You definitely have more of a presence in the Bay than in years past, and you’re kinda back and forth between there and Atlanta. Why do you feel it’s necessary to be home more now? I just went back to record some music. They need a little guidance so I went back to help. A lot of people talk about how the hyphy movement has led so many youngsters astray. Is you going back as much about the music as it is the community, or do the two work in hand from where you stand? Well, you know, it’s always been the independent thing goin’ on where a lot of folks wanna put a project together and put it out independent and try to sell 50,000 copies. A handful of groups got signed by major labels from out here last year. That got the morale up a little bit as far as gettin’ on the national arena. Everybody’s content with the local success and the regional success, but we still watch TV and they wanna be in the big leagues. So that’s what’s goin’ on. You got some folks that recognize that if all these millions of people on this end of the world love what’s comin’ from the Bay… if they could just get it on a national arena, a lot more people might like it. So that’s the struggle right now. From day one, the opportunities were never there for us as Bay artists to be on MTV and BET. It was never really there for me or E-40. We slipped through the cracks every now and then, but as far as the majority of the Bay Area music scene, we had huge success. We sold a lot of records and made a lot of money, but BET and MTV would never ever check for an artist here that does the same thing as an artist from another area. If another artist from another area was doin’ it year in and year out the labels would rush to sign them, but it just doesn’t happen here. Why has that always been the case? Is it because the Bay has always stood on its own and maintained that independent mindset? Yeah, because we really don’t pursue the deals and then if you got somebody who makes a hundred, two, three hundred thousand a year independently and you come and tell them, “Man I’ll sign you. I’ll give you $100,000 to sign and you get 10% off all your stuff,” the answer is “No.” Once you get the person in a position to earn a deal and you run the numbers to them and what you’re offering, it’s an insult.
Would you say “hyphy” is dead or alive? I think that the word doesn’t mean much to people out here. It does not define what’s going on. If you say that to the wrong lil youngsters you might get a sour reaction. If you ask them if they “go hyphy” they might laugh. It’s not like anybody is on the daily coming to the table talking about how we gotta preserve “hyphy.” It’s actually just a way of life. It might have a new name by the time the summer comes around. They might get tired of that word and come up with something else. But when you step back and look at it it’s still the same thing. It looks identical to the same things that we was doin’ when I was a youngster but it’s just new and improved. It’s just a different style. It’s the same behavior. We did the cars. We stood around the intersection and had a party in the parking lot somewhere. We did all that stuff. All they doin’ is doin’ what they supposed to do and they doin’ it they own way and now they got a soundtrack to go with it. Back in the day you had Richie Rich, Too $hort and some E-40. Now they got Keak Da Sneak and Mistah FAB. They just a little more hyper. Are you droppin’ another album? I just got out of the studio and it should be mixed and mastered by next week. I’m releasing a farewell album with Jive. No more albums with them. We outta there. The relationship is over. It’s not going to be a whole album – just like ten songs – something to commemorate the fact that I’ve been on Jive for twenty years. Fourteen albums with Jive and it’s the end of the relationship. Also on my Up All Nite label I’m releasing two compilations and probably whoever gets the nod, whoever gets the hot song first is the first group to go. I got like three groups with albums ready to go. And of course The Pack is coming out on Jive. I got them a deal on Jive and they’re part of the Up All Nite crew. So it’s The Pack and two other groups? I got three groups in the cut on the independent side. They don’t have major deals. I’m just cultivating them right now. They got a little momentum but it’s about whoever got that hot single. We got the albums ready to go, but nowadays you can’t just be like, “I’m puttin’ you out next. You next, you after them…” You gotta time it with a hot record and if your record ain’t in rotation right now, you just ain’t ready yet. You get that weight up and get a record crackin’. In the meantime rap everywhere you can rap. Do any verse you can do on anybody’s stuff you can, mixtapes. Be active. If you can’t shine in your own spot right now, what makes you think you’re going to shine anywhere else in the world? It’s whoever got that hustle; whoever got that spark. What I’m doing in the Bay right now is the same thing that I’m doing in Atlanta. In Atlanta I had been on a whole different agenda the whole time I had been there. I wasn’t really tryna find somebody with the hot hand and help them get on. I was more or less working with artists who were up and coming and getting them in the studio and get them on their way. But now, I’m just tryna see who is the hottest artist and who needs some help. I’m not really into artist development anymore. I wasn’t really too good at that. My good natured heart makes me good at artist development, but as for the skill that it takes to develop an artist, it’s not my forte. I’d prefer to just take super talented people and give them a couple steps and help them elevate their game.
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Everybody readily acknowledges you as the godfather of the Bay and you’ve seen everything transcend from two or three generations before you. Now, this generation seems to have everybody up in arms. Do you see it that way or is the Bay the same as it’s always been? The youngsters right now, the 25 and under generation is wilder right now in every city than any generation at that age. They grew up with the TV violence, the movie violence, the street violence and the music is violent, so it’s just a different world. Just imagine being a little kid and you grow up around crack and you live in the hood. People in your house on crack. It’s just a different pace in the streets as far as the tolerance level of just “violating my space” or whatever. It ain’t about fightin’ no more and I just feel like the combination of how bad it is with all the killin’. There’s so many teenagers gettin’ killed, high school kids killin’ each other for real. Add that in with the music and the music is being made by a lot of youngsters, but a lot of the artists that the kids are into are in their 20’s. At the same time, the kids are the ones that are driving the sound and that’s what’s inspiring the artists to make the music that they’re making. So it’s still all about the youngsters any way you look at it. It’s the whole lil movement. It’s not just the hyphy and the “shake ya dreads” stuff. They do the turf dancin’ and it’s a whole bunch of different [sides] to what they’re callin’ “The Movement.” It’s not just “hyphy, get dumb, go stupid.” It’s a bunch of stuff out here. We got a car culture and that’s very much a part of it. And it has a lot to do with the swagger. Everybody says I got the game. I’m laced with the game. I’m not just like no lil thug. I actually know the game. It’s a lot of little things that add to the Bay Area swagger and to make a long story short, I’m here to kinda deaden the whole idea that a youngster has no choice, like, “I have to be a gangsta. I have to do this killin’ or stealin’ or whatever.” I’m just sayin’, “Look at this right here; this music thing. As many of y’all that jump into this, you have an opportunity to make some real money.” I ain’t talkin’ about savin’ you from the street or sayin’ what a preacher or a counselor or somebody would say. I’m just like, let’s make some music and you can make some money.
What was it about The Pack that brought y’all together and made things stick? Over the years I’ve seen all the people who I knew who were talented and all the people that I helped out, knowing that they were talented producers, singers, musicians and actually knowing that the few that rose to the top, they had a quality about them. It wasn’t a certain rhyme skill, or a look or any kind of sound. Sometimes you just get a package and you just know it will fit. Like, “Damn, this is what people will like.” It’s like them Aunt Jemima pancakes. You just add water. You ain’t gotta add the eggs and the oil and all that stuff. You just add water and it’s perfect. So I tend to favor those types of situations over the years and I look back and say, “Who did I enjoy dealing with the best?” And that goes for musicians, singers and people I just found trying to get in it and they ended up having nice careers. Who all you workin’ with on your album? I’m actually debuting the Up All Nite crew. It’s not about name brand producers. I might get one single, cause it’s prolly going to be a one single album. The guys that I got on the list of giving me that one single are Lil Jon, Jazze OZONE WEST // 23