TERMANOLOGY  (September 2006) | Interview By: Yash

   

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Interview was done in September 2006

Questions Asked By: Yash

Termanology Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout, check that Here

Full Audio Interview Here
 

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Dubcnn: Introduce yourself to the people who may not be familiar to you homie...

My name is Termanology representing Murda Mass and all that east coast you know. XXL show and prove.


Dubcnn: Can we get into your past? At what age did you start rapping and writing songs?

Like around 9 I started freestyling and like around 14 I started writing and rhyming but at like 15 I started taking it serious and trying to record and more like around the age of 18 I had the real studio you know started getting professional with it and just haven't stopped ever since then.


Dubcnn: Your flow is crazy everybody has been talking about that. When did you develop that kind of flow?

I don't know... It's like it took a long time you know I always loved that type of flow since I was a kid and I always wanted my flow to be like that when I was a kid with just a whole lot of words around it and rhyming fast you know with the Toungue Twista's and all that.

But I'd say around like 2002-2003 that was when I really had that flow like I mastered the flow.


Dubcnn: So who were your biggest influences growing up?

Mostly Dr. Dre you know, Wu-Tang Clan, I listened to a lot of Nas, Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, DJ Premier you know.


Dubcnn: That's a lot of west coast people that you mentioned.

Oh yeah I fuck with west coast too man I mean specially Dre; he's the next level with it you know!


Dubcnn: How did you pick the name Termanology?

I don't know man I truthfully can't tell you. Back when I chose the name Termanology back in 97; that was when Canibus was just coming out, Big Pun was just coming out. All the rappers were real lyrical and wordy I wanted to be in that zone and in that lane I wanted people to remember
me for having the illest words so the study of words is Termanology.


Dubcnn: I read somewhere that you and your partner Ed Rock back when you started that you used to write lyrics for him is that true?

No I never wrote anything for him but we wrote songs together. I wrote songs for other people but never for him.


Dubcnn: Who have you written for?

Oh you know I want to keep that on a secret *laughs*.


Dubcnn: *laughs* Can you tell them about the group ST Da Squad?

ST Da Squad yea that's my group and that's me, my man Ed Rock, Snuk, Sin, Stali, Ghetto and Clip the seven of us. It's like a big salad you know like a big melting pot with all different races; Puerto Rican, Dominican, White, Black, Filipino and everything in there so it's crazy when we come together it's like 2k6 Wu-Tang but more like culture and diverse you know.


Dubcnn: Where in New York are you from?

No I'm not from New York I'm from Lawrence, Massachusetts so I live in Brooklyn half the week and in Massachusetts the other half of the week.


Dubcnn: Ok who do you look up too in the Massachusetts rap scene? Who doyou think are doing it big right now?

Well I guess my favorite rapper of all time from Massachusetts would have to be Guru from Gang Starr. Because you know he was originally from Boston. I listen to his album the most out of any music that came from Boston but I got a lot of respect for the old school cats that came from Boston; you know the Almighty RSO, Ed OG,Big Shug, Krumbsnatcha and I looked up to them a lot as a young kid coming up.


Dubcnn: Speaking of Gang Starr how did you hook up with DJ Premier?

Well I just kept seeing him around you know I see him a lot around and I was with my man Krumbsnatcha one day and he brought me over to the Bronx to get down with Premo and I ended up getting in of his videos. Then like a year later Statik Selektah had brought me to the headquarters
which is Premo's studio and I got to know Premo and kept seeing him for a few years and asked him for a beat over and over and eventually he called me on the phone and was like "Yo would you like this beat?" and I was like "I like this beat!" so I grabbed the beat and went to Headqcuortez (used to be D&D) and banged it out.


Dubcnn: It came out tight man. So what's it like being in the studio with one of the best producers ever?

It's crazy man he really pushes you. If you're there you know what you got too live up to being in there. It's crazy man it's a wild experience.


Dubcnn: How do you go about making a song? Do you always write to the beat or sometimes you get an idea and then build a beat to the lyrics?

Yea it's all different shit but I usually write to the beat. If I hear a beat I will try to do the hook first and then after that... You know the verses come easy for me and I like to look at myself as the rappers rapper you know lyrics come easy to me. Like shit that someone be bugged out over be just some shit that I be like whatever and play around with some words and turn it into some whole other shit. But the hooks are really the hard part that's why I got a lot of respect for 50 Cent because like every song that he ever does the hooks are crazy and like Outkast too they be like hook masters you know that shit is a lot harder than actually spittin. That's why you got a lot of niggaz like Canibus
and a lot of other MC's that come out but are only looked at as only battle MC's. They are not really looked at like a total package. They are not hook masters they are looked at as rappers.


Dubcnn: I think it's hard for a battle MC to become commercial but what do you think takes to make an MC buyable? So that people will hear him on the mainstream and stuff?

Umm I don't know man I mean it all depends on what lane you want to go. Were you trying to go with your shit. For example if you're a battle MC; you do the shit for the streets and the underground.
That's your crowd and your fan base and that's where you want to go you will want to stick to that. You don't want to come out as that and then switch up your shit and that's not really the way you feel.... But you can come out with some hard core shit you know like how I came out with Premo and still go and do some R&B shit it's all good as long as it's really what's in your heart.


Dubcnn: Kind of like Pac like when he did songs for everybody.

Exactly! Pac, Nas and people like that they inspire me. A lot of people be like "oh Terms you rapping about you being in the streets then you rap about saving the world and save your kids" and I'm like yo it's like the same way that Nas and Pac are, it's the same way a lot of people are. You get up in the morning and you're having a good day that's refreshing so that's the way you're going to act. Like when you're having a bad day that's how you're going to act. So people are going to have to understand that like I'm personally not one dimensional. You have good days then you write about good shit and when you have bad days you write about bad shit.


Dubcnn: Can you tell us about your previous projects that some people may not be familiar with? Like "Hood Politics" and stuff.

Yea I got the "Hood Politics" series they're like mixtape albums like half of it new beats and half of it just freestyles basically like my own joints. I put my ST Squad on them and as I got more famous I did like collaborations with artists on them. I've been trying to get them out there and trying to get them to the streets and you know I got the 4th one coming. I got a song I'm working on right now with AZ, I did a song with Trife Da God, I got a song with DJ Premier, I got another joint with Blues legend Mighty Sam McClain he's got like 20 CD's out there and we ended up coming with some heat you know what I'm saying. It's on some other shit that cats ain't even ready for.


Dubcnn: Is all those going on the mixtape or are you saving some for the album?

Yea I'm working on everything at the same time but all that shit I just said is for my next mixtape "Hood Politics IV". Because the way I do them it's like albums and I push them like albums but they are not official albums.


Dubcnn: You got a crazy buzz over here in Europe right now after that song with Premier. Where can they get the mixtapes?

Yea you can get the mixtapes on undergroundhiphop.com or you can go to mixunit.com and just put in search for Termanology and anything I'm on will come up. I've been on all kinds of mixtapes Daddy selector with Nas, Daddy Selector with G-Unit, Clinton Sparks with P Diddy, Clinton Sparks with Mobb Deep and all kinds of shit. If you're a fan and you're looking for the 12" or looking for the album I got Out The Gate with DC you can get them at undergroundhiphop.com or at mixunit.com!


Dubcnn: Okay what did the feature in The Source do for your career?

Yeah it did a lot for me, helped me out a lot because to be in such a major publication like that and you know get in the unsigned hype you know that column that Biggie was in before he blew up. That showcased Biggie and showcased Common, Mobb Deep, DMX, Eminem, Saigon and you know a lot of artists that made it big and went for the mainstream and were able to come out and have a voice so before they were that they were Unsigned Hype so to be in that category with those legends and MC's is a great thing for me.


Dubcnn: When can people expect the official album coming out?

I don't know I'm just taking my time right now with it. I just talked to Alchemist last week you know I just saw him at the show and he said he's willing to get on it and that he's going to toss me a couple of beats plus I'm supposed to get back in the lab with Premo pretty soon and do a couple more with him and Nottz from Virginia I got a joint with him.

Also I'm hollering at Pete Rock, I spoke to him a couple of weeks back when he was in Germany or something like that and I'm supposed to holler at him when he gets back so we can get up. So I'm trying to keep it like mainly just Pete Rock, Nottz, Alchemist and Premo. Like real old school Nas "Illmatic" type of feeling to it but only like 10 or 11 joints so I'm going to take my time with it and go real slow with it. So I say basically January of next year and in the meantime I'm going to keep hitting them with the "Hood Politics" album and that has a new Premo joint on there and a bunch of shit.


Dubcnn: Yeah when is volume 4 coming out?

The "Hood Politics IV" should be out in mid September. It will be available overseas too so y'all could buy it out there.


Dubcnn: Okay man do you plan on going on tour overseas?

Yeah definitely I'd love too so whoever books me I'm there.


Dubcnn: Is there any place people can get at you for shows and stuff?

Yeah you can holler at me on Myspace. It's www.myspace.com/therealtermanology or you can holler at my manager Dan Green at clockworkmusic@gmail.com


Dubcnn: You know on your latest song with Premo you mentioned that you are the holy resurrection of Pun (Big Pun) Can you explain a little bit more about that?

Pun was like a very, very large inspiration to me and just coming into this game being latino it's hard enough that you're outcasted. The game was mostly black MC's or African Americans however you want to look at it and just to be white or to be Spanish or be anything else you stick out like a sour thumb and as far as I see it it's a lot of nice MC's coming up that are Latin but they never get that shine like that.

It's a lot harder you know so I figured just to let them know I see myself as the holy resurrection of Pun and if I'm not that then you name one rapper this lyrical/Latin political....(raps a part from his verse >from "Watch How It Go Down") so what I'm saying not only am I just a Spanish rapper because there's a lot of Spanish rappers that are nice but I see myself as being the next...

I'm not saying I'm the next Big Pun because he was iller than I anybody in my book. But there's nobody else now that is doing it in a political way or also that's this lyrical and is also Spanish and also I feel will go platinum one day and that's just the way I feel about it, I feel like I got that lane on lock right now.


Dubcnn: Yeah I like how you speak on politics because most people are scared to talk about it who are in the mainstream. Do you think you can bring that back into the mainstream?

Hell yeah definitely I mean Public Enemy did it and they were platinum with it. You can do it but it's just all about the way that you do it. Like I said Pun did it and it worked but we haven't really seen it since and the only one that has been doing it has been Kanye and I got to give a lot of respect to Kanye West for the way that he did it. And you know what it is a lot of times? It's not really that they are scared to talk about it, it's the lack of knowledge.

You know most rappers come from the ghetto it's obvious, they got the realest stories and the realest shit and they are official, they don't seem like posing it in any way. So what happens is in the ghetto usually they have a poor education; they don't go to college and they don't pay attention in school and they drop out so they don't really have that real knowledge of what's going on in politics so for me it's like paying attention to politics a lot and reading and watching TV and just knowing about it just gives me the upper hand as a teacher and a artist so I can come out here and say like yo look this is what's going on right now.


Dubcnn: What do you think about some other rappers that are talking about politics like Paris? Have you heard of him?

What's his name?


Dubcnn: Paris, Guerilla Funk!

Umm I'm not sure see the only Paris I know is from EPMD.


Dubcnn: Oh ok but you should definitely check him out, he's from Oakland and he's real political. He got a gang of albums out and he's real underground and speaks on Bush.

That's dope I got to check him out. I like Dead Prez a lot and all those guys they ill with that shit too.


Dubcnn: Paris has signed Public Enemy to his record label. He's a producer too.

Okay I think I might have heard of him.


Dubcnn: What's your views on the war on terrorism? Do you think any government are involved in scaring us?

I don't know man I'm not for it. That's all I got to say about it and I'm not going to really speak on it too much because I've already seen the effects of how it goes down you know what I mean? *laughs* I ain't even saying it for myself out there like that but I tell you one thing. I don't agree with George Bush and this war and that's all I got to say.


Dubcnn: Alright, one of your fans asked me to ask you about DC. What's up with him?

He's a Huh that's my man. We got the album out "Out The Gate" we finished it in 2004 and it took us all the way to 2006 to get a deal for it you know but it came out and it didn't sound dated and everybody loved it, sold a lot of copies and got a lot of new fans off of it and it feels great to have an album in stores. DC is a monster lookout for him he's producing the joint I'm doing with AZ, he just produced the anthem remix that I got with my man Ed Rock and Dre Robinson and Big Shug from Gang Starr and DC man he's going to be around forever man that kid is hot!


Dubcnn: Do you have any last words?

No man just make sure you look out for Termanology go to myspace at www.myspace.com/therealtermanology or go to undergroundhiphop.com and buy the CD's. Or go to mixunit and cop the mixtapes and just support me man. I can't wait to go overseas and blow it down man so y'all could get to see how we do it out here mashing.