By Tim "Styles" Sanchez
Longtime rap fans will remember Yukmouth from his days as one half of the Platinum-selling group The Luniz and their smash hit single “I Got 5 On It.” Although the group has long-gone their separate ways, Yukmouth has maintained a solo career as an artist on Rap-A-Lot Records with three albums released including the Gold-selling
Thugged Out: The Abulation.
Never one to hold back his tongue, Yukmouth has spent a good portion of the past decade feuding with the likes of Too $hort, Master P, Daz Dillinger, The Game, and the whole G-Unit camp. Now with a new album,
The Million Dollar Mouthpiece, scheduled to drop February 12 on Rap-A-Lot Records, Yukmouth took the time to explain his new peaceful frame of mind and his different outlook on the rap world. Be warned, just because Yukmouth has set
most his beefs aside, that doesn’t mean that he’s lost any of his viciousness as he shows in discussing his former Luniz partner Numskull. Pay attention as he shares his piece of mind.
AllHipHop.com: You’ve got a new album coming out in February. Give us the word on that.
Yukmouth: It’s called
The Million Dollar Mouthpiece. It’s got a combination of new and older artists. I’ve got Too $hort, MC Eiht, Jayo Felony, Richie Rich, and Devin The Dude. Then there are the new cats like Glasses Malone and The Team. There are also some new Hyphy cats that will be on the album. It’s definitely a mix of the new and the old.
AllHipHop.com: So Yukmouth is down with the Hyphy movement?
Yukmouth: I’m loving it. It’s a breath of fresh air for the [Bay Area]. People weren’t hearing from us for a minute and the Hyphy movement put us back in their minds and back in people’s ears. It has people wondering what’s going to come out next from the Bay.
AllHipHop.com: I myself am used to your tried and true sound. Will there be a lot of Hyphy-type stuff on the album?
Yukmouth: I do have one on there called “East Oakland.” It’s a Hyphy beat made by Droop-E, who is E-40's son. It has a Too $hort sample where he says, “I come from East Oakland where the youngsters get Hyphy.” Everybody from East Oakland gets down on that one, including Dru-Down, The Deliquents and Richie Rich. That’s my Hyphy joint for the album.
AllHipHop.com: You being a West Coast veteran, what’s your take on its current state?
Yukmouth: I’m mad that people are not uniting. We need to unify and bring our movements together. We are the only region that tries to stay separate from each other. Nobody wants to help each other out. We will never get back on the map until we unite. It’s not going to take one act. It’s going to take all of us coming together. You’ve got DJ Khaled putting eight or nine of the top South guys on one song. We need to do that out here. Get eight or nine of the top West Coast dudes on one song like that. We need to do what we have to do in order to win. You’ve got rappers from elsewhere selling Ringtones, well, that’s what we need to do too.
AllHipHop.com: A few years ago, I didn’t think it would be possible to hear something like this from you. Unity? You were beefing with everybody and their mommas.
Yukmouth: I squashed all of my beefs. I have no beef with The Game, G-Unit or Master P. I get along with all of those guys right now. I’m about getting that money and that’s why I am real positive. Everybody needs to unite. I squashed all of my beefs - so they should be able to squash theirs too. My thing is uniting and getting people together to get this money.
AllHipHop.com: You even squashed it with Spider-Loc of G-Unit? There was some tension there a while back.
Yukmouth: Yeah! Me and Spider hooked up and squashed it personally. We got that on camera and that’s going to be on
United Ghettos Volume 3. We are cool now. We smoked a blunt and talked about it. The beef made no sense.
AllHipHop.com: You were going off on The Game too for a while there. You were going to reveal footage and other stuff. How did you resolve that beef?
Yukmouth: Thanks to my homeboy Eastwood when he was doing his deal with The Black Wall Street. Me and Wood have been doing our thing for years together before The Game even blew up. He said to Game, “Yuk is my n***a. If you are going to sign me, then you’ve got to squash the beef with that n***a. That’s my dude who’s been looking out for me when Suge wasn’t.” Game called me on a three-way and we squashed it. Shout out to my n***a Wood for making it happen and shout out to The Game for being a man. That n***a said, “F**k the bulls**t.”
AllHipHop.com: Hopefully more dudes can follow that example.
Yukmouth: How can I talk unity and then beef with people? People need to put their little petty s**t to the side. For the West it’s going to take more than the Hyphy movement and more than a rapper from L.A. or a Dr. Dre album. It’s going to take more than that now. The industry is way different. Nobody is going platinum anymore. All of that s**t is a wrap. N***a’s are going three-times platinum on Ringtones.
AllHipHop.com: You’ve been doing your thing since “I’ve Got 5 On It.” How does Yukmouth fit in to today’s Hip-Hop industry?
Yukmouth: I’ve got a movement that stretches from the States to overseas. That’s why I can go gold on word of mouth without a record playing on the radio. I’m still here because my Movement is strong.
AllHipHop.com: But do you have any songs that can get played in today’s radio market?
Yukmouth: We are starting off with the first single, “Hey Boy.” I’ve got a few of them that are right for that. I’ve got one called “Best Thing Going” featuring Too $hort, Devin The Dude and Richie Rich. I’ve got the one I told you about earlier, “East Oakland.” I’ve got music for every market. Rap-A-Lot has quite a few options to work with when it comes to pushing my music.
[Yukmouth "Hey Boy"]
