Even with the tinted windows rolled up on his all-black ride, people are waiving at his car on Jamaica Avenue in Queens. Domination is really in the hood. There is a stack of posters in his the backseat to promote the release of the recently released God Giveth, God Taketh Away. With Bang ‘Em Smurf locked up till 2008, Domination has a lot on his shoulders to prove he can do on the mic, what many say he’s done in the streets.

Up until this point, most people know Bang ‘Em Smurf and Domination on the strength of their issues with 50 Cent. AllHipHop.com let the quieter of the two, Domination speak on some issues to promote the album. Is it more important to trash 50 or push the Gangsta Flip envelope? Domination airs out.

AllHipHop.com: Who are you influenced by musically?

Domination: Man, to tell you the truth I’m not really influenced by a lot of dudes. That’s how I keep myself different from everybody else. All-time, who am I influenced by? My cousin Freaky Tah, [fallen member of The Lost Boyz] I don’t know if you know that he was my cousin. I’m influenced by him because he represents the same struggle that I came out of. With him, I got to witness that first hand.

AllHipHop.com: Do you feel any added pressure to blow because your Freaky Tah’s younger-cousin?

Domination: Nah, I don’t feel any pressure because of that. I feel added pressure because of the negativity they put on us because of the G-Unit situation.

AllHipHop.com: Smurf told us that he told us that he felt blackballed…

Domination: [Cutting in] Oh no, we don’t feel blackballed, we’ve been blackballed! We’ve spoken to DJs, reporters and websites who have told us that 50 directly told them not to put us on.

AllHipHop.com: 50 told The Next Level magazine recently that he spent money to keep Bang’em out of jail.

Domination: [Laughing] 50 never spent money to keep Bang’ Em out of jail. He didn’t give Bang’em his money man. Bang’ Em had $325,000 with 50 while he was in jail and he didn’t bail him out of jail. 50 didn’t give him the money and then he goes on the mixtape talking about the $325,000 he took from Bang’ Em. In actuality he never saw that money. You know what I’m saying, nobody ever seen that money.

AllHipHop.com: When did you really decide to do “What’s Beef?” and front page this?

Domination: Smurf had just come out of jail. We wasn’t thinking about 50 Cent, we weren’t going to do no diss songs toward him. We were just going to forget him if he wasn’t going to mess with us. And we heard a DJ Whoo Kid mixtape and 50 was on the beginning of a pack song saying “Hey Smurf don’t think I don’t hear you out there talking about me, brush your teeth before you talk about me, wash under your arms you smell like Queensbridge. Tell them n***as about the $325,000 I took back from you. When I come back off tour and I catch you I’m going to rip the skin off your ass, n***a.” So, he just came at us back. We couldn’t let that slide, we was from the hood and we was his gunnas, so for him to come at us like that we got to go at his head. So, “What’s Beef” was true facts, we put down real talk about him, so that’s why other s**t occurred, but that’s neither here or there.

AllHipHop.com – The beef between G-Unit and Murder Inc. really divided Jamaica, Queens a little bit, didn’t it?

Dominatio: That whole time, even when I was with G-Unit, and we was beefin’ with Murder Inc., my friend was Black Child best friend. He told me I should stay out of it, but at the time I told him “F**k it! I’m riding for my team!” I’m swinging hard for my team and it turned out not to be the wisest decision. And since then I’ve spoken to Black Child, and it’s not a problem there.

AllHipHop.com: A lot of cat’s on DJ Mello’s “We Don’t Talk to Police” mixtape made reference that they think 50 is a “snitch” or informer. What do you have to say about that?

Domination: Yeah, he’s a dry snitch, he sure is. At first I didn’t want to believe it, but he’s a dry snitch if you listen to his songs and what not. The things that he says are not a code of the streets to say the things that he says. Like he says “50, Who shot ya?, is it ‘Preme, Freeze or Tah Tah.” He’s putting a lot of business out in front.

AllHipHop.com: Beefing with 50 Cent seemed to have introduced you to Yukmouth and C-Bo to do “He Ain’t A Thug”…

Domination: Yukmouth and C-Bo actually got up with us. They did they background work and research and came looking for us. We just got a call one day and it was like “What’s up, this is C-Bo from the West Coast, we want to fly you out.” At first we were skeptical, we didn’t know if it was a set-up or what. But then we though if God wanted us to go that way; that’s the way we’re going to go. Without any more hesitation we went out to the West Coast and met C-Bo, Yukmouth had told him about us.

AllHipHop.com.com: And you recorded the joint for their album?

Domination:com Yeah, we got on they album, but they didn’t get a chance to be on ours because they wasn’t on this side at the time and what not. [I do have] Kurupt, my artist Young Dice, and D.V. Alias Khrist. .

AllHipHop.com – Being that Bang’ Em doesn’t rap at all, how does your group work out creatively?

Domination – Me and Smurf, it’s 50/50 regardless. He has a great creative sense, sometimes he’ll give me something to rhyme about. He also had a lot of the connects and we just build together. We never took it as “Yo, I’m the rapper and he’s the boss.” We took it as that we’re both bosses and we’re coming in this game together and we’re trying to stay together.

AllHipHop.com: In terms of your own career, you have to feel like you benefited from the attention given to the beef between 50 and you and Bang’ Em.

Domination: Oh, hell yeah! That boy got eight million fans. S**t, all I need is five-hundred thousand and I’ll go five times platinum on Koch Records you know what I’m saying. Hell yeah that benefited us, I ain’t going to front on that. But that is not my intentions because if you listen to my rap, I have skills. If you listen to my album everything is not about 50.

AllHipHop.com: Tell me about the process of recording the album. Because you said you’ve only been doing songs for a few year now.

Domination : Making the albums was beautiful for me, because while I’ve [only] been doing songs in these two years I’ve learned a lot. I learned how to format a song-song, how to make the song perfect. How to make it work and speak about something, instead of saying, “I’m going to kill you,” 5,000 times or say it in 6 million different ways. I chose not to, I chose to make music that battered women could listen to and be inspired by, music that your homies could listen to and say “Yeah! That’s how I want my n***a to feel about me. That’s my dude.”

AllHipHop.com: How much input has Bang’em had on the project even though he’s been locked away?

Domination: Oh, Smurf is still the boss man. He still has major input; I go see him every weekend, he’s up in “Sing-Sing” correctional facility in Ossining, NY. It’s about two-hours away at the most. He’s going, he ain’t worried about nothing right now, just coming home. He’s good in the yard, give him his package, money in the commissary and he’s good.

Reef the Lost Cauze’s Feast or Famine is an ultimatum. The Philadelphia MC delivers his first nationally distributed album under self-created circumstances – all or nothing. From a feared reputation in New York and Philly battles, to his role on his group, Juju Mob’s Black Candles earlier this year, Reef has stayed devoted to his craft. In the last quarter of 2005, he seems to be raising his own stakes. In order to let go of a day-job and modern man’s worries, The Lost Cauze is willing to put even his last resort into his Hip-Hop career through an album.

After a month out, Reef discusses some of the gems of his project, the ills of being a battle-rapper, recent criticism of Eastern Conference Records’ work-ethic, college, and what he’d do if he were Eagles’ coach, Andy Reid. Live and direct from Brotherly Love, a brother that loves Hip-Hop – come feast or famine.

AllHipHop.com: Feast or Famine seems to be your philosophy with this album. All or nothing. That said, in your eyes, what’s sacrificed here?

Reef the Lost Cauze: The sacrifice is just me. I want this to be able to feed my family. I’ve been doing this a long, long time. I got my rep in Philly. I got a day-job, I hate it – I don’t want to be there much longer, man. Doing this, I love it. But I don’t know how much longer I can actually do this the way I’m doing it. We’re talking about leaving work, going [from Philly to] New York, doing a showcase or an open mic till eleven o’clock, then doing an interview afterwards, then coming back to Philly, only to be at work at six the next morning. That’s me. I don’t sleep. I’m always doing this – you have to!

AllHipHop.com: Do you still plan to stay in Philadelphia, if your career does skyrocket?

Reef the Lost Cauze: Yes, I definitely plan on staying in Philly if I blow up, and show these kids that not everyone leaves. I want to put the city on my back and be apart of that movement. I really like the way North Carolina [through Little Brother] has done that. I’d like it if we can do that here.

AllHipHop.com: At this point in your career, you seem to be above battling amateurs…

Reef the Lost Cauze: I feel like, at this point, it’s hard – because I still have it in me. I still have that desire. I’ll go to these battles, and sometimes I’ll be a host – and something could rub me the wrong way, and I’ll jump in. We all got skeletons in the closet, man. If somebody pushes my wrong buttons, I’ll go at ‘em.

AllHipHop.com: On the DVD to Geto Boys’ Greatest Hits, some dude from the crowd started battling Willie D on stage. Willie wasn’t prepared, but he turned around and came at the dude, and embarrassed him. Do you feel you have to be constantly on your guard?

Reef the Lost Cauze: Absolutely. I feel like I have to be. Look, that’s how KRS got on. That’s Hip-Hop. At any minute, somebody can say something. But just like you said with Willie D, it kinda could be a good thing. They tryin’ to take somethin’ from you. With me, I’ll get so enraged, I could easily turn into a machine. We’re gonna GO!

AllHipHop.com: Recently, Jin won 50 thousand dollars in the Bahamas and revived his career through battling. There’s that whole Fight Klub, Smack DVD movement. Do you think that’s different than your background?

Reef the Lost Cauze: Yeah, it is. It’s good for a reputation, if you want it. Nowadays, the audience has a very short attention span – it’s the way that generation was raised. In my battles, it’s about skills, wit, all that. In some of those mixtape and DVD guys, they’re more interested in talking about the streets – guns, money, women. Certainly, more people are probably interested in that. But in the end, you see what wins. A lot of those guys’ albums – if they even release albums – have nothing to say. That’s why I call ‘em “DVD rappers” – you only see them on DVD’s, never hear them. Until I hear the music, I can’t judge that. The underground is entirely different. When people ask me about my career, I’ve got albums [and other accolades] to show for it. Come on, I’m not about to hand somebody a mixtape and say, “Here, I’m one of these guys on here.”

AllHipHop.com: You’ve got a couple songs that really show the listener the ladder you’ve climbed – “Crown of Thorns” and “Crumbs”. Do you think today, it’s too easy to be a rapper?

Reef the Lost Cauze: I do, completely. I mean, when I graduated High School in ’99, there was maybe seven or eight rappers in my [West Philadelphia] High School. I bet if I went back today, there’d be 50 or more. Everybody has a record label, everybody makes lil’ albums. You gotta realize – coming into this Hip-Hop s**t, I studied the greats. I watched the Black Thoughts, the Last Emperors, the Chief Kamachis, as well as the Cool C’s and Steady B’s. I’d sit there and study them. It took three or four years before I ever opened my mouth! Didn’t say s**t! Today, these kids don’t know. They don’t do the research. They chew you up and spit you out.

AllHipHop.com: You have a day job through the Philadelphia Court System. It’s ironic that when we talk about Philadelphia rappers, from Cool C to Steady B to Beanie to Cassidy – they all pass through those courts. In your estimation, why is that?

Reef the Lost Cauze: Well, on the Beanie and Cassidy thing, I think it’s some of the people around them. You’re only as good as the company you keep. With Cassidy, it’s just a shame, ‘cause from what I know, he didn’t even do it – his man did. But he’s locked up. And what really sucks is I’m a Hustla is a dope-ass record, I own it myself. Because of what happened, the label stopped working it. I can’t even blame them.

AllHipHop.com: Where do you see yourself in the Philadelphia scene?

Reef the Lost Cauze: People tend to look at Philly like you’re either on some street s**t, like State Property or on some more organic s**t, like The Roots. I’d like to think I’m some where in between those two worlds, somewhere between the streets and the Neo Soul conscious crowd because I am apart of both of those worlds and I feel like my perspective is and was shaped by both of those ways of thinking and expression.

AllHipHop.com: You were a student at The University of the Arts, but dropped out your freshmen year. Ever since Kanye West, Hip-Hop loves to care about this stuff. Can you tell me why?

Reef the Lost Cauze: Basically, Kanye really hit it on the nose. On College Dropout he has a song, “School Spirit” where he says, “This n***a graduated at the top of my class, next year, when to Cheesecake [Factory] he was a mothaf**kin’ waiter there. That’s sorta what it was. The dudes I was cool with, these 25 and 26 year olds, they graduated and didn’t have s**t. They were just sittin’ around smokin’ weed. I was a film student. It’s very hard to get to Hollywood, and most of the people there, didn’t go to no school to do it. The ratio of success is very low. Music is a little different. So after I left [college], I had an extremely, extremely tough year, and then I ended up getting my job. I pay my rent every month. Honestly too, if I stayed, I probably wouldn’t be sittin’ here having this interview either. It was a blessing in disguise.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve got a song on your album, “Coltrane” which really tells the stories of some great music from Philadelphia, but just Soul music in general. What prompted you to right that?

Reef the Lost Cauze: First, I’m just a big fan of those records. The same way that Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane influenced me, I’ve got to tip my cap to Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye. Right now, we’re very much about this Soul-sampling, sped-up vocal stuff. What I wanted to do with that record, is let us hear their voices. Slow it down. Appreciate it. A lot of my fans and people who listen to the record might not know who these people are, it’s a way for me to say thank you.

AllHipHop.com: Sort of like Nas did with “Unauthorized Biography of Rakim.”

Reef the Lost Cauze: Exactly. We’re so caught up in our own stories. We’ve got to say thank you. I looked at that record and Gang Starr’s “Jazz Thing” as inspiration.

AllHipHop.com: Over the summer, Cage told us that moving from Eastern Conference Records to Def Jux, he really saw the lacking work ethic of Mighty Mi and Eon. That’s his opinion. But coming into Eastern Conference, through Good Hands, what do you say?

Reef the Lost Cauze: I don’t know, man. We gotta remember that Eastern Conference was one of the biggest independents ever, at one time. Those two dudes know what they’re doing. I do realize that EC is not what it once was. That’s nothing new though, happens all the time. They were great, and were a great avenue for artists – and certainly, Cage was part of that. Mighty Mi has been a huge help for me, and never given me issues. He was DJ’ing at my album release party. Eon too. Those guys put me on their record. I don’t know, it is what it is. Cage put out a classic album [Movies For the Blind] with EC, and I think when people look back on the history of Cage and the history of EC, that’s what they will remember: not the fallout, but the music that was made while he was there.

AllHipHop.com: You mention your mother and your grandmother a lot on this album. What kind of support system are they in your life?

Reef the Lost Cauze: My mom is my heart. She’s truly my best friend, everything. She raised me and my sister, and did a hell of a job doing it. She’s a strong woman who left two husbands, and put us first. My grandmother and grandfather are the world to me. I’m to blessed to have been raised by and around three wonderful women. I would love to be able to buy my mom a new house, and my grandmother an Atlantic City condo. She and my grandfather love to gamble.

AllHipHop.com: Few MC’s with a serious battle background make good storytellers. “My Father’s Eyes” is an interesting true story. Tell me about it…

Reef the Lost Cauze: My father left when I was very young. He was around, but not much. It basically just me and my mom, then my sister came. So later on, once I was getting around, my father tried to make an effort. It was hard, especially when the younger man has to be the bigger man. But whatever. I said okay. I invited my father to a showcase. When he didn’t show, I said, “F**k it.” That’s pretty much where I’m coming from. Sometime soon, when I’m a father, I’ll learn from his mistakes.

AllHipHop.com: To close on an offbeat note, what’s good the Eagles this year? You make a lot references to them. I liked the Reggie Wright / Troy Aikman line on the record…

Reef the Lost Cauze: Rest in peace, Reggie! I don’t know, man. I think McNabb needs to heal. But they won’t let him do so. That’s big. The NFC has changed a lot from last year. I mean we were destroyed by the Cowboys. Yeah, I’d let McNabb heal and then come back later in the season. That’s when my season starts, really. DJ Excel was telling me the other day, “Philadelphia is a city of ‘Almost Champions.’” I agree. We never do it, but we get so close. Look at the Eagles last year, or the 76ers in ’01. Do I think we’re gonna make the playoffs? Yeah. The Super Bowl? I don’t know, man.

After his much-anticipated Ruff Ryder debut The Rest is History pretty much tanked sales-wise, Jin metaphorically hung up the mic, leading most fans to think he had retired forever and renounced the game. Quite the contrary. The Queens-bred MC simply felt the need to address certain issues in Rap, particularly the lack of quality MC’s, the lack of passion, and of course, music industry politics. Feeling that the major label route wasn’t the right forum for his expression, Jin redefined his objective, returned to his roots, and became “The Emcee.”

His agenda skewed a bit after a loss to Serius Jones at an AllHipHop.com-sponsored Fight Klub in New York, as some feared Jin had lost his edge. But weeks later, the battle-tested MC redeemed himself with a win at Power Summit in the Bahamas, claiming 50 large and reclaiming his dignity—at least from a fan perspective. AllHipHop.com felt Jin had a lot of explaining to do about these recent events, not to mention his perceived retirement, his split from Ruff Ryder, and his conflict with Jermaine Dupri and fellow 106 & Park “Freestyle Friday” champ SunNY. Here, The Emcee lets loose and enlightens inquiring minds.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s start with your recent Fight Klub win in the Bahamas. What was your mindset going into that battle; did you feel you had to redeem yourself from the [previous] Fight Klub in New York?

Jin: Well, first things first, I went in very confident—the same way I went in last year. I guess the L that I caught a few weeks ago or so had an effect on me, but it also didn’t. I mean, it didn’t in the sense that, it wasn’t the first battle that I lost. That L was sort of like a reality check, like, “Yo you’re going to the Bahamas, it’s 50 grand, and on top of that, you know who’s gon’ be there watching already, as far as the media and the industry.” So that gave me a heads-up, which I think, honestly, I wouldn’t have had if I didn’t catch the L at the Fight Klub [in New York].

AllHipHop.com: So you don’t think the battle in New York scathed your reputation at all? People said Serius said some crazy things [in his freestyle].

Jin: Oh, no doubt. I mean, it’s sort of like a catch 22 because I understand that at this point, the majority of the interviews that I do, that issue will come up, that battle will come up, and he’ll come up. My whole thing is just, I ain’t trying to give him extra promotion that I feel he doesn’t deserve cause, you hearing this straight from me – he beat me fair and square that night. No matter how people wanna debate. Some of them are like, “Yeah he had those certain type of lines that he could use” and all types of different angles. But you would only hear that from them and not from me, because I know that the objective of a battle is basically to win the crowd, and different people have different strategies. But the one thing about battling is that, there really is no set rule. It’s all contingent on what your own personal guidelines are. Now, the reason I felt so inclined to battle him at the Bahamas on some, “Yo come up, let me smash you right now,” is because I think he was getting a little more hype than he deserved. For one, because none of the stuff he said was particularly spectacular, like the whole eating dogs [comment].

To me, it’s not s**t that I haven’t heard before. I’ve been battling since the seventh grade, and even [then], I was hearing these racial jokes, and it’s sort of become part of my career. One thing I pride myself on is I’m able to bounce back from those without resorting to the same levels. And it’s not because I feel like I gotta worry about consequences and repercussions. I just feel like I’m wittier than that. I don’t need to go there. So, that particular night, I just lost myself, meaning I didn’t bounce back from it. I really let it affect me that night. I was completely out of my element, and he was just on point and he killed it and he won. Now, the follow-up to that is just, he’s doing interviews, and he’s like, “I’m the guy that beat Jin” and he’s getting wild buzz off of this, and he’s like, “Yo, my spins went up ever since I beat Jin.” Yo, all that tells me is—that says something about myself and what I’ve accomplished, [that] somebody can build a career off of beating me. So that tells me like, “Alright Jin, pat yourself on the back.” Cause this guy’s claim to fame is beating you. I do so many battles outside of what people know about. People know about the Puerto Rico joint, they know about the Smack DVDs. I’ll be at a car show where I’ll end up battling somebody that just wanted to call me out, and I’ll serve ‘em and I’ll smash ‘em, but nobody will know about it cause it’s like, Jin wins another battle, what’s the big deal. Meanwhile, if I catch an L, then it’s the end of the world. I mean, all that tells me is that people view me highly. And this whole Fight Klub in New York assured me that fact. When I went to the Bahamas, honestly, [Serius] wasn’t even on my mind. [I was supposed to battle Rhymefest, not Serius.]

AllHipHop.com: Are you saying they planned that?

Jin: Yo, you tell me. I don’t know, but honestly, my mentality that day was like, “I don’t care who you bring.” On the day of the battle, when they had the pre-meeting when they bring all the contestants in to talk about the rules and the prize and whatever, all of a sudden at that meeting, they’re like, “Rhymefest isn’t in it but we have a substitute for him.” And here comes Mr. Jones strolling in. So I don’t know if they thought that was supposed to faze me or whatever. Nobody even knows this, but they asked me in the room, “Yo, Jin is it cool if he’s in the battle?” And, I don’t know, maybe they expected me to be like, “Nah yo.” But I’m like, “Hell yeah!” Now, the moment I saw him and I knew he was gon’ be in it, my mindset was like, “Yo, I hope he makes it to the finals. That way I can just settle this once and for all.”

But, lo and behold, he doesn’t even make it to the final round. He loses to the kid from London. I beat the kid from London, and at that very moment, I already knew what I had to do. I knew I had to be like, “Yo, everybody, don’t go nowhere. I know you’re still in the building. Why don’t we do this? Im’a take 10Gs out of my own pocket.” Cause the reality is, that Fight Klub [in NY], neither one of us put money up for that. It’s not like I lost 10Gs to him. I just didn’t win the 10Gs that they put up. Now, here at the Bahamas, I was like, “Yo, if nobody’s gonna sponsor this, I’ll take 10Gs out of my own pocket. I know you still here Jones, let’s do this.” So it unfolded how it did. We waited and waited and waited. The DJs and everybody still in the building, but for some reason he’s gone. That’s pretty much the whole story right there, and you’re probably not gonna here me acknowledging him or addressing him anymore because you know at this point, no matter what, he’s gonna try to salvage some sort of, “Yo I left because I had to do this” or something like that, but I’m so beyond that, so that’s what it is.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, so have you decided what you’re gonna do with 50K?

Jin: [Laughs] Good question. I mean, the same thing I did last year was—my unofficial money manager is my mom, so ultimately I’m a grown man, so there’s responsibilities I have. So it’s not necessarily like, “Yo here’s 50 grand, let’s blow it at the strip club.” I’m just like you and everybody else that’s reading this. Light bills, phone bills, [but] it was a blessing to be able to spit three 16s and make 50 grand. That’s another thing about people who are like, “Yo why the hell is Jin still battling?” Like, why one earth would I not do that? I ain’t Jay-Z yet. I ain’t getting’ no 25 grand for a guest appearance.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking on that—the whole retirement thing—can you talk about why. When you said you were gonna retire, did you mean retire from making records?

Jin: Well, all of that, the whole concept of that retirement stemmed from this one record that I did. Basically, around June or so I turned 23, and I was just thinking to myself, like, “Damn another year. What are you doing now? At this point in your life, what are you doing not only with your music, but just your life?” So I come across this beat, and it just inspired me to kind of unleash all my different feelings and emotions on the beat. And the song ended up being “I Quit.” That record was just something I did in the spur of the moment, and pretty much, the joint was me expressing my distaste with being in the music industry. Not hip-hop itself, but just the whole being signed to a major and things of that nature. So I was just saying once and for all on that song, “Yo I’m sick of it, I quit.” Now, next thing I know, that joint leaks and it’s on all these different sites, and people are like, “Oh what’s this, Jin retiring?” And then, you got all these different publications calling and wanting to do interviews, and—it wasn’t even so much that that was my agenda. I wasn’t doing that to get attention, but while all these people wanna interview me, I kind of expressed to them how I feel. Sometimes the best music is just expressing how you’re feeling and that’s how I felt.

AllHipHop.com: So you didn’t really quit, per se?

Jin: Exactly. I think aside from all the speculation of it being a publicity stunt, the number one reason I did that was sort of like for my own personal sanity. I just needed to disassociate myself from that element. So where I’m at with it right now is, after that whole saga and that episode unfolded I started getting back in the studio and I just started recording, and next thing you know, I had an album done. So right now what I’m doing is the independent thing.

AllHipHop.com: Right, I’ve heard The Emcee’s Properganda, and it seems to really be you getting back to the essence of MC’ing. It’s seems so organic.

Jin: I love that word that you just said—organic. And I think that’s the sound I wanted to get. Even the whole—if I can clear it up also—a lot of people are like, “Man, what’s this, he’s changing his name to ‘The Emcee’ now? What’s he having an identity crisis?” I mean, I think people are getting too caught up in that. If you see me walking down the street and you’re like, “Ayo Jin,” I’m not gonna ignore you. [Laughs] Im’a still turn around. The whole reason I wanted to create that whole identity with The MC was kind of just to take away everything else and just focus on that aspect of who I am and what I do, which is emceeing. When people saw me on 106 & Park and all that, that’s what I was doing up there, that was The MC already. I’m very, very proud of this album.

AllHipHop.com: You should be. So do you feel that when you were at Ruff Ryder, you were forced to put out a different type of music?

Jin: Not so much. Honestly, to give you the reality of it, I think at that point in my life—not my career, but my life—I was still trying to figure out who I was even on the music level cause I got signed to Ruff Ryders when I was like 19 and that was like in the blink of an eye four years ago. I’m proud of the first album, The Rest is History. That’s my first album and I had so much fun doing it, but I think the best reward that came out of recording that album was learning about who I am. Now I go back and I’m like, “Yo that record might not have necessarily been something that I would do now.” Or, “Damn, that’s one of my records; I would have done more like that.” But there’s no regret, because I would go back and do everything the same way. That was the only way that [I’d] get to where I’m at now, which is just complete understanding of what I’m trying to represent as an artist.

AllHipHop.com: So you don’t think Ruff Ryders handled your debut album in the wrong way as far as marketing and promotion?

Jin: I mean, yeah in a sense. But I’m not gonna—I can’t and I never will be like, “Yo, it’s Ruff Ryders fault because my [album] never took off.” I mean, I leave that up to the people. If people feel that, I can’t argue with their perspective. But I think I came at a time when Ruff Ryder was going through some internal stuff anyway—X was trying to do Bloodline, Eve was on a Hollywood tip. So naturally, the solidarity that was there like in ’97 wasn’t there anymore. But my whole thing was like, “I’m not trying to come and use these guys to blow my s**t up anyway. I’m just a fan of the Ruff Ryders, I believe in their work ethic, I believe in their machine, so I just wanna do me and add my chapter.” But then, I basically got caught up in everything I said I was sick of in “I Quit,” which is Ruff Ryder partnering with Virgin for my project. That was a disaster already out the gate because they wasn’t getting along, and whenever you have your label and the parent label not getting along, that’s like your mom and dad beefing and you’re just a kid in the middle caught up in it. And that’s exactly what happened with my project. But I don’t feel any bitterness toward anybody.

AllHipHop.com: But being independent now, do you have any issues with major labels as a result?

Jin: I think it’s all about the perspective you’re looking at it from. I’m just realistic. What I want out of my music right now is not as outlandish as maybe everybody else. If I can do the music that I want and have all the decisions made [by] me, my management, my team, and we’re able to sustain off of that—our bills are paid on time, we might have a little extra time to go to Six Flags or some s**t, that’s cool. I wanna buy three houses also, but if I can save up enough to buy one for my mom, I’m happy. But at the same time I’m not on some, “Yo, I hate the majors and I wanna be independent for the rest of my life.” I’m at a point where I’m just trying to work my way up from the bottom.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking on the album again, you raise a lot of issues about rappers not taking their craft seriously.

Jin: Oh yeah, it’s all about the craft.

AllHipHop.com: So is that the main theme that you wanna get across to people?

Jin: There’s a song on [the album] called “Properganda,” and I think that song sums up exactly how I feel. And I’ll give you the prime example, when you know the state of Hip-Hop is kind of topsy-turvy—when you have 16-year-olds talking about what’s the Soundscan this week. When I was 16—it wasn’t even that long ago, like ’98 or whatever—and you had albums coming out, Cuban Link’s, Mobb [Deep], Wu-Tang Forever, whichever albums were coming out at that time, nobody I knew was on that tip. Everybody was just like, “Yo you heard that s**t, it’s fire, it’s crazy.” Nobody gave a damn what it sold on the first week. Fat Joe has been around since the golden era and he’s still doing it now. He has his big records, but you have that album that comes out and the first thing these kids are talking about right out the gate is, “Oh he flopped,” things like that. So that’s sort of the side of it that hurts me as a Hip-Hop fan cause I feel like these kids are missing out on so much when they have that mentality.

AllHipHop.com: Can you speak on the friction between you and Jermaine Dupri and SunNY? How did that come about?

Jin: That’s like, not even friction. I don’t think I’ve ever met Jermaine, I don’t think I’ve ever met SunNY. I’ll tell you what that’s about—it’s basically he came off the 106 & Parkthing, which is cool. I wish anybody success as long as they deserve it. I [was] signed to Virgin, and then Jermaine made that whole move over to Virgin. He signs [SunNY] to Virgin. This kid is running around on the SunNY campaign. Everybody asks him how it feels to come off 106 & Park [when] Poster Boy and Jin really didn’t take off. There’s several ways that he could have answered that question, but for the most part, he decides to answer it in a way where I felt like he wasn’t really valuing my [reputation]. Him and Jermaine would be like, “Yo, SunNY—the official, the real champ from 106. We gon’ show y’all how we really do this.” Or [SunNY would say] “The difference is I write songs, yo, these cats don’t write songs.” S**t like that. My reaction to it is not [to be] mad. Nah, my reaction is, “Oh really, you wanna go there with it. Aight. You on your MC s**t, I’m on my MC s**t, come on let’s do this.” I guess people forgot that that’s the breed that I am. I’m a battle MC at the end of the day, so that’s where it all stemmed from. Then, coincidentally the Power Summit happened to be like a month or two away at the point when I did that record—“The Open Invitation.” I was like, “You obviously feel like you’re better than me so come on down to the Power Summit and let’s battle the good ole fashioned way.” And he didn’t come, so whatever.

AllHipHop.com: So where’s that at right now?

Jin: That’s not at nowhere. I haven’t paid them no mind in awhile. It’s just another chapter that I just had to open up and close real quick.

AllHipHop.com: With you supposedly retiring, some people started to believe, you know, the claims that you’re basically a better battle rapper than somebody who can put out records.

Jin: One thing about Hip-Hop is that it’s based on opinion. Even that “Top Five” record [on the album], it’s talking about who’s the top five, ain’t no top five. Like, I’m a firm believer of that. If you say that Biggie is the greatest of all time and I say that ‘Pac is the greatest of all time, who’s to say that you’re right or I’m right. Both of us are right. This is another thing about the whole state of Hip-Hop—the music industry manipulating the mind-state of the people. To them, what they think is a hot record, they don’t even realize it, but it’s what they hear on the radio 20 times in an hour.

That also coincides with the business side of things. Any one of my songs, honestly, that was on my first album, if the label wanted to, they could have made it a hit record cause nowadays hit records are bought. I hate to sound like I’m bitter but I just need to kick the reality ‘cause I’ve been in the mix and seen firsthand. I’ve been in meetings where somebody said, “Yo this record has to be played at least four times in the next hour.” S**t like that. I’ve always felt like the only thing you can do as an MC and as an artist is to just keep making records and to hope that if you’re true to your art and take your craft seriously, there’s gonna be one day when people are just gonna sit back and listen to your music and be like, “Yo, this sh*t is hot.” Unfortunately, [laughs], it might be the day you die. But go**ammit y’all gon’ respect my sh*t. Even if it is when I’m dead, I’m not mad. My whole goal, aside from making the money and being able to take care of my family, is just to be remembered.

AllHipHop.com: There are some people who never get that.

Jin: I hate to say it, but I think that’s the problem with this generation of artists. You see [how] nowadays, well talk about the [Big Daddy] Kanes, the KRS-Ones—artists that really made an impact. I think this generation—I can’t think of one that they’ll talk about ten years from now. No disrespect, but they’re not gonna be talking about Chingy like that. They’re not gonna be talking about Nelly like that. And I’ve been in the club rocking to these guys’ records, singing along, so it’s not that I have something against them. But I’m talking about that s**t, that s**t that nowadays when you talk about KRS-One, when you talk about these artists, you talk about them with such high respect. Personally, as a Hip-Hop head, I just don’t see nobody that steps to the table nowadays that will leave that mark.