WC (August
2007) | Interview By: Lil Jay
It's WC week on Dubcnn! As you already know, the West Coast veteran released his
long awaited album "Guilty By Affiliation" on Tuesday, so it was only
right that your favorite website linked
up with him on the release day to chop it up about the new record. Now, not
only did we speak to Dub about the present, but we also had the chance to connect
with him for a second piece and put the focus on the past this time around.
For the first time in his career, WC takes his time out to rate and review
all his solo and group projects, exclusively for Dubcnn.
WC shares his opinion and thoughts about his albums, the mindstate he was
in during certain eras, and how he rates his work today.
Check out this throwback feature, as Dub takes you back to the Low Profile and
Maad Circle days, through the Westside Connection projects all the way up to the
solo albums, including the latest "Guilty By Affiliation", and even
catches a glimpse of the future.
As
ever, you can read and listen to this exclusive interview and we urge you to leave
feedback on our forums or email them to liljay@dubcnn.com.
..........................................................................................
Interview was done in August 2007
Questions Asked
By: Lil
Jay
WC Gave Dubcnn A
Shoutout! Check That Here
Full Audio Interview Here
..........................................................................................
Low
Profile - "We're In This Together" (1989)
We just wanted
to get out there and be known man, show off our skills at the time. We weren't
really trippin' off of how many records we sold, we just wanted the world to hear
us and see that we was fresh at what we did. We stuck hard on making sure we was
the best at what we did, from the production tip to lyrically. [As far as the
reception], it was love, it was love. Because people wanted to hear our story,
they wanted to hear about where we came from and how it was done. They just appreciated
Hip Hop more back then. There was [DJ] Kraze back then, there was Jazzy Jeff and
the Fresh Prince, there was Mantronix and T La Rock. It was all about the DJ back
then.
[But] being in a group doesn't really make a difference to me.
Everybody got a position to play, when you're a solo artist, you are the star
player. But there is no stars when you're doing a group thing. Everybody collectively
putting their effort in. Somebody might shine more than the other one, but everybody
was just working hard to make it happen as a group. When you're a solo artist
you work hard, but everything is on you. You don't have 4 or 5 people assisting
you on that song right there. Sometimes working solo can be harder than in a group,
and sometimes being in a group can be more of a headache with things and people
you gotta deal with.
WC
and the Maad Circle - "Ain't A Damn Thang Changed" (1991)
1991! That was me, Coolio, Toones, and Big G. It went from being all about the
DJ to being about the MC and what the MC was talking about. So we had strong lyrical
content on that record right there. We was just talking about lots of stuff going
on in our community at the time. Things behind closed doors, like dealing with
police brutality. We caugh on a fad where somebody was trying to walk on the conscious
tip, because that was bad at the time. So we was touching on a lot of different
issues at the time. Like clubs not letting cats in because of the dress code,
we did a song called "Dress Code". And we came up with the title "Ain't
A Damn Thang Changed", it was basically a methapor, I mean look around man,
ain't a damn thing changed, ain't a damn thing changed!
WC and the Maad
Circle - "Curb Servin'" (1995)
Then "Curb Servin'"
came out, that was the time when we was really feelin' that artists on the West
Coast are not really being able to get behind them doors that we needed to be.
And we couldn't get behind them doors, we was locked out. So "Curb Servin'"
was a record that we did where we was talking about what was going on over here
but nobody was really listening to anybody coming from the West Coast, unless
you was established like Cube, Dre or Snoop. And what we did, me, Cube and Mack,
we formed the Westside Connection. It was actually before "Curb Servin",
and I was workin it out. But we did a song on my record called "West Up"
that turned a lot of heads on the "Curb Servin'" album.
Westside Connection
- "Bow Down" (1996)
I think it got the most recognition.
I can't say it's the album that people can relate to the most, because people
got different perspectives. Somebody might prefer to hear this or hear that, I
mean it sold the most out of all albums in Dub C's career, but they definitely
wasn't used to see no shit like that. We were just trying to get our point across
and let cats know that we were established artists from the West Coast and a force
to be reckoned with. A lot of cats didn't really wanna give us ours because they
downplayed the music, even though we was getting more pub than a lot of other
artists from over here. I mean from us talking about what was going on we came
up with ideas and just put them in the songs. Cube was triggerin' off a lot of
that shit, Cube had a million and one ideas. I mean it was good, it was friendly
competition. Everytime we got in, everybody was trying to out-do each other. We
had to bring our A-Game!
WC - "Shadiest
One" (1998)
Yeah, so the "Shadiest One" album came
out. I wanted to show niggas, being from the Westside Connect, that I could really
carry my own and that I had fire. The style was more aggressive, a more aggressive
approach on the mic, opposed to my previous albums. You know, on my previous albums
I was a nigga on the corner just rappin' my point of view, my life. But on that
album right there, I was riding up and jumping out the car and I was gunning everything
down. Had a few of my people on there, I had Cube and Mack, I had E-40 and Too
Short, I had CJ Mac. I kept it West Coast. A lot of people that wasn't hardcore
rap fans was just getting up on me when the album came out. Because the first
time they got a chance to really see me on a worldwide scale was during the Westside
Connection "Bow Down" days. I mean I'm always gonna stick to the formula,
going in and cater to my fans. We went in and we got a chance to do what we wanna
do without A&R's telling us what was hot and what wasn't hot.
WC - "Ghetto
Heisman" (2002)
"Ghetto Heisman" was one of them records
where we had people telling us what was hot and what wasn't hot, what we needed
to do and how we should do it. So I only got a chance to do a couple records on
there that I really had space on. One of them was "The Streets", which
was a big record. "Ghetto Heisman" didn't really blow up because it
didn't come out. The album never really officially came out, it came out a little
bit later in the stores, but it never got a chance to really come out. We had
a lot of records that were pressed up scratched, and that did fuck up my mental!
(laughs) But it was all good though man, that record tought me I had to go and
take control of my own music and put my money where my mouth was, so I went independent
with it.
Westside
Connection - "Terrorist Threats" (2003)
It was just fun
getting back in, work with the homies and cater to our true West Coast fans. We
just tried to be relevant to what was going on. Then the government tried to label
anybody that was going against the grain a terrorist, you know? So we decided
to call the album "Terrorist Threats", especially with all the 9/11
issues that was going on, we tried to play with that.
WC -"Guilty
by Affiliation" (2007)
I been quiet as a solo artist, but I
been on the road with Cube. Anything that Cube is featured on, I been there. I
mean I haven't stopped touring since then. I had to re-group and make sure my
situation was right. I'm more mature, more tactful right now. Not just gunnin',
I got a straighter aim right now. I think I been blessed being in the game for
so long, and now everything counts what I do. So I try to do records that gonna
leave the pressure off my fans, and records that can make a change in Hip Hop.
That's why I brought you songs like "Jack And the Bean Stalk", songs
like "Paranoid", songs like "80's Babies". There's different
ways to be street with it. Cats come out saying they hood, they this or that,
but you gotta be clever with it. And I love it, it feels like a masterpiece. I
feel like it's gonna be one of those collector's items. It is the best record
hands down, I don't need to see! (laughs)
We don't want no commercial
success with this record. People don't realize, motherfuckers is so caught up
now with 'How many records did you sell?' or 'How much was your first week soundscan?'
It's about selling records, but to me that comes with the success of getting out
there and making sure that your true hardcore fans like what they getting. So
that comes with that right there. I mean I can see more money selling a 100,000
copies and owning my masters, opposed to artists on a major label going gold.
Numbers count, don't get it twisted! Numbers count, but first and foremost it's
about going out there and satisfying our fans, our hardcore fans. And motherfuckers
got so caught up in the commercial success. And what's success? Success is in
the eye of the holder. We know how much money we put up to make this record, we
know we gotta sell it in order to recoup. We know we got an audience that we targeting
to make sure that they get a chance to taste some quality. Niggas been tasting
boo boo for so long, we just wanna give niggas some quality tasting shit. And
it's fucked up, because a lot of niggas out there who are getting down just strictly
for the numbers, they don't give a fuck about the fans.
But we gonna
be crazy on this record, we gonna be straight, we gonna get our money back on
this record. But also positioning Lench Mob in the market, it's the smartest thing
we can do. I just think that for so long, so many people done been targeting at
MTV airplay and radio spins to the point where they just forgot about the music
man. They forgot about our fans on the West Coast! Nobody doing no just straight
up hardcore West Coast records, but a couple of cats. And instead of us just talking
about it, we did show and prove and made it happen on my record.
[As far as the
future], we're going on tour at the end of this week. We're going to Australia,
New Zealand, Japan. And then we going back up and hit them with another Dub C
album. We're in the studio right now as we speak, we doing "Raw Footage"
with Cube. And then we droppin the new Crazy Toones mixtape, we got something
real big in store that we gonna test to that. Tha Trapp is coming out, and hopefully
we'll get Maylay to come out under me.
.........................................................................................
WC Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout! Check That Here
Full Audio Interview Here
.........................................................................................
|
