Dave Mays and Ray Benzino of The Source Magazine have been relatively quiet since being forcibly removed from control of the long-running Hip-Hop magazine by the publication’s board of directors. Benzino, the more vocal of the two, says his detractors are celebrating far too fast. The Boston-bred rapper/executive breaks his brief silence and says that the pair will unequivocally regain the reigns of “the Bible of Hip-Hop.” Without further intro, read the thoughts, plans and views of Ray Benzino.

AllHipHop.com: So, yeah a lot of people are just wondering what’s going on from your perspective. I mean we’ve seen reports and things like that, but what’s going on from your point of view?

Benzino: I’m just saying you got a situation where you got a whole bunch of people trying to basically give their, I mean it’s a situation where Black Enterprises is a [company of] Black uppity-ass n***as, okay? Who don’t know about Hip-Hop, you got a whole culture of these writers or these people just stay in the f**king house don’t even know what it is to be in f**king society as a f**king normal human being. Who basically just want to see me and Dave [Mays] fall. Like this Jeremy Miller, that’s like Dave’s “son,” just like Elliott Wilson [of XXL magazine] and Mimi [Valdes of VIBE magazine], they all came up through The Source magazine. At the end of the day, me and Dave are still 82% shareholders.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, I heard about that.

Benzino: I mean you got to look at the people that are involved in it. You know Jeremy Miller – It’s like they don’t represent what a Hip-Hop is, you understand what I’m saying?

AllHipHop.com: Right.

Benzino: You got Jeff Scott and you know Butch Graves and Earl Graves. They don’t represent Hip-Hop. They don’t give a f**k about the Hood. They don’t care about n***as in the f**king street, about n***as being locked up. All these mother f**kers are doing is just selling out a whole f**king culture.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. From a business perspective do you feel that they’re just protecting their interests, aside from the culture?

Benzino: [It] should be our interests. You know what I’m saying, should be our interests. This isn’t about their interests. When they came in with their money and that bulls**t contract that they had that Dave sign, that was about them to try to take over the magazine. You understand they invested in the magazine, the number one Hip-Hop bible on the newsstand. That basically brought every other f**king magazine out there.

AllHipHop.com: Right, no doubt. So I mean are you guys in the process of trying —

Benzino: Without The Source there is no XXL, there is no f**king AllHipHop.com, there is no Ozone, there’s none of that without The Source. You understand what I’m saying. The Source [has been] around since 1988 – documented. We been covering the politics of it, the music of it, everything about it. There’s nothing bigger than The Source. It’s an institution. These mother f**kers don’t know nothing about the culture. All they want to do is try to reap the f**king benefits.

AllHipHop.com: Right, right. How was it that they were able to do that considering that you guys are still 82% —

Benzino: They had a clause in their contract that said that if the company went in default they could add two board members. They add two board members, now they control the board. I’m a street n***a, you know what I’m saying. I don’t f**king know about no board s**t. I never went to one board meeting. I’m not a board n***a, I’m a street n***a and a sharp n***a. When Zino brought something, when we did the f**king Source Awards, we brought the ‘hood to TV. He wants to represent the ‘hood there’s, there’s no award show representing the ‘hood. It’s almost like people are embarrassed to be a part of the ‘hood, but want to benefit from the economics from the ‘hood. Enough of that, know what I’m saying, enough of that. That’s why Russell Simmons, Steve Stoute, Chris Lighty, all these coward a** n***as have to run around with f**king security. These n***as don’t rap, what the f**k is their excuse for running around with security?

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, no doubt. Well what about Jeremy is he —

Benzino: F**k Jeremy. You understand what I’m saying? Jeremy went down and started some magazine called Down magazine. His partner went out on him, the magazine was about to fold. Nobody knew about that. We started this empire. You can say what you want about us but our legacy is already f**king in [history], it’s already written. If me and Dave [die] tomorrow our f**king history is already written in the magazine. There’s a lot of f**king weirdo writers out there, journalists who wished they could say that.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking of journalists, what happened with [former Source Editor-in-Chief] Dasun Allah? Do you know what happened with that?

Benzino: I’m saying Dasun is one of the best writers we ever had up there who understands the cause, but Dasun is a real emotional cat. And sometimes his emotion is a passion, just like myself and it ends up guiding his path. So you know he’s gonna be alright whether he’s up at The Source or wherever he is, Dasun is gonna be alright.

AllHipHop.com: Cool.

Benzino: Those cheap mother f**kers [former Source employees]. They always been clowns from day one, man. They always been guys that never could be accepted so like this is like their revenge right here. Watching me and Dave in the newspaper getting ousted in The Source. [Click here to listen] But, guess what, I’m coming back, yo. I’m coming back and I might come back on a f**king horse.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, I hear you, so you think, you are in the process of getting The Source back or trying to get it back or —

Benzino: I’m coming back in on a f**king horse. Let me tell you something. I got lawyers so good that Jeff and Jeremy will be doing magazines in Alaska.

AllHipHop.com: So you mean you are going to try to get The Source back or in the process of doing that?

Benzino: I’m coming back in on a f**king horse.

AllHipHop.com: Ok, so how’s Dave doing, mentally wise, you know what I’m saying, is he straight?

Benzino: You mean the man that basically started a one page newsletter in 1988 to the biggest Hip-Hop media f**king conglomerate ever? I think he’s doing just fine, buddy.

AllHipHop.com: Oh, okay. You know, I’m sure that some things that went down probably that bothered him.

Benzino: Dave’s like this: We stood up for something. You understand what I’m saying. While this c**ksucker Jeremy’s going to try to suck Jimmy [Iovine] and Eminem, we stood up for something, you understand what I’m saying? We stood up for something. We stood up for the ‘hood. Interscope, they damn near control AllHipHop.com. They control XXL. Believe me, when I am back up in power at The Source, Eminem will never be in the pages of the Source again.

AllHipHop.com: What about the Ozone incident [Ozone named Benzino "Most Successful Extortionist" in their 2005 wrap-up issue]. Do you have any different feelings about that or —

Benzino: Oh man, don’t ask me about that f**king s**t monkey w####, man.

AllHipHop.com: Nah, I was just saying, I mean, would you have done it differently?

Benzino: What?

AllHipHop.com: I’m saying in hindsight, do you have any different thoughts about it or you know —

Benzino: Yeah, in hindsight I wish I would have seen her so I could spit in her f**king face, in hindsight.

Benzino: Any mother f**ker who wants to write something bad about me, I’m f**king coming to their doorstep.

AllHipHop.com: Alright. What about, you know I mean do you feel that everybody’s against you all, like why is that? Why is it that people are this way around The Source when everybody basically —

Benzino: It’s the journalists and fake people. Real people love me. See that’s where you n***as got tunnel vision. Like the street and people that get pushed away, they love me. When [Ozone] published my number, I’ve gotten love from Africa to Iraq to f**king Toronto to like all across the world, yo. Mother f**kers want a real n***a, not a n***a that sits up in an office and f**king puts another name on a story that I write. I’m not a n***a that isn’t scared to walk in any ‘hood in this f**king country.

AllHipHop.com: We heard that a lot of people did call you and did get good responses from you on the phone. People emailed us and told us that.

Benzino: Part of the problem is the industry, this big thing called Hip-Hop, the most greatest thing to ever happen to the f**king Black and Latino culture of America, part of the problem is that the youth have taken it and the people that are controlling it aren’t being responsible with it. It’s a simple fact.

AllHipHop.com: OK.

Benzino: Irresponsible stuff is happening. You know over radio and everything, man you know what I’m saying. And like at the end of the day people, people just ain’t real man. You know what I’m saying people just, I don’t know what it is man, but it’s like just a lot of people who are just miserable with themselves, you know what I’m saying. Like I can produce, you know what I’m saying. I can executive produce a major f**king TV show [The Source Awards] that got major ratings, the f**king sixth most watched show in the history of BET. I can direct videos. You know what I’m saying? I can do everything there is. I can run a magazine. I can do everything there is about Hip-Hop and I can stand up for something and f**king risk it all because of something where I believe in. So I don’t, you just don’t find too many mother f**kers like that cause I never been celebrity type n***a. I’ve always that in love Hip-Hop. I put my first record out in 1987, 88, you know.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, we know.

Benzino: I was on the cover holding a gun with a f**king Adidas sweatsuit with some Cazals on, cuz. I had a hit record with “Rock The Party. I been on Motown Records, I been across the country performing, cuz. I done f**ked some of the baddest b**ches in the industry, cuz.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, no doubt. I heard rumors about you and Trina.

Benzino: Let me tell you something. That’s like Trina’s cool, I got nothing bad to say about Trina, but that’s just one of them. So it, cuz, it’s nothing. And Trina can still f**k with anybody and give n***as time and converse with anybody. I don’t put myself over people.

AllHipHop.com: A lot of people, including myself are very concerned with the way that Hip-Hop is going and the lack of control. How do you feel that can be resolved, like how can we regain the reins of Hip-Hop and —

Benzino: We gotta first get this monopoly strangle-hold off of Hip-Hop and recognize who are the perpetrators of that. We got to recognize that this isn’t just a product, this is a culture of people. And it’s f**ked it all up, a f**ked up a culture of people. This just isn’t music where it’s music, this controls our every day living. And it’s f**ked up the lives of a lot of mother f**king kids. I think the internet is being very irresponsible the way people can just post messages up and say anything and somebody spew any kind of hate.

It’s a whole bunch of s**t. Radio personalities become more bigger than the artists they’re playing, like it’s all out of control. You know like there’s a lot of people responsible for it.

AllHipHop.com: If by chance, you and Dave are not able to gain control of The Source what will you do?

Benzino: [Click here to listen] Son, you’re not listening to me. You’re not listening to me, man. I’m coming back on a f**king horse, man. There is no “what if..” or “If me and Dave ain’t..” Hey, if you want the exclusive I’m telling you what the f**k it is man. I’m coming back up there and heads are rolling. You know what I’m saying, Jeremy or anybody else they got up there. I’m telling you what it is. There’s no “if me and Dave don’t.” When me and Dave are back in power, I’m coming back on a f**king horse.

AllHipHop.com: I hear you, I hear you. Okay, how soon you think that’s gonna go down? You know that –

Benzino: You know I don’t want to say that cause I don’t bite myself in the ass there. And like one thing’s for sure, also like I stepped my game 100%, set up like on my music, too you understand? And like my new album when I drop it, know what I’m saying is gonna f**k a lot of n***as up. Like a lot of n***as think that they’re so lyrical or think that they make great songs. I’m about to f**k up a lot of n***as up, man. F**k how old I am, f**k everything else, like I said the other day, there’s a whole bunch of n***as in the game that are in the 35 to 40 year old realm that are running Hip-Hop. That’s the age. It is what it is. Guess what? I can still f**king f**k with a 21-year-old real n***a and f**king be shoulder to shoulder with him. That’s what the difference is.

AllHipHop.com: What else about your album? Is it coming out soon or —

Benzino: I would think we’re probably gonna drop it in March. It ain’t on no s**t about [dissing] that f**king d####### or none of that s**t. It’s about me stepping my lyrical game up, great music and it’s for a crowd that is a little bit older, you understand what I’m saying? It’s also good enough for the young n***as to understand. It’s a more calmed down lyrical version, man. I got my little situation going like with the federal case up in Boston-fighting that, you know? So don’t believe into the hype, you know. Zino’s alright. Zino’s doing all right, Zino’s doing good, you can’t believe the hype about anything with the newspapers and everything. Like every thing’s good with me. I’m still f**kin’ with my Untouchable n***as, my Southside Bomber n***as. I’m still not bowing down to nobody.

AllHipHop.com: Right.

Benzino: And Funk Master Flex. I remember one day when I went up there and Ashton [Flex] pulled me to the side and talked about how he didn’t think he was gonna be up there too much longer and how The Source would really have to support him and his car thing and everything It’s cool. and you know so what happened with Ashton was there was a story coming out that wasn’t written by me. There was a story coming out, he thought that it was in The Source, I had put the story on hold when it came across me because of our relationship. He got a little scared and felt that because you know we had moles all through the f**king office, calling and saying s**t. He got scared and said some s**t on the radio and that’s why I said, f**k it. He wants to try and go against me and my company, as Angie [Martinez] does. Okay well f**k it and let’s just put it out there. The difference with Funk Master Flex and our s**t is all our s**t is true about him. Everything he says about I’m wack, my music, that right there is based on somebody’s opinion. Funk Master Flex is responsible for making New York a special city that birthed Hip-Hop to just another city that is just playing everything from Down South or Mid-West now.

AllHipHop.com: Right.

Benzino: So he can say what he wants behind those heavily guarded walls. There’s a lot of banana peels out there, homey. Lot of banana peels, yo. I hope Ashton doesn’t slip on one. And, if he’s so hot, why did his album come out and only do 11,000 in the first week? And the car shows are starting to get wack. What does he have now?

AllHipHop.com: Well, he has the radio…

Benzino: Well, he’s playing all the songs off his album on the radio and still couldn’t sell no albums. London Bridges is falling down.

AllHipHop.com: Hip-Hop is in such a chaotic state, I just want to know what’s really good with Hip-Hop, because…

Benzino: It got monopolized by a few people. Why don’t people understand that? That’s the reason Hip-Hop is the way it is. Stop asking that dumb a** question.

AllHipHop.com: Right. Anything else that you wanted to speak on like —

Benzino: After, after I get back in power I want to be known as Benzino the f**king Great.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, yeah if you get The Source back, you probably will.

Benzino: Let people know the name is Zino the Great, all right?

AllHipHop.com: One more thing. What’s the status on the BET lawsuit?

Benzino: Well BET had a two year contract okay. To show The Source was it, The Source was the sixth most watched show in the history of BET. There was a contract laid out okay. It became personal, they didn’t want the ‘hood. They didn’t want to be a part of the Hood, you know. As great as the BET Awards are and I have a great deal of respect for Bob Johnson and who’s the lady up there, Debra Lee? I have a great deal of respect for them but at the end of the day, when they turn their back on the ‘hood, The Source is the ‘hood. So they were suppose to honor that contract and they didn’t and we have legal rights to go at them, okay? And that’s all we’re doing, is exercising our legal rights and anybody else would do the same thing. They had a two-year contract and then they pulled out.

AllHipHop.com: Right, right. What about the Kim Osorio sexual lawsuit stuff? Is that still pending or is that, I thought I heard —

Benzino: We will be vindicated. They brought in these independent people [investigators], to come interview and found a "no finding." These are people that come in from New York and if that’s the case, sexual harassment that they came in and had a “no finding,” I don’t know the name of these people but you know what I’m saying, at the end of the day, it was what it was. Her closet isn’t so clean.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, okay. Well, that’s about it. Anything else or is that about it?

Benzino: Benzino the Great. I’m coming in a f**king horse. Oh and please put that thing about my lawyers are so great, that Jeff and f**king Jeremy will be doing Honey magazine in Alaska, okay. They’ll be printing magazines in Alaska. So, tell them to dress warm.

AllHipHop.com: By the way, where are you? Are you in New York?

Benzino: I’m in every ‘hood on this globe. That’s where I’m at.

Benzino: All right, my n***a.

AllHipHop.com: Thanks. I’m going to wait and see.

Benzino: Wait and see, like when it’s all said and done, you’ll be reading the stories to your grandkids about me. The will come to you and say, "Daddy who is this great man, Zino the Great? Who was this great man, granddad? And didn’t give in to the corporate c**k sucking. Who was this great man and that never walked with security a whole f**king day in his life?"

Much like the: ‘Which came first the chicken or the egg?’ argument, we may never truly know if a hit is a hit because of the producer or the artist, but whatever the case it’s most assuredly a collaborative effort. Artists like Ice Cube, Tupac, Kurupt and W.C. aren’t willing to gamble one way or the other that’s why they’ve continually sought the techniques of multi-platinum west coast beat maker Derrick “D-Maq” McDowell. If his name isn’t familiar, his music most definitely is with songs like “Tadow”, “I Wonder If Heaven’s Got a Ghetto”, “R U Still Down?” and “California Love” (remix) to his credit. Since the days of N.W.A., D-Maq has played his position in West Coast Hip-Hop with his first professional studio session resulting in Tupac picking three tracks one being, Strictly 4 My N#####. Back in the studio, with his long time production partner Lay Law, D-Maq just put his finishing touches on new albums from W.C. and Cube. Reminiscing on ‘Pac and the past while preparing for what’s to come, D-Maq shares with AllHipHop.com his perspective on being behind the boards creating timeless hits time and time again.

AllHipHop.com: Where did you learn how to produce?

D-Maq: I was at the liquor store with my friends, and I met this lady and she started telling me she sang and had all this equipment at her house. I hooked up with her and she basically taught me how to hook up everything. So, I learned all of my midi implementation and all that stuff over there. That’s the first time I used a sequencer. She had a keyboard hooked up to her sequencer and a drum machine hooked up to the keyboard, you know. I spent a lot of time over there getting my skills up and learning everything I could. After that I thought I’d get my own equipment and I started meeting different people going to different studios and working with more underground groups and things like that, in the midst of all that, came the opportunities.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, so we are going to fast-forward a bit. How did you start working with Cube?

D-Maq: That was through Lay Law. Him and Cube grew up together, plus he was part of N.W.A., so I had a direct line to him, Dre and everybody else.

AllHipHop.com: Being a successful West Coast producer with some of enormous hits in your own right, how do you compete with other heavy weights like Dre and Quik? Where do you fit in?

D-Maq: Well, I think I try and set myself apart by not being so one-dimensional. The thing I like about myself though is nothing I do sounds the same; everything I do has its own personality. Some people when they try to be different and people hear that they’re trying to be different; it might not always be received because people want to hear what’s familiar. They want to hear the old Quik. I want to hear the old Quik. Thing is everybody doesn’t know Quik like we do, he always reinvents himself. So I think its good and it works for me to do everything different.

AllHipHop.com: When West Coast artists you’ve worked with beef with each other, do you feel caught in the middle?

D-Maq: Well a lot of times it’s usually business, it’s never personal. Like Mack 10 was mad at me for a long time because I made that “Tadow” beat and I let him write to it but I wasn’t getting necessarily what I thought I should get, so I took it to Cube. Cube did his thing with it and it worked out, Mack 10 got introduced on that song. Everybody saw his face for the first time on that song. Ya know he was just a part of the song and as a result he was upset with me for some years behind it. Even though we had supposedly squashed it, you know you can always feel the under tones. You know, so I just kinda went the other way but that’s the only time I’ve ever really had any problems.

AllHipHop.com: So why did you have to sue Dre?

D-Maq: Basically, there was bad communication because Dre was leaving Death Row. And because no one was speaking, it made it hard for me to collect. After waiting a year and a half, my partner and I decided to do what we were supposed to do, sue everyone involved. As a result of that, the “California Love Remix” deal was reorganized and everyone, including Dre got paid.

AllHipHop.com: I know you guys settled out of court and you got paid from it, but do you get credited with “California Love”?

D-Maq: Definitely, I get a check for it so I definitely get credit for it. It wasn’t a big deal we just went in there and had one deposition, then it was over. It wasn’t like he was trying to beat us up or nothing. He was just leaving Death Row; he didn’t want anything to do with them.

AllHipHop.com: That’s crazy, I am sure producers have all kinds of crazy stories like that. How has that affected the way you do business now vs. then?

D-Maq: Well now communication is a lot better.

AllHipHop.com: How many times do you think you’ve gotten got as a producer?

D-Maq: Oh, just one time. I didn’t really care about it because it was the first thing I did, and I was getting paid under the table for it because I wasn’t supposed to be out front on that one. I took it on the chin, but a few years later when another issue came up with the same artist I reached back and I got that too. They didn’t even put up a fight, they knew. I’ve gotten paid for everything I’ve done. If somebody ever did try to get me, I turned around and reached into their pocket because my attorney, she don’t play. Generally, it is not a problem though.

AllHipHop.com: I know some people who would’ve given a lung to work with Pac or Cube what is one of your most memorable Pac experiences?

D-Maq: It would have to be April 29, 1992 while we recorded Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. during the Rodney King trial. We were recording at Echo Sound Studios and watching the trial at the same time. When the verdict came down, Pac was so p##### that he flipped the lyrics to the song as we watched everything unfold on TV. When we finished our session, we hit the street and we were all over the place.

AllHipHop.com: So what’s going on with the new Cube album?

D-Maq: Well, I have six songs on it. Cube is coming with some different s**t. We have a song called “Polla Seeds” that’s sick.

Saigon is one of Hip-Hop’s most promising talents, but his rise was nearly cut short by a pair of assailants that stabbed the rapper in the head with a broken bottle. Still, the rapper aims to stay on course as The Greatest Story Never Told, his forthcoming Atlantic Records debut album, prepares for release. Click here to get the intimate details of Saigon’s brush with death and how he intends to move forward.

Click To Hear AllHipHop Audio:

Saigon talks about the attempted chain snatching and near-death assault.

Saigon speaks on what New York rappers need to do.

Sai responds to detractors that feel he hates on the Dirty South.

THE INTERVIEW:

AllHipHop.com: Hey, I heard you had a situation the other day.

Saigon: No. I’m okay. A little something… a little mishap…little fa**ot ass trying to act on the kid. You know what I mean? I’m the one. I fight back, though.

AllHipHop.com: What happened?

Saigon: F**ker was coming out of Chelsea Diner, man. You know. I seen the other media screwed up a few facts on it, but I was coming out of Chelsea Diner during the night. I seen him with my little man. My little man is small little n***a, B. You know. Okay, well I seen the kid inside the diner, but I didn’t pay any no attention when I came out, right? And then he came up behind me – like, walked in front of me. I thought maybe you know the whole Saigon s**t. [He] snapped my chain off my neck. So, I snatched it back. When I snatched it back and my man caught him. Bing. My man catches him [with a punch]. The n***a falls. So, he starts stompin’ on this guy. I’m lookin’ like this n***a’s retarded. I’m like I think I really thought he was gonna come at me, but I ain’t seen his man come from the back. His man came from the back with a bottle and s**t. And the s**t stabbed me in the artery and cut a artery in my temple. And you know I lost mad f**kin’ blood all over. Like mad man blood ‘cause I was up there still fightin these n***as.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. Yeah.

Saigon: My man got cut, too. So you know my stupid ass not wantin’ to f**k up my car, my little man was trying to get a cab. We tryin’ to get a cab. I’m like f**k it man. F**k the car. So, I jump in the car. We flyin’ to f****n’ Bellevue Hospital. I don’t know why Page Six [of The New York Post] said something about St. Vincent. I ain’t going to St. Vincent. I went to Bellevue. They patched the kid up. Gave me a little blood transfusion. But I lost so much blood. [A relative interrupts]

Relative: [Sobbing] How are you doing?

Saigon: [To relative] Don’t cry, man. I’m all right. What are ya cryin for? I’m all right, ya know. I’m good.

Relative: You better not wear that [chain].

Saigon: I’m good, ya know. Hey, you know. I got, you know, they just patched me up. You know. [back to AllHipHop.com] And I’m takin’ pictures. I still got both of their phones, B. I got the n***a phone right in my pocket. I got both of their phones. They’re both off right now, but they turned their phones off. While we was fighting, they just dropped their phones. Like a**holes. F**kin’ amateurs.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. That’s crazy.

Saigon: I didn’t know I was this important. You n***as need to follow me around more.

AllHipHop.com: Remember, you had that scuffle last year at the AllHipHop.com Breeding Ground event.

Saigon: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The SOB’s joint.[Laughter]

I got a little piece of the glass in my head now. That’s the worst part of the s**t, man. I still got a little like chips of glass in my head. I got my cousin trying to pick the s**t out with pieces. That s**t hurt more than the f**kin’ stitches, man. Getting’ the scar.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. What did Just Blaze and your crew say?

Saigon: You know everybody was just happy I was all right, man. You know, they was like, you can’t be walkin around like that. My man put it the best. He was like, “Man the economy too bad, man. Economy, they were just hungry in the street.”

AllHipHop.com: What’s your family saying, man? Like I’m –

Saigon: You know man, they heard. They happy I’m alive. They happy I’m okay. Everybody like once they seen it. Once they seen me and they see I can walk and talk. I mean everybody’s happy. But they was worried at first. You know my Mom told me. My mom seen the chain first. I just got the chain for Christmas.

AllHipHop.com: I’m looking at the Ill Community message board and they wanna know why you didn’t file a police report regarding the assault.

Saigon: I ain’t no f**kin’ rat. I ain’t no rat. I don’t get down like that. We don’t play those games. I mean, I grew up in prison. We don’t do that s**t. I got the n***as’ phones, both of them. I’m telling [one of the men’s girlfriends] what happened and she just kept saying, “Wow.” Now, I’m like I’ll give you five G’s if you can tell me who this n***a is.

AllHipHop.com: [Laughter]

Saigon: She says, “Sorry, I can’t do that. Wow, can’t.”

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right.

Saigon: I never had no expensive jewelry like that ever ’cause you know. But the chain, you know, its like 39 karats. Got a lot of diamonds and all that s**t in it. I’m not really even into s**t like that.

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right.

Saigon: More like for a gift from somebody else than myself. You know what I mean?

AllHipHop.com: What’s on the chain?

Saigon: Huh?

AllHipHop.com: Is it like Abandoned Nation [his crew’s name] chain or what?

Saigon: Nah. It’s just a cross with like yellow and white diamonds in it. I’m bloody and I’m still fightin’ these n***as. And you know what’s f**ked up about people. All those mother f**kers was in the diner, looking at us. Nobody came outside try to help us or nothing. They was at the glass looking. All this happened in a matter of, no bulls**t, like four minutes, B

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right. Okay. Any lessons learned or I mean?

Saigon: Yeah man. Survival is the lesson learned. I didn’t realize the economy [is this way]. Like my man said the economy’s f**ked up man. N***as still f**ked up on the street, and, the n***a thought I was fooled, man. I been on the other side of the game, so, I understand. You know what I’m sayin’? Then I think they’re looking for [income] so. I understand the game, so, it ain’t like I’m bitter about it. I just gotta move more cautiously, because, number one, I got a lot to lose, man. I could of died out there and s**t.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah.

Saigon: I mean, he coulda had a knife. He coulda punctured my lung. He coulda had a gun. You know what I mean? I was flippin’ like a motherf**er. So, I gotta move more cautiously especially walking around with a expensive piece of jewelry like that. N***as hungry in the street, man.

AllHipHop.com: You gonna write a rhyme about this?

Saigon: Oh yeah. Of course. I’m gonna address it in a rhyme, man. I ain’t gonna dwell on it and make it like a publicity stunt. I’m going to talk about it. A n***a stabbed [me] in my f**in’ temple.

AllHipHop.com: No doubt.

Saigon: You know. I’m happy. I’m happy that I’m feelin’ good. I’m alive, and, you know, I still got my chain.

Click To Hear AllHipHop Audio:

Saigon talks about the attempted chain snatching and near-death assault.

Saigon speaks on what New York rappers need to do.

Sai responds to detractors that feel he hates on the Dirty South.

THE INTERVIEW:

AllHipHop.com: Okay. Now you know of course we gotta talk about what’s the holdup on the album. Everybody’s waitin’.

Saigon: You know, it’s not so much a hold up as it’s like, you know. It’s Hip-Hop [A&R] and G. They did it so many times with Jay-Z. They did it with Kanye, so. They know like your set-up gotta be right for you to be successful. I mean if I were to put out my album last year, I wouldn’t sold no records. Know what I mean?

AllHipHop.com: Right.

Saigon: Entourage. That was before Entourage and all that. Entourage has helped me dramatically. You know what I mean? And, you know, now I got a commercial that runs on MTV. So, now more and more people are getting to know me than last year when I wanted to put my out. I was mad. I’m like, “Yo, put my album out this year.” But it wasn’t time. [They] kept telling me you know be patient, be patient, be patient. My dude be patient. You know? And plus, you know, the album’s 80 percent. We got like over 40, 50 records [finished] already. So, you know, I want the set up to be right. And I think more and more people, even a little s**t like this happen, and, more and more people find out about me. And you know, hopefully, when it comes down for the album to come out, I’ll be more anticipated, than even now. But it ain’t the music, man. It ain’t movin there. The creative aspect, if you’ve got joints. You got strong, strong, strong, strong joints.

AllHipHop.com: Timing is a lot.

You know New York is hurtin’ right now, too. But, you know, like none of us is ready to come out. I’m probably more ready than anybody to come, but, if anyone of us if, were to come out like now, we wouldn’t do nothing right now. You need a good set up nowadays before you come out. If you wanna make any kind of impact. You know?

AllHipHop.com: Overall, what do you think New York needs to do right now?

Saigon: Need to start comin’ with some f**kin’ better records, man. Stop tryin’ to copy motherf**kers, B.

AllHipHop.com: Right. Right.

Saigon: Thing with us is, we copyin’ them now, B. Like we call the fronts, grills. We copyin’ Down South. We copyin’. It’s like when I mention that, everybody’s like, oh, you tryin to diss the south. I ain’t dissn’ the south. If anything, I just sayin’ we need to step out. We look like a**holes, not them. We copyin’ them. Nelly just now makin’ a song. Nelly got a song called “Air Force One” that came out like last year. And I’ve been wearin’ that s**t since I was a kid, man.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. No doubt.

Saigon: I was, we callin’ ‘em Uptown’s. They was doin’ up’s. Know what I mean? It’s like we don’t start no trend. Everybody think everybody wanna man with a red bandana in their pocket. Talkin’ about these sets. A set is a West Coast thing. We never called each other a set. We called it my click, my crew, my posse.

AllHipHop.com: It’s a money thing? People just take the money?

Saigon: Yeah. Exactly. N***as take the money, and, they just don’t care about the artistic value of the music, because, it’s so corporate now. That’s why you see Chevrolet commercials with rap, and, McDonald’s and Pepsi and Coca Cola. Every big major American Corporation uses hip hop to endorse their product. This s**t [Hip-Hop] started in ghettos everywhere. N***gas rapped about the f**ked up conditions we was livin’ in – tryin’ to escape the harsh realities of our situation. It wasn’t about motherf**kin’ party everyday, and, just party your life away. And have fun, and, then go to the club and shake you’re ass and booty clap like it is now. S**t is f**ked up, man. I ain’t even gotta say names. Those n***a know who they are. And all they gotta do is look at the big artists in New York. The ones that’s effective right now. And ask yourself why they effective. Cause, they really, ‘cause, they copyin’.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah. Is there a solution to this? I mean, obviously, we can’t control what other people do.

Saigon: Yeah. We can’t control it. I mean, only thing we can do is, man, like artists like myself. I’m like the sacrificial lamb, man. I’m gonna have to come in and be the one to say, “Yeah man, we gotta stop this s**t, and start makin New York records. Start makin dope songs and s**t again. Dope beats. We need to bring [DJ] Premier back. We need to do all that s**t man. We need to get these n***as dust off the MPC’s and come back and bring the slam back.

AllHipHop.com: Looking at the future, I heard you and Tru Life were real, real close. Is that true?

Saigon: Yeah man. It’s like my brother, man. Like my brother right there. Like we’ve been friends for like 12 years. Before the rap s**t. It’s true. Like the first n***a to put me in the studio like yo, son. Know what I mean? I’d die for that brother right there. He got a good album, too, man. I heard his album, man. Dudes gonna be surprised, man.

AllHipHop.com: There has been press on you hatin’ on the South or sayin’ you’re dumbing down Hip-Hop. Things like that. I’m sure you’ve heard about it. Like what are your thoughts on that?

Saigon: Some miscellaneous website took the interview I did like last year. And being that I did a tape with [DJ] Drama, you know. And a lot of people felt some kind of way about that ‘cause you know Drama the hottest DJ down South right now. You know they felt like, “Oh, this guy was trying to get this south. He said the South was slow. People in the South was slow.” And they took my words and they took it out of context. I said the South was always considered slow compared to other [regions]. That’s just history. If you look at the history. The Industrial Revolution started in the North. Slaves was wanting to come North. My mother and my whole families from down South. So why would I say down South people was dumb like they try to say. I said, “No, the South was always considered slow compared to New York. New York was always fast and fast paced. And that’s the truth.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the deal with you and Abandoned Nation? Are you still cool with Gotti? I heard –

Saigon: Yeah, still cool with Gotti, man. Me and Gotti we had our little differences like everybody else, but, you know, that’s still my boy. Know what I mean? He still around man, makin’ things happen. But you know Gotti go through these little emotional [periods], where he just want to disappear and nobody can get in touch with him. Certain times like we need you around. Like he does that at the wrong time sometimes. We have our ups and downs but that’s still that’s my boy. You know I mean? That’s my boy to the grave. I love Gotti to death. Know what I mean?

AllHipHop.com: Back to the album, how much of your so-called conscious side is gonna come out on the album?

Saigon: Oh, 85 percent man. The next paycheck when I do the gangster record that was just to get peoples attention, man. Now that I’m startin’ to get the ear, I’m ahead. I’m gonna wire what I really wanna say. You know what I mean? I thought if I just came at em all the way conscious from the jump, they would of just. I would have just chased them away. Nobody like to be preached to, man.

AllHipHop.com: What about Jay-Z, the new Cam’ron diss record? Any thoughts on that?

Saigon: It’s crazy right there, man. Yeah. I don’t know about that one. I’m dyin’ to see how this plays out right here, man. ‘Cause, I wonder if Jay-Z’s gonna respond, B, ‘cause, I think Jay would be helping Cam by respondin’. I like to see what’s gonna happen, man. A good battle is always good for Hip-Hop, man. Jay should just retire and enjoy my girl, man. If Jay would get out the game like he said he gonna do. The game just keep pullin’ him back in, you know? He’s. It’s like a person who wanna get out the street, but, they want to come back to the block every now and then and s**t. Jay-Z Without “Oh Boy” and all that, who knows where these n***as would be at right now. Cam didn’t credit Jay with that. Without Jigga, there’d be no Roc-A-Fella.

Not yet 25 years old, DJ A-Trak has had a world of colorful experiences. His DJ Battle titles could fill your favorite athlete’s trophy room. He had an integral hand in one of Montreal’s biggest Hip-Hop crews, Obscure Disorder. Amidst Kanye West’s elaborate stage shows, it is A-Trak that mans the cuts and scratches. All of these chapters and duties have been logged on video, now edited to view on A-Trak’s DVD Sunglasses is a Must. With appearances from everybody ranging from Kanye to KLC to Non-Phixion, the DVD covers a lot of miles, a lot of time, and a lot of Hip-Hop.

In 2006, A-Trak is hard at work on his album. As a man of diverse influences and friends, he’s promising an album that boasts shots from Little Brother and Diplomats alike. The Canadian prodigy aims to equally change the face of scratch music. The man who laced the scratches on Common’s Be and currently has the “Drive Slow Mixtape” with GLC, spoke to AllHipHop.com about his DVD, his past, and how he’s bringing good music over the board, under the needle, and into your ear.

AllHipHop.com: Before your solo album comes out, why release Sunglasses is a Must as a DVD?

DJ A-Trak: I’ve been working on the DVD for close to two years. I’m at the point now where I’m working on an album and I wanna reintroduce myself to some of the audiences. Some of the people know me from battles I did between ’97 and 2000, and there’s a whole new audience from the last couple years that might not know about that. It was a point where I wanted to make a retrospective. I knew that I had all that footage…

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, as a teenager, were you really into technology? The amount of archiving you did is crazy…

DJ A-Trak: It was almost a trend in the turntablist [community] in the years that I came up in. Like, around ’97 – the year I won my first DMC title – also the year I got affiliated with Q-Bert and the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. That was a time when that crew, from the Bay area, they reigned. They came out with all the futuristic styles and everything. They would put out these videotapes called Turntable TV and they would film themselves scratching, hanging out, going on tour, pulling pranks…just random s**t. All the younger DJ’s that were coming up, started buying video cameras too. It was really a sight to see at one period, where at given DJ events, everybody had video-cameras out. It must’ve been just good timing when video-cameras became a lot more affordable. It wasn’t just me, everybody in the DJ scene was documenting stuff.

AllHipHop.com: The digital editing is wild, as is the coloration. This must’ve taken some serious time and money…

DJ A-Trak: I’m happy that you see the DVD that way, as far as on-point with the editing and all that. But I think, what it is is this is a homemade project that I made with my boys here in Montreal – with basically the guy who does all the artwork for my record label, [Audio Research] and the guy who does my website. I did this with a couple of dudes who don’t normally do video editing, but always had ideas and a vision. They’re very visual. On one hand, it took us a hell of a lot of time to do it, but at the same, we had a bunch of stuff we wanted to throw in there, whether it be animated titles and other stuff. We tried to keep a balance. After all, this was all filmed on a home-video camera. We just wanted it to look fresh.

AllHipHop.com: You spent time out West, working with people like Q-Bert, Mix Master Mike, and Peanut Butter Wolf when you were in your mid-teens. Looking back, do you think people would’ve embraced you the way they did, had you not been so young?

DJ A-Trak: That’s a good question. You know, making this DVD allowed me to take an objective step back and realize just how generous those dudes were with me. They took me in like family as a 15 year old who could scratch pretty well. The DVD shows all these experiences building with dudes who were like five to ten years older than me. I can’t really tell if it had been different if I was older. Some of those dudes met me before my voice changed. It must’ve been a trip for them to meet somebody that young, who was so into the music. You mentioned Peanut Butter Wolf: I would go out in stay in his crib when I was doing shows in Cali. He was one of the first dudes to put me onto a lot of older records. There was a phase in the scratch world around ’97 and ’98, when a lot of DJ’s used to scratch over fast Electro beats. So I would go to Wolf’s house, and he knew that I was into scratching on those kinda beats, so he would play me a record like World Class Wreckin’ Cru’s “Surgery” which was some old school, early 80’s Dr. Dre Electro s**t.

AllHipHop.com: I can remember, in the late 90’s, when you battled a dude by scratching his name, then scratching “can suck my d*ck.” That was a whole new style and emotion to DJ battles. Why’d you go that route?

DJ A-Trak: I came up also with a crew called The Allies. That was like from ’99 on. That was a period where DJ’ing was already going through a really big boom. There was a strong sense of community in the DJ scene and the battle scene, to the point where you’d show up at a battle and people’s mentality would be, “Oh, we’re just here to elevate the art and push the art forward.” [That] was great in itself, and better that than everybody hating each other – but after a while, it got so extreme that it got a little bit generic, and me and these dudes from The Allies, we all grew up enjoying the true b-boy aesthetic of Hip-Hop, we wanted to bring back the dissing in battles. If you see me in person, you wouldn’t expect me to call somebody out. But in the context of the battle, you may as well make it funny. At every one of our battles, we’d call somebody out. Really, it’s a creative exercise – how do you find the records to say what you wanna say, using somebody else’s words. I remember noticing that in the years after [that battle], everybody was dissing again and it was really funny. Then that became generic.

AllHipHop.com: Some battle MC’s treat the battle like a boxing match – and really learn to hate their opponent for that day. Did it ever get that way with you?

DJ A-Trak: There was never any animosity between any of these DJ’s at a battle. I’m kind of a competitive person, and I really remember listening to Mobb Deep the morning of a battle and coming out of the hotel room like, “I can crush all these dudes. F**k ’em!” It’s not personal, but that’s the mindset you put yourself into. In battle DJ’ing, part of the way people perceive you is how you come off on stage – your presence. I’m a kind of a shy dude, I’m not a guy with tons of presence. But if you look like you’re confident and you look like you believe you’re better than all these dudes, it’s really a bonus.

AllHipHop.com: Tell me about the album you’re working on for this year?

DJ A-Trak: Basically, the way that I’m approaching this album is I’m producing most of the songs out of scratching. I won’t really use a sampler that much. It’s not a bunch of scratching in your face the whole time. It’s not non-stop scratch solos. But if you have a producer’s ear and you’re wondering why that hi-hat sounds that way, it’s because it’s scratched a little bit. Traditionally, scratch production has been very slow and gloomy. That’s just been the sound associated with scratch records. But my whole thing is, I wanna hear a real Tunnel banger, made of scratches. I wanna make like a RZA type-beat or a Just Blaze type-beat or a Kanye type-but just made out of cuts. Half the songs on the album have featured MC’s. The first white-label that I leaked was a song [“Don’t Fool With The Dips”] I did with the Dip set. People assume that scratch DJ’s are backpackers. But all those separations in the Hip-Hop landscape such as underground and mainstream or between coasts, that stuff is bogus. If I wanna do a song with Dipset, I’ll do it. At the same time, I got a joint with Little Brother and Consequence. My whole thing is making an album where those two songs don’t seem like extremes.

AllHipHop.com: It’s probably a question you don’t want to hear, but is Kanye gonna be on your album?

DJ A-Trak: I can’t say for sure until it’s done. All I know is he’s been very supportive of my music. There’s specific beats that he’s really liked. There’s one beat in particular that he almost put on Late Registration. He told me he’s down where he’s down to hop on stuff. I haven’t really gotten to the whole label world yet. If it gets to the point where he actually records on a song – which would be incredible for me – then I realize that it’s still gonna have to be cleared by Hova the God [Jay-Z]. [laughs] We’ll see.

AllHipHop.com: Being from Montreal, how did you link with Kanye West?

DJ A-Trak: I met Kanye in London about a year and a half ago. I was doing an in-store performance at a store that pairs up different artists. On that particular day, they had me and John Legend. This was a pre-album John Legend. At that point, any hardcore Kanye fan knew who John Legend was. Kanye was in town to promote his record, and came [in] to support John. I did a quick little routine, and I used a Jay-Z record. Kanye later told me, “What I liked about you was, you were using a record that I knew. A lot of these turntablist kids, they use some s**t that I don’t even recognize. You picked up a hit record.” He caught up with me afterwards. He said he wanted to take me on tour with Usher. He didn’t have a DJ, and that’s where it all started.

AllHipHop.com: Kids learn rapper’s DJ’s. I’ve been to Common shows where DJ Dummy is the star of the show along with Common. Did that experience create more interest in you or your previous work?

DJ A-Trak: Maybe not at first, but it’s catching on. I definitely think, I know that there’s people who’ve seen me at Kanye shows and found out who I was, after that. This is great. Kanye’s audience is obviously a whole other audience to my audience. That was the appeal of working with Kanye was the challenge of taking this turntablism stuff that I came up, and bringing it to these audiences who aren’t familiar with it anymore.

AllHipHop.com: In the 80’s, it seemed common to have the most skilled DJ’s behind the most skilled rappers. You had Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, DJ Scratch and EPMD, and DJ Aladdin with Ice-T. Do you see that coming around again?

DJ A-Trak: Umm, it’s hard to predict. But that’s something I’m proud of. A lot of us come from a certain background in Hip-Hop where the DJ really had a presence, and when the MC had a DJ, you knew about him. The 90’s brought the DATs, and the DJ got phased out of the picture. Your [earlier] example of Common and Dummy is a good example. Those two really gel together to create an entertaining concert. I really hope that by Kanye having me perform with him at these events and on TV, that it might motivate more people to do the same.

AllHipHop.com: During his show, what’s your shining moment, or rather, the moment you wait for?

DJ A-Trak: [laughs] There’s a part at the end of “All Falls Down” where, after the last chorus, I grab the acapella of the chorus and break it down, then I go back and forth with the background singers who imitate what I scratch, while the rest of the

band plays along. [humming] That’s my favorite part, because we managed to integrate what I do into his show without the crowd going, “Okay, I wanna hear the next Kanye song.”

AllHipHop.com: Lastly, the DVD title is interesting. Especially since recently, we’ve seen you on the cover of Urb and other places, wearing sunglasses. Your style and image seems to really have jumped up. I don’t normally ask fashion questions, but what’s good?

DJ A-Trak: Sure. It’s funny because this all started with the title Sunglasses is a Must which doesn’t mean anything. It’s really just something my boy said years ago, out of nowhere. [My brother and I named it this in tribute to that]. By the time it came close to the release, I started buying sunglasses, knowing this was gonna come out. I never owned any. It’s taking the title and running with it. It’s not on some goofy Groucho Marx s**t, more on some flashy s**t.