BISHOP LAMONT (Part 3) (March 2008) | Interview By: Eddie Gurrola

       We’re back with the third and final part of our interview with Bishop Lamont. In this last segment, we discuss Bishop’s debut album “The Reformation”, including how he picks guests and producers and what he hopes the public gets from the project when it’s released. After this, we hear about Bishop’s new street album “The Collection Plate” with DJ Whoo Kid. We also talk his work on Warren G’s new album, PR1ME’s street album “The Transformation”, and we get his opinion on Crooked I’s “Hip-Hop Weekly” series. Read on to find out about all of these topics and much more.



As always we have both the transcript and the video for you to check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to: eddiegurolla@dubcnn.com
 

Interview was done in February 2008.

Questions Asked By : Eddie Gurrola

Bishop Lamont Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout: Click Here

Full Interview In Audio : Click Here

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Dubcnn: This question is from Mauzip. You’re probably going to have a bunch of different producers and guests on your album. How do you plan to make “The Reformation” your album, and not something that sounds like a compilation?

That’s easy. You get the people that you really know, have what you want and what you came up on [to collaborate on it]. So when you hear my rhyming, it consists of a lot of producers that made me rhyme the way I rhyme. When I first heard Little Brother and 9th Wonder, that’s why I do what I do. When I heard Dilla and Slum Village, that’s why I do what I do. When I heard Primo and Gangstarr, that’s why I do what I do; Battlecat, whether it be Kurupt on the record or what he did for Snoop.

So really, the people that I pick, as far as synergy goes and artistically, are what I am. When you see Chad [Hugo] on a record, that’s because I really fuck with that N.E.R.D. sound, and I really fuck with that fly shit that he does. It’s not like, “Ooh, I’ve gotta go get with the hottest producers!” No. I go for niggas that I respect. Niggas don’t know about Salaam Remi, let alone all the magical work he’s done. [They do] as of late, but not what he was doing for Nas early on. The nigga’s always been on…the shit he did for “The Score”, I’ve been on him from there.

So, it’s not gonna be a compilation. Compilations happen when it’s all about your features. It’s not about the producers unless you’re like, “Yo, I’ve got Polow Da Don, I’ve got Timbaland,” and whoever else got a hot record out right now. It’s not about that for me. I’ve got Black Milk, Buckwild, all kinds of motherfuckers that I’m fucking with. The bulk is, of course, going to be Dre, but it’s gonna be fly, niggas! I’m not into the compilation shit.


Dubcnn: Here’s one from Colecovizion. He wants to know what you think of the Crooked I “Hip-Hop Weekly” series…

Man, I love that dude. We were just together at Glasses’ video shoot, and as I’ve always said and keep saying, Crooked is one of the dopest niggas I’ve ever heard. It’s not even about the West Coast, just period, as far as MCs go. It’s crazy that this nigga keeps coming up with fresh shit. I go dry. I got blank and have gotta re-set, fuck with the strip clubs, and just have fun for a minute to be abre to rejuvenate and continue to go hard. It shows why that nigga is who he is, and [he] deserves such a high level and so much more success than he’s getting. Niggas need to recognize how fresh that nigga is. We’ve got some records together too, and we’re gonna do some more. That’s gonna be major!


Dubcnn: Nice! This next question is from both Ethan from Washington and Heme from our forum. They want to know if you’ve got a tour planned any time soon…

You know what? The “Up In Smoke 2” tour is coming when “Detox” drops. Everybody’s going out for that. Keep that in mind. Yours truly is gonna be on there. Also, me and Black Milk, Royce, and maybe a few other cats are going out to do some “CALTROiT” shit. We’re gonna be overseas with it first for a couple of weeks, and we’re probably gonna get some dates here back home. But pretty much, that’s all that’s on my mind besides “Detox”, my own album, and Warren G’s album. But you’ll definitely see us popping up and doing some shows.

I apologize for that. I don’t get out as much as I’d like to because we’ve really gotta put it in for these albums. I don’t get to get out and touch the people as much as I’d like to, so the only way I can do that is by putting out the underground albums, just to make sure I’m feeding cats and letting cats stay up on the movement. But you’re definitely gonna start getting some shows.


Dubcnn: Tell us a little bit about Warren G’s new album…

Warren and Dre are back together, and that’s dope seeing the brothers together where it all started. The energy is just fresh again. After [Warren] did the “Celebrity Fitness” shit, he got thin and he was feeling beautiful, so the nigga’s been brainstorming on coming with another album. So we’re just really getting in there. I was supposed to be in there tonight, but this nigga’s drunk somewhere, working on beats. We’ll be back in there tomorrow night.

But it’s gonna be fresh! I really want to take what we did with “In The Midnight Hour” and fuse that with the first album. The energy and rawness that he brought with [“Regulate”], plus the high-tech-ness on the beats and the lyrical schemes [from “In The Midnight Hour”]. We’re still experimenting with that and getting the sound right. It’s fun. I just bounce from working on shit for Dre, working on shit with Focus, working on my own shit, to fucking with Warren. You just bounce around. I’m ping-ponging right now, but having fun creating fresh shit.


Dubcnn: That sounds great…

I’m having fun man, it’s a blessing. I can’t deal with negativity – there’s too many blessings in my life. I couldn’t do the things that I do if I resorted to negative shit, so you have to be mindful of what God gives you, and God is giving it all to me. I ain’t trying to fuck it up!


Dubcnn: Another project you’re on is the new PR1ME street album “The Transformation”. You were on the song “Megatron”. Tell us about that record…

Oh shit! Yeah, that was a lot of fun! I had to get in there with my little bro. PR1ME been down with me since 7-8 years back man, when he was yey-tall, me and Bada Bing. I had to do it with him, just on some different shit. He’s got it in him. That’s why I put him on the “First They Love You” record as well, to give him some showcase. I had to get on there and do some grimy, fresh, real thought-provoking hip-hop shit. So I hope cats is enjoying that. It had to be mega, so it’s “Megatron”.


Dubcnn: This one is from Dre-Day on the forum. He said, “In the Dubcnn interview from March 2005, you said that whether you got a record deal or not, you would release the ‘Who I Gotta Kill To Get A Record Deal Vol. 2’ mixtape. As of today, it has not been released, so are you still planning to release it?”

Of course I do, pimp. That’s why we re-introduced the first one, just so cats could hear the growth and see the stupid shit that I was doing when I was younger. It set it up so people are already up to speed on what that was.

With the letmehearitmusic.com shit, we’ve been receiving a lot of fresh shit. A lot of people are butt-hurt with the reviews that they get for their demos and shit, but I’m only being honest. There’s a couple of cats that are super-crazy that I want to work with on a whole lot of levels.

I’m so fuckin’ strapped for time, just releasing “CALTROiT”, dropping “Pope Mobile”, and then I’ve got a crazy one with Whoo Kid. I don’t believe in over-saturation. We’ve just been having so much fun making music that I want it to come out. There’s only so much that can come down the funnel at Interscope. It’s coming though. And we’ve still got “CALTROiT Metropolis” man! I didn’t want “CALTROiT” to be a double CD. So, patience my friends! Trust me.


Dubcnn: Tell us some more about “The Collection Plate” with Whoo Kid. Is it going to be all original production again?

It’s always original man! I just don’t believe in taking other beats that have already been breathed over, you know what I’m sayin’? So I’ve always got to do original stuff because it’s more personal and it has more of a purpose than just rapping over other beats you’ve already heard. Pretty much all production out right now, with the exception of a few, is garbage and all sounds the same.

So I’d rather dig deep and come up with original shit that fits the times conscious-wise and socially, what’s really going on in the underground scene, and what’s really going on in my mind. So that’s the only way to convey and rap over the shit that I’m feeling. My ear’s so fucked up now from being around Dre, or Focus, or Khalil, that I can’t just deal with the regular shit, you know what I mean? So I’ve gotta have some mega shit.


Dubcnn: So is “The Collection Plate” going to have more of an East Coast type of vibe to it?

Nah, it’s not even that. It’s just that I had to do something for New York, and who better to go fuck with than Whoo Kid? Me and Whoo Kid have always been good for some years. [I remember] when I first got out in New York, doing a bidding war and being homeless in Red Spyda’s studio, with the homeboy B. Shouts out to B and Red Spyda. He let me stay in his vocal booth man. I was out there trying to go to meetings and didn’t know shit about New York. I met so many good cats out there.

Me and Whoo Kid always stayed in contact off and on. Then the homeboy Tony from London put us back together for Shade 45. [Whoo Kid was] like, “We need to do a fuckin’ mixtape together!” He had already been banging “Feel On It” on his show. I said, “It makes sense, let’s do it!” So, we just put something fresh together, and you know, it’s more magic man. I realize the love I’m getting in New York, so I want to say thank you again so much, just on the East Coast period! I’m over here on this side, so I really don’t get to see that love. But I want to give something, and let niggas know, thank you! I see you, and I respect you for that. I appreciate it.


Dubcnn: You just mentioned “Feel On It”. We’re still waiting on the remix for that. You said there were going to be a lot of surprise guests…

Ahh, I got so pressed for time! Homies just pulled up that beat the other night and was like, “Yo, we’ve still gotta do this.” It’s just that, you know what comes first… “Detox”. So, if time permits, we’re still gonna do something crazy, but there’s so much more hotter shit than “Feel On It” now that I’m not even prepared to touch that. I’m gonna do some other shit with my other niggas, some fly shit. So you’re gonna see some shit, I’m gonna bless niggas.


Dubcnn: OK, that makes sense. So you guys never recorded the track?

Some of it was done, but not the other parts that I needed. Then niggas started moving on different shit, so we never got to get it finished because that became the focal point. “Switch it up transformers, we’ve gotta do this.” So I’ve gotta make sure my pen was doing this.


Dubcnn: On that track “Shittin On Fools” from “Pope Mobile”…

Yes. My pimp Dready produced that, all the way from the UK. Chuuch!


Dubcnn: How did you get that shitting sound on it?

You’ve gotta talk to Dready man! That was Dready’s crazy ass idea. [When mentioning] the flyest niggas out there for production, Dready is definitely up there. Niggas don’t know about Dready yet, but they’re about to. That nigga’s amazing, and we had so much fun when we were out there in London. We recorded that when we were out there in London, and that nigga’s like, “I’ve got an idea. These niggas shit on fools!” And that nigga did that shit. Ask him. Do an interview with Dready!


Dubcnn: Yeah, we’ll have to do that!

That was so much fun. We were so drunk in London.


Dubcnn: The intro of “Pope Mobile” is a Dr. Dre production. Tell us about how you got that on there…

That’s old! That’s from when he was working on “Chronic 2001”. That nigga pulled it up for me. We were going through beats, and by mistake ran into that one. He’s like, “Yo, this is old, if you want it you can have it!” I said, “Yo, I wanna put it on some shit!” That shit was so fresh to me, and Bilal was actually already on there. It fit perfectly with what I wanted to do for the “Pope Mobile”. I found me something so chuuch-ified to open it up! It’s crazy how shit works man. That shit’s been there since before “2001”.


Dubcnn: Damn!

That’s no indication of Dre’s new sound. It was a throwback, and I loved the energy from it. Just thinking about what that was then, and how Bilal was skitzing on that shit so fly, I was like, *whispers* “Yo, I need that shit.” Then I think of Paul Mooney’s shit…


Dubcnn: That guy is hilarious!

It’s funny.


Dubcnn: How do you think “Detox” will change the game when it comes out?

Man, that’s the hardest question you’ve asked me so far. Everything else has been a piece of cake. I mean, you know what that dude does every time he comes out. He re-sets the whole motherfucker and makes niggas get up and do what they’re supposed to do. [He] creates a whole bunch of mini-mes and spirals the whole game into a whole other level.

So, that’s all that I can say man. I’ve already withheld what’s going on, and it’s amazing because I know what it’s doing to me. I’m right there in the fire, and I know how it’s inspired me, so it’s really gonna be that thing. This nigga’s coming out with his own headphones man. What do you tell a nigga that can sell headphones for $400 and get away with it? That’s the dude! I’m coming out with a microphone nigga!


Dubcnn: *Laughs*

You think I’m joking! Anyway, yeah…


Dubcnn: So “Detox” is going to come out, and then your album is going to come and change everything up too…

Yep, that’s the goal.


Dubcnn: What do you hope, at the end of the day, everyone will get out of “The Reformation” when it’s released?

Damn, that’s a good question. Now you’re getting to the real Peter Jennings questions. I just want motherfuckers to feel it. I want motherfuckers to get inspired. My number one reason is just to move motherfuckers. Like it or not, it’s gonna make you react. Hate it or love it, it’s gonna make you move. It’s gonna make you do what you do better. But at the end of the day, I want motherfuckers to remember what was, what is, and what’s going to be. I’m trying to be in all those different realms simultaneously, and make the next installment mega! It’s gotta be bigger, it’s gotta be exciting, it’s gotta be fun again. People gotta want to take risks; people gotta be comfortable in their own skin and stop pretending to be other motherfuckers. That’s it at the end of the day. I want motherfuckers to listen to it. I really don’t give a shit after that man.