If you look up the term "controversial"
in the dictionary, you may find Brotha Lynch Hung’s picture somewhere close
by. Arguably, no artist in Hip-Hop today has ever stirred up the public at large
with the frequency and precision that Lynch has.
Lyrics containing concepts such as "eating
baby nuts," and having sex with his own mother have gotten him a rash of
harsh criticism. As a guest on "The Leeza Show" in 1996, his lyrics
were blamed for influencing a fan to commit murder.
But, with over a decade of underground and independent
success underneath his belt, there’s no telling where his imagination will take
him next.
His latest underground bomb, "Lynch By Inch:
Suicide Note," is bound to take him places beyond where his last album,
the 1995 gold-certified "Season Of Da Siccness," has taken him. The
Sacramento, CA native released the album from his newly formed imprint, Siccmade
Records, earlier this month. Allhiphop.com sat down with the pioneer of "horror-core"
to discuss legal matters, maintaining respect in his hometown, and upcoming
projects that will seemingly put him over the top.
Allhiphop.com: Before we get started, I want
to be able to conduct a good interview for the fans, but at the same time, I
want to keep the atmosphere as gangsta as possible. Can we do this?
Brotha Lynch Hung: That’s real, and I appreciate
it.
Allhiphop.com: You released a new album on June
10th. Talk about that and what you’ve been up to since the last joint.
BLH: It’s called "Lynch By Inch." It’s
not really a follow-up on my "Season Of DA Siccness," but it kind
of is. What’s different this time is that it’s on my own label and people ain’t
hollering at me about what I should and shouldn’t say on this album.
Allhiphop.com: So, you are basically going back
to the old blood and guts sh*t you used to talk about before?
BLH: Even with the old stuff, they tried to refrain
me from saying stuff.
Allhiphop.com: How much slack and criticism have
you taken over the years because of some of the lyrics you have spit on a record?
BLH: I caught hella slack over the "baby
killing" thing. Everybody kind of took it wrong and took it out of context.
I was just talking about abortion. Then, they just took it the way that they
took it. Plus the fact that I say stuff like "eating baby nuts and guts,"
they just put it in with that. They kind of built that, you know what I’m saying?
Even Snoop said, " that n*gga got hella lyrics, but I can’t get with that
baby eating sh*t." I was like, "where did he get that sh*t from?"
I’m a meat eater, and that’s where all that sh*t came from. You got to force
me vegetables because I won’t eat it otherwise.
Allhiphop.com: Do you still have to deal with
industry politics and publicists kicking you in the ass about certain things
now that you run your own label?
BLH: Not this time. This is all Siccmade right
here. I’m going to make the right decisions about what I feel, but I’m letting
my creativity go do what it got to do.
Allhiphop.com: Who are you doing studio work
with these days? Is it the same usual suspects or do you have some new cats
on the horizon?
BLH: Besides my Siccmade crew, I got Yukmouth
on the new album. I usually get only one artist per album because I want people
to recognize that I can do this sh*t. Yukmouth is one of my favorite rappers,
and on the last album I got E-40, who’s one of my favorite West Coast rappers.
I had Snoop on one of my albums, and he’s my favorite musical personality, you
know what I’m saying? Really, I don’t like running around trying to get a lot
of artists. In the future, I might mess with somebody like B2K since they are
fans of mine.
Allhiphop.com: Brotha Lynch Hung featuring B2K?
I can’t picture that with a Kodak, to be honest with you. I got two daughters
who are in love with those boys. If I hear that name one more time, I’m going
to start breaking windows and sh*t.
BLH: (laughs)
Allhiphop.com: Name of some of the producers
that you normally use when it is time to get in your zone and create that atmosphere.
BLH: I use Bosko a lot. He did a song for 2Pac’s
album just before this one that’s about to come out. He did the beat and the
video. Happy Perez from Portland does some stuff, and me and Phunk Beta do the
rest of it. Phunk Beta is from New York.
Allhiphop.com: Word? I take it that there is
no discrimination in what you strive for in your music.
BLH: I grew up listening to all New York rappers.
They taught how to rap in a sense, you know what I’m saying? That’s why my gangsta
style is my gangsta style because I’m from the West Coast, but I’m able to do
any style. I mix that style into my gangsta style to show versatility, even
though I talk about my life and what I went through. Obviously, I ain’t going
through the same things, so you know, I hit them with the rip guts sh*t after
that.
Allhiphop.com: I’m interested in knowing which
East Coast MCs were instrumental in teaching you how to rhyme. You hardly hear
about things like that anymore.
BLH: I learned stage presence from Run-DMC, I
learned lyrical skill and creativity from Rakim, KRS-1, and I learned longevity
from LL. I don’t want to put anybody in front, but those are the ones. I got
to give big props to the East Coast rappers, man. I ain’t with all the East
Coast-West Coast feuding. I love to battle because I’m a battle rapper, but
I ain’t with all that feuding sh*t, you know what I’m saying?
