bumpy knuckles interview (long)

[Agua]

Interview: FREDDIE FOXXX aka BUMPY KNUCKLES
“Get Connected…. Or Freddie Foxxx Will Disconnect Your Head!!”
FREDDIE FOXXX aka BUMPY KNUCKLES
(June 2003)
Interview by Todd E. Jones aka The New Jeru Poet
Freddie Foxxx aka Bumpy Knuckles personifies the intelligent thugged out underground hip-hop that many of us know and love. Rocking mics since the 80’s, Foxxx has released 2 LPS (‘Crazy Like A Foxxx’ and ‘Freddie Foxxx Is Here’) that many people do not even know about. Gaining major exposure for his hook and last verse on “The Militia” with Gangstarr, Foxxx blew the minds of underground hardcore hip-hop fans. His energy can never be matched. His fury is like a gigantic fireball that leaves mics and turntables in ashes. Behind the intense energy and delivery lies an intelligent Black man who reads, keeps up with current events and never censors himself. Freddie Foxxx is the truth. He always says exactly what he feels. His last LP “Industry Shakedown” was a brutal attack on the corruption of the recording industry. He called out names of record executives (i.e. Lyor Cohen) to rappers (i.e. Noreaga and Memphis Bleek). With thick beats produced by Foxxx himself along with DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Alchemist, “Industry Shakedown” was the biggest selling independent LP of the year 2000. Since then, Bumpy Knuckles has done incredible collaborations with M.O.P., O.C., De La Soul, Pete Rock, Heather B, Da Beatminerz, and Wyclef. Now, Freddie Foxxx has returned with his 2nd installment of his trilogy of albums (that began with “Industry Shakedown”). Released on BBE Records & Rapster Records, “Konexion” is an album filled with thick beats, intense lyrics, hardcore flows, and a magnetic charisma. With various themes ranging from September 11th, being a true emcee, label politics, and family, Bumpy has made an album that lives up to the intensity of “Industry Shakedown”. DJ Premier, Hidden Agenda, DJ Clark Kent, and Foxxx himself handle production. His passion for true hip-hop is undeniable. On warm evening in June, I had a long and deep conversation with the legend. Bumpy is not just about hip-hop. He’s concerned with African-American culture, politics, war, government, the music industry, family, and much, much more! Freddie Foxxx is a thinking man’s underground hardcore emcee. Get connected… or get the hell out of the way!
T.JONES: “What goes on?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Good, man. I’m doing a lot of interviews and setting this album up. There is a basis of conversation that needs to be unleashed when you drop a record from this angle. I leave an opening where there’s a reason for people to ask a lot of questions when they hear my records. It’s all because I say a lot of things and people want to know why I said it or what I meant when I said it. It’s that time.”

T.JONES: “The new album is titled ‘Konexion. What is the meaning behind the title? Tell us about the LP”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “’Konexion’ is a title that I wanted to use because I wanted to show my connection with hip-hop. We’re in a listening business. So, I’m connected to the sound of hip-hop, the elements of hip-hop. Also, I have a spiritual connection to myself. There’s a certain passion that people should be able to hear in my delivery. There’s an emotional connection to the context and subject matter of the record. It’s just a vibe. I’m locked in to my work and I’m locked in to what I do. I’m hoping that it can help other people to lock into what their doing. Even if it means that they have to do more work. They should lock into the independence of what you do.”

T.JONES: “You were going to have a collaboration album between you and Pete Rock called ‘The Connection’. What happened to that?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Well, Pete had a time-line and a time-frame for which he had to work. Times began to clash because he had his own projects to do. Pete is my friend first. I felt like I didn’t want to infringe on his time. I’m one of those guys who if and when I have studio time, I’m ready to work. I wake up at 6 in the morning or 5 in the morning to go into the studio. I can’t wait for a producer to bring me a track. Plus, Pete was working on his next album (‘Soul Survivor 2’) and I didn’t want to step on his toes. I knew I could do it myself. I also wanted to give people the diversity that I gave them on ‘Industry Shakedown’ as well.”

T.JONES: “Will you be on Pete Rock’s Soul Survivor 2’LP?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Yeah.”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite song on ‘Konexion’?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Probably… hmmm. I like em all but I really love ‘Swazee’ and I love ‘When The Angels Sing’.”

T.JONES: “Why did you choose BBE Records and Rapster Records for this release?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “No particular reason other than the fact that anytime I do anything, I try to make history. ‘Industry Shakedown’ was the biggest selling independent album of 2000. That was history making. This particular album on BBE was the first emcee record they have ever done. In the past, BBE have done more producer-driven LPS. Regardless of how the record does, it’s still a history-making album. I will have the first copy-protected album ever. People tried to do it but I think I will be the first person to ever do it. I think that I only will copy-protect it in Europe though. I try to do different things and I figured that I would give BBE a shot. BBE has a huge DJ fan base. Who better to give your record to but a DJ?”

T.JONES: “Out of those Beat Generation albums, do you have a favorite?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Nah, not really.”

T.JONES: “Why didn’t you release this album through Landspeed Records, the label who released ‘Industry Shakedown’?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “I didn’t like the way they did business… at all. I thought that they were kind of trashy with their business. I made them who they are today. Emcees followed me over there. A lot of emcees followed me to Landspeed because they thought that I would be apart of the roster. They saw the success I had with Landspeed and they thought that they could have the same success. Landspeed Records, in turn, became a bigger label because better-named artists were coming there. I didn’t like some of the business ethics of Landspeed. I couldn’t tolerate that type of stuff so I backed away. Their MO is that they do sh*t half-assed and I ain’t with that.”

T.JONES: “You have been friends and business partners with Lloyd Price, the man who wrote and sung ‘Mr. Personality’. How did you two meet and are you still cool with him?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Yeah, we’re still cool. He’s like a father to me. I’ve known him for a long time. I wanted to remake ‘Stagger Lee’. I did a version of it and he liked it. We locked in. My life mirrors the life he lived as a young man. He was rebel in the game. When the mafia tried to control the music business, him and his boys would clog up all the jukeboxes. He fought against the system. People were stealing publishing. It’s the same thing, man. It’s like the remix.”

T.JONES: “What is K-Jac Entertainment?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “It’s both of ours. It is our company. It’s still around.”

T.JONES: “Why wasn’t K-Jac associated with this album?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “This was a personal project. I did it on my own but we still have the company.”

T.JONES: “As an emcee, who are some of your major influences?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Grandmaster Caz, The Cold Crush 4. I loved him. I loved Dotta Rock, Whipple Whip. I loved the Fantastic Romantic 5, all of them. I love the Furious Five of course, Melle Mel. I loved Run-Dmc. I loved Big Daddy Kane. Kane and I are from the same era. I love Nas. Guys like that.”

T.JONES: “How did you get the name Bumpy Knuckles?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “I had a fight and I punched this kid. My knuckles swelled up big after I hit em. His girl said, ‘Ah, look at those bumps on your knuckles!’ and I said, ‘Yeah, these are bumpy knuckles!’ So, I kept it.”

T.JONES: “Do you have your rhymes pre-written when you go into the studio or do you write then and there when you hear the beat?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “All the time. I never write rhymes until I hear where the music is going. If I’m driving down the street, I may think of a hot one-liner. I may jot it down and throw it in my library. Then, if I get stuck somewhere, I will look for something to fill in the spaces with but I usually let the music dictate what I’m going to do.”

T.JONES: “You have worked with DJ Premier from Gangstarr many times (‘Paine’, ‘R.N.S.’, ‘The Militia’). The first time many people heard you was on the Gangstarr song ‘The Militia’. How did you hook up with Premier? What’s it like working with him?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “I love working with Premier. He’s a great producer. We met each other in the city one day, just crossing the street. He was like, ‘What’s up Freddie Foxxx, I’m a fan. Yo, we should do something together.’ Then, we did the O.C. record. When we did ‘M.U.G. (Money Underground)’, he was like ‘I don’t know if it’s hard enough for you’. I was like ‘Listen, man, every track I do, I don’t have to be murder, death, kill.’ I’m an artist. I know how to formulate a style to a type of music that I’m listening to. Don’t get caught up. He played the beat and I made the record sound like he wanted it to sound.”

T.JONES: “Talking about different styles… You are on a soundtrack for a movie that was never released called ‘Black Gangster’. The track is called ‘Pimpin Ain’t Easy’. When I first heard it, I almost didn’t believe it was you. The track is so different due to a more Southern sounding beat and a double-time rhyme flow along with the subject matter of pimping. How did you approach that track?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “They asked me to do a song about the pimp game. That style and what I was saying was really about the pimp game. People have to learn to open their minds to different things. People have a tendency to hate things that are the same but do not accept things that are different. The one thing that people have to stop doing is locking people into one kind of emcee style. As long as they make a good song, it’s good. When people lock artists in like that, it stagnates people’s thoughts on what artists can be or can become. Like I said, I’m a writer. Without me violating my contractual obligations, some of the biggest emcee / rap records that came out on the mainstream, I wrote the rhymes for them. I can write and I can flow with many different styles and flows. I’ve been responsible for a lot of emcees and rappers that have fixed their flows. They came knocking on my door and said, ‘I can’t think of nothing for this record, can you help me out?’. I was like ‘No Problem’. At the end of the day, when I did the song ‘Pimpin Ain’t Easy’ for the ‘Black Gangster’ soundtrack, I was asked to come with a style for the theme that pimping is not easy. It’s not a sentiment that needs to be shouted and yelled across a record.”

T.JONES: “Are there any songs or emcees that you ghost-written for that you can tell us about?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “No. Not one.”

T.JONES: “You have collaborated with M.O.P. several times. (i.e. ‘I Luv’, ‘The Mastas’, etc.) How did you hook up with them and what was it like working with them?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Same thing. There was mutual respect. They are serious cats. We locked in. I always try to bring 150% of who I am to every record. Being able to do that is a blessing. When I rap, I bring to the table what it is and I am going to bring 150% of me. M.O.P. is hard-core. I love rocking with them because they bring that certain energy that I bring. The one thing that I respect is their ability to lock in collaboration on their styles. Back and forth! How can you beat that? When I rocked with Wyclef and M.O.P. on ‘Masquerade’, it was something that I thought would be perfect to do. That’s why I agreed to do it.”

T.JONES: “The collaboration you did with M.O.P. called ‘I Luv’ was incredible. How did that song get started?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: ‘They wanted a song for their album and I, in fact, already had written a song called ‘I Luv’ and the whole song was me, by myself. When we heard the track, no one could come up with an idea so I said the chorus: ‘What’s mine, I love. I fight push to shove…’ And I knew that it would be dope for us to do it together. They just had to write a verse each and I had to construct mine to fit the scenario with other emcees.”

T.JONES: “Did you ever record the full-length solo version of ‘I Luv’?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Yes. I have a full-length version of ‘I Luv’. It’s crazy. It’s the first version. I’ve always been way ahead of myself. I would do something and 2 years later, the mainstream is new on it.”

T.JONES: “What group or emcee would you like to collaborate with in the future?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Well, I just did a song with Nas. So, I did that. I don’t know where that will be released though. I’m still deciding. I would like to make a song with Zach De La Rocha from Rage Against The Machine. I would like to rock with maybe Eminem. Yeah, I would like to do a song with Eminem. I would like to do something different. If I would probably rock with a group, I would love to make a song with The Roots. I would love to rock with The Roots.”

T.JONES: “What producer would you like to collaborate in the future that you haven’t worked with yet?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Maybe Dr. Dre. I would like to do a Dr. Dre song. I would maybe like to rock with Rockwilder.”

T.JONES: "What LPs or CDs have you been listening to often in the last couple of days?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “’What’s Goin On?’ by Marvin Gaye.”

T.JONES: “What was the last incident of racism you experienced?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “The last incident of racism that I experienced was a situation where I went to check into a hotel and they told me that they didn’t have any rooms. Right next to me, this old white guy walks up and asks if they had any rooms available, and they rented him a room. It was right in front of me. I was walking away and I heard the lady tell the man, ‘Hold on one second.’ I guess she was waiting for me to leave. So, they checked him in. He didn’t have a reservation or nothing. I don’t want to be where I’m not wanted. That’s for sure.”

T.JONES: “Abortion – Pro-Life or pro-choice?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Pro-choice.”

T.JONES: “Death penalty – For or against?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Against.”

T.JONES: “You did an original, astute and heartfelt song about September 11th called ‘When The Angels Sing’ produced by Hidden Agenda. Where were you on Sept. 11th? How did you deal with it? How do you think it has affected hip-hop?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Usually, in the morning, I wake up and turn on the news. I watch the news, the weather, and see what the day is going to be like. I saw the smoking tower and I was like ‘Holy sh*!’ When I saw it, it was a shock to me. I thought it was an accident at first like a plane lost control. Then, I saw the next plane coming in. You can see how it affected the world because it’s like we are living in a third-world country right now. The sad part about it is that I believe that it was a business deal between George Bush, the American government, and Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. I think that they said who did it too fast and that tells us that they knew something prior to the attack. I believe that money is truly the root of all evil. This is not about terrorism. If this was all about terrorism than America should be ready to go to war with North Korea if that’s the case. They admitted to having weapons of mass destruction and they dared us to come over there and f*ck with them! Like I said in the record, when Bush says that he is going to ‘wage war against terrorism’, that’s a very big statement knowing that every single culture, including American culture, has terrorists. The sad thing is that we cannot change Presidents in the middle of a war. We learned that sh*t in elementary school. We may be stuck with him. That’s why I said on the LP, ‘You may be looking at your last American President’. That’s what that means. Welcome to the new millennium. Another sad thing is that people are downplaying and not looking at the gangs, not recognizing that they have the ability, to at least organize. Whenever you organize under the American structure and not follow suit with what they do or their mind-frame, that’s considered terrorism. Homeland security means that they can kick in your door without a warrant. It’s positioning. We have nothing to do with it. We are just part of the game.”

T.JONES: “In a song you state that your brother was ‘taken away’ from you. What happened?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “He got shot. He was 32 years old.”

T.JONES: “What is your all time favorite collaboration you did?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “It would have to the KRS-One stuff I did.”

T.JONES: “If you could remake any classic hip-hop song, what would it be?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “’The Message’ by Melle Mel.”

T.JONES: “Did you hear the Alchemist and Prodigy remake of ‘The Message’ that is on the 2nd disc of ‘Free Agents: The Murda Mix Tape’?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “No. His voice ain’t heavy enough for that record. His voice is not heavy enough for a record like that. I’m not saying anything but he’s got one of those lighter voices. You need some substance. Melle Mel was an emcee with substance. For ‘The Message’, you need someone with a heavy sounding voice to make that record work.”

T.JONES: “What do you think hip-hop needs these days? What is hip-hop lacking?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “A government. Hip-hop needs a government. It needs a president and delegates in each city that represent the culture. What that does, it gives us power. Politicians are always trying to use rappers or hip-hop to get votes. The only way that’s going to work is if we can sit down at the table with voting power. If I sit down at the table with Governor Pataki and say, ‘Listen, you’re running for office this year and I can get you 5,000 votes. The hip-hop vote is a powerful vote. In turn, what I’m going to need from you is video permits and permits to do outside concerts in the park. I need police protection that won’t flip on the crowd every time the music is too loud.’ That’s power! What it does, it establishes a respect between to very different entities that may need each other down the road. The bad part about it is, Russell Simmons could have set this up years ago. He could have been a great president for hip-hop culture. It shouldn’t just be about what happens to an artist when he’s not popular anymore. When you set up a government, you have a place for artists who aren’t recording anymore, to go. When you sit down with record companies, you have people inside the government who can police how these deals are done so we don’t get robbed. We can have people inside the government to police how bootleggers are dealing. We can shut down the bootleggers. We have no hip-hop government so people are just picking hip-hop apart at free will because it is ungoverned. If we ever had a government, we could have hip-hop laws. In hip-hop, there are certain things that people just are not allowed to do, like bite people’s rhymes. When you sample people’s music of people outside hip-hop, these artists are robbing the hip-hop artists on publishing. It’s cool but they should give us back something since we are the ones who are bring the original non-hip-hop group to life. Let’s make it so we don’t have to pay out the ass. At the same token, if they collaborate with us to make the record, we can all do it together. Being that there’s no government, people are just doing what they want.”

T.JONES: “Your new album ‘Konexion’ has an unknown producer named Hidden Agenda. Who is he?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “He’s a producer I work with. It’s one person. For people who have the advance promo, Hidden Agenda did not do all those songs. I had to send in the credits, so they put it all down. On the retail album, you can see all the production credits. Hidden Agenda did about 7 or 8 songs.”

T.JONES: “The 6 song promo CD for ‘Konexion’ that had an incredible song called ‘S.W.A.M.’ and an Alchemist-produced song called ‘The Real Emcee’. Why weren’t those songs on the finished LP?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “They are going to be released as bonus tracks. I didn’t want to put all of them on there. It didn’t fit with the structure of what I was putting into the album. See, my songs, I listen to them for the structure of the album from start to finish.”

T.JONES: “What is the worst hip-hop fad?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Probably platinum chains.”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite sampler or drum machine?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “MPC 3000.”

T.JONES: “When you produce, do you go into the studio with pre-produced beats, loops, and samples? Or, do you create right then and there?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Both. I have my own studio. I don’t use outside studios.”

T.JONES: “On the ‘Industry Shakedown’ LP, you called out Memphis Bleek and Noreaga. What do you think of those 2 rappers now? Did they ever officially respond to you?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “You know what it is? None of them wanted it. I wasn’t asking for no beef or anything like that. I just made some true statements. I never heard a peep out of Memphis Bleek. As far as N.O.R.E. is concerned, whatever he said, he said it in a context of maybe he said that but maybe he said this. Whatever he said, it wasn’t serious. It wasn’t in his heart. It wasn’t in his eyes. I didn’t peruse it. At the end of the day, what I said about N.O.R.E. made him step his game up. He hasn’t said ‘What What!’ in a record since. As far as Bleek is concerned, he’s even worse than he was when he first started.”

T.JONES: “On ‘Konexion’, you don’t have any guests on the album except for your actual family. Was that intentional?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “What a statement that is. Yes, it was intentional. I think the industry has put the poison pill in everybody’s head that they have to have all of these other rappers on your record. Why would you want somebody to buy your record because someone else is on it? It’s my idea. I want people to know who I am. Sam Cooke didn’t do it. Look at these great soul singers who helped to develop Black music. They didn’t have a whole sh*tload of collaborations on their record. I look at being a recording artist just like they looked at it. This is about me being different and having people lock into me as an artist. What’s the use of going to a concert and you have 5 acts on the card and not only are they all rapping about the same sh*t but they are all over each other’s records. That’s corny! The headliner is coming out on the 2nd set because he has collaboration. The excitement is gone.”

T.JONES: “Word association time. I’m going to say the name of an emcee or group and you say the first word that comes to your head. So, if I said ‘Public Enemy’, you may say ‘revolution’. Okay?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Mmm-hmm.”
T.JONES: “Wu-Tang Clan”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Broken up.”
T.JONES: “Phife Dawg”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Short.”
T.JONES: “Cormega”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “So-so.”
T.JONES: “Pharoahe Monch”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Cocky.”
T.JONES: “Noreaga.”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Redundant.”
T.JONES: “Del The Funky Homosapian”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Haven’t heard nothing from him in a long time.”
T.JONES: “Heltah Skeltah”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Same.”
T.JONES: “Memphis Bleek”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Thin line.”
T.JONES: “Gil Scott Heron”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Legend.”

T.JONES: “In some songs you talk about your 2 guns. What is your favorite type of hand weapon?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “My favorite type of hand weapon is my microphone.”

T.JONES: “What is the biggest mistake you made in your career?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Probably not breaking Lyor Cohen’s jaw when I had the opportunity to.”

T.JONES: “You wrote an essay titled ‘I’m hip-hop and you’re not’. Can you explain what it’s about?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “It’s just about me expressing my feelings about an ambush going on by the corporate structure. It’s basically about hip-hop versus the corporate structure. I wanted to design in there the mentality of the record company, in respects to hip-hop culture. When you tell someone who is 31 that they are old, that means there is an age limit put on hip-hop artists. Still, The Rolling Stones are 60 years old, on stage, selling out arenas, doing what they do. Rock bands seem to grow older everyday. Everything and everyone I know in existence grows older everyday. Nothing gets younger. I told Nas, ‘One day, someone is going to consider you old school.’ He reached out to me and said, ‘Yo Bump! That statement you made to me was so real, man!’ What kind of seed is that planted in a 24 year old man’s mind that he has 5 years to make it if he can. That’s a sickness. Hip-hop versus the corporate structure is letting people know that you can’t have people dictate hip-hop to you, especially if they don’t have anything to do with hip-hop. They see that they can make money and it’s an investment. The only way to destroy anything is to invest in it, where you have some kind of creative power. That’s what that essay is about. People have to read it and they’ll understand. A lot of these emcees out here, I don’t have beef with them, but it’s sad that they are so much on their own d*cks that they cannot sit down and have a constructive, powerful union that can move with strength. Half of them are cowards anyway. They go home and hide under their beds when it is war. Everybody wants to get on the mic and be a star. Their motive is p*ssy.”

T.JONES: “In the hook for the song ‘Swazee’, you use the term ‘Cracker’ often. Did anyone get the wrong impression or give you negative feedback?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “If I didn’t get negative feedback about saying ‘N*gga’, I won’t get any negative feedback about saying ‘cracker’. Sh*t, I know white people who say ‘N*gga’. So, I think that if people are so comfortable saying the word ‘n*gga’, let’s see how comfortable they are saying the word ‘cracker’.” Actually, ‘cracker’ is a mentality. The funny thing is the word ‘n*gga’ has been totally downplayed in the African-American community to the point that it’s not an insult when it’s said by African-Americans. Black people only have a problem with the world when white people say it because white people, in their ignorance, defined the word to mean something disrespectful to African-Americans. They didn’t just make that sh*t up though. They got it from somewhere. Where they got it from was Africa. The funny thing is, they have a problem with the word and that’s why they don’t say it. ‘Cracker’ is a mentality. The word ‘cracker’ comes from when Black slaves were whipped and the cracking of the whip. It’s a mentality. It’s like Bill O’Reilly and those type of people are the people I am talking about. People who write checks in record companies are the people I’m talking about. I’m talking about those corporate suit and tie, snooty, yuppie kind of people who think that they are better than everybody else. In hip-hop culture, those words do not apply. We’re apart of hip-hop culture and we rock to the same drum. It’s an African vibe. We rock to the same drum because the rebellious force in hip-hop music has touched so many cultures that those words do not apply. The reason why I argue with Ray Benzino for having beef with Eminem is that Eminem is a dope emcee. The racist motherf*ckers who treat him better because he is white, those are the crackers! Eminem can’t be charged with that because he’s not saying ‘Buy my record, I’m white. Don’t buy his, he’s black.’”

T.JONES: “In ‘Without Me’, Eminem actually pokes fun of himself and states that he is exploiting Black culture and music to make himself wealthy.”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “At the end of the day, he’s being honest. Regardless of what the truth is, you have to respect the truth. It’s a dance with the devil in a sense. White people, who do you expect them to look out for, other than their own. African-Americans, or American-Africans I should call them, have to do the same thing. They have to learn to look out for their own. Everybody is in this crab-in-a-barrel mentality. I spit it at whomever. I don’t give a f*ck what color you are and I will say freely what I want to say. Anybody had a problem with it, all they have to do is address the issue. Sh*t, if you wife cheats on you, all you have to do is address the issue. Some people pick their victims. They will say something to somebody that they feel they have an instant win over. Somebody like me, who will break down a brick wall and get at your ass, the won’t say nothing to me. So, f*ck that.”

T.JONES: “What do you want on your epitaph (your gravestone)?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “I did it my way.”

T.JONES: “You have 2 other older albums before ‘Industry Shakedown’ that many people do not know about. Will they ever be re-released? How do you like those LPS compared to ‘Industry Shakedown’ and ‘Konexion’?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “The 2 LPs are ‘Freddie Foxxx Is Here’ and ‘Crazy Like A Foxxx’. They are probably out of print now but you can find them somewhere. I have all of the masters. I love all of my work. I look at myself and any artist for the entire body of work. I do not hand pick. That’s a discredit to the craftsmanship and the artwork. Art is an intentional effort to create beauty. What we perceive to be beautiful, is we do bodies of work that fit the time frame that we record the music. To record is to make a permanent record, to make history. I don’t single out one song. I made all the records. It may have been 5 years since my last albums and ‘Industry Shakedown’ but in between that time, I did collaborations and a lot of stuff to keep myself busy and current. You have to take time to learn some sh*t. People are dropping 3 albums a year, that’s crazy. That’s not real. If I was a painter, I would paint my experiences. If I was an Olympic track runner, I would run my experiences. I channel my experiences to do what I do and that’s what I do with music. You have to gain experience to put these things out.”

T.JONES: “What advice would you give to an up and coming emcee?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Read! Read! Read! Read! Newspapers! Read so you can have something else to write about. I’m sick of hearing about crack dealers and sh*t. The sh*t is f*cking ridiculous! You know what that does? It trains your mind to be more current. If you look at the price of gold in the stock market, it’s something better than saying the same sh*t that I’m a crack dealer, I have a gun on my hip, I’m going to hunt you. Jesus! Another one! These motherf*ckers are becoming like mice! You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all!”

T.JONES: “What’s next for Freddie Foxxx after you release the ‘Konexion’ LP?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “I’m going to tour. You know, I’m going to gather my experiences and learn a few new things. I’m going to write my next album and put it out, calling it ‘American Black Man’. Also, I think I want to do this one big giant collection of my records. A box set. All of my albums in one big package.”

T.JONES: “Any final comments for the people reading this?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: "Just open your mind and think about being different, listening to different sh*t , and allowing people to be different without scrutiny. I hate reviews. I hate people who think that their opinion is more important than the other. Everyone thinks that his or her opinion is more important than the next. It’s just a f*cking opinion. When people read interviews, they should know that it’s person from the outside, viewing you from the inside, and exposing you to the outside world. Just have an open mind! Hip-hop is a culture! It’s about the way we dress, the way we walk. That’s why when I go to a show and I have 3,000 white kids screaming ‘Bumpy Knuckles’, I think that sh*t is dope, yo! It’s a great thing to know that in hip-hop, we’ve crossed every color line. All of the sh*t that we deal with in our circle is about us as a culture. No other music in the history of music itself has ever done that! Never ever done that! Rock used to be all mostly white kids. Middle America had all white fans. R&B and soul music had mainly Black fans. Hip-hop now came along and its rebellious nature has connected with the youth in general. People have grown up in this culture. We have people being born within the hip-hop culture. Now, we have white kids, Asian kids and all kinds. I go around the world and all different people come up to me and say, ‘I love you because you’re so real!’ Some people say, ‘You’re the last one!’. I want people to feel that this culture is a powerful culture and we cannot let it be destroyed by radio and videos and all that other sh*t. I remember when MTV wouldn’t even put a Black face on their screen. Now, you see it but still, it’s sad that you can’t see a fat, juicy, naked Brazilian ass on that station or a middle finger on that station but they are hyping up a beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule!?!? One of them is going to get killed and they will say ‘Hip-hop violence has struck again’ and they are responsible. The media is responsible for Biggie and Tupac dying. They fed into it and fed it to the world that there was a problem. I totally blame it on the media. It’s totally their fault!”

T.JONES: “For one more final comment, how would you want people to listen to your music?”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Do you smoke trees?”

T.JONES: “Yeah.”
FREDDIE FOXXX: “Well, one day, smoke some trees and listen to both "Industry Shakedown" and "Konexion" together. Feel it! Feel the energy of it. Listen to it with headphones and let it get into you. Listen to the transition. Listen to "Industry Shakedown" one day and "Konexion" right after it. Right when you get to ‘Step Up’, you'll start feeling a certain way. It's a serious record. It puts chills in your spine. ‘Step Up’ and ‘Mega Bomb Dropper’ are serious. The baselines are ill. Take it for what it's worth. Listen to it and think. Think about what the artist was feeling when he was making this record. Real people who listen to music, listen to music that way."



"I remember when MTV wouldn’t even put a Black face on their screen. Now, you see it but still, it’s sad that you can’t see a fat, juicy, naked Brazilian ass on that station or a middle finger on that station but they are hyping up a beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule!?!? One of them is going to get killed and they will say ‘Hip-hop violence has struck again’ and they are responsible." -Freddie Foxxx

[big mat]

Real Nigga on the mic, props, i'm a fan of bumpy

[Leggy Hendrix]

wow, congrats on resurrecting a 2 1/2 year old thread...


THATS TIGHTER THAN A BOWL OF GRITS

[7even]

Is Agua still around?