As Def Jam was a building empire in the mid ‘80s, Russell Simmons would have been working the phones, handling important business for LL, EPMD, and Slick Rick. Perhaps along the way, Simmons heard of Too Short, a slow-talking rapper with pimpish lyrics, that was selling boxes of records from the trunk in East Oakland, California. At that time Def Jam couldn’t get behind it, but Zomba/Jive Records did, where Short remains over 15 years later. However, Russell’s got a better knack for the market outside of New York, and that may be why the teenaged Short Dawg is his prized asset today.

Raised in Houston, moved to Detroit, and relocated to Atlanta, Short Dawg has portions of three hoods already behind him. The Russell Simmons Music Group star has an album backed by T.I. producer, DJ Toomp. But even before one mainstream verse has hit, the young rapper has been scrutinized – including some strong words from Pimp C – on his name. Short Dawg introduces himself, speaks of meeting and impressing Rush, as well as the paperwork that held him back from promises of making impact in 2006.

AllHipHop.com: From older people in the Hip-Hop community, when we hear the name “Short Dawg,” we think of Too Short. There’ve been issues before with younger people not respecting pioneers in their namesake. How do you address that?

Short Dawg: Like you say, [it’s] older people. A lot of younger cats, not necessarily people my age, but younger than me, you’d couldn’t say the name “Short Dawg” and think of Too Short because they wasn’t a Too Short fan, or they didn’t listen to Too Short music. Me, myself, I’ve been following Too Short since I was little. Coming up in the hood, I got the name [Short Dawg] for being the shortest kid on my block or on the basketball team. I really didn’t start rappin’ ‘til a few years ago. When I did, I used the nickname that was given to me in the hood. I never expected to really to be at this level that I’m at.

AllHipHop.com: So you look at it as something that kind of fell upon you?

Short Dawg: If there was any problem with [Too Short], I’d correct it. I [met] Too Short, and we kicked it, and he took me out to eat and everything. We put things together, and it was all cool. The reason I had to go legally with it, was because there’s somebody in California who has the exact [name] as me.

AllHipHop.com: That’s why you spell it the way that you do?

Short Dawg: Exactly.

AllHipHop.com: Because you kicked it with Too Short, Hip-Hop loves that old to the new collaboration, like G Rap and Big Pun or Snoop and Bow Wow. Is that something we can anticipate?

Short Dawg: Oh yeah, definitely – an old school, new school collaboration – definitely.

AllHipHop.com: You were born in Houston, spent time in Detroit, and now you’re in Atlanta, at a young age, no less. Walk me through that…

Short Dawg: Born in Houston, went to school and everything. Once I decided that rap was what I wanted to pursue, it came to me. Two years ago, Atlanta was so poppin’. I knew if I could just get around, and I could just be heard, then somebody’d pick me up. Houston is a big independent market, but it’d be harder for me to start fresh, start my own label. I went to Atlanta to try and steal that shine and bring it back home. In the process, I ran into my manager, [who hooked me up with some guys from Detroit], and my fanbase in Detroit started with The Dirty Glove Network, a TV show we had everyday for two hours in Detroit. Once the Detroit fans caught a whiff of it, my buzz started getting bigger in Detroit. I already had a nice buzz in Atlanta. A lot of producers that I was working with started sending my music to different A&Rs at labels like, “This kid’s from Houston, check him out.” That’s how my name got poppin’ in the industry. My CD ended up in Russell [Simmons’] office, and I caught a meeting. That’s how I met Russell, and I figured Russell’s a good person to be in business with.

AllHipHop.com: Spending time in three places, do those local identities affect the way you made music?

Short Dawg: My raps and my rhymes, they pretty [timely]. If you ain’t heard from me in a month, then next month, I’ll tell ya – I’ll give it to ya. What I’m going through right now, the situations I’m in, it comes out in the raps. If I give reference to everything that I do, of course I’m gonna have to give reference to what I’m doing in Detroit, Atlanta, and home.

AllHipHop.com: Russell Simmons is no doubt the mogul of moguls. But the label, RSMG doesn’t have the strongest track record from the gate. Rev Run was panned. A lot of rappers might see that as a risk…

Short Dawg: When I made my decision, the only artist over there was Black Buddafly and Rev Run. Everybody has to fight for a position, but they seemed to be based around me, hopefully. If I can get this rappin’ poppin’, they can put the label on my back and bring it home. I can be the center-point, the focus. That was part of my decision. Plus, there’s Russell.

AllHipHop.com: If you were a center-piece, why aren’t the Waist Deep soundtrack? That’s a big project for the label…

Short Dawg: I had a lawsuit with a guy out there in Detroit over copyrights, tryin’ to steal my songs, frauds, and stuff like that. That caused me to be in litigation, and not able to come out on a lot of different things, like the Letoya Luckett remix, the Yung Joc song I did on his album couldn’t get released, all because I was in litigation.

AllHipHop.com: Those were big breaks missed. How did you react to that?

Short Dawg: It was very frustrated. I was frustrated when you a young kid, comin’ up, and you get an opportunity to make something for yourself, and you got people who tryin’ to take it from you, and they’ll do devious things. As a kid, it’s frustrating. I never expected people to be like this. In one breath, it’s like, “Damn, that’s f**ked up.” But in another, it’s like, “Work harder.”

AllHipHop.com: On Run’s House, viewers saw, firsthand how hard Russell can be on prospective acts. What kinds of things, or changes were made in your development?

Short Dawg: That’s funny, ‘cause when I first met Russell, we had the cameras rollin’ for our TV show. It was amazing to me, ‘cause I know Russell’s not the type to front for nobody, and while we were playin’ my music, Russell’s reaction was the same as a fans. I never seen that from nobody that’s high up [in the industry] before. A lot of people try to s**t on you, “Work on this, work on that.” Russell was like, “Yo, this is amazing.” He gave me a couple of criticisms on this here and this there, but his words were, “Yo, this is amazing. Let’s sign this kid.”

AllHipHop.com: You’re cursing a bit in the interview, but I know you don’t use profanity in your rhymes. Why is that?

Short Dawg: It’s something that I’ve done since the beginning of my career. I’ve never been enthusiastic with the curse. When you represent yourself in a form of art, don’t [show] negative stuff. When I’m expressing myself, I don’t have to say f**k or s**t to get my point across, my message.

AllHipHop.com: I know you’re very close with DJ Toomp. Tell me about the logistics of your album, and the people you’re going to get the final product you envision…

Short Dawg: I was in Atlanta, and I was gettin’ a lotta beats from producers, and I really wasn’t feelin’ ‘em. I was like, “This is Atlanta. Somebody gotta have the crack, man.” What I did was, I got tired of runnin’ around. I bought T.I.’s album, Trap Muzik, and I saw that most of the beats was done by DJ Toomp. I said, “I gotta find this dude. If I don’t find this dude in the next month, I’m goin’ home – for real.” Finally, I ran into Toomp. [My friend] had him in the living room after school one day, listenin’ to some freestyles I did. Toomp said, “I like what I’m hearin’.” He gave me his number, and a few months later, we was in the studio makin’ magic. This dude works hard. He just inspires me to work harder.

AllHipHop.com: At the end of 2005, Murder Dog magazine said that you are the artist to watch for 2006. It’s nearing the end of the year. What kind of pressure do you feel?

Short Dawg: I don’t feel no pressure, man. Everything is cool. There’s not really no pressure. Every time I step in the studio, I don’t think about anything that’s goin’ on me. If I do think about it, it’s ‘cause leads me that way. Until I have finished product, no pressure. The pressure comes when I turn it in and [executives] make decisions for me. God blessed with talent, I feel like I’ll always be able to deliver.

After being kicked off The Source’s board of directors earlier this year, magazine founders Dave Mays and Ray “Benzino” Scott seemingly disappeared from public view. When their bid to regain stake in The Source was rejected by the courts, the two were perceived as Hip-Hop journalism’s most notorious pariahs.

The two may have been down, but they were far from out. Despite unsettled financial matters at their previous venture, the Hip-Hop journalism veterans announced the creation of a new magazine, to be headed by former VIBE magazine Editor-in-Chief Mimi Valdes, herself ousted from her post earlier this year. Mays has appointed himself as CEO of the new magazine’s backing company Hip Hop Global Media, while Benzino will become the branding executive of Hip Hop Weekly. Among columnists in the publication – which is slated to appear on newsstands October 16 – will be Wendy Williams and Star formerly of the Star and Bucwild Show.

Mays, Benzino, and Valdes discussed their plans for Hip Hop Weekly with AllHipHop last week.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s look under the hood of what Hip Hop Weekly is. What is it and what is it not?

Mimi Valdes: It’s not a tabloid. That’s something that keeps getting reported out there. It’s not a tabloid. What we are trying with the magazine is basically, you know, that straight Hip-Hop, we want to offer some perspective and criticism and insight on how much Hip-Hop influences everything, and we’re following in the weekly format in the sense that it’s a lot of pictures, short stories, but it’s going to be reporting, real interviews with people. That’s basically the gist of it.

AllHipHop.com: Dave, Benzino, you want to tackle that question?

Benzino: I think the whole monthly format thing, everybody was doing it. It was a matter of bringing things on a weekly schedule. We’re still going to feature up-and-coming artists and be informative as far as what’s going on that week in Hip-Hop. For your monthlies, you probably wouldn’t want to wait to whole month for something that happened at the beginning of the month. Whatever happened that week, you’ll be able to get it first and fast.

AllHipHop.com: Is any part of the business plan to turn the table on the gossip mill by you, essentially the most gossiped-about media personalities in Hip-Hop?

Benzino: Well, that’s a pretty good thing. You know what, as far as the gossip goes and everything and the controversy that I’ve been in, I think people can just put up the perspective that myself, Mimi, Dave, Wendy, and Star, we all have a certain amount of experience in this whole journalism with Hip-Hop, as well music, as well as TV, as well as radio. We feel that we cover all forms of the medium wholeheartedly. It’s not going to be a gossip magazine, although Wendy is going to be doing a column, and you know Wendy does her thing on the radio, she has insight on people and on artists she has her own particular way of going about things, so I’m sure you’ll see in Wendy’s column, you might find something about different artists, nothing too crazy.

AllHipHop.com: How do you balance those two disparate things, being an artist and being an executive?

Benzino: You know what, the same way Jay-Z balances it; you could be an athlete and you could be a sports commentator. I’m a multi-faceted person, and it’s not like I’m an automobile mechanic and then I’m an artist. It’s a Hip-Hop magazine and I’m a Hip-Hop artist. It’s in the same circle. It’s not too farfetched. People wear different hats all the time, especially in Hip-Hop. I don’t think it’s too out of the ordinary. When you want to coach a team or you want someone to give commentary, you want somebody that has played the game, and I’ve played the game for a long time now. It gives me a little extra insight on things in Hip-Hop. being an artist and a producer.

Mimi Valdes: You also got to remember at the end of the day this magazine was Ray’s idea, this magazine was his brainchild in a sense of realizing looking at the magazine game and realizing that three to four months lead time was not going to continue to work, that it needed a new format. Also to bring me in was Ray’s idea.

Benzino: Me and Dave are one thing, but you got to understand Mimi, never mind as an executive, but for a woman to hold that title for as long as she did and even when she was at The Source, Mimi has made big time moves, and her coming onboard – it wasn’t about Ray or Dave. We have a great team of people, it’s not the same type of situation as it was with The Source, where you have a big staff. This is a condensed amount of people that have years of experience, years of dedication to the game, so there’s a whole generation of people coming up in Hip-Hop so we just want to share our experiences, everything we went through. We all share one thing in common: that we’re all big Hip-Hop fans. Over the years, as Hip-Hop journalism started molding, a lot of people out there basically have tried to get in the game. Some failed, some have succeeded, but one thing we can all agree on is they’ve all taken our lead. We’re not in this to go against anybody, compete or anything.

Mimi Valdes: That’s what this is all is really all about. We’re creating a new format for Hip-Hop. At the ends, we’re the ones putting it out. I’m sure it’s going to be imitated. Our only goal is to have a new format that Hip-Hop can be celebrated and talked about in leading the discussion in this music. That’s really our only goal, there’s no other agenda than to churn Hip-Hop in the most efficient way on a weekly basis.

AllHipHop.com: Dave, I was reading at the ProHipHop blog that there was some issues with the domain for Hip Hop Global Media, the company based in New Jersey.

Dave Mays: That’s the holding company that Ray and I created to back our media ventures and the first actual business is the magazine. There’s not much more to it than that. Ray and I and Mimi have a lot of experience multimedia in the world of Hip-Hop like we’ve been talking about, from television to radio to online, different aspects …

Benzino: Especially television. You got to remember Mimi did the VIBE Awards and me and Dave were responsible for The Source Awards. When you put these heads together, it’s going to be scary to think what we are going to come up with. We want to take Hip Hop Weekly on TV, we want to do Hip Hop Weekly blast alerts, Hip Hop Weekly Awards, we want to do Hip Hop Weekly merchandise.

Dave Mays: Honestly, that also underscores what’s so exciting and empowering of this opportunity for all of us, the range of experience, allows us to come into the situation, clean slate, pool all that experience and knowledge of the last 18 years for me and 13 years for Mimi and be able to apply that now from the base of something fresh and new without anything else attached. It’s a clean slate.

AllHipHop.com: The public now knows who the principals are in this new venture. Now, who else will be involved as far as the staff goes? Can you tell me some numbers on the editorial and business sides?

Dave Mays: There’s some great talent involved. We have Beverly Smith who’s heading up our Style and Fashion Department. We have Chris Wilder who’s heading up the Sports Department …

Mimi Valdes: Rondell Conway is our Music Editor …

Dave Mays: Cynthia Horner is writing a column in the magazine. Cynthia has 20 years of experience coming as editor-in-chief of Right On.

Mimi Valdes: I think the core staff, and there’s bunch of different people contributing on a freelance level, but we wanted to keep a fairly small staff because we’re starting from the ground up and we didn’t want to get all crazy and hire an extremely big staff. We wanted to start off small and grow from there.

AllHipHop.com: So you will rely on freelancers?

Dave Mays: It’s a 72-page magazine a week, so if we can produce a magazine with a smaller, more concentrated staff, there’s won’t be tremendous amount of freelancers, there will be a core group of people managing it and we’ll grow as the organization grows.

Benzino: Hey Dave, one thing for sure I want to let them know is that our doors are always open for young talent. Whether it’s photographers or writers out there, we won’t get all crazy, but we want to give an opportunity for anyone trying to get down with us really understands our mission and sees through what other people are trying to say. It’s not only a magazine, it’s a movement. We’re going to be changing the game with it. We were political … we got too political [at The Source]. I don’t think you’ll see a lot of that in this magazine. We want to speak up for the community.

AllHipHop.com: Dave or Benzino, can you tell me if Hip Hop Global Media is self-financed?

Dave Mays: It’s privately financed.

Benzino: When you say self, do you mean if it’s financed by me and Dave? To be honest with you, it doesn’t really matter about those type of questions. Nobody knows who’s financing Hip-Hop or AllHipHop. The financial situation doesn’t really matter, the only thing that matters is when you go to the newsstand and pick up Hip Hop Weekly, what matters will be the content. As far as where the money is coming from, that’s a private thing. Like when you read it, you’re going to be able to understand that this is a culmination of 20 years of work, so it’s not about who’s financing it as much as it is about who’s going to be running it, putting it out.

AllHipHop.com: So I understand that the newsstand price will be $2.99 for the first month, then increase to $3.99. Are the revenue streams coming from retail sales as well as advertising?

Dave Mays: Sure, that’s how pretty much how magazines generate revenue. I mean, this is a different type of business model than a monthly magazine, that’s the only thing I can say. We had to study this business model throughout this year and understand it, it’s a whole different approach to magazine publishing to do a weekly like this and to do a monthly is totally different. It’s still survived off circulation revenues and advertising revenues. But with a format like this it is far less dependent on advertising revenues, one of the things we’re really excited about with the magazine is that it’s going to have a lot smaller percentage of ads in it than most of the Hip-Hop publications out there because we can afford to do it with this format.

Benzino: By the way, we’re going to be in the England and Canada also.

AllHipHop.com: So the first, initial run will be 100,000?

Dave Mays: 100,000 is the guaranteed paid circulation for advertisement. There’ll be substantially more out there.

Benzino: And eventually we’ll go into a Latino format also.

AllHipHop.com: Looking back – I know you want to look forward – I’ve read when you told us in other interviews that you’ve made mistakes. I was curious what your thoughts have been in retrospect and how you apply those going forward?

Benzino: We already did. [laughing]

Dave Mays: We’re already doing it in a lot of ways. There’s a lot to that question, it’d take a long time to answer all the lessons I’ve learned. I mean, right now I’m looking forward and the smartest way in order to look forward is to understand what happened in the past and use that to your advantage. If you don’t, you’re a fool. Like anyone else, we all make mistakes and we’ve also had great successes over the years, all of us. So we’re looking to make this a bigger success.

AllHipHop.com: One last question, and it’s about the accusations that you haven’t been paying Source writers.

Mimi Valdes: They owe you money, Slav, is that it? All you have to know is that this magazine is paying people, that’s it.

Benzino: As of right now, Hip Hop Weekly owes nobody anything right now.

AllHipHop.com: Dave, is that a lesson learned from the old days?

Benzino: You know what Dave, you know what the way to answer that is the whole monthly thing. You can go into it like, of course The Source is a huge staff, I’m sure sometimes when you get a lot of writers and a lot of staff, I guess it happens. The lesson is to keep the staff down, keep the writers down, and you can keep more of a finger on as far as people getting paid. So yeah, if you want to say that’s a lesson learned, than yes, that’s a lesson learned.

Dave Mays: We’re going to take pride in making sure everybody’s paid on time every month, so you can check back our track records in a few months and see how we stack up.

Benzino: Either that or go to BitterVibes.com, because I’m sure the first one that doesn’t get paid will be going there.

When Oh No says, “Life in the Ox is like life out of the Ox,” on the “I’m Here” intro off The Disrupt album, he’s lying. There aren’t too many places the size of Oxnard, California that can claim to be the home of such forward-thinking talent as Oh No and brother Madlib, in addition to producer Kan Kick, Stones Throw lablemates MED, Dudley Perkins and Wildchild, Lootpack’s DJ Romes, and Beat Junkie Babu of the Dilated Peoples. “Stones Throw is Ox City,” says Kan Kick. He’s not lying.

Everyone grinds in Oxnard, and on Stones Throw, but Oh No may go harder than them all, following his Disrupt debut with the conceptual Exodus into Unheard Rhythms, released last month. Exodus is largely constructed from the music of composer Galt McDermot, the man behind the sounds of Hair and Cotton Comes to Harlem, who also led oft-sampled drummers Idris Muhammad and Bernard Purdie in sessions for his own Kilmarnock Records label.

A.G., Buckshot, Posdnuos, and Wise Intelligent of the Poor Righteous Teachers lent Oh No a hand on Exodus, along with Stones Throw family and a host of others, helping the style-shifting rapper and producer take his place at the head of the sophomore class. With his video resume growing alongside his discography, he’s already on that next level that everyone talks about, but few know how to reach. Oh No just creates – much like brother Madlib. It’s all in the family, but it’s all in the 805, too. The 9-3-0-33RD. The Ox.

AllHipHop.com: What’s good in the Ox? Last time I talked to you, you were getting on your video…

Oh No: Basically, I got some video equipment and did a video with Dudley Perkins for the Galt McDermot song “T. Biggums” with Georgia [Anne Muldrow]. Stones Throw liked it, so I ended up doing another video for Roc C. Cats around town have been seeing it, so now everybody wants videos. I didn’t really want to do it, but I was like, “I’ll do it.” It’s kind of cramping my style. I thought it was something I could do real quickly.

AllHipHop.com: That’s a lot of work though, especially when you’re cutting it yourself.

Oh No: Yeah, I do the editing and everything. The last two videos I did, I knew what I wanted, but it was somebody else’s stuff, and they wanted their little things in it, so it’s more like work than something that’s fun. [laughs]

AllHipHop.com: Are you trained for this, or is it something that you learn as you go along?

Oh No: I’m learning as I go along. I took it in high school, but I didn’t really didn’t apply it to anything. [laughs] I would do ghetto videos though, with a regular camera and Adobe Premiere. No one taught me. I just figured it out. But when I got some money, I got Final Cut [Pro] and the Mac and all that. I’m the camera man, director, producer, all of it.

AllHipHop.com: The Galt McDermot project – you got a lot of cats coming out on that and showing love.

Oh No: I just wanted to work with all of the artists that I looked up to and are doing big things right now, trying to make things happen. Like A.G., my man DJ Design hooked me up with him and I ended up doing a couple of beats for him. I’ve always dug A.G. When I produced his songs, he ended up rapping on one of my songs. That song was real sick, but I didn’t know if it was ever going to come out with the samples and that stuff, so I ended up throwing it on the Galt McDermot over one of his beats, and it came out sick.

AllHipHop.com: How does Galt feel about the project?

Oh No: Galt likes it. He was down with it right when they [Stones Throw] showed him the beats that I made. I made 27 beats in three days, turned it in, and they sent if off and gave him an idea of what I wanted to do. If we could make it happen, let’s make it happen. He sent me more records and all kinds of stuff.

AllHipHop.com: That’s dope. A lot of cats today don’t know about Galt. DJs don’t talk about pioneers like that. You can’t really stop in between playing records at a club and talk about, “this person was sampled for so-and-so.” With Exodus, you’re also teaching history.

Oh No: That’s what’s up – respect on that. I never really looked at it that way. I do kind of want to get people’s names out there like Galt’s. I’m starting to work with some other people that I can’t really speak on yet, but there’s a lot of things popping off. This Galt McDermot thing has opened up some lanes.

AllHipHop.com: These were the joints you were listening to coming up – you and Madlib?

Oh No: There was so much music being played. Pops [‘70s session musician and singer Otis Jackson, Sr.] had his own music. Or I went to ‘Frisco or Oakland and hung out with my grandparents, going to Jazz clubs with them, meeting all kinds of people. A lot of them are still doing it. People do what they love. If you love it, it’s kind of hard to let it go. Even if you’re not really getting paid for it, it’s still your thing.

AllHipHop.com: Do you make beats for artists, in particular, or on the spot?

Oh No: If the situation calls for it. If I hear someone that sounds tight to it, I’ll probably give it to them, but most of time, I’m making instrumentals. [I’m usually] making pure beats, then smoking to them and trippin’ out on ‘em. Then I’ll forget about them the next month. They’re just lost files, in the piles with everything else.

AllHipHop.com: Just like Dilla, or your brother, producing just to get the music out there. That’s creativity. Anyone can make a beat when they get a phone call, but if you’re waking up in the morning, getting zooted then going into the lab and sitting there all day, that’s living it.

Oh No: When I make beats, I don’t even think about eating. I’ll end up being hungry at like, one in the morning. Starving. I’ll ask my wife what I ate that day and she’ll be like, “Nothing, I told you to eat!” I’m like, “Oh, snap! Time to eat!” I’ll be busy…zonin’.

AllHipHop.com: You got kids?

Oh No: Yup – I got three boys. They get their grub on! [laughs] I used to be like that. In my passport photos, I looked hella big. If I go overseas, they’ll look at my passport picture and think it’s not me. I lost so much weight. I was like, 210, 215, when I first went on tour, and from there, it’s been going down. I stopped eating and started staying busy.

AllHipHop.com: Are you going to stick with the rhyming?

Oh No: Yeah, yeah, I’m still on that. I’m just not as heavy on it. I’m heavy on it, but I don’t be trippin’ off of it. I’m over a hundred songs for my next album. I got some crazy songs on there, too, but I’m not really sweating them or pushing them because I do so many other things. I don’t want to be out there on tour trying to rap and trying do videos, too, and trying to knock all these other things out.

AllHipHop.com: You’re lucky to be able to go both ways. Cats knew about the beats, but I don’t think people were ready for how you came lyrically on The Disrupt. It was like, “Who’s this Oh No dude rhyming like this?” No one was expecting that.

Oh No: I got some verses. I got songs for everything. Topics, that’s all I’ve been writing. Out of a hundred songs, I got 80 of them on topics. The other 20 are some straight murder on the verse. I don’t want to put that out, though, like I’m just a battle rapper. I’ll do the concepts, and then I’ll end up selling the beats for the other stuff. [laughs]

AllHipHop.com: Does your pops still get down?

Oh No: Yeah, you know what? My pops has an album coming out this year. Me and Madlib contributed to that. I did a beat for him and rapped on it, and Madlib did a beat for him, too. He’s definitely got his stuff going on. He’s getting a lot of props for the R&B. He’s doing his thing. I don’t really know too much about that realm, but that’s pops, so I’ll contribute to it. Whatever y’all need from me, I got you.

AllHipHop.com: How much older is Madlib?

Oh No: Like, five-and-a-half years. Everybody in the clique, they’re like big brothers to me. Everybody. I’m the youngest out of the clique.

AllHipHop.com: You all have a good family at Stones Throw, like Def Jux and Rhymesayers…independent crews that aren’t on that ground level anymore, but still not mainstream…

Oh No: Yeah, we try and keep it tight, but [Peanut Butter] Wolf, man…I haven’t seen that n***a for a minute! [laughs] The past couple months, he’s been in and out. I don’t know where he’s been! It’s hard to catch up with him. I just be seeing him, like, “Oh snap, what are you doing here?”

AllHipHop.com: A lot of times, cats put records out because they’re broke, but you don’t have to do it like that. Work at your own pace; make sure it’s sounding right.

Oh No: Yup, yup…I’ve been working on this record for a minute now.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, it’s been two years since The Disrupt…

Oh No: And I was pretty much done with that in 2001. It just didn’t come out until later. Like you said, Wolf’s a hard dude to get at! [laughs] I turned it in in 2001, but they weren’t really paying attention because there were other things going on at that time. [Quasimoto] just came out. MED started working on some stuff. I was working with Kazi and Kali Wild, so they didn’t think I had focus on my album because I never really sweated for it to be out. In 2004, they said I needed to turn some stuff in, so I turned it in again. Then, it was like, “Oh, you need to put this out!” [laughs]

Ed O.G. has made “Boston n***as don’t play” a catch-phrase for Beantown streets. While Bobby Brown continues to make magazine covers in his third decade, Hip-Hop in New England has never broken through the glass ceiling of sales and recognition. However, with a changing sound in the mainstream, many believe that Dre Robinson has what the others do not.

Robinson, a dancer-turned-rapper, divided his time between Boston and Brooklyn growing up. After both of his parents died, the rapper became a guardian for his younger brother, forced to provide. In his verses, those compromises, ills, and triumphs of a pressured teenager come to life in rap. Dre’s stories and his presence have appealed to Kay Slay, Felli Fel, and even Mobb Deep, who hopped on Robinson’s “Get Right” on the strength. After two years of carefully building a buzz with Mass Appeal Entertainment, Dre Robinson puts the finishing touches on the minimally titled, This is Me, locked and loaded for a 2007 release. Robinson speaks to critics of his style, as well as highlights the road less traveled towards a heavily sought after goal: fame.

AllHipHop.com: After last week with Lupe’s album, and The Roots, others – do you think there will ever be an era where the punchline rapper from the street, as you could identify with, will lose favor with the masses?

Dre Robinson: I think so. I think we can get it back, definitely. Lyricism’s definitely on the rise; Lupe’s definitely doing his part. I try to do the best of my ability to do my part, and try to get it back to the frontline, ‘cause Hip-Hop is all about lyricism – and the punchlines and the wittiness and the charisma.

AllHipHop.com: You’re being billed as the next thing out of Boston. But certainly, Boston does have a rich Hip-Hop history. What reaction do you sense from the veterans? You’ve got Krumbsnatcha on your “Mass Jewel” mixtape…

Dre Robinson: I get a lot of respect. Cats is lovin’ what I do right now. They feel I have an opportunity to take it to that next level – that they probably didn’t hit or [are] still tryin’ to get to. They feel I have a great shot. Everybody is showin’ me love and showin’ me support. If I need something from anybody, they’re lettin’ me know, “Reach out, and it’s a done deal.” That’s what we need here right now, and that’s what we’re trying to get more of. For me to get dap from the cats that have done it before… I worked with Krumb before, and I’m ‘bout to work with [Ed O.G.] in a couple, so it’s a great look, and I really appreciate it.

AllHipHop.com: In your bio, you make a claim that you hope to have two platinum albums in five years. Not including Gang Starr, why do you think that no Boston rapper has ever been able to achieve platinum status?

Dre Robinson: I think on a big side, nobody has gave us that look or that shot. We have a lot of talent here, we just need an opportunity and a shot. I think that’s all that’s lacking, and cats feel like I have a great shot. I’m gonna do it to the best of my ability, and give it a 150 percent, and we’ll see how it works out.

AllHipHop.com: You’re releasing This is Me on Mass Appeal Entertainment, but is this really just the kind of situation where you’re dropping this in hopes of attracting a major? Platinum dreams are hard to come by with an indie…

Dre Robinson: Definitely. Those are just big dreams. Right now, I’m working on an independent label: Mass Appeal.

AllHipHop.com: But is it something where you’re hoping a major gets involved?

Dre Robinson: Definitely. If a major takes notice of what we’re doing and wants to take part and take interest, yeah, we’ll gladly take that on. That’s the goal. That’s how you get to where you’re tryin’ to go. We could do it on an independent label to the best of how we can do it, with our resources, but if a major puts us on, they could put that major machine behind us, why not? That’s what it’s all about.

AllHipHop.com: “Get Right” with Mobb Deep has been circulating for over a year. I know that’s going on the album too. How does a rising artist out of Boston convince Mobb Deep to get down?

Dre Robinson: I got the hook-up through Gee Spin, that I work with here on JAM’N 94.5 FM. He’s the Program Director up there, and also like my A&R. He got a lot of relationships with a lot of artists that come here, do shows, interviews, [and so on]. The Mobb actually came up here and did an interview with him, and came out to the studio where I work at. Gee let ‘em hear a couple of joints. They heard [“Get Right”] and they was feelin’ it, and [asked] Gee if they could jump on it. They got on it, did they thing, and Gee called me saying, “I got Mobb on a track.” I’m like, “Yeah? Who’s track?” He said, “Your track.” Yeah right. I couldn’t believe it, ‘cause I’m a Mobb fan, I’m like, “You serious?” Cats in Boston love Mobb Deep, cats ride for Mobb Deep here. I went crazy. The [song] started pickin’ up buzz on the radio. The original version was doin’ its thing, but when the Mobb jumped on it, it just took it to another level. Felli Fel was playin’ it in Cali, it was gettin’ spins in New York on HOT97, Connecticut [too], it was gettin’ burn! We didn’t have an album to support the record at the time, so we just got in the lab and banged out joints. That was one of the first three songs I recorded with my label.

AllHipHop.com: You pressed up vinyl of that too, right?

Dre Robinson: Yeah, we pressed up a vinyl for it and shipped it out.

AllHipHop.com: Which says a lot, because a lot of artists in your position exist entirely off the CD. It shows the kind of DJs that got behind the record when vinyl is needed.

Dre Robinson: The buzz had picked up, we had to. We sent the vinyl out for my new single “Oh Yeah” too.

AllHipHop.com: A skeptic might say that witticisms and punchlines are a big part of what you’re doing. You’ve got “Be So Cold” with Jae Millz and Papoose. While Pap is hot, it felt like it took a minute for him to get his deal. Jae Millz’ album has been pushed back for over three years. Do you feel pressure to be in your position despite the good feed you’re getting?

Dre Robinson: The reason why I don’t get scared is ‘cause I know it’s in sole control of my label, Mass Appeal, to put it out. I know that’s what they ridin’ for right now – Dre Robinson. I’m definitely not scared of that factor. What I’m worried is just marketing and promoting it right, and getting it out to the people properly. We’re independent. It’s different on a major, ‘cause there’s a lot going on, and they look at certain things in the market, and they feel certain ways and push cats back. I’m just glad that I don’t have to deal with that right now. And I am gonna put out an album.

AllHipHop.com: What is the timetable like for This is Me?