p>AllHipHop.com: So, for the dummies – who is D-Block?
Jadakiss: D-Block is Sheek, Jada and Styles P’s label. Supa Mario is the president of it. He runs everything. Sheek was the first artist off it. J hood is coming. We got the D-Block compilation coming out. Jada album’s coming. Styles is coming. It’s the who movement.
AllHipHop.com: You learning a lot about being bosses?
Sheek: As day by day goes on, I’m learning that I pretty much know a lot about this business, but it’s a lot more to learn. Us three together as one is kind of crazy towards these old heads out here. The switch [to CEO] was easy. I could see if we wasn’t in the industry doing day-to-day things. A lot of people read about [the music busisness] and they try to go and do it. Nah we actually lived it and done a lot of this stuff so the switch was kind of easy.
AllHipHop.com: How can a young buck get down with D-Block?
Sheek: Kiss and Styles will take [prospects] in the studio heavy. They bring them in they make them rap against each other. J-Hood – before ya’ll started hearing about him – he was battling, he was out there just getting it on. You gotta have some talent, man.
AllHipHop.com: What if you get three demos thrown at you? Do you actually listen to them?
Jadakiss: Yeah we listen to them joints. I ain’t gonna lie It depends on the mood I’m in. If I’m looking for beats or I’m looking for an artist. We never just throw them to the side or step on them and crunch them for the most part. We give them to Mario if nothing else.
AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like survivors for being around so long in hiphop?
Sheek: The guy they praising now? B.I.G.? I go back as far as him on to this day. And we reinvented ourselves to D-Block. N**as don’t even call us The Lox.
Jadakiss: You know what’s good though? Say we ain’t go multi-platinum and multi multi-platinum and all that and when we walk through the same place as that multi-platinum artists they run up on us and that’s the love we get today. From back then to today.
AllHipHop.com: Do you feel underrated?
Jadakiss: I think its because we just went through a lot of situations before they knew us. We dealt with Diddy at a young age. They know we know the business side now. We underrated but we overrated, because everybody know we the best. At the end of the day, with the verses. We started mixtapes making mixtapes the thing to do. We started al ot of s**t so at the end of the day. You gonna always remember when it comes to history time.
AllHipHop.com: What’s the key to staying together as a group?
Sheek: We read “The Art of War” heavy like it’s the Bible. We read that s###, highlight it. It pertains to everything. There can’t be one ni**a eating. There can’t be two n#### eating. You gotta cut n##### in so they don’t feel they are working for you…we are working together.
AllHipHop.com: Styles is the first one of you that told me that, years ago. Why are you the deep thinker of the group?
Styles: That’s just how I am. A lot of people view me and get me fu**ed up. I like it like that sometimes. But life is a thinking man’s game. It’s a lot of s### to think about, even the smallest s### when you think about it. Like, who the f**k made the alphabet up. I want to get to the root of sh*t. Before somebody tell me something, I am going to get to the bottom of it. I be thinking about why were f**kin’ black people the slaves of the world?
AllHipHop.com: So why were [Black people] the enslaved people?
Styles: I came with my own reasoning about what’s going to happen later on. I guess if you read, it says the poor and meek shall inherit the world later on. So, I figured that was it. He who laughs last, laughs hardest. So, maybe we got an extra solidified spot in heaven. Black people might have the biggest mansion in heaven and all that.
AllHipHop.com: How long have the Lox known each other?
Jadakiss: Seems like forever. Since high school, junior high, 9th grade. Me and Sheek was a group already. Styles was the soloist. We had a big crew. Most of the ni**as you see, go way back with us.
AllHipHop.com: You got a name for your next album the album yet, P?
Styles: Nah. I got a bunch of them, but I haven’t decided though. I like The Ghost.
AllHipHop.com: I was told you don’t write your rhymes down anymore?
Styles: Not no more. I haven’t written rhymes since I got here. I wrote some when I was younger. I got an offbeat/onbeat [style] so as I was reading it off paper it wouldn’t be working for me or I wouldn’t remember. It’s harder for me with paper than it would be without it. I’m a feeling kind of dude. I get the beat, I feel it. So when I was in, I was kind of stagnated. I’m real pick with beats, I’m a hands on kind of dude. When I was in there, I was like f### it. I knew I wasn’t going to be writing so I was just reading a lot, just getting my mind right. When I cam out, I was just thirsty to work. I ain’t really been on the scene too much until Sheek’s s### came out. I really just wanted to fall back until I finished my [album].
AllHipHop.com: So, you vibe off the feelings.
Styles: Yeah, I’m kind of emotional, I guess you would say. A spur-of-the-moment type.
AllHipHop.com: What can people expect from this album? The last one was a runaway success.
Styles: I ain’t trying to meet nobody’s expectations but my own and people that like my music. And that’s lyric-wise. I’m just trying to keep my lyric capacity up and not take a step back.
AllHipHop.com: What’s the deal with you and the Kiss of Death?
Jadakiss: I’m already a recognizable star with joints like I did with Bone Crusher [“Never Scared”]. I just gotta move more units. We got New York [locked down] already so I’m trying to grow in other regions like Down South and out West. We got music down there New York might never even hear.
AllHipHop.com: What about you, Hood? What’s the street gonna get from you and Tales From The Hood?
J-Hood: I think I am going to f**k a lot of peoples’ head up. I’m about to add a classic to the D-Block catalogue.
AllHipHop.com: You already have a lot of material out already as if you dropped an album.
J-Hood: I’m trying to put in the same amount of work as Tupac. I try to make myself write three freestyles a day and two songs a day. I’m not lazy, because it’s nothing for me to write 16 [bars] or write three 16’s and a hook. It’s easy, because that’s what I do.
AllHipHop.com: Do you get a lotta people trying to battle you?
J-Hood: Yeah, people say, “My man said he can battle you.” I be like “get the f**k outta here” but if I’m feeling nice, got a little drink in me, I’ll give it to a ni**a.
AllHipHop.com: So do you feel any pressure coming out under some legends like the Lox?
J-Hood: I don’t feel no pressure, I can’t wait for my sh*t to drop. All that sh*t that’s rockin’ right now- I know I’m better than that. I know my sh*t can sell right now. It’s going to shock a lot of people. I got a lot of sh*t for the females too, so the bi**hes, I’m gonna get em. Whether they know it or not, I’m going get them. That’s where the paper is at.
AllHipHop.com: How do you all apply everything that you are into D-Block, as a label, as a CEO, as a boss?
Styles: Just do it. I live life like that. I think everything falls in place if you live your life a certain way.
AllHipHop.com: What are the aspirations ahead for D-Block?
Styles: I ain’t even going to lie. Some of the things that I want to do, I don’t even want my name in it like that. I’m trying to get into other businesses, but not be too public about it. I want to fall back and have something for the kids to fall back on. We got a couple industry things that we doing, clothing line, movie sh*t, a couple of DVDs… We got other sh*t. Sh*t that complete out of the industry should stay like that.
Sheek: We are the same dudes. If you see us, we are going to be with the same people. Like Sonny from ‘Bronx Tale,’ he leave his house and in the movie, he drove backwards he same way he came. In a lot of ways, that’s how we are…there are a lot of laws, codes and ethics. We are and we’re gonna be what Bad Boy was and what Ruff Ryderz was or is. Ya’ll seeing it as we speak.