Author Topic: The Dangerous Crew,Magazine Scans Thread. *Interviews,reviews etc.*  (Read 1804 times)

Chad Vader

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Re: The Dangerous Crew,Magazine Scans Thread. *Interviews,reviews etc.*
« Reply #15 on: February 13, 2009, 02:28:08 PM »

Pooh Man; Funky As I Wanna Be review in The source Magazine April 1992 #31

 

Chad Vader

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Re: The Dangerous Crew,Magazine Scans Thread. *Interviews,reviews etc.*
« Reply #16 on: February 13, 2009, 02:52:11 PM »

MC Breed and The DFC review in The Source Magazine July 1991 #22

 

Chad Vader

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Re: The Dangerous Crew,Magazine Scans Thread. *Interviews,reviews etc.*
« Reply #17 on: February 14, 2009, 09:05:39 AM »
* * *  SPICE 1 New Interview * * *  Feb.09

They don't make 'em like Spice 1 anymore. Since the early '90s, the Hayward, California rapper has been delivering high concept, no frills gangster rap records like  "187 Proof," "East Bay Gangsta" and "Dumpin' 'Em In Ditches.” But in late 2007, Spice's reality mimicked his art in the worst way possible when he took a bullet to the chest as a victim of an apparent carjacking attempt.
Fortunately, he has since fully recovered from the shooting and is prepared to stage a comeback with a new label and a new album, Home Sweet Home. Spice took some time out from putting the finishing touches on that record to talk about the early days and to drop some wisdom for the next generation of emcees.

HipHopDX: What inspired you to pursue rapping?
Spice 1: Mostly my inspirations came from just writing poetry. My pops was kind of like a Black Panther and he'd write a lot of poetry so I got that from him in the beginning, but when the rap game kicked in, it was more like N.W.A. ,Too Short , Eazy-E, Run-DMC, back in the day cats. The biggest influences was like Ice-T and N.W.A.

DX: Were you performing a lot back then?
Spice 1: I really didn't start performing until I was like 16. I was opening up for them cats - N.W.A. - I was still in high school and everything. [The crowd] wanted to see N.W.A., they didn't want to see me, so it wasn't easy - especially a Bay Area crowd back in the day. East Oakland niggas, they want to see N.W.A.; they ain't trying to see me. So I had to do what I had to do.

DX: Tell me a little about the first tape you were on, Dope Lika Pound Or A Key. How did that come about?
Spice 1: That was an independent project that me and my homeboys in my neighborhood was working on. Me and PIzzo the Beat Fixer, he deejays for [E-40] now, me and him was working on that project back in the day. He was one of the first guys that got with me, started working with me or whatever. We had put that little CD together and was pushing it on the underground. It did pretty good and then I did a deal with Triad [Records] and we pushed it and then, here come Jive [Records]...

DX: What was that transition to Jive like, to go from the indies to the majors?
Spice 1: It was real different. Because I graduated from high school, I ain't no dummy. I graduated from high school in '89 and you gotta think, my first album on Jive came out in '91. So two years out of high school and I'm signed to a major label. So I never really got to understand the independent game, the major label was the first game I ever really understood. All I had to do was rap and be Spice 1.

DX: It seems like Jive really had an interest in the Bay, with you and Short and 40 all on the roster.
Spice 1: Yeah. It seemed like that's what they was aiming for was to corner the bay area market. They did, with me, Short and 40, but it seemed like after that they didn't come back. I'm thinking some other artists should come in right about now. They should be looking for new Bay Area artists right now.

DX: How did you link up with the Dangerous Crew back then?
Spice 1: I think I was 16 and somebody had told Short that I was rapping and he wanted to see what I sounded like. He heard me get down or whatever and next thing I know he was picking me up from high school like every other day! It was kinda like an experiment for him because he had never put out no other artists and he was trying to find some little youngsters that he could put out on his label.

DX: That must've been wild having him come through your high school.
Spice 1: Yeah, I was telling motherfuckers that he was coming to get me and they was like tripping out like, they wasn't believing me. That was cool for me and it meant a lot because a nigga didn't have to come do that shit.

DX: So how did the idea for "187 Proof" come about, turning alcoholic drinks into characters?
Spice 1: It was more of... [I was] just trying to come with some funky shit, some tight shit, something different. I could've just told a story, but I chose to tell it in that way - simple, but clever. I got the game from Rakim back in the day when he said [on "Move The Crowd"], "Simple ain't it? but quite clever." And that was the whole point of the song, doing some simple shit and making it entertaining to my audience. I didn't know if nobody was gonna really like it, but I liked the song and once a few cats heard it, they was on the shit. Everybody was feeling it.

DX: It seems like you don't hear as many well thought-out records like that these days.
Spice 1: Shit, that's what's missing in the rap game period right now. A motherfucker saying something actually entertaining instead of just talking about how hard they are or how much money they got or how many bitches they got. To actually entertain your audience is whole different story than to just get up there and rap about yourself.

DX: Is there anybody you think is doing that as far as younger artists?
Spice 1: Um. I be doing interviews and a lot of cats ask me about younger artists, not to trip out or disrespect them or nothing, but I don't listen to them for that simple fact. It's hard for me to find an artist [like that]. Because I'm a fan of rap music too, and I'm not gonna buy nobody's shit or bang nobody's shit that I'm not feeling, just because somebody else said that they was tight. I gotta listen to they shit. Like I actually listened to [lil Boosie & Webbie's Survival of the Fittest] and them little niggas is tight! I didn't know them niggas was that hard! So I can give them their props, but it takes a lot for me to listen to any new shit because there is so many niggas out saying that they hard. I'm just like the average fan. I don't just listen to anybody. It takes a lot for me to just listen to another artist, especially if I don't think he can out rap me. [Laughs] I got all these platinum and gold plaques and people will say that it's hard to find an artist that's gonna out rap you. Well, that's just how it is. It's hard for me to listen to anybody who I think I can [rap better than]. I might as well listen to my own shit, if their shit ain't no better than mine. But like I said, there's some tight niggas out there and I'll give them their props, if I actually take the time and sit down and listen to them.

DX: It seems like the market is real over-saturated right now.
Spice 1: Yeah! That's the cold part about the whole rap game. Somebody gotta stand out. It's so many artists everywhere. It's probably more MySpace artist pages then there are regular MySpace pages! Everybody is an artist now. It's so many people trying to do what we doing it's ridiculous right now. Everybody can't be the artist. Everybody wants to be the star. They don't want to be a consumer, they don't want to just buy the music. Because rapping is like boxing you can't just say, "Oh that artist is better than me," because that'll lower your record sales. Everybody is in competition. Therefore all of my fans turn into competition [when they become] artists. When it come down to it, they gonna want they shit to sell and not mine. It's crazy right now. You can't tell the artists from the fans. Too many cooks in the kitchen.
I was telling my homie earlier that just because a motherfucker might have hella cars or jewelry, that don't make him a rapper. Lots of these young kids think, "He got more money than him, he's tighter," but that shit is crazy. I could be sitting in a two-bedroom apartment or a 10-story mansion, that don't make me no rapper. What makes me an artist is how I get down. How I spit, how I entertain my fans. It be some crazy ass shit going on. I respect young cats in the game, but I'm in Sacramento right now and ain't nobody heard of San Quinn or Messy Marv [here] and then I come back out to the Bay, and cats out in the bay ain't never heard of a lot of cats out here from Sacramento. Motherfuckers need to make it to where their music is universal and then they can sell more copies. Like San Quinn, his shit is universal to me. That's my nigga, he put his shit out there, he don't just rep the bay, he talk about other shit beside that.

DX: What do you think it will take for other artists to move in that direction?
Spice 1: It's up to the youth, it's up to these little youngsters, man. They gotta believe in a cause that's greater than themselves. Instead of just rapping about themselves, they gotta rap about what's really going on out here and touch everybody instead of [just] motherfuckers in California or in the hood where they from. They need to relate to different subjects. "It's all about me," "I'm the shit," "fuck you" - That's not the way you get fans. You get fans by rapping about shit that they can relate to.

DX: What have you been working on lately?
Spice 1: We got the Home Street Home project jumping on my label. Thug World is my record label, I signed myself to my label. The album is called Home Street Home. We making this shit happen, right now, it's real big. The album is hot. Katt Williams is on there, Scarface , Devin The Dude . I came with a few features, but not a lot. Ever since I got off Jive, I've been releasing underground albums or whatever, but none of them are gonna compare to the time and effort and talent and lyrics that I put into this. Because this is actually coming out on my own label. Not saying that I held back on the other albums, but I put a lot more into this album.

DX: Did the shooting also inspire this new work ethic? Is that experience gonna be reflected on the album?
Spice 1: Yeah definitely, you know I gotta tell my story. I mean, shit, everywhere I go everybody asks me, "Damn you still alive?" But now I'm a real living legend because I can appear in somebody's face that that thinks I'm dead.
 

Chad Vader

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Re: The Dangerous Crew,Magazine Scans Thread. *Interviews,reviews etc.*
« Reply #18 on: April 27, 2009, 04:56:39 AM »
Peace fam

We're a young company in the Netherlands, called House of Hiphop. Our goal is to keep real hiphop alive and kickin', and we try to do so by doing interviews with our favorite hiphopartist and therefore spreading the word of true hiphop.

A couple of weeks ago we were blessed with the Westcoast festival, and we managed to interview nearly everyone! Check out our third interview with none other than mister Too $hort!



The intro is written in dutch, but the whole interview is done and written down in english! Check it out!

http://www.houseofhiphop.nl/?action=VIEW_ONE&ID=1

Quote
http://www.houseofhiphop.nl/?action=VIEW_MORE&ID=177
What’s good $hort? I heard rumors of this being your first time in Amsterdam?

 

First time in Amsterdam and first time in Europe! I don’t know why I’ve never been here, I’ve talked to promotors and bookers a lot for a European tour, but nobody ever made the offer. I’ve been told time and time again, there are a lot of different cities in Europe that are into my music, I just never had the chance to see it for myself. I’ve been all around man, I’ve performed all over the States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, all over, but I’ve never been to Europe before. I’m definitely looking forward to this tour.

 

When we look at your history we know you moved from LA to Oakland when you were fourteen. Do you think you would be making different music if you would have stayed in L.A. since the whole city was infected by the G-Funk sound in the early 90’s?

 

That’s an interesting question. Truth is I don’t think I would even be making music if I didn’t move to Oakland. The summer I moved to Oakland there was just this chain of events that pushed me into a rapcarreer. I was listening to the early days of rap music, and I just felt like I could do that too. But the reason I said I wouldn’t be rapping at all, is because it was really the city of Oakland that influenced me to start rapping. Oakland gave me the stories to rap about. So it was really the early rap music and the city of Oakland that sparked it for me, I don’t think there could have been one without the other.

 

So what was Oakland like? Did it have any form of a rapscene in the early eighties?

 

Well, growing up in L.A. in the seventies was all about witnessing gangs and violence. I grew up in South Central, a pretty tough neighborhood. I’m not saying it was like in the movies, with drive-by shootings and crips and bloods and all that. The gangs were there, and you would see them, but it wasn’t like there would be a wild shootout every time. But when I moved away from L.A., that’s when it started getting worse. Crack cocaine hit the streets around that time, too. The drive-by’s DID happen this time. But Oakland on the other hand, is not about gangs. It didn’t have crips or bloods. Oakland had gangs, but to me, it was all more colorful and open. It had a lot of pimps, you would get respect based on how much of a hustler you were, not how much of a gangster you were. That’s the biggest difference between the two cities. Oakland was a player’s world. If you were good with the ladies, you would get respect. So I grew up watching gangs, and then I saw the other side of the coin in Oakland, where it was all about how fly you were and how slick you could talk. I immediately fell in love with that. That’s what made Too $hort.

 

 

 

Do you consider yourself an official pimp?

 

Hell yeah man. I only be pimpin’ man. What I learned about the ways and methods of pimping, you can apply that to a lot of things in this world, man. You could take a chess game, and apply it to life, but you can also take pimps and ho’s, and apply that to life. I took that, and put it in my music. As I really study how this life works with pimps, prostitutes, tricks, exchange of money, and all the rules and regulations of that world, I can all apply it to life and put it into my music. It’s a never ending subject that I can have fun with. The comedy side of it is that I figured out like 900 ways to say ‘suck my dick’, while never sounding the same. I have fun with this shit, man.

 

You started rapping when you were 14. Were you rapping about girls back then already?

 

Nah, not really. My first raps were more like party rhymes, because that was the main topic in those days. These were the early eighties. Back then I was listening to Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and all of them. Everything was about fun. That was the rap I was mimicking. But when Flash came out with “The Message,” I think groups like Run DMC were born from that. Rap took a new persona, like “let me share about what’s going on in the community.” That’s what made me start rapping about Oakland. Once I heard “The Message,” and I changed my style, I got better, you know? So that was what my rhymes were about back then, just getting inspiration out of hiphop and Oakland, you know?

 

Shortly after you started, you set up your own label. Why didn’t you just join a label?

 

When I got out of High School I did three albums with a label called 75 Girls. It was an independent label, we never signed any contracts. It was the label of a friend of my older brother. There was a good side and a bad side to that. We didn’t have any experience and I probably could have made a lot more money than I did, but the good side is that I experienced what it was like to run an independent label. So when that label passed, me and some friends started our own label in 1987, called Dangerous Music. So that’s where that decision came from. I had an early training in having my own label. With Dangerous Music, we never had the intention to be signed to a major like Jive, which did happen eventually. We knew how to sell records, and we did. We sold records in our area, and the money was looking nice. With Dangerous Music, we went from having nothing, to having hundreds of dollars. We were like “hey, this is cool!” But in the end, I’m glad we signed to the major label. It took my music all over the world. It’s a good thing.

 

 

 

Ever since, you’ve been dropping albums like it’s nothing. You’re one of the few old school artists that keep putting out new material every one or two years. Is this something you do for the fans, or do you just enjoy putting an album together?

 

Well, it was pretty easy how I got started with selling albums, because I had five years of selling tapes in the streets of Oakland. While I was doing that, I was constantly writing lyrics. So when I finally got into the studio, I had a nice sized box, full of rhymes that I had written. Not a small box, this was a big ass box. So when I got signed to Jive, I just started digging into that box. The first eight albums I did with Jive, man, a lot of stuff came from that box, haha. A lot of stuff was from back in the days, so I had to rewrite it a little bit, or give it a new twist. But I always had my rhymes ready. That’s why my work ethic for a new album was like two or three weeks. The album “Born to Mack;” we did that in seven days. A lot of other albums we did in two or three weeks, man, it was crazy. What helped speed up the process even more, was the fact that I had all the beats programmed and ready before I went into the studio. So I had the beats and the rhymes. When we went into the studio, we did like three or fours songs a day and we had fun doing it. It was just what I did, and what I still do. Talk shit, having fun, keep it on the pimpside, make the album cover look interesting, and so on. I was actually in such a rhythm when I was with Jive, that they would send me a check to make an album. Then, without a phone call or anything, I would send an album right back to them. I would send it all ready and mixed. I started working on the album before I even got the checks. Years later, Jive was like “he was fucking incredible!” And those motherfuckers would sell, even without media exposure. I never got a lot of media attention, I never even put a lot of singles out, and I never got on MTV, nothing of that. I didn’t know why back then and I still don’t know why right now. I don’t know why MTV won’t fuck with me!

 

Come to think of it, I think the only real exposure you’ve received in Europe, is your single “The Ghetto,” which appeared on a very popular videogame. That’s the first time I heard Too $hort on something other than a cd.

 

That’s right! That’s the only outlet right there! But therefore, I take pride in being a multiplatinum underground rapper. I get the shine here and there, depending on what kind of collaborations I do, but it was mostly just underground. But I think that might be one of the reasons of my longevity. I got over twenty years on my name as a rapper, professionally. And that is not from when I started rapping, but that’s how long I’ve been making major money. I started getting real money of this rap thing in 1987. Five years before that, I was selling my tapes all over the streets. I never had another job anywhere. Rap always put money in my pocket, I would always have like a hundred dollars on me, you know? I could sell some tapes, get some weed and beer and be cool, haha.


+1  ;)
 

RAIDErs of the lost ark

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Re: The Dangerous Crew,Magazine Scans Thread. *Interviews,reviews etc.*
« Reply #19 on: November 08, 2009, 01:55:25 PM »
Spice-1, New Interview !

A TupacNation.Net Exclusive interview with the legendary westcoast rapper, Spice-1.
About:
The begining of Spice 1 career.
About his days with Too Short.
Tupac memories, his Deathrow days.
Removing Spice-1's vocals from latest releases (like Fame, One Day At a Time...).
Makaveli Records, One Nation project.
2Pac on "I Got 5 On It" Remix - rumor.
The death of Tupac.
The Makaveli album, the Makaveli character and the Tupac character.
Unreleased songs of Tupac and Spice-1.
Spice-1 on Secret Of War (Unreleased Original).
The west coast after the death of Tupac.
Spice-1 and Tupac - influencing each other, using rhymes of each other.
Richie Rich aka Tha Governor suing Amaru (Po' Nigga Blues aka Cause I Had To).
Spice's relation ship with Jive Records.
Unreleased songs of Spice-1.
His plans for his label.
His new music and his older music.
His feelings about ghost writers.
His upcoming album.

Spice 1 Interview 2009 [Part 1]
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/axeBaBtXCbo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/axeBaBtXCbo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

Spice 1 Interview 2009 [Part 2]
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8y87rswhaWw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/8y87rswhaWw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

Spice 1 Interview 2009 [Part 3]
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/tu_-h95u4Io&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/tu_-h95u4Io&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

Spice 1 Interview 2009 [Part 4]
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/IKT45VQGnKk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/IKT45VQGnKk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

Spice 1 Interview 2009 [Part 5]
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/0KrpnqrW39E&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/0KrpnqrW39E&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>
« Last Edit: November 08, 2009, 01:58:55 PM by tusken RAIDEr »
 

Chad Vader

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Chad Vader

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Re: The Dangerous Crew,Magazine Scans Thread. *Interviews,reviews etc.*
« Reply #21 on: February 02, 2010, 03:32:30 PM »
http://dubcnn.com/
Goldy (Dangerous Crew) interview part 1 (January 2010) | Interview By: Chad Kiser (click to read)



The Dangerous Crew movement is back on Dubcnn! After a bit of a hiatus, we connected with another member of this legendary west coast crew, as we sit down with Goldy. As the only other crew member besides Too $hort , Ant Banks, and Pooh-Man to release an album on Dangerous Music, Goldy took us on a trip with “In The Land of Funk”, which was a funk-filled, story-telling pimp odyssey, scored by the funkiest crew in hip-hop history: Pee-Wee, Shorty B, Sean G and Ant Banks. With stand-out features from the Dangerous Crew’s finest like Rappin’ Ron, Ant Diddley Dog, Ant Banks, Pee-Wee and of course Too $hort, the album was one of the definite classics to come out of Oakland, CA in the mid-90’s.

In Part 1 of this exclusive interview with Goldy, we find out how we was influenced to get into music, we talk about his early career before Dangerous Music, he discusses some of the differences between the industry today versus during his era, and we discover how he connected with Too $hort.

“There’s no place like the Land of Funk”, as Goldy takes us on another ride!

Goldy (Dangerous Crew) interview part 1 (January 2010) | Interview By: Chad Kiser (click to read)