KAM  (May 2008) | Interview By: Nima Etminan

It's a given that if we interview Kam, we're gonna get into some politics, so we talk about the popular "gangsta" image in Hip-Hop, who the real enemy is, him being block from the game, and much much more.


As ever, you can read this exclusive interview below and we urge you to leave feedback on our forums or email them to nima@dubcnn.com.

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Interview was done in May 2008.

Questions Asked By: Nima Etminan

Kam Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout! Check That Here

Full Audio Interview Here

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Dubcnn: We've hooked up with Kam - fuck calling you West Coast Kam, you're Kam!

Yeah, that's what I thought! But I guess in 2008 you gotta make a distinction, cause it's a couple of other cats running around with that name, you know.


Dubcnn: Fuck that, we're gonna call you Kam on dubcnn.

Yeah! You can call me OG Kam! *laughs*


Dubcnn: I feel like "Self & Kind" has been on our "anticipated albums for next year" list ever since dubcnn launched. What's the status on the album?

Man, if you know anything about Kam, then you can probably imagine why it's been taking so long. Whenever "they", and when I say "they" I mean the blockers and the haters, they're kind of manipulating the industry right now, and when they hear that I'm coming, they throw all the yellow cones and the detour signs and the road blocks out that they can, so it's always something! Whether it's acts of God or acts of Satan! *laughs* It's always some setbacks. I think I updated that "Self & Kind" album atleast four times.


Dubcnn: That was actually my next question, I was gonna ask you how many times you had changed the record since you first started recording it.

Yeah, I gotta keep changing it, cause records get dated. Even though all of it might sound brand new to the consumer, but if it gets old to me I gotta scrap it.


Dubcnn: Would you consider putting out those other records on the internet and stuff like that?

Yeah, I actually started doing that a little bit, like on my MySpace page I got like 8 songs on there. Those were going to be on the album, but now they're scrapped. I'm still going to do something with them, but they're not going to come out on the "Self & Kind". "Self & Kind" gotta be potent, it's gotta be all the way up there to modern times and what's going on in the hood and in the world.


Dubcnn: A lot of fans wonder, what does a rapper do when he's not recording or promoting his music? What have you been up to?

Well me, I can't speak for other rappers, but I'm heavily active in the community. I ain't into politics, but I guess I'm into politics translated into street language. Like the stuff that's going on with the war, the Barack obama campaign, all of that, I guess I'm like a translator. I understand the corporate language, but my people that I try to get to, they don't, so I convert the political language into hood language. That's what I've been doing, trying to raise the consciousness level of the youth in the streets, in the ghetto.


Dubcnn: You're part of the group Warzone, which Snoop Dogg put together, with Goldie Loc and MC Eiht. I remember people were surprised when it was announced, as you seemed to have a different image than the other two. How did you feel about the idea when you first heard about it?

That Warzone project is a product of that Western Conference that Snoop had two or three years ago. At the time that that happened, everybody was asking what the point of the whole thing was, cause nothing seemed to come out of it except Dogg Pound getting back together. So that made it seem like it was an in-house thing or a publicity stunt or something.

There's not only the Warzone but also Westurn Union, which is Bad Lucc, Damani and Soopafly, and these groups represent that first action of West Coast artists that never really got down with each other, that never really hung out or moved together, squadding up and making a statement of unity. Yeah our styles ain't the same, but what we got in common is that we're West Coast vets in this rap thang. If we're true artists, we shouldn't have no problem being challenged to find some common ground that we can get down on to make some records. It's good for me, I like it.


Dubcnn: So how has the music been coming along so far?

It's coming along good, it's real street. I still drop the seeds that I drop on the conscious level, but it's more street than what I'm known for.


Dubcnn: How did you feel about doing that?

That's cool, cause that's where I'm from. At the same time, I got a lot of fans that love my street side more than my political side. Like 2Pac or something, he was known for Dear Mama or Brenda Had A Baby, but at the same time he was known for Toss It Up and whatever else he was doing. You got people that wanna hear that somedays, and somedays they wanna hear the party thang. That's part of being an artist, and being versatile enough to be able to cover all them grounds.


Dubcnn: So would you say that the Kam we're going to hear on "Self & Kind" is different from the Kam on the Warzone project?

Yeah, see the Kam on the "Self & Kind", he's... *pause*


Dubcnn: The "Peace Treaty" Kam?

Yeah, that's the revolutionary Kam, that's where I can be just who I want to be and say what I wanna say. It ain't preachy or nothing like that though. But If I'm dealing with somebody else, I don't wanna step on nobody's toes, I don't want to get them in hot water or into any trouble, but I was born in hot water. So if it's my album, you're gonna have to know what you're getting into, featuring with me! *laughs* I ain't worried about you starting up controversy on my shit. But at the same time, I gotta be respectful enough not to... Other artists ain't signed up for what I signed up for.


Dubcnn: Was that the issue with the "Murder These Murderers" track that you wrote for Snoop's album?

*laughs* Yeah yeah, without a doubt.


Dubcnn: We heard it though, you had on your MySpace later on.

Yeah I put it on the MySpace. Hip-Hop, Rap shit is a billion dollar corporate industry now. When it first started, you could say "Fuck the police", you could say "fag", you could say "jew", "nigger", "cracka", "devil", whatever! You could say what you wanted to say! Now, all of a sudden it's all kind of cencorship, political incorrect titles and all of that. Now if you say something, you're homophobic, or racist, or anti-semitic, all these titles that thye throw on the shit.


Dubcnn: But on the other hand, it seems like anybody who comes out nowadays is a gangsta, as opposed to back in the day! It's kind of a contradiction.

Yeah, exactly! Not kind of, it's a hell of a contradiction! It's hypocricy, really. But they control the media, they control the titles, they can label you this, they can label you that, and then everybody is scared to deal with you. They don't want community backlash to come against them. I done had a couple of shows canceled, just because somebody put a title out there, like "he's racist"! It's like "What? This is the same track we were just partying to two years ago!" I ain't said nothing new, I ain't even had no new album out, so once they slapped them titles on you and they try to assassinate your character or whatever, you gotta be ready for it! A lot of these cats ain't ready for that and I ain't the one trying to force them into some uncomfortable position. They gotta choose that on their own, if you're a man and you recognize what's going on, then you're supposed to choose that.


Dubcnn: The other group that Snoop put together, the Westurn Union, they had a video out and they just dropped their first mixtape. What's up with the Warzone's first project?

That was the plan, since Westurn Union is more New West, new up and coming artists that haven't been broke yet as artists. Me, MC Eiht and even Goldie, we got a fan base already, Goldie Loc from being with Snoop and Tray Deee on Tha Eastsidaz thang. Goldie ain't necessarily an old vet, but he's already been attached to vets. But that's not really the case with Soopafly, Bad Lucc and Damani. They ain't got to establish their own fanbases yet, so we're giving them this time and support to try to break them as artists and get their thang buzzin'.

I still do whatever I do solo, I still try to maintain my following, the same with Eiht, same with Goldie. It's not a hating thang or an intimidation. We're trying to support, that's the whole point. All of us support what Westurn Union is doing, all of us support what Warzone is doing, all the acts that we're dealing with now. We'll get to this later, but we're putting in motion this West Coast tour called the West Fest. We're just giving everybody their look, that's what we never did. Like when somebody on the West came out with an album it was like "Yeah it's cool.."

It was always that type of mentality, that's why we ain't been able to really get no bread or make an elevation in West Coast rap. So we're trying to put a stop to that and lead by example. Everybody ain't gotta agree with each other and fall in love, but you have to do what they doing in the South, East and Mid-West. They might have just put a diss record out on each other last night, but then they on the same show the next night! They're able to turn that emotional bullshit switch off long enough to make some money. Then they can turn it back on if they want to. We gotta learn how to do that.


Dubcnn: As far as the Warzone project, who are you trying to get with as far as production and guest appearances go?

The whole fact that it's supposed to be a statement of West Coast unity, only features on there are pretty much West Coast artists. Not trying to exclusive any other artists, but we gotta clean up our own house first. So it's like if I'm trying to do a peace treaty between the Bloods and teh Crips, I can't even complain what's going down between the Blacks and the Browns. You gotta clean up your in-house shit first. Damn near everybody from the West Coast from the Bay to San Diego is featured on the Warzone, one way or the other.


Dubcnn: What about your solo album, who do you have on there doing the beats?

On the solo album, I got production from Warren G, Battlecat, Sir Jinx, Focus, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, a young producer named Baby Boy, DJ Pooh, DJ Quik.


Dubcnn: That sounds crazy!

We got some fire. It's just about having the machine in place to get it out quick enough to where it don't get dated! Cause if you sit on it too long, it's going to be dated.


Dubcnn: So what's going to happen? When are you going to drop it?

What it's looking like now, I'm trying to use the Warzone momentum and that whole unity to kind of spring board my solo thang off that. Cause if I put something out before that, it would get in the way of the big picture we're trying to do. The Warzone is officially scheduled to be released in August. That don't leave me too much time in 2008. If I'm really serious about getting the most out of the Kam solo project, it's probably gonna be 1st quarter next year. It would be foolish to try to drop something in the 4th quarter this year. That's my thang. But I've done waited this long, a couple more days ain't gonna hurt. But at the same time, I gotta still stay visible enough to keep my buzz cracking.


Dubcnn: Let's get to this West Fest Tour that has been announced. Who are the artists that are a part of that?

The first wave that we're coming with is Snoop Dogg of course, WC, Glasses Malone, Mistah FAB, Westurn Union, Warzone, The Lady Of Rage. The cities that we hit, we're gonna pull the local artists that's hot in that region up on the stage, we're gonna pick up artists as we go along.


Dubcnn: When is this starting?

Right now it's looking like it's going to be from the middle of June to the middle of July. We already got about 20 cities that we got locked in, we're going all the way from San Diego all the way to Seattle, Washington, Portland, Denver, Utah, Arizona, actually all the way up to Vancouver up in Canada a little bit. It's lining up right now, we're going to try to get like 30 cities.


Dubcnn: Sounds good! Did you ever think of calling it quits throughout the last years?

Yeah! I always considered calling it quits dealing with the machine. I never considered calling it quits as far as the music. I know what I got to say is what everybody be thinking, but they won't nobody else really get in the game pushing this kind of line. If you didn't make a name for yourself by 93-94 with the shit that I say, they're not letting you in. Right now, Immortal Technique, dead prez, myself, Paris, everybody that's pushing the kind of line that I'm pushing, turf political revolutionary type of lyrics, we're old! They ain't letting no young dudes or females come in like that! They shut that down, that's all by design. They ain't letting no conscious shit in, it could be fire but they ain't letting it go like that no more.


Dubcnn: What would Kam be doing if he quit Hip-Hop?

I don't think I could quit Hip-Hop! That's just like saying could I quit being Black. That's what we are! Other than what Barack Obama is doing right now,and that's because he's made out of both extremes, Black and White, and that's why he can speak to both peoples and all the ones in between. We're made Hip-Hop, so I could never quit that! This is the revolution that united Whites and Blacks and everybody else. Religion didn't do it! I'm a Muslim, but Islam didn't do it, not the way that it's been misrepresented up until this point. Christianity didn't do it, Judaism didn't do it. Barack and them, he's just getting his little look now, he's waking up the people on the political level. But on the street level, Hip-Hop is what it is! That's what did it!


Dubcnn: We hope that you will be doing music for a lot of years to come! Before we get out of here, is there anything else that you'd like to let everybody know?

Let me see... As far as what we talked about earlier with the whole gangsta rap thing, and that now all the youngsters are feeling like they gotta be on some gangsta shit, or pimping hoes or making it rain or selling dope and all that... That ain't gangsta! Straight up. What's really gangsta is banging on a real enemy. Not being fuckin' cowards and acting like you so tough if you can shoot or get at another Black or another Brown or another poor muthafucka like you. The real gangsta, the real warrior, is the one that can identify the real enemy and bang on them.

Who is the real enemy? The United Snakes and the government. Not just this government, they say Hip-Hop is global, we can deal with Great Britain, all those Satans. If you're scared to call them Satan or to bang on them, then you're fuckin' cowards, you ain't no gangsta. This is the maturity of gangsta rap right here. This is the natural progression that gangsta rap was supposed to go into, direction it's supposed to go in. Yeah we banged in the streets and banged on each other, but once we woke up and found out who the real enemy is, we're banging on them now!

If we can kill each other for nothing, we damn sure can kill somebody else, the real terrorist, for something. So, I ain't saying go do that, but if you're rapping about it, and you're infecting these little kids' minds and making them feel like they're going to act it out, then put the right enemy in their head and make them act that out!