Perhaps more

unforgettable than the classic tracks on Public Enemy’s seminal album Yo! Bum Rush The Show is the album’s

actual CD cover.  The timeless pose

of all the members in dark berets gathered in a dimly lit room prove that

Hip-Hop is just as much visual as it is audio.

 

But this is not news to

Bill Adler and Cey Adams. As producers of the vanguard book DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip Hop,

they show Hip-Hop art through sneakers, cars, film, clothing, and corporate

logos. Bill Adler is the former Director of Publicity for Rush Artist

Management and founder of Eyejammie Fine Arts Galleries. Cey Adams is a high

profile designer for Def Jam, MCA, Universal, Warner

Brothers, Bad Boy and BMG. Together they give voice to dozens of artists weaned

on graffiti spray paint and cultivated by corporate sponsorship.

 

AllHipHop.com: Obviously, DEFinition is

not just a coffee table book. Who are its ideal buyers and readers?

 

Bill Adler: There are at least two audiences. One is Hip-Hoppers and the other

is people who come from the art world. These folks aren’t necessarily

Hip-Hoppers but follow trends in art and art scholarship.

 

Cey Adams: Also, somebody that just wants to learn about the

history. Many people don’t embrace Hip-Hop history. We only embrace it as we

create it. The way that we treat the old school is not how Rock ‘N Roll treats Eric Clapton or Led Zeppelin. We don’t give a

damn about Kool Herc or Afrika Bambaataa and we

should.

 

AllHipHop.com: In the book, there is underground graffiti next to corporate Mountain

Dew and Hawaiian Punch logos. Is there a conflict there?

 

Cey Adams: Well, not really.  A lot of that is the evolution. When I was doing graffiti, I

was 19 years old. I’m 46 years old now. It’s not like it happened over night.

It’s been a long journey. I went from one thing and slowly progressed. Back in

the day, there weren’t as many opportunities to go mainstream, but as things

changed with Def Jam, my career followed. It basically evolved with Hip-Hop

itself.

Bill Adler: Artists work in a variety of fields. One day they have to create a

logo, the next day it’s some sneaker. The day after that they have an art show.

I don’t think there’s tremendous sense of conflict. There’s little distinction

between fine artists or commercial artists.

 

AllHipHop.com: I see some top Hip-Hop journalists like Michael Gonzalez and Sacha

Jenkins have contributed essays to supplement the art. How did you round up the

writers?

 

Bill Adler: They’re friends of mine. Most of them were people I thought would do

a good job. Sacha Jenkins has really established himself as an expert of

graffiti. Carlo McCormick knows about album covers. Michael Gonzalez chose

sneakers. Armond White is the critic for New York Press. Twenty years ago he

wrote for the City Sun. I always admired his writing and I thought he would be

able to do a good job on the movie chapter.

 

AllHipHop.com: Why did Lil Kim get the cover of the book?

 

Bill Adler: It’s not really that Lil Kim got the cover. It’s Mike Thompson who

got the cover. Mike Thompson is a painter who has the ability to paint

whomever. He could be painting portraits of kings and queens, presidents, yet he’s

chosen time to express his ability on Hip-Hop subjects. One way or another, we

were gonna have one of Mike Thompson’s images on the

front cover.

 

Cey Adams: Originally I wanted the image of Tupac that was

inside the book on the cover,  but it ended up being a crap shoot really and the

folks at Harper Collins liked the Lil Kim image.

 

AllHipHop.com: I was amazed by the album covers chapter. How

much of the design is artist input and how much of it is your input?

 

Cey Adams: Well it depends on type of artist you’re talking

about. I just did the new [cover for the] Scarface Emeritus CD. That was a lot

of fun because last time I with Scarface was The Resurrection with The Geto Boys so we go way back. Somebody

like Scarface is gonna give me a lot of freedom because he knows what I’m

capable of doing. Somebody like Chuck D from Public Enemy will give me a lot of

freedom too but he also has his own ideas.

 

AllHipHop.com: Is there going to be a sequel to DEFinition?

 

Cey Adams: We would love to do a follow-up and we’ve talked

about the possibility of that because there’s so much ground that we didn’t

cover. As you know, we could go on and on about this subject. There’s always

artists that get left out, so I would say I would love to do a follow up but

right now I think it really depends on how this one performs.

 

Bill Adler: We would also love to mount a full-scale museum gallery exhibition

[based on the book] but it will take a lot of sponsorship. We made some

inquiries already but we need some real money to put together the kind of show

we would like. I think it would travel well and we could tour it through a

bunch of other cities in America and then to other capitals in the world.

Everyone has that out of pocket uncle that makes weddings,

barbecues and reunions more entertaining due to their drunken antics. Well East

New York’s Uncle Murda ain’t him. The now ex-Def Jam signee is aiming to

body the Rap game, so family friendly Hip-Hop isn’t in the cards at the moment.

 

Last year Murda was rolling with

the Roc and his name was ringing thanks to mixtapes

with DJ Green Lantern, guest verses with Fabolous and

Jay-Z [“Brooklyn”], and his own “Bullet, Bullet.” But after S. Carter broke out from the Def Jam offices, the

momentum on Murda’s project came to a virtual

standstill. Now free of his deal, Murda is back on

his B.I., dropping mixtapes [Back on my Bulls**t] and freestyles to get his name ringing once

more.

 

Consider it his mission to become your rap slinging, and occasionally

gun busting, favorite Uncle.

 Check out Uncle Murda’s new song “I Just Shot Him”

 

AllHipHop.com:  So, you’re a free agent at the moment?

 

Uncle Murda: Yes, I’m currently a free agent. I’ve got GMG

Entertainment, Manhood and Violator Management for the job though. I’ve been

off Def Jam for like two or three months.

 Uncle Murda “Bullet Bullet” Video

AllHipHop.com:

Was there any red tape leaving the label?

 

Uncle Murda: No, everything was good money. I got all my

records. Ain’t no bulls**t.   Leaving wasn’t on bad terms, ya

know. They on they kind of bulls**t. They ain’t really prepare that machine

behind me. Got me out here doing everything on my damn own.

 

AllHipHop.com:  When exactly did you sign? Do you

remember the exact date or the month?

 

Uncle Murda: Nah, it was like a year and

a half ago.       

 

AllHipHop.com: Ok, so after you signed, what happened?

 

Uncle Murda: After Jay-Z leaving Def Jam—after

he left I guess they kinda felt they wasn’t taking on

none of the projects that he really had over there like that I guess. They ain’t really f**k with me like

that after Jay left. ‘Cause that’s who I really used to f**k with, I’d go up there  have a

meeting with Jay or I’d go to Roc the Mic I f**ked

around with Jay so once he left Def Jam it was like my whole little thing with

Def Jam was kinda, you know…

Uncle Murda – Brooklyn We Go Hard – Coast 2 Coast 60 – Hosted By Uncle Murda

AllHipHop.com: Are you still Roc-A-Fella

affiliated?

 

Uncle Murda: Yes, I’m still cool with the

Roc. I still f**k around with the Roc. I’m not on Roc-A-Fella

though.

 

AllHipHop.com:

Are you looking for a new situation right now or you trying to do yourself?

 

Uncle Murda: Oh hell yeah, you know we’re trying to get that

money. If we got to do it ourselves so be it, but the buzz has just opened back

up, it’s the first quarter so we definitely trying to go in there and get some

of that new money right quick.

 

AllHipHop.com:

Any contenders right now?

 

Uncle Murda:  S**t, everybody. We gon’ holla at everybody, I told you the buzz has opened back up

so we actually taking a bunch of meetings this week. I’m turning it back up.

Green Lantern f/ Uncle Murda & Avery Storm “Crazy World” Video

AllHipHop.com: So

you dropped the “Crazy World” joint with Green Lantern  and Avery Storm. What’s your take on Oscar Grant now that

the cops is actually being charged? How far do you see

it going?

 

Uncle

Murda: What they charging him with man?

They charging him with murder this time?

 

AllHipHop.com:

Yeah, they’re charging him with murder.

 

Uncle Murda: Yeah, ok. 

Well it’s about f***in’ time. 

I know they know me a lot as “Mr. F**k the Police.” I don’t be saying

that s**t for no reason. Like I be trying to explain,

you got the Sean Bell incident, you got this incident. And there’s

so many others where they shot the boy on the roof from Brooklyn [Ed. Note: Timothy Stansbury

in 2004]. There’s so many times, they shot the kid

[Amadou Diallo] 41 times up

there. It’s just so much s**t that don’t make the news or might not make the

newspaper that the cops be doing, but n****s in the hood know about this s**t.

 

So that’s why I just be speaking on so much violence towards

those motherf***ers and

disrespect ‘cause they just be doing so much bulls**t now. I had shootouts with

them back in the days, my brother had shootouts with them, my peoples, they

shot one of my mans before, they ripped down the libraries in my hood and put

up a f***in’ P.O. building, they f***ed n***a’s little barbeques up in

the projects. Bad enough  mother***ers live in the projects,

they trying to barbeque out there. It might be Cypress Day in the projects, they give you your day. It might

be Cypress Days, Pink Houses Days, it’s Marcy Day.

S**t like that; they come, they try to shut your barbeque down after like 10:00,

12:00 trying to make everybody go the f**k upstairs. I’m like come on man, motherf***ers in the hood struggling,

leave them the f**k alone man.  Just

to show they little power, I just can’t stand them motherf***ers.

 Tony Yayo f/ Uncle Murda “Shooters For Hire” Video

AllHipHop.com:

What would make Uncle Murda decide to roll with this

label versus that label?

 

Uncle Murda: Well, s**t, I feel that whoever Uncle Murda get down with they got to just know what they dealing

with.  It’s more than music, I’m a

movie so you got to market and promote this s**t right. I need somebody to see

what I am and really believe in it and go hard. It ain’t even to me about the upfront money, I don’t

care about that s**t too much as long as you gon’

market and promote my project the right way and really believe in it. I need

somebody to f**k 

with me like how Puff was f***in’ with Biggie and believed in

him. They got to believe in me, the label got to really believe in me and see

the movie that I’m trying to paint, see the picture I’m trying to put out. So I

got to get that vibe from a motherf***er.

 

AllHipHop.com:  So, for the uninitiated, what are you bringing?

 

Uncle Murda: I feel like with s**t you get now, there’s some

exceptions out there, but I just feel like I paint a picture for you. When you

hear my music you can damn near see what’s going on if you ain’t slow. If everything is functioning upstairs

when you hear my music you can see what’s going on. I paint really that visual

for you, you see it. T hat’s what I’m really bringing it’s like a movie with me

man and it’s so real, it’s entertaining and it ain’t

just real, it’s funny and gangsta at the same time

and I got the sexy s**t for the b****es, ‘cause I

gets mad p***y. I know how to cover all that s**t, man.

 

AllHipHop.com:

What were your influences music-wise, Hip-Hop-wise that obviously comes out

when you start spittin’ on the mic?

 

Uncle Murda: Basic influences come from like the s**t I go

through in the streets, man, like s**t I  been through. Right now one of

my little brothers locked up for attempted murder, so it’s just be like the

experience you go through and people that you around go through. I just bring

that into my music, as far as them rap heads who out here in music, it’s not

like you want to outshine them, you just want to be on your s**t, you want

people to speak about you how they spoke about them so that’s a little bit of a

drive too.

 

I appreciated the Jay-Z’s, the Biggie Smalls, the 2Pac’s,

DMX when he was on his s**t, Nas’s first three albums

when he was on some real street s**t. I’m not taking nothing away from what he

doing now but I’m talking about the s**t I could relate to I was into a little

more you know what I’m saying? Like The Lox when they was

first hitting the scene, CNN, Mobb Deep when they was

on their s**t, s**t like that.

 

AllHipHop.com: With

those artists you mentioned, that gritty street element they relayed isn’t as

prominent in Hip-Hop music anymore.

 

Uncle Murda: [It] definitely is

missing.  You got certain n***as

doing stuff for the streets that I like. For instance, Young Jeezy, I f**k with him, my n****s f**k with him. I

be feeling what he do for the street part of this s**t, he does it good. I

don’t give a f**k where 

a n***a from, west coast, east coast, south. If a n***a is doing

it and it sounding good, it’s good and I feel like he’s bringing that back a

little bit too, he’s giving it that little street essence still, he be sticking

to the script so I can definitely appreciate that.

 

AllHipHop.com:

Backtracking a little bit, can you just recount real quick how exactly you got

down with  Green

Lantern ‘cause he’s the one that put you in the game, right? Is that fair to

say?

 

Uncle Murda: Yeah, once I got with Green it was on. I had

hooked up with Green through my manager, Hood. He co-manages me with Chris Lighty from Violator. First, [Hood] gave Green some of my

music to play, Green was like, “Yo, man I been

hearing a little bit about this kid, but I didn’t really get on him like that,”

but when my manager gave him the music he heard the s**t, he was f***in with it

like, “Oh ok,”  so I’m spittin’ some s**t.  He’s like, Nah

I don’t want to just play this n***a’s music, I want

to go get this n***a. I think the n***a  Murda  got something, I want to get with him.

First, he was just giving him music to play, as he’s playing the music he

started really feeling it and was like I want to go back in with this n***a, I

think me and this n***a can do some s**t.

 Brooklyn (Feat. Jay-Z & Uncle Murda) – Fabolous

AllHipHop.com: Oh,

so it started out as he came in like, Yo I got these Uncle

Murda tracks, can you rock with’em?

 

Uncle Murda: They had their little relationship, so he let

him know I’m f***in’ with this new n***a, yo my man Murda, show him a little love, play his s**t.  I had put out a couple of mixes, yo I’m feelin’ it,  I’ma

spin this s**t on Ho t9, you know put him on a couple of mixes. He was feeling

the music the n***a was giving it to him and he let my

manager know, “Yo, I want to work with this n***a

man, like let’s make something happen,” and from there we just started cooking

up classics, man.

 

AllHipHop.com:

What’s up with the rift you had with Papoose?

 

Uncle Murda: That s**t  dead man. That s**was nothing man

in the beginning, that s**t over with, we swept it under the rug.

 

AllHipHop.com:

And what else can people expect from you soon?

 

Uncle Murda: I got this new s**t  I’m working on, firstdegreemurda.com.

I got that s**t I’ve been runningabout all the

murders that’s going on in America, outside America and all that s**t. Got your

little favorite murder scenes from your movies like Menace II Society, New Jack

City, Scarface, you know we ‘gon keep putting up new ones,  show you what states is leading

in murders right now for ’09 and all that. We just gon’  keep updating about what’s going on man and as far as

they know we ‘gon keep  hittin’ you with some exclusive

Uncle Murda music, let you know what’s going on with

me and all that s**t. And if a rapper get jacked up or something we gon’ definitely put that s**t on, ’cause we in a violation

so if a mother***er get violated that’s gon’ be on there too, you can check it out how your

favorite rapper got played.