Knoc-turn'al talks about his debut LP

[KVB]

Knoc-turn'al talks about his debut LP - from www.xzibit.ws

"We worked 72 hours in a studio non-stop recording The Wash  soundtrack," Knoc-turn'al told MTV News last week from LA Confidential Records' Los Angels, California office. "I don't think we could do it again. The security guys would see me coming and say, 'Man is it going to be another one of those days?'"

For the last three years, he's been working on his debut LP, Knoc's Landin', due out April 23, 2002. He wrote more than 300 songs for the LP.

"As we were going along, I would do 20 songs and then like drop all of them except the three that everybody felt were the hottest," he said. "When it was all said and done, I had 30 songs [that] I had to drop to drop down to 14. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it was still kind of tedious."

Out of all the songs, the first single and video is "Knoc" featuring Dr. Dre and Missy Elliot. It's produced by Dre and the video is directed by Jeff Richter.

"He put the beat up, and I just started writing it that night," Knoc said. "It was like me letting people know I'm here and I want to talk to you. I was really trying to hold more of a conversation than anything in that song - let people get the feel that I can rap, I'm not just a hook person."

The LP features songs like "Str8 West Coast (remix)" featuring Dre and "Night & Day."

"On that one I'm just pointing out how a lot of cats come to L.A., buy a home here, enjoy the sunshine and the beaches, do their business here, and then they go back and dis Cali," he said. "All I'm saying is we got nine months of sunshine, three weeks of rain, and all the beautiful girls you could ever handle."

The LP features guest appearances by Hittman, Slip Capone, Too Short and Warren G and production by not only Dre, but Timbaland as well. He recorded songs with several other artists, but they didn't make the LP.

"I sure hope they aren't mad at me," he said. "You gotta realize, not only are you cutting off songs, you're cutting off people. I just hope they don't take it personal. It's a business."

Knoc was born in Wilmington, California. At age 12, his parents separated and started getting into a lot of trouble. He moved to Texas for a while, but he got into scraps with the local kids there.

"They'd always call me Cali, because where I'm from. After a while that shit gets on your nerves."

He moved to Long Beach, California. His father schooled him with knowledge.

"He was in a group when he was young, into Rick James and Parliament type shit, so I absorbed a lot from what he knew. My dad took me to a Rick James concert when I was nine. Rick had a naked bitch up on stage doing cocaine with her in a motherfucking bathub. He was fucking her and singing to her at the same time. I was like damn you can do all that shit at once I want to be in the music business."

In his early teens, he began taking rapping seriously.

"I was into Eric B and Rakim, but I liked my DeBarge and Cameo too. I'd watch hip-hop on TV and think to myself, I'm better than that.'"

He was arrested for "robbing and stupid shit like that" and was sentenced to four years in prison.

"Prison's no joke," he says. "They tell you what to do 24/7 when to eat when to shit when to lay down in your bunk when to get up. There's nothing glamorous about it. You're not human when you're in there."

He met up with an older prisoner named from Long Beach, California named Crybaby who encouraged him to practice his rhyming and writing.

"He was always cool to anybody that he thought had a head on his shoulders," he said. "He gave me my name, Knoc-turn'al because I worked at night unloading food off the docks. And because I was always working on my rhymes at night. Most people in jail would get together and rap. We'd beat on tables and shit and do our thing. But when I took my turn everyone would say I was the dopest on the yard I started think there just might be something here."

During the four years he spent in prison, he wrote 150 songs, none of them is featured on his LP, though.

"You have to keep moving on. Using songs you wrote three years ago is bullshit," he said. "And I'm not trying to dig up those bones in my closet. That's not something I want to glorify. I don't want kids walking around talking about prison shit. That's like embedding something in their minds they don't really need to hear."

After he was released he was determined to turn his life around. He was discovered by LA Confidential Records CEO Big D who signed him.

"I have to give all the respect to Big D for getting down with me," he said. "If you'd have told me that I'd be doing what I'm doing right now back when I was in prison, I'd have said you're crazy. I've been blessed. I'm just going to accept that it's happening and appreciate it."

Big D introduced him to Dre who asked Knoc to rap three verses right on the spot.

"D had said to me before I met Dre to be myself," Knoc said. "Don't be fawning like some fan, don't be no bitch. Just do what I do best."

Dre was impressed and asked him to lay down some rhymes in the studio the next day. "I know bomb music when I hear it," Dre told him.

"Being from the West Coast, that's the ultimate, working with Dr. Dre," he said. "He is the founder and pioneer of West Coast rap. His sound is incredible. Once I hooked up with him, it felt like home. It's always a challenge working with Dre because he does not like to be outdone in any way shape or form," he continued. "He strives for perfection."

He co-wrote and guest appeared on four songs on Dre's LP, 2001. He also co- wrote "Put It On Me" for the Training Day soundtrack, "Bad Intentions" and "The Wash" for the The Wash soundtrack and and "Lookin' At You," the first single of
Warren G's LP, The Return Of The Regulator.

Working with Dre, he learned to know a lot of other West Coast rappers he's been working with over the years.

"We got a nice little foundation out here now," he said. "Instead of being all secluded, we're being more together. Like, me and Xzibit went to a club the other night. Instead of alienating ourselves from each other and saying, 'No, I wanna be closer to Dre,' 'No, I do,' like little bitches. We ain't doing that. We're holding this shit together."

He continues writing for other artists and is in talks with Fabolous and Nate Dogg about doing a summer tour, but he's most excited about the release of his LP.

"I'm getting anxiety attacks and shit," he said.

[Crenshaw_blvd]

Maybe u are blind.
This article is on the board from 1 week!  

[KVB]

Alright. I just thought it would be interesting and informative. By the way, I didn't find this article elsewhere on this board.
Maybe you are a faggot. :-/

[DeaDSouLjaH]

i remember readin this 300 songs thing in 3 years... i was stumped!! ....