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fter releasing a long collection of underground mixtapes, Crowe Da Crook recently dropped his first independent studio album. Here he discusses the purpose behind his lyrics, his work with Haystack, and plans for stepping his game up next year. Everybody’s got a story. What’s yours? What got you interested in music? I started writing raps in 1994. Then I got into some trouble and went to prison. Ever since I got out two years ago, I been doing the music thang full-time. In two years I’ve performed all over the Midwest, Tennessee, Kentucky. I just dropped my first studio album in August. I have about ten underground mixtapes. I also work with a couple of groups – me and my little brother got a group called Thurobreed and me and my dude Paulbearer got a group called Hawgbillyz. We sold almost a thousand copies of our mix-CD Chevys and Cocaine in the last three months. I’m currently signed to a deal with Fatman Records. We’re talking to Koch and Select-O-Hits about distributing a compilation called Fatman Records & Haystack Present: Livin’ That Trash Life. How did you link up with Haystack? Dough, the owner of Fatman Records, is real good friends with Haystack. When I started messing with Dough on the music tip, he seen some potential so we signed the papers. He asked me did I want to feature Haystack on my album. I said yeah so he brought Haystack up here in January and we did a show. Your album is called Mask on My Face. So do you literally put on a mask and rob people? A lot of the album is from my experience. I wrote a lot of it while I was in the penitentiary. There was times when I wrote raps in the dope house, in the kitchen while my dudes was cooking crack. It ain’t all negative. There’s some gangsta shit on there but there’s some positive shit too. A couple years ago I lost my wife to drugs and there’s songs about that. There’s songs about how I’ve tried to change since I got out of prison. There’s political stuff on there. The song “Mask on My Face” is from experiences of having to really put a ski mask on and do what I need to do to feed my family. What’s going on with the groups you’re in? My little brother is out on bond. He’s facing habitual felony charges. So we’re trying to finish the Thurobreed album now. Me and my dude Paulbearer did the Hawgbillyz CD. I hear Chevys and Cocaine playing all over the city. They play
it down in Tennessee. We’ve sold a lot of CDs in Kentucky. After he drops his solo album we’re gonna go real hard on a Hawgbillyz studio album. That’s the only CD I’m going to do next year except for a DJ Choice and maybe a DJ Black mixtape. Have people ever made comparisons between you and other white rappers like Bubba Sparxx? No, not at all. People compare me to Young Buck or Tupac. People even say my stage presence reminds them of Biggie. I don’t really get compared to other white rappers. Being a white rapper, do you feel like you have to prove yourself more than other rappers do? I don’t think so. I’ve had more black folks buy my album than white folks. My music is aggressive and real. I’m talking to you right now while I’m living in the projects. We’re the only white people on the street and everybody on my street bought my album. They love it. I’ve done shows in front of white folks and I’ll see a couple folks bobbing their heads, but when I do shows in front of black folks they go crazy. Are you performing during the Circle City Classic? Yeah, I got a show at The Ugly Monkey with Jim E Mac, Keylo-G, and G-Stak. We also got a show coming up that’s north of Indianapolis called Crunktoberfest. It’s on October 25th at noon. It’s got all kinds of people from Dayton, OH, Kentucky, Nashville, Detroit. How would you describe the Midwest movement? A lot of cats in Detroit and Dayton are aiming towards that Hip Hop shit. The cats in Chi like Kanye and Twista got they own lil’ style. We got Hip Hop lyrics but when we spit it’s real shit. It’s hard times right now with the economy fucked up. There’s some folks here that rap fast but I don’t rap fast. A lot of people think the Midwest is a lot of fast rappers but I just rap what comes to mind. What’s the overall plan to use music to better your life? Hopefully we’ll get this distribution deal with Fatman. Maybe I can take that money and invest it, maybe move out the projects. All I do is grind and I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing ‘cause it’s working.
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