Serius Jones: The Champ is Here

The champion MC from last year’s battle returns to show his lyrics and penmanship in AllHipHop’s Breeding Ground Showcase after earning stripes the old-fashioned way. Tickets can be purchased at the door or Ticketmaster)!

Almost a year ago to the day, a new Champion was crowned in the City of New York. It wasn’t Nas defeating Jay, or 50 snatching the crown with another diss record. It was Serius Jones defeating former “battle king” Jin at the AllHipHop/Fight Klub Competition. Although the footage has been played annoying amounts of times on several television stations, and it was great exposure for a masterful performance, each viewing seemed to further dry the cement beneath Jones’ feet. similar to most before him, The Battle Rapper tag was being placed on the Englewood MC like a clearance white tee from Marshalls.

Professing that he is a student of Hip-Hop and lyrical combat is simply one aspect to the art of Rhyme, the stage is being set for a new battle. With his new street album release, King Me Serius Jones sets on to convince the world that television has only shown one side of his arsenal. With more than one in the chamber the target is now successful record sales, staying true to himself and bringing change in the sometimes overexploited culture of Hip-Hop.

AllHipHop.com: Last year, The AllHipHop Fight Klub Battle blew you up beyond proportions. But now are you trying to focus more on songwriting?

Serius Jones: Nah, I ain’t trying, I was doing that before the whole Jin thing. It’s just that people make such a big deal out of it that, they don’t think you’re doing nothing else.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think it helped or hurt your career?

Serius Jones: Nah, I mean at the end of the day, none of this is hurting my career because all publicity is good publicity, unless it’s bad publicity. So I mean as far as the whole battle thing, my element is Hip-Hop , so it could never be bad that I get exposure for killing somebody in a battle. At the end of the day, it’s just America, like we don’t expect people to be multi-talented because we’re so used to just a quick fix. So when you come from another angle, it’s just a benefit. I love the fact that if anybody is sleeping on me, it’s my pleasure.

AllHipHop.com: You’ll be performing in The AllHipHop Breeding Ground Showcase. How do you bring your creativity to your shows?

Serius Jones: Everytime I do a show, it’s like I’m doing my first show. I’ll go off the top of the head and just start freestyling in the middle of the show, or I’ll have my DJ scratching in the background. I really just zone out and have fun with it. Hopefully, me having fun on stage comes across to the crowd. I don’t know what the hell to do – you know I’m too tall to be jumping around acting crazy.

AllHipHop.com: Tell me about your new street album…

Serius Jones: King Me is basically a statement. It’s a statement towards anybody who’s wondering what’s going on with me, or wondering my position, or who I am in the game. It’s basically just saying for all those doubters, or all those that don’t understand how I’m coming at the game. I’m coming at it like basically, “I’m a King.”

For those who don’t know, it’s not like I just battled Jin and battled on Smack [DVD], I basically have the Fight Klub crown because I beat 12 people last year in a row – in the most respected rap arena in the world. I battled people from England to Africa To Florida all over the world. As far as the underground, I don’t think that’s ever been done before. And this was for money. I mean I got 40,000 dollars from that. I got production from Needlz on there, I got production from my man Flako, I got 50 talking on there, I got Lil’ Wayne talking on there. It’s just a collection of everything I been going through. It’s definitely on par or better than the average album that you’re gonna hear and this is just my mixtape, you know a street album.

AllHipHop.com: You have some songs on your album that seemed to express some disappointment in Hip-Hop. Are you somewhat disappointed in Hip-Hop?

Serius Jones: You know what, I’m proud of Hip-Hop, but I’m disappointed in the direction of Hip-Hop. It’s almost like you got a son or a child and you watched it grow up for so long. You’ve seen it grow from being a smart little student to you know wearing glasses to wearing a African medallion to wanting to be a gangster you know wanting to be tough. It’s like a child you’ve watched it grow. So you love the child no matter what it does. So you know that this child has to go through these phases to become a man and really mature. What I’m disappointed at is not Hip-Hop itself. I just thought that would be an interesting concept to battle Hip-Hop [on a record]. Being that I’ve never seen anyone do it to the level that I do it on the battle tip, I just thought that would be the only person left for me to battle is Hip-Hop. The only thing I want it to do as the owners and creators of Hip-Hop is to take more of it back ourselves so we’re not just selling ourselves out. If you turn on the radio or turn on the TV, everything you see has Hip-Hop in it, you know. You gotta ask yourself, “who’s getting paid off that? Who’s exploiting that?” It needs to be more us and less them.

AllHipHop.com: How will you avoid that machine that does exploit the art form?

Serius Jones: I think at the end of the day, it’s unavoidable, you just have to be able to go through the machine without being watered down to the point where you dilute your whole concept. It’s just like drugs, if you have a pure product, you don’t really make no money by watering it down. If you get some real raw product you have to water it down a little bit because the average consumer cant take it in a full real raw state. So a lot of times, I want to say certain things in songs, but if it’s a song I want to play on the radio, I might have to take out the line that says “f**k the police” or “f**k George Bush.” Because at the end of the day, I’m marketing myself as a product so even though I feel certain ways or feel strongly about my opinions, I got to be real with myself enough to say if I want to sell these millions and meet these millions of fans, that I have to live by this is a business. So there’s a thin line between that and selling out.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s think about your name Serius Jones in a much broader perspective, just play along with this.

Serius Jones: Okay…

AllHipHop.com: What’s the most serious thing you’ve ever dealt with in your life?

Seirus Jones: Oh wow, that’s crazy. Can I say life itself? I mean the most serious thing that I’ve dealt with is this whole music business. Because at the end of the day, if you really want to be successful at this, you have to live this.

AllHipHop.com: Is “Up North” Hip-Hop serious?

Serius Jones: A lot of times “Up North” Hip-Hop is serious, but a lot of times it’s too serious. Like people take it and are not having enough fun with it. You got people Up North doing the motorcycle dances and leaning and rocking with it because it’s fun. It’s because of the mind state up here because it’s cold and it’s the concrete jungle. It comes across where it’s a lot of tense energy and people have already heard that kind of energy from up North. So the whole up top movement has to come at a different angle.

AllHipHop.com: Is Southern Hip-Hop serious?

Serius Jones: Southern Hip-Hop is making serious noise and serious money. I like southern Hip-Hop, especially the legends that’s really, a lot of people sleep but there’s a lot of southern MCs that spit crazy. I listen to T.I., I listen to Lil’ Wayne, I listen to UGK. It’s a lot of Down South lyricists that spit more than Up Top lyricists.

AllHipHop.com: Now let’s switch to the last name Jones and give me you’re opinion on some famous Jones’…

Serius Jones: Alright…

AllHipHop.com: James Earl Jones.

Serius Jones: That n***a got an ill voice. I’d like to hear him spit a 16 or something.

AllHipHop.com: Mike Jones.

Serius Jones: He definitely is putting a strain of the Jones name [laughs], but he’s definitely a marketing genius; I’ll give him his credit. He’s making money with it, and he’s trying to personalize “Jones,” and I can’t be mad at that.

AllHipHop.com: Jim Jones, not the rapper, but the cult leader.

Serius Jones: I don’t even know about that guy. I don’t know the specifics on him.

AllHipHop.com: Jenny Jones.

Serius Jones: She’s a hustler, she hustled that TV money. I don’t think she’s hot anymore, but she had her little run.

AllHipHop.com: Star Jones.

Serius Jones: That was messed up what they did on that show, but I guess she’s a progressive black woman making it happen in a game that’s really like being a fish in a pool full of sharks.

AllHipHop.com: Nasir Jones.

Serius Jones: Nas is one of the most legendary MCs of all times. I thank Nas for a lot his catalog of music because it really inspired me to be an artist. Nas is one of the best MCs of all times.

AllHipHop.com: So you think you’ll reach that level one day?

Serius Jones: If these hating ass n***as in the streets don’t get me, and if God wants me to, then I know definitely that I’m going down in the history books. And I know that when it’s all said and done, Serius Jones will be in the Top Five MCs of all times. When it’s all said and done, true legacy speaks for itself.