Knoc-Turn-'Al (January 2010) | Interview By: Jose Ho-Guanipa

..........................................................................................

Interview was conducted in December 2009
 

..........................................................................................
Related Media & Links
Knoc-turn'al - Call Me Jaguar (Audio)
..........................................................................................
Knoc-turn'al // Video Interview // Dubcnn

Download The Video Interview Part 1 Windows Media
Download The Video Interview Part 2 Windows Media

Press Play to stream footage (Fast Connections Recommended)

..........................................................................................

Dubcnn: What’s up Dubcnn, this is Jose we’re here with Knoc-turn‘al. What’s up man?

Knoc-turn‘al : Yo this your boy Knoc-turn‘al, DUBCNN, before I get into this interview I want you to hear how music is really in my family. We gonna walk over to my daughter and see what she’s doin’. She on the piano doing her thing. She takes piano lessons.

Dubcnn: We’re out here, at the hotspot Opus, it’s on Wilshire and we’re just chillin’. What’s up, what’s new?

Knoc-turn‘al: I got a lot of things comin’ up. I gotta take my daughter’s glasses off first (laughing). I’m just blessed to be in the game for ten years, to where I really appreciate my talent, more than I have in the past. I used to do it, get drunk, smoke a lot a weed, but I didn’t really focus on the business side of it. But now I’m a little more business orientated, there’s a lot to learn, it’s fun.

Dubcnn: So tell us what you’ve been up to since the last time we talked to you. I know you’ve been doing a kind of restructuring after the Elektra situation went down, where you got the bad end of the deal.

Knoc-turn‘al: It wasn’t a bad situation. Lyor did what he felt he had to do. He took over Elektra, they fired a lot of the rap department. I guess the rap department wasn’t doing what he thought it was supposed to be doing, which isn’t here nor there in relation to my rap career. Me as a person, he let me go debt and obligation free, which I appreciate, because I still owed them some albums, and he let me go free. Now I got this different situation at a couple labels I have going, as far as Equity Records, Treacherous Records, Mathmatix Entertainment. I have a lot of people I deal with across the board, from here to Lyons France, I got people in Chile, I have people in Japan. DJ Karls in Japan, big ups to him. I didn’t know I was gonna be a global artist. I didn’t realize the effect I would have on people. So one thing for sure, me being a humble person, which I will also remain, one thing I will do is say, and it just hit me really fast, I didn’t understand it, it fell in my lap, I had to back up for a minute, “Whoa, did this really just happen?” When I backed away for a second I realized I’m not the only person going through this. There’s a lot of things, you gotta fight demons, you gotta fight a lot of things. The good part about it is is that God gave me a gift. And the gift is the gift of gab, and a lot of people don’t have that.

Dubcnn: Tell us musically what’s going on. We know you got your first big introduction working with Dre and Snoop. Are you still working with them? Are they involved with your upcoming projects? How are you involved in their projects?

Knoc-turn‘al: I’m always involved with their movement, I’m a part of the West Coast movement. The knights at the round table are always talking so I have to make sure I live up to their expectations as a young artist. They’ve been here many years. I’ve been here half of the years, but I’ve only been here half of the years. It’s a fickle business, sometimes fans latch on, sometimes they don’t. You’re only as great as your latest hits so you have to keep making songs. I backed away for a year, because I had to take some time off to take care of my family life. Because if I didn’t then I would be like a preacher on the pulpit preaching bullshit. Everybody fight they own battles, but I’m back again, I came out my batcave to actually show to the world I can recreate myself, I can reinvent myself. It’s not a problem to do that. I made it hard on myself, it’s actually a lot easier than I did.

Dubcnn: You’re back on the scene, you’re talking about reinventing yourself. How did you reinvent yourself, how are you reinventing yourself now as an artist and musically?

Knoc-turn‘al; You have a lot of new artists, most of them, I don’t’ really know who they are. I know Drake, Young Money and the New Boyz and LMFAO, of course Pitbull. He constantly has party music. For me to reinvent myself I had to keep it true to my fans for one, and for two make some music that fits into the criteria of music today. Instead of making lowrider music, I had to reinvent myself in a way that I could still make rider music, but it has to be a faster tempo. It was all a process, it wasn’t that hard. As far as Detox is concerned, I’ll be a part of that, as far as Knoc-turn‘al as a person, Knoc’sville, you got The Book of Knoc coming out, I have to give fans what the pace is for our music. If the pace is 120 beats per minute then I have to make a song that’s for us that way. That’s the way it is.

Dubcnn: You’re doing a lot of stuff with Treacherous Records. How did you link up with them? And can you speak on your new distribution deal?

Knoc-turn‘al: I worked with Treacherous records after LA Confidential. That was the label I built from the ground up. Made a substantial amount of money from that, backed away, then signed to Treacherous, they gave me a substantial amount of money to sign. Instead of putting something out really quickly and doing something impulsive what I really had to do was step back. “Self who are you? Define yourself as a person." When I finally looked in the mirror and defined myself as a person that’s when I came out of the batcave and said, “I’m ready.” It’s not about the fame, it’s about music. Knoc-turn‘al is separate from the person that Royal Harbor is. Royal Harbor is a family man, Knoc-turn‘al is in the public eye. Those are two different things. And that’s just the realization behind it, I try to live behind it. I gotta separate the character I created from the person I am.

Dubcnn: You helped a lot of people writing. Have you still been doing that with people, and who have you been working with?

Knoc-turn‘al: I’ve been doing a lot of work for everybody. It’s never guaranteed until it comes out, but I’ve been doing a lot of work for many people. I did a remix for Drake, if he uses that, then that’s fine. You gotta keep pushin’. You gotta know that if you do this, this is what happens. I do not want to be affiliated with negativity this time around. The first time around I was affiliated with a lot of madness. This time around I want people to feel like it’s okay to approach me and talk to me. Just because I have a frown on my face doesn’t mean I’m mad at the public, it just means I might have had a stressful day. I want to be approachable this time. So when people say, “Hey man I like your music,” I say, “Thank you sir.” I can shake their hand give them my shoes, the shirt off my back. I’ve done that many times at shows, people know that. That’s just the way I am, it’s who I am as a person that defines what I’m trying to do. By the time it ends, I want a star on Hollywood Boulevard. I want to pick out my spot on a blank space and say, “I wanna be buried here.” I’m trying to become a legend in my own right, I gotta lot of work to do. I got about 5 albums to do and then we’ll see.

Part 2:

Dubcnn: Tell us about these albums. You came back from the batcave and now you’re about to drop Knoc’sville.

Knoc-turn‘al: Yeah Knoc’sville, and then the Mathmadix, which has Ripacut, J Beam and Knawledg, they all have their solo albums. Universal gave us the deal, it’s the big U, field goal it’s good. One thing for sure is that me Knawledg, Ripacut, Beam, Noah Jones, then I got a few other cats, big ups to Dipset West, they doing their thing on the West Coast. It’s all a big party after that. But I don’t want to be involved with just partying, I want to be involved in the music. One thing’s for sure it’s not just about, "You got West Coast style." That’s not what I try to bring with this album. This album is not West Coast, its just good music. I just did George Benson remake of Give Me The Night. I did not rap one time, I did a whole jingle segment. People were like, “Why did you do that?” “Because I’m recreating myself.” It’s for the people that don’t know me, that haven’t heard me, they have to see me in a new light. For my fans they gon’ understand it’s still me. I’m still growing.

Dubcnn: Knoc’sville is kind of like a street album.

Knoc-turn‘al: Knoc’scville is the prequel to The Book of Knoc. It’s not a mixtape, it’s just the album before the album, it’s all original, I don’t use other people’s beats. It’s the prequel to my album, just to give you something for now. And its not gonna be a couple songs, it’s gonna be 12 songs and the album is 17 songs with 3 interludes.

Dubcnn: Is Knoc’sville gonna be distributed?

Knoc: Of course, Universal is gonna distribute that, they’re gonna distribute it digitally, and distribute it with hard copies. We’re gonna go from there and do all the proper promo and do whatever we need to do to make everyone happy. I got some BMI statements a couple years ago saying my music was selling in Egypt. If they want me to do a show I’ll be there. Did you know I took twelve vaccinations to go to Africa, in the belly button.

Dubcnn: You talked about being an international artist. What are some of the places you've enjoyed visiting?

Knoc-turn‘al: The place in enjoyed the most I would say is Australia, ‘cause they’re pretty funny out there. That’s at the time I was drinking a lot so I had a lot of fun. When they do it they do it well.

Dubcnn: Who have you been working with in these new projects as far as other artists and producers?

Knoc-turn‘al: The formula is pretty much the same expect I have a legion behind me. I have new cats. Like Dr. Dre always told me, it’s better to be able to put cats on than to just do stuff with the same cats. I have a whole legion of cats behind me that are willing and ready to do what they need to do. Like I was saying Ripacut, J Beam, Dez, Deztined. There’s a whole bunch of people. I have a live band behind me now. It’s just growing. Instead of just feeling like you have to use your MPC and Triton keyboard t make a beat, there’s more music involved this time.

Dubcnn: I know that you once said that you were gonna focus on building a team and a family in the industry. What have you bee doing to build that inner circle?

Knoc-turn‘al: Well at first I had Slip Capone, Time Bomb, Hittman was with us, Miss Roq was with us, Six Two was with us. We had a good team. People went here or there and did whatever they felt was best for their career, but me, I tried to keep it steady. When I felt it was too much I backed away and rebuilt. With Mathmadix, the name of the album is It All Adds Up. In the album cover for the Mathmadix, all the symbols, are positive symbols in math. No negative symbols, no subtraction, no division, just all positive. I love that, I’m telling you that’s the one you should look for. With Ebony Records I have Mr. Cox and his son named Big Time, he got two projects coming out. From here to New York I tried to find a way to make it one table so we can all shake hands and make it happen. So if they want to release it on their region I’m on their album, if they want to release it in my region, I’m on their album. If they want to release it in the mid section I’m on their album, if they want to release it in Canada I’m on their album. If they want to go to Japan, I can talk to DJ Karls. If I want to go to Lyon, France, there’s DJ AK. I’ve done songs with people across the globe not just in America. Me reevaluating myself is me understanding that it’s a big world and me seeing the world makes me understand that I got a lot of work to do. To become the legend that I want to be I gotta be Barry Bonds, keep swinging. Like Katt Williams say, “Don’t talk about steroids, just keep swinging the bat.”

Dubcnn: Thanks for the interview, just tell us when the projects are gonna drop and where we can find them.

Knoc-turn‘al: Knoc’sville project is definitely coming out in mid February or early March, that’s a given. We got videos comin’, Give Me The Night, that’s the first one, it’s a George Benson remake. And then Sorry I Left You, it’s me apologizing to the West Coast for leaving. I have a lot of artists that are gonna get on there like King T, Coolio, to Hittman. A lot of people that you wondered what happened to these West Coast artists. Sorry I Left You is kind of like a tribute to “We apologize for not staying on our grind and being lazy.” And The Book of Knoc is gonna arrive this summer and that’s gonna be real fun. I got a song called Buy You a Rose, it’s impeccable. The George Benson song is a remake.

Dubcnn: Thanks for the interview, is there anything else you want to say to everyone?

Knoc-turn‘al: I wanna thank Dubcnn of course for being the west coast affiliate and supporter. I know you guys had many things to do besides talk to Knoc-turn‘al, but you know what, here I go, watch this…