By Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur
M.O.P. have stomped around Hip-Hop’s battlefield for quite sometime all the while crafting some of the most frenetic, aggressive and lyrical songs ever. But, when it comes to their Top 5 Dead of Alive, the group is not necessary pulling from the same energy they create. First Family members Billy Danz, Lil Fame and long term manager Laze “Laze” Elliot chop it up frankly and realize that their Top 5 Dead or Alive is much like the title of their new album, The Foundation. The list is an ode to the rap artists that basically laid the groundwork for everything that is popular in modern Hip-Hop.
AllHopHop.com: Can you name your Top 5 Dead or Alive rappers?
Billy Danz: Oh yeah.
Lil Fame: I can try.
Billy Danz: In no order. Scarface. Rakim. [Kool] G Rap. KRS-One and Lil Fame. [Slaps table and the room erupts into laughter]
AllHipHop.com: It sounds like you had that all prepared!
Billy Danz: I swear to God. It just fell into order like that.
Lil Fame: I'll say Bill [Danz], Scarface. G Rap. Rakim...[pauses.]
Billy Danz: Give Biggie some [credit]. You gotta give Biggie some.
Lil Fame: But see that ain't my era. Biggie's one of the dopest n***as, but I'm talking about my era. Yeah, Biggie's one of the dopest. Nas is one of the Dopest.
AllHipHop.com: See, now you have already hit six.
Billy Danz: See, thats the thing, because when you say Top 5, what are you saying. We need like a Top 10. Eminem is f***in' incredible. Ja Rule is actually a dope f**kin' MC. Ja Rule is nice as s**t.
AllHipHop.com: His first album is classic.
Billy Danz: That shit was crazy, n***a. Ja Rule is a dope f**kin' MC. So, you cheated us on that. We can’t do a Top 5.
AllHipHop.com: [To Billy] You started out so good. [laughs]
Billy Danz: I was sticking to it. But, I got another Top 5.
AllHipHop.com: I actually put my Top 5 on the site. Redman, DMC, I put Chuck D on there…
Billy Danz: Look…Chuck is crazy.
AllHipHop.com: Kool G Rap and I put Jay-Z on there.
Billy Danz: OK, Jay is dope, Jay is dope.
Lil Fame: Jay is one of the Top. See there ain’t no Top MC. I used to hate when people would say, “He’s the best.”
AllHipHop.com: You could do that back in the day.
Lil Fame: Ain’t no Top MC, son!
Billy Danz: It depends on what you call Top. Does he sell the most? Is he the dopest?
Lil Fame: Without the bling? Without the powermoves?
Billy Danz: Who is at the top?
AllHipHop.com: My personal favorite is G Rap. That’s not going to change.
Billy Danz: What about the best rapper alive?
AllHipHop.com: I put it as Jay.
Billy Danz: Really?
Lil Fame: He’s one of them.
Billy Danz: We want to know who is theeeee best rapper alive.
Billy Danz: You just said Jay.
AllHipHop.com: Well, I say G Rap. G rap – that’s my personal favorite rapper of all time.
Laze: G Rap is probably the best.
Billy Danz: Rakim is my personal favorite rapper of all time.
Lil Fame: See? Its out of Ra and G…and [Big Daddy] Kane! Ra, G and Kane.
Billy Danz: And see Kane is lik my big brother. Kane is dope as hell, but in my opinion…
Lil Fame: I’m talking without the bling and all that. I’m just talking the lyrics. It’s out of those three, son.
Billy Danz: Lets agree on that.
Lil Fame: Scarface.
Billy Danz: Who the f**k can f**k with Scarface? I was looking though my s**t [and found] a blank disc and I threw that mother f**ker in there. That Scarface record came in there and I forgot about everything. My old lady was like, “Can you come up…?” F**k all that! Turn this up right here.
Lil Fame: Face is a bad mother f**ker.
Billy Danz: And Rakim, I still haven’t found a n***a that can lyrically touch him.
Lil Fame: He’s smart as a mother f***er.
Billy Danz: He’s [sounds] like a gangster like, “I will pull your mother f***in’ head off,” but he never said, “I will pull your mother f***in’ head off.”
Lil Fame: [Laughs]
Billy Danz: This mother f**ker only cursed three times in his whole career. He said b***h one time and this was recently. He said n***a, which is not really a curse and hell or f**k or something like that. And, he made you feel like, “I will saw you’re a** in half if you f**k around.”
Lil Fame: G was smart too.
Billy Danz: The kids can listen to Rakim.
Lil Fame: G would take your head off, but in a smart way. Oh he said, “You got springs and wings on your shoes…you lose.” You’re a** is out! G is smart as s**t son.
Laze: Rakim is probably the best lyricist ever.
Billy Danz: He’s the best ever.
Lil Fame: We can go on for days about this.
Billy Danz: Rakim is the best ever. Put it on the site in graffiti: “RAKIM IS THE BEST EVER.”
AllHipHop.com: We used to argue about this all day, so I’ma let y’all say that…
Lil Fame and Billy Danz in unison: Who is [the best]?
AllHipHop.com: G Rap!
Lil Fame: Let the Slaugherhouse be Ra, G and Kane.
[Editor’s note: this isn’t a disrespectful comment. In unreleased portions of this interview, M.O.P. praised Slaughterhouse for being a great Hip-Hop collective.]
AllHipHop.com: Ra, G, Kane and Scarface. [Rakim, Kool G Rap and Scarface]
[Editor’s note: everybody in the room collectively says, “Oh my God.”]
Laze: That would be ridiculous. That’s a Slaughterhouse right there.
Billy Danz: That is a Slaughterhouse. I’m going to start putting in calls. We coming to round all them n***as up and do a record together. All we want to do is the hook.
THE SIDEBAR:
M.O.P. is gearing up to release a new album called The Foundation, as well as a solo albums from Billy and Lil' Fame.
Billy Danz: The Foundation. Taking it back to that. The foundation is the base of it all. Its where we built from. There is no better place to start or re-start than at the bottom so we can build our way back up.