PRIME (December 2007) | Interview By: Eddie Gurrola

       Dubcnn recently linked up with Prime of Long Beach for an exclusive video interview. We discuss current and upcoming projects he is featured on, such as the “Tupac Assassination” soundtrack, Butch Cassidy’s “Playa Life,” and Bishop Lamont’s “Collection Plate.” Prime also tells us about growing up around Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound, and how he originally met Bishop Lamont. Read or watch the feature 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 December 2007.

Questions Asked By : Eddie Gurrola

Full Interview In Video For Download : Here (Video: WMV)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watch The Video Interview (via the Dubcnn Brightcove Channel)
Press Play To Start Streaming Footage: Fast Connection Recommended

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dubcnn: What’s up everybody, we’re here with Prime. How are you doing?

What’s up, this is Prime man, straight out of the LBC. West Coast, what’s happenin’?


Dubcnn: For everyone that doesn’t know you yet, tell us about how you first got into the game…

I got into the game when I was about 13. My boy Bada Bing, Fratthouse – what’s happenin’ man! Daz put us on, and Snoop put us on, so I saw the whole Dogg Pound era when it was at its height. When Snoop was with Death Row and he had his Hummer and all that, he would take us around and show us the ropes. We stayed at Snoop’s house, so we went through all those stages with Tha Dogg Pound. We was just cats on the underground scene, seeing them go through their stages.

In the depth of all that, we ran into Bishop. He was, and still is, a good friend of my boy Bing. [Bishop] was a rhymer! He was a great MC – he fed niggas knowledge. He gave cats the game [and] he gave cats books to read. He was always trying to elevate you as a person – not just an artist, so we all took kind to him. He would put us in his Toyota – he was the first cat out of all our friends that had a car - he would pack us all into his car, and we would drive all the way to San Diego. I never heard him complain once, and he wouldn’t even get on songs. He would just do it for love. He would take us wherever we had to go, just out of friendship and for the love. He was around for all the Dogg Pound era, all that shit too. So he could tell you a lot of the stories we saw that were funny!

That’s pretty much it. I ran into the rest of the cast many years after. Bishop was doing his thing. He left from Snoop’s house, started doing his own thing, and then me and my crew, we kept pursuing what we was doing. We was doing shows, doing our mixtapes, staying battling in the streets, and ever so often we would run back into Bishop and chuuch him and see what was going on. Every time we saw him, he was elevating and doing something else, so we were like, “OK, he’s still out there doing his thing!”

Me as a young artist – I was the youngest of my crew – I would always see my peers [as examples.] I would learn from different mistakes that they made [and] I would learn from things that they did. As I got older, I [didn’t] make those mistakes - I would go [in] the opposite [direction.] Me as Prime – I had to always do me. Eventually I left the group situation, and I started doing my solo thing. My crew Fratthouse and my boy Bada Bing, they’re still doing their thing too. But right now, Prime is doing Prime. I’m in the studio constantly, trying to make some hot songs for y’all to listen to out there. If y’all picked up “Nigger Noize,” that’s what’s up! Big shout out to all the homies on “Nigger Noize” – DJ Skee, what’s happenin’!

DJ Warrior was the first cat to put me on [in] the mixtape game. I was constantly hounding him like, “What’s up man, put me on,” and he [did it] on without hesitation. [He said,] “OK, shoot me a song, and I’ll put you on. I’ll see what it do.” That was on “Mixtape Kings Vol. 1,” and then he put me on “Ill Street Dues.” That was big [on] the “Next To Blow” section, so if you picked that up, that’s what’s up too! And you know, it goes on from there…


Dubcnn: What advice would you give to young artists trying to make it in the game? Like you said with the Warrior situation, it was just a matter of persistence. Is that what you recommend?

Any artist trying to come up in the game should definitely try to circulate your name through the mixtape circuit [and] through record pools. If you’ve got a record pool in your area, definitely migrate to those people because that’s your city! Lock your city down with the record pools that [are] in your city, because they’re gonna hold you down. Big shout out to Lucky Lou, Foots, World On Wheels, Big Will - you know what it is! Just do that, and the rest is going to fall in place.

Hook up with some of the greatest DJs out here on the West Coast representing you like Skee, Warrior, Rampage, and some other cats that’s out here doing their thing too. Holler at them, and let them lay some groundwork for you so you can get your foot in the game at least. [If you] try to come out here and do it all yourself, you don’t have any background, [so] you’ve got to really come with it for cats to take a likeness or a kindness to you, because they don’t know where you came from. You’ve definitely got to migrate to your record pools and your hottest DJs to solidify [your position] before you try to get out there and do it by yourself.


Dubcnn: One thing you’ve been working on is the “Tupac Assassination” soundtrack. You’ve got some tracks on there, so tell us about that experience…

Oh man dude, that was an experience! Bishop sat me down – we was at Can-Am – that’s Death Row’s old studio, and he was like, “Yo, I want you to put something to this track.” He said, “I want you to put your real life situation to this track.” I sat down with it like, “Man, I know exactly what I have to do to this song.” It was a Dae One track, and he was like, “You’re gonna start it off, so come with it from the heart!” So everything that I went through, I jotted down and left it as it is. It didn’t have a hook yet, it didn’t have Big Wy on there, Bokey, or Boss Hogg. Big shout out to Boss Hogg and Big Wy! What up! I just tried to put everything that was real in my life onto that song in the beginning, and everything else just fell into place. Bishop blessed me with two heavy hitters on there to follow right after me, and then Bokey blessed it.

Right after that, I hollered at Bishop like, “Yo, at the end of the song, I hear a blessing [on] this!” He was looking at me like, “Get the fuck out of here! Nah, leave it like it is, it’s fine!” I’m like, “Man, you should bless this song!” He was like, “Man, I don’t need to get on this song, this is for y’all!” So I was like, “All right, fo sho.” In the next couple of days, he was like, “Come to the studio, come check out ‘Pray Ave.’” I went to the studio, and right when he turned it on, I was like “That’s what’s up!” He had his aunt come and bless the song. Big shout out to his auntie, she prayed over it. She prayed over the whole studio! God knows what [kind of] spirits are going on at Can-Am. That was Death Row’s old studio, so there were cats getting beat down in every room and all that. [There’s] all kinds of vibes and spirits going on in that studio, but she blessed it, so nothing but hits have been coming out of there! Nothing but greatness has been coming out of that studio.


Dubcnn: It must be a great experience doing something for Tupac now…

Man, doing something for Tupac in Tupac’s studio…that’s history! I couldn’t have done it any better than with the family that I’m dealing with right now. It’s just a bunch of humble cats trying to get in the game, and people [are] blessing one another. Nobody’s looking at anybody as a threat – everybody’s looking at [each other] like, “Man, you can do this too! You can be on top too! You can shine too!” There’s more on the plate for everybody to eat, and that’s what I love about it. Everybody’s giving everybody their own shine. Everybody has their own destiny in their hands, so that’s what’s up!


Dubcnn: You’re venturing off on your own with your solo street album “The Transformation”…

Yeah, “The Transformation,” that’s gonna be [with] September 7th – that’s the DJ by the way, not the actual date! [It’s mixed by] September 7th, hosted by DJ Warrior, [so] I’m focusing on that, about to put that out definitely in the beginning of ’08. Big shout out to E, I’m gonna put you in the camera one of these days you sucka! Big shout out to Vanessa Marquez too, that’s my favorite singer, I love you! So be on the lookout for that “Transformation,” and I know y’all haven’t forgotten about “Eat Or Be Eaten,” so that’s coming out too, be on the lookout for that after.

“The Transformation” baby, that’s all I’ve got to say! Perception is deception, you know what it is! Big Easy, I see you fool! Bang! I’m gonna have production on there from Dae One, Diverse, my boy Loose, T-Nasty – what up fool! My boy Robert Miller, Pete Rod, Fratthouse, Bada Bing is gonna be on there. The whole Lost Souls camp [too] – Noni Spitz, Taje, Bishop, I’m gonna get Diverse on a verse, [and] Indef. Daz is already on there, I’m gonna have RBX lace me up with something, so it’s gonna be hot man, it’s gonna be real!


Dubcnn: What is your goal for this street album?

The whole goal for this street album is just to create a buzz for my crew, my camp, [and] for Long Beach as a city. Big shout out to all the cats that’s holding the Beach down – Warren G, Nate Dogg, my boy Butch Cassidy – he’s gonna be on my record too - the Dogg, Crooked, Domino. You know Domino’s from the Beach! That’s all it’s about man. I’m all about the community man - it ain’t about fame, it ain’t about all that other shiny bullshit. It’s straight for my city, it’s straight for my community, and getting everything where it should be.

Especially on the West Coast as a whole, I think that we should be tighter as a coast. We should be tighter as cities connected. It’s getting there, I see it really getting there from Bishop to Glasses to Taje to Butch Cassidy [to] Roccett – everybody’s getting their shine on the West Coast scene, getting their cities out there. We’re just trying to unite everybody and get the West Coast back to where it used to be – [that] golden era! That’s all I’m about right now, bringing that back!


Dubcnn: You’re going to be on a bunch of new street albums as well. You’re on the Bishop Lamont and Whoo Kid’s “Collection Plate”…

Yeah, “The Collection Plate,” Taje “Hot Box 3,” and the Get It Gang mixtape. I just recorded something for my boy Taje, big shout out to Taje! Lost Souls, what it do? Get It Gang! That’s coming soon, when you do your interview with him you’ll get to know more about that. That’s what it is man, I’m blessed by a whole lot of cats that’s around me right now – good dudes!


Dubcnn: You’re going to be on Butch Cassidy’s “Playa Life” album too…

Yeah, I’m on three joints on Butch Cassidy’s album “Playa Life,” so be on the lookout for that too! That’s gonna be a hot album, I’m really proud of that record! I’m very proud of that man too, [he’s] doing his thing, it’s Butch Cassidy’s first official record coming out! He’s got “Chillin’ On The West Coast,” featuring me, he’s putting that out as a single. I’ve just been getting blessed all year man. Getting blessed like a mug!

So what else can I say? MySpace, hit me up, y’all know what it is! I take beats – if you’re a producer and you’ve got hot tracks I’m gonna listen to them. If they’re solidified, I’m gonna record to them, and we’re gonna make some money out this motherfucker! If you’re a hot singer, hit me up, I’ll listen to your vocals, and we’ll make some money out this motherfucker! But if you’re garbage, then you don’t need to hit me up! Don’t even think about it!

That’s what it is. Big Prime out the LBC, y’all know what it is! Big Eddie, holla at ya boy. Dubcnn!