New X-Raided Interview

[ThatSICCNESS]

http://www.worldwideconnected.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=626

WorldWideConnected.com: Since we last interviewed you there’s been some news in your case. Apparently somebody else has been convicted of the same crime you doing time for. What’s up with that?



One of my original co-defendants, Christopher “Lil Venom” Mc Kinnie, submitted an appeal for our case, and he won his appeal. The Judge completely overturned his conviction and ordered a re-trial. Instead of retrying him, the D.A gave him a deal. He pleaded guilty of manslaughter, use of firearm and burglary, and they released him with time served. The issue with that was the fact that the district attorney who prosecuted our case was eventually fired from the D.A.’s office after he was arrested and charged with child pornography. The charges against him were dismissed, of course. You know they take care of their own. But it still happened and he was still fired. They don’t like to talk about THAT! If the D.A. who prosecuted my case has questions about his moral and ethical codes of conduct, is it not questionable that something inappropriate could have occurred during my trial? And should that not be examined? That’s one of the reasons why they gave Chris the deal. If there was a new trial, all that would come up in the media and the D.A.’s office doesn’t want bad press. So they gave him a new deal, and now I’m saying, if you allow a man to plead guilty to killing someone that you have already locked me up for killing, how is that I’m still in prison? It’s more of a political question then a legal one, but politics are useful in these types of situations. We went to an attorney William Portanova, who wants $300,000 in one lump sum to take the case. I happen not to have that kind of money laying around so I’m doing what I have to do to get it. We are certain that he can get me out here pretty quickly after we hand over the money, so we are just grinding and doing what we have to do in order to pay the fee. They aren’t going to just let me go without a fight, so we have to roll with someone that is good at fighting. Portanova is well connected in Sacramento, and we are confident that he can make it happen. What we need to do is put out product and sell it. Properly manage our money, pay him. And the rest will be documented in the hip-hop history books.


WorldWideConnected.com: Are you going to get a re-trial soon?

We don’t want a re-trial, we want to win an appeal, ball me out or have them drop the case. If I have to take a deal for the time served like Chris did, so be it. But we don’t want a trial. If we had to go to trial again, so be that too, but it would be best to just be able to go home.


WorldWideConnected.com: How do you keep your head up after all those years in jail? What jail are you currently in right now?


I just do what I have to do. It doesn’t matter if I do it sad, mad or glad, it has to be done. I’m here whatever I make the best of it or not, so why not let my fire burn instead of being blown out? They can’t have my spirit man. I watched Pac go through this, watched Beanie Siegel. Look at Shyne, C-Murder, Mac Dre (R.I.P) Mystikal. It’s not just me. Men have survived this situation, even beyond hip hop. You have the Geronimo Pratts too. I can and will survive this situation because others have already shown me how. I’m at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, it’s near Fresno.


WorldWideConnected.com: Where do you get the energy to continue this music thing and not be all negative and say fuck all this?


Honest to God, I don’t have the option of saying fuck all this. I need this. Hip hop is my life, literally. I’ve rhymed professionally since I was 16, when me, Lynch and Sicx made “Niggaz in Blacc“and “Nigga Deep” in 1990. That’s half of my life literally. This is what I do. I’m seriously competitive about hip hop. It’s a sport to me and I’m better then these niggaz!  I enjoy that. I get energy out of hearing heated rappers spit! I’m knocking Geto Boys “Foundation” as we speak. I love Scarface. Hip Hop itself keeps me energized. Hot shit is hot shit, any era. I knock Jeezy, Nutty, Lil Wayne. I’m listening to what The Game is doing. I’m enjoying Hip Hop.


WorldWideConnected.com: What’s your opinion about the current hip hop movement “The Southern Takeover” Feeling any artist?


It’s funny… they call it a southern takeover, but that’s not true. Hip hop is not something that should be segregated. What other genre of music does that? It’s a hip hop takeover, the continuation of what has been happening for years. We have the number one selling music in the world, man. Something that black and brown ghetto boys and girls created. What level of control do we have of it?  If there wasn’t segregation how many more units would we all be selling? It’s just a matter of divide and conquer. Scarface BEEN hot, Rap-A-Lot Records been here for twenty years, outlived Ruthless, Death Row, No Limit… it’s outlived everything but Def Jam. Face, UGK, Outkast, Goodie Mob, this didn’t happen overnight, it’s just new to the kids. I remember when the West was in a so called drought, NWA came, Too-Short, Ice Cube went solo. CMW blew up, I came, Lynch, C-BO, Spice, E-40. Yuk, Dru, Snoop… I mean, it’s all a matter of allowing the music to be young again and not resenting it for that. We need baby G’s to do their thing even if we think their shit is garbage. The old niggaz in 88 thought NWA was garbage. Thought Too-Short was garbage. It was New York wack ass critics because they wanted all the money and shine for themselves. In the 90’s we moved past that. But as the game gets young again there’s another wave of hate, another wave of people trying to hold on to their chunk of the pie. That shit is mindlessness. All we got to do is make hot music, period. Nigga you can rhyme but your beats prevent you from blowing up? Spend more money on beats and equipment. Can’t spend more money? Reorganize your priorities and save some money to spend. Your beats are hot but your rhymes are garbage? Find a hot nigga to spit on your beats and get your money. Put the hustle of this shit first before the art and entertainment or you will fall. What’s fun?  Having money is fun! These young niggaz are having money and I love it because I was that nigga. And I’m the nigga they will become. Intellectually and spiritually, eventually. I see them in me and me in them, and I love it, East, West, South, Midwest, hot music is hot music.


WorldWideConnected.com: Do you like what Snoop is trying to do with the West Coast movement?


I got love for Snoop. He’s a nigga that don’t have to do nothing for nobody. So whatever he does is a plus. I talked to Lynch the other day, and we talked about Snoop for a minute. I feel like it’s a positive thing. I think everybody has their own responsibility to make hot music, but it’s good for niggaz not to be doing all that hating for no reason. If nothing else, I say the best outcome for any west coast movement would be networking. Wouldn’t you want to hear a Killa Tay & Crooked-I collaboration? Nutty and E-40? The youth needs examples of working together without the hate. I feel like if you got a problem with a nigga, that’s real life. If you rappin a niggaz name, that’s either real, or it’s just some rap shit. If it’s just some rap shit you don’t need to be talking crazy like its “war”. I got portnas in Iraq that can tell you about war and ain't no rappin involved. I’m just saying the west doesn’t need any movement; we need to make and release hot music. Not regionally hot either. We need to make music that’s hot in comparison to hip hop as a whole. Your city ain’t the world, and the whole world is listening so it would be economically intelligent of you to cater to them. If not, that’s why your money is funny. Blame your own inability to hustle right instead of blaming New York or the Southern takeover. 


WorldWideConnected.com: Is it true you called in from prison to battle a dude on the Verbal Tek show and that’s what’s sparked “The Unforgiven”?


Hell Nah. I called the Verbal Tek show to offer that nigga a chance to do something big. It wasn’t by chance. I was in my cell listening to the show, I thought “we can help each other,” so I called him on three- way to Cedsing. I told him about “Unforgiven.” It was already written. Any nigga I battled it was just for the fuck of it. I’m down for that whenever. I can’t stand listening to a nigga rhyme in my presence because he will walk away and act like I didn’t want to see him, which is never the case. Real or imagined, I spit at anybody rhyming around me.   


WorldWideConnected.com: Would you ever consider doing another album produced by DJ Sharell, Verbal Tek and Raw? Like you did with The Unforgiven album?


First of all, when ya’ll hear Ignition album, nobody will even be thinking about that anymore. I like "Unforgiven" best out of all my Black Market or Madman projects. It’s the best of the bunch. This Ignition project with and Loki is heated. As far as working with Sharell again, I doubt that. A lot went on behind the scenes on that album. People did and said things that shouldn’t have been done and said. It’s like this when we dropped Unforgiven, it was all good for everyone on the streets who was free, but inside, I was dealing with real life drama. Drama with Bloods and Crips, prison politics, a reckless cop, the Attorney General filled a lawsuit against me. They locked me up under the prison for nine months straight. When I got out of the hole everyone was like “Fuck X!” I’m like fuck X? Fuck you! I took these niggaz from a radio station in a shoe box to the pages of The Source, Vibe and Murder Dog. And they let silence be the reason; it was fuck X. Silence nigga? Didn’t any of them send a bitch to see if I was alive, come visit me, none of them wrote me. I was on my own besides my moms, my big sister, my breezy and my lawyer. I didn’t even hear from Cedsing or anyone at Black Market Records. I dealt with that on my own. Investigations by internal affairs, the gang unit, the muthafucking Attorney General of California against me! All of that happening and I had to fight Blood niggaz literally hatin’. Had to fight Crip niggaz who were tired of having to fight because of me. Had to fight cops who were mad that one of their own was already caught up in it. I was in that hole for nine months straight in the aftermath, and the niggaz I had assembled were all acting like bitches when I got out of the hole. Verbal Tek’s bitch was playing games, jocking me and using me to make him jealous, so he gets sensitive about his broad… nigga keep your bitch off my dick then and deal with me directly like men! She was out of pocket, wanted something greater, whether that would have been me or another nigga with paper and fame. We overcame that, me and Verbal Tek did, but we never seemed to be able to get it together, and I actually love that nigga. Still, he held me down when I was present, on the phone, sending letters. They say “when you take the head you take the body” and in that case, when I went to the hole everyone fell apart. But Tek didn’t really produce anything on Unforgiven; it was really Sharell and Raw. Tek just organized and engineered it all. And he did it better then anyone ever has besides Loki now. My loyalty is to Loki because his loyalty has been to me, for years now, while I was in the hole this last time from Dec 2004 – June 2005. Even before they locked me up, Loki was at me. I will never have anyone handling my business besides E and Loki again. Beats are one thing, but manpower and management-wise, it’s a Bloc Star forever. Anyone who wants to get down can join us or keep it movin.


WorldWideConnected.com: Heard you were working on Unforgiven Volume 2 CD? Got any features?  Who’s doing the production? Got a release date?


Unforgiven 2 is on our priority list, but right now, it’s the Ignition CD, X-Raided & Loki. We got T.A, on there, who’s signed to Bloc Star, and we got Big No Love, Devious from that Lynch and Eiht disc, Trauma Unit with Sav Sicc and Bleezo… Zagg, B.Parker, this is a heated disc. This is fresh spit from X-Raided and Loki. It sounds like RIGHT NOW. We will be releasing it January 23, 2006 on Bloc Star Entertainment, definitely, understand? This is a definite. All our production is Bloc Star… Elemental, Epic, Loki and Speakeasy, besides one beat we got from G-Macc, for Exit Strategy. We’re looking at distribution agreements right now. E has them in her hands, and our lawyer is reviewing them. We have two offers.  I already know which I want, but we’ll take it and go from there. No more games.

WorldWideConnected.com: Are you working on anything else and if so what can you tell us about it? Are there any other projects you’re involved with?


We’re coming with 2 singles from November to January, and then we’ll drop Ignition, itself, on January 23. After that we got a Sav Sicc/C-Way mix tape, T.A.’s album, our group Bloc Starz, (Me, Loki, Big No Love, and T.A.) and we also got Loki’s Bloc Star debut. That’s the one I’m most exited about because it will be a breath of fresh air to our region. Maybe we can show them how to make full albums again! A lot of this shit is bound to change because shit happens, but what’s up right now is the Ignition CD, the singles and mix tape. We can talk about what’s next when we come with what’s next. Bloc Star is here for real, for real.


WorldWideConnected.com: Do you plan to release another album as Nefarious?


Actually I will. I’m doing that; “Unforgiven 2” and “Xorcist 2”. We will do everything that we can possibly do beginning with these singles in November.


WorldWideConnected.com: What made you switch to the style you had on Vengeance is Mine and the albums after that? How long did it take to master it? And how many styles would you say you have? If more then two which is more fun to use?


That’s a trip, because if you listen to Psycho Active, I used a basic two-four rhyme scheme, except on that Siccness and maybe Bitch Killa. Listen to Xorcist, I used a basic two-four for every eight bars, then I twist out the rest of the verse. The patterns I used on Unforgiven are the same as I used on Witta Mask On, check it out for yourself! Spittin Venom was a new pattern I made up to hug the beat I wrote it to. That’s really what determines the pattern for me. I follow the baseline for a few bars, follow the snare, follow the high hats, throughout the verses. If I have a style, it’s the basic pattern I used on the Unforgiven (the song). It’s the same pattern I used on Psycho Active and Open the Casket from Xorcist. On Vengeance, the Hold On pattern is the same as those. Ignition has more of the Nefarious & Unforgiven  patterns. I think it’s just a matter that I rely on a certain pattern for a greater percentage of certain CD’s.  Like Psycho Active, it’s mostly basic, Xorcist was mixed evenly, Unforgiven was 50/50, Nefarious was mostly basic besides Never Loved, but Vengeance and everything after that was mostly twisted deliveries. I’ve taken to doing less of that. I’m spitting closer to Unforgiven these days and I’ll probably stay there until it gets bit up again. Another reason is that I rarely listen to my own CD’s… I kind of forget to trip off of how my last record sounded, so there’s no continuity flow-wise. It’s good and bad. My style never got old because I never really had one.  My biggest desire has been to sound like X, even with my Ice Cube, Scarface, Too-Short and Pac influences. E-40, too. Twista.  A bunch of people. Ignition will surprise everyone, it’s heated.

WorldWideConnected.com: You mentioned before that you were done with “X-Raided Presents” albums or verses for other rappers to keep all your tracks and focus on your album. I still see some of these present album and verses. Did you agree to do that?


All that will eventually dry up. We aren’t releasing any “Present” albums, and we aren’t giving up features outside of the family. Actually Octavius Miller, Seagram’s brother (RIP, Seag from 69 Ville), just got a brand new song full of fire from me for the new Seagram album he’s putting together.  That was all love right there and I was happy to do it.  My wife and I have nothing but respect for Big O, and the feeling is reciprocated.   But like I said, outside of the family, I’m good right now.  It’s a compliment that my shit is in demand, though. I look at it like a good thing, no malice, I just need my paper.   If I gotta send a lawyer at you to get it, I’ll get it.  “Sometimes it’s better to go to court instead of war,” meaning if a nigga owes you money, put a lawyer on him. A dead nigga can’t pay you. Don’t shoot him, sue him. Ain’t no more free nothing from me, and if you do it without permission, you a hater.  If you mad that I want to be paid, you’re disrespecting the hustle. Have your fun, just have my money if my name and likeness is connected to it or I’m sending Weintraub at you.


WorldWideConnected.com: You had two songs come out with the same lyrics but different production, “Let it be Known” on the Initiation CD and “It’s O,” which was released on "Garden Blocc Ridaz Vol 1". Do you have a lot of unreleased tracks like this? I know the fans loved the “It’s On” version of the song.
 
We have a million of them. We’re cutting the team loose with my vocals for these official Bloc Star mix tapes. You’ll hear Loki, T.A, and Shahqim spittin with me to my original vocals, remixed and re-mastered. Everything from “Unforgiven” to “Vengeance is Mine,” we have a lot of it. We will be coming with one of those before the end of the year, guaranteed. Personally I liked the “It’s On” version, too. Hollis did his thing, but his beats didn’t really work for me, and his sound was too available. Every little up and coming rapper had Hollis beats. I needed more obscure production, more gangsta than synthesized and computer driven. We got organic beats at Bloc Star. Speaking of Garden Blocc Ridaz, I love that nigga Big A.C.’s “2 N Da Chamber”! I got him on the Xorcist doing the hook on Witta Mask On with Killa Hoe, and I’ve known him since I was a YG with a blue rag hanging out my pocket with a pistol and a 40. I never acknowledged that, so I wanted to shout that nigga out. What up Lil Cyco at WCM, too, my little cuzzin.


WorldWideConnected.com: Some people wants too see a music video with you from jail, kind of like T.I. did. Is that something that might happen in the future?


Money makes a huge difference in anything you want to do. Paying Portanova, getting video footage, all of it, money takes care of that. Especially in Cali, and especially if you keep your mouth closed after you do it. I had niggaz in the newspaper talking about “X-Raided recorded his album in prison.”  I would be in my cell chilling and get rushed by the investigation unit.  X goes to jail while he’s already in jail because a nigga is talking too much. Nobody meant any harm; it’s just that niggaz like for people to know when they do big things, when they do some high caliber G-shit. I was young, but I suffered for that, and I know better now. I teach people better. I was a baby leading grown men. I pushed the issues, and still do. But there were things that I didn’t teach my teams and it cost us the season a few times. Now I’ve rebuilt and got us a new stadium, the salary cap is good. And we’re ready to challenge for a super bowl. Whatever opportunities present themselves to us we will have the money to take advantage of them if we please, and if we please, the actions will speak louder then words. I told Ced, “Is it really necessary to say these are new lyrics if it’s 2000
and I’m talking about the 6th Sense and Blair Witch Project in my verses?!” I mean, all anyone had to do was listen to the music. We never had to say a word about it. You live and you learn. Mystery sells as good as controversy. When you combine the two, you get 2Pac status. I’m not that level, but I got the ingredients. Somebody somewhere should really be thinking about paying Portanova and getting me out of here because I’m half a billion dollars in five years on the streets, just on rhymes, story and look alone. Until then, I’m just grinding to do it myself, worst case scenario. 


WorldWideConnected.com: Got any updates on your autobiography/book? How’s that going? Got a release date?


I got a letter from Soren Baker about that this week, and another from Billy Jam. It’s not on them, it’s on me, that it’s not done. I have to change the proposal, but I’m not focused on it. I’ll do it when I can, but this music is closer to paying me then the book, since Ignition is done, and I have an obligation to handle that first and foremost. Worst case scenario, we will finish the book ourselves and make it available on blocstarentertainment.com for purchase as an e-book and mail order. I’ll press my own shit and just have Billy Jam edit it, if Soren can’t give us a deal. We just have to wait and see what happens. It’ll be two books, tho, one from birth up to being arrested and tried, and another from sentencing to present. It’ll come; it’s just a matter of having the time to do it.


WorldWideConnected.com: What’s the status with T-Nutty, Luni Coleone, Dott Dogg, are they still family and will there be any further features?


I haven’t heard from Dott in a full year. I sent him money and he sent thanks, and I never got another letter. My nigga is diabetic and he gets sick… we were worried about him. He’s the type to do his thing and holla when he pleases. It’s always the same love no matter the length of silence. Only an insecure nigga would interpret silence as disrespect. I always trip that niggaz ask me “where you been?”  with an attitude! Nigga, where YOU been? I’m in muthafucking prison. That’s where I been, where any letter you send will reach me no matter what! It’s funny with me and Nutty, because I view it like we are going through the same shit I went through with Lynch. I was what Nutty is to me now to Lynch back in the day. And it was always a lack of communication that led to a sense of funny bidness in the mix. I never had anything but love for Nutty and it was never a matter of nothing but wanting him to blow up! I didn’t bring him to Madman for it to go bad; I brought him to blow it up. I gave him the Initiation album to shine; with new vocals from me… it was all good. But then I started beefin with my mom, my own mother, over money and how business needed to be handled, and it got shaky. Listen… I was the first artist to leave Madman Records. I told Nutty, No Love, and Big Pook that we couldn’t win like that, the way that money was being handled, and I shook. I started working on a new company immediately and told everyone to do their thing. It was “when you’re ready, holla at us”. They weren’t nowhere near where I was at then, or where I’m at now, with one new CD. I outsell niggaz by a mile with new material. Please! I was doing my thing, trying to get my shit together, and I ended up going to the hole again. Same shit as when I was at Salinas Valley. The nigga Kingpen, running his fucking mouth about shit that wasn’t his business, trying to look like a star to a bunch of nobody-ass niggaz on a prison yard. I’m like nigga, we got the whole world to potentially listen to these songs, we don’t need to run around a prison talking about how we make records. The nigga TOLD, period. I’ve long held that as my position.  I went to the hole, he didn’t. Period. Batman and Robin are known to be a Unit, Butch Cassidy and Sundance, nigga. Cain and O-Dogg. They interrogated us together and I got locked down and that nigga got to lounge, my word to God, himself. So I sat in the hole from fall of 2001 until 2002, which is when I tried to get myself together to do Indo and get some money back in my hands. Madman was already done, me and Kingpen weren’t cool at all, and Hollis was the only one I was dealing with besides Luni. While I was in the hole, it was like the same shit, all over again. We put out Indo, and I ended up catching a “distribution of a controlled substance” case after this nigga Cartoon from Nutty Blocc gave up confidential info. I fought that from February- September 2003, while I was in the hole that time Hollis pulls a stunt on me over the Indo money. I’m like, what the fuck is wrong with these niggaz? And I understand it to be opportunism. People don’t believe in big things, that’s why they only a select few over achieve big goals. I got a little money out of that, created another avenue to eat, and I started rebuilding in 2004. That’s when I finally find out niggaz is talking reckless about X! All because I went to the hole? Instead of saying, “X, I know it was hard, thank you for putting me in the game, here’s some love,”niggaz said fuck X! It’s easier for them to say “Fuck X!” than it is for them to defend X and ride with X because I’m the most hated nigga in the town, period. It’s easier to say fuck X than it is to face that or answer questions about why you roll with X. I understand.  I gave my own mother an ultimatum, “Stop spending up the money so we can pay niggaz, or I’m gone,” and I actually left, and I encouraged everyone else to go, too.  If it was just my money, I wouldn’t care what my mother did with it. She took care of X! That’s my moms! So why did I leave? Because the business was bigger to me then just momentary money. You can’t win in this game if you don’t pay people and I refused to be a part of that. Bitch-ass Kingpen snitched on me and I still pay him! He slandered me to niggaz who didn’t think to ask why X was in the hole, where the fuck is X at? He says he loves X… No Love tells me I need to call Nutty, “Nutty loves you,”… I sacrificed myself, my money, my company for the best of the team as a whole and niggaz rewarded me with metaphorical venom. Niggaz I gave money to, niggaz I taught how to do this shit. So I relax and say, “I will let it come to me as it will be.” I love Nutty. This is deuce four, I don’t give a fuck what happens, this the Gardens. Nutty is my nigga beyond music. They say when a lie is allowed to stand for too long, it becomes a truth. I think niggaz have been party to so much Raided-hating, it’s hard to face me because I make them feel like whatever it is they know themselves to be, without even saying a word. When me and Lynch talk, we bring 16 years of baggage to the conversation, whether we address it or not. That’s hard for a nigga who isn’t in touch with who he is. I’m not high or drunk everyday, my mind is clear, nigga. I’m working out daily, pushing 345 pounds eight times on the fourth set. I’m a strong, healthy, grown ass man. I’m in prison; I can’t go to the studio tomorrow and respond to diss songs. Lynch told me a couple of days ago, “You can make 15 diss songs, nigga, I love the hell outta you”, and I believe him. I love that nigga, too. It’s complicated. The same as I always been competitive with Lynch, prideful, being the younger of the two, Nutty is being the same towards me. I get it. I don’t need a thing from anyone that they don’t want to give me. Review the record: X came in the game new every time I dropped. Luni, No Love, Nutty, Choppa, Da Misses, Sharell, Tek, Kingpen, Shaka Loc, Dott Dogg, and now it’s T.A., Shahqim, Filthy Rich, and even these young niggaz coming up in Sac right now.  These niggaz owe me for every spoon they put in their mouth, every blunt they roll, every car they buy, because I either birthed them or am in labor with them. Whether expressed or not, it stands as a truth, and I’m good with knowing it and knowing that they know it. It’s love over here for anyone who wants it, nigga. Don’t confuse anger with hate.  Brothers get mad at each other but love is bigger than anger. I want them to keep doing what they do. Eat, nigga, I love it. Let’s review it in a year, after we do this Bloc Star shit. You got niggaz selling albums for lump sum payments. How you gonna be a label owner doing records for another niggaz company? Illogical other than accepting that niggaz don’t know what they doing. What is a mechanical royalty? What are publishing rights? What are performance royalties? What are sales royalties? What is a copyright? The answer to these questions is, and always was, the difference between me and all these niggaz. Wendy Day taught me very well, I jumped when she said jump, I read what she sent me, studied it. Bloc Star is going to be in a position where niggaz will want to sign with us by the end of 2007, and I’ll welcome them, and pay them, because I love them. For now, I’ll build. I do think it’s funny that Nutty has Young Bop in the same position that he was in with me. If Nutty got locked up he would want his team’s support. He would want the best for them, even if it was without him, if he loved them. But that’s hard to see when you faded, surrounded by niggaz with venomous tongues. Niggaz love drama, but I love my niggaz. It is what it is.


WorldWideConnected.com: You and Loki have a label now, what are you planning for it? Any artist on there besides you, Loki & Shahqim?


Bloc Star Entertainment!!!  We’re coming with the singles first, then Ignition January 23.  From there, we are doing whatever money allows us to do. We got T.A and Shah, and we got B.Parker. We have C-Way showing major support, Big No love holding me down on whatever I’ve asked of him. Much love to Sav Sicc and Bleezo, who I hope to do solo CDs for, too. We’re lockin’ a deal with Big No Love and C-Way where Bloc Star distributes their product. It’s a joint-venture deal.  Even people who love you have to be shown, and I’m ready to do that. I was gone for four years, five really… and last time when I did that, when I came back, it was with Unforgiven. History repeats itself.


WorldWideConnected.com: One of your artists is Shahqim. Who is he and where did you find him?


Funny story… I arrived here at PVSP in April 2005. I was here for three hours, literally, and got in a fight with this weird nigga. I got pepper sprayed the fuck up. Long story short, I went to the hole and while they had me in the cage, waiting for a cell, the nigga Shahqim was being escorted to the shower. I’m from Northern Cali, homie. I know what a Northern Cali nigga look like, walk like, and talk like. He hears someone yell my name and he speaks to me. “Don’t let them put you in the cell with one of the weird niggaz, mayne!” We go back and forth, he says he’s from Oakland, 96, Plymoth Rock, nigga, birth place of crack cocaine. We get at the ones and hook it up, boom, I move in. The nigga fed me, gave me writing materials, cosmetics, and he stepped back to let me breathe. A real nigga, man. He didn’t know what to expect. I’m 5’8”, 215 pounds right now. Shah is used to being the strongest nigga he meets but I gave him a run for his money on that. When you first get to the hole, you don’t have nothing but your boxers, a t-shirt, a pair of flip-flops, and a toothbrush. For Shah… it had to be a trip. We got cops coming to the door, “You are X-Raided?” counsellors coming… I sent $16,000 home off my books and they hadn’t seen anyone do something like that, feel me? My wife’s mail started catching up to me, letters from Loki, fan mail, letters from muthafucking Alaska. Niggaz yelling my name, spazzin out… Shah was like, “Daaamn” but he was cool about it, no jealousy, no dick-riding. It was all man to man. He would be like, “Nigga lets work out, put that pen down, let’s go!” I would bang on him about his rhymes. The first time we went at it was funny… the nigga though he could see me, I guess because he felt like he was better then the last CD he heard of mine. Niggaz be competing with me based on shit I put out four years ago and the rhymes was two years old when I put that out! So that’s six year old shit you competing with, nigga! You ain’t the only one that kept writing!  So he spit one and I just nailed him. I gave it to him relentlessly, like I would do in a booth, or on stage face to face. The whole section was listening to that shit, he was humbled and shocked. I hit him with fire. From there we started going over his songs, discussing ways hip hop as a whole could be improved, and I knew I had to sign him. He has the voice and the look, plus the hunger. I got out of the hole before he did, and I had Loki send him some money and XXL subscription. He wrote and I wrote him back. He said the difficult stuff in his letter, opened up, and God willed it to be…he got out of the hole and hit my yard. I hit him with food and cosmetics, I love being a boomerang (throw it and it will come back), and we started mapping out the plan. He went home in 2005. I was working his deal out, setting up his production and studio costs, and he got locked back up. He’s feeling me right now. I’m glad it happened now, on a small level, because it checked him. I need him to be focused. He’s a hyphy nigga, he does gangsta hyphy shit, and it’s in his nature to wild out. I’m trying to get him controlled in this wild chaos. As soon as he gets out, he’s back in the studio with my dude Filthy Rich out in Oakland. I’m ready for him this time, no paperwork, no waiting. My dude Gunz is about to go home in about three months, and he’s my hands and feet… anyone moving to slow, they’ll know what it means when Gunz starts calling and showing up at their houses. My dude Trig just got out days ago, we’re signing distribution deal right now and Ignition is done. I got a pack of hungry ex-convicts with me, homie. It’s do or die time.


WorldWideConnected.com: Did you get a chance to hear G-Macc’s album? Did you feel it?


No


WorldWideConnected.com: There’s a rumour that you got beef with Young Meek, is that true? Do you have beef with any artists?


No. I’m good on beef. I’m not rappin no nigga’s name, I’m not playing games with grown men, and nobody’s playing games with me. In general, I come to conclusion that niggaz have the right to be stupid. I used to try to change niggaz, help them get smarter, but they have the right to free speech, first amendment, and it doesn’t say anything about that speech having to be smart or thought-provoking. They have the right to be ignorant. So I’m respecting niggaz right to talk all they want, just don’t play with my money, and don’t touch me or mine. Rap is wrestling now, like Jay-Z said. Niggaz play their characters. I’m good on that. Whatever I’ve said about any nigga on record stands as a reflection of exactly what I think of that nigga, reiteration rendered irrelevant by your ability to rewind the song and listen again if you need to know how I still feel. I can add nothing or subtract nothing from that; I wish Young Meek everything he deserves from life. We bring 16 years of baggage to conversation, too. You can’t hate a nigga you never loved, can’t lose love when none ever existed.


WorldWideConnected.com: What artists outside of the rap game would you want to work with?


Give me Rick Rubin and a week, I’ll give you golden age hip hop. I’d fuck with Jagged Little Pill broad, fuck with Ami Lee, Alicia Keys, Quincy Jones… this list would never end.


WorldWideConnected.com: What do you think about your online community supporting your every move?


I’m humbled by it, truly. That’s a part of why I rather take my time to come back then to do it at a level unworthy of the love I received. I want to come even better but I’m maxed out on what I can contribute. I was telling one of my brothers that it doesn’t matter who contributes more, it only matters that you are maxed out on what you can contribute. Bring everything you have to table and sacrifice that for the greater good. Throw your love in it, all of it, and it will be boomerang. I truly believe that. I appreciate everything everyone does for me, everyone’s contribution to my life, and I try to max back what I can contribute.


WorldWideConnected.com: How do you keep your mind occupied?


I read everything I can get my hands on, I’m in The Bible, the Qu’ran, and Mark McNelly’s The Art of Business right now, simultaneously. I write my fans back, all of them, and I respond to my letters as they come. The question for me is how do I keep my mind occupied! I got too much going on in there. Sometimes, it’s good just to watch football. Go to a visit and sit outside in the sun with wifey in silence. I need that peace.


WorldWideConnected.com: What would you be doing if you weren’t in prison?


Right now, I’d be somewhere with my family doing something they would enjoy… right after I got a life insurance policy & finished every line I have in my folders and in my brain. Like Willie D said… we worth more dead than alive.


WorldWideConnected.com: What is the first thing you will do when released from prison? Do you think you will be out soon?


The first thing I’ll do when I get out is prostate myself and thank God… try to get my wife to stop crying. I’ll do that on my way to see my lawyer about life insurance policies and the best place to take Bloc Star for distribution. Who knows? It’ll be business & family, whatever I do. Hell yeah I think I’ll be out soon… that’s what’s this is all about.


WorldWideConnected.com: Word association:


E-40
 
Original, legendary, respected.


Mac Dre


Rest in peace.


Hyphy Movement


Get money.


Keak Da Sneak


Unique in an unoriginal industry.


Nas


Top six all time, dead or alive.


Mike Jones


Who’s Mike Jones.


Z-RO
 
Real talent, great voice, great control of his delivery, great writer. I bump his shit.


Kurupt


Top five freestyler of all time, amazing voice.


JT The Bigga Figga


Real nigga. Showed me love before, got beats, too.


The Game


Probably one of the smartest writers we’ve got out here… this dude is really good.


X-Raided 


Best writer alive on the West Coast. They’ll read the rhymes when I die and recognize. 


WorldWideConnected.com: Is there anything else you want to mention?


The Ignition CD is fire! We back in the game for real with this… Bloc Star Entertainment!
This company was built from bottom to top with good people, serious about this shit, and we here!


WorldWideConnected.com: Thanks for you time and good luck with your appeal.

 

[BallinNigga06]

Real Talk right there he deserves to win the appeal

[BiG*WiCkEd]

Fuck, this muthafucka better be out with the quikness

WiCkZ

[Samoan Enforcer]

thats terrible for him. Free X Raided!

[Sanford - V. President of the Dangerous Crew Movement]

nice interview, props.