Hailing from east London, J2K has created quite a name for himself in the underground scene. Renowned for his blazing mixtapes, the 26-year-old grime star has been creating ripples in the industry since 2003. Produced by TNT, the now infamous ‘Heat on the Street’ mixtape series made J2K hot property and a stellar feature on UK R&B singer Gemma Fox’s single ‘Gone’ would introduce the former Leyton Orient footballer to a whole new audience.

J2K – real name Jason Black – is about to make his mark even deeper, with his new 8-track EP ‘Wake Up’ and the banging new single ‘Danger’.

With both a solo and Roll Deep album in the pipeline, we caught up with the determined MC to talk about mainstream chart success, mixtapes and becoming the latest member of Roll Deep.

AllHipHop.com: Tell me about your new EP Wake Up.

J2K: It’s an 8 track EP and it’s out now. It’s unique as it’s coming out on the micro SD card, my thinking behind that was I see a lot of people listening to music via their phones, so I thought I could make a product like that. I’ve made videos for virtually every track on the EP, so you can see them on the SD card too.

AllHipHop.com:What kind of sound can we expect from the EP?

J2K: I did it while I was doing the Roll Deep album. It’s what I like to call ‘relative music’, meaning its music people can relate too. It’s never just pointless music, there are themes. You have your hype tracks on there, like the first single ‘Danger’, which is about trying not to let a girl get the best of you. I have tracks about getting away from everything, there are tracks that address various social issues – I’m just having fun with it really.

It’s just the EP, so I’m not getting real deep on it, that’s for the album which is coming very soon. The album will have a Grime element to it, in terms of the sound and edge but it’s also quite varied. The album’s called ‘Old Enough To Know Better, Young Enough Not To Give A ****’. This is exactly where I feel I’m at right now. The older you get, the more you have to re-evaluate things – it’s not that you’re getting boring, you’re just growing up.

AllHipHop.com: Would you consider yourself a Grime artist?

J2K: Yeah I would but I do like to experiment. I feel that with Grime, you’re allowed to bring other musical elements to it. What people usually do is come from the Grime scene and turn around and say ‘I’m not Grime anymore, I’m an artist’. I do understand that concept but some people are not artists, they literally stand on the spot and just spit bars – that’s not that artistic. I’m saying yes, I do come from that but I also do other stuff. I’m into the performance element, I like to experiment. I just like to keep it fresh whatever the sound is. Grime is fresh; it’s some of the freshest music in the world to me. It’s not like American Hip-Hop and R&B – which at the moment is dying. I’m not saying I don’t like Hip- Hop and R&B but it’s not fresh right now, there’s nothing new; whereas Grime is always evolving.

AllHipHop.com:Were you tempted to follow in the dance/electro footsteps of some of your fellow Grime contemporaries?

J2K: I don’t knock people who do whatever they have to do but I don’t like to jump on a bandwagon just for the sake of it. If I was to do that it would have to be a track or beat I was feeling at that particular time. What tends to happen a lot is, when you go to these producers for a ‘crossover’ beat they’ll give you a similar beat to someone else. Why would I want to do that? I just can’t bring myself to do that.

AllHipHop.com: In your biography you make reference to starting the mixtape trend in Grime. Can you explain?

J2K: Obviously I didn’t start mixtapes, or the concept of mixtapes but in the scene where I was coming from it wasn’t being done, I was the first person to do it. The avenues at the time were pirate radio and raves and I was coming up but not getting regular radio slots, so me and producer TNT just started making full songs aside from just writing 16s for the radio, that’s how the mixtape came out. We thought let’s just put this altogether and package it, simple. Obviously the concept came from America but at the time in the scene, you would only have a CD out if you were signed or you might have a white label out. So I came to be known more for my mixtapes.

AllHipHop.com: What are your thoughts on the UK scene right now – is it fresh?

J2K: It is fresh but at the same time there’s too much of this jumping on the bandwagon taking place.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think the ‘bandwagon effect’ is taking place because major labels are starting to take notice of homegrown ‘urban’ acts?

J2K: Yeah to an extent also everybody is hungry right now. People saw the success of Wiley’s Rolex and then there will be loads of Rolex’s after that. You can’t duplicate that success. Record labels often latch onto anything, they’ll just try to follow rather than create.

AllHipHop.com: Are you interested in mainstream success and being signed?

J2K: Yeah of course I am! (Laughs) I’m not one of those guys either! I’ve always said, as long as I’m comfortable I’m cool. I keep it real to myself and that’s all you can do but people understand what I do – that’s the general feeling I get from the people who listen to my music. At the end of the day, you are the person who makes the music – how can you not like your music?

AllHipHop.com: So you’d never sacrifice your artistic integrity for a signed contract with a nice advance?

J2K: I don’t think I could but I’m kind of open and easy to things; if you tried to show me something new then in some cases a compromise can be made. I would try to make it work to where I’m satisfied. I’m open.

AllHipHop.com: You’re the newest member to Grime collective Roll Deep – how did that come about?

J2K: Well I’ve known them for years and we’ve always done tunes together. I’ve always been affiliated with them even when I wasn’t part of the group. I was about to start the ‘Wake Up’ EP and I went to their studio to get some beats, where they were working on the next Roll Deep album, so it just kind of happened naturally. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Roll Deep and the album is going to be serious.

www.myspace.com/officialj2ksite

“Danger”

Ja Rule is excited. For the past several years, the Inc lead artist has taken a back seat after dominating the early 2000s with a string of chart-topping hits. Now, Rule finds himself on the verge of releasing an official comeback LP this November. But first, he has a special treat for fans in The Mirror, the original studio album that has been leaked in various incarnations since 2007. Ja Rule is ready for a comeback, but are the fans ready for him?

AllHipHop.com: Congratulations on finally getting The Mirror completed, I know you’ve been working on it for a minute.

Ja Rule: Nah, The Mirror’s been done. We just had some issues with it, some leak issues. I ain’t that n#### to hit my fans with some s**t they heard. Even if two fans heard it, I’m not putting it out there for the public. So I went in and made a whole new album. The new album is crazy, but a lot of people didn’t hear Mirror. I’ve been getting hit on Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook with people asking about The Mirror. So I realized there are a lot of people who didn’t hear the s**t. So today they’ll get a taste of it.

AllHipHop.com: So you’re the one leaking it?

Ja Rule: Actually that’s not true. The album was leaked already. I don’t know how it got leaked. People could get it and hear it online. That f**ked up my whole project. But I just want people to hear the album who didn’t.

AllHipHop.com: This is your first album in about 5 years. With the title, it alludes to facing the truth about yourself once you look in the mirror. What are the big truths you learned about yourself as Ja Rule the artist and man during this past half-decade?

Ja Rule: It’s hard for the public to distinguish the truth. They get a persona that you portray or they see on screen, but that may not necessarily be the person that you are. Or they may only know you from the singles you drop and do videos for. A lot of fans don’t get to soak up the whole album. With The Mirror, I just wanted people to get an inside look to what it is like to be me and go through what an artist goes through period.

AllHipHop.com: Not to make you feel old, but we’re right at the 10 year anniversary of Venni Vetti Vecci. Even amongst your biggest critics, that’s the album that many concede was executed well. For the fans who love that album, can they expect tracks like “Story To Tell” and “It’s Murda,” or will they get more “Mesmerize” and the other radio songs that took you to stardom?

Ja Rule: The Mirror is really a compilation of complex and different records. They’re not all the same. I got records like “Father Forgive Me” on the album, and “Sing a Prayer For Me.” These records are completely different. I wanted people to feel those sides of me because I’m an artist that likes to grow with each project.

That’s something that people don’t understand about artists. If you go to your job everyday and get bored at it sometimes, it’s the same thing with us, [especially] if you go in the studio and doing the same type of music year after year. You get bored and want to try something new and expand your horizons. When you hear “Father Forgive Me,” that’s me broadening my horizons and moving to something different.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s go back to 2007 when you were first wrapping up this project. Were you getting a lot of resistance from Universal, since they were expecting those platinum hits, and you were now seeking to experiment? Was it a struggle getting them to see your vision?

Ja Rule: It wasn’t really a fight. The situation just didn’t work, it wasn’t a marriage. Sometimes it’s like that. When you see a project do 5 or 10 million that was a project that had good chemistry all around it. Not just through the making of it, but after recording to the marketing and promoting of it. Those are special because everybody is in tune and wants the same thing. It wasn’t like that with The Mirror.

I was new over there at Motown. They never got no money with me in the past. I was a Def Jam artist. There was poor communication on both ends.

AllHipHop.com: We’re ending the first decade of the 2000s, and pretty much the R&B/Hip-Hop collaborations that people were slamming you for are making a resurgence like they normally do every few years. When you look at today’s scene, do you feel it validates you now that people are running or trying to run with the formula you perfected?

Ja Rule: I said it in one of rhymes on Message to Mankind, “I gave birth to a style that’s way too common now/N##### cocktailed my s###/Got it all watered down.” [laughs] That’s how I feel about it. Like autotune. That was T-Pain’s sound. And now everybody uses it, and Jay puts out “Death of Autotune.” Now, T-Pain might have a hard time coming back with his own sound, because so many people saturated and made it not the s**t. I like autotune and think its some fly s**t. Roger Troutman was the first and T-Pain made it his own thing.

With me, I didn’t create melodic tunes. There were people doing melodic tunes before me, but I made it my s**t. And that’s the difference. When I want to kick it up a notch and do something y’all can’t do, I do this. We can all go in the booth and spit and go hard at each other. We used to do that all day. Me and X used to go to different spots and battle rhyme. DMX was a battle rhymer back in the day. And with Cash Money Click we would go to video shoots and battle rappers, that’s what it was. It’s nothing for an artist to go in the booth and spit it. I can do that and rock with anybody.

But that melodic s**t? I did it in a way that no one else could do or even wanted to try. For me that was my special s### that separated me from other artists.

AllHipHop.com: I’m sure you used your time away to enjoy your family, and also grow as a human being. So looking at Hip-Hop, do you feel it’s grown with you, or has regressed from where you left it?

Ja Rule: Hip-Hop changes every few years. I remember a time when dancing was the s**t in Hip-Hop when I was younger: from the cabbage patch, the wop, pee wee herman, the Biz Mark, we had a gang of songs and dance records! And it was cool for us to do that. Now I’m 33, and you sound about in my age bracket and that era, and you know Hip-Hop has always been a youthful thing. [The dances] are for the kids to enjoy and have fun.

But Hip-Hop is such a big business now, and we grew up with the music. So now you have fans of all ages. That’s why artists like myself, Jay, and Kanye can come up and still sell records because it grows. I listen to Hip-Hop and I’m 33. My kids listen to it. They’re going to grow up and I’m going to get older still listening to Hip-Hop. Then their kids will come up listening to it. So Hip-hop will keep getting bigger as long as we keep putting out good music.

AllHipHop.com: Looking at R.U.L.E. that contained one of the last high-profile NY collaborations to go national in “New York.” Where do see NY Hip-Hop now in terms of quality?

Ja Rule: [Pauses] Y’know, I don’t like to categorize it like that. I feel we’re all Hip-Hop. It’s not music, it’s a state of mind and way of living. It’s the clothes, attitude, walk, and everything that we do. We are different from society, and I don’t want to generalize from region to region. We all made Hip-Hop, and grew up loving it. It’s not like any other form of music. Other genres don’t categorize their s**t by region to region, it’s all one thing. I feel we should really stop the divide and conquer s**t they try to throw at us. We’re all Hip-Hop.

AllHipHop.com: The “Uh-Oh” joint with Wayne was right as he started building the superstar momentum that has manifested today. Did you foresee him becoming as big as he is?

Ja Rule: Weezy was doing what he wanted to do. You have to do the music that you feel in your heart, because that’s what the people will feel. When it’s coming from there, the people respond. He really put in a lot of work on the underground circuit, mixtapes, and he pleased the people. He loved Hip-Hop. He didn’t do it for the money. For about two years straight he said “this is for the people and the fans.” And that’s why he received the love and the rewards. It was a f**king small flame that blew into a fire. He deserved it and worked hard for it.

AllHipHop.com: You have a new label imprint with Empire Records. Are you looking to create a distinct brand away from the Inc or just build onto that movement?

Ja Rule: We made history with Murder Inc. It’s incredible to look back at it. But Empire is my movement. [Irv] Gotti is my brother who I love to death, and is supporting me. I guess if you merge the two you have the Inc Empire. [laughs] It is two separate things but still one thing.

AllHipHop.com: You did some venting about DMX and Ashanti on the track “Judas,” regarding some of the past issues you had with the moves they’ve made. Is all that done now, or are there any other past transgressions you needed to let out on The Mirror?

Ja Rule: Nah, I didn’t want anyone to look at The Mirror as a diss album. That was a song I felt I had to get off my chest. When I have thoughts I have to get them out my head through song. “Judas” was just a real record I felt I needed to make. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings; I love everyone that was supposedly talked about on that record. I have no problems with anyone.

AllHipHop.com: I remember hearing you speak of the 2002-2003 period as a time when the public just threw you on the “hate train” for no reason. When you look back at that period, do you think there’s anything you could’ve done differently to stop it, or do you feel it was a just an inevitable freight train?

Ja Rule: The fans don’t get a chance to understand the ins and outs of how things work. I don’t think they’re privy to inside information on the underhanded s**t that goes on in this industry. They only get to see what is printed, and perception is reality. That situation and everything around that period in my career didn’t make sense. It didn’t add up. 2+2=8. [laughs] I look at it now and laugh. I’m happy I can because you have to make light of situations like that or you’ll drive yourself crazy. I know how we move and it’s just a funny situation, one of those things you deal with in life. God sends you a test, and you have to pull through and show you’re a strong dude. That takes a lot for a n#### to stand up and walk through fire when people are throwing stones.

AllHipHop.com: Best case scenario for The Mirror, do you want to recapture that superstar status you had before? After experiencing how quickly people can tear you down, is that a reality you still strive for? Or is having the love of your diehard fans enough?

Ja Rule: I have an uncanny love out there. There’s diehard Ja Rule fans out there, and those that really hate me. But when I look at the reasons people don’t like me, it never really resonates. They’re usually frivolous reasons, never about hating the music. I’m not concerned with that. I’m concerned with those who understand what goes on in the music business and what happened with all the s**t I’ve been through. People like comeback stories, to see someone be on top, fall, and come back to glory. That’s the American story. A lot of people are rooting for me to do that with my situation and my new label. I’m getting a lot of love and good feedback. I’ve been all over the world. I’ve been touring for about four years now overseas and it’s crazy. People want to see me win and I don’t want to let them down. I want to put out that music that people will enjoy.

The Mirror is a present for them to enjoy. They’ll get a chance to enjoy it in its entirety. And it’s free, you don’t have to pay s**t for it. I’ll have a mixtape soon and then my new album. I feel it is my time to hit off Hip-Hop.

On The Mirror I didn’t do too many guests. I have Weezy, Game, and a lot of new artists who did their thing. It’s just a great album. And I got production from my man Erick Sermon and C#### Santana.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the early word on that new album?

Ja Rule: New album coming real soon, looking to drop around October or November. I worked really hard for the fans. Look out for my new label Empire Records and all my new artists. I don’t have a title yet. I may do a little contest to get the fans to give some ideas. I’m tittering with it every day.

AllHipHop.com: I’m sure today the fans who haven’t heard The Mirror will be eager to give it a listen.

Ja Rule: Yeah man, but I’m not trying to get in any trouble with Universal [laughs]. The album was already leaked don’t sue me! It’s all love, and it’s getting real crazy. I got a lot of people backing me and it’s feeling good, my n####.

African Artists: Stormin’ Into The Hip-Hop World

 

For some reason or another, there exists

the misconception that African artists cannot be authentically Hip-Hop, or that their sound is exotic—foreign to the

indigenous Hip-Hop rhythm. Of course, like all misconceptions, this is grounded

in falsehood. Any true Hip-Hop fan is aware of the contributions old school

Jamaican Reggae music made in the conception of this cultural phenomenon we

today take great pride in; but many might not be as enlightened about the

storytelling and rhetorical contests Hip-Hop adopted from its African ancestry. 

In spite of the passion and

pervasiveness of ignorance in our society, no greater repellent has been more

successful in pushing back against these claims than the blossoming of African

Hip-Hop artists on international soil.

Today, we look at four rising stars

currently making impressive headway in the cutthroat, semi-hostile world of

western Hip-Hop:

K’NAAN

“I’m so ridiculous, I gotta compose this order/ … I’m

sorta like a reporter strapped to a little recorder/ The border having an order

not to let me in/ In order for me not to cause a slaughter/”

—K’Naan, “The

African Way,” The Dusty Foot Philosopher,

2005.

“So come now don’t you try to play the hero/ Around

here we got pirates with torpedoes/ Alongside all the warlords and beardos/ The

only city Ni**as blacker than tuxedos/”

—K’Naan, “I Come

Prepared,” Troubadour, 2009.

I first heard

about the Somali-Canadian MC K’Naan in 2006. At the time, not many were aware

that the North African country from which this budding icon emerges was in

terrible shape, following decades of Western exploitation of its natural

resources, but circumstances have changed considerably recently.    

Today, though most aren’t accurately

aware of the truth behind the Somali piracy brouhaha, they know enough to trace

where K’Naan’s fiery passion

comes from. K’Naan is a musical jewel. And

he knows this. Tales of Beatles and Rolling Stones stardom swirl around him

wherever he goes. And he knows this.

He has in his hands the power to control his destiny, and carve out a legacy

that would arrest the attention of generations to come after him. And he knows this. 

In truth, much need not be written about

this great musician, for his reputation precedes him. When his debut studio

album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher, was

released in 2005, K’Naan’s talent was exposed to the rest of the world. The

album was welcomed by most as a much needed hurricane of fresh air.    

And even though his sophomore project, Troubadour, isn’t exactly of the quality

and caliber many anticipated, that’s just K’Naan’s way of letting the world

know that he doesn’t care “If Rap Gets Jealous.”

My confidence in K’Naan’s music leads me

to believe that 20 years from now, if the coffin of Hip-Hop isn’t officially

closed, his energy and excellence would be studied as a blueprint for MCing. 

M.ANIFEST

“I’ve been through it—passports, no visas/ Being so

broke, having to fill it with no reefer/”

—M.anifest,

“Babylon Breakdown,” Manifestations,

2007.

“You’re dead wrong for twisting out my history like

blunts in trees/ Like Public Enemy, Elvis ain’t meant ‘sh** to me’/”

—M.anifest,

“Sankofa (My History),” Coming to America,

2009.

I first met

M.anifest at a communicator’s conference earlier this year. We had just been

through a few hours of intense training and exercise, and more work needed to

be done. Plus, lunch was still fresh in our bellies. Understandably, fatigue

had taken control of the room. (“The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”)

So, “M dot” had an idea—freestyle and engage the audience in a way that borrows

from the Hip-Hop tradition of call-and-response. “Represent, what? Represent,

wh0?” he called, as the audience responded by repeating his words. And then, at

that most unsuspecting moment, the Ghanaian native ran through a 2 minute or so

freestyle that had me, as well as everyone else in the room—young and not so

young—spell-bound and completely energized, pumped-up for the 6 more hours awaiting

us.    

M.anifest’s performance was more

surprising, it seemed, because we had no idea an MC was present in our midst.

His humility had checked at the door any egos brought along with him from

Minneapolis, Minnesota. On that day, he was less M.anifest and more Kwame

Tsikata —a progressive communicator who trains non-for-profits around the

country in harnessing the power of social media to increase their efficiency.  

But don’t get it twisted: The Brother is

Dick Cheney-vicious on the mic.

In his few years as a performer, M.anifest has shared stage with many greats

including Brother Ali, Atmosphere, and K’Naan. The MC, once described by a

hometown Newspaper as “smart as Talib Kweli and as funky as Kanye West,” released

his first album, Manifestations,

independently in 2007. The critical acclaim with which it was welcomed couldn’t

have been more rewarding for this talented tenacious artist.  

He is currently touring various parts of

the country, and working toward the completion of a collaboration album with

Ugandan Hip-Hop heavyweight contender, Krukid. The African Rebel Movement (A.R.M.)

project is expected anytime soon, and with the great buzz surrounding it, the

dynamic duo can count on a successful outcome when it drops. Amongst his many

other devotions, M.anifest has his eyes set on finishing his long-awaited

sophomore release, Coming to America,

set temporarily for the fall.

ASA

“You suppress all my strategy/ You oppress every

part of me/ … You don’t care about my point of view/ If I die another will

work for you/”

—Asa, “Jailer,” Asa, 2008.

 “Tell me,

who’s responsible for what we teach our children?/ Is it the internet or the

stars on television?/ … So little Lucy turns sixteen and like the movie she’s

been seeing/ She has a lover in her daddy/ She can’t tell nobody till she makes

the evening news/”

—Asa, “Fire on

the Mountain,” Asa, 2008.

If you’ve never heard of Asa, walk away in shame—hands-over-eyes. Now, Asa, the Paris-born, Nigeria-raised singer/songwriter isn’t exactly what you would consider “Hip-Hop,” but her smooth, eclectic melody, fused with thought-arousing lyrics, is sure to seduce even the most back-pack, hardcore Hip-Hop aficionado. Asa, partly inspired by the late Hip-Hop legend J Dilla, is sure to secure the same amount of buzz in the Hip-Hop community that she has found in other genres like Soul.  

When she sings, you hear Bob Marley, you

hear Femi Kuti, you hear Nina Simone, you hear Mahalia Jackson. She is musical

dexterity and diversity in living color. 

In Asa’s music, what most strikes

the listener is her precision and accuracy. No note is hit imprecisely and no

chord is misplayed. She is a meticulous musician, who ingrains in every

listener a sense that popular music might not be facing the death rattles many,

including the writer of these words, had long predicted.    

Her self-titled

album was recently released on Naïve records, and the raving reviews

couldn’t be more assuring for this young, genial genius-in-the-making.  

Perhaps it’s my nationalistic nature

crying out, but I can see Asa number one on the billboard charts sometime soon.

  

TUMI AND THE VOLUME

“Gotta be brave, money, and I reckon it all depends

on heart/ Or lack of it/ I figure it’s hunting all the same/ Look in my eyes,

search for the story behind the pain/”

—Tumi and the

Volume, “The Story Behind the Pain,” Tumi

& The Volume, 2006.

“They bump into me/ And you/ It’s the South African

freed/ That wants us to be as cruel as the master had been/”

—Tumi and the

Volume, “I Came Home,” Music From My Good

Eye, 2007.

You’ve probably never heard of Tumi and the Volume, but, of course, you’re the kind of fan who also thinks Hip-Hop was conceived in the mid ‘90s and Lil’ Wayne is a pioneer. I’m not knockin’ you; I just think your horizon could use some expansion.

Enter: Tumi

& The Volume (TATV). This Johannesburg, South Africa-based group is

hard to define. The lead character, Tumi, is a lyricist of unmatched skill, but

he’s only 1/4th of TATV. Their biography isn’t uncommon: A Jew, a South

African, and two Mozambiquans walk into a bar and TATV is formed. With that setup,

it’s hard to box them in.   

Like TATV, most artists hate to be categorized

into limited niches, but, unlike TATV, not every artist is capable of mustering

the creativity needed to stimulate listeners in appreciable ways. Thankfully,

TATV, largely considered the South African version of The Roots, has found a

way to do just that. Though formed less than 7 years ago, the maturity put

forth on their self-titled debut album guarantees greatness for this group’s

future.

TATV is currently hard at work on a follow-up

studio album; so is Tumi, whose debut solo project, Music From My Good Eye, released 2007 on Motif Records, left no one doubting

his lyrical superiority.    

***

It remains to be seen just what impact

these emerging African stars would have on the international—especially

American—Hip-Hop scene, and it’s even more impossible to predict whether their sound would remain unpredictable, maintaining

and expanding the fan base nurtured hitherto; but, if past work is any

indication, the future is worth looking forward to—as it guarantees increased

demand for equally entertaining artists on the continent.   

Let’s face it. Groups today are a rare and endangered species in Hip-Hop. With every Voltron-united collective comes a natural urge for members to forge a solo path towards their own success, beyond the protective shadow of a former life. Although they have dabbled in outside collaborations and projects, the members of Slum Village remain rooted in maintaining a united front.

 

And with the return of group co-founder Baatin, SV is more focused than ever, as they travel around the country as part of this year’s Rock the Bells tour and gear up for the release of a new group album as well as solo material in the coming months.

 

AllHipHop.com recently caught up with T3, who weighs in on Baatin’s reemergence, why Slum Village members haven’t permanently gone solo, the Charles Hamilton/J. Dilla controversy and why the new SV album will not include music from his late group mate.

 

AllHipHop.com: How is it having Bataan back in the fold?

 

T3: The whole thing is I felt like the fans wanted Bataan to come back. And I felt like I really didn’t want to do another album without Baatin. I wanted his energy. So, like I say, I started my blues brother adventure and had to find all my band members. Which was Elzhi, who was on the road doing his solo thing. Called him up and told him we tryin’ to get this new Slum album done. Then I had to go find Baatin in the old neighborhood where we grew up at. I found him and he was ready. He seemed like he had his stuff together. So that’s how the whole wheel started spinning for this new Slum Village album because basically, for the last couple of years, we dropped an album but we were going through a lot of depression. Dilla passed and then Proof passed. I really didn’t feel like doing no music. I wasn’t inspired. I was really just going through my thing.

 

AllHipHop.com: So what ultimately motivated you to say ‘Hey, I’m ready to get the fellas back and do another Slum album’?

 

T3: I mean you can only be depressed so long before you either pull yourself up or it just tears you down. So after a couple of years, I don’t know man, I just started kickin’ it with my crew and I got inspired by the cats I was around, you knowwhatimsayin, with the music. Like Guilty [Simpson] or Black Milk or cats like that. They kept the motivation goin’. Then I started off working on my solo album and I just stopped that once this Slum Village [project] started going and I’ll finish that later. So that’s basically how it all got started. It was basically me, Young RJ and Scrap. And then we just rounded up everybody. Then we started to work on this album and try to map out some Slum Village music. And the difference between this versus a lot of our other albums is we got multiple producers, which we never do that much. It usually be one producer producing our whole album or maybe two. Like Dilla or when it was BR Gunner doing a lot of our stuff, which was Black Milk and Young RJ. So that’s how it usually we get down, but for this album we got Focus from Dre’s camp and we got Hi-Tek and then we got G-Rock. And then we got Madlib, Then we got Dave West. We just went out on the production…We were just working with people we had relationships with and we know they come with some classic s**t.

 

 

AllHipHop.com: What is the official name of the new album?

 

T3: It’s called Villa Manifesto. It’s just a Slum Village statement to the people. And basically we sayin’ we’ve been gone for a while. We kinda gotta break down where we been and what we been going through and, you know, address the people. So that’s what this album kinda doing in a whole. That’s why we decided to call it that.

 

AllHipHop.com: I’m assuming Dilla’s presence will be found on this album.

 

T3: Always. Always, but the whole thing about the Dilla situation is we got a few jewels that we never released. And that we kinda holdin’ until the smoke clears. Right now, it’s so much goin on with the Dilla estate and all this, a bunch of other stuff. Charles Hamilton crazy s**t. It’s nuts out here. Hip-Hop has gone crazy [laughs]

 

AllHipHop.com: Eventually time passes and things fade. I know people feel strongly about this Dilla/Hamilton situation. So much so that Michigan may not be the place for him. Do you feel that over time…?

 

T3: Anything is possible over time. I mean, like Chris Brown over time and whoever over time. Yeah. Over time, yeah, anybody can make it happen. You can reinvent yourself. You can come from another angle. Yeah, you know, anything can happen. Over time. When what’s her name forgot the lyrics. Over time we forgot. It happens. So yeah, you get over stuff over time. I’ll say that. I don’t know, man. It depends on how big it is because people ain’t still forgave OJ. Over time. [laughs] Let me just say it depends on how big it is and what you messin’ with…Over time certain stuff people ain’t gonna forget. Let me say that too.

 

AllHipHop.com: Let’s go back to this Villa Manifesto album. You mentioned the producers on there. You got a solid group of producers on there, including some of the unused Dilla beats?

 

T3: Naw. We didn’t put any Dilla beats on there. Not because we don’t have any or not because we didn’t want to put any on there. It’s just we waiting for the perfect time to put it out. We gonna do a whole Dilla album that we wanna do dedicated to the whole Dilla movement. But not on this album. Not this album. But we already got an album wrapped that we got in the bat cave, which is just all Dilla. So for this one, no. Yes, we gonna rep Dilla everywhere we go. But not for this particular album because we just didn’t want to go there. It’s like…I love the support, but I don’t know. You get on that fence, man because I feel like Dilla didn’t get his respect that he should’ve got when he was alive.

 

AllHipHop.com: Is there a timeframe that fans could expect this album?

 

T3: Probably next year. I wanted to put it out this year but this year almost over with. That’s how I see it. Summertime that’s halfway through. Almost. Probably next year. Early next year. That’s what we lookin’ for to do the Dilla album.

 

AllHipHop.com: what’s made Baatin’s return an important event for Slum Village?

 

T3: Baatin brings a lot of energy but also with Baatin you gonna get all this energy. But at the same time, you don’t know what you gonna get. It’s Baatin, youknowwhatimsayin [laughs]. It’s just like all this energy. You know you gonna have a great time when Baatin hits the stage. But he Baatin. He adds that spontaneity that you not gonna get from nobody else. Ever. It’s Baatin. We never kicked Baatin out the group. I will never kick him out he group. He always got an open door. If he wanna rap on anything that Slum Village do, I will never tell him ‘No.’ Baatin helped found this group. I can never tell this guy ‘No.’

 

AllHipHop.com: There’s always this perception that rap is a young man’s game, but like you said, you have a lot of artists that are in their 30s that’s still making great music. As you get older, how do you see your musical direction?

 

T3: It has to evolve with your audience. It has to be bigger. It has to be better. For us, what works for us may be is not the same as everybody is feelin’ it. But for our fans, as long as we keep it raw and they like some of our female-friendly songs as well, as long as we keep it raw, they pretty much rollin’ with us. They dedicated to rollin’ with us. And we got fans like that, that grow with us on some Rolling Stones/Beatles stuff. OK, they still growin.’ They still love the music. We still here. I don’t have to make a hot song every year for my fans to be there.

After a spectacular night of satisfying a good load of die hard Wu-Tang fans in Raleigh, NC, Trife Diesel and Ghostface Killah sat down with AllHiphop.com for an interview after an energetic Method Man & Redman show. The kid Trife couldn’t have  named it better with the release of his anticipated debut album Better Late Than Never. Matter of fact, Trife deserves a pat on the back from Hip-Hop, proving that he still hold valuable weight in the game after all these years. You never know, by the way it’s looking, Staten Island may have something to bring the authenticity in rap back. Enjoy the roofless thoughts from Trife Diesel and his brother Ghostface- who couldn’t bite his tongue expressed with valuable words of wisdom. Take this pleasure Hip-Hoppers, for he’s finally here- and he proves it’s better late than never.

AllHipHop.com: So you’re on this tour promoting your new album, how has it been so far?

Trife Diesel: It’s good. We’re only like two days in. Last night we were in Asheville and tonight we’re in Raleigh. For most of the part, both shows were really good.

AllHipHop.com: Better Late Than Never- that’s the name of your debut album. How does it feel to be finally out?

Trife Diesel: It feels good you know what I mean. That’s why I gave the album that title because it’s been a long time coming, and now that it’s finally here, it’s been a long time coming. I rather it be late than not at all.

AllHipHop.com: What took so long for the debut album to come out? Is there anything you benefited from the album taking so long to drop?

Trife Diesel: It took so long because basically I didn’t have a label deal or whatever and I just had to make moves you know what I mean. I had to put the CD out. Appose to me just rocking with Ghost all the time, I just had to do my own thing you. That’s it.

“I’m just tired of him running his mouth because he runs his mouth too much. He’s one of those n***as that will start drama in the hood and his boys wouldn’t even back him. I’ll tell Joe Budden to his face because I run with a strong team…”

-Trife Diesel

AllHipHop.com: One of the things I commend you on was the ability to gain respect from both mainstream and underground listeners. What approach did you take going into the debut album?

Trife Diesel: To whatever I did- like when I write every song that I do, I just wrote mad songs and just the album together like that. There wasn’t any certain technique that I had to do. As far as when it got close to getting the deal or whatever, I made more music to revolve around the title.

AllHipHop.com: One of the songs that didn’t make the album- which I consider a good crossover track was “Speed of Life” featuring B.o.B. and Inspectah Deck. Why didn’t it make the album?

Trife Diesel: Oh that was like a sneak teaser you know what I mean. That wasn’t suppose to get leaked out you know what I mean. I don’t even know who leaked the track, but it wasn’t even supposed to go out. But, it got out and it’s been getting a lot of buzz off of that. To me, that was supposed to be stuck in the stash. But since it got leaked, it’s been good responses or whatever, and that’s what it is.

AllHipHop.com: If I’m correct you have some lost albums right? Raw Footage being one of them…

Trife Diesel: Yeah that was a long time ago. Raw Footage- I always play with a lot of names. You know, with me being a kid that recorded a lot, I always try to make names of albums and keep music on the side or whatever. Raw Footage didn’t make it, Stapleton to Somalia didn’t make it, and Put It On The Line made it. Now you have Better Late Than Never– that made it. So that’s basically what that was. I just keep a lot of names for my albums. Like the next album may be named Apartment 8P.

AllHipHop.com: Now was any of the material on Raw Footage transferred to Better Late Than Never?

Trife Diesel: Naw.

AllHipHop.com: How did the past albums differ- I bet they differed a lot.

Trife Diesel: Like Raw Footage- that was a long time ago. This Better Late Than Never, it’s like a more mature album. It’s just like why I changed my name from Trife Da God or whatever, but now it’s Trife Diesel. I’m a skinny dude, I’m not husky or anything, but Diesel is more of a state of mind right now. I feel stronger and that’s why I changed my name like that. So it’s Trife Diesel and Better Late Than Never. Like I said before, the fans- they just wanted that like “Why your album not coming out, why your album not coming out”. One person that asked me that day, I was like “Yo better late than never”, and that’s how that came about. So umm Better Late Than Never is in stores right now and it’s a blessing. I have Ghostface on it, Freeway on it, I have Royce Da 5’9 on it, I have my man Termanology it, I have Wigs on it, I have T.M.F. on it- Kryme Life & Tommy Whispers and it’s beautiful thing. I have 16 strong tracks.

“We had to really struggle to get to where we’re at. We had to be a really be able to rhyme n***a. So n*ggas now are really getting on the easy way now. You have n****as like Trife Da God who’s been touring for mad years and n***s make it with a simple f**king hook.”

-Ghostface Killah

AllHipHop.com: One cannot deny your true authentic New York rap, so it’s only right to get your input on today’s New York rap. How do you feel about it?

Trife Diesel: I think that everybody that’s doing the New York thing- I think it can be a stronger movement, but I’m not the one… I’m not really focused on New York rap; I’m more focused on Staten Island rap you know what I mean. We have to bring Staten Island back because it’s the forgotten borough- the 5th borough, we’re always forgotten. You have Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, and then you have Brooklyn, Long Island, and Staten Island. Like how is Long Island going to be shouted out before Staten Island? So I’m just trying to bring back Staten Island rap.

AllHipHop.com: Are you feeling any of these freshmen or new cats…

Trife Diesel: I’m feeling it, but more or less when I tune into the radio- I don’t listen to the radio because I be lost. They play the same song like three times in that same hour. If I hear that same song one time in a day, I’m good with that. I’m just trying to focus on my next project and trying to get this project Better Late Than Never more turns. I’m out here with my brother Ghostface you know what I mean; it’s a blessing for him having me here.

Trife Diesel – “Respectfully”

AllHipHop.com: Back in the day we had the “Golden Era” of Hip Hop and Big Daddy Kane was one of the faces of that era. What would you consider this current era in Hip Hop and who would be in the forefront of it?

Trife Diesel: You already know who’s running it.

Ghostface Killah: It’s the era of bulls**t.

AllHipHop.com: Who would be in the forefront of this era?

Ghostface Killah: Bulls**t.

Trife Diesel: That’s what I’m saying you already know who’s running it. But you know, it’s Lil’ Wayne and all that little camp right there. That’s who’s running it right now if you want to say it like that- I’m not going to bite my tongue or anything like that. They’re running the airwaves.

AllHipHop.com: I know you’re aware of the Joe Budden and Wu Tang beef situation. What’s your take on that?

Trife Diesel: That’s wack. He’s softer than tissue- cotton. He needs to clean his ears out and if he does clean his ears out, the q-tip is just going to get stuck in his ears ‘cause he doesn’t know what he’s listening to. That’s what I’m talking about. I’m just tired of him running his mouth because he runs his mouth too much. He’s one of those n***as that will start drama in the hood and his boys wouldn’t even back him. He’s suppose to be the leader- he feel like he’s the leader, his boys won’t even back him because he’s f***ing with real n***as now. That’s what I’m saying, I’ll tell Joe Budden to his face because I run with a strong team anyways.

AllHipHop.com: I can’t name the track off the top of my head, but if I recall, you sampled Obama?

Trife Diesel: Yeah, I did.

AllHipHop.com: Ok, are you pro or anti?

Trife Diesel: When I recorded that record, yeah I was really pro. I do my politics, I listen to all that s**t, I stay up with my current events. I don’t really know what’s going on with all that s**t right now. I know Obama was talking about a situation regarding this professor from Harvard when he called the police stupid or said the police acted stupidly. They ran up in his house and he owns the house… it’s like c’mon I’m showing you my ID and its has my address and I’m letting you know what’s in my house and you’re still going to lock me up for disorderly conduct? How stupid is that? So that’s why Obama said that he’s acting stupidly. Then I heard the cops that locked him up and he was teaching the class about racial profiling and whatever. I recorded that song during the election time- it’s a really deep song.

AllHipHop.com: You’re obviously doing your own thing now, what’s good with Theodore Unit and T.M.F.?

Trife Diesel: T.M.F. – like those are my brothers that are on the album. It’s me, (Krymelife and Tommy Whispers). Then you have the Theodore Unit, me, Ghostface, Wiggs, Du-Lilz- talk about it Ghost.

Ghostface Killah: Like yo, we’re out here bee. You know what I mean, it’s all good. Whoever be down, be down you know what I mean…

Trife Diesel: Yeah we have a lot of followers.

AllHipHop.com: Is the line-up for Theodore Unit still the same? Did anything change?

Ghostface Killah: Naw baby, and that’s it. N***as don’t do what we do.

AllHiphop.com: When can we expect an album?

Ghostface Killah: From who?

AllHipHop.com: Theodore Unit.

Ghostface Killah: After I drop this next joint.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the info on your album?

Ghostface Killah: Wizard of Poetry. So… Ya’ll ain’t ready for that sh*t.

AllHipHop.com: If Theodore Unit was to come out today, would there be any difference in there sound since its ’09?

Ghostface Killah: Yes. This time it’s going to be totally different. You’re going to see. Yeah I’m not going to expose that s**t. You’ll see. It’s going to be different though.

AllHipHop.com: Ok Trife, going back to your album, if you had three tracks of your choice to become lead singles, which will they be?

Trife Diesel: The lead singles are “Respectfully”, and then “Project Leaders” and then “Blind Man”.

AllHipHop.com: Why would you choose those songs?

Trife Diesel – “Blind Man”

Trife Diesel: Because there visuals you know what I’m saying. “Respectfully” we did that because we have my big brother on that. “Project Leaders”, it’s more like that hood vibe or whatever and then “Blind Man” because it’s more of a visual. If you ever heard “Blind Man”, you know what I’m talking about. I really talked about a blind man on the corner then on the second verse I talked about a lot of blind musicians- whether they were white or black, whether they played the guitar or played the piano- it’s like another visual right there.

AllHipHop.com: Now that the albums out, what can you say is next?

Trife Diesel: Just moving forward and just thinking positive. Just taking care of family and just staying strong. The last couple of years, I’ve been through some real sh*t. Like if I really wanted to go deep, I’ve been through a lot of things and I still stay grounded- like I have to take care of my family now. So you know what I mean, I’ve been through a lot of things so all my fans that’s listening, just be with me and that’s it man.

AllHipHop.com: Is there anything that you would want to happen like any future dreams?

Trife Diesel: I just want to be healthy, just keep a saying of what I’m doing and stay on the right path because it’s easy to get distracted. So I just want to stay focused, and keep moving in a righteous way. Like I said, I’ve been through it. I lost a lot of good people and when I say good people, I mean good people. I’m just trying to stay focused. I don’t give a f**k about who’s the flyest n*gga, f**k about who has the nicest shoes on. In this state of mind that I’m in, I just want to stay in it and be pure and just keep moving in the right direction-real talk.

AllHipHop.com: Now ask both of guys Trife & Ghost- any last words for Hip Hop?

Trife Diesel: Words to Hip Hop… just keep it alive. That’s it.

AllHipHop.com: What about you Ghost?

Ghostface Killah: Yo. Learn ya history. I played KRS-One and n*ggas didn’t know who he was. N*ggas just be rhyming just to be rhyming. Everybody knows how to rhyme. Roses are red, Violets are blue. You love me, I love you. So it’s a difference between this lyrically era as an Emcee. So it’s like learn ya history.

Trife Diesel: N***as just be on some one-shot deal s**t.

Ghostface Killah: It’s like c’mon now. We had to really struggle to get to where we’re at. We had to be a really be able to rhyme n***a. So n*ggas now are really getting on the easy way now. You have n****as like Trife Da God who’s been touring for mad years and n***s make it with a simple f**king hook. They just come up and make it do what it do, and now they’re on. The game is crazy. So it’s like learn your history, pay ya dues man. I’m not telling you to suck nobody’s d**k, but it’s like yo you have to where you got your s**t from, B. It started some where. It didn’t start in your town, it started in my town n*gga. You don’t have to give a s**t about me, because I didn’t make the s**t. That’s about it though. The game is funny. I’m not knocking anybody’s hustle, because I’m good at the end of the day. What may not be right, may not be real with me, may be real with you or another n***a. If you’re living in that world- which you keep calling real, then live it, live it to the best of your s###. At the same time, do your math. Know where all this s**t came from. That’s all I’m saying. But it’s not their fault because they don’t know. If they don’t know, they don’t know then you’re not held responsible for it. That’s all…