How cool would it be to say your junior high school teacher belonged to a celebrated Hip-Hop group? Wouldn’t that be awesome if your teacher could bust rhymes during recess, make a knuckle beat on the lunchroom table, or man the turntables at the high school dance? There exists three such teachers and together, they comprise the underground mammoth trio the Juggaknots. However, Breezly Brewin, Buddy Slim, and Queen Herawin live the classic marvel comic existence, working as dedicated New York City public school teachers during the day, and roaming the city as underground Hip-Hop heroes during the night.

Even though the name “Juggaknots” sounds beastly, the group’s reign over the past fifteen years or so has been unjustly underscored. They are responsible for a lot of Hip-Hop’s quiet milestones, from their classic Clear Blue Skies, to their memorable single “The City Needs Help” on the Jason’s Lyric Soundtrack, to Breezly Brewin’s remarkable flow in the audio epic Prince Paul’s Prince Among Thieves.

The Juggaknots with the addition of their younger sister Queen Herawin, talk about their newest studio album, Use Your Confusion, and play a few fun games with AllHipHop in the process.

AllHipHop.com: How do the students respond to you being MCs? Do you ever put on performances for them?

Breeze: They don’t know me.

Herawin: If they knew, we would get nothing done related to what we have to do.

AllHipHop.com: Is Hip-Hop a subject that comes up often? Do you have a feel for what the students like to hear?

Herawin: Yeah, most definitely. It’s a part of their culture, it’s a part of our culture, so it becomes a playing field or medium, for us to all relate. Just cause they don’t know we’re involved in music and have a group doesn’t mean that we don’t listen to music, and have knowledge on stuff. I can’t look surprised when they recite some lyrics and I know who it is.

AllHipHop.com: So I just wanted y’all to just like humble yourselves and spit a line of the very first rhyme y’all ever made?

Herawin: “First up to bat, Baby Joy can jump to that…/not the first or the second but the third of the crew…something, something.” I can’t remember all the words. But that was like one of the first joints I recorded. It wasn’t even Herawin. It was Baby Joy. My real name means Joy, so that was like a nickname. My brother got me a bookbag with that on it. I must have been like 12 years old.

Breeze: I can’t put one out there, but I had this joint where I was videotaped and I found the videotape. I was rhyming and I was serious about it, and I remember seeing that joint and I took a sigh because I was 12 at the time. It goes, “Thinking about the money we be making, I’m on top…/ When I perform world series of the mic/ Then I bless you…” Umm. It’s simple.

AllHipHop.com: Along the lines of foundation and beginning to MC, who are the people you looked up to, like “I wanna rhyme like that”?

Breeze: For me, probably Special Ed. When he came out, I thought homeboy was like mad well rounded. He had this joint like, “Fire MC”. He had regular joints like “I Got it Made”, then he had straight grimy battle joints like “I’m Taxin ‘Em”. When he came out, I was probably like 14, so I was like, “I’m a little younger than him, maybe I’d get at him but…”

Herawin: Women [were] who influenced me even though it was both women and men, of course. Definitely, MC Lyte. Latifah. I always used to like Boss too, she only came out with one album, but Slim bought me the single, “Fever”. That was the joint, I still play that.

AllHipHop.com: What was the meanest thing somebody said to you to try to discourage your dreams of being MCs and making music? How did you respond to it?

Slim: First of all, for the movie Jason’s Lyric, I was given the opportunity to try to score the album. Doug McHenry was a big dog in the business and passed away a few years ago. Basically, he was just like, “Do your thing,” and I pretty much told him that I didn’t have the equipment or really the resources, for I think what the guys were looking for. He gave some films for the movie, and he was like, “Just put some beats together on tape and we’ll get back with you in a few weeks, then we’ll have a meeting, and we’ll see what’s up.” So, [I] waited a few weeks. I really put a lot of work, really locked myself into the room. I didn’t really see the movie ‘cause I had it when it was like in its early stages, when there was no music behind the scenes and had the meeting with homeboy, and it wasn’t really Doug McHenry, but when we finally sat down to have the meeting basically, they just tore me apart in the meeting. They was like, “This is the worst s**t I’ve ever heard.” Someone else ended up doing the score. So, it was like, the beat that I did on the album with myself, Brewin, and Buddy Guy. I remixed “The City Needs Help”, it still plays in the movie to this day. It’s kinda like even though you tried to scheme on me, my beat still plays.

AllHipHop.com: Pretend you were a door-to-door salesman, what would you say to get someone to buy Use Your Confusion?

Slim: When I listen to the album and I really try to be as objective as possible, I want people to really covet it and keep it in their hearts and minds, like those albums that kinda consume me – Brand Nubian albums, early Ice Cube’s albums. Like albums that were really dope, that were didn’t get that kind of initial fanfare and so much popular appeal, but [they] still in the lives and the hearts and the families of people, people can identify and love these albums without it having to be a top seller. Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, and stuff like that [is] one of the best albums, ever.

Breeze: For me, door-to-door, I think what people respond when it’s like look, you get this because you don’t know when it’s will happen again and we kinda got a track record for that. “Yo, this the last Juggaknots album ever, we retiring, like Jay-Z, I’m retiring and everybody gets excited.”

AllHipHop.com: If y’all had an unexpected check for a $1000 what’s the first thing y’all would do with it?

Slim: Equipment. Equipment. Equipment. If I had money right now, equipment’s always like the safe thing. I’m a nerd like, “Oh wow, listen to the megahertz on that one.” It’s like a new toy. It’s a gift that gives back. So, you always, kinda in the back of your mind, justify getting it. If I can’t buy my kids clothes this week, it’s okay because when I raise them later, I could make some ill beats with this s**t.

Herawin: I would try to get my credit scores up. [Laughs]

AllHipHop.com: I wanna play this interesting game called “Marry, Dump, F**k.” For Herawin, Nas, Mos Def, and Andre 3000. Which one would you marry, which one would you dump, or which one would you keep on the side?

Herawin: Yeah, I like this game. I love Mos. That’s my man. He’s a cool cat. I might have to dump him only because he might dump me for a new wife. I know he likes women. No disrespect, whatever works. If it gets on that level. I don’t know how stable that might be as a home for me. Let’s see. I got Nas and 3000 left. I think Andre I’d probably keep him on the side ‘cause he seems like a straight freak. That’s great, but if you’re that way then I don’t know that stable that is either cause you know, freaks, they like to go out and do things.

Slim: You breaking up a happy home, is that what you telling me?

Herawin: I’m not trying to break up a happy home. Kelis is dope. I love her, but this is hypothetical. I ain’t trying to move on nobody’s man. Definitely not her’s. I might have to say, I mean, that’s already her man. You know, so, hypothetical. I would have to go with Nas. Me and Nas go way back. In the days of the “[New York] State of Mind”, he’s been consistent. I’ve always been a fan of Nas. His first album. I mean, crack, it’s one of my favorite albums and I definitely grew up listening to it and he’s a real poetic cat. I’m not comparing myself to him, but I definitely like to think that with my own stuff, one of my favorite aspects is flow. I can get a little sick with it. I love the height on him. Ain’t Nas tall? I need a man with some height. I don’t even know. Once we get the height stats, I may have to reevaluate everything. But From character, I might have to go with that.

AllHipHop.com: Aight, for Slim and Breeze, “Marry, Dump, F**k”: Lauryn Hill, Foxy Brown, Jean Grae?

Breeze: I love Lauryn to death, love her, but she got a lot baggage. She’s like the type if I just wanna hang out with. Me and her, we wouldn’t get it on. I’d probably be like, it’s just a lot of things going on. My kids and your kids. This is too much. Foxy Brown’s father’s from Trinidad. If I brought that home he’d probably pat me on the shoulder. So, I’d definitely f**k her. That sound bad? Out of the three of them, Jean Grae, I did a song with her before, cool as hell. You know, she’s from my era. We got a lot in common. If I’mma marry any of them, it’s gonna be Jean.

Slim: I guess for Foxy, it would just be a jump off ‘cause she’s just a b***h I wanna f**k. I guess because Breeze is marrying Jean, so I would kick her to the side. I would say Lauryn is probably the chick I would marry because I just think in a lot of ways we relate. She’s a Gemini, I’m a Gemini. She kinda does a singing thing, I do a little singing thing every now and then. She definitely rocks on the rhyme, too. She kinda put all her energy into that whole Marley family and it’s definitely something with me. I mean, recently I just cut my locks but I had my hair going for like 13 years. I don’t know about her other sexual side but, she’s definitely well off [financially]. And just even musically, Lauryn produces a lot of her own music. She likes live instrumentation, a lot of the elements I like to use in my own production.

AllHipHop.com: What was the high point when making Use Your Confusion?

Breeze: As far as, the high point, it was a lot of work. We made a good album. I don’t think there’s a lot of variety to it. I mean, it’s aight. I like it, I ain’t gonna front. I been here for a minute now, and I’m proud of it. I feel hungry. I got feelings for it. That’s all I can ask for from an album. Feeling, at the same time variety of feeling and cats listening, of course.

Herawin: The high point, definitely the completion of the album. I mean, there was definitely points within it when it was get that right take or you get the pieces down the way you want it or whatever it is but on a whole, I think overall thing was just having it done. But really when you work on something for that length of time, then you know it’s done then you celebrate what you took to get to that point. So celebration, b***es. Very excited about that.

Since the Diplomats first got noticed, Jim Jones was respected as a street entrepreneur, but rarely recognized for his song-making. While “Certified Gangstas” relied on plenty of lyrical help for the first album, “We Fly High” marks Jones’ first big unassisted hit. The Uptown anthem has bled its way onto the charts all over the country, and everybody’s “ballin’” because of it.

As proof, for the second week in a row, the white-hot New York Giants will take the field to their personalized rendition of “We Fly High”. Like the G-Men, the Dipset Capo chronicles his hopes of climbing to the top, his competition, and how he’s gonna get money after the game ends, like Tiki Barber.

We Fly High (RMX)

AllHipHop.com: So what’s good Jones?

Jim Jones: Everything’s going good right now, on a promo tour blowing this album [up] and promoting the “We Fly High” and the balling [slogan]. You know we go hard out here.

AllHipHop.com: What’s good with this “We Fly High” version for the New York Giants?

Jim Jones: Shouts to Osi [Umenyiora] and [Michael] Strahan, they shackling and tackling football players and for they celebration they doing the balling dance. They said the song puts an adrenaline rush in them, nahmean? So what can I say?

AllHipHop.com: So are they going to start rocking those colorful belts too?

Jim Jones: Ugh, I don’t know if they gonna rock those belts during game, but if they want to get fly, they can cop a couple thousand dollar belts and get fly with it.

AllHipHop.com: Where do you cop the belts?

Jim Jones: It’s Juelz’ and mine belt company. It’s called PB & JJ’s.

AllHipHop.com: When did you get that jumping?

Jim Jones: A couple of months ago.

AllHipHop.com: What do you think of Tiki Barber’s possible retirement next year?

Jim Jones: Man, you know after you put that work in and you get your paper and you do what you came to do, everybody wants to rest. It is what it is. It’s no rest until you get a break. So I guess he hit it and made his number, so let that man rest.

AllHipHop.com: So have you already started thinking about retiring yourself?

Jim Jones: Umm, I don’t know. I’ll probably resign from this job and do something different.

AllHipHop.com: What do you have in mind?

Jim Jones: Whatever the green things is at.

AllHipHop.com: So what’s the album looking like?

Jim Jones: Oh, the album Hustlers P.O.M.E. (Product Of My Environment), it’s a beautiful thing. Pardon me for saying I’m balling so hard, because we are making a couple of dollars. I haven’t forgotten where I came from, nahmean? We still ain’t getting no opportunities out there, they ain’t giving us no jobs. Most of my n***as got felonies on their chest. We [are] forced to do things that other people wouldn’t. The rent still got to be paid and Black people still need to be fly, and things need to go on and that’s what the album is about, that hustle. <

C#### Santana executive produced the album with me. I got the whole Diplomats on there, Killa Cam, Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey. He’ll be home Thanksgiving. I got Weezy on there; I got the R&B singer Rell on there. We going in.

AllHipHop.com: Did you have any indication that “We Fly High” was going to be so big?

Jim Jones: Ah man, I had no idea that “We Fly High” would be like that. I knew it was a good song. I knew what it would do in New York, but I didn’t know that it would touch the entire country like it did.

AllHipHop.com: Loon been talking greasier than cheese steak meat about you and the Dips since he scrapped up with .40 Cal, any words for that situation?

Jim Jones: I think Loon pulled out a shovel on him, but .40 Cal still handled his ass. But that’s hearsay, that s**t don’t mean nothing to me, ya dig?

AllHipHop.com: Speaking of .40, any reason why he dropped his album on a real small label like Cleopatra rather than going through your Diplomats Records imprint through Koch or your Byrdgang label through Asylum?

Jim Jones: He did a mixtape, that wasn’t his album. He still Dipset Byrdgang, he got few thousand for that, [so] why not?

AllHipHop.com: Also Styles P has been running with the title of hardest out and Hell Rell been making mention in his rhymes he the hardest, how do you feel about the competition?

Jim Jones: Look man, this game is built on the best of competition, smell me? Everybody feel like they’re the realest or the hardest out and that’s what they rhyming about. I congratulate both of them for feeling they the hardest out. They both do beautiful music, so go hard.

AllHipHop.com: What’s good with Max B? He recently got pinched on a robbery charge?

Jim Jones: Ugh, Max B, that’s [a case of] mistaken identity. He’s been caught up on some bulls**t, he’ll be home in a minute, a quick one, nahmean? He got lawyers on the case and that’s that, so we good.

AllHipHop.com: You said earlier that Zeek is getting out Thanksgiving?

Jim Jones: Yeah, Freekey coming home for Thanksgiving, he’s going to get to eat some of that Turkey and all of that. So we’re getting ready for Zekey to touch down right now.

AllHipHop.com: So what’s his coming home party looking like?

Jim Jones: Man, an extravaganza! [Laughs] November 3, I got a big Thanksgiving bash in the city, we going to party hard!

Allhiphop.com: On your new song “Alarm.” You spit, “Well I heard Mike Jordan came back to ball again (Werd)/He might meet Iverson, crack and fall again (it’s them stiff knees)/ Yes I am Balllin’/Executive n***a like Kev, Lyor and them (Capo).” Do you think Jay-Z is done?

Jim Jones: I was just talking about Jordan…

AllHipHop.com: Come on Jones, don’t front for me…

Jim Jones: [Laughs] Hey, like I told you this game is built on the best of competition, and I am an aggressive competitor nahmean? I am going to put it out there. I am not going to put it out there distastefully, if you listen to it, it was about the art. At the same time I’m living fast. We don’t live for the old folks.

AllHipHop.com: So what’s next after this album?

Jim Jones: I’m going to start filming two movies after this album. I got two feature films I been asked to be apart of, so I’m about to start my acting career.

AllHipHop.com: Last time you and me kicked it during your promotion of Diary Of A Summer you dropped a jewel on me about the hood getting you high and the game making you famous before they make you rich. What’s your jewel for today?

Jim Jones: Aye man, it ain’t nothing. Just get it together out there. I keep telling people that the game is in a state of emergency for a few reasons. So if you don’t have some integrity about this underworld secret society, or this industry of ours, we finna loose it all, nahmean? They keep putting people on our back, and they got us under surveillance because we young, Black, and we rich. And they can’t stand that. Money begets power and they don’t want us to have any power, you know what I’m saying, so when I say “stop snitching,” I don’t advocate any violence or any crime, I’m just trying to tell you don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. There’s people out there that live illegally and that’s all they got, and this ones for them, ya dig?

For Omar Cruz, Hip-Hop was not just some temporary escape from his torrid reality of the ghettos of the West Coast. It was a form of self-expression and the key to a way out. ‘Cause you see, when the only support you have is the streets, then you literally have to adapt a do-or-die mentality.

Cruz had to face the predicament of not having that foundation and support to pursue music from his immediate family, and on top of that, being type-cast because of his Hispanic descent. When it seemed as though he was hitting one brick wall to the next, he met the tattoo guru Mister Cartoon, who would become Cruz’s Marketing Manager. And with dogged determination and being on the constant grind, they inked a joint venture with Geffen and Interscope Records– the first of its kind for a new artist and his label, B.Y.I Entertainment.

The biggest emphasis for Omar Cruz is about recognizing Latin culture as a prominent lifestyle – something that he strongly incorporates into his message, while also helping to salvage what he feels is the current lacerated state of Hip-Hop. Read what Cruz had to say about Latino culture as a distinguished lifestyle, and recognizing Latino rappers not just as “Latino rappers,” but as skillful artists’ who are just as prevalent as the ones apart that seem to be aiding in the demise of Hip-Hop culture.

AllHipHop.com: Your album won’t be coming out until spring of 2007. Considering there’s a lot going on with the West Coast right now, and the buzz that is already starting to circulating with you, wouldn’t you rather get your album out sooner rather than later?

Omar Cruz: Albums for the past 10 years have always seemed rushed, [and] music seems forced. We’re trying to take our time with this. The last project I really worked on was “The Cruzifiction.” It was all original songs, I dropped that in June, we promoted that for a while and I [then] started working on this debut. So I don’t think six months is a long time to work on an album when it’s your debut. I think a lot of the time people think of quantity over quality, and I think that’s why Hip-hop’s hurtin’. We tryin’ to zero in on what’s real and what needs to be heard right now, what’s missin’ in the game. That’s the void I’m tryin’ to fill.

AllHipHop.com: Even though you promoted “The Cruzification” as a mix tape, for you personally, would you consider it to be more of an LP?

Omar Cruz: It was just putting it out there. It was a good introduction of what’s going on out there on the street. It was a good introduction as far as on the street, it created a lot of buzz out here in LA, it got a lot of love in the Southwest, and it’s makin’ it’s way out to the East a lil’ bit too. I got a lot of feedback from New York, Miami, Chicago so you know it’s a strong CD that represents us. Which is what my debut is gonna be on a bigger scale.

AllHipHop.com: You keep emphasizing that something is missing in Hip-Hop nowadays. If I were to rephrase that statement, would you say that the Latino community just doesn’t have a very strong voice in Hip-Hop as you would like there to be in general?

Omar Cruz: If you listen to what’s going on in Hip-Hop right now, the Hip-Hop that’s poppin’ right now, compared to the Hip-Hop that I was listening to, its not the type of Hip-Hop that I would particularly make. From the Latino side, that’s just not really relevant period, so I’m just trying to bring that to the forefront as well. That’s a whole other problem but in general I’m pretty sure of your readers would say the same thing. It’s lacking right now.

AllHipHop.com: You were quoted saying that with you being a Latino MC, you want to be in the forefront. I mean, the population of Latinos in America is the largest, It’s around… 70 million plus —

Omar Cruz: — Definitely. Not to cut you off, but it’s about time. And I’m taking initiative the to raise the bar lyrically and I always mention someone like Big Punisher who was a great influence on me in terms of how he approached music. He was just sick with it, it wasn’t about being Latino. But [I am] Latino, and I am proud of my background. My father is from Colombia and my mother is from Mexico, it’s just in my blood. I can’t help that. That lifestyle that I grew up with out here in L.A., it’s different that you would say a Daddy Yankee, who is from Puerto Rico, and kind of has more of that New York vibe. A lot of time they look at us and wanna just blanket us, “Oh, he must be a Reggaeton kind of artist. He might be a Chulo rapper or what not.” And those are just stereotypes that we gotta go through.

AllHipHop.com: On another note, have you been to certain countries in South America?

Omar Cruz: I have been to Columbia.

AllHipHop.com: You haven’t been to Brazil?

Omar Cruz: I definitely will go…

AllHipHop.com: I ask because you named one of your mixtapes after the movie City of God.

Omar Cruz: I will go Brazil. Because it inspired me to rename the City of Angels the City of God. That was the concept behind that. I feel that so many angels are born out here. I feel like, God’s gotta walk out here too so, this is the City of Angels as well.

AllHipHop.com: I just asked because I wanted to see if you were familiar with extreme poverty and dehumanization that happens to civilians out there.

Omar Cruz: In Columbia there was a civil war between the drug lords and the government for years. I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, and it goes on throughout all of South America, I believe that it goes to a certain extent out here as well. Maybe not to the extreme, but you got kids with guns out here as well. Any ghetto in the U.S.A. it’s the same thing. It all boils down to poverty, to lack of education, ignoring, neglecting the parts of the communities where there are Latinos, where there are Blacks, where the minorities run high, they don’t give a f**k. I feel, not too far fetched from that. Borders are just separating us that’s it. From Mexico all the way down to El Salvador, it’s the same thing, it goes all the way down.

AllHipHop.com: Your father had bought you your first recording equipment but at the same time, I know he wasn’t fond of you pursing Hip-Hop either. So when he bought that for you was it just for fun, or did you express an interest in music to pursue him to by it…

Omar Cruz: My father was going through his own stress at the time and probably wasn’t thinking too much of it. I probably pointed it out, it was a little thing. But as I got older I would just build on it, by adding CD players and stuff like that, adding instrumentals and writing rap songs. Definitely, my dad wasn’t down with it. I remember writing down some N.W.A. lyrics, and him reading the lyrics that I wrote. Like that’s what I used to do when I was a kid, I don’t know why I did it, I just did it. I remember him just beating the f**k out of me for writing that song. I think it was “Dope Man” that was the song. But he’s cool now, he sees it, you got to respect someone who pursues it and doesn’t give up.

AllHipHop.com: Is accepting now of your career path now?

Omar Cruz: This is my calling, I feel I don’t even feel like this is something that I chose, I feel like it chose me. There were times when I felt like, maybe it wasn’t for me but things happen in people lives and it’s almost like it’s my responsibility. It’s something that I got to do.

AllHipHop.com: You had said that family is very deep rooted within you and with the impression I get from you, also within the Latino culture. But then at the same time music is very important to you as well. So let’s just say up until this point if your family still didn’t approve even though you are a man doing this. If they still didn’t accept and you had to choose between family and your music, what would you choose?

Omar Cruz: That’s a good question. I mean, there was a time when I lost faith in my family and friends pursuing what I was doing. Running the streets, acting wild. Being caught up in the street life sometimes the music would take you there. They probably attributed a lot of that to the music, but that’s just were I grew up at. I grew up on the west side of Los Angeles, and it ain’t nothin’ nice. I wouldn’t have to choose put it that way. Like I said before, you can only respect someone’s dedication and commitment to what they believe in. I think that was the case. You really can’t hate on someone for following what [someone] believes in. I’m in it for the long struggle, you know?

AllHipHop.com: Apparently T.I. had made some comments saying that immigrants should be deported and you had addressed that you were not happy with the comments. And I remember reading in an article that at the BET Awards you were there 20 deep and that you did confront him about this?

Omar Cruz: I saw him, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. I really wanted to talk to him to see what he meant, so he could say it my face cause then I would have a better understanding. I understand he made some kind of apology through his publicist and whatnot. But if it’s from your heart, just do it yourself. Ain’t nothin’ change, it is what it is, we were out here just representing us. Sayin’ Latinos is here and we doin’ our thing and we ain’t goin’ nowhere type s**t, and it was a beautiful thing. We got a lot of love out here. And it feels good being embraced where we are plus it’s my hometown. So we got to be there regardless. But it’s whatever, and if that’s how he feels, then that’s how he feels. He knows what he said. I just wanted to hear it from his mouth to see exactly what it was and did he mean by that. ‘Cause when he said all immigrants should go back to their country, that’s a stupid thing to say from a man in the position like himself.

AllHipHop.com: You will run into him again, so he’s gonna have to deal with it sooner or later.

Omar Cruz: I’ll run into him period. We were taken off guest list from what I understand. Like I said, it is what it is. And that boils down to once again us not being in the game on a level where maybe people wouldn’t say those statements if there was someone there to represent or to respond. I think that’s part of the problem, and a lot of that is gonna happen. And we’re not just one of those extras in videos you know what I mean? That’s gonna have to change. We’re not just those dudes you see in L.A., or in Chicago, or in Miami or in New York. We got skills and the something the industry is gonna have to deal with it.