As cliché as it may seem, patience still holds to be an important virtue for many. Spider Loc is one of them. After two years of running with Suge Knight at Tha Row and waiting in the wings of the G-Unit umbrella for another three calendars without a debut album, the West Coast heavyweight still hasn’t lost his focus. His platinum reputation on the streets is not enough.With time ticking away, Loc puts in his own work in the ’07 with the independent release of West Kept Secret: The Prequel. Spider keeps no secrets, as he files his OG report on the current status of the Unit, the real about gang banging and his blue blood.AllHipHop.com: What’s the current situation with G-Unit now? Not too
long ago 50 Cent had a conference call with every on G-Unit basically
explaining the free financial ride was over?Spider Loc: First
of all when 50 made those statements about the type of water he cutting
off within the G-Unit camp, I want to clarify that I have never been a
recipient of that type of water [in] any way; I’ve never received any
of that extra change or none of that. All of the money I have received
from my situation was the money that was negotiated contractually. That
was apparently relationships he had with the other artists. The
situation is G-Unit is G-Unit. We all feel the same way, we still
pushing for the best. It’s big business involved. The boss doesn’t own
G-Unit all by himself. He has other deals with other people corporately
who help with the decisions for G-Unit and I don’t feel he’s totally
happy with his situation with those people. It has had a trickle down
effect to the camp. AllHipHop.com: Was it a problem for you to release West Kept Secret on an indie while you wait? Spider
Loc: The thing is… like you said in your statement; he’s not going to
be responsible for anyone financially so at that same time you can’t
expect anybody not to take of themselves financially. So 50’s statement
about that label doesn’t change the reality about me making my bread.
It was never no issue; he never expressed any of that to me. AllHipHop.com: You were in the streets heavy before the deal, can you discuss your come-up?Spider Loc: From way back, deep down, I always just had the faith and belief that I was going to somehow have success being in the music game, and that I was going to take care of myself solely by creating music. I always loved rap. I got fed up with the same old cycle in the streets, and not seeing any progress in my life, [so] I decided to take it a little more serious. I started bumping into people and networking and one thing led to another, and I ended up in a seat similar where I always imagined being in. AllHipHop.com: You are well known on the streets for your rep as a gang-banger, how did you get into that aspect of your upbringing?Spider Loc: When I grew up, it was everywhere around me. It was extremely attractive to me. Everywhere I turned banging was taking place. AllHipHop.com: When I was growing up, Menace II Society painted a clear picture of what L.A. was like before I got the chance to travel out there. Did that movie have any impact on you?Spider Loc: Funny, when Menace II Society came out, I started traveling going here and there. I started noticing how people out of town, particularly down South, looked at [me] as a character from Menace II Society. [Boyz N’ Da Hood and Menace II Society] really mark a period in time because anything you ever seen on screen, [Menace] for sure has given the best depiction of how wild it was out here. AllHipHop.com: While you were in the West did anything paint a picture about the East Coast for you got out here?Spider Loc: My thing about the East, I didn’t learn about it through music or movies. I had very good friends from New York that I trusted their perception of anything they told me because they were real good friends. So more so when I got to New York, I was confirmed of the things my partners told me. From New York in the early ‘90s, it changed dramatically. My partners used to laugh at us about the gang s**t, they were clowning. I always thought they were going to s**t on the g######## type n***as, but the time I got out to New York, there was gang banging on every corner I went to. AllHipHop.com: Do you think it’s being represented correctly, or do you think it’s more of a fad out here? Spider Loc: I see a lot of elements that would want me to think it’s a fad, but I also see people that are taking it to heart. It only takes one rider in any neighborhood to kick the dust up. No matter how off base the whole thing may be, I see the situation over there as having the potential of getting real bad. Everyone has enemies and we all got guns, it will be more common to find out that g######## enemies are going at each other with these weapons. It’s not that intense out there right now, it can only lead to that direction. It’s going to get worse. AllHipHop.com: Do you think the original idea of behind being a Crip (Community Revelation In Progress) got lost?Spider Loc: It’s definitely been lost. I’ve learned from some of my G partners from the ‘60s and ‘70s that the basis of the whole Community Revolution In Progress was lost behind a female. I heard that n****as got along perfectly well got until it was over a female. Something that simple caused it to turn into the bottom line. AllHipHop.com: You were rolling with Suge Knight when you first got on. How did you hook up with him?Spider Loc: One of my homeys Big Ant from the hood, he was running around with a guy named Magic who had Done Deal Records. Magic had landed a meeting with Suge about landing a label deal. Magic and Suge were speaking, Suge was describing the type of artist he was trying to meet. My big homey Ant spoke up and said you need to meet [me]. So I went up there to Beverly Hills and I spit for him. Suge promised me that he was going to put me out and that turned out to being a two year period of being in his camp and never really doing a deal with him and never really going to another level, besides where it started. I eventually asked him to remove my name and picture on the [Death Row Records] website and that I couldn’t be represented by his label anymore. But I experienced a lot of good things while I was there. I was able to record along Eddie Griffin and do some writing for Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez. Just to be around her before she died, being the legend she is, was a good experience. And plus I became acquainted with a Hip-Hop mogul like Suge Knight. That’s something no one can take away from me. I didn’t compromise anything about me by being around him. AllHipHop.com: Did the thought ever run through your head that a lot of his previous artists had trouble with money, etc. Spider Loc: Of course, that’s probably one of the primary reasons I never signed any of the contracts he presented me with. AllHipHop.com: So he offered you a deal?Spider Loc: Quite a few deals. AllHipHop.com: Were the deals funny, or were you just not ready to sign?Spider Loc: Those weren’t good deals at all. [The] first deal he gave me didn’t mention money at all – except the percentage that he would take of your money. But as far as advances or what kind of money he would be forwarding, [they] never came up in the contract at all. Not to mention on that on two different drafts you finally see some numbers in it, but the numbers were so insulting, it was like damn. AllHipHop.com: Was it a conflict of interest since he’s Blood affiliated?Spider Loc: Hell nah. It’s the same way America can be at war with any country at any given time, but the leaders of those two countries can sit down and discuss the terms.AllHipHop.com: So you leave Death Row and meet Young Buck correct?Spider Loc: I happen to be in Atlanta, I bumped into Young Buck through mutual acquaintances and rapped for him and impressed him to a point where he allowed me to accompany him to his video shoot a couple of weeks later. I rapped for 50 Cent in L.A. and he immediately offered me a spot on his roster. AllHipHop.com: Is it true you were the one that got Buck’s chain back when his boy D-Tay got stuck for the G-Unit spinner in Chicago?Spider Loc: You see, I’m neither going to confirm or deny that. AllHipHop.com: You and The Game have been going at it for a while, it seemed like things had gotten quiet between the both of you. In April, you released a joint called “Toe Tagz.” You were going at Game pretty heavy on there. Why even address it again? Spider Loc: We had already been through it. Out of nowhere Tony Yayo name gets in the media with a situation involving Jimmy Henchmen’s son. [The Game] takes it upon himself to release a song and he put my name in it. He particularly put my name in it, so it was just a response. I was never moved by any of the comments he’s ever made about me. When you out here pretending to be me, there’s not much you can say about me. AllHipHop.com: Is The Game’s G-file certified out there or is it more for marketing?Spider Loc: Hell nah he ain’t certified! He ain’t no street n***a, but when you figure West Coast music from this time [to] all the way back, to be the biggest on the West, there have never been any qualifications to be no real street n***a. I feel like a real n***a to be certified on these streets on this level without dropping an album, I’m the only one with this major exposure. The only people that I can vouch for on a street level g########-wise is Tray Dee, CJ Mac, Jayo Felony, and C-Bo. Even when it come to N.W.A., who is credited for starting this gangster s**t, Dr. Dre [and the rest] wasn’t no gang-bangers. The most popular West Coast rapper has never been an official n***a.AllHipHop.com: Would you throw Snoop Dogg’s name in that commentary?Spider Loc: The thing is Snoop wasn’t a gang member before Death Row days. He became a gang member after “Deep Cover,” and he had came out. AllHipHop.com: Why did you go at Nas, Fat Joe and Jim Jones too?Spider Loc: Actually the Nas, and Fat Joe line came about because [The Game] used their names in “Body Bagz” as support. That was a direct response to what he said about Nas and Fat Joe. F**k anybody he mentioning that supposed to be supporting him. The Jim Jones [diss] is based upon that he a brand new Blood. He a funny style tight jean, tight t-shirt wearing fake Blood n***a.AllHipHop.com: What do you think about Jim Jones and let’s say a Lil’ Wayne who are perceived on the streets as to be all of a sudden gang members?Spider Loc: I feel like it’s very goofy for a Black man to become a public figure and have a positive light in the public and then add something as negative as gang-banging to their repertoire. I feel that’s the mistake that cost Tupac Shakur his life in a lot of ways. Once he became a leader and a figure in Black entertainment, he went backwards. He then attached gang-banging to his resume. Also, throwing up a rag doesn’t make you gang member, that ain’t s**t. Colors or none of that s**t matter [either]. I wear more red than half the Bloods in the industry so that don’t make me no Blood. My blood is blue, my activities that I’ve done in my life with my homeys just based that we from the same hood makes me a gang member. Not the fact I was willing to wear blue or because I had a blue rag. I just think it’s corny when you a man that’s obviously financially well to do and living the life of entertainment and then turn around and do something like that. I look at gang-banging as a mistake in my life, so if I hadn’t done this up until this point in my life I definitely wouldn’t start now.AllHipHop.com: Do you think these rappers who are now making their gang allegiance clear are really certified?Spider Loc: They might be certified, but there are some real Bloods and real Crips that’s running around with the b***h boy, [The] Game. I’m from a city of nothing-ass n***as, and the average g######## n***as will attach himself to anybody that will be a benefit to them. They don’t give a f**k, it’s like selling protection. They going to let a n***a holler whatever they want as long as it’s going to be good for them. It can be Jim Jones, it can be KRS-One. AllHipHop.com: Let’s talk about the West Kept Secret: The Prequel. Is this an album or would you classify it more as a mixtape?Spider Loc: [It’s] a mixtape that I was putting together and I was going to put out myself. But then I was offered an actual mixtape deal with Koch and it’s going to be distributed on a larger scale than the mixtapes I put out prior. It’s a warm up; it’s like an appetizer before the main course for my G-Unit album called The World Wide Web. I got Ice Cube, Papa Smurf, Sniper and my artists on my record label Baymaac Records.AllHipHop.com: Realistically when will World Wide Web see the light of day?Spider Loc: Well the way it looks to me once Curtis drops, the next two G-Unit releases will be a G-Unit album and a Spider Loc album. Which one will be first, I’m not quite sure, but those will be the next two things after Curtis.
