CROOKED I (August 2009) | Interview By: Nima Etminan

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Interview was conducted in August 2009
 

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Related Media & Links
Crooked I - Hip-Hop Weekly Archive
Crooked I - Dubcnn News & Media Archives
Slaughterhouse - Slaughterhouse (Album Review)
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Crooked I // Exclusive Video Interview // Dubcnn

Press Play to stream footage (Fast Connections Recommended) 
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Dubcnn: We're right here with Crooked I at the Treacherous Studios. What's cracking with you?

Same old thing, just trying to get it! Trying to push this 8-11, Slaughterhouse release, go out and get it, buy two for Hip-Hop, that's my slogan. What's up though, it's been a minute!


Dubcnn: Yeah, you've been on the Rock The Bells tour, got a few days off right now?

I got a couple free days. We're hitting Denver the day after tomorrow, then we're doing L.A., San Francisco and we're doing Vegas the day the record drops. Just trying put some work in right now while I'm back in Cali, on the West Coast, trying to be production.


Dubcnn: How does it feel to have the Slaughterhouse album actually dropping? Who would've thought it would actually come out so quick?

I know, man! Everything just happened and we pushed it. I guess it was the people! The people are the ones, they're the reason that it's coming out so quick, because they wanted it. They wanted the album so we put that in effect and everything has been happening pretty fast. We put the album together in like 6 days, we did like 2 weeks worth of promo and then we went on tour! So everything moved fast it's been dope though, everything has been dope. I can't wait.


Dubcnn: You got a favorite song on the album?

"Rain Drops" is one of my favorites because my verse is a true story, some life sh-t, some sh-t that when I made the verse up, I had the instrumental in my car on the way to the airport. I pulled over at the park in Long Beach by Del Amo in Long Beach and I started thinking of the verse in my head, cause I don't be writing. When ya'll hear it, it's a verse about my auntie, my mothers identical twin, how she was raped and killed when I was a kid. It just made me real emotional when I was thinking of the sh-t, tears was dropping out my eyes. I just jetted to the airport, flew to New York and laid the sh-t down.

So, that's one of my favorite songs on the album. Another one is "Onslaught 2", because I know it's going to take a minute for everybody to digest every line in there. It's so many lines in there, that Nickel was hitting you with, that Joell hitting you with, Buddens hitting you with. It's like, you're gonna have to listen to it a few times before you really understand how talented dudes is on the mic. That's one of my favorites too.


Dubcnn: What made you wanna put Fatman Scoop on there?

We thought about Fatman Scoop because he hypes everything up. When you hear him, his voice is energy. "Fatman Scoop, Timbaland", you know that sh-t, that's energy. We needed that sh-t to be hyped up, we wanted people to throw their hands up in the air when they hear the sh-t. We want people to feel the energy. Fatman Scoop brings that energy to the table, so that's why we said he's the perfect dude for this sh-t.


Dubcnn: We saw a lot of people complaining about why Pharaoh Monch didn't have a verse on his feature instead of just doing the hook...

*laughs* Shouts out to Pharaoh Monch man, he's incredible with the verses, hands down. Nobody got nothing to say about Pharaoh Monch. He's incredible. I think what it is dogg, when you got Slaughterhouse, you got 4 MC's already. So it's kinda hard to put a 5th MC on anything. The song would be like 7 minutes! *laughs* I mean "Move On" was like 8 minutes long by itself!

So that's the reason why it wasn't so many features on the album as far as spitting, because it's 4 of us and we trying to get ours homie. We're not gonna step aside, we're trying to get ours. So 5 MC's makes it kinda hard. But Pharaoh Monch blessed us with that hook man, and that track was produced by Denaun Porter. Denaun makes such slapping, stupid sh-t, it was a perfect match. Like I said, big ups to Pharaoh Monch for laying that down.


Dubcnn: You also got your EP coming, the "Pig Face Weapon Waist".

That's a crazy title, I know.


Dubcnn: It was pushed back to September, right?

Yeah, I pushed it back because I wanted to set it up a little better. I didn't wanna just drop it. I was like "This sh-t is heat, I got a lot of sh-t that I think people are going to like. I wanna set it up the right way." I wanted to make sure the video is right, the single is right, everything. It's coming out September 2nd, I'm doing a release party in Vegas, I'ma have Slaughterhouse perform at the release party. It's a dope ass EP, Snoop is on the first single.


Dubcnn: I was about to say... A lot of people were surprised when you announced that Snoop Dogg would be on it, after whatever it was that was going on between you and him. What happened for you and him to have a conversation?

You know what, I got a phone call and somebody was like "Yo, Snoop wanna holla at you" and I said "Aight cool, tell him to holla at me." So he called me and we had a man to man conversation. When we got off the phone, it was done. That's the type of sh-t that needs to happen. All these little rap beefs and sh-t going on man... Me and his sh-t wasn't really beef like that, but everybody knew it was turbulence. Everybody knew what was popping.

So, for him to call me and wanna speak man to man, I gave him a lot of points for that. Because he's a superstar celebrity, so he could've took the position like "Yo I ain't gonna call him." But he did. He hit me up, we had a man to man conversation, he got things off his chest, I got things off my chest, squashed it, hung up the phone on a good note. After that, it was like we wanna work together, it's been a minute!

A lot of the public don't know that me and Snoop worked with each other years ago, we got songs in the vault from years ago when I was a baby! So it was only right that we did something together to really make it official. We came together and did this song, it's called "Guess Who's Back" and it's ridiculous.

The sh-t is crazy and it had to be the first single. It's got that vibe I like, I like that club vibe, I like that 1am in the club, bad bitches everywhere, you got your crew, people that you love and respect, and you're having fun and sh-t. It's got that vibe to it. So shouts out to Doggy Dogg. That's something that ya'll might not have thought would happen, but everything happens for a reason and I'm just happy this happened.


Dubcnn: Another joint that I was really feeling was the one with Raekwon. (Editor's Note: This interview was conducted before the Rock The Bells incident involving Raekwon and Joe Budden)

Word, that's my word. Lex Diamond, Ice Water Raekwon. *laughs* When I heard the beat, I was like I gotta get Raekwon on this. The beat just had that feeling to it... EDI from the Outlawz is on it too. It was one of them beats that had that Shaolin, thug mentality type of beat. I was like "Who can I get on there to really set it off?"

So I hit Rae, he was with it and sent the sh-t back the next day. I hit EDI and told him "Yo we got legendary group members on here, we got Wu-Tang, I need that Outlawz sh-t!" He hit me with it. So I came with my COB Slaughterhouse sh-t and I love it. Coniyac is on the hook, she's in the kitchen somewhere rigt now, she might be *makes smoking gesture* doing what she do *laughs* Coniyac, she's a monster on the mic, she's on the hook, from the Doggy's Angels, I know ya'll remember them! That's how it came together!


Dubcnn: Tray Deee gave you a shoutout on an interview that he did recently from jail. Do you have any words for Tray Deee?

Man when I was young, just trying to get in the game, I used to tell Deee all the time "Man, ain't nobody f-ckin' with you on the mic." *laughs* He was like "Yeah Crook, but you getting at them though!" Cause I used to study Tray Deee's raps, and that dude is just a complicated ass gangster rapper. It ain't just some old simple gangsta rap sh-t, his sh-t is complex, robotic, like a machine hitting you in the face.

I used to always give him his props and I did a lot of shows in Long Beach coming up with him. It was hard coming up with Tray Deee man, cause the thing was... we was young, we'd come on stage and the crowd be like "Tray Deee, Tray Deee" *laughs* Like damn, can we rap? We just wanna rap too! *laughs* But everybody just wanted to hear Deee in Long Beach! I kept getting my grind on, and he started saying "Crook, I think you're one of the best out here." That was a big thing for me cause I always looked up to him and have a lot of respect for him, so shouts out to Deee.


Dubcnn: You recently put out a track over Drake's "Best I Ever Had" beat called "H's On The Side", where you talked about your tattoo... How many people hit you up about that sh-t?

Man, everybody in the world dogg...First of all, people act like I did my own tattoo... *laughs*


Dubcnn: But you didn't check it?

Muthaf-ckas is like "You don't know how to spell your groups name?" Of course I know how to spell my groups name, faggot! *laughs* But I'm not giving myself the tattoo! I'm over here running my mouth, we're talking, I got the homies all around me, we're having fun, drinking, cracking jokes and sh-t. By the time I looked at it, it was like "Aww sh-t..."

The people, they just f-ckin' act like I took the f-ckin' tat gun and was like "I don't know how to spell right now" *laughs* Come on, give me a f-ckin' break! We was f-cked up dogg, taking shots of patron, I think I popped a vicodin or something I don't know *laughs* My dude took the picture and put it on Twitter and everybody hit it up like "Yo... That sh-t is wrong!!!!! *laughs*


Dubcnn: Yeah the forums were going crazy over that sh-t *laughs*

Then Joe Budden started going off on me and I'm like "Okay I'ma get you Joey, don't worry about that!" But on some real sh-t, it's funny to me. It's fun to me because I've been through so much sh-t in my life, a f-cked up tattoo don't mean sh-t to me. *laughs* I'm not gonna jump off no bridge and I ain't gonna kill no tattoo artist. That's light weight sh-t. *laughs*

So I was like "Yo, put my H on the side, put House down there like that and I'm good. That's what I did, dogg. Next thing you know, I went to check my email and I go on AOL and the sh-t was on the front page! *laughs* I was like "Is this sh-t that important?!* I had a lot of fun though, a lot of the fans hit me on Twitter. they was talking sh-t. They was giving me the blues. So I got on Joe Buddens TV chatroom, his blog.tv room and I gave it to him! Like 40 f-cking messages I sent killing him off *laughs* He was like "Yeah I deserved that."


Dubcnn: People love that about Slaughterhouse, that ya'll can f-ck around with each other, have fun with it and not be so serious. Serious spitters, but still clown on each other.

Yeah man. I like my H's on the side! *laughs* f-ck that sh-t. I'ma make a song about it! I like to have fun dogg, and I'm going back to that tattoo artist, his name is Shay, I'm going back to get the rest of my work done. I don't care, he can misspell Crooked I, he can put Crooked L. I'm West Coast baby I don't care!


Dubcnn: Aight man, that's what it is. Go ahead and promote the Slaughterhouse album one more time, let them know to make it a trending topic on twitter.

Trending topics on Twitter, ya'll already know, Slaughterhouse, 8-11. By the time 8-11 gets here I'll probably have 8-11 Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... If you can't find the Slaughterhouse album, because of the shipment (read in between the lines!!!), go on iTunes. Bust the whole sh-t twice for Hip-Hop, go on Amalgam Digital, Amazon... Go online. If you can't find it in a Best Buy near you or whatever mom and pop store, go online and f-ck with that sh-t. Get two for Hip-Hop, we need that sh-t.

You fans and consumers of Hip-Hop, you guys are in control. Record companies ain't in control! You go and buy that sh-t, request that sh-t, go online and talk about that sh-t, that sh-t will be THE sh-t. So everything is in your hands. Go grab them muthaf-ckas up, tell your friends. If you want real sh-t to be in the forefront of Hip-Hop music again, then you need to get that Slaughterhouse album on 8-11. Support real Hip-hop. I'm with Nima right now, Dubcnn sh-t. Ya'll know! He got that shirt on right there, N.W.A., Niggas With Attitutudes, that's what we are.