ROCCETT  (April 2007) | Interview By: Rob G

   

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

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Roccett Interviewed In Vegas: Part 1 (Quiktime MOV) | (Windows Media)

Roccett Interviewed In Vegas: Part 2 (Quiktime MOV) | (Windows Media)


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Part 1 (Streaming Video - Click Play To Watch)

Dubcnn: It’s your boy Rob G, you just tuned in to Dubcnn TV. I’m here now with my boy Roccett from Green Up Entertainment, but, signed to CTE West with Young Jeezy, big man doing it on the move.

Chuuch.


Dubcnn: I’m here to ask him a couple questions that the world would like to ask.

Alright. Keep it running. Go ahead, I’m gonna turn this off. *Turns off cell phone* I’m busy!


Dubcnn: Business man, business man!

Let’s get suited. What’s happenin’, what you got?


Dubcnn: I’ll tell you what it is. What made you start rappin’? What got you in the whole spirit, in the mood of rap? What made you take that career?

I mean, shit, nigga started in high school like, playin’ and all, you know, people were like “you hot,” you know I didn’t like take it seriously. But, you know, it just happened though, we used to be just playing, rhyming in circles, you know. *Gets up*

Don’t trip, keep it rollin’, we got this, keep it rollin’, we gone get the man some water and all that. Umm, I started in high school, people was like “you tight,” you know, the regular, but I didn’t take it seriously until probably like 18 when a nigga was just in the street grindin, I was just like, a nigga gotta do something, you know? So, dudes started putting me in the studio. Actually, my boy Danse Started putting me in the studio.


Dubcnn: So, at school, you was probably one of them kids that was beatin on the tables and doing it?

Roccett: I mean, yeah, yeah yeah, I mean music always been in me, I thought I was Jordan to be honest with you, but you know, music always been in me, but I didn’t take it serious until like 18, my brother’s like, “you can do this,” so, my man put me in the studio, and from there, I just been doin’ it ever since.


Dubcnn: Chuuch, that’s what’s up. Well look, somethin’ else, that even myself is curious about. How did you come across Jeezy? Like, how did that connection with Jeezy take place?

*Thinks* Oh, man.

Dubcnn: If you can remember when, let your boy know.

I got, I got, we got similar folks, let’s say that. You know what I mean? We got similar folks that, uhh, before I even got signed to the dude we were hangin’ out. Like, before that, my nigga, we was hangin’ out, jumpin’ out of Bentley coupes and Phantoms and all that, like, prior to. So, he came over here to LA, like for one of his little shows, or he was doing like promo somethin’, and they had a little freestyle contest out, I mean, it wasn’t no contest, it was just rappin’, but you know, I jumped in, whatever, did my thing, and he was like, “homie, you hot,” you know, so we went from there, and ever since then, we’ve been CTE, you know, making it happen.


Dubcnn:  Alright. That’s what’s up. So, you freestyled your way into Corporate Thug Entertainment?

*Laughs* Pretty much!


Dubcnn:  That’s takes skills!

You already know!


Dubcnn: Now, what’s this Green Up I’m hearing about? What is Green Up?

Green Up, to be serious, you already know, but we gon’ tell y’all. Green Up is, I mean, Green Up my niggaz, you know what I mean? It’s folks that I grew up with, bangin’ with, we start our own label homie, and you know, we got our own rappers, my man right here [Rob G] rap, y’all ain’t know, we got my boy Friday rap, you know what I mean, Manson, Get Down, we got our own squad and clique of niggaz that, we do our own thing with, put our mixtapes out, make our own money, you know, we Green Up, we get money together, and that’s what it is. It’s our family, it’s my brothers, you know, I’d die for them, bleed for them, whatever, they my niggaz, so, that’s our squad right there.


Dubcnn: That’s what’s up. Now, I know about this, but, when did this name fade, Logic? Now, that’s a throwback name, but when did you change to Roccett?

Man. To be honest with you, it was legal troubles. Nigga like, you know, the game like probably 70 percent business and 30 percent rappin’.


Dubcnn: OK

So, Logic was taken already. You know what I mean? And that’s when I was on my tip, like really just, I was really on my rhymes, like metaphors for everything, and I gotta mean this, and mean that, you know what I mean? I was on one anyway, but when you go to ASCAP and all that to register your name, and somebody already got your name, then that’s they name, since they already paid for it, or they already had a prior clue. I mean, you still can use the name, but you’ve got to go through a lot of stuff to do it. So, you know, Roccett my last name anyway, my hood name, my last name, so everybody that don’t know. But anyway, I mean, yeah so I made the transfer for the business purposes, it’s my last name anyway, my hood name, so it worked out. Roccett is what it is.


Dubcnn: Aight. Right now, it seems like your name is ringing bells on the street. I mean, you drop mixtape, after mixtape, after mixtape.

Chuuch.


Dubcnn: But, you doin’ it consistently.

Chuuch.


Dubcnn: So...what’s something about a mixtape that you dropped that you didn’t think was gonna go that far? What are you hearing yourself in the streets, that’s kind of shocking?

Well, to be honest with you homie, it’s crazy right now. Like, I don’t be thinking like I’m all big or something like that, like I’m a regular nigga though. But, all that work I put in though, like them five mixtapes I did, though, homie, they’ve been getting around though. The first one I did, people really downloaded that, and ran with that, and I really got fans off of that. Crazy though, nigga got fans off of that. I mean, after that, I dropped the next mixtape, I did one with Big Stuntz out of Long Beach, I mean, God, it was crazy homie, they must have pressed up I don’t know how many, but we killed them all for that, and then we dropped the “Western Fool,” umm I did one…started it all off with Strong Arm Steady, umm you know, Green Up and Strong Arm Steady.

I mean a nigga be famous homie, like all over the world homie, it’s crazy, but I mean the mixtape thing, that’s my grind right there. I’ve been doing that, I’ve got one more, should be out by the time y’all see this, it’s called “Colors.” Its real street, street niggaz only, you know? I mean, everybody gonna get a bar on it, but you know its just real gutter. Homie, it just shows my grind homie, it’s crazy though, how like, mixtapes is what it is right now. That’s how you get your money, that’s how you show everybody you can rap until you get your album out.


Dubcnn: In your mind, do you have any ideas, like, [which] mixtape that you put out so far [should] go down as a classic. You know, I think some of them should be put back as albums already, but, which one of your mixtapes, right now, do you think in your heart will probably go down as a classic?

Umm, I don’t know. I’ve been listening to them, homie, like for real, I’ve been trying to make the next one better than the last one, right. Umm, I just listened to the “West Coast’s Most Wanted” again, and like probably, I think you just left my house and I popped it in or something. And, I was like, “homie, you spittin’, right?” I’m just listening to myself, like “I don’t know, nigga you said I was hot.” And then I put in the “West Coast’s Most Wanted,” and it was crazy, like, “Oh, a nigga killed that!” So, I don’t really have no favorites, like the new one that’s coming out, right now, that’s really my favorite, because you know what I mean, every time I do something new, if it’s a new project, I feel like I’ve grown, and learned some more methods and different patterns, or how to create better songs, but, I mean, all my mixtapes is really, to me, you know, really great.

I mean, like, the Green Up one, the Strong Arm Steady one, homie, the hood banged that hard! I’m talking about, pulled up at the gas station and somebody is bumpin’ that! I’d be in Long Beach, Inglewood, it was crazy though, but, to me they’re all the same, they just all my music, you know just tryin to do it.


Dubcnn: I got you. I was with you a couple of times where people were like “Hey Roccett!,” rollin’ down the window like *makes bass noise* The fans love you!

That’s what’s up! I love them!


Dubcnn: You’ve got hard work ethics right now. So, what’s this I hear about you in the streets right now, as far as reading scripts? Like as far as movie scenes, you’ve got a DVD that’s about to drop real soon, go ahead and say a little bit more about that.

Umm, some people been callin’ me for some movies, you know, I don’t know, it’s crazy because I don’t consider myself all of this. I mean, I know I could do it, like, don’t get me wrong, I know I could do it all, if I put my mind to it, I can do it. But, I just be me day to day, and its just poppin’ like that. Like, yeah, I done read a couple scripts for some movies, you know, hopefully they go through, I’m with it, if acting get poppin’ then it pop. I mean, but you know, I just try to be me, and hopefully I be lucky to get blessed, because it’s been working out, but I just be me, and it’s turning out cool, so, the acting, yeah, I’ma do it. If it come, if it come I can’t tell it “no,” you know what I mean, so I’ma do it if it pop off.

DVD dropping, you already know, y’all gonna see that everywhere, me everywhere, DVD, that’s part of my mixtape now, like every mixtape I do from now on, I’m putting a DVD with that, like, people think I’m playin’ homie, they think I be playin’. I really be 100 deep with some guerilla niggaz, with chains on, beating niggaz up, getting’ money like, we don’t be playin’, we really be, man. The shit we be rapping about homie, no joke, like, but, we finna show niggaz now, so…


Dubcnn: How do you see yourself portrayed as having a lot of people with you, now, is that just for the video, or is that how you be often, when you out in the streets?

I mean, it depends. If we gonna push out to a club, we gonna be deep, but, a lot of times, I like to be just by myself, you know, get my thoughts right, listen to some beats, whatever, but when I go out, I like, man I know a lot of people homie, just from a lot of things, you know. I know niggaz from basketball, I know niggaz from rappin’, I know niggaz from being in jail, I know niggaz from hustlin’ on the street homie. I know niggaz from gettin’ hoes, you know what I mean, I know niggaz from everything! Like, I know a lot of niggaz, in a lot of states, so, when a nigga be out, and I be deep like that, I mean, that don’t be no look, because, I mean, them really my niggaz. Like, you know what I mean, they be my niggaz. So, me being deep, you know, it just be the niggaz I roll with, and, you know, that’s just my movement. And, if you feel like you ready to roll with us, and you see us out, then jump your ass in line and roll with a nigga too! You know what I mean? It is what it is.








 

Part 2 (Streaming Video - Click Play To Watch)

Dubcnn: All of the success that’s coming for you right now, you gotta explain it to your boy. Is there a big problem with adjustment? I mean, you’re signed with CTE, you know what I mean? Is there an adjustment factor you had to make in your life, and if so, what’s like the hardest adjustments that have to be made?

I mean, you know, as far as music homie, the adjustments you make really ‘cause, the adjustments music wise, is, you’ve got to make songs. Like, at first when you do mixtapes homie, that just be you and your homies jumping on tracks. Whatever we rap about, we rap about. I mean, we might have some topics, but homie there’s really ways to make songs. Like, it just ain’t no…you don’t go in the studio, it’s a format. You need to know this and that, and how to put this with that, if this go here, this gotta go there. So I really be hard on critiquing myself now when I be in the studio working, I try to make things right when I do it. That’s my newest adjustment. But as far as everything else, like, me being me, that’s just what I know how to be.

The adjustment is just music wise. I think I make better songs and I gotta learn like, when you hear a Jeezy record, or you hear a T.I. record, or you hear whatever on the radio, I be like, “Cuzz, that’s how my shit need to sound.” That’s what’s selling, that’s what’s making money, that’s who’s got fans, so, instead of playing with it, I be in there trying to be serious. I be like, “Cuzz, this gotta be right,” to the engineer, “turn this up, turn this down, and put this here, I need the ladies? here.” You know, it’s more business now, it’s gotta be right now, you know, that’s my adjustment, I want to be perfect.


Dubcnn: Alright, but with you being perfect, and as far as the success that’s coming with that, what you gotta say with all the labels that’s coming your way now? How are you handling that? I heard it’s like labels from all over the place is like “I want Roccett!”

Roccett: Yeah, it’s crazy, they be gettin’ at a nigga, but, I mean, you know, it don’t bother me homie.


Dubcnn: I mean, Def Jam, I heard, was knocking at your door man.

Yeah, I got some homies over at Def Jam. What’s up Shakur, big homie, you know, that’s one of my homies at Def Jam. But, it ain’t, homie, I just take it all as blessings, however it go, it go. If it work, it work. I appreciate every label that get at me, you know what I mean, that just took the time to even hear my music, ‘cause then I know I’m doing something right. I mean, look, I did an interview with Young Buck earlier today, and he was like, “Homie, all you can do is push.” Right? Push.


Dubcnn: What did he mean by “push”?

He said “pray until shit happens.” That’s what he said. Something like that, I don’t know exactly, I mean, you gonna see the interview later [Roccett Interviews Young Buck for Dubcnn], but he said something like that. “Pray until shit happens,” or something like that. Like, that’s all I’m doin’ is pushin’ homie. I’m just tryin’ to make it work like homie, it’s just like, they be knockin’ at the door, and I’m listening, and if any deal is right or perfect, then I’ma jump on that. If it ain’t, then I’ma hold out and wait, and keep makin’ my buzz bigger, and even more fans, but, I mean, it’s crazy. I appreciate all that, it is crazy. But, they be poppin’ at a nigga, they be hollerin’ at a nigga.


Dubcnn: OK, well, that’s what’s expected. You the hottest thing on the street, far as any mixtape that’s out there, Roccett’s the name that’s ringing bells. But, not only are you with CTE, you’re sponsored by Makaveli brand.

Yeah, chuuch.


Dubcnn: Now, how did the combination come about? I mean, Makaveli brand, how did you…I’ve seen you in magazines now!

Well Huh shout out to my boy, yaddamean?


Dubcnn: I’m at the magic show, and I’m openin’ up a book, and you got the whole page homie!

Roccett: I had a whole poster. It was crazy! The poster was the same size as any poster you gonna see with any other. It was, nigga, that bugged me right there. I’m like, “whoa, that’s the kid right there!” But, I mean, it’s cool, it’s poppin’ homie, I don’t even know how to take it, I just be suckin’ it in, like, “damn, man, that’s you!” I just be seeing everything I’ve been grinding for just starting to pay off homie, and it ain’t paid all the way off yet, but I know I’m in the right direction. And me with Makaveli branded is poppin’, like it’s a blessing to be doin’ anything or a part of anything Pac did, you know what I mean? My manager Rick Edwards worked at Jelly? for that, shoutout to Rick, and you know, [I’m] sponsored by Makaveli branded, I rock Pac, I listen to Pac, so, I mean, it’s poppin’.


Dubcnn: A lot of people don’t know about your talent. I mean, they’re hearing you over the radio, they’re hearing you over these tapes over the soundwaves, but they don’t know nothin’ about your recording ethic. Now, I’ve seen it myself, what you do in this booth, Jay-Z said he do it, but, I didn’t see Jay-Z do it! I seen Roccett do it!

OK! You’re right!


Dubcnn: So, explain to these people what I have witnessed every single time, every single day after being to a studio session with you.

Well, before we begin, I’ma tell you, don’t do it if you can’t do it, homie. I don’t write, I wish I could write, but when I write I get discombobulated, like I just be, “Oh, I’m outta here,” and I’m throwing it away. But when I get in and I hear the right beat, and I get in the booth, I get my rhythm, then it just come to me, you know what I mean? Like, however I’m feelin’, I’ma say it on the track, homie, I probably ain’t written nothin’ since like 16 years old. Like, never, I just don’t write, it just comes. And when it come, then that be it. Like I don’t know, it just happen like that.


Dubcnn: So, can you say it’s trained, or it’s something that’s straight from the heart? Every track is something you feel, it’s a different vibe, it’s a different feeling you get from it.

Yeah, it just be how I be feelin’. If I’m feelin’ flashy and fly, then that’s what I’m gonna talk about at the time. If I’m feelin’ angry, mad, and I wanna shoot a nigga today, or if I’m feelin like I miss one of my homies that’s dead, or…it just come from my heart, like…*shrugs his shoulders*


Dubcnn: I’m sittin’ in the studio session with you, I don’t…I hear a track, I’m over there like, “oh, this is vicious!” I’m tryin’ to write somethin’ in my head, that shit ain’t coming along!

*Laughs*

Dubcnn: You know, I take out my pen and paper, you know, I put something down. But you, “somethin’, somethin’, somethin’, somethin’, OK, somethin’, somethin’, alright,” [you] go in there and put a whole damn verse or two down!

Hey! Hey! But look homie, let me tell you, I do that because I take this serious. I take it serious. A lot of people rap, and BS it. I take it serious, like, I don’t play with this. This is how I plan to, you know, use my life as my business, this is my job. Like, I don’t, this ain’t no joke to me. Like, some people play with it, I don’t play with it, I be for real, so when the track come on, I be serious, I’m focused. Like, when it come on, I’m all about rap, like I don’t think about nothin’ else, that’s what it is at that time.

When that beat come on, the first thing on my mind is “how are you gonna make this hot hook? And, after the hook, how the verse gonna be hot? What you gonna go?” There we go. Then the brain go to workin’ like, “aite, I might say somethin’, I might ride with that track.” And then I might lay the hook, and be like “no, that ain’t the hook, that ain’t it.” I mean, you know, I just go with my feelings.


Dubcnn: So, do you actually switch hooks sometimes?

Yeah, nigga, hell yeah. A lot of times, a lot of times, I switch little things in the verse, but, I mean, it all come in my head because that’s just how I like to do it. It make me feel comfortable that way. Like, homie, I done been in the booth, with real professional rappers homie, really just walk in the booth and just do my thing, and they be like, “OK!” You gotta respect it, I mean, I know it’s cocky, I’m a cocky nigga! But, you know, one thing about it, I do what I do though, and I back up what I do. I go in there and if I feel it, I’ma go in and I’ma do it, it’s gonna take me five, ten minutes, I’ma walk around, I’m gonna mumble a little bit, I’ma write it in my head, and I’ma go do it! I heard Jay-Z, I seen him do it on “The Black Album,” I mean, that’s the first time I’ve seen him, you know, but, I know what I do, I can’t speak for no other man, and, whoever do it, I congratulate them, but, I mean, it ain’t nothing to be like super proud of, though. It ain’t like, “ahh nigga, you write in your head!”

It is amazing that I can do that, but I respect people that really take their time to write it too, though. Like, sometimes, I can’t think of tracks in 15 minutes. Sometimes, I don’t do verses in...sometimes it takes me an hour. Sometimes, I be at the house, or I go to the studio, and I think of somethin’, and it just won’t come, like, “alright, something wrong.” Maybe I got too much going on that day, or maybe somebody was trippin’. Sometimes it take me to drive home with it in the truck, or just be listenin’, and it take me all day that day, it take me all day tomorrow, but I’m writing it in my head as I drive, though. No matter what I’m doin’, I’m always writing. I might be in the grocery store, and I just be thinkin’ “OK, that’s it.” Bam! Then it come. And when it come, then we go do it. But, I mean, it’s amazing, but it’s just like writing. That’s writing in my head, you know what I mean? It’s just easier for me that way. So, you know.


Dubcnn: Well, Dubcnn TV. You just tuned in to the hottest interview that you ever gonna get.

Chuuch on the move.


Dubcnn: And this is Rob G, and I’m here with Roccett, and Green Up is in the building.

I know the interview was long, like I said, but I’m glad y’all took your time to listen to this. Anybody that listens to my music, I appreciate you, real talk homie! I ain’t one of them niggaz that you be seein’ or be hearin’ and sayin’ stuff, and just be playin’ like, I be serious, I be genuine from the heart. Like, a nigga really take shit personal, that’s why I don’t play that beef with a nigga on wax, or nothin’, or argue with a nigga, because somebody gonna get chipped. I might get chipped, that nigga might get chipped, but ain’t nobody, I’m not finna be playin’, I don’t want to play. That’s why everything I say, I be taking it to heart, and I appreciate all my fans even if you hit me on my Myspace [www.myspace.com/roccett] or if you go to www.roccett.com and hit me, or if you just hit a nigga from wherever, and I can’t get back to you, a nigga sorry, I do be busy, though, but a nigga appreciate everybody, every person that listen homie.

Every Crip, every Blood, that listen to my music, every person in Asia, in Russia, I be havin’ people hittin’ me in every county that listen to the kid, homie, I appreciate you. We on Dubcnn right now, making it do what it do. Green Up in the house, CTE West homie. The motive of the minute, the thing of the day, is get money! Don’t let anybody stop you from gettin’ money, however you get your money, do it and get it.