ANT DIDDLEY DOG (PART 2)  (April 2008) | Interview By: Chad Kiser

 

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Interview was done by phone in February 2008

Questions Asked By: Chad Kiser
 

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Read Part 1 of this Exclusive Interview: Here
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Dubcnn: On the Cell Block II compilation, there was an advertisement for another Bad N-Fluenz album titled, “He Was Slippin’ Into Darkness”. What happened with that album?

Well, we actually, was on maybe like our 7th song when Ron died. On that project we had songs like, “Nuthin’ But The Town”, “I’m Not Confused, I’m Convinced”, and “How I’m Livin’”, which was one of my solos. And then we was going to record “Rondevous”, “Head Rush” and some others that I can’t remember ‘cause that was like 10 years ago, man but I think Banks got’em on adat. So, we was actually working on that album and then Ron passed, and that was just a big blow for me. Stuff just didn’t flow right after that. You can’t replace Rappin’ Ron. It don’t even matter how hard you try. So after that, everything just took a hiatus.


Dubcnn: Those 7 songs you’re talking about, they were actually recorded?

Yeah.


Dubcnn: Do you know what happened to those songs?

I think they are on a 2-inch reel somewhere, ‘cause we used to record on those, so they might be on a reel somewhere or Banks might have them on DAT, but that’s that. That’s done with.


Dubcnn: How did Ron’s passing affect you personally, emotionally and professionally?

Well, you know, growing up in Oakland it’s not uncommon for you to have lost friends at a young age. I had lost several people I knew already by the time Ron passed, but it was still unexpected because I had just got finished talking to him, we right in the middle of a project, we’d been through so much, we put out a album, and I had never put out an album with none of my other friends, and I’ve never had that type of experience before, and I’ve never had that type of collaboration with anybody on that level. It was just a different kind of bonding that we had right there. This bonding that we had, had generated a career for us. A career was happening for us where we was making money, and about to make a whole lot more.

So when he passed, it was just unbelievable. Like I’m talking to you right now, I was talking to him, and then the next day I would never be able to talk to him again. Never be able to brainstorm out rhymes anymore. Never be able to record. Now I was looking at this lifeless body that used to put out all that amazing street poetry through those lungs that no longer work no more? Through those vocal chords that we’ll no longer be able to hear in person, face to face. I was just kind of devestated to the point that I didn’t know what was going on or what I was going to do. It just all didn’t seem real. It just took a piece out of me that I will never get back. He died December 14th, 1996, it wasn’t until 1997 that I started to see a change. I could tell that my thinking was different.


Dubcnn: How so?

After he passed, I started reading the Word. I didn’t really know too much about it, but even subconsciously, in the back of my mind I knew I wasn’t invincible. And that I would die one day, too, even though sometimes we think that things are going to go on as normal forever. I’m thinking there is no possible way that he was going to die, or that I was going to die right now. Even though we had a whole lot of brushes with death in different situations, we was still here living and breathing. We wasn’t thinking about what would happen if we died. So, it just really, really caught me off guard, man. I saw that after that happened, my thinking changed, I started reading the Word, and started thinking that I could go too, and about the condition of my soul.

I didn’t know too much about the Word, but like a lot of black families God is mentioned to you at an early age. It’s just a part of our culture. I knew folks talked about God, and Jesus Christ and all of that, but I was working for Beelzebub, the Devil, in the stuff that I was advocating, talking about doing and influencing other people to do. So, I just kind of started reading and I found that when I tried to start to write, I couldn’t write the same way. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t even know why. I tried, and I couldn’t even do it.


Dubcnn: So you started writing more in the spiritual way?

I wrote a lot of raps that I never put out that was kind of moving in the direction of, I don’t know if it was more spiritual, but it was a lot less profane, a lot less degrading to women, a lot less promoting violence, a lot less advocating promiscuity and drug use and a lot more self awareness. So, when you hear “Time is Tickin”, which is a song me and Ill did on Ant Bank's compilation “Big Thangs”, you can hear the change in that. Especially when you hear the song I did with B-Legit, on the Cellblock II compilation, “Face Off”, you can hear the change in that too. It affected me in a way that was going to change my character and the way I thought, and start to sculpt me into a man.


Dubcnn: Is that why you decided not to continue on with, say, Mr. ILL?

I could have still come out with an album at that time but it wouldn’t have been 100% God. It would have been songs like “Time Is Tickin’”or “Face Off” and things like that, but if it didn’t happen then in that span of time where I was making that transition, then it wasn’t ever going to happen. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to; it was just that more of my responsibilities were being highlighted in front of my face. I had to start paying more attention to my responsibilities. When you neglect your responsibilities, then you have time to do whatever you want to do, and none of your responsibilities really matter. But when you start realizing that when you are a child you think like a child but when you are a man you think like a man you get tired of neglecting your responsibilities then you don’t wanna spend a whole lot of time doing stuff that don’t matter.

So what I was doing was making a transition, as I was telling you, to becoming a man, and ultimately a man of God. And then, I start looking at life and thinking that I need to start being a real father to, my then son. But back when we was writing, that’s all we did. We weren’t caring about no responsibilities! C’mon, man! Parties everyday, kickin’ it, all night on the prowl, dude, to just have fun, smoke weed, drink and do a whole lot of fornicating. That’s what our life was. We didn’t sit down and talk about parenting, maturity and spirituality. That’s not what we talked about, ‘cause that was a whole other lifestyle and a mature way of thinking. I was immature. So as this new lifestyle was becoming more vivid, my rapping turned less and less. It’s not like I couldn’t have done it, or I didn’t want to, the chips just didn’t fall like that.


Dubcnn: Obviously, many of the fans didn’t get to know Rappin’ Ron very well. Can you tell us about him and the type of person he was, and what you remember most about him?

To me, he was a genius! He was loyal to rap and a loyal friend. He always wanted to help out. He was well-known and well-liked; really, really popular in the hood. But just to converse a little bit more about his rapping ability, to me the way he rapped and put words together and all of that, I think they can be broken down by an English major or folks who construct paragraphs and sentences, or people who study poems and poetic writings, to me it was ridiculous and I had never heard anything like it. It had an influence on me and helped me to get better at rapping.

When I first met Ron, I wasn’t rapping like what was released publicly. He actually enhanced my ability by giving me some pointers here and there on how I could change up. So, he wasn’t selfish, to where he was like, “I know something that can make you better, but I ain’t going to tell you.” He and I competitioned once I got up to speed, and some people would say Ant you came a little tighter on this; or Ron you came a little tighter on that, and that’s how we got each other better. As far as rapping was concerned, that was his number one priority, period. He was true to rap. He was a straight rap weed-head.


Dubcnn: Do you keep up with the transitions going on in the music scene out there, as far as the "Hyphy" movement is concerned?

I mean, I know what’s going on, but as far as buying albums and all that, I don’t listen to that stuff. But I know what’s going on. I see where it’s changing and what the youngsters are embracing nowadays. I mean, hey, that’s the culture right now as far as the hip-hop rap scene. They're doing their thing. Maybe when we were doing our thing and had our movement, older people my age was saying, “hey, if that’s what they like, that’s what they like, but I’m not following it like that.” That’s how I am. I’m not on the bandwagon like that.


Dubcnn: How do you think Ron would have been able to adjust to the hyphy sound or culture?

Oh, it would have been no problem! They would’ve had to adjust to him. As the rap game progressed, I think Ron transcended that progression each time. One of the things that we tried not to be was on the bandwagon. We were true to our own, authentic style. Since our style was just personal to us in a lot of ways, I mean of course we wouldn’t have been rapping if it wasn’t for the old school pioneer rappers, but we did have our own personality of rap. And we evolved in our own personal ways. We didn’t evolve in a way that reflected the global change. As far as that’s concerned, I think they would’ve been trying to keep up with Ron, because his rapping skill was ahead of its time anyway. And if I was still rapping with him, then I would’ve been able to also reap some of the benefit.



Dubcnn concludes our series on Bad N-Fluenz member Ant Diddley Dog, as he ties up a few loose ends with us concerning Dangerous Music and the Dangerous Crew, along with a few more surprises that Diddley blessed us with. Enjoy!


Dubcnn: You guys truly had an authentic style. When I first heard Get In Where You Fit In, I kept rewinding that track cause there was nobody coming like that then, or now even.

Yep. That style is what did it for us, as far as our fan-base. We can’t say our style is like anybody else’s per that style, and that caused them to say, “hey, I want to follow them guys in their career.”


Dubcnn: Talking about Get In Where You Fit In, $hort came out with a Get In Where You Fit In part II. Why were you and Ron not involved?

We basically was just doing our thang. We weren’t actually signed. After we went and started messing with Cell Block, that’s who we was dealing with. And Father Dom was signed to Jive or whatever the record label was at the time, and I guess that’s why he got put on it.


Dubcnn: Why weren’t you ever signed to Dangerous Music, initially?

Because our album didn’t come out through them. When $hort was trying to get us to do an album and stuff, we basically wasn’t taking it as seriously as we should have. And like I was telling you earlier as far as us not showing up sometimes on time, you know it was just a lot of other little stuff, so we ended up kind of going our own way in a sense, but still keeping in contact. $hort didn’t have time to just be chasing us around cuz he had work to do, but we kind of hung out more with Davy D, outside of the studio, which made it easier for us to work together.


Dubcnn: Speaking of keeping in contact, do you keep in contact with anybody from that era, like Banks, or $hort, Goldy, ILL or any of them cats?

Well, at first I was still talking to all of them every now and then, but as everybody start doing their thing and taking care of their families and responsibilities and all that, we just kind of stop talking as much. I kept contact with those I spent more time with, and that was Mr. ILL, and I just talked to him the other day. So that’s basically the one I kept in contact with the most out of everybody.


Dubcnn: He’s one I’ve been trying to track down as well to get an interview with.

Yeah, I’ll give him a call and let him know what’s happening.


Dubcnn: Ok, cool. Well, I know you had mentioned before that you may be working on a gospel project.

Yeah, and if I get an opportunity, I may need to let you hear one of the songs that I’m doing. It’s my Jesus awareness song to let them know that if you ain’t connected to Him, man, you ain’t connected to eternal life. I got a few songs recorded, and I know a brother in Christ who wanted me to post them on his website, so I might just do that. If I do, and I haven’t made a decision yet, then you can direct your readers to that website.


Dubcnn: Ok, that sounds good. I would love to hear that track, or any other tracks you’ve been working on recently. And I know there’s people around the world who would like to hear that as well.

You know, I would love to talk to $hort again, and Ant Banks, Father Dom, Goldy and whoever else. I know I talked to Sean G and Shorty B, and that’s how, I guess, we got in contact. But I would love to talk to them and see what they been up to.


Dubcnn: Well, you know anything I can do, just let me know.

Alright then.


Dubcnn: Well, Ant, I’ve really just been in awe talking to you, and I really appreciate the time you gave to do this interview. I know you answered a lot of the questions that all the fans had, and gave us a great insight into who Rappin’ Ron & Ant Diddley Dog were.

Yeah, man, I appreciate you being loyal, man and keeping up with us. Maybe we can do something later on when I’m trying to drop this gospel album.


Dubcnn: Definitely! When that’s ready, man, just give me a holla and we’ll put it out there.

Yeah, sounds good to me, man!


Dubcnn: Cool, man. Well, take care and let’s keep in touch.

Alright, Chad, man be blessed!


Dubcnn: You too, man, thanks!

Dedicted To Rappin’ Ron:


My soul is famished, but wit a hunger not of this planet,
I wish it would vanish, but I guess without God I am at a big disadvantage

But how could I manage the damage sin has done to my mind and my spirit no you can’t see the tears but can you hear the crying in my lyrics

Dying I’m near it, I wake up wit a certain emptiness inside my mind I tried to rhyme but never thought Rappin Ron would be leaving this side of time

My private cries was in need of attention my eyes was blind all hope was lost but that’s when Jesus was mentioned

And some said he was John the Baptist, Elias or Jeremiah but when I heard of his works I knew that he was The Messiah

Who is the image of The Merciful Father and in His blood is a special type of purchasing
power

He bought me back from he who hurts and devours my sin was that deep to much dirt for the shower

Now I’m a member of His anatomy because the Commander in Chief enlisted me and no longer am I a cavity creep in the raggedy teeth of iniquity…..

doulos aka Ant Diddley  2008