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interview YUKMOUTH (March 2011) | Interviewer Paul Edwards

   It was almost 5 years ago when Paul Edwards contacted Dubcnn with the idea he had to write a book focusing on the "Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC" and asking for help in speaking to artists themselves to get their input. Years later and with more interviews than countless journalists will ever manage to secure Paul finally released his epic read to critical acclaim and commercial success, it has been in Amazon's Top 10 Hip-Hop and Rap books since it came out and it's also being published in Japanese and Korean.

"How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC" is compiled from interviews with over 100 MCs, and featuring many West Coast artists.

Highlights include – Shock G describing working with 2Pac and his writing processes, RBX on ghostwriting for Dr. Dre, Lady of Rage explaining how she comes up with flows and content, B-Real recalling how he came up with Cypress Hill’s biggest hits, Crooked I on writing lyrics down and using tape recorders, DJ Quik discussing being both an MC and a produce, E-40 on coming up with slang and rhythms and much more.

Other West Coast artists and groups interviewed include Bishop Lamont, Cashis, Crooked I, Yukmouth, Glasses Malone, Guerilla Black, Omar Cruz, Spider Loc, The Federation, Tha Alkaholiks and more.

Now, thanks to the great relationship between Dubcnn and Paul Edwards, the writer has given Dubcnn EXCLUSIVE rights to release all the key WestCoast interviews that were compiled to create "How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC."  Each of these interviews give an insight into an artists thought process around creating a track and help you understand why being a Hip-Hop MC is truly an Art and Science!


Read on and enjoy. As always feel free to hit up the forum with questions or comments.

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Previous "How To Rap" Interview Installments

Week One: The Lady Of Rage
Week Two: Bishop Lamont
Week Three: Shock G

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Questions Asked By: Paul Edwards in February 2007
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How to Rap: How did you learn to rap—where did you pick up the skills and techniques?

Yukmouth: I picked up the skills from listening to rap, what really made me rap was listening to Kool G Rap, KRS-One, NWA, Geto Boys, that combination made my rap style, and Big Daddy Kane. So when them albums came out I would learn their raps and then I started writing my own raps and that’s how I basically started.


How to Rap: How long did it take you to learn?

Yukmouth: Aw shit man, it took years man! It didn’t happen over night! I started in like ’86 and got real tight with it in like ’91, so it took years. I was off and on, I was like a hustler, I wasn’t more of a rapper, I was playing with it.


How to Rap: Did you have a lot of practice during that time?

Yukmouth: Oh yeah, from like ’87 to ’91 I was off and on with it, but there came [a time] when I did like a year in jail and I had nothing but time to think and write raps, so what I did that year in ’91 was when I really mastered the craft of how to write a song, how to write a sixteen, how to write a hook, how to make a song, before then I was just writing raps that just go on forever, you know, a hundred-bar raps.


How to Rap: Do you listen mainly to hip-hop for your inspiration?

Yukmouth: Yes, I listen to mainly hip-hop, and soul and R&B, old school soul, like old school Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind, & Fire, emotional music you know, stuff like that.


How to Rap: Is there a process you go through when you’re writing lyrics?

Yukmouth: Yeah, like my first album Thugged Out was written all in my little game room in my house. I got a three story house, so I got a game room that I just chill and write all my raps at. So mainly in my game room, then I got my own studio, and I write them in my studio.


How to Rap: Do you sit down specifically to write rhymes, or do things come to you when you’re not expecting it?

Yukmouth: I let it hit me, I let it come to me, that’s when you write the hot shit. When you’re just forcing it, like sitting down like, “I’ma try to write this,” that’s when it takes longer, it ain’t like you can’t do it, but it takes longer and the song is bullshit. But when you let shit hit you, you get in the groove of it, feeling the vibe—that’s when songs come out hot. So definitely, I write when the shit hit me.


How to Rap: Do you write your lyrics down on paper?

Yukmouth: I used to, right now I don’t, right now I’m doing raps strictly in the head, writing them in my head and laying them. Yeah, I used to, but I just started doing this, I just been doing this for two months, but yeah, mainly, I used to write down all my raps.


How to Rap: Do you ever just go in the booth and freestyle for recordings?

Yukmouth: Nah, I don’t freestyle, but I just go in the booth definitely and have my rhymes in my head and hit, I don’t write no more.


How to Rap: Do you write a whole song in one go, or do you do it all in bits and then put it together?

Yukmouth: I go with the flow, like I’ll probably lay a whole song or I’ll probably lay two verses and come back and lay the third verse the next day or something like that. Or I’ll lay a verse and come back and lay the next two verses a week later. It’s shit like that, I have shit incomplete and I finish them up or I finish it up right there at one time. So it depends, I leave some unfinished and finish it later and I finish some right that same day.


How to Rap: Do you usually start with an idea for the subject matter or do you come up with some rhyming phrases first?

Yukmouth: I come up with the hook first, I don’t even make a rap unless I come up with the hook first, 'cause the hook tells me where I’m gonna go with the rap. So I come up with the hook and if the hook is catchy enough I roll with the hook and then I just write off what the hook is about. That’s basically how I get my songs, I don’t never write a song without starting without the hook, unless the hook is already on the song, in that case I’ll just write my verse. But yeah, I start with the hook first, that’s the nucleus of the song, you gotta have a strong hook and then the hook tells you what the song is about. And I write all my own hooks too.


How to Rap: Do you write to the beat you will be rapping over, or do you write without the beat?

Yukmouth: I write to the beat I’m rapping over—the song and the music gotta match, so I also go in the direction that the music is going in. So if I got a club banger, I’ma make something clubby, I’ll make a club type of hook, if it’s a street beat, ok, I’ma make some street music, I’m gonna make a dangerous type of ghetto hook, if it’s a slow type of sad song I’ma make some sad shit, some reminiscing, story-telling shit and make the hook real sad... so I go with the music. So whatever the direction the music is going in, that’s where I’m going.


How to Rap: Do you have a way of writing down the rhythms and the flow—how the lyrics will fit to the beat?

Yukmouth: Nah, I just play beats, because if I put the beat on and I start shaking my head... like when you feel a song, when you feel a beat, as soon as that beat come on, the hook usually hits you or the first five lines of your verse hits you like as soon as that beat come on, like whoo! You feeling it that bad. When it’s a beat like that I’ll usually lay the song, but if I ain’t feeling it like that, if the hook don’t hit me as soon as the beat comes on or my first couple of lines don’t hit me soon as the beat come on, I don’t fuck with that beat. It’s gotta be some shit that I’m feeling.


How to Rap: Have you changed the way you put together lyrics since you first started?

Yukmouth: Oh yeah, definitely, especially with the not writing rhymes down, just straight going in the booth and laying it, that’s a big thing, because I’m used to writing my shit and looking at a notepad, so to go in there and lay it and just remember shit, it’s a big step up you know.


How to Rap: Do you think it makes it sound more spontaneous, not reading off the paper?

Yukmouth: I think it makes you a better lyricist, definitely, because if you can just write the shit in your head and remember it, and don’t have to use no paper, you know that’s what Jay-Z doing, that’s why they give him so much hype because he go in the booth and just lace the shit, he don’t write nothing down. That’s what Biggie Smalls used to do and so on, you know, the legends... so if I’m doing shit like that, hell yeah, that’s high calibre shit that the legends of hip-hop is doing, so yeah, that’s a big step, definitely.


How to Rap: Do you use most of the rhymes you write, or does a lot never get recorded?

Yukmouth: I use everything, sometimes I’m just walking around and a punch-line will hit me and I just keep it in my data-bank, I just keep it locked in my head until I come up with a song that I’m feeling and I’ll put the punch-line in this song. Ideas come to me all day, I just keep it locked in my head and bring them out when it’s time.


How to Rap: Do you ghost-write lyrics for anyone?

Yukmouth: Yeah, I used to ghost-write for Nik Nack, when we did the song when I was with The Luniz, 'So Much Drama'. 'Fools From The Streets,' I wrote that and I wrote a couple of other songs. I wrote some songs for Numskull, from The Luniz, that’s my rapping partner, wrote some songs for a couple of my artists, so yeah, I ghost-write a lot, I do nigga’s hooks, I do all that shit, yeah, I do that a lot.


How to Rap: Is that different from when you write your own stuff?

Yukmouth: Yeah, way different, I take it in the direction of the artist, I don’t write like it’s me, I write like I’m that artist, so yeah, it’s way different.


How to Rap: Do you know how you are going to phrase things and use your voice to deliver the lyrics before you record?

Yukmouth: Nah, I just lay the shit. Though yeah, definitely as far as the hook, I change my voice up for the hook and do all types of shit, people won’t even know it’s me. But as far as my rap game, my voice gonna stay the same.


How to Rap: Do you ever change things during the recording process?

Yukmouth: Yeah, a lot of times, like I didn’t spit the verse powerful enough or strong enough and I gotta do it again, lay it more strongly, like when I was kinda light in the booth. There will be times like that when you just lazy and do a lazy verse and need to re-lay it more stronger, yeah, there’ll be times like that.


How to Rap: Are the times when you change the actual lyrics because of how it sounded when you heard it back?

Yukmouth: Yeah, yeah, I do little changes, little word changes or add more words to fill blanks in, definitely.


How to Rap: Which of your raps do you think showcases best what you can do lyrically?

Yukmouth: I’d say 'Puffin Lah,' because I really took it on some loony shit and changed my voice, I styled it with the beat, that’s some real shit, like not normal rap shit, strictly style. So definitely that, that shows that I’m a nigga that knows how work styles and shit. It can be different than just rapping off gangsta shit you know.


How to Rap: What do you think about today’s rappers and styles, compared to older stuff?

Yukmouth: Hip-hop is evolving, I think it’s got a thousand times better since the old school. Back in the day it used to be wack for you to say the same shit over and over again, but now it’s so hot that you can say the same phrase over, like you can say, “yo, I went to the store and I copped that coke, and I came back on the block, now I got that coke,” saying the same word. It used to be corny to say the same shit over and over again but now it’s hot, so hip-hop has definitely changed, and it’s for the better you know. Like people would never rhyme coke and coke in the same two bars, like back in the day you always had to be like, “ok, we got the coke, we got it on the boat,” or something like that where you ain’t gone say coke and then come back and say coke again, but right now that’s how shit is, that shit is hot, so it’s different.


How to Rap: What sort of advice would you give to people who are learning how to rap?

Yukmouth: Listen to the best artists that did it, the best people that did it and take notes and structure how you make a song around how they made their songs. When I was locked up in jail, all I was listening to in jail was the radio and all I could hear was how they structured their songs, so learn how to structure a song. The sixteen, the eight-bar hook, learn how to make hits, 'cause rapping is more than just freestyling and battling man, it’s about making songs, hits. If you ever wanna be an artist, you gotta make hit songs to even get in the industry, you ain’t gonna be able to get in the industry and just freestyle battle your way through to the top. You gotta make hits and singles, so learn how to make a song, and after you learn how to make a song, learn how to make a hit, and then you’ll be a great artist.






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