Dubcnn: We're right here with Richie Rich. Where we at right now, man?

Richie Rich: We at the studio man. The Grill Studio in Emeryville, California.

Dubcnn: Now you’ve been in the game for a long time, and you just dropped your latest project “Town Bidness 2"...

Richie Rich: Yessir. “Town Bidness Vol. 2” is the follow-up to “Town Bidness Vol. 1”. Basically, we call this shit a mixtape, but it’s just a bunch of real songs, not like joints over other beats. We just collaged them to let people know that Double is still active and I'm finna slide back into this thang. I took one of them “hiatuses,” they call them, for maybe about the ten-pack or something, you dig? 

Dubcnn: Yeah man, where were you at? People were wondering.

Richie Rich: Shit man, at the house, on the lake, at the credit union; just living a regular life and trying to stay focused. [Laughs] A lot of people don’t understand that as an artist, we got music to do; but as a man, I got regular human shit I got to do. I got a family, so I took a break. I’m good at taking breaks man. I’m trying to quit taking them breaks though. I done got older, and the music is falling into the hands of the younger generation, so I don’t want to stay away too much longer, you dig?

Dubcnn: Something I see in a lot of artists that have been around for a minute is that you grow up & you get older, but all of the fans & people remember you for what you did 15-20 years ago, and expect you to be the same person, whether it’s the gangsta shit or the smokin’ or pimpin’.

Richie Rich: Right, right.

Dubcnn: And I see a lot of artists that were involved in that kinda stuff, and kinda have a hard time separating themselves from that old image. Is that something you’ve seen in your own career as well?

Richie Rich: Well you know what, it’s a trip. I don’t have a problem separating myself from my image because to be honest with you… The shit that you hear on records, a lot of that is me, but there’s a lot more to me than that. I have a hard time separating myself from people still thinking that I’m the coke-dealing nigga that got caught with a half a bird, and that I might have a couple of zips on me or something, and a nigga ain’t really rocking like that.

But I don’t really have a hard time with separation. I do have a hard time with people, like you say, expecting me [and asking me] “What’s up with that ‘Sideshow Part 2’?” [Laughs] They wanna keep it right where it was 15, 20 years ago. But I mean, it is what it is. I just appreciate muhfuckas still being even interested

Dubcnn: What’s your personal goal and motivation when you’re cutting records now? Is it still trying to get to the top of the charts?

Richie Rich: I got a lot of music still in me. A lot of the people around me are like "Double, what’s happening with the record?" My personal motivation now would be more not to try to get to the top, because I know what it takes to get to the top. I think I could have got to the top last time, had I took the necessary steps. But for me, it’s just a lot more in life than making music. So I get caught up with a lot of the other shit that I like to do.

But my goal and motivation right now is my kids, I want them to be able to go to school, to have a fair shot at a good life, without getting in the streets, without my daughter having to look to somebody else to make a plate for her. I just wanna be able to keep the finances flowing so I can take came of my kids, because I done already did my thang, as far as living and having fun. I've had a lot of fun. I ain't ready to quit having fun, but at the same time, my focus and motivation right now is to be able to take care of my kids.

Dubcnn: Back to "Town Bidness 2". One of the well received songs on there was "Blow Mine" with Devin The Dude.

Richie Rich: Oh they feelin' that?

Dubcnn: Yeah, can you tell us about the making of that song?

Richie Rich: Yeah! That song is a trip, because when we started with that song, it was more stripped down and it was just the loop. We put some drums with it, I put something on it and we tried it with a few different singers on it, just trying to get it right. Then Dyson, when he came in and funked it, that's when I started hearing Devin on it. I really heard Devin on the hook, too. I told my man that we could get Devin on a verse and I might even get him to do the hook.

We sent the song to Devin and I told him "Check this out my nigga, you can do the hook, the verse, whatever you're feeling. I definitely need the verse, and if you're feeling something for the hook, go on and knock that out too." He got back at me and said "Man, I like the hook the way it is." So there it is, he put his verse on the joint. It's a trippy kind of song, because a lot of people read it different kind of ways, but it's really just about how you blow yours. A lot of people blow in different ways. You see how I'm blowing mine, you dig? Zig-zags, white papers.

Dubcnn: My personal favorite song on the record was "Take It Or Leave It".

Richie Rich: Oh ok then, you know what? Okay then, come on dog, talk to me! That is the best record on the record, to me! Let me tell you something, "Take It Or Leave It", from the time that it left these knobs, was a dynamite kind of record. It was my favorite record, because the beat just pulled the real music up out of me. I wrote that song pretty fast and it's all real talk. It's still kind of educational. A nigga talking shit but still educating. So I'm glad that somebody grabbed on to that.

Dubcnn: In a few days it will be the 15th anniversary of 2Pac's death. You were close with 'Pac, you appeared on his albums and you guys had a good relationship. When I first mentioned it to you before the interview, you were like "Wow, 15 years passed?"

Richie Rich: Yeah! It don't seem like it was that long. So damn… 'Pac must've died as soon as my daughter was born, cause she's 16. First off, rest in peace 2Pac, good dude, I loved his music. I loved him in a different way, because he was my homeboy. When we were in the studio getting down it wasn't Richie Rich and 'Pac, it was more like two niggas who went to school together.

So for 15 years…. Man, that's a long time, dog. And I just heard a song that I had never heard before, a verse that I had never heard before, 15 years later! I'm just grateful that I had the chance to come in contact with the guy, I tell people this all the time. This ain't no self gratification shit, 'cause I feel pretty good - but 'Pac was my little homie turned big homie man. That's the summary of it. He was the lil nigga that came to the Town, who wanted to fuck with me on some music shit and I felt his music was a little different, because he was more militant at the time.

Then we started smoking and hanging, I started fuckin' with him and the Outlawz and we became family. It was past rap then. He was like my little brother who turned into the big dude. It don't seem like 15 years… Damn! That must mean I'm getting old! You see I'm sporting my little silver *rubs beard*, football season starting, that silver and black! You know!

Dubcnn: I was on YouTube a while back and I saw an old 'Pac interview with you sitting on the couch…

Richie Rich: Blackwatch interviews when he ate the whole pizza! Man that nigga was cold. Blackwatch got a lot of them old school interviews, old school freestyle sessions with me, 'Pac, Warren G, different muthafuckas.

Dubcnn: Now what's next for you musically, after this project? Can we expect a solo album?

Richie Rich: I've got a solo album that's already slated to drop on Hoo Bangin', and we're in here right now working on this "Town Bidness 3". I'm keep the mixtapes coming, even though they're all original beats we're still gonna call them mixtapes. I'll probably run this "Town Bidness" thing till Vol. 7 or something like that, keep sticking them in between my albums.

But my official album "Born In It" is slated to drop early 2012, on Hoo Bangin. Other than that I'm just trying to stay in the gym, stay healthy, take care of my kids and get back to the music. Cause at the end of the day, I like the shit I've been hearing, but I still got people that like what I be saying too. So I'm trying to tune in to the new flow and the new rhythm of what's popping, but I'ma still keep it solid though.

Dubcnn: Who are you feeling with as far as new cats coming up?

Richie Rich: Wiz Khalifa is cool, I met him on the video set with Too Short, I like his work. Wale, I'm feeling him, I'm feeling the boy Meek Mill. All them other niggas ain't new niggas, I mean Ross is undeniable, I've been feeling that nigga since his first joint.

Dubcnn: What about on the West Coast?

Richie Rich: On the West Coast I fuck with that boy Jay Rock, my nigga Glasses Malone, real tough, I like both of them. Kreayshawn, I fuck with her too! I like how she let the bitch know she wasn't a barbie and "bitch you work at Arby's, hurry up super size I'm starving" I fuck with that! I heard the controversy with her and the N-word and all the shit. I don't know much about that, I'm talking about feeling the record, I'm feeling the movement. I ain't against a young flavor as long as they keep representing right. I'm more mad at the labels than I am at the new artists, ya dig?

Dubcnn: What do you think about what's going on with Mess and Short?

Richie Rich: Aw man I didn't like that at all, cause both of them is my guys! I don't know what that was, I don't even wanna comment on that. Shout out to Mess, shout out to my nigga Short Dogg, gangstas! Them my niggas man, them niggas is playing games, both of them niggas is sitting on lots of cheese and when you got that kind of cheese, you can play them kind of games. But real talk, I don't know what that was about, that was something they had going on, it was buzzing for a minute… I talked to Short the other day and I've got a record on Mess new album. Like I said, both of them dudes is my guys. A little friendly competition is cool, but I'm glad they dropped the decimals on that shit.