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Huge thanks to Bad Azz for taking out time to answer the
questions fans wanted to know!
(Interview was done by phone In June of 2003)
Questions Are From Fans Over At The WCC
Forum And Asked By : Nima
Bad Azz Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here
Bad Azz Dropped Us A Freestyle! Check That Here
Full Interview In Audio : Here
dubcnn.com : Sup Bad.. To hit it off, where were you born and raised?
Long Beach California.
dubcnn.com : And how was it growing up there?
I was born in uhm, it's a suburb, it's like right after Long Beach, it's
considered Long Beach on the big map, but it's called Hawaiian Gardens, so I
was born right there. It's a little drama, my parents was livin' in Long
Beach when I was born, but that is the hospital I was born at, I always like
to be specific cause alotta people, alotta my homies that I mess with was
born in hospitals in Long Beach, and when I say I was born and raised in the
beach I don't wanna get it confused, cause I was born in Hawaiian Gardens
hospital, and I was raised in Long Beach California, you know what I mean?
It's all really real though, but it's all good for me, I don't feel like a
outsider, or a non local cause we used to walk from Hawaian Gardens to Long
Beach, it's like one of them kinda spots, it's like the next lil city, it's
like closer to Compton than Long Beach, you know?
dubcnn.com : How did you decide to start rapping?
How did I decide to start rapping.. Well first you know black people love
music, and I grew up around my family and alotta music, and I always liked
to sing and dance, but I kinda started taking it more serious during the
middle of high school.. 15, 16, Snoop was rapping we had heard about him in
the neighborhood, he was coming out with some stuff with Dre, he was
popular on the streets and the neighborhood before he got out, we used
to listen to alotta lil mixtapes that Snoop rapped on, and some other lil cats,
so it kinda started being like less of a fad and more of a real thing, back
then around that time, late 80's early 90's, 89, 90, 91, it was starting to
become more of a serious thing! People that rapped wasn't just rapping for
fun no more, we would rap at school and bag on each other, clown on each
other whatever, make little freestyles up, tryna destroy each other, you
know, humiliating each other at the lunch table and stuff and that's where we
got our skills, that's where the initial skills came, just practicin,
battling with the homies, rapping against other little local rappers who was
from other blocks, you know the northside rappers, the westside rappers, I
was from the eastside, so we would rap with them other eastside rappers.. I
had a little homie, he was a real dope rapper, he died in the early '90's,
he was a nigga that would have been real heavy on the rap scene, I remember
me and him had rocked a party right before he died, he died as a teenager
too, like 15, 16.. But the catch was, guys like him strengthened my skills, that I would hear
about them like "Yo bad azz is tight!" And I had my little homies Lil J, and
Shorty K, and all these other little local cats that was around that was
making noise rapping, and we all had ran into Snoop, or seen him, or knew
him! Cause he was a little local rapper, he was a lil older than us and
there were rumours that he was hooked up with Dre, and him and Warren G...
Everybody out here knew Warren G was Dre's step brother in the neighborhood, so it was like him and Warren G and Nate is puttin out some
stuff, and we heard stuff that he had done with Dre before it came out, we
had heard other little stuff that Snoop had done in big studios on the
streets, and like I said that was just a big inspiration for us. So what
really really set me off is, 1991, as a matter of fac '92, I had met Snoop,
I had seen him before, but hadn't really talked to him. So '92 he had put
the Chronic out, it was just out, it had probably been out 2 weeks, it was
doing real good, and it was popular as fuck! And I saw Snoop at V.I.P.! I
was catchin' the bus, or I don't know, I can't remember right right now, it
always slips my mind what I was doin' then, cause it's like the story of my
life! Whatever I was doin', I was over there by VIP, me and two of my
friends, and we were about to jump on the bus and go back towards my house
which was about a mile up the street, like we coulda walked, but we used to
catch the city bus, it was like 75 cents, it would take 5 minutes to get
that lil mile.. So what happened was, one of my homies looked up and said
"hey there goes Snoop Dogg!" and believe me, he wasn't as famous to us as
he is now.. Even though we respected him and we liked him, it's always hard
to explain to people like Snoop was a fuckin' nobody *laughs* He just wasn't
that big to us! He was a local ass nigga who did a rap wit Dre, you know
what I mean? It was tight though cause I was comfortable to go talk to him
at that point, it wasn't like "oohh some superstar dude that's gone be
actin' funny or actin' hollywood". So we saw him and I was like "let me
holler at this nigga"... He was like "Yo whatup lil homies" actin like he
know us and shit, we had seen him in the neighbourhood, but never really
talked to him, you know? So this time, we walked up to his car we started
talkin' to him, I was like "man we do rapping too, we like what yo doin' for
the city, you representin hard, and we young niggaz we feelin you, we be
listenin to your little underground tapes and, we like the Chronic album wit
Dre, and when you come out wit your shit you gone be large!" And he was like
"yeah you little niggaz I like your style!" And I was like "yeah we rap!" So
he asked to hear it, and I started rapping! What happened was, by us bein'
in a small city and the side of the city we were on, it was like local to us
because we knew everybody around there, I happened to know some guys that
Snoop knew, and I happened to meet some other guys that hung wit him! So one
day I was walkin down the street which happened to be less than a week after
I met him, and some of his friends was in his car when I met him, and uhm,
they were sittin behind him and they never opened the door so I never got to
see these guys, so when I walked by like three four days later around the
corner from my house, they jumped up like "Ay, that's Bad Azz! The one that
was rappin wit Snoop the other day!" and he's like "Ay man every since 3
days ago when you rapped wit Snoop he been talkin about you every day!" And
I'm like "No Way!" So they were excited just to see me again, and that's
kinda how it clicked. What happened was Snoop had been talkin' to his boys,
just talkin' about me after he met me like "That lil kid is dope! If you see
him around town, keep in touch wit him, he's dope!" and then when I ran into
them it was like ironic, I just happened to see them again and they were
tellin me "Snoop is big on you, he been talkin about you ever since then" So
what happened was, I kicked it wit them that day, I chilled with them the
next day, I saw them everyday I lived around the corner! And they told me
Snoop would come by, I was like "No way!", and I went over there 3-4 days in
a row and by like the fourth day Snoop came by! And he was like "Wassup!!!"
and they had told him the first day that they seen me, like "Yo Snoop, we
seen that little dude Bad Azz and bla bla bla" and Snoop was like "Cool! I
knew he lived around the corner somewhere, he's from the Eastside!"Basically after that, I started kickin' it wit them, those two guys
happened to be Lil C-Style and Ty Cuzz! He [Ty Cuzz] was never a Dogg Pound
rapper but he always from the Dogg Pound, still is, he's from Portland,
Oregon, he's a homie that my homies had met through the hustle game, Snoop
and C-Style, and Lil C-Style and them had met Ty Cuzz in Oregon, and they
clicked! Style used to hustle wit Ty Cuzz, he used to go to Oregon, met Ty
Cuzz, and they used to hustle. Ty Cuzz was from LA but he grew up in Oregon.
So that was a catch, we met these guys, and he was like "Yo I'm from L.A.!"
and they like "No way!".. He happened to be from the 60's where Kurupt was
supposed to be from. So its just ironic, he was like "I'm from 60 Crips" and
they were like "We got a homie from 60 Crips, Kurupt!" So Kurupt and Ty Cuzz
hit it off, they from the same neighborhood, and they started askin questions about people, like who you know etc, so they knew alotta the same
people, Ty Cuzz hit it off wit him, he was from the Dogg Pound, him and Lil
C-Style used to be stayin' at Ty Cuzz house, where now, Lil Half Dead lives,
because Half Deads wife, and C-Styles wife are sisters! So that's just some
inside family shit, in other words I was just trying to mention that cause
that building is still occupied by family! So the place that I met and
really really got cool wit Snoop and started hangin' wit him and we all
started kicking it, we would meet up all the time, its still our spot, Half
Dead's place! And thats the place where I got cool wit Half Dead, where I got
cool wit Swoop G, where I got cool wit Lil C-Stlye, all these cats from the
Dogg Pound, where I first met Kurupt, I first met Hersey Loc there, I met
Kriss Kross there, they would come to the spot! If you'd come to this
apartment building, you'd never believe that all these superstars kicked it
here! It's a real fucking ghetto two bedroom apartment building, on a
little block in Long Beach, a little residential neighborhood.. It's a
classic spot for us, it's a historical, cause we all used to be there, we
all would hang out, it was Big C-Styles house, he was the older homie, which
right now Big Style is bout 36, 37, so he's older than me, Snoop, Tray Deee,
he's older than all of us, and he stayed around Long Beach. And he was like
a big brother! Like a uncle! He had love for all these kids that would come
over there, he helped Snoop and them get on the right track, taking him to
the studio to see Dre when they didn't have cars, you know what I mean?
Stuff like that, he was like a big brother, he would buy them weed to smoke,
when they didn't have money, get them burgers and stuff, so it was like it
all bubbled up to something where everybody needed each other, you know?
dubcnn.com : Do you feel you did the right thing?
Yeah! Because I feel like it was my destiny in a fashion where, if I would
have done something else I wouldn't have been near as happy because you have
ups and downs in any profession, you have ups and downs in any career, and I
don't think that the ups and downs of any other profession would have been
suitable for me. I enjoyed the roller-coaster ride of the rap game, I feel
good when I'm down I feel good when I'm up, it's never a situation where..
Put it like this, I've been financially broke since I been in the rap game,
I been financially rich since I been in the rap game, I been very popular
since I've been in tha rap game, I've been kinda not popular, so it's kinda
like all the ups and downs it don't bother me. You know right now I feel
like I'm on one of my down points, where I'm less popular than I have been,
and it's cool cause that means I have the room to blow it back up! Bad Azz
is a character that, you know how some people come in and they say "blabla
fell off". I never fell off. The only thing that's gonna make me fall off is
when god says "Jamar Stamps I want your soul". Other than that I'll never
fall off cause I'm one of the greatest writers, one of the greatest freestylers, one of the greatest rappers that ever lived the life of rap!
Also because I'm around one of the biggest superstars that ever touched the
game and that's Snoop Dogg and Snoop Dogg knows that I'm a heavy competition
for him on that skill, on that level, you know? So it's like, I never fall
off they just sayin' that cause I haven't been heavy on the scene, but
what's so good is, everytime you fade out on the rap scene, the fans say you
fell off, so that's always good to me because nobody falls off and comes
back, falls off and comes back. What I do is, I get in the situation where
people SAY I fell off "Where's Bad Azz, I ain't heard from him he ain't been
doin' shit!" And then they hear something new and phat and they like "Oh
he's still around he ain't went nowhere!". And then it happens again, a year
later "Oh whatever happened to Bad Azz? He disappeared!" "Oh there he is!!!"And I'm not
goin' anywhere like I said until the world turns and Bad Azz died, I'ma be out here makin' hot music and makin dope shit,
whether it's sellin a whole lot of records or whether it's sellin a little bit of records,
cause now I got it to where we sell a little bit of records and we still
make good money. And we didn't know how to do that at first, we didn't know
how to capitalize off small sellin' albums, and it's not about sellin'
alotta records! I mean in the mainstream world, yes it is. But as Daz knows,
which I call Daz the King of the independent game right now, he knows it
don't even matter if you sell alotta records! You can sell 100,000 and make
a million dollars, who gives a fuck if you sellin! That will make the fans
wanna find out who you are, that wanna make them reach out to the internet,
go to a store that has your CD and get it! And that way, when it does sell
300,000 400,000 500,000 gold, a million, you already know all the genuine
fans! Cause I ain't gonna lie man, alotta 50 Cent fans are just hype, are
just people that are drivin the bandwagon. They not real 50 fans! They ain't
like Bad Azz, like they really like 50 as a person, they really like 50 as a
rapper, they really understand how he blew up, how he blew himself up hot on
the streets, how he made Dre and Eminem attracted to what he was doin' on
the streets, made them wanna put money into him, and that's what the Rap
Game is all about! He blew up classically, he blew up how the majority of rap
blows up and stays. That's the way any rapper wants to blow up, you wanna
stay hard on the streets, keep your heavy street followin, then you wanna
take all that love and blow it up to the mainstream, because once you got
all this love on the streets, then you can on TV, everybody that loved you
from the streets is always gone watch you on TV, it's like if you blow up on
the streets but you never get on TV, it's like it's not advancing your fans
to the next level. Your fans wanna see you grow, the fans wanna see you get
bigger. So if your fans see you on the streets rappin on the corner, and
then they walk by and say "that guy is gonna blow up", and then 2 months
later they see you on TV, they gonna your record! They gonna be overwhelmed
by you, they gonna be entertained by your experience. They gone be like "Oh
that's that same guy!" and that's how I understand it because I went from
the streets to the TV, and to the radio, and before that I came around, that
guy that heard me on the radio that used to say "You gone get on the radio
one day!" they were so proud of me, they were so overwhelmed, they were so
my fans, because they like "Daaamn, 2 weeks ago I was SAYIN this fuckin guy
was gonna get on the radio!!!" And it feels so good when your eye can see
something, you feel so good when you can recognize, when you can see
talent. When you can say "That guy over there on the corner rappin', he got on dirty
shoes, and he ain't got no jewelry right now, whatch when you see him a few
years from now, he gonna have on jewels, he gone be shinin, he gone pull up
in a nice car, and he's gonna be doin the same thing that got him there,
rappin on that corner. And that's why I feel like rap was the best venture
for me as far as a career, because I could be me, I dress how I wanna dress!
Don't get me wrong, I could have been a clean cut business man, I could have
been a doctor, I had the brain to be alotta things, but I love being a
rapper. Even though sometimes people kinda look at you like "Oh you a rapper
you not very intelligent" And I'll sacrifice that stereotype to be me. And
that's what I love, because when people really meet and they can just talk
to me and see how articulate I am, and they see how smart I am, they say
"damn this kid could have been a doctor!" And then I'm a rapper, and they
like "Oh you choose to do that". I'm not a rapper because I have to be! I'm
not a rapper because there's nothing else for me to do! I'm not a rapper
because my criminal record is so fucked up I can't get a.. I don't have a
criminal record! I'm a gangsta! I kept my shit clean! I might have to kill
somebody, so if I have to kill somebody, and I got a fucked up record that
the judge says "I knew you gone kill somebody" then I'ma be in trouble. But
if I got the kinda record where, the judge will look at my record and say
"this is a clean cat" and I tell the judge "Yo I only hurt that man because
he was tryna hurt me" then it's bigger than all these niggas out here!
Because most of the rappers out here today got fucked up records, and if
they shoot somebody they goin to jail for life! And my record ain't like
that, if I cap some nigga down right now, believe me I'm not gonna do alotta
time in jail cause I'm not gone shoot nobody for nothin, I'm only gone shoot
somebody fuckin' wit me for the wrong reason and I'm gonna have a self
defense case. And that's what it's all about, and when I say I've learned
and I put myself in a position where I can really really really utilise the
rap game for what its worth, cause that's what I am! I dress how I want, I
wake up and go to work when I want, I set up the studio time when I want, I
work with who want, I do it the way I want in the rap game, and that's so
lovely, because I never wanted to work for nobody, you know? As smart as I
was, I never wanted to.. Cause if I do the rap shit, once I learned it, and
it came to me in a early age, I'm sayin "hey! i can fuckin dress how I want,
I can smoke weed wit the boss" I can do all this shit, and I can still be a
successful prosperous business man!
dubcnn.com : When did you hook up with the Low Lifes?
Well the Low Lifes I was actually wit them before Snoop, so when I mentioned
the guys I used to rap with I said Lil J and Shorty K, and a homie Derauki,
my homie Cyco Al, my homie Luv The Lyrical, we started the Low Lifes before.
I came up with the name, that's why when you hear me I say I'm the founder,
I didn't start it but I started it. I conspired it, I thought it up as a
name and a representation for me and the kids that I hung with. And I said
I'm not gone force anybody on it, I'm not gonna say anybody that hangs wit
us gotta be the Low Lifes, but everybody that assists it, and feels like
that, they went and got tattoos, we made our own typa crew, and then my
homie said "We should do like a gang, and everybody that wants to be from
the Low Lifes we should jump them in!" And I said no! I said this is how we
make people from the Low Lifes. We don't say no ones with the Low Lifes,
only people that are really with the Low Lifes are people that come to us,
hang wit us and say "guess what. I'm from the Low Lifes, with you guys, and
they got get a tattoo and they say it cause that's when it's more true!
Cause if you hang wit us and we say "oh we gotta beat you up to make you
down" they ain't gonna really be down! And that's what happened, and we just
grew! And everybody right now that's from the Low Lifes, I could name all
the kids, it's alot of us now. Only four of us rap, we have Ms. Legacy,
she's doin 10 years in the federal penitentiary for a bank robbery, and if
you ain't never heard of her, she was on alotta songs on that compilation
shit, Legacy, she's in jail right now, she did somethin and she gotta
suffer the consequences. We still in heavy contact with her, I'ma put her on
some of these records that I'm doin', cause we got verses of her that nobody
heard, and just keepin a little stuff. Basically we got Coco Loc, he got
this King Coco concept that he's doin', he messes with all these girls, and
he'll bust it out, you'll get a chance to see it! So me, Tip, Shorty and Lil
J, you know we still the Low Life crew, we holdin it down. I met this chick
Mimi that sang on that Dj Quik and Dr. Dre song.. Her name is Mimi and she
did the hook, real sexy.. So I hooked up with her, she's real cool, she can
rap and she has a cool look, and she sings.. I was thinkin' of puttin her in
the crew as not to replace Legacy, but just to stand in as the female of our
group. She's comin dope, I mean she ain't a rapper really, she's a good
writer, she's a good performer and she has a good look. She's cool, me and
her been chillin and kickin' it with each other and vibin. I think I might
put her on a few songs, and get it crackin. But Legacy is the first lady of
the Low Lifes, and like I said along with Lil J, Tip, Shorty K, Coco Loc and
me. And then the rest of the Low Lifes are more like extended family. It's
like the Dogg Pound, Daz and Kurupt is the Dogg Pound, but everybody is the
Dogg Pound that rolls with us! That's the family of the Low Lifes, the Low
Lifes as a rap group is Bad Azz and the Low Lifes, Bad Azz featuring Lil J,
Coco Loc, and Lil Tip and Ms Legacy was the female. She went to jail so now
it's Lil J Shorty Coc and Tip. That's basically where the Low Lifes stand.
We got like alotta stuff, but we doin is savin the Low Lifes for some
platinum success, because Bad Azz is a sacrifice. We already got fucked up
record deals with Bad Azz, we already knew that was gonna happen, Bad Azz
was the risk. Bad Azz was takin the chance, Bad Azz was the one that will
loose or draw, I was the one that didn't care, I was the one that said "I'ma
win regardless. If I put out 2 floppin' records, I'm still the nigga that
can pop out platinum records." And not sayin' I would ever put out anything
wack, but the records that I put out, Priority didn't capitalize on the
success. So, that didn't hurt me, that didn't hurt me cause I got more
props! I'll put it like this, I got props off the record like it went
platinum. Off both of them, you feel me? And everybody can't do that, and I
know that, cause when I walk around, people... Put it like this man, I don't
walk up to know one and say they're dope when they're not. I don't walk up
to no wack rapper, even if I like one of their songs, I might say "ay man I
like that song you put out" But I'm not gonna say "AY MAN YOU DOPE!! I LOVE
YOUR SHIT!" I'm not gonna sing your lyrics! So I know these people are
genuine, I've had thousands and thousands of people that run up to me and
say "Bad Azz!!" and sing a line from my lyrics and say "I love that record!"
I've had people that thought it went platinum, I've had people that bought
it and know it didn't go platinum and said "Bad Azz they cheated you on that
record!! I bought it twice, that shit should have went double platinum!" I
feel those people, and I feel the same way as them! And it's nothing in my
heart, because the record didn't do as good as it could, it's nothing in my
hear that could make me feel like "oh maybe I'm wack, maybe people weren't
feelin it like that" No! I was just in situation under circumstances that
my label and I didn't capitalize on platinum success with the record! And I
mean.. just your opinion, have you heard my records?
dubcnn.com : Of course!
So, when you listenin' and you a Bad Azz fan and you like it, and you like
"why didn't this go platinum?" Now I have the same question for people, but
I do have some of the answers, I'm not totally positive that all of the
answers I have are the right reasons why it didn't go platinum, BUT, I know
that Priority was a label that did that to Ras Kass, and he was a similar
artist to me, which sayin' that he was a dope artist, he was in development, he hadn't really really sold alotta records, but he was on
Priority trying to. So basically, that's another reason why I didn't feel
that bad sayin' "damn, if they can't sell platinum success with Ras Kass,
one of the dopest rappers on the face of the planet, and everybody will tell
you that, you can go interview Eminem, he'll tell you Ras Kass is dope, you
can go interview Obie Trice, he'll tell you Ras Kass is dope, you can go
interview Bad Azz he'll tell you Ras Kass is dope, I have not met a rapper
that has said that. Snoop Dogg will tell you Ras Kass is dope. So now when I
say why hasn't Ras sold a platinum record, and the only reason I can say
that I believe he didn't, WAS because Priority. I think if Ras was on Def
Jam on those two records he put out, he would have sold platinum, or gold.
If Ras was on Interscope, he would have sold, you know what I mean? And it's
not to blame priority, or to put it all on them, but they had the access to
capitalize on platinum success with us. And we gave them the right records,
and we gave them the right situation, and we gave them us! So when they
didn't do it with Ras, then they didn't do it with me, and Mack 10 barely
got a platinum, and Mack 10's records were good too when he first put them
out then, his first record I think went platinum, and his second went like
gold, and his third didn't do that well at all!
dubcnn.com : What were your thoughts after meeting Suge the first time?
After the first time? Naw it was cool then! Suge was cool back then! I'm
glad you brought that up! Nobody asks that *laughs* That's kinda crazy cause
nobody has ever asked me that. But Suge was a nice guy man, me and Suge, I
don't know if he would ever say it, but me and him was cool once upon a
time, until the time I got jumped but, he said that the night he got me
jumped, like "Bad Azz, me and you always been cool man, I always liked you
man, but you said fuck me?" *laughs* No we was cool man, I mean like this,
alotta niggas was scared of Suge, I ain't never been a fearful person, I
mean when Suge would walk in the room and say wassup to everybody, I'll walk
up and put my arm around him and sit by him, and roll up a blunt and smoke..
He never smoked weed around us that much, every once in a while I seen him
hit a blunt, but I would come sit next to him when he would smoke on a
cigar, I be smokin and it was like everybody loved Suge back then man! We
had no hard feelings, Suge he used to protect us, I remember one time I got
into a fight with this limo driver cause he wasn't treatin us right, and
Suge was like our big homie, our CEO, our mentor, our bodyguard, he would
ride for the Dogg Pound! Everybody that came thru there, "oh that's Bad Azz,
Techniec, they with Suge, watch out!" and it was like that! He would ride
for us, and then the game kinda changed, people was starting to feel
different about what they were getting financially and everything.. But
that's really real man, I would never lie about it.. cause right now I ain't
too fond of the cat, but I would never take back the initial feeling and I
had good feelings for him when I first met him. He had a bad reputation back
then, don't get me wrong!! Some of my homies and niggas that didn't kick it
wit us alot in Long Beach that would come around they were kinda like "Man
you better watch that guy.." and we were like "Nah, he's cool man! He got
love for us!" and we would stand up for him.
dubcnn.com : Were you signed to Death Row Records?
Nope. I was on Doggystyle/Deathrow, so I wasn't directly on Death Row. And
that's another reason why when everyone started leaving it was easy for us
to leave, you know what I mean?
dubcnn.com : Who was part of the LBC Crew?
The original LBC Crew is Bad Azz, Techniec and Lil C-Style that was the
orignial LBC Crew that Snoop created. And if you remember, alotta people
thought that all of us were the LBC Crew, which we kinda were, but what it
was was when we put out Beware Of My Crew it was LBC Crew featuring Tray
Deee and South Sentrelle. If people paid attention, they woulda seen it was
LBC Crew feat So. Sentrelle and Tray Deee. So what it was was it would be
LBC Crew featuring Soopafly. Because he wasn't, he was but it was like the
Dogg Pound! Snoop was the LBC Crew, Tray Deee was the LBC Crew cause we all
the Long Beach City crew, that's what it was! Just like the Dogg Pound, but
as far as I can see in the entertainment industry, the Dogg Pound, was Daz
and Kurupt, but the Dogg Pound IS Nate Dogg, Half Dead, Bad Azz, Tray Deee,
Goldie Loc, we are the Dogg Pound. We are the Dogg Pound Gang. And that's
kinda what it was with the LBC, all of us accepted the representation, but
the LBC Crew was Bad Azz, Techniec and Lil C-Style. And it was dope man,
that was a dope combination because C-Style was more of a laid back non-rapper. Techniec was more of a MC, and I was more like a MC Gangsta Rapper.
So it was tight cause all of us were different, C-Style was straight
gangster, Lil C-Style ain't even a rapper, he's a gang banger that can rap.
For real!
dubcnn.com : That album could have been one of the greatest... Why didn't it ever happen?
LBC Crew, the name of the album was "Haven't You Heard, We Givin' Something
Bacc To The Street". The album, I guarantee would have sold 4 million, at
least! I was so big on it, I still got some of the songs, but I don't have a
good copy to put them out, cause I was askin' Snoop if I could get a DAT
copy so I could put them on mixtapes and stuff, because alotta people still
never heard those songs, those songs are like classic Dogg Pound songs, some
of them that never came out. Have you ever heard "Boom Boom Boom (Out The
Moon)"?
dubcnn.com : Yeah, the original version...
With Lil Style on the end!
dubcnn.com : Didn't ya'll play that on the radio once, 92.3 The Beat.
That was one of our songs. See what happened was, do you remember "Blueberry"? Remember "Gold Rush"?
dubcnn.com : Yeah!
All of those songs, Blueberry, Gold Rush, Boom Boom Boom and a couple more
songs that Snoop had done for us, once it got to the point we decided not to
put the record out, Snoop was like "ay guys, don't feel bad, I'ma get you
guys another deal, and I'ma release some of the songs off your album to keep
your guys. As a matter of fact I'ma put (he was just working on the Doggfather) some songs offa you guys album on there!" So that's how come I
was on two songs off the Doggfather, because he put the gold rush on there
and he put the blueberry on there. Those weren't even songs that we did for
tha Doggfather, those were two dope songs off our album, that Snoop decided
to use.
dubcnn.com : By the way, about "Out The Moom" OG, did you mean this one? *plays the song
ripped of the radio way back*
Yeah! And you know what? That's the remix. The original version was on
Gridlock'd. That's what I'm tellin you now, the original version was on
Gridlock'd, BUT the OG version was that beat without 2Pac with Lil Style on
the end. DJ Pooh did that version. I'm doing mixtapes right now cause I'm
goin through my old shit, man I got everything dogg.
dubcnn.com : What about this track? *plays Intro To Indo (lbc crew)*
Yeah, you're sick for that, I don't even got that! I like that man, that's
some classic shit, I've been looking for that! You know when you be looking
for some shit, and it's not even existent, and then you can on the phone and
just play me that! *laughs* And you know that song on Daz album "I'd Rather
Lie To Ya"? Let me tell you what happened with that, I did that with Daz, I
wanted the song, Daz is my best friend on earth man, and he asked for it and
when somebody asks for something he wants, and if its a good friend.. Daz
would give me everything in the music game, you know what I mean? He came to
me and was like "Yo Bad let me HAVE that!!" and it was so crazy because he
redid it before he asked for it! He goes "you know that I'd Rather Lie 2 Ya,
I wanna put that on my album, I redid it, and if you like it I can use it if
its cool!" He wasn't jackin' it, he redid it and on the sense where "if you
don't want me to use it, I won't use it". I wasn't gonna tell him no, you
know Daz is my buddy! He was like "Yo I like the song, I redid it" and when
he did it I liked it! You know what other song I also did like that? Did you
ever hear "What Chu Talkin' Bout" off RAW? See Daz would produce some great
songs, and then they would sit at my house for so long, and I didn't use
them and he was sitting there listening to it and I couldn't blame him!
dubcnn.com : Let's get back to the LBC Crew... Why didn't the album ever see the light of
day?
Well, basically, just from my point of view and my opinion, well it's kind
of fact, but I'll say it kinda my opinion cause I look at it a different way
than alotta people, you'd ask Snoop that he'll prolly tell it to you
slightly differently. But it's all generally the same. We had problems with the Death
Row situation. That's just sayin it briefly so I don't take the real,
because Suge kinda got in the way. I don't wanna place the blame totally on
him like he was just totally against it, but what happened was he wanted
Snoop to sign our project with Death Row, and Snoop hadn't, but he had
recorded it at CanAm Studios that Suge was leasing for them to record a
Death Row project. So what Snoop did, he recorded the LBC Crew on his studio
time that he was supposed to be doin' a project! A Snoop Dogg project.
Either a compilation or Snoop Dogg solo or something, and he decided to do
the LBC Crew and to me that was very smart of him after putting out his
first record, instead of coming back with a second record he's coming back
with a new crew, not the Dogg Pound, that everybody knows, he's breakin out
some new guys cause he's already put out the Dogg Pound, they have a name,
they haven't even come with their record, they workin' on it and they bout
to release it, and they waiting on the record, and we finished our record
before Dogg Food ironically! And our record was being held back, cause how
are we gonna bring the LBC Crew before the Dogg Pound? And no ones ever
heard a Dogg Pound record with Daz & Kurupt, but they waiting on these guys
from being all over Dre's record, being all over Snoop's record and now it's
their turn. So what we did was, we finished our record and it was one. Daz
Kurupt, Nate everybody helped us with our record, we finished our record a
little bit earlier, it got hyped up, so we would be workin on our record
when Daz and Kurupt was supposed to be working on theirs and they would come
over next door to our studio and vibe with us! It was a bigger vibe at the
time, you understand? We had Snoop totally working wit us, we had me Tray
Deee, Lil C-Style, Techniec, So. Sentrelle, Big C-Style was around, Nate
Dogg was around helpin us, he wasn't workin' on no solo shit he was just
there everyday singin hooks for us. Like everybody was there.. The only
person that wasn't around heavily for us was Warren G, but he had his own
G-Funk Records at the time with The Twinz, The 5 Footaz, and they would be
in and out, but they just weren't there consistently every day, but that's
how we all were. Everybody was together workin, and Snoop had his new LBC
Crew project and Big C-Style had kinda put it together, through Lil Style
and them I met Big C, and he was like "Yo, I'm kinda managin what
Snoop's tryna do right now as far as the LBC Crew" and he was the one who would pick
us up and bring us to the studio with Snoop like calling me at my house "Yo,
you gotta be at the studio at 4 oclock today and I'll be through at 3
o'clock to pick you up, Snoop got some stuff you gotta do today, and we
would be up there, go through it, hang out, smoke, eat, rap, do a couple
songs, you know, we would crash at Snoops house, stay with Snoop for a
couple days and then he brought me back home, I just stayed home for 2-3
days and then he'd pick me up I'd stay wit him for another week, and we were
just workin' on this project, and then bonding us as family and friends
aswell! We were bond to each other, goin through alotta Snoops functions,
Snoop would have TV Shows, or he would have this or have that, and he would
have us come and introduce us, and he would have us get nice clothes to get
dressed and go wit him, and you know.. give us a lil money, it was goin'
good man!
dubcnn.com : Is there any chance of either hearing the old album or a brand new one?
Well, we, as in me Lil C-Style and Techniec, we talked about doin' a LBC
Crew record because we are the LBC Crew, and I was gonna change it a little
bit, because I was gonna write it with the Cru, C R U, so that's kinda
alternate to be a little be different from what people knew. That's the way
I write it like I sign autographs, you know it's like the all new LBC Crew.
And that would be another thing to put in it because we are a all new crew
but we're old, and that would be classic because it's like 213, they've been
a famous rap group for as long as Snoop and Nate and Warren G have been out
because they were an original group before the Dogg Pound or anything, it
was 213 Crew and that was our area code in Long Beach. And Long Beach is
area code, we've been victim of the area code changin' in L.A. cause
everytime it does change, we become changed, like L.A., certain parts have
always been 213, they've never changed. And it was 213, the whole of Los
Angeles, Southern Cali. Then, it got too many numbers in 213 so they brought
a new area code, which was 310. Long Beach became changed to 310 from 213..
We've never said the 310 Crew! And just so happened, after a few years it
changed again, Long Beach is now 562! We the 562 area code but
originally it's 213, so when you really really get a grasp of it and say where 213 come
from, that was just representin the area! It's like Brooklyn, it's like
sayin "Yo this is Brooklyn!" "Yo this is L.A." "Yo this is 213 Crew" you
know? And that was classic because no one was on the representation like
that. And that shit was tight, so now they've done the 213 album, I'm not
sure if it's all the way done, but I've been dealin' wit Snoop, I didn't rap
on it because I came, it only took them 2 or 3 weeks to do it, and I came
like last week, 2 weeks ago and started on all these new mixtapes we been
doin' and all this other lil stuff that's classic right now, and it's like,
basically that 213 record is done, and that's kinda what we wanna do with
that, cause alotta people have been askin' for Techniec, and he's around!!
Like you were askin' about Techniec, and I got alotta other people like "Yo
Bad wassup wit Techniec man? Are you guys still rappin' are you guys cool?"
And you know me and Techniec we always cool, I reached out I saw his brother
on the freeway a couple weeks ago, and I was like "Yo tell Tech I'm trying
to get at him, I got his number, and I'ma hit you guys, we need to put some
stuff together where we can talk about doin' this record or something that's
really really really displayin' us as the crew that Snoop build that never
came out!" And if it had came out, we all would have had a greater success,
we woulda had greater success if we would have put that record out. And we
all still rather successful, everybody that Snoop intended to... Put it like
this, his first round draft pick, Soopafly, he's a hit producer, he's
produced platinum tracks on platinum records, he has his own artist Latoiya
Williams who's signed on Fly2k which is his record and Doggystyle, Tray Deee
has his own label, SPop Entertainment, Bad Azz has his own label Double
Dolla Sign Records, Daz has his own label DPG Recordz, even Kurupt who ain't
wit us right now has his own label, even Techniec has Dynamic Records, LLC.
So basically all of us have elevated to a level where we've all grew, we've
all made good money off this thing, and I was very very happy that Techniec
had signed with Mack 10, not sayin' that it did go good, because it prolly
could have went better, but I was very pleased with that because Mack 10
was, he was like a Snoop Dogg at the time, whether people knew it or not, he
was prosperous, he was starting a label, he got Hoo Bangin' Records started,
and he was tryna open up some doors for some other talent, some new talent,
and he was on his way but you know, as far as me knowin Mack, Mack's a real
good guy and it was difficult, it was something that was difficult for him
to really deal with all the different attitudes, all the different people
that he was dealin' with, I seen Boo Kapone the other night, and I brought
it up, I asked her hows Mack doin, and he was like "Mack's doin' good, he's
chillin', I just had talked to him we just did a movie" and my whole point
was, Boo was one of his artists and he's not signed with them anymore but
they still doin' stuff together where it's like me and Snoop! I'm not signed
wit Snoop, but we still got love, relationship, we still love each other
like brothers, and we still deal with each other on constant, where people
would think "Yo bad azz ain't wit Snoop right now, they fell out, he ain't
wit them" NO I'm totally DPG'd out, I'm fuckin' wit them I'm rappin' on the
record, it's just that I'm really tryna establish my own shit as a rap
entity, I'm tryna establish my own as my own independent entity, where Bad
Azz and Double Dolla Sign Records is Snoop Dogg and Doggystyle Records. And
that way I can have doors open for Snoop so when I put Snoop on these big
records, I can tell him the 50 or the 100 gz that he's worth, for the verses
when right now he'll give me a verse for my label or for a song on my shit
to help. Like that song you played me before, that "Heard It Thru The
Eastside" with just me and Snoop, I wanna get that, and even if I have to
redo it, I love that man, and I haven't heard that for so long, if I can get
that and I take it to Snoop and get him to memorize his verse, we can flip
it on a new beat and it'll sound even better! And then even if people
recognize it, because Daz, he recycles alotta raps, but I don't think he
does it constructively where the fans can accept it, cause we always talkin'
bout it, talk shit bout him like "Daz, you rap the same rap!" and I know you
heard some of those songs and you hear a new song from Daz and it has the
old verse on it, and we always tellin him what he does isn't hot, you can't
recycle your old verses, but you gotta do stuff like that that's classic,
that people will respect and say "I see why you did that, that got lost in
the mix" but he'll put out a song that he already did a hit single with and
then do an underground song and put the same verse! And it's like
Nooo what you gotta do is, you gotta classically recycle your stuff to where like I said
people will respect it! They'll be like "Ohh yeah I remember that verse on
that old song that never came out!!" Specially like I said when you wanna
hear something new, and you hear a new song and you're thinkin something
new, and then you hear some old verse you're like "wait a second!".. Like
remember where he does the one "I stay in major loot on khaki suits" I've
heard that verse on so many songs I'm like Daz you can't keep doin' that!
But we open about it, and Daz will be like "Fuck that shit man, they like to
hear that shit!" And I'm like "Man you ruinin shit because I know you're
ruinin it for me because you'll play a new song for me and I'll think it's
all the way new, you have a new beat and a new hook and then you come around
talkin bout "I stay in major loot on khaki suits" and I'm like man you said
that already!! So you know, it's cool though, like I said you gotta recycle
it in a fashion where it's all the way where its classic! But the LBC Crew
will arrive, it will arrive and if we don't do an album, we'll get together
and do some songs for some records and title it LBC Crew as we get together,
cause me Lil Style and Techinec are still cool, and that would be nice, to
maybe have one of these new Dogg Pound compilations, or one of these
mixtapes, and we come together and we do a song, and we do a new title
song, and bam it's by the LBC! Just to get it surfaces and you can always reinvent
yourself, look at Ol Dirt McGirt on the ROC! I was thinkin like "wooow!" so
they got Ol Dirt McGirt, he done changed his name, he's on Rocafella now,
I'm thinkin he's gonna blow! And that's all the elements you need, cause the
Roc right now is a good label, they got superstars on that label, even
Freeway shit ain't doin' real good real fast but he's gettin there he's
doin' good man, thats his first record I don't think he should expect to go
like Jay-Z or like Cam'ron or even like Beanie you know? Freeway, he's new,
he's cool, I ain't gonna say I like it all the way through but I love
Freeway as a person and he's a dope lyricist, and he got room to grow with
me. I ain't turnin my lights off on him right now, I ain't thumbs down on
him you know what I mean? It's like I'ma give him a chance, he needs another
record or two, we gotta let him get like Fabolous and get a second record
and see what he does. I like Fabolous, I'ma Fabolous fan man, people say he
sounds like Mase and other lil stuff, but Fabolous, he's good to me, he came
out on his first record he went platinum, he did it cool to it, didn't go
super out the gate Eminem style, 50 Cent style, he worked for it, he put his
singles out, he went and did his shows and he went and did his TV interviews
and he did his radio interviews, and people were feelin him everywhere he
went, and kept buyin it and it went platinum! And then he comes back with
the new one with Lil Mo and it's radio.. it ain't real street, but I like
the rhyme on it, what I really love about his new single is the concept,
cause he did that, and that's where we gotta take it back to, as the LBC
Crew, as the Dogg Pound, as the West Coast, we gotta take it back. And
that's what we comin wit right now, if you really get a chance to see the inside
Snoop shit, he's makin' mixtapes now, we've done 3 mixtapes in the last 2
weeks. We rapped on the "All Day I Dream About Sex" by Killa Mike.. Me,
Snoop, Half Dead we did that, they rapped on the Freeway song "Clap for me mami
hey!" and Half Dead flipped the hook so hard, he says "We make the bitch GET
down, a little bit of drink is all it takes to make the bitch STRIP down, a
little bit of gangsta dick is what she gets to lick IT down" man that shit
is so hard how he frlipped it cause it sounds like the Freeway hook, it's
just Dogg Pound style! And they flipped the Lil Mo song, her single with
Fabolous.. Snoop, Half Dead and them flipped that, it's sick! I'm feelin' it
man! When my boys can rock me, when I'm around them and we can feel like a
fan again of the shit, its really dope to me, cause I'll never loose my fan
in me, I know dope music, I know a good artist when I see one. It's love
man, I'm tellin you. Snoop ain't heavy on that Pimp shit no more, alotta
didn't like it, alotta people did..
dubcnn.com : It was cool at first...
Yeah but once it started gettin burnt out you get tired of it and that's
what alotta people said but he's off that, he enjoyed the ventures aswell. it's
not like he changed, but he got introduced to something new to him!
dubcnn.com : There were rumours of you and Daz beefing for a while... How did that get
resolved?
We just good friends, and it was over some bullshit. What happened was, I
did some work with Daz, I needed some money, I was short, he was doin' kinda
good to me at the time. So I asked him, like "Ay Daz, you know I need a
couple bucks" and we never charge each other for raps, so what it was was I
did some work with him to where I'd say "Ok I did 5 Gz worth, you come give
me two thousands dollars but I need it, I wouldn't ask you for money if I
was phat right now." And what happened was I asked him for the money he
told me he was gonna give it to me, and he kinda was like irresponsible about
givin it to me, and then I ended up callin' his woman that's what happened.
So it was my fault, and it never really got to the public but people knew we
were beefing cause Daz told all the homies "I ain't never fuckin' wit Bad
Azz" and I was like "Fuck him!".. What happened was I called his house, and
instead of bein' polite sayin' "Hey Mrs. Daz, can I speak to Daz" and her
sayin' "he ain't in" and me sayin' "Ok, well tell him to call me", I told
her "Hey that PUNK owes me some money, tell him to call!!" And I spit all
business to his woman, and she got kinda alarmed and she called him like
"Hey, I don't know what's up Bad Azz sounded mad and he called and he was
talkin' kinda rude" and he don't know what I said! But by her sayin' that,
he took it like "Yo you callin talkin rude to my girl!" And I said yah that
wasn't right, I was wrong. Daz is like one of my best friends I apologized
to him for my wrongs, and the money came out and it was cool! But what we
did suffer from was that Daz wasn't on my first record because of that. He
did the hook for me on the song "I ain't concerned" and it was so tight
because no one ever heard Daz sing! And he sung that hook, like he sung it
exactly like it sounds on my album except another person sung it. And the
way he sung it you could tell its Daz! *sings the hook* And that shit was
raw! And when we fell out, I still used the song, and he went like "You know
what fuck you Bad Azz take me off your record I don't want to be involved in
your shit, don't go put me on your album I don't wanna rap wit you again"
and I took him off! What I did was, me AND him wrote the hook, and that's
how I ended up keepin it, sayin if he does want something for his portion of
the hook that he wrote, he started comin with the melody, I started feelin
it and I wrote a little bit wit him, we both wrote like half and half of the
hook. So I said I'ma keep it on there, I'ma just have somebody else do it
since he don't want his voice on my record, and like I said that was
something that as our history goes on, Daz Dillinger ain't on Bad Azz first
record, I got Kurupt on there, I don't have Nate Dogg on there either but it
wasn't for any negative reasons, it's just that we didn't get the hook up,
you know what I'm sayin? But that shit kinda hurt me when it was over, like
me and Daz are like the best of friends now, me and Daz are like Daz and
Kurupt was you know? So it's like now when I look at it it just kinda hurt
me just even today thinkin' about it like "daamn daz ain't even on my first
record!"
dubcnn.com : In 1998, you released "Word On Tha Streetz" through Priority and 19th Street
Records. Are you happy with that record?
Yeah, I love that album! But I know what's the catch about it and I knew it
could have been better once it came out and once that I did it but it was my
first record, and what I was doin' was I was makin' a model, I didn't know
how to make a record, I knew how mentally, but physically and actually I had
never made one, I just had the game to do make it. So what that was, that
was a model, that was me takin' a shot dog, that was me sayin' "here's bad
azz, whoopty woop I'm 22 years old, I never made a record, I been rappin'
all this time, I'm makin' it professional, put it together and put it out.
win loose or draw" And that's why I was proud of it. Like I said, I felt it
could have been better, I felt I coulda done a lil more job to up my
standards because I didn't put out the best record at that time when I had
the mentality and I had the rap skills to do it. And that's where I learned
alot from. That's why Personal Business was alot better and I always feel
like that, Personal Business was a competitive record, it was a record that
competed with alotta records that came out that time. It was good it was
comparable to the Jay-Z's, to the people that game out at that time. Now my
other record, it was like the young dude tryina be in the big world that's
how I look at it, criticisin myself sayin I did a good job, I know that the
record ain't as good as it could have been like I said, but I did a great
job for not even knowin what to expect, not even knowin where I was goin, I
just was goin. And I got there! So that was cool for me like I said, I was
happy that I just made a record man! Me bein a rapper and bein around Snoop
Dogg and Dr. Dre and Kurupt and Daz, and these niggas made real good records
and they didn't help me make that record, I made that record and I put them
on there, I said "ay I want you to rap right here can you come get on this
song?" and it was like "yeah!". Now if Snoop would have made that record for
with his experience at that time, it probably would have been alot better,
but I can honestly say I made that record MYSELF. I executive produced
that, I picked out every beat, I picked out every concept, you know what I
mean? With my young fresh mind, I went win loose or draw like "I don't know
if this concept is gonna be big to the world! I don't know if this is gonna
be pleasin to the hiphop community but I'ma try it!" And I was pleased with
it personally. On Personal Business like I said I was a little more focused,
I was a lil more ready, I was a lil more in touch with what I wanted to do,
what I wanted to come out with, I did that record twice too, so that was the
catch, I did it again not because I had to, but because I wanted to, I got
with Snoop and I didn't his essence on it like I knew I could have it, and I
went back thats how we got the Doggystyle stamp on it. It wasn't on Doggystyle, but for the public and for the people that know that me and
Snoop are affiliated and I'm his protege, I needed that like that, I needed
it to be Doggystyle/Priority, where they like "Yo you on Dogghouse?" "Yeah!
I'm wit the House! I never went nowhere!" But I wasn't signed with them
contractually, you know?
dubcnn.com : Yeah. Why wasn't this song on there? *plays West Coast Plantation with
Xzibit*
Because it was kinda like, we weren't.. it was.. I don't know.. He got kinda
voted out, it wasn't really.. I don't know what it was, it was like a label
decision.. I love that song..
dubcnn.com : Yeah! It was tight!
Yeah I love that song too, and I'll put it on my mixtape that's comin out! I
found a real clear version on CD, that I'll mix, a master version that I
got, and I'll put it on there, it's on there. I'll send you a copy I got it
in the computer, just havin' it mixed and mastered down.
dubcnn.com : I also remember the video of "U Don't Wanna Be Broke".. with you on the
skateboard.
Yeah! I met the director of that yesterday, I had a chance to see him, cause
I hadn't seen him in a year or two, and I got with director Goby, was with
his for a few hours yesterday, and we watched the video. And it was so
funny, we watched the video, and soon as we watched the video we go ahead
and out to get some burgers, and soon as we walk out, some Mexicans drive by
in a truck bumpin' U Don't Wanna Be Broke *laughs*
dubcnn.com : How was it making the Smokefest 2 video?
Oh that was live man! That was overseas! That was when I got to come to, I
don't know if we went to the North or the South of Germany.. We went to
Cologne, Germany, we went to a couple spots out there, all of that was
filmed there, we filmed some in Hawaii, we filmed some in Japan, we filmed
some in New Zealand, that's where they filmed that song.. remember that song
that's on there "smoke was so dope that I didn't wanna pass the j" *laughs*
We came up with that back there, I made that lil hook up and they started
singin it, these New Zealanders, and that made it on the Smokefest.. And
that "greeeeen laadyyy!" you remember that? That was one of my favorites, it
was funny, cause the lady was all green, and we were on the tour bus and I
was like "greeeen laaaady" and it was funny. That shit about Big Jeffrey, he
came about cause Snoop had made a joke, and he was lookin for some shit, and
I guess something came out missin and he was like "yo man, check this out"
and he was speakin and just made up the name Big Jeffrey, he's lookin for
his jersey, his hat, and everything about Big Jeffrey was like he was like a
big dude, and he was trippin everytime and it was like "Big Jeffrey said you
can't smoke in here!" and Big Jeff came along and Snoop came up with those
teeth one day, and I ain't gotta lie man me knowin' Snoop for as many years,I had never thought he would made me laugh like that, like off that
character.. That character was like as funny as Eddy Murphy to me, I would
tell him like "where's big jeffrey?" and he was like "aw he left, he'll be
back.. don't askin bout BIG JEFF!!" and then he would go in the bathroom and
come out with this fuckin shower cap on and these big ass teeth like "big
jeffreys in the house where snoop dogg at?" and I was like this cat is
funny.. So that's where the Smokefest 2 originated, I was really really
obliged to be a part of that, cause I didn't go with the camp on the first
overseas tours that they went, and this time when I ended up goin Daz and
Kurupt wasn't goin wit us, Nate wasn't goin wit us, Warren G wasn't wit us,
it was me, Snoop, Sean Dogg, DJ Jam, Snoops wife, Dave Arren our engineer,
Tasha our hairdresser, and a couple of other people, a couple securities, a
couple homies, my homie Choppa came on a couple, my homie E who's just a
good friend of mine he came on some of the tour with us, he a little ballin
cat, he said he wanted his money.. So everything just came out so nice, it
was more personal, it wasn't like a big crew thing with all of us, it was
like me Snoop and Sean Dogg everyday with Dave Arren and DJ Jam.. We was
out there like 30 something days and we went to alotta different countries, and
flyin and drivin all around different countries, and performing for fans that
hadn't got a chance to see Snoop, fans that never got a chance to meet Bad
Azz, it was live man! And that Smokefest 2 is just the visuals of it all.
dubcnn.com : Any plans for Smokfest 3?
Uhm yeah of course, there's gonna be different volumes. What it is is that
Snoop is so caught up with other stuff I'd have to mention it, people have
to mention and it's good that you mention now, cause it's about time. But
what the Smokefest consists of is the tour. So the next tour and the next
overseas tour will consist of Smokefest 3, thats what I'm sure Snoop will
compile it, because he go on United States tours, but Smokefest consists of
the overseas outlook, so we would have to touch overseas, and the only place
we've been outta the country is Canada recently, so he does have footage
from that and I could mention to him that he should incorporate the Canada
footage with the rest of the Smokefest 3 footage.
dubcnn.com : Now honestly, is Snoop Dogg a good CEO and a good business
man?
Uhm, well, not really. No but see, it's like we don't wanna say no and take
nothin from him, cause we all talk about that as our family, and alotta
times we bring it up aside of Snoop, cause it's hard to talk about it in
front of him, but hopefully he will get a chance to hear or read this
interview, and he'll hear it and it will be easier for him to accept it. BUT
it's not that he's not a good business man, he's not as good as a business
man as he COULD be. So that kinda hurts, but Snoop, he makes up for it in
other ways, by being a very good artist, bein a very good friend, so we
don't hold that against him, I don't expect for Snoop to be a great business
man for me, or be a great business man for a company. Snoop is a great
business man for himself.
dubcnn.com : I mean Kokane was on 8 tracks of the Last Meal, he was on 9 tracks of Tha
Eastsidaz 2nd record, and yet he never released a solo project! And now he
left...
Exactly.. and that's where.. But don't get me wrong! Look at Soopafly he's
been with Snoop aslong as me, he was actually signed with Snoop and Doggystyle Records before me, I signed with Snoop in 1995, and Soopafly
was signed in 94 or early 95, that would be almost eight years he's been signed
with Snoop and he hasn't put out one record. The only record that he did put
out was the independent record that Daz put out cause he alotta songs of
Soopalfy.
dubcnn.com : But isn't it sad to wait 8 years for an album?
And that's why we know Snoop is not a good business as far as those things,
but sometimes you have to wonder, is it the artist, is it Soopafly? Why
wouldn't he put out a record in that time as he's a artist and he knows that
these are things that a artist needs. He should be workin. I ask him
everytime, like I'm over there I go to his house and say "ay what's up with
Latoya's record?" cause he's workin on that, and he says "I'm workin on it
still".. "when you gonna do the new Soopafly record?" and he's like "I'm
doin some songs for it, I'm almost done, I got alotta songs for it" but he's
not as inspired to do it and put it out as he should be!
dubcnn.com : Right.. in our interview he said his record would come out summer of 2004!
See? And that's just a long shot, sayin "is he sure?" He's probably hopin'
that it's gonna come out, why would it be set a year from now if it's ready
to come out? It's not ready to come out, he's just assuming that hopefully
he can get it done by that time and get it out. And that's cool, but that's
where it goes back to is Snoop a good business man. Why isn't Kokane out?
Why isn't this.. Kokane's record was done! Me personally I heard Kokane
didn't release his record because of other circumstances that he was goin'
through, he had personal problems and other things that kinda slowed him
down from doin the record, so him and Snoop had decided and agreed that
Kokane was gonna leave. Kokane kinda felt like "oh they sittin round here
too long" and that could be good or bad. And I can't see Kokane in a better
position than with Snoop, even though his record wasn't comin out, Snoop was
helpin him do his record and gettin it to the point where it was done and
have features on it that wasn't hard for Kokane to get, and all this other
stuff you know what I'm sayin'?
dubcnn.com : Tha Eastsidaz had departed ways with Snoop for a while too, but it seems as
though they're back together.
Yeah, well you know, it's always just misunderstandings and similar to money
issues and other lil stuff.. It's money issues and other lil stuff that
happens, but all in all, everybody is still friends, and what I really
notice is that people get frustrated over the misunderstandings of the
business. And I've been frustrated about it, but I've never taken it to the
level where like me and Snoop would have fell out, even though me and Daz
fell out, but I kinda passed up because I got a understanding about the
stuff, I never tripped off money, I never tripped off none of this stuff
that people would trip off that would make you fall out as friends. I would
never let it get to me, because I understand that me and these guys got
something bigger than money and music. That's how I feel personally. And now
Tray Deee and Tha Eastsidaz, Tray Deee and Goldie and Snoop everything is
cool, everything is cool.. I know that Tray Deee and Snoop they gonna always
be cool. They just got a chemistry that's gonna fall out and they'll prolly
fall out again! Because Tray Deee, his temper is to the point where when he
is fed up about his business, he snaps. But to me that's good for Snoop,
because Tray Deee is a person that keeps Snoop in line as far as the
business because even me, even though I haven't been signed wit Snoop so it's
hard for me to go like even E-White.. He goes "wassup, man I just wanna work
man, Bad Azz you were the first one signed with Snoop give me some advice"
and I say "you good wit Snoop Dogg, but you gotta make your own thang crack
because Snoop is a rapper and he's busy and he's doin' alotta things, and he
still does alotta things for you, but you'll have to utilise what he does
for you to make it big for you. And like if I was signed with Snoop right
now, I would be one of the guys like Tray Deee that would raise hell when
shit ain't right, but in a positive way that Snoop could understand. This
guy he needs something, he's not fussin because he's just an asshole, he
ain't fussin because he got something that he doesn't deserve, he's just
bringin up legitimate issues. And that's what it's all about, nobody's
perfect, Snoop ain't perfect, even if he was the best CEO in the world, or
the best business man in the world, he would still make mistakes. But as far
as all of us bein' a family, we have to keep all the mistakes to a minimum,
so if one person does make a mistake we have to help him, we correct him, we
condition him not to make those mistakes, and that's what its all about! And
Snoop is growin' man, he's a lot better business man than he was yesterday,
today. And tomorrow he'll be a lot better business man then. And I have no
doubt in him, he's gonna pervail and take us to the next level as a superstar, and he's gonna keep workin' so hard that he's not gonna let his
little homies surpass him in the rap game such as Tray Deee who is older
than Snoop, he's not gonna let him surpass him, he's gonna keep workin hard
where Tray Deee's success will still fall behind Snoops cause he was in
front of him. I was sellin platinum records before you, so if sell a
platinum record I'll sell another one, if you make a hit song, I'll make
two! And I respect Snoop for that! That's like Michael Jordan lettin Kobe
surpass his thing. Now as Michael Jordan retired, and Kobe breaks one of
Michael Jordans records, thats cool, but that doesn't mean you're a greater
player than Jordan, because that man set a mark that.. that mark will always
be there no matter what you do after that, and that's what Snoop is. Snoop
is that kinda character, no matter what Eminem does, Snoop is always gonna be
a historical legendary rapper!
dubcnn.com : Why weren't you on Paid The Cost To Be Da Boss or Doggystyle Allstars?
Well Doggystyle Allstars I wasn't around.. What was the other record you
said?
dubcnn.com : Paid The Cost To Be Da Boss
Oh just because I wasn't really really heavily around a lot, and when I came
around I was kickin it, I wasn't really tryna get on no records, I wasn't
trippin, I was goin through my thing, and I've always been around. So during
those records I would come through, I was in the studio sessions while they
were recording, I just wasn't into it like that because the Allstars record,
whatever Snoop Dogg does with his proteges, I always want them to shine
and if he needs me to support them as far as a feature act like "ohh the
allstars got a song with Bad AZz!" and I'm there. But he didn't need me
cause they had alotta other superstars performin with them, they had Camron
on the album, he had Hi Tek, you know just the people on the album that to
me, they could have used me or they could have not. You gotta understand how
I am, I gotta leave it open for people to come and those are my family
because I'm always here. Even if you guys miss me, like when you said that,
that feels so special to me, like I said I'm not goin' nowhere until god
says Bad Azz is dead, I'm here! Watch these new mixtapes you gonna love
them, mark my words, when you hear them and talk to me afterwoods, you gonna
say you wasn't lyin.
dubcnn.com : How much did "Personal Business" sell?
Uhm right now to this day like 170, maybe 180 (thousand)..
dubcnn.com : That ain't too good though is it..
Nah, I mean it's not.. For Bad Azz at that time comin out on his second
record even sellin hundred and something units, that was coo.. I sold
records thats all that matters.. It kept me in the game, let the record
labels know "oh this kid can sell some records, he ain't platinum yet, but
if he can sell 170, he can sell 270, if he can sell 270, he can sell 370,
and we can sell platinum!" That's kinda how they think, and I feel that's
good for me. Its not overall good, but overall records to 10 million, 7
million, Nelly records sell like 7 million so a hundred and something
thousand compared to 7 million, that sucks, but like I said for Bad Azz to
even move some units on his own, for me to go to Priority or to Def Jam and
say "Yo can I get a record deal?" and they like "who are you?"
"I'm Bad Azz!" and they like "Oh fo sho! We'll give you a deal" And that's where I'm
at now because I need whatever label I'm wit to feel like "Yo we can push
him to the next level, we can be the label that gets him the gold record."
dubcnn.com : Were you unhappy with the promotion?
Uhm not really, I was unhappy with the fact that they didn't capitalize
after.. See what they did was they promoted it good at first, it got good
inital responses, it sold good at first, and then they just let it go. So
that's why I wasn't pleased with how they followed up, you know? They didn't
really follow up on the record. They didn't really follow up to the extent
where it could have sold more. Cause right now we could still be workin'
Personal Business, it could be at 1.2 million right now, we're still doin
shows and tours off of it, and puttin out another video, but they kinda left
it.. That's why I left! I was like you guys suck, you guys couldn't sell a
platinum record with fuckin Snoop Dogg, and I left! For real, and look at
them how hard it was to get his new record platinum, so I'm already sure
that it wasn't me man, I gave them a good record, Personal Business was
good, if it wasn't a platinum record it was a gold record and they didn't do
either! They didn't do gold or platinum, so.. All I can say is they fucked
it up. I went to every interview they hooked up, every person like you that
called me, I talked to them for hours like me and you doin, gave them
everything they needed, and that's what they told me they needed for them to
sell my record platinum! "We need you to go to texas, to this radio station"
"Ok when? tomorrow? Oh well I'm goin!" And after that they needed me to go
here, and everything they told me, every store, and it was so cold, cause
this is what they told me when I was there doin it. They said "You know what
Bad Azz? You're gonna sell alotta records, you know why? We hooked up all
kinda artists with this, Mack 10, even Ras Kass, and they said you the only
artist wo's done all your promotional work, and it's always there, on time,
and ready to go and ready to do every interview!" And I said "If that's what
you guys need me to do to sell records, and I'm doin' that, why aren't we
sellin any records?!" and I left, I left when Priority was sold to Capitol
Records, it was a good time, my lawyers told me it was a good time, cause it
was a whole new company, and that wasn't the company I signed to, so I don't
wanna be here anymore and they let me go.
dubcnn.com : You went for the independent route, why?
What I did was I signed ah, see a lot of people don't know that I signed a
deal which is an independent deal it's only for one record. I offered to do
2 records, I'm going to do 2 records with them.
dubcnn.com : With Who?
D3 Entertainment. They are like the best independent establishment, and when
I say independent, they are independent such as Cash Money or such as
Ruff Ryders, or such as Rocafella with no rap family. Cause its just an
independent company that’s doing as well as some companies like
Rocafella but on the underground, I mean I wouldn't say it's as good as
Rocafella but they sellin good records. These guys are selling gold and platinum
records. They sold Insane Clown Posse like 600,000, 700,000 copies which was
the first act that they put out. I see Fredro signed last night he gave me
some advice and said "don't fuck wit those guys they don't know what the
fuck they're doin'!". So you can have good or bad experiences. I signed with
them cause I saw their track record off of thier last 4 or 5 independent
records they put out, and saw how many they put out. They sold ODB 300,000,
that means at 3 dollars a record, thats like 900 Gs, this guy made off a
300,000 sellin record.
dubcnn.com : Thats great
And thats the kind of money they are givin me off this record. So if I sell
the kind of units I sold off my first records, I'ma almost be rich.
dubcnn.com : Yeah, you hooked up with Big Hollis to release an album, but at the
same time you signed with D3 didn't you?
No, I signed with D3 after I did the comp project with Hollis. That was a
totally really independently project that I did with Hollis as far as Hollis
was my homeboy he was doing some independent shit, they gave me 30 g's we
did this compilation, we brought our people in that I wanted to get, you
know on this record that was just some independent people that we had was 40 Glocc one of my homies who just released a little
independent record, and the rest of the low life gang which I didn't even get all of
them on it, I had Lil J on it. I had Tip, conflict, I had a song with Lil J
and Shorty K, and uh, I had Bonnie who was one of my female friends I grew
up with since I was a little kid, and shes a dope singer that I'm trying to
help develop and get her out as an r&b act. She sang on my first record
"dear god", you know the one with me and Tray Deee? *sings the hook*
Yeah, that was the only song with Tray Deee on Word On The Street. That is her on
there singing, Bonnie. Her and her sister were childhood friends of mine,
and she's just always been into singin, and I knew if I ever got a head
start in the music game before her, then I would always try and help her,
and you know, she helped me out alot also. But as far as trying to get her
out there and get her some exposure and get her on some hit songs and stuff
like that, so I put her on that record and Hollis put a couple of his guys
on there like Skee 64 which is one of his artists and um, this other guy who
I forget his name right now, but he sings real good. And um, we came
together to make a compilation. It turns around, Hollis gets this idea that
it would be better as a solo record, so he tries to put it out as Bad Azz
"Money Run". So it comes out, and it's not doing that good, you know, it's
the controversy, I had an article come out in showcase magazine tellin about
the whole thing, how I hooked up with him and did a record, about how he
betrayed me and switched it, and made it into a solo record when it was a
compilation, and he registered it that way with the retail stores. So now
all the retail record stores are carrying that album like it was bad azz's
new solo. So a lot of people lookin at that album, like my last album that
didn't do so well, and they sayin I'm goin down, with my sales, and quality,
and they like you know puttin it out on a smaller label, like you went from
Priority, and you know people are lookin at it like, I'm fallin down,
instead of blowin up, and he didn't care, thats not his career, and I told
him specifically that this album could mess up my career as far as, well not
overall, cause I'm gonna keep mashin hard so people will overlook that as a
solo project, I'ma make sure of that cause its not. I would never put out a
solo record that shabby and that fast. Not sayin that thats not a good
record, but thats a good record for a compilation. It's a good record for a
feeler. Thats what it was a feeler for cats like you who like bad azz, who
like "when is your new solo record comin out?" "Okay, don't trip, I got some
new music for you double dollar sign records presents thats the money run."
Why you think it's called the money run? Cause I went on a money run.
That's all it was. The concept was really self titled, that's what that was. I'm
come out here and put on some new music for my fans, and get a little extra
change, while I'm workin on my new solo project.
dubcnn.com : I mean, it had a couple tight tracks tho
Oh no, I mean it was COOL, I mean I ain't gonna lie. I was pleased to a
certain degree. I would never tell you that that was the best record I did,
it wasn't the best record out. i'm not gonna lie about my own stuff. I'm not
the type of person who every record I put out I'm like THATS IT, THATS THE
BEST RECORD EVER. I listen to Nas's shit, and say this record is better than
this record, and I don't care if Nas did it or Bad Azz did it. It's not my
judgin of the characters or rapper that did it, this record is better than
this record. You can say whatever you want. If you say nas is better than
Bad Azz, or feel Jay Z is better than nas because Nas's record was better or
Jay-Z's record was better cool. That dont' mean you are a better rapper.
dubcnn.com : Was there a legal problem too? For Hollis to put out money run?
The legal problem was that I tried to put a restraining order on the album
because he tried to do it the way it wasn't supposed to be done. And you
know, the label, the judge granted them the rights to put it out, because
they had the paperwork, and signatures sayin they had legal rights to put a
record out. it didn't say if it was a compilation or solo record so they
kind of won. But Hollis loses because he loses the freindship, he loses the
essence, he loses everybody that would mess with him again. Snoop would
never rap with him again. I would never rap with him again. Daz would never
rap with him again.
dubcnn.com : So D3 sued Hollis, but Hollis won in court?
No, they didn't sue them, we just tried to put a restraining order so we
could stop the record, until they changed the title, but they won, and the
record is out, there is nothing we could do. D3 was kind of upset, but D3
was like, "yo bad azz we signed you, we felt you and we support you". So
they are puttin out this new record that I'm puttin out called Executive
Decisions. And this is the first interview that the title has been disclosed. And that is the next venture after Personal Business. After
Personal Business all you could do is make Executive Decisions. So that's
what the next record is. Executive Decisions, and I already got 12 songs
done. I'ma put 14. I'ma do 2 more this week, close it up, and it will be out
in the next 2 to 3 months. I'ma send you an advanced copy.
dubcnn.com : So now after a kind of disappointing money run, that wasn't even supposed to
be a solo album, bad azz is comin with Executive Decisions. How is it? Whats
the vibe?
The Vibe is, to me its like when people... I gotta song on there called
Legendary Life. It's sick man. Kokane does the hook. *sings the hook* "I
never knew that this would be, goin down in history, this is my ghetto
testemony, my whole life is a legendary story." I come on, and it its so
sick, I say uhh... Fuck, it's on the tip of my tounge I got the song, I'm
gonna just plug it. This shit is dope man, I want to get these lyrics to you,
cause you can see where I'm comin from.. this is one of the songs where I'm
like, what it is, the executive decisions is like what everyone wants to
hear about bad azz. I'm touchin on everything mutha fuckas wanna know.
Like what is bad azz really feel about whats goin on right now, And thats what is
good, I'm talkin about me. I'm talkin about the situation. I'm talkin about,
I don't know, this shit is sick to me. I'm tellin you about myself and where
I'm comin from as far as letting people get an idea about what I been on.
The Legendary Story is like, one of those ones. *Plays Song* Meech Wells Did
the Beat.
dubcnn.com : That shit is tight!
That shit is wild man. And I got this other one, I'ma bust you the first
verse of it. Once you hear it you'll understand. It's 3 verses, and right
now the hook is talkin about how my life is a legendary story, and it's like
that's really what it was. Kokane already had that hook over at
Meech's house, before I got there, Meech had a beat with that hook on there, and we
did that, and I got one song on there with E-White. My homie Scoop was on
that song the other song I played for you, he was on that, then I got this
other song *plays track* I was thinkin about Suge right there.
dubcnn.com : Yeah
So you know, the devil he wanna pay for killas and have em bring you their
tounge, the reason why I say that is cause we rap, and that is one of the
things Suge would love to see happen have our fucking tounge cut out so we
couldn't rap no more. AK47 nigga sleep with ya gun. The song is called
Understand What It Is. So the last verse on that one it goes... *raps verse*
That shit is raw. I got like this one with Soopafly it's like some happy
shit, it's gotta a nigga bustin on some real bad ass, I wouldn't say party
shit, but some summertime like real laid back shit, smooth shit, and he was
talkin about um ya'll already know mr. bad lives a real cool life *drops
verse, sings latoya's hook* It's a fuckin hit dogg, for the summer. Watch
it. I'm coming back. And when I say I'm comin back I'm comin back for the
radio, I'm comin back for the video, and I'm comin back to the streets. I
got 10 hot songs for the street. I got 10 hot songs for the radio. I got 10
hot songs for the video. And if they all gonna make it, I got 3 or 4 apiece,
so I got 3 new videos, if I'm on tv, I'mon the radio, I'm on the streets
everywhere this summer.
dubcnn.com : Can you list me some other producers on there?
Yeah, so far…I got have you ever heard or Rhythm D?
dubcnn.com : Yeah of course!!
Yeah Rhythm D produced one. That’s the first time I ever collaborated with
him and he is gonna do one more so that’s love. He did one called “Bumpin’
and Poundin’” that’s fuckin sick! So Rhythm D got one got one with BattleCat so far…3 with Mike Smoove he produced for Jodeci, Bizzy Bone, some other
cats… Bad Azz he did one on my album with me and Snoop and Lil Tip Toe, he
did one on my album with me and one of his R&B singer cats that did the jam
and I got one with me, Johnny Chronic and Little Tip and Chucky who is the
Reggae singer that messes with DJ Quik a lot.. so Chucky is on that with Mike
Smoove production….you got to put mike smoove down he is one of the
hottest…he not new…but hes rising where people are starting to recognize him
now like I said he produced for Jodeci and he does R&B and Rap and he is
real dope and he produced for Jodeci and he produced for Bizzy Bone the
“Heavens Movie” Record…. The Manisky Mob and he produced a lot of tight
songs on that… *sings some Bizzy Bone* So he did a lot of hot shit… Mike
Smooth did, I got 2 from Fred Wreck I got 2 from Meech so far Meech is gonna
do another one.. and most of the people are gonna do one more, but im
already like 12-11 songs deep
dubcnn.com : Do you have Daz on there?
Yeah Daz is on here for sure.
dubcnn.com : Did he produce?
No he didn’t produce, as a matter of fact im not sure im not gonna say he is
not because he did do me a beat and I told him I needed it like he did a
beat and im supposed to come get it but I haven’t gotten it yet so hopefully
I can grab that and use it.
dubcnn.com : Did Soopafly produce?
Yeah Soopafly produced one with me and Latoiya the Round and Round but he
didn’t rap on it yet, he didn’t rap on the album yet. So im gonna go back
and do one more with him this week. So im closing up this week, im gonna do
like 3 or 4 more songs but what im gonna do is make them all collaborated no
solo’s im gonna do one with me Nate and probably Warren G, Me Soopafly and
maybe somebody
dubcnn.com : No solo tracks?
Oh yeah I got a lot of solo tracks on their, im just not gonna do any more
solo’s and what im gonna do is….have you ever heard of Pinky?
dubcnn.com : Yeah she's was on the first Eastsidaz record..
You be up on your shit she even did a hook on there, that's great you be up
on your shit. But yeah that’s my homegirl she used to rap with the 5 Footers
she still does but she was like a member of the crew. Yeah I went to do a
song with her yesterday because she is tight and Snoop might sign her on
Dogghouse so I fuck with all the family and even if he doesn’t sign her me
and her we still tight and we real good friends and ima slam her on this
record too, so I might put her on one of the songs with ..you know one of
the collabo…like me her and Soopafly collaborate that would be a nutty
collaboration. And what im trying to do with these last few songs im just
trying to really make some nutty collaborations because I don’t have Nate on
this album I don’t have Warren G on this album I don’t got Soopafly rappin
on this album I don’t got Goldie and Tray Deee on this album and I don’t
want to make it all featured out but I want my family on it so the majority
of the people of the family I can get you know if I can get Tray Dee and
Goldie on it ill get them on it. Its just like I said its at the end I only
need a couple more songs so what I want to do is even if I can just collaborate a couple of party songs with like 4 people on them Me, Tray Dee,
Goldie, Snoop and Warren G.
dubcnn.com : So who do you have as far as guest appearances for now?
Right now I have Snoop, I got E White, I got Lil Tip Toe of the Low Lifes, I
got Kokane. And like that’s it the rest of the songs are just me oh and I
got my homie Scoop he did one hook for me but like everything is like
minimum anyway everyone is like not doing all the features like ill do like
2 verses on the track and they do one or have them do the hook or something
like that, so its not really like all the features are over crowding me
cause a lot of people like that actually have to shine on the record by
yourself not a lot of features so that’s what im kinda on. Even though I
have kinda a lot of features the way they are placed on the record is
perfect its not like a lot of people its not like they all over my song.
dubcnn.com : You should get Lil J on there.
Yeah of course im gonna put Lil J, I have song with him I might do another
one or I might use that one. so what I did was I have when I said I have
like 9 – 10 songs I might use I have done 15 songs I have done for this
album already im only gonna put 14 on the album but the extra songs im not
gonna throw them away im just gonna put them on these mix tapes and compilations. Like nowadays we not gonna
waste a song I don’t want no more songs to get old like those ones you got and we just like almost forgot
about them. All the shit I been doing recently if it don’t come out on the
album you will hear it on a mix tape im putting it out.
dubcnn.com : Are we down with Daddy V?
Yeah! I just talked to Daddy V right before I talked to you he called me and
he said he was coming out towards my house and he might so yeah me and Daddy
V are real cool on Daddy V since we used to be in the Compton swap meet and
you know he hooks us up since he been down with Snoop and us hes been a real
big piece of the family cause he does a lot of filming that we cant do that
he does and brings to the table so that’s real love I like Daddy V.
dubcnn.com : So how does the production sound?
I like it because its not different where you can't relate to it, but its
some new different shit. New as a west coast flavor but it has a universal
flavor more and that’s what im trying to stick to because im not gonna lie I
was watching that MTV MC Battle yesterday. Ill tell you a story about
Locksmith, Locksmith is the only cat who has ever beat me on a battle live
by votes on the radio I got it on tape and I was gonna put it on my first
DVD documentary that I do cause I served a lot of niggas I got shit on their
that I served niggas and I got shit on their by the votes he won and it was
so crazy to see him up there and even take it that far and it was so funny
cause I gave him credit for serving me I had to take it away that day
because I heard him say that same rhyme that he said to me. So I gave him
credit because he did win he legitimately won but we were freestylin’ and
he busted a written’ so I was really freesylin’ I remember if you can say a
written that sounds like you are freestylin’ of course you gonna win because
you already wrote it down and you already know what you gonna say and you
freestylin and he just bust a written like he was freestylin’ but I knew he
wasn’t freestylin’ when I heard him. I was here watchin’ the battle with
some people like “Hey this guy Locks that’s the guy that won me in a battle”
and I aint sad to say it cause it was one guy out of a million so im like
yeah he beat me in a battle on the radio in San Jose in Cali and shit and I
was like yeah he wasn’t even that tight to me but I guess the locals knew
him and shit so they all called up there and voted for him like yo “you
served Bad Azz, you served Bad Azz, you served Bad Azz” so when all the
votes came in he won and they said it live on the radio like the winner of
the battle is Locksmith unanimous votes and whatever blah blah blah so when
I seen it I was telling my people I was watchin the MTV battle with this
guy battled me and won and they like for real? That ironic that, and I told
him the rap that he said ill never for get it because the nigga said “Ill
punch you in your nuts and your sperms will come out with black eyes” I
started laughing right and they showed the clip and he said the same rap and
I said “This fuckin punk” you know he was bustin, he was! I didn’t see what
happen cause I watched the first battle and then remember Ludacris
performed and I didn’t watch the second half who won.
dubcnn.com : So do you think you have better promotion and distribution this time around?
Well that’s a good question because I don’t know but im hoping I can work it
to that level because I seen what they can do…its like seeing 50 Cent right
now and seeing hes good and you want to rap with him but you don’t know if
doing a song with him will make you platinum so I understand they are a good
label I have seen what they have done with other people hopefully they can
get the same results with Bad Azz hopefully I can utilize that company for
all that they are worth and get out of it what I need but I don’t know if im
gonna have the right promotion the right this the right that I got to turn
in the record and sit down with them and see where they gonna go with it and
once they start growin and we all understand and agree and we all have a
open say on the record and I hear their opinion and we roll with some of the
things they think and they roll with some of the things I think it will be
beautiful.
dubcnn.com : Are you hoping to blow up and go mainstream?
Yeah, of course what im trying to do with this one is make enough money. So
im gonna do two records with them ima do a Bad Azz record ima do Executive
Decisions and I don’t know maybe the next one will be a Bad Azz presents
compilation style record which I already talked to them. Well the deal im
doing with them is only for one record but the catch was they said “we want
you to do the record and want to have options to pick up the second one if
it does good” I told my lawyer lets do two records with them and they don’t
have no options after that. In other words it was kinda giving me the
leverage cause two records with them is not bad cause all im gonna do is
make money and if I don’t make money im not gonna lose anything cause im
gonna make good records and I already got a platinum record half way done so
im already knowing where im going with it. This record is gonna be as good
or better than Personal Business so I know im gonna do good and if I only
sell the same as Personal Business I make a few hundred thousand dollars so
if nothing else ill be doing good financially where I can make other moves
or at least put out a record on my label or go get a label deal with
somebody hooked up through Doubla Dolla Sign, and Id still have that avenue,
cause my thing right now is for this to elevate me that’s the whole plan to
sum it up for you I need this project to elevate me whether it gives me
platinum success gold success or a lot of money, Cause right now im doing
good financially I pay my bills and shit but im not ballin’ I aint rich so
what I need to do is I need this record to make me a lot of money so either
make me a lot of money, sell good or both.
dubcnn.com : Are we ever gonna see a real Low Life Gangsta’s Album?
Oh yeah we really really workin on it me and my boys are tight as fuck and
we all still workin together and you’ll see that soon we were gonna do it on
this first D3 record but what happen was that we ended up not doing it
because everybody’s schedule we did have the record it was gonna be called
“D3 and Double Dollar Sign Records presents Bad Azz and the Low Life Gang”
that was gonna be the name of the record it kinda like I said every bodies
schedules Lil J is on some solo shit he has his own little label, and Lil
Tip me and him been kinda heavy, Shorty has a little family situation him
and his girlfriend are moving into their new house together and all that so
our schedule was then limited so then that's when I decided we gonna do the
Executive Decisions and we might come back with this next record after this
one and do the Bad Azz and the Low Life project I never know but it is
guaranteed that we gonna do it for sure.
dubcnn.com : You had a bangin track with Techniec called “New Age Outlaws” can we expect
any more Bad Azz Techniec Collaborations?
Oh Yeah of course I been trying to get with Techniec to put together the
LBC crew or to just to do some stuff and title the work as the group as LBC
crew me him and Technique or maybe just me and him and we been planning and
its just a mater of time before we get together to do it.
dubcnn.com : Do you know if Technique will ever drop a solo?
Yeah what happen was that he was gonna do 18 and Over with Mack 10 he
finished the record and I don’t know why he didn’t drop it but he had end up
leaving Hoo Bangin with Mack 10 the last priority and basically what it
boiled down to was that it was left on Technique and right now he
doesn’t have a deal he is independent and he is trying to land a deal I talked to
him, I have been in close contact so he has been trying to land a deal with
the new music that he got.
dubcnn.com : Is Bad Azz and the Twinz a possible combination?
Oh yeah man the Twinz are probably gonna be on this new record like I said
when I was telling you about the collaboration I been doing I been talking
to just all the Long Beach family I got Half Dead gonna sing me a hook and
when I do these next few songs they are gonna come used with a lot of those
people im not positive that im gonna put the Twinz but I already talked to
them I already sat down with them recently like last week. “Whats up we
doing something for this new record?” “fo sho lets do it” and its really
just a matter of time and this week see yesterday I was in the studio today
is Sunday and I live like about an hour from Hollywood so I had to drive
home and chill with my family.
dubcnn.com : You had a track with Brotha Lynch Hung can we see that again in the future?
I don’t know he called me to do that and I liked him as you know ..for one I
don’t really mess with rappers that rap like him I have been a fan of him
and I heard of him but don’t get me wrong I wasn’t a big fan like I listened
to a lot of his music but the stuff that I heard I liked it. Yeah I like a
certain thing about him because its just a certain chemistry about him but
you know me personally im not the type of rapper that you should expect to
rap with a no nigga that says “eat a person” or “eat a kid” or some shit
like that but some of that stuff to me from Brotha Lynch Hung is entertaining and some of it is just raw shit that he likes to kick, but like
I said when he came with me and even the song that we did was more on the
level of our collaboration I liked and that was some bad ass Brotha Lynch
Hung that was like for you to represent your side and me to represent my
side I like my rap on that shit.
dubcnn.com : You were part of the “Down With US” song how did that come together?
Oh you heard that already? Yeah I got that I was thinking of putting that
on my record, yeah of course Fred Wreck made that and he asked me to be a
part of it im a anti war guy …man im like this I always say this every time
it comes up I had a situation with my women we got into a little fight the
domestic violence situation is real big out here but never beat her up never
hurt my women she would leave me if I beat her up like. I slapped her and
shit but the catch is I got in trouble for hittin my women one time didn’t
even break nothing didn’t even wrack her eye or nothing didn’t bust her lip
nothing I hit her I admitted to it no one seen it my women went outside of
our house she was cussin we were yellin my neighbors got alarmed and called
the police I got a domestic violence charge I go to anger management class
c’ mon man if they gonna send me to domestic violence anger management class
for having a little altercation with my women, George fuckin Bush and Saddam
Hussein need to go to anger management class cause there is no reason to
kill 20,000 mutha fuckas just cause you want some oil, so that’s why I was
down with the anti war song because like I said that aint no war over no
political belief its not a war over religious belief it’s a war over money.
They having war over money they having war over property they want the oil
they want to go kill Saddam take his oil so they can have gas and shit for
they car. And its like c’ mon man there is no reason for war like that on
that level, you should war with people for a reason that’s no reason to war. They should have hundreds of thousands of slaves or something and the
United States was going to break the slaves free or something they didn’t
help no body now that’s a reason why I can see the United States go over and
drop bombs because saying “The Iraqi government has the people of Iraq
hostage and they wont let them go and wont let them eat or work” then that’s
different then you should send a powerful army to help those people those
people weren’t suffering like that and they made up political reason that
maybe people would take sides to, to say “yo these are the reasons we going
over there kickin Saddam’s ass he has weapons of mass destruction” so does
the United States!!! How come Saddam cant have weapons of mass destruction?
Cause he is crazy? George Bush is crazy and he has weapons of mass destruction so this shit is dumb man and that’s why I don’t agree with it
because the same shit they say the reason we going against Saddam
Hussein “cause he crazy and he psychotic and has weapons of mass destruction” so is
George Bush junior he is psychotic and he has weapons of mass destruction so
what the fuck is the difference?
dubcnn.com : I heard you're gonn be on the IV Life Records compilation, the new one..
Yeah, I get down with them, they my guys I like all those guys over there! I
started out just goin' through there, gettin smoke and hangin' out with
them, on some street shit you know? They had their lil thang goin' I had my
thing goin', and you know we tied it up! I did a few songs with them so yeah
they got some new stuff they can use with me!
dubcnn.com : How deep is the beef with Kurupt at the moment? Any chance of it getting
cleared up again?
Nah, I don't fuck with him. I don't fuck with him. I'm cool. I don't want
to say nuthin negative cause I don't want to hurt him but I'm never gonna be
cool with him. He watched them beat me almost to death. Me personally, if
my homeboys invite kurupt back to the Dogg Pound I might never fuck with
them again. Really, I love Snoop, even Daz siad that. Daz agreed with me
because he has beef with him where he says he'll never be Kurupts friend
agian. He went and hanged with Suge, when Suge don't got good intentions
for us. That's like me and you best friends but you go hang with my worst
enemy that wants to hurt me. I'm not fuckin wit you again! And that's how it
is with Kurupt. Kurupt goes and hangs with our worst enemy and Kurupt was
there when they beat me up. I was talkin to Kurupt! Have you heard the
story?
dubcnn.com : Nah, we're gonna come to that later.
Ok.
dubcnn.com : What about Roscoe?
Nah that's Kurupt's brother. They hang out. They brothers.
dubcnn.com : I know that, but are you cool with him?
No. They together. What I'm sayin is I don't got no personal beef with
Roscoe cuase he wasn't there but I ain't cool with Kurupt why am I gonna be
cool with his brother.
dubcnn.com : But what has his brother got to do with that, he's just his brother!
No, I feel you but they hang together. I can see if his brother didn't
kick it with him and he kicked it with us, and then I would fuck with him.
But he kicks it with Kurupt and Suge.
dubcnn.com : Would you fuck with him if he came to you sayin "Yo that's Kurupt's story
I'm just his brother I'm down with yall and I want to fuck with yall on some
music"?
I don't know. The only reason I say that cuase I don't trust him. Now see
it's hard for me because I fear for my family and my life and of anybody
like that who would hurt me. I don't want to expose a lot of shit on an
interview, you know I want to tell you everything but I don't want to
expose shit on an interview where mutha fukas say "bad azz is a snitch".
Suge don't like us, homie. So what I'm thinkin is, if Kurupt comes and be
cool with me, Suge gonna come around. He hangs with Suge. Kurupt is scared
of Suge. If Kurupt was at my house and Suge calls Kurupt's cell phone he
gone be like "where are you" and he'll be like "I'm at Bad Azz house".
"where at"? and he'll tell him! He's a bitch! I would never be cool with
Kurupt. He's a coward to Suge. That's real talk. If me and Kurupt hashed
it up we said "we cool", "ok just don't bring Suge Knight around me cause
he don't like me". and Kurupt be like "yeah we friends. I won't". If Kurupt
was at my house at a Bar B Q and Suge called his cell phone, Kurupt would
say "what's up"? and he would be like "what are you doing? where you at?"
"um just chillin at a homies house." "What homie?" "Bad Azz" "where at? tell
me! WHERE AT?" And he would tell him, you know what I mean? Bitch! I
would never be cool with him. And I don't take Roscoe as a bitch cause I
don't know him like that but that' Kurupt's brother. Man, I would think
that if I wanted to fuck Kurupt up, Roscoe gonna help Kurupt, right? I want
to fuck Kurupt up! I wasn't tryin to tell you a whole lot. You can put it
in the interview but....I don't like 'em. Fuck 'em!
dubcnn.com : Are you gonna be involved with the Row Killa project?
Yeah! Hell yeah! Fuck Death Row!
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Bad Azz
