. But I eventually hollered at Boo, from Boo & Gotti. And I asked them about Cash Money to see what was good. ‘Cause Cash Money has always showed us love. So to make a long story short, EDI went out there and had a meeting and they were with it. They saw the vision, and we signed the contract. Then the next thing you know, we are sitting around everyday waiting for them to make it official and sign their part. So we kept calling our lawyer, asking where our advance was and all of that. But they never signed the contract. For two months we were in limbo, not knowing what was going on. But eventually we said f**k it. Nothing is going to stop our show. So we told our lawyer to send them a cancellation notice. After that, we went and did this independent s**t with Bay Side. We are still unsigned artists now, but we have our own label. And we never found out why they didn’t sign the contract. But that is neither here nor there. We don’t have any hard feelings, we got love for them dudes.
AllHipHop.com: DVD’s and books have been more and more suggesting that Suge Knight was behind the killings of Pac and Big.
Noble: Oh yeah. You know how they do, they come up with s**t like that. They speculate about all types of s**t. That is what the media does. Ain’t no telling though, only God knows what the f**k went down.
AllHipHop.com: What is the future of your label, One Nation? Where do you see it going?
EDI: I see it being a foundation for up and coming artists that move like we move. This is their platform. Definitely look out for the Dead Prez and Outlawz mixtape album that we just started working on . We are going to drop that sometime this summer.
AllHipHop.com: Tell us a little more about this mixtape with Dead Prez.
Kastro: Yeah, we just started on it last week. We are really in the process of picking beats right now and figuring out the direction of the album. I know Stic.Man got on one song, but they are on there way to Norway. So we will have to finish the album when they get back.
Noble: We have about five songs so far, and they have turned out crazy. The streets should definitely love this album. It’s a perfect match, because Dead Prez are on some military minded s**t just like we are. Some people may look at them as a little more extreme, but at the same time when you look at it, they are just talking about uplifting their people. And we are on the same s**t.
AllHipHop.com: How does it feel to be the only group in history to be featured on 40 million plus albums sold without ever having a major deal?
Kastro: I don’t really look at that as success. We were on 40 million albums that Pac sold. That could have been anybody, that could have been you. That is not special to me. I feel special because Pac sold 40 million records and I’m happy to be apart of something he did. I’m proud to say that Pac was my man. But not one of those people bought those albums because I was on it, to be perfectly honest with you.
