In
the mid 1990s the Outlawz a.k.a. Outlaw Immortalz was a rap collaborative that took the Hip Hop industry by storm. Founded by Tupac Shakur in 1995 after his release from prison, the group featured a contrasting Hip Hop style of political philosophy, the streets and energy on wax that was unheard of at the time. All of this could be summed up in the infamous single “Hit Em Up,” a diss towards Biggie Smalls, Bad Boy Records and New York Hip Hop. The group looked like they were ready for stardom based on the reaction in the streets to “Hit Em Up” and several other tracks with Tupac that they appeared on over the next year. But this never materialized to the level which many thought, due to double tragedies which affected the group. Tupac was killed in late 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada, followed two months after by the killing of another Outlawz member Kadafi, in New Jersey. Since that time, the Outlawz have assumed various forms in the last ten years, releasing six albums. Now they are back with their latest album, Thug In Thug Out, the reunion that brought Fatal Hussein back into the fold. Since most of the group relocated to Atlanta, they’ve signed a major record deal and are finally posing that ever intimidating unified front once again. OZONE was able to talk to Noble and Fatal Hussein about what they have been up to in the past few years and what is going on today with the group.
albums last year alone. Young Noble and Lazy Bone’s album (Thug Brothers), Outlawz and Dead Prez (Can’t Sell Dope Forever) and then Noble and stic.man from dead prez (Soldier to Soldier) and then we had the Noble and Edi Amin album (Outlaw Culture). The name of our latest project is Thug In Thug Out. Me and Fatal are the featured artists on this. Fatal: After Pac died, I inked a deal with Relativity. I did a record called In The Line of Fire. It did all right. Relativity winded up shutting down. I ended up getting another solo deal with Rap-A-Lot records. With Rap-A-Lot, I recorded a banging album that would have been a classic. It was called Fatal, but I was on the run with the law and ended up getting locked up. I was locked up for like two years, so that was that album and the big homie J Prince had to do what he had to do when I was gone. I came home in 2002 and caught a couple of features on other people’s albums, with artists like Three Six Mafia, Gangsta Boo, some of Pac’s other stuff that was released, Jim Jones and Ja Rule. My street credibility never went anywhere, though. I still was official. What is this difference between your sound now and in the past? Noble: I think our sound is more focused and more mature. Back then, we were younger and a little more reckless and we didn’t give a fuck. The first thing niggas heard me on was [Tupac’s] Makaveli with “Hail Mary.” We were raw as hell back then. But our style is more fulfilled now. We are on some real ghetto gospel stuff. Fatal: There is a difference, but not that much. When I was rapping with Tupac, I was full of fire, full of flames. I was amped up on some street shit. But now, I got a taste of the good life. I’m calm and laid back. You can actually hear what I’m talking about now.
Over the past ten years what has happened with the group? Noble: We kind of went our separate ways. Fatal was doing solo stuff and we were doing our thing. So we got together for this project.
What do you think about the state of Hip Hop and rap today? Noble: I think it’s definitely more corporate driven then art form driven. Everybody is trying to do the same thing or sound the same. Most of this shit sounds the same and there’s not that much substance as far as the main artists are concerned. We just got in the game now with a major label. We’ve been on over fifty million records sold and we are now just getting a record deal, something is wrong with that picture. It’s the content of our music. They hear our music and it’s real shit. It’s like we didn’t fit in the box.
Fatal: After ‘Pac died, I just came straight home. So Khadafi and I went back to the East Coast. Since ‘Pac was dead, it was no reason to be out on the West Coast. It was back to regular life as I know it. When we were home, the Outlawz wanted to keep it moving. And so they did some things and I did some things.
Fatal: In my opinion, nothing is subject to stay the same. That radio shit coming out, I guess that is what a nigga has to do to make money. Who wants to be a hard rapping broke nigga? If a joker can change his style up and get money, then that is what it is. A nigga should not be hard all the time. You have to have style. People fall in love with your character.
After Tupac’s death, why did most of the group move to the ATL? Noble: We have a lot of roots out here. We have been coming out here for years. After ‘Pac died, we came to Atlanta to get out of L.A. Afeni, Tupac’s mother told us to come out here, and that saved our lives.
How did you get a deal with Young Buck’s Cashville Records? Noble: That happened out of nowhere. C-Bo, our partner, signed with Young Buck. As soon as he got over there, he told Buck he needed to sign us. We didn’t have a situation and C-Bo has always supported us, so Buck listened. He came to Atlanta and we met with him face-to-face and it was a done deal. The next Outlawz album will be on Buck’s label. It’s called God’s Plan. We dropped the single two weeks ago called “Driving Down the Freeway.” It features Buck rapping as well. It’s not done yet, but we’re in the studio working on it right now.
Fatal: I just went straight back to New Jersey. How did moving to Atlanta save your lives? Did you feel threatened in L.A.? Noble: No. But after Pac died, we did not care. We were on some other shit. We were ready to kill whoever. It was a real messed up situation. Being in LA, there was a lot going on. We were riding around everyday, eight or nine of us strapped in a van on some other stuff. It was at the point we did not care. Afeni saw this and told us to get out of there. So we decided to leave. Fatal: I did not care about nothing. It was like, “What am I doing out here, if my man is gone?” I only knew Pac. I didn’t know any of those other niggas, so I just felt like it was safe for me to go to Jersey. Shortly after this, Khadafi was killed in Jersey. What were you guys thinking at this time? Noble: Pac passed on September 13 and Khadafi passed on November 10th on the same day we had the memorial for Tupac. So it was like back-to-back deaths with the two major guys who started the Outlawz, Pac and Khadafi, so it was crazy. Fatal: It was a fucked up family situation with us. One of the Outlawz, Napoleon, his cousin killed Khadafi. Khadafi and Napoleon’s cousin were good friends. They were playing around with a gun, young kid shit and Napoleon got killed. They were playing around with the gun and Khadafi tried to smack the gun out of his hand it went off. What has been happening music-wise since then with the group? Nobel: We’ve been grinding and we never stopped. We dropped like four
Fatal: Noble and Edi inked that deal. That shit did not get around this way. But love is love. If they’re in, I’m in. That’s what we were missing before, communication. What else are you two doing? Noble: I started a film company called Hollyhood Films. Our first movie is called Dear Mama, the life story of Afeni Shakur which will be a major motion picture. We actually are shopping it right now. We have some big people getting behind this project. There’s a lot of people who don’t know about her. Her story is colder than Tupac’s story because she was a real-life revolutionary. She was really in the action; she was down with the Panthers and they were really against the system. When she was pregnant with Tupac she was facing 352 years and defending herself in court. She beat a court case that could have put her away for life. That alone deserves a film. She was a dynamic public figure in her time. Fatal: I got a solo album coming out called Born Legendary and I’m smashing the streets with mixtapes like 1090 Official, New Jersey DOC, Fatalvelli volume 1 and 2 and many more. Also I’ve got the independent movie Cash Rules, which was filmed by my man Young Antonio. It’s a true story about some Newark hustlers. I played Akubar Prey, a big-time dealer that ran Newark. He’s in the Feds now. I am trying to get this Jersey scene on the map. Also, the Afeni Shakur movie. It will be big. //
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