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interview SPICE 1 (PART 2)  (August 2007) | Interview By: Chad Kiser

      
The East Bay Gangsta and Bay Area legend Spice 1 talks exclusively to Dubcnn for our Dangerous Crew Feature, which spotlights the artists and producers responsible for the group's undeniable role in west coast hip-hop history.

Known for several gold & platinum albums which include his debut "Spice 1", the classic "187 He Wrote", and the infamous "Amerikkka’s Nightmare", as well as his many guest appearances with the likes of Too $hort, Ant Banks, The Luniz, E-40 and 2Pac, Spice 1 has never been one to change his image or his style. Remaining consistent throughout his years on Jive Records as one of the best to ever do it, while also becoming the epitome of independent hustle & grind during his most recent years.


Many fans will remember Spice-1’s biggest hit, the E-A Ski produced "Trigga Gots No Heart" from the multi-platinum Menace II Society soundtrack, which was also the first single from the gold-selling "187 He Wrote" album.

Dubcnn recently took advantage of the opportunity to catch up with Spice 1 and get his words as part of our continuing Dangerous Crew Feature series. In this Part 2 feature [see our exclusive Part 1] we get Spice 1's thoughts on the Hyphy Movement, talk in detail about his relationship with Tupac; how they met and how his death has affected him. We also get details on his new album, the features he hopes to have on that project as well as asking him his feelings on comments that his recent work has not lived up to his past projects, and much more in this exclusive interview.


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Interview was done by phone in July, 2007

Questions Asked By: Chad Kiser

Spice 1 Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here
 
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www.mypace.com/spiceone
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Read Part 1 of this Exclusive Interview Here
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Dubcnn: What are your thoughts on the Hyphy Movement tha’ts going through the Bay right now?

The Hyphy Movement is what it is. I ain’t mad at hyphy. They do what they do, and I do what I do. I’m covering all this gangsta shit over here. That’s my era, that gangsta shit. They can have that hyphy, and do that all they want to cuz I ain’t mad at them. If they can make their money, then do it! But Spice-1 is gonna keep it G, he’s gonna keep it gangsta, and he’s gonna keep selling these muthafuckin’ records!

You can’t even picture me hyphy cuz I’m a rough-ass nigga, with a rag on and with hella tattoos and muscles and shit. That hyphy is for them youngstas. I love them niggaz and all that, and I might even get down with them from to time, but hyphy is not who Spice-1 is. Spice-1 is a G; a rider; a thug nigga. And I’m gonna keep it that way for a long time. The East Bay Gangsta, that’s my spot.


Dubcnn: Were you ever contacted by Snoop to be a part of the west coast projects he’s been putting together such as Warzone & Westurn Union?

Nah, and I don’t know why cats don’t contact me for certain things. I don’t really know what it was, but I have to say that I would have loved to be there. But nobody said nothing to me about the shit.


Dubcnn: What are your thoughts on Eminem taking your verse off the “One Day At Time” song with you and Pac?

I didn’t even know how to react over that shit, man. I ain’t never confronted the cat over it cuz I ain’t trippin’ on it. It’s just some more bullshit that’s a part of the game.


Dubcnn: Sticking with this 2Pac subject for a second, tell us how you met Pac and how you two became so close.

Well, both of our families was in the Panthers, so that was common bond between us. It’s like once we started kicking it, you couldn’t get us apart! You couldn’t say my name without his half the time. Spice-1 & 2Pac! We came in the room smoking the same joint, and drinking from the same bottle. Cappin’ on each other and shit. We just put it down like only we could. That night he died really fucked me up. That was my nigga! He used to call me when he shot his movies and all of that. I met Jim Belushi through Pac; I met John Singleton through Pac; Jada Pinkett through Pac. We was always kicking it.


Dubcnn: How did his death affect you musically & personally?

I sincerely felt like I had just lost my best friend in the game period. I will never get over my homeboy being dead. Ever! I think about him every day. Our birthdays are right around each others, and we used to kick it on our birthdays together and shit, man. So, there ain’t a day that don’t go by that I don’t think about my homeboy.


Dubcnn: I was surprised to not see you featured on Pac’s All Eyez On Me album. Had you worked with him on that project?

If I remember right, we was both locked up around the same time. I was up in L.A. County for like like 4 or 5 months on a gun charge. When I had got out, he had met me at the Mondrian Hotel on Sunset, across from the House of Blues in L.A. He had come up to me and asked me where I’d been cuz he was trying to get hold of me to put me on the album. This was after the album had already came out, and he had just finished Makaveli.


Dubcnn: What was it like working with Pac, from your perspective?

We’d be sitting up writing and talking about things that had happened to one of us, or both of us. And then we’d write about those instances, and go in the studio and do a song about the shit. Like on Jealous Got Me Strapped, one of my homeboys had gotten jacked and robbed, and what happened there is that when he gave them his shit, they shot and killed him anyways. So, at the funeral we had shirts on that said, “Jealous Got Me Strapped”. And I was telling Pac about that, and we did a song on that. It was some real shit! It was real shit that happened! We would come up with concepts off of real situations and real shit like that. We never came out with no fake song. But, we’d just be in the studio kickin’ it and shit, smoking up and shit. He used to get mad at me cuz I’d smoke up too much and pass out! (*laughs*)


Dubcnn: You sitting on any unreleased Pac material?

I might have a few.


Dubcnn: Would something like that ever pop up on a “Spice-1: Lost Tapes” album?

Yeah! Yeah! That’s where you gotta look for it cuz it just might pop up. (*laughs*)


Dubcnn: Tell us a little bit about what you’re currently working on now.

My new album! I’m taking my time with it in getting all of the songs right, getting the features put on there and everything else. I got a few deals on the table to do what I do that I can’t really talk about yet. Hopefully, before it drops everybody will know it’s out if the marketing is really strong like we’re trying to do. I’m gonna come with some heat! I mean, you know, I come with heat everytime but I’m just taking my time with this one to be able really drop some shit on’em!


Dubcnn: Who are the features you’re looking at to put on the album?

I’m trying to do some things with my dudes Pimp C and Bun B, and a few other cats that I don’t want to put out there just yet, you know? But I’m looking at doing something with each little spot, like something from the south, something from the east, the west, you know. But I don’t want too many features on my album, cuz like my first album I had nobody but me on there and it went platinum and shit. So, I’m like I don’t need everybody on my album. I want people to buy my album becuz of me, you know? I want them to know what Spice-1 is about on this new album. I don’t sound like the east, the south; I’m coming as Spice-1. I got the reggae shit, the stutter rap shit, I act out characters on the interludes, do my own hooks, I mean I’m really putting it down on this one!


Dubcnn: Is there a Jayo Felony collaboration in the works?

Nah, that was like some crazy shit. He didn’t even know where that came from. We had done a few songs together, and somebody had changed the beats and put the shit all kinds of funny on there. He was kind of like “what the hell is this?”


Dubcnn: Will we ever see another Criminalz album?

Oh yeah! Celly, that’s my dog right there! If he wanna get down and do some more shit like that, then we can always get down.


Dubcnn: Aight, Spice, let me ask you this one last question: What do you have to say to those people who say that you’re washed up, and that your newer stuff is weak in comparison to to albums like 187 He Wrote, Amerika’z Nightmare, The Black Bossalini, etc?

I can show’em better than I can tell’em! My music speaks for itself! If they think that, then they think that. It’s never bothered me. It’s crazy becuz some of these muthafuckaz ain’t even listening, and they saying that shit. That don’t do nothing but pump me up, so tell them I said thank you. I love them haters. If it wasn’t for people like that, then dudes like me couldn’t shine.


Dubcnn: Is there anyting you’d like to say to your fans reading this?

I got two words: I’m comin’!


Dubcnn: We lookin’!

Real spit.


Dubcnn: Aight Spice, thanks for your time, and keeping us up to date with you.

Fa sho, my nigga!







 

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Spice 1 Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here


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