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ince he entered the rap game as a member of The Odd Squad in 1994, Devin the Dude has traveled at his own speed, while most of his peers have opted to drive in the fast lane trying to keep up with every trend and fad. Now, after leaving his longtime recording home Rap-A-Lot Records, Devin is truly doing “what the fuck he wants to do” as he returns to the streets via the independent route and learns more about himself along the way. You were signed to Rap-A-Lot Records for over 15 years. After all that time, what made you want to leave and go independent? I guess it was just that time. My contract was up with Rap-A-Lot. I’ve been with them for 15 years and I just felt like if it was any time to make it independently I guess this was going to be the time. Did you enjoy your time at Rap-A-Lot? Was a consistent deal? Did you experience a lot of bumps and bruises that made you want to finally leave? It was some bumps here and there but that’s a probably how it was with anybody. It’s like having a family; there’s always going to be problems. It wasn’t anything drastic that happened that made me [want to leave]. After you get a certain number of years under your belt, it’s time to either continue to do what you’re doing or broaden yourself. So I chose to just go to independent. I have an independent company, my own company of brothers doing the music thing; people that’s been working with me that helped me throughout the years. Now I can give them a chance to come out independent too. Rap-A-Lot pretty much operates like an indie anyway. So does it really feel different? And will we see better promotion for your albums now? Yeah, that was one of the things. It’s just a matter of promoting and marketing other than letting it linger so long after the album is out. We’re trying to promote the single a month and a half before and month after it’s out, just trying to push, trying to make some moves to get things accomplished with that. Tell us a little bit about the new album. The album is called Landing Gear. What is that supposed to mean? When I land in different places to work or do show, people always try try to hook me up with some good “coughee.” They ask, “Do you need anything?” and I say, “No, not yet, I got a little landing gear.” People would trip like “I’ve never hear it said like that before.” They said that should be the title, so for the cover I got photos with parachutes on and shit. We signed with Razor and Tie for a one [album] deal. We’re getting the promo together right now. How different is it heading your own label, Coughee Brothers Music, and playing the CEO role in addition to the artist role? It’s a totally different feeling. You kinda just gotta jump out there and flap. I learned a lot from the guys up there at Rap-A-Lot. If you put something out yourself, there is no one else left to blame but you if it don’t go right. What do you appreciate about your status in the game so far? You may not sell millions of records, but you have people who genuinely love you. It’s cool. It’s a wonderful feeling meeting fans and people who listen and appreciate the music. That’s a blessing. It feels good to just walk around, walk to the store or walk to mall and do anything just by yourself. I guess if I was huge megastar it probably wouldn’t be possible I wouldn’t get a chance to approach people or have people approach me in a certain way to talk about the music and other things like that. I like the privacy [I have]; it’s like having the best of both worlds. People come up to you that appreciate you, but [I] also have privacy when people come up like, “Hey, you look like somebody!”
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What kind of stuff do people tell you when they approach you? One of the biggest compliments they give me is, “Man, I got all your albums!” Just to have somebody say that to me is like, “Oh, shit!” It’s just a pretty cool feeling. They tell me, “You’re so down to earth in your music and you don’t be talking about this or that, you just talk about what I be going through at times.” That kinda makes it feel cool too, but I like associating myself with what’s actually going on and not something far-fetched? Why have you always chosen to keep a level head and stay in that middle ground with your music? It’s easy for artists to slip into fantasy land with their lyrics. I made a pact to myself when I chose to do a solo album. I decided to just call myself Devin and that’s what I’m going to rap about. I’m going to just do me and talk about what I go through. It might sound dull or boring to some people, but it might sound funny and crazy to other people. When I first came out with my first solo album I recorded under the name Devin and the album was called The Dude. After that when people recognized me they would say, “You Devin?” I’m like, “Yeah,” and they’d say, “Devin the Dude?” (laughs) So it kind of stuck with me, but other than that, I just wanted to be myself. I didn’t want to pretend to be somebody else or pretend to have this or pretend not to have that. Whatever I go through or what surrounds me and my friends and family, I kind of put it all together and bring it out [in my music]. When you were a member of Facemob, you stood out because ‘Face, DMG and them would be on some gangster shit, but you kinda came from the, “Hey, I saw what happened” angle. What was it like working on a album like that and having to find your fit into a situation like that? Yeah, I’d rap like, “I don’t know what them niggas doing over there, they trippin’.” (laughs) Actually it was an easy process in itself too. When Face started his company they were all solo artists. DMG was an artist he was about to bring out, 350 was about to come out with an album, Chi-Ray, everybody was just solo artist but we was vibing individually together in the studio. ‘Face thought of an idea to just come up with this group project before our albums started coming out one at a time and I thought it was a cool idea. Face was like, “You don’t have to get out of character. Just do you.” So that was pretty easy in itself, because we all already had a pretty cool relationship. A lot of people seem to think you ONLY rap about “P.W.A.” Do at all feel disappointed when people only pay attention to the “pussy, weed, and alcohol” lyrics and overlook the songs where you do have a message or simply rap about real-life situations? I tend to [be disappointed] sometimes. I plan on going out with a message though. I do have a few more songs to do with messages in them and how I feel about situations and I hope people can relate. I like tripping out and having fun, and a lot of times weed, alcohol and women are around. But for the not-so-sunny times of your life you’ve got to have songs for that too. I’m not saying I’m gonna put down the P.W.A. all the time, but I won’t hold it up all the time either. As raunchy as your rhymes can get, did you know that you had a lot of female fans? Do you find that at all odd? (laughs) I just like to have fun. I don’t think I disrespect women in my music. I used to feel funny making some of the music I do, especially when I was having a daughter. I was thinking about changing it up. I remember a girl approached me once like, “Devin the Dude? You do that song ‘Fuck Faces,’ don’t you?” I was thinking, “Aww, shit, here it comes.” But she said, “That’s my jam!” //
Words by Maurice G. Garland