The city of Baltimore has almost become synonymous with drugs and crime, but there is more to the Southeastern city than just missing lamppost lights and drugs. There is a whole Hip-Hop scene and sound that has even up until now been unscathed. Home to record executives and athletes, Baltimore is a city begging to make a name for itself in places other than a derogatory list. Bossman who was born and raised in the city of the trade, is hoping to shed some positive light on the city where Jay-Z, 50 Cent and the Notorious B.I.G all praised to be the place where they made the most cash and show that although Baltimore has been through “The Wire”, all it takes is a Bossman to place it on top. Virgin records new rookie has more than his city on his shoulders and a lot to prove not only to the industry, but Hip-Hop as a whole. The soul survivor of a drug infested family and two parents that were incarcerated by the time Bossman hit his teens, the 24 year old emcee thrives on the challenge and is ready to show the world who the boss truly is. All Hip-Hop.com got a chance to speak with Bossman in his hometown and see what it is that makes him stand out in the crowd.

AllHipHop.com: First things first, why do you think that Baltimore is so overlooked on the Hip-Hop scene?

Bossman: I think that basically if you look at our history that we have had in Hip-Hop, we have had people that had a chance but never got it to pop. Like B-Rich, he had a nice single with the “Whoa Now” joint, but at the end of the day all he had was the nice single. So that wasn’t a good look for Baltimore or for himself, the other artist Comp that was signed to Def Jam, never came out. So I definitely feel I have something to prove and show everyone that we have a sound too, and now you can definitely come here and find some real talent because now we are ready.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think that you will be able to show a different side of Baltimore, because when people think of Baltimore they think of the drug trade?

Bossman: Yeah, definitely. I mean it will be tales of that in it, because I have been here all my life, and grew I grew up in it. With me, mainly it was my family, because I grew up with parents who hustled and were addicted to drugs and ultimately ended up incarcerated – and a brother who was selling drugs to my father who, was hooked on drugs. [I tried them too], because that’s what I grew up around. So don’t think that when I address the topic it will be promoting the lifestyle, instead it will show a different side, like what it does to families. Because it was hard for me to basically raise myself and stay on the positive route but honestly I saw music as my way out.

AllHipHop.com: Growing up in a family affected by both the selling and using of drugs, how do you feel about the rappers who promote hustling as the thing to do?

Bossman: Honestly, I can’t knock anybody for doing what they do. I don’t want to contradict myself, because I am not completely positive. I don’t know how other people grew up that made them choose that lifestyle, but what I can do is show the realness of it, and show my aspect of it. I mean, I know real dudes that made getting money their life, and there are certain codes that they live by. To me, if you are really living that lifestyle, you wouldn’t promote it to kids like it’s the thing to do; you would look at it like what it is-your choice. Really, if people look at it, the worst rappers are the ones who contradict themselves. You can’t be like, “Don’t sell drugs and smoke weed,” nor can you act like you don’t give a f**k on records, and tell your kids not to do it; kids see that and don’t know what to think. If you are going to go hard, go hard.

AllHipHop.com: How are you dealing with the pressures of not only establishing Baltimore on the map, but also your label because people responded poorly to Jermaine Dupri’s Young, Fly, and Flashy and SunNY’s project…

Bossman: Well, the pressure of neither one of them is getting to me, I mean, with the success that I have had on the underground; I pretty much know that I can sell anywhere – if they market me right and stick to the script. Honestly, it’s hard being on any label, not knocking Virgin, but the industry is so Pop and single driven that labels have a hard time trying to market real artists without turning them into someone else, or presenting them as something they’re not. The industry now isn’t like what it was back in the day, there was no marketing [then], because artists gained fans by letting you get to know them.

AllHipHop.com: That’s true because one of my favorite artists is Nas and although I didn’t care too much for NAStradamus, I bought it any way though just because it was Nas.

Bossman: That’s what I am saying, you bought it because he made you like him as a person, and when artists establish that type of rapport with the fans, you can do what they feel creatively, and know that your fans will stick by you. Not because you made a hot song, but because they like the artist. Don’t get me wrong, I have a song that will knock in the club, but you can’t make a whole album with singles… well you can, but you won’t last.

AllHipHop.com: As a “rookie” in the industry what do you feel is the biggest block in creativity in the game, because when you are fresh from the independent route you have a different view on creativity than if you have been in the game for a while?

Bossman: I think that the lack of creativity comes from artists letting the labels mold them, because they don’t know who they are. I think that is the worst thing for an artist to do is let someone tell you what direction to go with your music, because let’s say you do that and flop, then try to create a sound that is really you but a totally different direction, people ain’t going to feel you because they are like-“I thought the other sound was you?”. So as an artist, whether new or established, you have to make sure you know who you are and what type of sound that is true to you, because if not fans will see right through it.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think working with Jermaine gives you an advantage or a disadvantage, because when some people think of Jermaine Dupri and his projects, they think of Pop or little kid rap?

Bossman: I think that working with Jermaine is definitely to my advantage, I mean although he is known for more of a Pop type of work, this dude has brought some stuff to the studio that makes you think twice. I mean he really takes his time to get to know you as an artist and your style so that the beats and stuff he brings to the table for you, is really you. So, I think the fact that you don’t see me all up under him in the videos and in pictures is a benefit for both of us because you don’t stigmatize or taint either one of us. All in all I think that music will speak for itself and in the end our situation is going to be similar to that of Young Jeezy and Jay-Z.

AllHipHop.com: What do think about Cam’ron dissing Jay-Z and then holding a press conference about it, do you think that Rap has gone to the point now where it’s just a circus?

Bossman: Well, I think that if the beef is real. Like, if two artists really have problems with each other, then it’s all good. But if you are doing it just to promote an album, then you are wack because people can see through it. Dealing with Cam and Jay, Cam is a cool dude and I don’t have no problems with him, and I know that he has had problems with Jay for a while so I feel the diss record was appropriate. But to hold a press conference about it, [laughs] I don’t know, maybe he felt that he needed to explain some things about the situation he is dealing with.

AllHipHop.com: Dealing with your album, why did you name it Law and Order?

Bossman: I named it Law and Order for a lot of different reasons. From a musical standpoint to me, the game is running wild and there is no law or no order. I don’t think that people are following the original laws of being you and that is why stuff is so out of order, and we have all these one-hit artists coming out. I mean look back at like ‘94 and ‘96, to me those were the best years in Hip-Hop because there was such a different array of sound, you had Wu-Tang, Gang Starr, Tupac, Death Row, Biggie, Outkast, I mean the list goes on and on, so if you didn’t like what Wu was bringing, you could listen to Nas, you didn’t like that you could listen to Death Row; now it’s more like you stuck listening to one thing with no alternative.

AllHipHop.com:: Do you believe in labels on projects, like ‘underground’ and ‘commercial’?

Bossman: No, not really because I feel that if an artist is just being them and their song is hot and happens to get played on the radio, that doesn’t make them commercial, that just means the masses are feeling them. I think commercial is when the artist goes completely against who they are to sell records, and get played on the radio, that is commercial to me. Some people hate and say stuff like Nelly is not [Hip-Hop], but Nelly is rap; he’s doing him-he’s representing who he is and where he’s from which is genuine and that’s why he is successful. He’s better than the rapper that comes out sounding like someone else. So I give him all his props.

AllHipHop.com: Coming from the independent circuit and then signing to a major label, if you had your choice which would you prefer?

Bossman: Honestly, I would go the independent route just because you don’t have to answer to anyone about creative decisions. I think that’s why the South is popping off like it is, because no one in the majors wanted to give them a shot, so they made their own way and now look.

With fans and rappers alike complaining about how New York has lost its stronghold over the game, it seems like there’s no better time to drop a follow-up to a classic that helped define an era long-gone. Raekwon is about take it there going full circle to create Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 and is fully aware of what’s riding on this decision. Due for a spring release, Rae says it’s 97% done—with 103% to put on top of it—and will help re-vamp the Wu-Tang Movement.

While the jury’s still out as to whether Dr. Dre or Ghostface will contribute, Rae has his reasons for maintaining secrets. Raekwon tells AllHipHop.com about the album-in-the-making, as well as his reaction to the last two, ill received works. Raekwon may be a man without rhyme books, but he’s got lots of thoughts.You were warned the first time around that the Chef would be cooking up all types of marvelous things …

AllHipHop.com: Where’d you get the idea to come out with [Only Built 4 Cuban Linx as] a purple tape? I thought it was a defect when I got mine.

Raekwon: Only because being that we from the block, we was finagling in certain situations where the things that you was dealing with had to be separated from what everybody else was dealing with. I always ran with that as one of my traits in anything I do to separate myself from others. Back when we used to sling and do what we do, we would have certain color caps [to viles]. Certain color caps resembled certain people that were doing s**t different than everybody else. It’s like, “Yo, this is our color. Anybody step on this color, you got an issue at that time.” So I decided with my music, this is my world—this is my thing and I wanna put a color on it just so everybody will know. That’s how the purple tape even came in existence. I think I had wanted a red one at first and then I thought how somebody else had did it already. I made it like that specifically….

AllHipHop.com: I don’t think tapes are still made now so are you going to do something similar with Cuban Linx 2, even though it’s probably going to only be on CD?

Raekwon: We definitely want to keep it in the same formula, the same brand-style of it, because people respected that. But now, like you said, nobody don’t really handle tapes—I don’t even think they make tapes no more. So, trust me—if they made tapes, we would do it again. But I’m really shooting for the CD to be purple because this is a traditional thing.

AllHipHop.com: There was something of a storyline in Linx, especially in the beginning with you and Ghost trying to get out of the game after one last run. Is there going to be anything like that this time?

Raekwon: When we had did that, we did that only according to how we were rhyming at that time. A storyline just came in like that because we like to talk on our albums, we like to make people laugh. It was just showing you some hustling n***as with big dreams but they just ain’t got no money yet. This one would definitely fit that criterion to a degree, but at the same time, now we on. The album is definitely gonna have that feeling and that talk that everybody like to hear.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, the Wu interludes are infamous.

Raekwon: When you listen to Wu albums, we always gotta have some kind of funny s**t on there because to me that makes an album. See, one thing people gotta remember too is that we make albums. We don’t just put ten songs together—we try to make you throw the CD in and don’t touch that motherf**er for the next hour and a half.

AllHipHop.com: There’s been speculation as to whether Ghost is going to be on the album like how he was before?

Raekwon: That right there, I wanna surprise people. We’re not gonna rewrite the whole me and Ghost theory. But Ghost will be on the project, though. He already put his word, and he takes it very seriously. We don’t know what’s going to happen right now. I ain’t gonna sit here and say yeah he’s gonna be all over it. And I ain’t gonna say that he’s not gonna be on it. I know what it is, but I want y’all to still be in suspense. It’s like going to the movies; you can’t tell everybody everything.

AllHipHop.com: non-Wu guests?

Raekwon: I may have one special guest, or if not one, I’ll say two and we outta there. On the last one it was just Nas on it, so on this one it may be somebody else that we all really love and respect like that. And it might be somebody that you would never think, either. He might not even be from New York. All I’m saying is that I can’t bite off but too much on this album.

AllHipHop.com: It’s also good timing because people in New York are hungering for the spot back in Hip-Hop.

Raekwon: This is the season for the hard s**t. Hip-Hop seems like it’s going back in that direction—at least New York Hip-Hop. New York is the backbone of Hip-Hop. We the rough edge, the underworld of the conceptual ideas and things that go on in Hip-Hop.

AllHipHop.com: So, people have been waiting for this like you said, but now what about the pressure that comes with trying to do a Part 2 to such a classic album?

Raekwon: I mean, to me, it’s nothing. I just look at it like this: “Rae, you at your best with your rhyming game, you got a good ear for music, for beats and all that, so just knit it as if you was a sewer and you was sewing. The bottom line is to just tear it up.” I got a lot of fans that believe in me and know what I do, so I really try not to sit there and worry about if it’s gonna be better or if it’s gonna be worse [than Cuban Linx].

For more on Raekwon, including music and videos, click here

AllHipHop.com: Where do you get ideas of rhymes? Are you in the booth coming up with stuff or are you all the time just writing down…

Raekwon: No. See, one thing about me, the kind of MC that I am, I’m more or less an MC who vibes off of feeling and music. I’m not the type of MC that just be sitting around writing all day and having stacks of books. Raekwon the Chef never ever owned a [rhyme] book! If anything I owned a bunch of papers or folders, but I’ll write on anything—paper cups, plastic plates, pizza boxes—anything just to get it out real quick. I never owned a book, so I think that was one my gifts. Just to do it like that.

AllHipHop.com: There is a whole specific language, a hierarchy, and a movement to the Wu-Tang Clan. That seems similar to what the Diplomats are doing. However, you guys seemed grounded on the 5 Percent knowledge…

Raekwon: Everybody in the game got a piece of something that we said or that we did, and that’s respect. I got a lot of respect for a lot of teams that play the field, ‘cause it came from the field. By us having the 5% knowledge that we have, people should have took more of that into consideration. When we come across positive or come across emotional in our rhymes, it’s not because we tried to go somewhere else; it’s just because this is what our duty is supposed to be. You listen to a lot of dudes, and all they talk about is guns and coke and your kids is listening to that. At least out of the Wu, you could get that—cause we know that, we been there and done that—but at the same time, we could give you more. I think a lot of people weren’t ready to accept somebody constantly telling them, “I’m teaching you.”

AllHipHop.com: The Internet and bloggers play a major role in criticism and reacting to albums. What’s your opinion on the advancement?

Raekwon: The internet is a killer, too. If you sit there and let that control you… oh, man—it’ll f**k you over. When I did my album, Immobilarity, that was the first time I had the heart to do an album alone. I never did an album before; I was always team-playing and being a soldier and standing in line. So when I did that, I felt good about the album, I felt like as a real dude and as a consumer and a critic, I don’t feel I let anybody down. I was rhyming on there. The beats wasn’t all RZA, but that don’t mean that the beat wasn’t sounding good. When you deal with certain dudes in the business, [it’s only natural] you look for more growth out of them. Like in my hood, n***as say they dion’t really like Nas’ [Street’s Disciple], but they like Nas. So they could respect it, but they didn’t necessarily have to like it. I have dudes come up to me like, “Yo, they slept on Lex Diamond, [because it] ain’t get no marketing.” And it’s cool, but it makes you think about where Hip-Hop is headed.

AllHipHop.com: Where is that?

Raekwon: I think it will come around and be a time where everybody start looking at each individual for what it is. It’s just about having the right people really understanding what the verse is about. You got a younger generation that don’t know nothing about what you did. All you know is you keep hearing a bunch of people talking about Cuban Linx this and next thing you know, they wanna be biased of whatever else you may have to offer.

AllHipHop.com: Did you take the criticism to heart, that you received on Immobilarity and The Lex Diamond Story?

Raekwon: I ain’t gonna front – I was a little discouraged at the fact that nobody didn’t understand the fact that Rae did it on his own this time. But on the same note, you can never please everybody. I get a lot of love in the street. I try to keep a balance in my own head. But what does hurt me is when people say, “Yo, I never heard it.” How you ain’t hear it? If you a big fan of me… All you can do is look at that individual for what he’s done and give him the gratification he deserves, when it’s time to give it to him.

AllHipHop.com: That moment is projected to arrive with Cuban Linx 2. How do you feel about the potential impact?

Raekwon: I feel like it’s gonna bring dudes to a turning level of their careers. I think sometimes when we do get together and we work on something that’s such a high velocity of what people want, it kind of makes us stronger, better to knock it out. But when we do it, we do it with ease; it’s nothing to it, it’s just really more or less about that production. When you playing with a person like RZA, you gotta know everything about RZA before you even try to act like you accept what he’s doing, or don’t accept it. You gotta know the kind of producer he is; he’s not your Kanye, he’s not your Premier, he’s RZA. He’s really the Abbott. We named him the Abbott for a reason because his style—his s**t is so much advanced on music and just sound period, [and that] one of his mentors is Marley Marl.

AllHipHop.com: So Marley influenced RZA. Who would you say influenced you?

Raekwon: I grew up in the 80s listening to all that and you had cats like Rakim, Slick Rick and Kane…Biz, G Rap, even Kurtis Blow to a degree with some of the things he was saying and doing back then.

In a city where a million times deux Hip-Hop acts and other entertainers are trying to make a name for themselves, Los Angles has welcomed Colorado Springs natives, Deux Process with open arms. Up to date, MC’s Chief Nek and Vise Versa have picked up DJ Shawn Dubb, were selected for a couple of Myspace.com compilations and are making noise in the headphones of iTunes addicts all around, supporting the rise of their fan base from the snowy mountains to new heights.

At a pace all of their own, Deux Process has finally released their first full length, In Deux Time, with the production skills of Thayod Ausar. After putting out several single releases, it was only right for the full story of their everyday process, cover to cover, dropping knowledge on the industry, where they fit in and why time is deux.

AllHipHop.com: Chief you said “You have to have something to counter what is popular on the radio,” Do you feel that your group’s style is an alternative to mainstream?

Chief Nek: It’s an alternative to what’s going on. It’s not your backpack, underground style and it’s not mainstream. It is a middle ground that is missing from radio. It’s like we fit into the style from 1993-1998. Our music fits in that pocket, you know, with a positive message and kind of party music and fun. It’s not very typical.

AllHipHop.com: You guys have a Myspace page, as a lot of groups do, and your single “Everyday” was even picked up for a Myspace compilation in 2004. Do you know how your track was chosen?

Chief Nek: A friend helped put that together. She approached them because there was already more Alternative or Rock than Hip-Hop. She brought up the fact that there is a Hip-Hop community on Myspace and that it is a growing one so they put out a compilation. We also are on the one that came out in 2005 with our track, “The Process”.

AllHipHop.com: Before you guys signed with Avatar, you did your own publicity for that 12″ single “The Process” and it even peaked on the Global Record Pool charts as the only independent non-major label release. Do you think that since you handled some of your own publicity in the beginning, that the knowledge helped you in the long run, especially with being on top of your game and not letting something get by. I feel a lot of groups that sign fairly quick don’t learn the other side of the business. They sometimes put their careers in other people’s hands before they have even learned to trust them.

Vise Versa: Well the story behind that is we promoted it in Colorado, and then when we signed to Avatar they re-released it on a B-side. We’ve been studying the business for a long time. I would read the back and inside of CDs and everything. Nowadays, you have artists like Jay-Z who even tell about that side of it in their music. Too many artists get signed and then they think that’s it. That’s the gold nugget and sometimes it’s the downfall of an artist. You have to come with a do-it-yourself attitude and it’s like you said, they get with people they don’t even trust yet.

AllHipHop.com: That single came out in 2003, isn’t that right?

Vise Versa: Yeah, like the winter of 2003.

AllHipHop.com: And it appears on this debut album In Deux Time. Does that name really relate to how long it took for the full length release? Did you feel you should just take your time and in the end, it would happen naturally?

Vise Versa: Pretty much. We’ve been rhyming since we were like 13 or 14 of age. And for our full length it was like 10 years in the making. I mean, with coming out of Colorado and moving out to LA, it was something that was going to happen. We just did it at our own schedule.

AllHipHop.com: Vise, you have produced a lot of songs. Did you start producing when you were with your former group The Procussions and is producing something you really want to get into later?

Vise Versa: Yeah, I started around 1999-2000. Basically, we are big fans of music and a song is like your baby. You shape it and mold it. I still would like to keep producing in the future.

AllHipHop.com: On In Deux Time, you had Thayod Ausar, who has produced for Xzibit and G-unit. Was it a concern that since he has produced for more mainstream artists, that your album would still not carry that conscious Hip-Hop feel?

Vise Versa: Definitely not. I just see us as just artists, period, not mainstream, not underground, not conscious, not thug, just good quality artists. We are just trying to make good music first and foremost, and Thayod has a Hip Hop classic under his belt with Xzibit’s “Paparazzi”, so we were open to working with him just out of that respect alone. He came to our label and listened to our album and liked what he heard, so he was down to work with us on the track and we appreciate that mutual respect. We were never trying make a conscious album, we just wanted to make a good album, we stay true to ourselves when we write and however a track makes us feel, that’s what we write about, be it positive or negative, it will always be true when you hear it from us. Life is full of ups and downs, we try to focus on the positive, but sometimes that’s not being honest if you’re going thru any struggle, you have to bring reality to it too.

AllHipHop.com: No Doubt. In your bio, Vise, you had a comment that states ‘you can’t fault kids these days for not knowing past influences,’ do you feel that many kids today don’t do their homework when it comes to knowing Hip-Hop roots or even other genres of music?

Vise Versa: I feel that because the music has evolved so much commercially, that the industry has sped up to the point that the products don’t have any shelf life. The kids are getting new songs much faster on the major label side of things, that the attention span is shrinking that much quicker, videos are flashier and kids are becoming attracted to that content in the music. Not saying that money, sex and violence haven’t always been a part of Hip-Hop ‘cause they have, but I don’t know if young people can relate to the messages and struggle of the artists who have paved the way for commercial success. You have to do homework, like we did. I mean, I was like 4 years old in 1982 so I’m not gonna act like I know everything about Kool Herc. But I did my homework because I love the music and more importantly the culture. The business side of things is stripping the culture out of it now so the kids simply don’t care about anything other than what’s ‘hot’ right now. They don’t want to do the homework, they just want new stuff, things their friends listen to. I mean if you’re 14 or 15 years old right now, you would be too young to fully understand what a group like Run-DMC meant to Hip-Hop. You would think it sounds old. Unfortunately a lot of true school artists also got jerked by the business and are in bad financial states, they look at the newer generation with a certain bitterness, the historians do too, because there are artists now that aren’t good as them making money thanks to the work they put in. They use the wrong approach to the kids and it turns them off.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking of some old school people, you guys had Nasty Nez host your “Bangermanagemnet Mixtape Vol. 1.” Was he your first choice?

Vise Versa: Our label had good contacts and wanted to approach him. We didn’t have a lot to pay someone, so we made the most of what resources we had, before we got signed. It was a diamond we made out of coal.

Chief Nek: It was a money issue, and Nez agreed to it. Respect to Nez—he’s been in this game a long time.

AllHipHop.com: So what was Colorado Springs like, tell me about the Hip-Hop scene there.

Chief Nek: It was very small, but they supported the culture. It’s a conservative state and they don’t have a lot of outlets. In LA, any day you can find something to get into whether it’s classic Hip-Hop, or something, and Colorado doesn’t have that. The state isn’t active in the culture. In a good month there, you would have two shows and in LA you have 15 shows in a month. The music is spoon-fed in Colorado because there is no place to go and see upcoming artists. And that’s what triggered our move. It was time to take it to the next level.

AllHipHop.com: So why the choice to move to LA? Why not New York or another Hip-Hop hub?

Chief Nek: New York is harder to break into, it seems they support their own. LA is the gate-keeper of entertainment and people were open to us before the move and so far this has been nothing but a positive experience and at the end of the day, it is the best thing we could have done.

AllHipHop.com: You guys had another DJ before moving, Shawn how did you end up filling that spot?

Shawn Dubb: It all worked out great because I was with a group called Figures of Speech and I broke ties with them. It was a learning role because I was the oldest member and there were a lot of other things I wanted to do and get into other than just being a DJ. I met Vise after a show and we ended up talking for like four or five hours and it ended up that I wanted to do what they wanted, so it fit perfectly. These cats were on that next level and I am glad we met and it worked out.