Author Topic: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*  (Read 29880 times)

Chad Vader

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Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #240 on: February 13, 2009, 02:32:13 PM »

NWA interview in The Source Magazine July 91 #22



Download The Source Magazine July 91 #22 (PDF)
 

Chad Vader

  • Guest
Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #241 on: February 13, 2009, 03:05:42 PM »

Dr.Dre; Stop The Violence Video for Dee Barnes
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/uF_2gIi5nHE&amp;rel" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/uF_2gIi5nHE&amp;rel</a>

Dr.Dre VS Dee Barnes October 1991 #25


Dee Barnes interview in The Source Magazine October 1991 #25



Related threads;

Dee Barnes VS Dr.Dre

The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=150824.msg1749434#msg1749434
The ultimate beef thread; NWA,WSC,DPG,Tim Dog and more *Diss Tracks inside*
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=152524.msg1581929#msg1581929
(Rare) MC Ren has a little something to say about that Dee Barnes incident...
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=139073.msg1446436#msg1446436
Dre's Criminal Record
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=17576.msg218955#msg218955
Ricky Harris aka. DJ Eazy Dick...whats his story??
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=93154.msg970866#msg970866
Rare "Stop The Violence commercial with (and produced By) Dr. Dre
http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=138977.0

 

Chad Vader

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Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #242 on: February 13, 2009, 05:44:28 PM »

MC Ren; Kizz My Black Azz review in The Source September 1992 #36


 

Chad Vader

  • Guest
Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #243 on: March 23, 2009, 10:47:46 AM »
Quote
Dirty Red Interview From 3/22/09
http://b95forlife.com/pages/ruthlessradio.html

If you missed the Eazy-E tribute show on Sunday, March 22nd, you missed the OG Dirty Red calling in. He talked about what he's been working on and a lot about his memories of Eazy.

I'm gonna post up the interview on my podcast page pretty soon, but in the meantime, you can click the links below to hear the entire thing right now.

Shots out to everyone who listened to the show, Dirty Red, and the whole crew at Eazy-Ecpt.com for spreading the word.

Dirty Red Interview Part 1 Click Here
+
Dirty Red Interview Part 2 Click Here
+
Dirty Red Interview Part 3 Click Here


Download interview;
http://www.zshare.net/download/57510669b528e764/
« Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 01:49:05 PM by Chad Vader »
 

Chad Vader

  • Guest
Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #244 on: April 27, 2009, 04:59:31 AM »
It seems like these days, virtually any time the west coast is mentioned in Hip Hop circles, it’s mentioned alongside the words “comeback,” “dead,” or “back in the day.” Sir Jinx was there before such words were uttered, during (and before) the west coast’s high points, and he’s still there now. After having his hands in a classic album out the gate by producing on Ice Cube’s seminal Amerikkka’s Most Wanted solo debut, he would go on to do other work with Cube, Xzibit, and Suge Knight’s Death Row Records.
These days, he’s staying busy working with his new group The Cleaners—which consists of him, Battlecat, Rhythm D, and Tha Chill —and building a business relationship with cousin Dr. Dre and his Aftermath label. In an interview with HipHopDX’s Producer’s Corner, Sir Jinx reminisces on the past, and shows why his future should be just as bright.


Sir Jinx: Rap is going through a transition right now. It’s going through the management chain, so we’re trying to be in the right position so that we can see the new level of Hip Hop coming out of the west coast [by] developing new artists, and being a part of that movement.

DX: So who all have you been working with?
Sir Jinx: We’ve got a few things in the can. Just recently, I hooked up with one of my cousins that does music, Dr. Dre. [We] finally got in the studio and knocked some stuff out that’s in the works. I’ve also got a production group that I put together—well not really that I put together, it’s a bunch of us that have been around each other forever, and we’re taking a stab at a collaborative effort to make a record. It’s myself, Battlecat, Rhythm D, and Chill from Compton's Most Wanted . We’ve got a group, called The Cleaners. That’s my main focus right now, [as well as] working with Aftermath and establishing that relationship.

DX: The stuff you’re doing for Aftermath, is that for your own projects? Or for Aftermath projects?
Sir Jinx: Those are for Aftermath, the relationship I’m developing with the company as far as doing more music with Dr. Dre. I’m not sure where I’ll be placed or anything like that. Right now, it’s just that first initial meeting has happened. That’s pretty much all I know about the Aftermath situation.

DX: No doubt. Let’s go back a little bit: talk about what the game was like when you and Ice Cube came into music early on.
Sir Jinx: It was more or less people wanting to find out a way to make music and be heard. We looked at George Clinton and a lot of different other artists who had their music out, and they chose to do it in a certain kind of way. We had the same passion to get our music heard in a certain kind of way. Some cats wanted to put music out and still sound like another person’s sound, but we definitely wanted our sound to be a signature sound that we made up. Every time we would go up to bat, we wanted all the records to have our own kind of signature sound to it. We took making records a lot more serious than people thought. People thought we were getting drunk and having all the girls and stuff, and it really wasn’t like that. Cube took being in the studio very seriously. We were really passionate about it.

DX: Amerikkka’s Most Wanted is such a cohesive piece of work. How was that conceptualized?
Sir Jinx: Cube had wrote all of the record, and he had different ways that he wanted the record to evolve. We added more product to it. When we first started out, a lot of the songs were designated to go to Eazy E’s album - dome of the songs. When they didn’t come to an agreement that they were going to work together, Cube took the songs and put them on Amerikkka’s Most Wanted. So it wasn’t a real big thought process on how we put the record together, it’s that Cube had a bunch of songs, pre-written, already. We pretty much made that record in two months, from dry scratch.

DX: For you guys to put it together in that short of a timespan, what was it like once you saw the impact it was having? Like, “Wow, we did this in two months. Imagine what we could do with a year’s time?”
Sir Jinx: Back in the day, we didn’t think like that. I still can’t believe it, sometimes. I look at what I contribute to Hip Hop as a caterer, or a helper. When my job is done, I go home, I’m happy. I don’t feel like I’m changing Hip Hop or nothing like that; I just feel like a good day’s work, and I come home alive. That’s how I feel about that.

DX: That’s an interesting way to put it. Because more often than not, you have artists who are saying that they either want to take Hip Hop back to its essence, or…put it this way: a lot of people want to change Hip Hop in one way or another, compared to where it is today. You said that you weren’t thinking that way before, but do you think that way now?
Sir Jinx: Nah. Once again, I don’t look at the score. I just figure out if I’m winning or not. I don’t sit there with my hand on my hips, looking up like, “Damn, we’re down!” If we win, we’re good. You don’t look back like, “Oooh, that game was great, I’m the shit!” Because that game is over. It’s almost like you didn’t do it, and I appreciate it like someone else did it. I don’t feel like that. I feel like you’re blessed to have a talent: you don’t have to show off. So once you do your job, you go home. … It’s like The Professional, the movie with Leon. He comes in, does his job, and he leaves. He don’t stick around and want billboards of him being there. He gets out of there, that’s it. Mission accomplished. What’s terrible is when you make a suck ass album, and you hang around. I get out of there: no problems, no police, no nothing, I’m out.

This song, this music is for the people that want to hear it. I want to inspire the people to know that they have a voice as well. When we were doing Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, it wasn’t really our voice like how you look at Jay-Z and new artists. They talk from their perspective, but when we were doing it, we were talking from the perspective of a coast, rather from the perspective of one man. Ice Cube wasn’t like, “I’m a Crip, I’m a killer.” He was moreso like, “This is what can happen in Los Angeles. These are the type of people that exist out here. When you think it’s palm trees and sunny skies, it’s really black people being oppressed.” It wasn’t just somebody jumping out, “I have the most bitches and expensive cars.” That wasn’t even invented then.

DX: What was that like, though? With others talking as individuals and you guys representing a coast?
Sir Jinx: Well actually, back then, a lot of other rappers weren’t doing that. … What changed that was Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z. When Jay-Z came out, Jay-Z didn’t have a background. He never had a crew of niggas, so he changed the perspective of rap from “We gon’ make it happen” to “I’m gon’ make it happen.” And when he changed the whole Rap game to “I’ma rap,” everybody now was a single person that’s supposed to hit. It’s supposed to be the principle. Right after Jay-Z came, bam, Tupac [Shakur] gets shot. Then all these m'fuckas get stabbed, and everything has to happen to the person. Until the Rap game comes back to [its roots], we must save it, it’s going to continue to go downhill. That’s why Ice-T said ["Soulja Boy, eat a dick."] , because Soulja Boy [click to read] did it on his own. He didn’t have a crew, he didn’t have a coast, he didn’t have nothing behind him. He just did it. Some people don’t know, and some people do know, but now, the rap game is “I’ma.”

Look at Ludacris’ music. And he’s a beautiful artist, and he’s dope as a mothafucka. But if you noticed, in the beginning, when he made “What’s Your Fantasy” and stuff like that, his music was based on a crowd. Then some of his raps started changing, to “I got a dope rhyme, I’ve got a 500 Benz,” and you kind of take the focus off of why you’re there. Because now, you’re telling us your perspective of having money, when you were really our spokesman of having fun. How did it change from you being the critic of having fun, to saying, “Fuck them, now look at my sofa, look at my TV.” You were supposed to be like, “Atlanta is the place where we have fun.” Now, Ludacris makes raps about himself. The ones that sell are the ones not about him, [but the ones] about situations.When we were making Amerikkka’s Most, we weren’t doing it for self-gratification. It was a pamphlet for the streets. So when you come from Mississippi, or Memphis, or anywhere else in the world, you could know that you could get jacked in a drive-thru. Nobody knew that. [Hip Hop] completely forgot about that.

DX: One thing I’ve noticed from this interview, is that you really look at music as your job, more than a lot of other people I’ve spoken to.
Sir Jinx: It’s actually a hobby turned into a job. I wouldn’t even call it a job; I’d call it a profession. You can do it all your life and not get paid for it. I’ve been one of the chosen few that was able to turn around a royalty check, and it’s a beautiful feeling. That’s why when you do your job, you ain’t so gray when your record ain’t selling no more. So you can’t always look up in the sky at those old records, and be like, “They’re shining.” Nah, them mothafuckas fizzle out. And you better act like they’re fizzling out when they’re really ripe. So you don’t hit the ground and be crushed when people give constructive criticism. You can’t live in the stars. I don’t; I stay kind of grounded. When I kick it with my people and say we “keep it real,” I don’t mean that we keep it real ignorant. I say we keep it real intelligent, or real sincere. We try to better ourselves. We’ve got this group right here, The Cleaners. We’re definitely trying to better ourselves at being a producer. We have to spearhead this music game just like Herbie Hancock did, or Paul Hardcastle, different producers. The records have to stand at some point. This is what brought the crew together, because we all agree: at some point, [Malcolm McLaren's] “Buffalo Gals,” Art Of Noise, Kraftwerk, it has to happen again. The music is already there with Kanye [West], now all we have to do is drop the vocals. [starts singing Kanye’s “Stronger”] That was a song that was out already, a couple years ago. The world is too stuck on those “I’ma” raps, which you get tired of. The down south has taken the “I’ma raps” to a whole ‘nother level, so at this point, they’re gon’ turn the mic off on rappers in a minute. They’re just going to want to hear the beat without the rappers. It’s less offensive, and you still can jam to it. This is what we foresee.

We’ve been doing this music for a long time, and at some point…we’re in the studio right now, Battlecat and all them are upstairs. Even if we make complete garbage, it’s going to still be interesting to hear. I listen to Art Of Noise’s music, I swear to God, I can’t go through four songs before saying, “What the fuck were they on? These mothafuckas were on some real, pure coke.” I wouldn’t know how to stroke a cat that way. But just like people are intrigued with Battlecat and his success, and Rhythm D and his success, we get together like techies and nerds and just take apart the old Oberheim [synthesizer]…if Hip Hop is going to last, it has to stand on its own legs. And that’s taking the foundation apart, and putting it back together with the old and the new. Then people will be able to understand it without “Bitch, ho, kiss my ass, throw my money in the air.”

We all came real close with that show Timbaland did at the American Music Awards. That’s damn near close. So if Timbaland is Smokey Robinson, then we’re going to be The Four Tops. "The Four Droptops."

DX: So where are you guys going with this new Cleaners record?
Sir Jinx: We’re going to produce an instrumental record, and an introduction record of what we do. So that’s when everyone is going to donate a track and a rapper. … You’re going to be able to hear King Tee again. We’re going to bring them cats back who a lot of people won’t fuck with them, because they think they won’t pull no units. What about if you don’t care if you move units, but you just want the world to hear a new collaboration? Just like Sergio Mendes, when damn near 40 years later, they produce the same fucking music. That’s beautiful, but now it’s rap’s turn. Rap might be on its way out, like Dixie. But the reason Dixie didn’t last so long is because it couldn’t stand on itself; you can only reduplicate so many of those songs before they sound the same. Rap is taking on a whole new light. … You see 50 Cent with the Vitamin Water, and making the music sound like big band. It’s everywhere. …
Rap never stops, it employs the entire planet. There is nothing on TV that doesn’t depict urban Hip Hop. Sometimes, rappers have to clean up their act to be able to accept the award for doing that. If you’ve got cats that are drugged up, and lean’d up, nobody’s going to believe you that the Chinese, Japanese, Australians, and people in all these different places got this shit from Los Angeles. Nobody’s going to be able to get the trophy unless we clean it up. So right now, Hip Hop is going through a cleaning up stage. It has to. How are we going to clean it up? We’re going to give you music that’s so clean, it won’t even need no parental advisory. Why? There won’t be no voices on it!

DX: Do you think the C.I.A. material with Cube will ever see the light of day? All types of older stuff is just popping up nowadays.
Sir Jinx: No. Hell no. First, Macola [Records is] not around anymore. For two, it was signed to Epic Records. Number three, Crew Cut Records ain’t around no more. And number four, Ice Cube would never authorize those contracts when we were under 18. So they’re pretty much a wash. [Laughs] It was funny, I was just in Chicago at the Savior’s Day, and I was standing by Snoop [Dogg] . And one of the brothers wanted to introduce me to Snoop. Snoop’s like, “I know Jinx! He did my demo!” I used to work with Snoop when he was 15, I was like 16. It’s been a long line, believe you me. I’m like, “What was the name of the song?” He’s like, “I’m A Poet.” He was like, “You better not put that shit out.” He gave me the disclaimer real quick. … I had to talk back like I was in court and shit, “I don’t have it Snoop. I’ve been lost that.” So if anyone does come out with that, I’m not involved. Rappers don’t want to hear their old shit. It’s embarrassing, because most of the time, the mixes are horrible.

DX: Nowadays, deejays and producers are thrown into beefs even if they aren’t the ones vocally dissing the other artist. When Cube made “No Vaseline,” was there any reaction from Dre?
Sir Jinx: We had “No Vaseline” at the same time as Amerikkka’s Most Wanted. So “No Vaseline” stood the test of time through Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, Kill At Will, and made it at the end of Death Certificate. So it was sort of numb to us at the fact, because there were so many other things going on at the time, that song didn’t really make a big impact on peoples’ friendships, because it was just the truth. That’s why “No Vaseline” did what it did, because it was the truth. Cube actually said the rap, so it wasn’t that damaging.

But this is Hip Hop—at some point, people want to know why wasn’t I on Ruthless, or [early] Death Row, or any of the record labels that Dre had. I had to do my own thing; Dre had to do his own thing, and as you can see, nobody is really standing by Dre that was around at that time. So I had to do what I had to do to stay with the brigade, but not stay with ‘em. Stay alongside, duck and hide, and keep it pushing. Sell some records when I can, pop up, and then duck back down. Because anyone who tries to stand up to Dr. Dre’s situation fails, terribly. And then you get embarrassed, so not only did you fail, but you embarrassed yourself. And then some cats get bitter, and assume that the bitterness is going to grow them a tree. But it just grows them a brick wall after that. Dre ain’t going to fuck with you, period, if he finds out you said something in the wrong air about him. And that’s all pretty much he want to hear, is the negative shit. … He’ll remember that shit for a long time. “Oh yeah?” That’s how he’ll respond. You don’t ever want to be on that end of the conversation. “Oh yeah?” Not me! I remember some cats tried to get me to do Punk’d, the TV show. My buddy’s a video guy, he was on the staff with them since the beginning. He would see me every other month. “Jinx, let’s get Dre! You don’t have to be involved!” Uh uh. You ain’t getting me with that one. I don’t think Dr. Dre thinks it’s funny, and you’d lose your entire Frequent Flyer Mile pass. He’s like, “Damn, nobody wants to do it!” Nobody wants to cause trouble. What I’ma do, make a beat CD for E-40 ? There are probably a million niggas trying to give E-40 music. He has to build the environment so we’ll be able to sell records again, and that’s what we’re going to do.

DX: What was your time at Death Row like?
Sir Jinx: With the Death Row situation, I had got some bad news about how my finances were happening. There weren’t some sample clearances, how they put a lot of shit in my boat, they were making me pay for a whole bunch of samples that I didn’t do. I saw Suge [Knight], and I had known Suge for years, [since] he was a bodyguard driving a limousine. So Suge looked at me like he was buzzed, he looked at me like, “Are you alright?” I’m like, “Hell naw! I ain’t good!” He’s like, “Call me tomorrow.” I call him the next day, and he shot me $20,000 to do one song, [on] the Dysfunctional Family Soundtrack. So right after that, I’m like, “I’ll give you any beat you want.” … He threw me in immediately. No contracts, no “Holler at me,” no meeting at saddle ranch, none of that. He came to pick me up, we’d ride around the pacific coast and just talk about doing big shit. I told him he should make a cigar company and a crocodile boot company and call it a day. Suge is my man, and I don’t know what he’s going through, but we’ve all got to go through something so we can go forward. … There’s always two sides of a story, and when you’re painted as the bad guy, you never hear that side of the story.

DX: What do you think could’ve been done differently with Kurupt’s album, Against The Grain?
Sir Jinx: I don’t know the political side to it, so I just tried to do the best I could to help my old friend Kurupt [click to read]. When Kurupt came to L.A., I knew him before he signed to Death Row. He was with one of my buddies Eldgerrin. Eldgerrin was one of the guys who made Tha Dogg Pound [click to read] paw. He was the one who made up a lot of Tha Dogg Pound and Snoop Dogg clothing before the Snoop Dogg merchandise came into effect. He would bring Kurupt over, and just being a friend and seeing all the things that Hip Hop put his life through, I was just like, “Let me help you out, do as much as I can, so we can at least get a boat to row in.” At that point, Snoop Dogg had kicked him out. I was just a dude that worked on music, I worked with music all day. We just tried to get it out. There was no environment for it to come out, I don’t think. I don’t know the political side of it, but when I dealt with Suge and his environment, I knew nothing about the political side, or how the music was going to come out. I just assumed it would come out.

DX: Considering the work you did with Kool G Rap, was it ever disappointing that more east coast rappers didn’t recognize you as someone that could make New York records?
Sir Jinx: I never was looked at in a crazy light. I felt like I got a whole lot of respect for New York. When I was in New York, I got nothing but respect, because they deal with me on my craft. When I got to New York and was in Long Island, with Eric Sadler and some other cats, I had to box with these dudes that were 18 and 19 years old. I had to put my sound out there, and bounce with the big boys.

When I went to New York to work on the Xzibit’s 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz album, he was on Loud [Records]. So Big Pun was right there, Fat Joe was [working closely with Loud]. And Big Pun, rest in peace. Aside from being a big dude, real big spirit. You’d hear him breathing, and he’d go like, [impersonates Pun’s voice], “Jinx, Jinx.” And he’ll recite a whole first verse of [Kool G Rap's] “Operation C.B.” When I hear Jay-Z saying, “I’m like G Rap with better transportation,” at this point I’m like a breath that kept G Rap alive with them. When The Trackmasters came in and did “Ill Street Blues,” and co-piloted the record and brought it home, The Trackmasters brought it home because they kept it on the shelf for a year, because Biz Markie [click to read] got sued by Warner Brothers. So they held Kool G Rap’s record for a whole year. … So I was more disappointed than they could’ve been, because we had go in with fine tooth and comb, and go through each record and find out what each sample was, because they were scared they were going to get sued. So half the record was reproduced and mixed by other people, because they didn’t believe us. And back in the day, you had to appeal for the masses to get a certain type of bread.
… They mixed the whole album [with a lot of bass]. So three songs on it were clear, but the whole album was real bass-y and bottom-y. But on the flip side, for all my real Kool G Rap and Live and Let Die fans, I have an uncut version of Live and Let Die, with original samples, with original inserts, with original “Two to the Head,” with original “Number One With a Bullet.” All those songs were remixed, and it wasn’t as I expected them to be.



+1  ;)
 

Chad Vader

  • Guest

Dr.Dre interview from 1999. Speaks on change off name from Chronic 2000 > Chronic 2001. NWA Reunion and EVE. 2Pac and Eazy-E memories.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/nz7zk4O5ti4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/nz7zk4O5ti4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

Bonus;


Snoop and Dre live in NYC "Deep Cover"
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jv982WMu8jA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Jv982WMu8jA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>


From the public access show STREETFUNKTV. Snoop and Dre's first and only time they performed at The legendary Tunnel in New York (1999).


Tight.... +1  ;)
 

kuruptDPG

damn that deep cover video is sick, gd to see all the dpg clicc and xzibit in the back
 

The Predator

^Ren interview -

New album called Renincarnated
10 Songs  :P
Maybe two features (will probably his homeboys)
He didn't mention no producers (judging by his recent songs will probably be him and his homiez on some computer beats, lets pray not)

NWA film -
Cube driving force behind the script (better not be a comedy)
Soundtrack will probably be old songs, nothing discussed about if or how they going to do new songs yet (Niggaz cant even re-unite for new N.W.A songs for the movie)

Detox-
Ren not involved  :-\




« Last Edit: July 17, 2009, 01:42:11 AM by The Predator »
 

Chad Vader

  • Guest
Quote
Conspiracy Worldwide Radio Live Guest MC Ren
http://www.freestylemadness.com/blog/?p=19081


MC Ren is with us to talk NWA, the new Ice Cube directed movie of the NWA legacy, his new album and more.
Listen to a true veteran and revel in the exclusive content of this interview;

DOWNLOAD OR LISTEN HERE;
Part 1 interview starts at 1.20


Conspiracy Worldwide´s MC Ren interview July 2009 (use quicktime to play it)


^Ren interview -

New album called Renincarnated
10 Songs  :P


dope



Maybe two features (will probably his homeboys)


somebody he recently caught up with (again),so....



He didn't mention no producers (judging by his recent songs will probably be him and his homiez on some computer beats, lets pray not)


let him do his thing,it can´t be worse than ego trippin  :P



NWA film -
Cube driving force behind the script (better not be a comedy)

 :P

Soundtrack will probably be old songs, nothing discussed about if or how they going to do new songs yet
(Niggaz cant even re-unite for new N.W.A songs for the movie)


 :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[
 

Chad Vader

  • Guest
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.9491/title.mc-ren-to-release-first-album-in-11-years-details

July 18th, 2009 | Author: Jake Paine

It has been 11 long years since MC Ren [click to read] has released an album. After a lengthy group and solo career at Ruthless Records, the gangsta rap pioneer told HipHopDX this week, that 2009 will indeed be his point of return.

"The album is like 70% [completed]," revealed the N.W.A. member. "Shit is bangin'! It's heat. I'm excited about it. I ain't did no album in like 11 years, so man, I'm excited with how everything is coming. I cannot wait to get this shit out."

Asked how many different albums had been started and scrapped since 1998's Ruthless For Life, Ren explained, "I started off and on, just doin' it. Really, this like the first time, to tell you the truth, [that I have] constructed an album. Any other time I went into the studio or did something, it was just, 'I'm goin' in just to record something.' I wasn't doin' it to put an album out." In that interim, MC Ren appeared alongside his N.W.A. partners (and Snoop Dogg) on two reunion tracks, as well as appearances on Public Enemy's Rebirth of A Nation [click to read], Dr. Dre's 2001, Ice Cube's War & Peace Volume 2 and Snoop Dogg's The Last Meal [click to read] albums, as well as a few other limited appearances. Ren said, "Now, it's different. My whole mindstate is different. I want to get this shit did, get this shit out, so mothafuckas can hear it. Everything else, I've never felt like in the in-between times."

With a laugh, Ren explained the process that motivated him to make his first album since leaving the legendary Ruthless label. "I was with my homeboy Paulie one day, and he was like, 'Yo, you should do your shit.' Everybody always says that, but he [meant it]. I wasn't really trippin' on it, [still] wasn't really trippin' on it. Time went by, and people [kept asking me about an album], so I wasn't even trippin' on it."

Paying the encouragement little mind, Ren told DX that watching his peers was the next step. "I remember then, one day, I saw something on TV. It might've been some old concert footage of somebody - [Jay-Z] or Dre or something like that, and I just got pumped, man. I said, 'We need to get some beats.' We got some tracks and I started writin' to the mothafuckas and how I was comin' with the shit [impressed me]. Then I knew, I gotta do an album. Fuck it."

Like his onetime partner, Dr. Dre, Ren also admitted that he takes pride and care in making fans await a release for over a decade. "Everybody else been puttin' out shit so much, people don't even pay attention to they ass no more. Shit, I feel like I've got to step up, 'cause I ain't really put out shit."

As for the details of the album, Ren remained largely evasive, admitting that he fears releasing too much information. As for guests, the 23-year veteran emcee said, "On this record, it's just me." Realizing that many fans are skeptical of such statements, he continued, "Now, you can't even get a solo album from nobody; there's like 100 features. It [becomes] a compilation." As he opened up further, the Compton icon did reveal, "If I do have any features, it's just gonna be one or two - and I ain't gonna say who the people is. I know who the people will be, if it'll happen, but that'll be it." The statement, though unconfirmed, could hint at possible reunion collaborations with former partners in rhyme Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. MC Ren would not expound.

For the production, the artist who has previously worked with such respected names as EA-Ski, Ant Banks, Cold187um [click to read] and Dr. Dre, would only state, "You turn on the Hip Hop [radio] station, all of the Hip Hop artists' beats is like some kind of House-mixed-with R&B-type-shit. That's where the game is? Nahmean. All I can say is, they're my motivation to be totally different."

In terms of content, Ren stated, "Without giving away too much, I'll say this: it's gonna be tight. I'm talking about everything - from the wack fools out now, to social injustice to somebody gettin' they dick sucked. All kinds of shit." Revered widely for his social, religious and racial commentary in the past on albums like Shock Of The Hour and The Villain In Black, MC Ren added that he still is an avid news junkie. The emcee says the world affairs he's most interested in are the banking fallout and relations with the Middle East.

Reincarnated is promised to be a fourth quarter release in 2009.

HipHopDX was also able to ask MC Ren of the proudest verse of his career to date. The Villain answered, "That's a good one. I have to say 'Fuck The Police.' That record was so big for us. That's what mothafuckas really remember. I would say 'Straight Outta Compton,' but to me, that song was tighter than 'Fuck The Police,' but 'Fuck The Police' was saying a lot more on the song."

Lastly, as some Rap critics have compared the non-traditional success of Drake to N.W.A.'s success without a major label, MC Ren is one artist who doesn't really draw parallels. Ren told DX, "For one, the homie Drake, ain't he signed to Lil Wayne's [Young Money Records]? That's how he got that buzz going: through Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne's shit is off the hook, and he got a new artist. If Wayne got an artist, he gonna make him hot too. [N.W.A.'s] situation, we didn't really have nobody. We didn't have nobody to ride on."

As N.W.A.'s success began through hand-to-hand sales and word of mouth, Ren also countered, "Right now, Lil Wayne could find another artist, make a tight song, be in the video with him - an ['Every Girl'] type of song, and this nigga might blow up too. That's how it is - mothafuckas piggyback off of people. But we didn't have nobody to ride on; we was just riding off of words - own own shit."

As he finishes up Reincarnated, the emcee personally urged fans to purchase his EP Kizz My Black Azz (1992), The Villain In Black (1996), Ruthless For Life (1998) and the chart-topping 1993 debut full-length Shock Of The Hour on iTunes. Like much of the Ruthless catalog, these releases were out-of-print until earlier this year. 

Ren's Twitter : http://twitter.com/MCRENCPT 
 

Dre-Day

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Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #250 on: August 01, 2009, 02:46:48 AM »
^Ren interview -

New album called Renincarnated
10 Songs  :P
Maybe two features (will probably his homeboys)
He didn't mention no producers (judging by his recent songs will probably be him and his homiez on some computer beats, lets pray not)

NWA film -
Cube driving force behind the script (better not be a comedy)
Soundtrack will probably be old songs, nothing discussed about if or how they going to do new songs yet (Niggaz cant even re-unite for new N.W.A songs for the movie)

Detox-
Ren not involved  :-\


man, forget about Detox ;)
we're getting Dre tracks anyway so you're not missing anything


Chad Vader

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Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #251 on: August 27, 2009, 06:17:43 AM »
Michel´le Interview





Shout Out 2 Inmate @ DeathRowForum
 

Chad Vader

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Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #252 on: September 08, 2009, 10:17:45 PM »
QDIII perfectly describes why Dr.Dre is such a great producer

from The Chronic Re-lit booklet:


 

Chad Vader

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Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #253 on: October 23, 2009, 06:39:29 AM »
Quote
Interview: 50 Cent Talks Dr. Dre

http://www.complex.com/blogs/2009/10/21/interview-50-cent-talks-dr-dre-jay-z-before-i-self-destruct/

Complex:
You told people not to hold their breath about a collaboration with The Game. Are there still real issues with him?

50 Cent:
I really don’t know Game. I worked with the kid for six days. I have bigger issues with the actual system, the company, people who work in it. Initially, people would be like, “Yo, we know you wrote the fucking records! You think we give a fuck about that?” Game built this thing on the West Coast, they desperately needed him to come out—they didn’t have anybody since Snoop. That’s what made it a good business opportunity to begin with. But I had to make sacrifices in order to have Dre put the record out, the same way they waited eight years for Dre to put his album out.

Complex:
Is there tension between you and Dre?

50 Cent:
There’s no tension. There will never be a beef between 50 Cent and Dre. And it’s not based on 50 and Dre’s relationship, it’s based on Eminem and Dre’s relationship. My relationship with Em is what Em’s relationship is to Dre. If I was to say something disrespectful to Dre, it would effect Em and I value that relationship too much. So I won’t say anything, I’ll never say anything negative about Dre.

Complex:
Does it bother you that it can take Dre so long to mix your records?

50 Cent:
Oh no, that’s just him as a producer. He takes his time. He loses interest in shit. I don’t care how great you are. He’s great, but he loses interest in himself at points. So the making of the record at this point is motivation. He’ll tell you himself that that’s what he feels.

Complex:
How do you feel about him working with Game?

50:
I don’t care. It’s better that you shut up sometimes than for you to actually express your judgments when you’re close to home.


Read rest of the interview here;
http://www.complex.com/blogs/2009/10/21/interview-50-cent-talks-dr-dre-jay-z-before-i-self-destruct/
 

Chad Vader

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Re: The ultimate N.W.A family interview thread *magazine scans,reviews etc.*
« Reply #254 on: October 23, 2009, 07:13:39 AM »
MC REN Interview (Swiped From Baller Status.net)
http://www.ballerstatus.com/2009/10/02/nwas-mc-ren-is-ready-to-be-renincarnated/

N.W.A.’s MC Ren Is Ready To Be Renincarnated
10/02/2009 · By Michael Cooper    

It's hard not to be nostalgic about the N.W.A. era of hip-hop. In those days, MCs were powerful and their words thunderous proclamations blasting out of the speakers in the inner-cities and also for the first time in the suburbs.

Remembered for the three words that scared a nation, N.W.A. brought gangsta rap to the masses and forever changed the course and culture of hip-hop. N.W.A. member MC Ren, an outspoken lyricist, is an icon of that illustrious and unforgettable era.

After shocking the world with the group in the 90s, and making his own mark with a platinum-selling solo career, MC Ren's presence quietly faded away in an industry where buffoonery got rewarded and lyrical sincerity was discouraged. It's now been 11 long years since Ren released his last album, Ruthless for Life.

Perhaps now though, hip-hop has never more been in need of the "Ruthless" one. With unbearable Auto-Tune remixes, petty braggadocio and flamboyant androgyny dominating the scene, MC Ren's jagged wordplay and dependable demeanor is a missing piece for a puzzle that hardly makes sense any more.

The good news is the wait is over, and the missing piece found. MC Ren is set to drop his long anticipated comeback album, Renincarnated, on October 31st. A release certain to frighten the children.

BallerStatus recently caught up with MC Ren to chat about the return album, his religion, family, and the current state of hip-hop and the recording industry. Quite a bit has changed since 1998. MC Ren has not.

BallerStatus.com: You excited to be back?

MC Ren: Yeah man, I feel good. I can't wait for the album to drop, so everybody can hear that sh**. So I'm pumped up right now. I ain't been pumped in a while, but it's on now.

BallerStatus.com: Word is that this is a true solo album with no guest appearances?

MC Ren: Right. Right. Now-a-days everybody's records be so wack, they be having like 50 million people on the sh**. I just want to do me. Just all me.

BallerStatus.com: That's what you know best. How long has this comeback album been in the works? What incited you to get back in the studio and record after all these years?

MC Ren: I'd say roughly about eight or nine months. Something like that, between eight or nine months. Man. it was just seeing little things on TV. It's been getting me pumped up. Some of the homies been hollering at me. Then going on the internet and seeing all them real MC Ren fans speculating and wondering if I'd come back and do an album after so many years. They were still waiting for me. I ain't done an album in 11 years. So it was like, "Let's do this sh**, and do it for the Ren fans out there." A lot of motherf***ers out there, when it come out, they going to hate on it, but this sh** ain't for them. This is for all the Ren fans. So everybody, that got all my old sh**, they can expect Reincarnated to be hard like the old sh**.

BallerStatus.com: Releasing an album after 11 years, from your perspective how has the game changed?

MC Ren: Man, the game has changed all the way around. Everything done changed, from the way records are promoted to the sound of the music. Back in the day record companies used to be real involved with this and that. But with the internet, a lot of these record companies getting to be obsolete. Everybody pushing they sh** online now, dropping they albums digital, so all that changed ... plus the sound. From when I last put an album out, to now, the sound just got ... how should I say it ... watered down. There's a lot more bullsh** in the industry now. A lot of motherf***ers, young kids, like that bullsh**. They like to bullsh** on their albums cause they young or wasn't around to know what that real sh** sounded like. So my album is definitely an alternative to the bullsh** out there.

BallerStatus.com: The beats on Reincarnated are billed to be very reminiscent of old school MC Ren. That certainly will be an alternative to current mainstream hip-hop, if that's the case?

MC Ren: Nah. All the beats now are like house music, or standard R&B. I don't know what to call that sh**, this Lady Gaga type sh**. Motherf***ers rhyming over Lady Gaga beats. To me that's just crazy. So no, Ren's not bringing that. I ain't doing none of that Auto-Tune. None of that sh**. The whole sound right now is just f***in' up. A lot of folks will think I'm hating, but that's just my opinion. I don't say motherf***ers shouldn't like that sound. It's a personal choice, I choose not to. And if I don't like it, I'm certainly not going to be doing it that way. It's all just too f***in' ... commercial.

BallerStatus.com: You've earned a right to voice that opinion. With Renincarnated set to release in the fourth quarter of 2009, from your respected vantage point, how has this year been for hip-hop? Are there particular breakout artists or new tracks that you like? Are there ones you're especially disappointed by? How will Renincarnated stand up as it comes out near the end of the year?

MC Ren: Man I think Renincarnated going to stand ... like I said it's for all the Ren fans, young and old. They're going to go out and cop it. No doubt about that. As far as 2009? I don't really listen to the new sh**. I listen to the classics. Like last night I was listening to Public Enemy. The new sh** I can't really get into. There are cats out there doing they're thing, but I'm not trying to compete with the contemporary motherf***ers. I do what I do for the Ren fans. That's why I came back. They will be the judge of the new album. Not how it stands against what's popular on the radio today. That's the only way my sh** probably wouldn't compare. I'm an underground motherf***in'. I've got a following. That's where the album will stand up.

BallerStatus.com: After a decade where promoters, corporate radio and labels controlled what got heard and what was considered good, do you think this new internet marketplace will level the playing field and push true talent to the forefront? And can the freedom of the internet put emphasis back on artists creating music as an art rather than taking the easy route for money?

MC Ren: Man you got to be good, because there are so many motherf***ers putting out songs now days. To build up a following you've got to grind online, but you got to be good. The internet can't force sh** down your throat like a label or radio can. The way it's starting to get, anyone can rise to the top if they've got the talent. The industry can't prevent you from building your own following. So you have to step your game up.

BallerStatus.com: Is the theme behind Renincarnated purely about your musical reemergence? Or is there something more personal about it too?

MC Ren: This album Renincarnated is me coming back. After 11 years away, I'm back on the scene letting my face be seen. It's the same Ren as before, just in another body. I feel like I got tighter too over the years through maturity. Everybody will have to wait and see, and check it out on the 31st of October. Go get it. Put it in, and listen to it from beginning to end.

BallerStatus.com: What was the song writing process for Renincarnated?

MC Ren: Man I get the tracks from my homies, from Chill, from Apocalypse, and I just shoot with them motherf***ers. I didn't try to rush it, so it's a similar writing style. I might sit down with a track and write two lines for the night. If them two lines is hot? That's it. Then tomorrow put the beat back on, vibe to it, and might write four lines. I take my time cause there ain't no reason to rush. Make it count.

MC RenBallerStatus.com: Were there some individuals who were pushing or inspiring you to come back? Or had a big help in you getting it together and recorded?

MC Ren: Obviously I thank my homie Chill. My homie Apocalypse. Sh** ... me. I was my biggest motivation. Without me it couldn't happen. I looked at myself in the mirror and knew I was ready to get off my ass and make it happen.

BallerStatus.com: How did you first get involved with DJ Chill?

MC Ren: I've been knowing Chill since like '87. Met Chill in Compton and that was before Compton's Most Wanted blew up. Me and him had a cool relationship ever since. He did some work with me on Ruthless for Life. We just click and I feel real comfortable working with him.

BallerStatus.com: What's been going on with you besides the music? In what stage of life does this comeback album find you? What's it like doing an album now, with kids at home and life so much different?

MC Ren: Chilling and taking care of my family the best a man can. Kicking back, and that's about it. Back in the day, in the early NWA days, I'd didn't have the kids. Now I've got kids in school, so this MC is also busy being a daddy. If they got a parent's back to school night, I'm there. That's been my priorities, making sure they get the best education and doing my album. One of my family is in middle school and he went to school the other day with a NWA shirt on, my picture on there. That's feels good to know that the kids still think we're cool.

BallerStatus.com: Speaking of that, what kinds of opportunities do your kids have now because of your success that you didn't have coming up in the 1980s?

MC Ren: Man, I always tell my kids they got it way better than I did. They got cable and all this technology. When I was coming up, we only had one TV with thirteen channels. My kids have access to everything. And they're so spoiled they don't even realize how good they got it in this world.

BallerStatus.com: Going back a little bit what was the turning point, or that moment in life you can point to, that led to your conversion to Islam?

MC Ren: Being around and keeping aware of things and what they meant. One day I got a book -- it had to be in like '92 -- called Message to the Black Man in America by Elijah Muhammad. I got it and read it and to me it was basically like a rap. I took that book everywhere I went. I had never liked to read, ever before that book. So when I got that book, I couldn't put it down, read through it like 23 times. That book changed it for me.

BallerStatus.com: These are strange times in America for Muslims. Their country is fighting two wars in the Middle East. Their president is being falsely portrayed as a Muslim by right-wing lunatics, as if that were a bad thing. What are your thoughts on this sad state of affairs?

MC Ren: There shouldn't be anything wrong with being a Muslim, in any country. It ain't true, but they do say this is a free country. Religion should have nothing to do with it. There are Christian terrorists too. There are fanatics out there who are Christians. For people to say, "Oh he a Muslim," that lets you know right there they have a problem with Islam. Some people in this country want to be at war with Islam, they don't want Muslims to come here, and they didn't want Obama to be president because they think he's a Muslim. So the line's been drawn. Obama's not a Muslim, but their point has been made that they don't want Muslims to have any power. So you have to be a Christian to become president. That's not freedom of religion, that's not what America is about. They say that Islam is forced on people in other countries, well they don't have room to talk. We're all worshiping the same God anyway when you really look at it.

BallerStatus.com: N.W.A.'s first couple albums came out it in a different culture than the one we live in now. What kind of impact on society do you feel N.W.A. had? And what did it lead to?

MC Ren: N.W.A. had a big impact. But more importantly I think the sh** we did sparked others to do even more. N.W.A. broke some barriers and made it easier for others when you look at Biggie or Pac, and all that sh**. Without N.W.A., a lot of them could never have come out and talked about that sh**. I'm not talking about the motherf***ers who were talking about some whack ass sh**. I'm talking about Snoop and all those who had something to say, yet still made they sh** tight. Without us wouldn't be none of that. By us coming out saying "F***k tha Police," that let others know they could say sh** on records too. Groups today don't have impacts like we did back then.

MC RenBallerStatus.com: Those three words from N.W.A., for better or worse, sparked a mentality in the inner-city during the early 1990s. Turning the microphone into the most powerful weapon a young minority can use in this country, and a lot of rappers waste it.

MC Ren: Exactly! It's like your speaking to a whole lot of motherf***ers from a podium, you might as well say something they can take and remember.

BallerStatus.com: You about have to go online to hear old school hip-hop. The radio seems to have forgotten it. There are plenty of radio stations that play classic rock or alternative music from the past couple decades. But you have to find a small public or college radio station, or go online to hear classic hip-hop.

MC Ren: You can't depend on radio stations to play the past. A lot of these motherf***ers radio stations are going to be obsolete. They play twenty minutes worth of commercials and then come on with somebody rapping with Lady Gaga. The radio is dying like the newspaper. Next will be CDs, they'll be the new cassette tapes. Everything will go through the internet. Go ahead and check out one of the singles from Renincarnated on iTunes, it's already on there. And be sure to get the album on October 31st.

For more information about his upcoming album, or to stay connected with MC, visit him on MySpace at MySpace.com/MCRenOfficialMyspace.