Scarface, the sometimes morbid, always enlightening herald of Southern Hip-Hop, period, makes his return.

Video Editor: Rich Martinez
Videographer: Ariel Santsachi


Scarface got his props. Part numero uno of AllHipHop's sit down with Brad Jordan was full of insight and quotables that could literally be taken to the bank. Here, in the conclusion of our conversation, Face speaks his mind on topics including his respectable but succinct tenure at Def Jam South, his relationship with the infamous J. Prince, getting his proper production credit and some more info on that album called Made dropping December 4th. We even doubled backed an asked him for a final word on Lil Troy since folks were foaming at the mouth for his side of their "Who's the snitch?" drama. Please, if nothing else, respect the gangsta.


AllHipHop.com: You were in Atlanta for a minute, are you back in Houston full time?

Scarface: I’m all over the place right now man. This is my hometown, so I’ma always be a part of this city. I like Houston but I really like spots like California. Chicago I got a cool little spot, I’m all over the place right now. I just ain’t set up show nowhere.

AllHipHop.com: You mentioned you took time off from rap. What time period was this and why?

Scarface: Right after The Fix album, right after the Def Jam break up, ya know, right after the Geto Boys last album [The Foundation (2005]—it was like, damn. How could you not? I guess I was just pissed off. I was pissed off at Kevin [Liles] and Lyor [Cohen] for leaving me on the ship when they left. I was disappointed. I was like. Damn man, I came over here to f*ck with Lyor. Y’all just left me on the f*ckin’ boat.

AllHipHop.com: Just to be clear, you were the President of Def Jam South and Kevin and Lyor went to Warner Bros, leaving you at Def Jam.

Scarface: [Nods in agreement] So, all that sh*t, whatever. So I extinguished that situation, came back home.

AllHipHop.com: So you left Def Jam South?

Scarface: Oh yeah. No hard feelings about it. But, ya know, if you went to go play for the Bulls because Michael Jordan was there and then he left the next season, you’re gonna play where you wanna play. You’ll want to play for a team that’s going to support the talent. So I end up coming back home and checking out a few options or whatever and I just said, F*ck it. I was more or less like, Man, f*ck this sh*t. Started playing poker full time. Started coaching little league football full time.

AllHipHop.com: You’re still coaching right?

Scarface: Yeah, we 7-0 this year. We got a game coming up this weekend. If we go 8-0 this season, we swept the whole season. And then we going to the playoffs. [Ed. Note: The team won the next game but lost in the playoffs.] But yeah, Yeah, I won a lot of poker tournaments, I won a lot of football games, and now I’m learning the game of golf right now.

AllHipHop.com: When did you pick it up?

Scarface: I been playing for a long ass time but right now I’m just getting serious with it. Ya know, you go and play golf every 7, 8 months. Now, I play golf damn near every f*cking day. It’s just a change man. When you get out there it’s just you and your ball. Phone off, nobody f*cking with you. I can’t even describe it. I know a lot of people are like, Man that’s a stupid ass game. Once you start trying to figure this sh*t out, and the more complicated… I just got tired of that sh*t man. I guess you can say it was quantity with no quality, with the sh*t that was coming off.

AllHipHop.com: I’m sure people are always hitting you up for a verse, so did you have to turn your phone off?




Scarface: I was like Man, I ain’f f*cking with that sh*t no more, y’all go ahead. “Well just do a 16 before you go.” Alright, go ahead. When I lay them 16’s boy they be like, “Man, you can’t quit man.” But, it’s not retired. Let’s be real f*cking clear, it’s not retired. If I say I quit, goddamnit I quit. Retirement, that’s for old folk. You retire from a job. Quit the f*cking game. I quit the game, ya know? And now I’m back in the game. You know how you playing basketball, motherf*ckers make the wrong call and you be like Aww man, false call, and they still don’t give you the ball back, you say, F*ck it, take your ball home, and go home? That’s me. I quit. What?! F*ck it, I quit. I’m done. You can have it. And I don’t play with them for a long ass time. But then when I come back and play with them, I’m the first pick because I’m that serious about my game.

I think that’s what Rap-A-Lot see in me. What J [Prince] see. Go get who you make. Go put somebody else, or grab somebody else to try to play that position on your team. When you want a ni**a who knows his position and knows how to play it very well. One of the best team players of all times, holla at me. That’s my thing. First pick, first round.

AllHipHop.com: So did Rap-A-Lot put a bug in your year like, It’s time?

Scarface: No. We just agreed to do an album. Nothing serious. Sh*t we agree to disagree on a lot of sh*t. We just did an album. It’s good.

AllHipHop.com: Speak on you and J Prince’s relationship. You’ve known him since you were 17 right?

Scarface: Yeah.

AllHipHop.com: Over the years has your relationship changed between friends to business?

Scarface: Man we cool. We brothers. It is what it is. Now, I’m grown, I’m of age. So instead of it being the big bull and the baby bull you got two grown ass bulls in the yard. You going to have to get rid of one of the bulls. One of the bulls got to go get in his own f*cking yard. That’s the point I’m trying to express to everybody. I need my own f*cking yard to run in now. You can run your yard, we can’t run in your yard together. I need my own motherf*cking yard.

AllHipHop.com: Before I ask my next question, what’s the status of your Underground Railroad record label?

Scarface: That’s going to be the new face of Hip-Hop. I’m so disappointed at these record companies. I’m disappointed at the record company lawyers for being the Willie Lynch of the game. Cause what they do is they [write] up these slave agreements, give them to the slaveowners, then in turn give them to you [the artist]. See, it’s a slave agreement. That f*cking record contract is nothing more than a slave agreement. It’s a slave trade.

Them contracts are just untangible [sic] man. You can’t make no money from that sh*t. You gotta seek other ways to make money.

AllHipHop.com: Now labels have 360 deals where the artists signs away profits from merchandise and touring.

Scarface: I ain’t doing that sh*t. They trying to get some money. That sh*t going Internet. That sh*t going web/band now. There ain’t no money in that sh*t no more, for the record company. Your keep on a record company is what, two dollars still? If you 80, 20 with somebody…I don’t know how that sh*t go. But I know that, I’ma want the bulk of the money cause I’m the talent. It don’t make no sense for me to do all the f*cking work and you sitting around, scratch your ass and get all the money. I did the work, but you cut me the check; f*ck that. I do the work and I keep my check. That’s what I’m trying to bring to the game for all these artists. If you talented enough to put some groundbreaking sh*t out man, then I want to make sure that your a**hole goes unscathed. Unharmed.

AllHipHop.com: So that’s your way of looking out for the cats coming up?

Scarface: I’d say. I want everybody to get theirs and grow old. Get out the game and get out for good.

AllHipHop.com: During your time off is that when you stepped up your production game?

Scarface: Stepping up?

AllHipHop.com: You’ve always had a big hand in making your music, but as far as having the credits say “Produced by Scarface.”

Scarface: I mean I did all that sh*t. I did a lot of that early sh*t. Like a serious amount of all my early music. But I was always shadowed by somebody who wanted the shine too. Like, [N.O. Joe], great producer. Tone Capone, great producer. Bido, great producer. And then I gotta stop. Cause all the other producers either they sound like somebody…and this is just producers out here that I work with, either you stole somebody sh*t or you don’t have your own vibe or you just push the f*cking buttons and want money for it. But that’s usually how it goes. Mike Dean is probably one of the best engineers and mixers in the world, but when it come to him making the beat for somebody, he don’t have a vibe.

Tone Capone may have one of the best vibes in the world. He did the “I Got Five On It” track. The Luniz, he did that track, got one of the best vibes in music. But, he can’t get no money for it cause everybody thinking it’s Mike Dean did this sh*t, but it was really Tone. He can’t get no publicity behind it because he always going to be in somebody shadow. Same for me. You thinking that so and so, so and so did the sh*t, but I did that sh*t. So and so, so and so ain’t even got his own f*cking vibe. He’s going off what I tell him to do, tell him to play. See you can’t teach a vibe. You can play your ass off, but if you wasn’t born with a vibe, you ain’t got a chance.

AllHipHop.com: So how have you created your music over the years, is it listening to old records or a vibe you get in your head first?

Scarface: The sound is the most important man. I sit up in my house man, I’d blow a square, go to my computer, make a beat, write a hook, lay the sh*t, write a song tomorrow, lay the song that same  day. I do it like that. I make beats while I’m writing hooks to it. The vibe, the vibe is the most important part of the song. If you ain’t got no vibe, you shot.

AllHipHop.com: You spoke about leaving a legacy, how far along do you think you are?

Scarface: I’m here. I’m done, I’m here. I got songs that will play forever. “Minds Playing Tricks on Me,” people don’t realize, but that was my solo song.

AllHipHop.com: Right, you wrote every verse…

Scarface: Except Willie D’s. But I wrote my two verses, and [Bushwick] Bill took the last verse. I got the original tape with me on it. I got a lot of original songs that were a lot better when they first came out, as opposed to when it got watered down, with different stuff on it. For instance the bass line on the song on The Diary album called “Goin' Down.” At first the bass line was flat and it had a twang in it [mimics the sound]. It wasn’t like that, it was cold as f*ck. I got that. I got a lot of songs man. I probably got a damn catalog like Pac. You know the Balls & My Word album and the My Homies Part 2 album were just cut tape on the floor. That was just tape left around.

AllHipHop.com: At that time your Rap-A-Lot commitment was up?

Scarface: Yeah, I was done. So that was another one of my…misunderstandings with J [Prince]. But, we know where we at. That right there, that wasn’t a good move. I wasn’t down with that move, but by law he had the right to do the sh*t. So legally it’s right, morally it’s wrong. Damn, that’s deep. Legally, it’s right. But morally, he’s wrong. You know you got plus checks and minuses, and incompletes. That sh*t was incomplete in my opinion.

AllHipHop.com: But this new Made album is on Rap-A-Lot so y’all have worked it out?

Scarface: No, we ain’t work that out yet. But, to not leave the people that listen to my sh*t out in limbo, and to be able to move forward… See, you can’t get to C and D unless you finished with A. It’s A, B, C, then D. It’s not, C, D, and then back to A. So in order for me to move forward, I have to do that. I have to give him this album, and move forward. And it’s just the right thing to do.

AllHipHop.com: Is it safe to say that moving forward your going to do double duty as an exec? It seemed like you were doing well at Def Jam bring Ludacris in.




Scarface: Sh*t you missing the point though…I brought T.I. too. I brought [Lil] Flip too. I brought Chamillionaire and Paul Wall, I brought Slim Thug, I brought Stat Quo, I brought David Banner, I brought Rick Ross before he was Rick Ross to Def Jam when I was at [Def Jam] South, and they turned it down. Alright? I brought Big Gee and my boy Young Malice, I was going to do a little group album with them cats.

AllHipHop.com: The Product [One Hunid], that was well received…

Scarface: Big Block, and then Def Jam turned that sh*t down. Yeah, ask Block. Me and Block got a Facemob album with Malice, Gee and some more ni**as Block was f*cking with.

AllHipHop.com: You have a track record, did Def Jam just not believe?

Scarface: I don’t know. This R&B dude Cruna, I brought him a long time ago too. They signed to Warner now though. T.I.’s at Atlantic now with Lyor and Kevin. But I brought T.I. back in the gap, ya feel me? I brought Lil Keke, turned that down. I brought a LOT of sh*t man, my mind ain’t really clicking right now. We tried to get a lot, Lil Jon, Big Oomp had sh*t, tried to get it in there and them motherf*ckers would just overthrow everything I tried to put in the system. That Ludacris was so successful until they was like, we going to make this ni**a fail.

I may be wrong as two left shoes but that’s just how I feel about it. Cause now the same sh*t that they declined is the same sh*t that’s being signed today. You gotta look at all the sh*t that came from me that was in the Rap-A-Lot system. I brought Gangsta Nip. I brought [Mr.] 3-2. I brought Big Mello. Tony Draper had Big Mike, Big Mike came to Rap-A-Lot, but all it is was ni**as that ran with us. We all ran together. DMG, A-G-2-A-Ke. Dirty, my boys. Devin the Dude was in a band called The Odd Squad that came out like ‘94 and then I put Devin in the Facemob group that I was doing. [I liked] the uniqueness of his voice.

AllHipHop.com: Who exactly is in the Facemob?

Scarface: It was Smit-D, 350, Ray Ray [Shi-Ray], DMG, Devin The Dude. I gave Devin that name, that was the name of his first album The Dude. Wasn’t nobody really f*cking with Dev man.

AllHipHop.com: Until he got with Dr. Dre.

Scarface: Exactly. They weren’t f*cking with Dev but I always f*cked with Dev. I did Devin’s first album, look at the credits, all that sh*t. Executive produced it, did a lot of beats on it. I even mixed a song on Devin’s album, “That Sticky Green.”

AllHipHop.com: So you’re A jack of all trades…

Scarface: I’m just so deep off of this music sh*t, man.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think that passion is on the labelside nowadays? I think of Rick Rubin going to bat for y’all with The Geto Boys album despite the label’s balking at its content.

Scarface: Rick Rubin told me…Rick Rubin was like, We like Willie D and Bill, we don’t really like the Scarface dude.

AllHipHop.com: You serious?

Scarface: Swear to God. He wanted Willie D and Bill, he didn’t want me in that group.

AllHipHop.com: They just wanted you to write the rhymes or something?
 
Scarface: I don’t even think he wanted me around period. Which is cool with me. Yeah, but Rick Rubin didn’t like my sh*t at all. I wonder if he like my sh*t now. Probably not, sh*t. Like it’s some ni**as that y’all might think is the total sh*t. I be like, Man that ni**a sucks! [chuckling]

Scarface: Dude, the other day I was in the studio, I’m not going to say nobody name. But this ni**a was biting Silk the Shocker. Like, “Who is this?” Oh, that’s so and so. Man, “That ni**a sound like Silk the Shocker,” and the room got quiet. Be real with yourself. You trying to bite some body just say you following the man footsteps. Like Kanye said in the “Big Brother” thing, I respect that. I think a lot of people miss the most important cap of that song. Listen to it again. He said he did a song with Coldplay, Jay-Z turned around and did a song with Coldplay, they thinking no way. He go talking behind Jay-Z back to somebody about the song, it get back to Jay. On the flipside of the coin man, let a ni**a know you admire him like that. That’s a deep song man. You admire my sh*t like this, just tell me you admire my schemes and my mind like this man, we’ll be all 100 [chuckling]. It take a real man to say they admire somebody.

AllHipHop.com: When did Made begin?

Scarface: I’m always recording. I don’t know. Made started at the beginning of my career. Made takes a…Made is the most relevant album to me because after being [around] twenty years and you still a foot soldier, you just a f*cking foot soldier. Me, twenty years later, ni**a I’m made. I’m a made man.




Everybody just need to focus on being the best. When I do my sh*t ni**a, I want to be the best. People to respect and expect to here some, “Wow!” F*ck me not doing records about parties, but expect me to do records about, “Oh sh*t!” I got a song called “Boy Meets Girl.” Everybody thinks it’s like a love song. But, what it’s really about is heroine and cocaine being mixed into speedballs and shooting it up in your arms. That’s deep, but it sound like a love song though. I got a song called “The Suicide Note” talking about a friend of mine killing himself. You just gotta hear it man. I don’t want to be like nobody else. I don’t want to sound like nobody else. I don’t think like nobody else. I’m an individual that [is] very proud to be separated from everybody that I stand in front of. You might like Wu-Tang, I love The Brothers Johnson, ya feel me? You might like The Spinners, I prefer The Whispers. Tomato toh-mato, it’s separating us from being the same person.


AllHipHop.com: People want your take on Lil Troy and the commentary he’s been saying about you.

Scarface: You know what man, let me send you a document on this kid. What he tried to do to me was false. I’m not going to say it unless I know for a fact. What I’m going to do for you guys is just give it to you and let you see for yourself. After that my lips are sealed on the issue. I guess the statement you need to make to him is, if he ain’t got this right here, what I’m getting ready to give you on him, then he need to shut the f*ck up, cause he just making up sh*t, ya feel me? I got his 5K1 downward departure. [Ed. Note: AllHipHop still hadn’t received the document at press time, stay tuned.] You know what that means?

AllHipHop.com: Nah, fill me in.

Scarface: That means that he provided substantial assistance to the federal government in busting up cocaine traffickers, cocaine dealers. What’s that mean? Wearing wire taps and stuff, microphones. It’s called the 5K1 downward departure. Google it. Look that up. But I got that. And it’s not handwritten, it’s sealed by the United States of America.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve mentioned you and Beanie making an album, has that gone beyond talk?

Scarface: I mean Beans’ album comes out on the 11th and I heard it and, Wow. I hope so. We been wrapped up doing our own projects right now. But for the most part, me, Beans and Jay-Z will probably put something together because it’s what the people want.

AllHipHop.com:  Did you hear Jay-Z’s album American Gangster yet and his verse on “Ignorant Sh*t” where he says, “Scarface the movie did more than Scarface the rapper to me, so that ain’t the blame for all the sh*t that’s happened to me.”? What did you think?

Scarface: [laughing] I agree with it. It did…the movie did more to me than I ever did. Yeah, it had a big influence on me, I understand. I don’t want AllHipHop or none of these other people to take that as a dis. That was really a compliment. I don’t want nobody to take that out of [context]. That dude, we real close friends and I appreciate the plug.


Scarface: The AllHipHop Interview, Part 1