Murs is a hustler. Sure, plenty of people make the claim these days, but few have his work ethic. As a full-time MC, A&R, and host on Current TV, the man is everywhere. He has released 11 solo projects in 10 years, and contributed to several more albums as a member of the groups Living Legends, 3MG, and Felt. When does Murs take a break? Never. The LA native spends at least 200 days on tour each year and passes through more cities than a presidential candidate.

Murs is set to start yet another campaign to promote Murray’s Revenge, the follow up to 2004’s highly-praised 3:16: The 9th Edition. 9th Wonder, the man responsible for 3:16’s soul-infused beats, returns to provide a platform for the blend of honesty and storytelling that made the album a success. AllHipHop.com spoke with Murs about Murray’s Revenge and the fights he has while working with 9th, and discovered that he is already plotting his next move. Murs is thinking two steps ahead – the true sign of a hustler.

AllHipHop.com: 3:16 was the most acclaimed album you’ve released. What did working with 9th Wonder bring out of you that wasn’t there before?

Murs: The beats were better. I’ve been telling the same stories my whole career, so I don’t think it’s that he brought anything out of me. I know I can write my ass off, and I think it was just that I finally found somebody who could produce as well as I can write.

AllHipHop.com: This is the first album in a minute to not need a Parental Advisory sticker. Why is there no profanity?

Murs: I’ve always been a huge fan of Will Smith, one of the greatest rappers of all-time, and he never had to curse all the time to get his point across. A lot of my friends have kids, and I felt guilty about having it in my records. I don’t want to roll up to a stop light and see that the car next to me has a little kid in it while I’m bumping 50 Cent or Suga Free, because he really doesn’t need to hear that. There was a time where you had to not curse in order to be on the radio but Ice Cube did it anyway and it became okay. With this album, I feel like I was able to be just as affective and aggressive as I was on 3:16 without needing to be vulgar.

AllHipHop.com: When you do a show and see white faces in the crowd, do you worry about if they get what you’re trying to say with “And This is For” or “Dark Skinned White Girls?”

Murs: I never started to think about that until now, because to do a song like “Dream Chasers” in front of an all-white crowd is like a Christian preaching to the Nation of Islam. It’s like an evangelist trying to talk to Minister Farrakhan, man. I know they can appreciate it as a dope song, but I wonder if they can relate. That’s also one of the reasons I tried to stop saying ‘n***a’ on record because those ain’t my n***as, you know? Some of my other friends that are artists like Jean [Grae] avoid saying it because it just doesn’t fit the situation. I know if I was a white person, I wouldn’t want to be referred to as n***a.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking of race, do you think Crash accurately portrayed relations in LA?

Murs: Oh, yeah.

AllHipHop.com: Did you think about tackling that issue when you recorded “LA?”

Murs: I was just going off the sample saying, “No matter what.” We got a style out here where if any man or woman is from LA, you can just tell. If I had started talking about [race relations in LA], the song would be totally different. To do something like Crash did and do it justice musically, it would take up a whole album. Who knows? Maybe I might do something like that one day.

AllHipHop.com: Why did you switch from Def Jux to Record Collection?

Murs: As long as I’m not with my friends, I feel like whatever record label I’m on is like the toilet I choose to take a s**t on. I moved to another machine in order to get more records out and advance a little bit, but there’s as much significance to the label you release your music through as there is to the toilet you s**t on.

AllHipHop.com: It seems like you’re involved in every tour. Why hit the road so hard?

Murs: I wish I had an answer for that ‘cause I don’t know myself. Labels feel like that’s the best way to promote, which I don’t really agree with cause whenever we go on tour, it seems like it’s the same kids coming out to the same shows. Don’t get me wrong, because we have great shows and it’s a lot of fun, but I feel like we’re just preaching to the choir now. The only reason I’m going on the tour that I’m about to go on now is that there’s a group we have signed called Supreme. The best way to promote them and help them build is through the tour. Bring them out on the road so they can see things and get their name out.

AllHipHop.com: How does all the touring affect your life at home?

Murs: Well, I thought I was going to have a van so I could bring my dog with me but I’m not, so it looks like I’m going to have to sell my dog or give him away, which sucks. You can’t keep a steady girlfriend, because you can’t maintain a relationship when you’re across the country. And I’m not the type to leave a show and want to go out and meet a new chick every single night, like where the ladies at? The road definitely strains things.

AllHipHop.com: How come Paid Dues was the first time Felt performed together?

Murs: Recording the first album was just fun and people liked it enough that we made another one. We’re both just so busy so it was never possible. He draws bigger crowds than me, but it’s not like either of us had to do it. It wasn’t really something we needed to do because of the crowds we draw [on our own] are good.

AllHipHop.com: You’re an A&R at Record Collection now. Do you see yourself as a full-time exec and no longer rapping in the near future?

Murs: I think I can be a great A&R cause I can take a group and tell them, “You’re at this label and this ain’t the end all be all for you.” I’m showing them what I’ve learned and what I think. But at the same time, I try not to look too far ahead into the future. Through hard work and the grace of God, I’ll get where I need to be, so right now I’m just focused on the things I’m currently doing.

AllHipHop.com: So I’m guessing you’re probably already working on your next project.

Murs: Yeah, I’m working on an album that’s going to be a little more traditional West Coast Hip-Hop, so it won’t be a 9th Wonder produced album. That’s going to be a Murs record since I’m going to be doing the beats myself. Again, I don’t like to predict the future of anything, but it’s going to have the feel of a gangsta album. Not that I’m trying to be gangsta by any means because I’m not, but I like the feel of that music. When I’m not playing Jack Johnson or some Rock music my friends put me on to, I’m most likely listening to West Coast stuff. E-40 is one of my favorite rappers.

AllHipHop.com: What were you listening to when you recorded Murray’s Revenge?

Murs: Curtis Mayfield. I love his music because he was able to tell it like it is with his stories. He made “Pusher Man” and that was not his life at all, but it didn’t matter because he made it seem like it was. Look at Johnny Cash when he made “Folsom Prison Blues” about being in jail and then people found out he’d never been to prison before. Nobody cared. I’m not trying to be anything that I’m not and I’m not trying to misrepresent myself in anyway, but like how Curtis Mayfield just told a story and told it like it is, that’s what I’m trying to do.

AllHipHop.com: I can see a connection with how you adopt another identity on certain songs on this album.

Murs: Up until this album, every song I’ve done was about me. The only thing that was changed was the names to protect the guilty and the innocent. But I’ve been around the country and the world and been exposed to a lot of people’s stories. Not everybody has the talent to rhyme, so I feel like sometimes, it’s dope to tell that story. I consider myself a good writer and I think that I make music well enough that somebody can hear my songs and just appreciate it.

AllHipHop.com: Is that why you call your music “sitcom rap”?

Murs: My music is situational comedy. Whether it’s “Bad Man” or “Silly Girl” or whatever, it’s just real situations that you could be in. Like I have friends tell me that I push my backpacker side way too hard and I have people tell me I push my street side too hard. If you think I’m a gangster, fine; think I’m a backpacker, fine. That’s who I am, so I really don’t mind that people think that way about me.

AllHipHop.com: But isn’t having two sides kind of what you’re known for?

Murs: In a way, it is kind of contradictory, but it’s real. I push my backpack side because it’s part of me and the street side is a part of me too. That’s just being human. If anything, I do kind of push my backpacker side more because I feel like that’s more positive, and not to down anything else as negative, but [the backpacker side] is what a lot more people can relate to and feel. That represents me, so why can’t I have different sides and show them day-to-day?

April 4th marks the release of MC Eiht’s 19th album – including his collaborative work with Comptons Most Wanted, Spice-1, and even an alias album under the “Tony Smallz” moniker. While that’s awe-inspiring in deed, what’s much more impressive is that MC Eiht can recall the lyrics to anything he’s recorded – and comes prepared at his live shows. Just ask him.

The Compton native celebrated the release of his new album, Affiliated with a discussion with AllHipHop.com. We consider what Koch distribution may offer the unstoppable underground veteran – and where his priorities lie. Eiht touches on whether Hip-Hop has exploited his hood, and reveals a possible CMW reunion and Big Snoop Dogg’s recognition of his 20 years of work. As a wise man once said, “We’re all from the hood, the difference is, we go back.” Peep game!

AllHipHop.com: You told me with the last album that although The Chill produced the bulk of the album, you had a heavy hand in production. You’ve got him, Battlecat, Prodeje, and others on Affiliated. Did you still retain your oversight?

MC Eiht: Every time I do a record, I’m always involved. I try to let other n***as get they shine on too, as far as production credits and all that. I don’t really be trippin’. I have the business side. Anything I do as far as music, I always got a hand in – throw a n***a a sample, or when I’m tryin’ to tell him which drum kick to use, or how I want the riff to go.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve been doing this since the late 80’s. Anytime there’s a magazine photo layout of you, it features you in Compton. From what I’ve heard, you don’t live there anymore. Do you take offense that you’re constantly associated with the ‘hood despite the fact that nobody’s asking Jay-Z to do his shoots in Marcy, or 50 Cent in Jamaica, Queens?

MC Eiht: I think, on a positive note, it’s just good to big up where you from. You can’t forget it. A lot of brothers talk about where they from, where they came up or whatever, but they’re forced to go to videos or studios or soundstages or Miami to do videos [and photo shoots]. I guess it’s because they’re afraid of what going back to the neighborhood might bring. But me stayin’ affiliated and stayin’ in touch with n***as who still in the hood, and me still dippin’ through Compton everyday, and Long Beach and LA and s**t like that, it just makes it easier for when I wanna go back to the hood and do somethin’ – or shoot an album cover or do some magazine shots. It’s because I’m still there. They don’t consider me an outsider.

AllHipHop.com: But at the same time, you’re doing executive production and been a part of so many projects. Do you think Hip-Hop would ever be comfortable to see MC Eiht sitting behind an oak desk, signing checks? Do you feel pigeonholed?

MC Eiht: Aw naw! They wouldn’t appreciate that with me. I’ve been hearin’ that from fans for decades. Even though people know I run my own label, and I’m the executive producer and all that, I’m negotiating deals from the block. I don’t have the fancy office with the oak desk and all that. You know what I’m sayin’? I’m conductin’ deals while sittin’ in the living room of the homie’s house, playin’ Playstation – or at the studio, or in the car, dippin’ through Compton, or at the swap meet. I don’t get down with the oak desk and all that. That ain’t my forte. My fans and my people don’t see me like that. They see me real everyday.

AllHipHop.com: My favorite track on the new album is “Respected.” I’m a huge Comptons Most Wanted fan. You’ve used The Chill and DJ Slip and other group personnel on your records throughout your solo career. But what told you to bring back the whole unit?

MC Eiht: We’ve been get back together the last couple years. Chill said, “We need to do a song, and we need to call it ‘Respected,’ ‘cause these young cats don’t respect the craft, and they’re doing what [CMW] do.” I figured, let’s just throw all the original members of CMW on it and get down like that.

AllHipHop.com: DJ Mike T gets a shout out on the track, but there’s no scratching on the record. Was he there?

MC Eiht: Mike T was in the studio with us. He did scratchin’ on two or three cuts on the album, but he didn’t get down on that record. Like I said, just shoutin’ out everybody and keepin’ that authentic CMW – we needed to put everybody on there.

AllHipHop.com: You had one album called Last Man Standing. A lot of people associate you with solitude. That said, does it mean anything inside to have the brethren back alongside you?

MC Eiht: It was real good to have Slip on there contributin’ on the beats – to have Chill there, and Bam, myself, and Mike T. It was a good vibe. We actually recordin’ on this Comptons Most Wanted album right now. People miss the Music To Driveby days and the Straight Check’n ‘Em days.

AllHipHop.com: I recently received a CD from a guy out of St. Louis, DJ Crucial. On his CD, he had produced a white-label 12” of a record with you called, “Life I Chose.” It’s my favorite record you’ve done in ten years. This is a cat who is known for working with MF Doom, Atmosphere, and so on. How’d you get down, and why?

MC Eiht: I was on a promo tour for Veterans Day. My main focus my whole career has been just to link up with anybody and everybody I can. It’s not even on a money tip, it was just my goal to hook up with everybody who wanted to hook up with me. When I went to St. Louis, my man hooked me up with him. We went to his little studio, and he was tellin’ me how he releases white-label 12”, that just blew me like, “Damn, most brothers don’t do that anymore.” I come from that era. It was authentic to me. I just wanted to write a song looking at all his vinyl and his respect for DJing and all that, and made me wanna take it back. That’s the life I chose. I’m tryin’ to be authentic with it. I ain’t tryin’ to switch and catch up to the new times – so these young cats can see how this Hip-Hop really started.

AllHipHop.com: Particularly at AllHipHop, we thought Veterans Day was one of your better albums in the last few years. You seemed distraught about the distribution of the record though. How confident are you with Koch in getting that reach again?

MC Eiht: I really don’t trip off the numbers and all that – even though that’s what you do as an executive. My first thing is rappin’ hard. My records gonna reach who they need to reach. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, we used to push records out the trunk every week on 12”s, on word of mouth. People used to call me from Virginia and Mississippi and Florida, tellin’ me about the records. I just big up on my longevity in the rap field and my presence. Koch do what they got to do – on the underground tip, ‘cause that’s where I see myself. I’m confident that this record will make a point and a stand at what my goal is. I know we ain’t gonna do a million copies – ‘cause we ain’t got the machine behind us, but we can do enough units to satisfy our fans and get back on the bicycle and come back with another one. As long as I can keep makin’ records man, that’s it for me.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve released over 18 of those records. I have to ask – are you ever scared that when you do promo tours, fans will request a song you’ve completely forgotten?

MC Eiht: I keep the iPod with every song I ever did. What I do is, I load the machine with all the stuff. If we get to a point where fans request a song, bingo – we just break it out. With me bein’ on deck with the iPod and keep listenin’ to my music before I perform, I do my homework. My show pattern might be me doin’ two songs off of each record off the line – but I might not get that song that somebody wants to hear. If people in the audience are yellin’ for it, I always got the back-up plan. That way, we please everybody. My thing is, I ain’t tryin’ to disappoint the fans – ‘cause they paid they money, and there’s certain things they want to hear. You gotta be prepared.

AllHipHop.com: I really respect that. I’m a big fan of Sway testing people on The Wake-Up Show.

MC Eiht: You got to know your stuff. I watch people like Cube, Too Short, and LL [Cool J], and they go from way back to up till now, to in the middle. You gotta be able to do it like that – when you got as much material. People request “Driveby Miss Daisy” or “Can I Kill It?” or “Another Victim.” You gotta have them instrumentals on deck.

AllHipHop.com: Do you still perform beef songs?

MC Eiht: If they love it, and the audience is requestin’ it, I’m gettin’ down with it. That’s how I do. Fans come first.

AllHipHop.com: April is Hip-Hop Appreciation Month. I ask this question respectfully. But do you think the media would treat you differently had it not been DJ Slip and Unknown DJ’s name on those credits, and had it been Dr. Dre?

MC Eiht: Definitely. If I would have worked with Dr. Dre and DJ Quik and Jay-Z…

AllHipHop.com: I mean on name alone, because the production you had is legendary…

MC Eiht: It’s all about the name. You can’t tell me that a Slip or a Chill or a Raw Steel can’t do a hot-ass track that would stand right next to a Dr. Dre or whoever. This world is corporate. Because Eiht ain’t been down with the Dr. Dre’s and the big name people, it’s hard for people to respect it. It’s hard for people to respect that I put out 19 albums. If you look for that s**t, then you’ll be upset by it. But I don’t look for American Music Awards, or the Grammy’s – I don’t look for s**t. I don’t even look for radio-play. I just look to do the music I do, and reach the masses of the people who respect it.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve been seen around LA with Snoop a lot lately. He’s a big part of Koch’s future right now. Is there something you two have brewing?

MC Eiht: Me and Snoop, we messin’ around for the last couple of weeks – tryin’ to get together the state of the West Coast as we know it. We’re lookin’ at radio-play and the records that people like me do. A brother like Snoop seein’ that, steps in with his power and ability to make m’f**kas get down – it definitely may be something goin’ down in the future. It’s there, we just keepin’ it under wraps right now.

What must it have been like back in the early 40’s for Max Roach to have contributed to making Be-Bop a dominant force in Jazz music. Hanging out, making music with the likes of Kenny Clarke, creating new rhythms that changed the sound of music and ever evolving and growing with icons like Dizzie Gillespie, or contributing to the Birth of Cool with Miles Davis. But for the legendary percussionist, he was probably just following his soul.

The Sa-Ra Creative Partners has to be similar to that experience, because this group’s grasp of music is intrinsic. Appearances by Iggy Pop, Afrika Bambaataa, Herbie Hancock, Erykah Badu, and Pharrell mark their present-day work. But individually, this group has worked with everybody from Parrish Smith to 8Ball & MJG to extensive work with Dr. Dre. Fat Joe once claimed that Russell Simmons was “every rapper’s silent partner.” Taz, Shafiq, and Om’Mas might be “every rapper’s silent musician.” Bringing their vast experience together, Kanye West is helping this East-West trio go global with their own unique amalgam of styles, beats, and genres.

AllHipHop.com spoke to the guys of Sa-Ra Creative Partners to see where their hearts, their experience, and their goals lie in this era of G.O.O.D Music. The rebirth of cool is about to begin, one nation under a groove.

AllHipHop Audio

Click to here Sa-Ra’s "Fish Fillet" Ft. Pharoahe Monch

Click to hear a snippet of Sa-Ra’s "Second Time" Around!

Check out Sa-Ra’s "Thrilla" Ft. J. Dilla (R.I.P.)!

AllHipHop.com: Do you guys use all live instruments on your songs because it doesn’t sound like a lot of samples?

Taz: For the most part, yes but it’s a combination. The majority is played, but we use samples for texture not because of a lack of musical prowess.

AllHipHop.com: Your music seems like a lesson in musical evolution, because it sounds like music from Jazz and Be-bop to Rock, Soul and Disco, was that the goal?

Taz: It was definitely our goal to utilize all those influences. We draw heavily on all those genres of music and various artists from those genres.You take Jazz instrumentation, and turn the drumbeat around and you get some s**t like Parliament and the Funkadelics. We’re taking it from where cats like them left off, and we want to turn the beat around one more time.

AllHipHop.com: How did you all come to be?

Shafiq: Taz and I actually met back in ‘89 at a mosque in Watts, California. It’s funny because there were different crews back then. You had like the athletes and the fly guys.

Taz: I was dancing, freestyling, doing videos, and stuff like that. I started rhyming shortly after we met. I grew up in a house where my dad had like six or seven thousand records. He had one of the largest record collections I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen a lot of collections; but he used to play Jazz and I would learn about all this music in high school. My dad would sit me down and play s**t. So when I started rapping, I would hear my most favorite beats on these records, and I was like, “Damn, I have all these records. I need to get a beat machine now, I wanna make beats.” So I got an SP 1200 in 1994, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Shafiq: I started out DJing. The people who taught me were like Afrika Islam, and just watching Flash and Theodore and all them cats. I was already making trips back and forth from the Bronx, where I lived, to LA. My experience was unique, because I was around when LA’s Hip-Hop scene was developing. There was a time when they weren’t really playing rap records. I think the most [played] was like [The Furious Five’s] “The Message.” Run-DMC hadn’t even really popped yet, it was like Kurtis Blow. My advantage was I was still migrating back and forth, and I knew Grandmaster Caz and Whippa Whip, back here [I’d] deal with Egyptian Lover, Bobcat, and Roger Clayton.

Taz: I was messing with them cats too. Ice Cube lived two blocks from me, him and his mama.

Om’Mas: I come from a very traditionally musical family. My great, great grandfather used to write for Duke Ellington and Ma Rainy. I was trained classically and studied at the University of Amherst in Massachusetts. I got an internship at RCA Records and that parlayed into me working on PMD records with Parish Smith. I was 16 at that point and I worked up to being the assistant to the VP there. Then, Jam Master Jay scooped me up and I worked with 50 [Cent], Onyx, Lauryn Hill and Diddy, so that was an ill time. [Later,] I had a production deal with Suave House and I got to work with 8 Ball and MJG, Foxy Brown, and Mobb Deep, and get some plaques, but always still building with Shafiq.

AllHipHop.com: So is that what you want your music to do, take us back to that particular place in time?

Taz: We’re not trying to recreate anything, our music is lifestyle driven, meaning whatever we are and whatever we believe is what goes into it and that’s obvious in our music.

AllHipHop.com: Prior to G.O.O.D Music, you guys had a following?

Taz: Yeah, we had already toured Europe three times before even sitting down with Kanye. We had already won the BBC Award in London, which is equivalent to the Grammy here.

AllHipHop.com: What do you think it was that struck Kanye about you guys?

Taz: I think a lot of artists can relate to us because of our creativity. I think we do a lot of things that a lot of people wanted to do or never really even thought of doing, and it’s only so many new things under the sun, so its just a way of flipping things that we all already know. I think that definitely had something to do with Kanye and everybody else being interested, ‘cause that’s a labor of love put into the music. Like you got a cat like J Dilla, rest in peace, when he came in, you had Pete Rock already, Tribe, Large Professor, Marley Marl – all these great producers already doing it. They paved the way for him, but it was a certain level that he got to in his career, where he just added a whole bunch of newness to that whole legacy. He made a big contribution, and once you give like that, people have no choice but to hear it because you enhance the music.

AllHipHop.com: It’s crazy though, because although you guys do have some songs with rapping on it, your music is hard to define as Hip-Hop…

Taz: You know what it is? It’s Hip-Hop, we just turned the beat around, know what I mean? Just like it’s Funk, but it’s something else.

AllHipHop.com: You actually had a phrase that described your sound, what was that?

Shafiq: Afro-magnetic-electronic-spiritualism.

Taz: It’s like a live current running through a wire. It’s African. It’s hot, it’s spiritual rhythm, because it’s electronic, if you look at a lot of electronic mood music from back in the day the frequencies are like rays of light so mash all those words together and that’s what it is.

AllHipHop.com: Your music is unlike anything that’s on the radio right now how do you see Sa-Ra fitting into today’s musical scope?

Om’Mas: The whole thing about it being different from anything on the radio is it’s still street music. N***as grew up in the hood, and you gotta understand what we grew up in, it’s not a game. Shafiq was raised in South Central and the South Bronx, the Boogie Down. You’re talking about the hardest places to live in the world. Taz came from South Central in the heat of gang violence. I grew up in Hollis Queens in a crack-infested building, a crooked co-op that was literally on the wrong side of the tracks. N***as done seen folks get killed and smoking crack all that stuff. It makes its way into our songs, but we don’t have to be all political about it and be trying to preach and burden people with it. Because in this new era, cats wanna be loose so that’s why we bring it with humor and substance. Like our song “Big Fame,” it’s whimsical, it’s funny, and it’s talking about b*tches slitting they’re wrists over – it sounds crazy, but they really do slit they’re wrists behind the cocaine and the moving out to Hollywood and doing p####’s and losing their damn mind. N***as didn’t even know they needed to hear n***as talking gangsta s**t, but singing it. It’s like if Bill Cosby, Sydney Poitier and Yaphet Kotto had a little rap streak to them, that’s what Sa-Ra would be like we’re bringing the black excellence to the rap game.

AllHipHop.com: What is the basic message behind Sa-Ra?

Taz: Be the best you that you can be. We’re here to lead by the good examples that we set, so manifest your own destiny don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t dream.

How many rappers get a six-figure car before they release an album – or even turn 25? Living in the already ultra-expensive Miami, Stack$ is one of them. Maybe a greater question could be – “Is that Hip-Hop?” Stack$’ record label, Sobe Entertainment thinks so, as they market their young hopeful around his car in press releases and in King magazine.

But others find Stack$ to be the truth as well. Among those names, Game, P. Diddy, and neighboring mentor, Scott Storch. These rap royal figures worked with the Washington DC native as he readied an album. As CraZee and ConfuZed finds a release date, and “G## It, G## It” finds listeners, AllHipHop.com caught up with Stack$ in a Miami coffee-shop for a look into how he’s done so much so soon, and the world around him.

AllHipHop.com: What did you do before you were rapping?

Stack$: I did the school thing for a while. I went to USC and studied film. I didn’t actually get into rapping until I was 14. I used to freestyle and battle around Washington D.C., Then I started doing mixtapes. I came to Miami when I graduated from school. My family moved to Miami while I was at school in LA. I met my man, Urban Mystic, in Fort Lauderdale. At the time he was starting up Sobe Entertainment. We started collaborating and hooked it up.

AllHipHop.com: You’re still relatively new to the game, yet you have big names like P. Diddy, Game, Twista and Paul Wall featured on your album. How’d you get so many features?

Stack$: It’s Miami; it’s the melting pot of the world. Every producer wants to be down here. You have every one from Scott Storch, and Pharrell to Timberland. Everyone is down here. Scott got me a lot of the features on the album like Twista on “G## It, G## It.” It’s not as hard as one would think. When people come here, they never want to leave.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, it’s definitely poppin’. In the video for “MIA,” you previewed your Phantom drop top. Your record label also makes as much fuss for your car as they do for your skills…

Stack$: Yeah, it’s parked two blocks up. It was in the video with Diddy. It was a line that I came up with in the third verse, but I didn’t really think that we were gonna do it. When it came down to shooting the video, I was like “This is Miami. We need to do something to crazy shock people.” We sent it up to Wisconsin to get custom done. I didn’t think that it would get as much attention as it has. It has really resonated in Hip-Hop. Right now it’s the only one in the world. I heard that 50 is trying to make one.

AllHipHop.com: Are people asking where you had it done?

Stack$: When we brought it down here, I saw Shaq on the street. He pulled out his checkbook and was like, “How much do you want for it?” I can’t sell it.

AllHipHop.com: For those that only get to see Miami in music videos, explain what the city means to you?

Stack$: To me, Miami is one of the most explosive cities in the world. It’s the melting pot of the world…

[An attractive woman walks past.]

Stack$: That’s an example right over there in the blue shorts. That’s why people come to Miami. Like I said, you can hear 40 different languages while walking down the street. It’s become a big tourist attraction. Right now is the time of year when a lot of college kids come down here on spring break. You have people from all over the world. It’s the time of year when Miami starts getting appreciated. You obviously have a big Spanish influence, Cuban, Colombian, Reggaeton and it goes on. It’s all down here in Miami. Hip-Hop to me, is just starting to emerge down here. You have your Pitbull’s, plus Trick [Daddy] and Trina have always been here. Now you have young artists in Miami beginning to emerge. I think that 2006 is gonna be that year. Houston and Atlanta both popped off. I think that this is definitely gonna be the year for Miami.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s jump the script for a second, and talk about the ladies of Miami.

Stack$: Yes, let’s – Well obviously I have a weakness for the ladies in Miami. I love all women, especially the Latin ladies. After all, this is the melting pot of the world. The Latin ladies down here are amazing, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Venezuelan and Dominican; they’re all down here. You can walk down the street and see the badest chick, and then walk five more minutes down the street, and see one that’s even better. You can sit in a lobby of a Hotel and you’ll be straight, just watching the ladies walk by all day. What’s there not to like about Miami? I love that you can go to places like Little Haiti and Little Havana.

AllHipHop.com: I live in Miami, and at every stop light there’s always some rapper trying to hustle his tape. Do you think that you were at the right place at the right time?

Stack$: Definitely. I’m very fortunate to have the caliber of people on my album. I was in the right place at the right time, but actually, the right city. If I didn’t live in Miami, I don’t think that I world have had all the features. If I were in any other city, I would probably be spending mad frequent flyer miles to get people into town.

AllHipHop.com: People try to stereotype Miami rappers. What sets you apart?

Stack$: I think it’s where I’ve lived and my background. I’m from Washington D.C., was raised in Miami, and went to school in L.A. I feel that I have an appreciation for all forms of Hip-Hop, everything from Dirty South to West Coast. It’s all encompassed and comes out in my style of rapping. I can spit fast with Twista on a track, and then change up and talk on some gangsta s**t with Game. It’s all because I appreciate those cultures and have been immersed in them for a bit. That’s pretty much the most important thing in the world right there.

AllHipHop.com: What do you think about “hype rappers?” Certainly, people that haven’t heard of you, might see the features or the car, and ask, “Why?”

Stack$: What ever you can do to promote yourself really. Hype is good to promote yourself as long as you don’t go out on a limb and try to maliciously destroy someone’s career. I think that hype is good.

AllHipHop.com: What moves are you currently making to stay solidified and have your name remembered by listeners?

Stack$: Building a strong foundation. The appearances on the album grab people’s attention. Whenever you have some one featured on your track, you try to show your skills. I’m trying to hit hard with the first album. People are like, “Okay, he has skills, but I want to see what he can follow up with.” I’m already knee-deep working on the second. It will be more about me and relative to my life. There won’t be as many features on it. That and just try to keep making good music. Longevity in career is the true making of a real artist. I don’t want to be one of those people that you hear on the radio of a minute and then never hear from again.

AllHipHop.com: You must have been pretty confident in your abilities to give up school. Was it a hard decision?

Stack$: Before he was my producer, I was chillin’ with Scott Storch, and he as really feeling the track. He wanted to produce the full album. At that time I was like, “ Alright, I’m going to be working with one of the top producers in the world. I don’t see how I can fail.” I put my trust in him. A week later, I was in the studio with Twista, I knew that I was confident in my decision.

AllHipHop.com: Was it intimidating for you to be working with such a big name?

Stack$: A little, but I love it. I try to do my best. People from back in the day look at you now and are shocked. I try to take in the whole studio aspect, production etc… I don’t think that it’s me alone who gets board with some of today’s music. I just want to bring back good music.

AllHipHop.com: You’re still young, do you ever get a chance to do any of the things that you used to, like hang with your boys?

Stack$: Not really. They’ll call me up and ask if I can hang, but I’ll be on my way to Atlanta or doing an interview. It’s a busy time in me life, but I stay busy because I love what I do. I just want to have a solid album that people remember.