From rumors, Twitter, blogs, and interviews, Charles Hamilton has voiced his side of the recent J Dilla controversy surrounding his debut release.
From AllHipHop.com, to calling enraged fans, the pleasantly pink emcee has made comments regarding everything from family acquaintances to philanthropy and even to paranormal experiences with the late Detroit legend.
Now, as everyone knows the other side of the spectrum must be heard. AllHipHop.com sat down with the leading voice of the opposition and more widely Detroit as a whole, DJ House Shoes, to get a greater understanding on the state of affairs.
AllHipHop.com: First off, I wanted to know what your knowledge of Charles Hamilton was before the entire situation occurred.
House Shoes: I wanna say the first time I heard about him was that little Donuts mixtape s**t he had [Charles Hamilton’s Dilla Inspired mixtape: And Then They Played Dilla]. I’ve never heard the s**t, I’ve never had any desire to listen to it but some mother f**ker told me he was on there. Cats was already running that s**t into the ground though you know what I’m saying, rapping over all these Dilla beats and giving that s**t away and all that bull s**t. It’s one of those situations that need to be handled but cats told me he was playing with the beats on there and adding extra drums and all kinds of little hoe s**t. Its like, “You don’t play with them beats man. You don’t play with them period.” If Dilla was here he’d be f***ing ready to get you off of some s**t like that. I mean the catalogue has been raped by MySpace rappers. It’s a whole new age where cats don’t respect. Mixtapes to me have just turned into an excuse for a mother f***er to not have to pay for no beats. I know if I have a beat tape that I’m circulating – and I don’t even have my s**t out like that – but if I hand it to my homies it might spread a little bit but that don’t mean you f***ing go in the studio and cut a joint and throw that s**t out for the world, you don’t know what the f*** is going on with them beats. It’s like that Dilla s**t, Dilla’s gone aint no more beats to be made so if y’all keep running them mother f***ers into the ground y’all decreasing the value. This is a serious f***ing economical situation. Ma Dukes gotta get right man this s**t is grimey right now. Cats just don’t know it’s like, “Aw s**t I don’t need permission I can just rhyme all over this s**t.” Jay was about getting his money man.
AllHipHop.com: What was your initial reaction to the posting of the artwork that included James Yancey as Executive Producer?
House Shoes: I’ve never followed that mother f***er on Twitter because ever since that s**t [And Then They Played Dilla]. But my boy sent me a link to artwork on his album and I seen that s**t and I was like, “What the f*** is he doing? What the f*** is this cat thinking?” So that’s when I hit him up with my little Twitter message like, “Dilla called me from heaven and said he don’t know you mother f***er,” You know my typical ra-ra s**t that I get on from time to time when cats f*** around. Then he called Sweeney (Andres) from Classic Drug References and Andres just happened to have a little tape recorder next to the phone and now that conversations online for all of y’all to see talking about how he was really close to the Yancey family and he f***ed with Phat Kat. I immediately got on the phone after that and called Ma Dukes, Ma Dukes don’t know who the f*** this cat is and she never spoke to this cat.
AllHipHop.com: What was your conversation like with Ma Dukes?
House Shoes: I just called her up like, “Do you know uh anybody that is a rapper named Charles Hamilton?” And she was like, “Na, I’ve never heard of him. I’ve never talked to him.” And I was telling her about that s**t and she was like, “Oh hell na!”
AllHipHop.com: Did you get a chance to catch any of the new comments that he made in regards to his decision to put Dilla as Executive Producer?
House Shoes: He’s just building his lies up. Nothing that he said is true, nothing. And honestly you have to go through proper channels and there is paper work that has to be filled out for that executive producer s**t. That’s part of the whole s**t that goes into writing so how is James Yancey the executive producer? This aint no small independent label, this is Interscope Records, they dot all the ‘I’s and cross all the ‘T’s.
AllHipHop.com: Legally is James Yancey the same as J Dilla, in terms of usage and trademarks?
House Shoes: Legally they’re one in the same, I’ve done talked to cats. That’s why the label made him take the s**t down [Editor’s note: Charles Hamilton took it down, not Interscope Records] like that s**t has been changed.
AllHipHop.com: It’s interesting how that could have legally gotten through the door at Interscope.
House Shoes: It’s f***ing hilarious man and it’s really obscene too. Cats that really know the situation know that it’s an estate situation and the estate controls everything and Ma Dukes aint got a penny off of s**t since Dilla passed. So you’re talking about raising money for Ma Dukes but you apparently don’t even know the situation. Because even if that s**t was all properly taken care of that s**t would’ve gone straight to the estate and it would sit there.
AllHipHop.com: He said it would go to the J Dilla foundation which –
House Shoes: There hasn’t been a J Dilla Foundation. The estate shut the J Dilla Foundation down two years ago. “The J Dilla Music Foundation” (laughs) that’s the first time that s**t’s ever been spoken like that, ever. There’s no such thing, there never has been.
AllHipHop.com: What was your reaction to the paranormal comments.
House Shoes: Man that s**t was f***ing crazy man. He’s f***ing crazy, I don’t think we need to get into detail on that. I think pretty much everybody knows this mother f***er is crazy from the Black S#### s**t. Black S####’s my man and he’s lucky that s**t happened to S#### because if that s**t happened to a number of people I know that s**t would’ve come down completely different. How you gonna look me in the face and tell me that my s**t is your s**t? This is my joint and you took it off my MySpace and you rhyming on it onstage, I know what my s**t is and I’m talking from a producers angle. I don’t know who out there would’ve not punched this mother f***er in the face. S####, peace and love and all that s**t, I respect that you’re a laid back cat but I probably would’ve punched him in the face right there.
AllHipHop.com: Speaking of punching someone in the face, some of your threats on Twitter were pretty physical. Do you think that was more heat of the moment? House Shoes: I mean it was in the heat but the s**t had to do with the executive producer s**t. But when he started laughing off the D and saying, “This was my whole plan to put shine on the D.” Na, we don’t need you to get us shine mother f***er, Detroit runs the whole world on this rap s**t. We stay f**king five to ten years ahead of these mother f***ers. Are you serious dog? And then he started saying out of pocket s**t like, “Peace to all my real Detroit cats,” like f***ing Trick Trick and trying to make himself look like he actually f***s with anyone from Detroit. These cats are heated that he’s even got their name in his mouth. There are a lot of cats that really wanna beat the breaks off this dude.
AllHipHop.com: What if Charles came to Detroit?
House Shoes: Charles isn’t going to Detroit. Charles won’t be going to Detroit.
AllHipHop.com: Royce was pretty adamant about making sure Charles was cool with Detroit and that nobody messed with him –
House Shoes: I mean I talked to Royce, and I mean that’s his man, he f**ks with Sonic. But Royce is the homie, that’s my man. We move as a family man, we got a real small circle of cats that got that s**t. It’s a really tight close knit circle and when a decision is made its unanimous and an agreement will be made between everybody, we all ride together. But that was another reason why this s**t got bigger than it was. He recanted, he hit me up and was like, “I talked to Royce and I understand where y’all coming from and I love Detroit, email me your number.” I was like “Na, I aint trying to talk to you.” Then maybe an hour later he put some s**t up on his Twitter like, “Waiting on the knock of the door, were y’all killers at.” [Ambulance sirens heard in the background] Damn I think they might have gotten him dog (laughs). Another thing man, cats gotta be careful because it’s easy to find people, it’s a small circle. He gotta learn to watch his mouth.
AllHipHop.com: So Charles is banned from Detroit?
House Shoes: Like I said, it’s a unanimous decision. He can’t go there.
AllHipHop.com: Charles did announce that he removed Dilla off of any connection to the project. Where do you go from here?
House Shoes: I mean he’s still talking s**t about Detroit. As far as the D s**t goes and his safety once you cross that line back home that s**t is permanent. We all know about the no fly zone anyway.
AllHipHop.com: If Charles were to take the proceeds and directly give it to Ma Dukes and the Yancey family do you think that would be any consolation for what was done?
House Shoes: That would be really beautiful but I mean honestly now at this point that wasn’t his intentions in the beginning because this whole entire s**t is a figment of his imagination so for him to do that now would be like, “I gotta do this s**t because it’s the only possible exit I have with this situation.”
AllHipHop.com: I mean Charles did try to justify saying, “loving someone’s work so much that you want to help their family out.”
House Shoes: Man that whole s**t is suspect because if really from his heart he intended to do that s**t and his artwork has been online for like a month so this s**t is probably like 6 or 7 months old and you never took any type of step to see how you were actually trying to do it? Just on some real s**t, if you were placing his name on top of your s**t and it’s above and beyond damn near anything else on the album for people to see, if that’s really your intention you aint gonna let a mother f***er know? This aint “ADD Records” this is Interscope Records and on top of this s**t it’s a free f***ing download. How are you getting money off a free download? If anybody in the world can explain to me how you can raise money off of some free s**t I want to know because I’m doing something wrong. If I can learn how to make money from some free sh*t that’d be awesome. It’s like I’m going to create this restaurant and cook up all the food and give it away for free. Didn’t he used to be on drugs? I think he still is. He’s gotta still be on heroin, he gotta get on celebrity rehab or some s**t on Oprah’s show. I don’t have time to hate on s**t I just have my opinion. There’s a lot of s**t that I love in this mother f***er, I got a three month year old son I aint walking around all mad. If I don’t like your s**t, I don’t like it, and if you give me a reason to really state my s**t publicly don’t f***ing don’t get House Shoes mad, don’t get Detroit mad. I’m not out to hurt this mother f***er I’m just trying to show the world what a f***ing liar he is and make him look really bad at what he’s trying to do.
AllHipHop.com: What do you think Dilla would think about all of this?
House Shoes: Dilla would be on his way over there when the mixtape [Charles Hamilton’s Dilla Inspired mixtape: And Then They Played Dilla] came out. Dilla didn’t like mother f***ers playing with his f***ing music, that was the initial violation. That beat s**t, playing with the beats. Dilla would have been like, “Na dog, why are you playing with my s**t?” When he first started making s**t and doing the Tribe s**t and the Pharcyde s**t, engineers were mixing his joints and f***ing them all up and that’s why all that later s**t for the last six or seven years of his life you heard, all that s**t was two track s**t, like left to right, “Y’all aint f**king with my s**t.”
Editors Note: An interview with J. Dilla’s mother, Ms. Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey surrounding the Charles Hamilton/J. Dilla controversy will run later this week, exclusively on AllHipHop.com.
