New Bishop Lamont/Damizza Interview

[akcranker - The Dangerous Crew Movement]

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/features/id.1263/title.bishop-lamont-for-all-seasons/p.1

Decent interview.. talks about the Game situation.

Also talks about a track he did with Dre called "Rain" that's about his b-day  which just happens to be on Halloween.  It's a cinematic storytelling type track according to Damizza.  Can't wait to hear that track.  Hope to freaking god that it sees the light of day and we get to hear it.

[Meho]

Rain is also co-produced by Khalil and features the New Royales.


Bishop Lamont can turn an interview into a mixtape. The animated Aftermath Records emcee shouts-out everybody from Ras Kass to David Beckham to the rap department at Interscope in between his lengthy, but always honest, complete answers to questions. He cites street classics, while hinting towards album material. At interludes, he routinely sniffs into the phone comically, mocking cocaine users and abusers, joking, “I just did a paragraph, not a line.” This is an entertainer, who whether he has an audience of one journalist or millions from his expected role on Dr. Dre's forthcoming Detox, commands a crowd.

Joined by Los Angeles radio icon and producer Damizza, the mood is light. A HipHopDX exclusive interview ignited by controversial statements made about a west coast peer last week yield more to the positives. Bishop has a highly-anticipated album, also Detox, the seeming archetype for such albums to touch upon. The former boasts Dr. Dre-produced tracks both compare to "Murder Was The Case" meets "Stan," as well as a grocery list of Hip Hop greatness including Lord Finesse, Grand Puba, J. Dilla and Talib Kweli. With a team of family, friends and superstars around him, creative discussion seems far more fitting than pull-quotes and static. Still, there's that too, embedded in the sermon. For now though, open your Hymnals and see a potential star of tomorrow take his alter.

HipHopDX: When Nas first appeared with Main Source or Jay-Z with Jaz-O, those premier records have gone on to mean so much in careers, and in discographies. From your early appearances with Warren G to Caltroit to your recent feature on Jake One’s album, how do you think your legacy will shape these records that you’ve been on at this point in your career?
Bishop Lamont: That’s a great question. I don’t even know where to tackle that from because there’s so much that we’re doing right now. It’s back to concentration camp, coming up with some more phenomenal Detox records. I got up with Lord Finesse on some whole ‘nother stuff, as far as more records for my album. I’m getting Grand Puba involved. It’s a lot of dope stuff. At the end of the day, for me, I think the stuff I’ve been working on, working on with Damizza, we’re stepping our A-game up to a whole new letter that comes before A. So I think it transcends everything we’ve done before. So I don’t even think I’ve established my legacy yet, but I think I’ve been putting up some good numbers and establishing my groundwork; I’ve got a great foundation. It’s still in this architecture stage that I’m still drawing up the schematics on. It’s gonna supercede everything else though, ‘cause there’s just so much going on right now.

I’m just growing, and just focused, and I’m going to Europe – all them fly places over there gave me so much new breath. Long ass answer [aside], I have no idea. I know it’s gonna be greater than it’s ever been before because I’m in such a great mindstate and spirit and focus, understanding what I have to do for me and what I have to.

DX: You mentioned Lord Finesse. When I interviewed you in early 2007, you were talking to me a lot about your love of Cella Dwellas, Keith Murray, Evil Dee, Buckwild, etc. It really inspired the ‘90s Hip Hop head in many of us. However, a lot of what we’ve heard on Pope Mobile for instance, hasn’t followed that direction. Do you still intend to go there?
Bishop Lamont: [My music is based on] if the beats or environment impresses that kind of approach on me. If I hear a hear a track and it’s a reminiscent of a dope Cella Dwellas record or a Lords of The Underground or Camp Lo “Luchini,” you just get stupid on some stupid shit. It’s not like I’m repressing, it’s just what approaches. Like when you look at N*gger Noize, N*gger Noize was what N*gger Noize was; Caltroit [click to listen] was what Caltroit was; Pope Mobile [click to listen] was more spiritual, more sexual – there’s a lot of things that come with religion, things that are more taboo, restrictive and just talkin’ crazy. With what’s going on now, getting the album ready and getting Detox, I’m letting it all out. It’s just when I get on those kind of records – like havin’ Buckwild on deck now, and I gotta call up Clark Kent, Bink, all these fly cats that are gonna bring that out – I’m still looking for Erick Sermon [click to read]. You’re gonna get those different avenues, but it’s not so much about me going, “I don’t want to do that right now. I want to street records. I want to do club records. I want to do sexy records.” It’s not a conscious thing, it’s just wherever I am, what I’m feelin’, if I’m watching too much South Park, then it’s gonna be stupid shit. At the end of the day, it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be. I don’t consciously try to repress or held back; I try to give as much of myself as I’m willing to give.

DX: You mentioned doing this for fans. In the Internet era, people can comment and rate everything you’re doing. With so many directions possible, do the fans’ reaction drive you to explore more or less of your artistic avenues, or is strictly a take-it-or-leave-it Bishop show?
Bishop Lamont: It’s always gonna be the Bishop show, ‘cause if I listened to what people said on the Internet or said in the interviews, unless they know me personally, my shit would be all fucked. I might be like, “Right now, the hot thing is the auto-tune, this is what the fans is listening to, so they probably want to see do that.” Then you’d be fucked up.

I listen to Damizza. I listen to my mama. I listen to my brother. I listen to a few other people. I listen to Dre. He calls me hard-headed; shouts out to Dr. Dre back in Detroit making hits. He calls me hard-headed, but he knows he’s got the same hard-headed shit. At the end of the day, for me, if I let that dictate what I do, then the fans wouldn’t love me like they do with me being me and me being honest and me guiding them on a path as much as they try to guide me on a path with their input. So really, it’s always my show. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be me right now.

I pick the beats I want to rock to. I always said, “If that’s what’s in, then it’s already out.” I’m not gonna do what people are doing. We always gotta keep pushing the line and keep sacrificing and keep goin’ against the grain in trying to set up the new movement. I do that.

DX: Damizza, tell me about your role in this project.
Damizza: I just try to be a good friend, and somebody that supports Bishop in everything that he does. The next couple of years is gonna crazy. Doing Midnight Club for Rockstar Games, and just trying to help him, it’s just being a good friend, and anything he needs, backing him up.
Bishop Lamont: Dude has always been a visionary. Phenomenal work he did at Power; [there’s] so many people he gave positions to who are now staples in this industry, so many careers, so many albums that never would have been without his involvement, without his truth, without his opinion, so I hold all that dearly.
Damizza: I’m currently mourning the death of Power 106, by the way. But go ahead.
Bishop Lamont: Wow. I had nothing to do with that! [Laughs] That’s what I love. He’s an honest dude, and he’s passionate about what he does. When you’re in this position, and you’ve got Dr. Dre here, you’ve got 50 Cent [click to read], you’ve got Eminem, you’ve got all these kind of people, you can become jaded, because people can be nice to you because they want these same kind of positions. He keeps my clarity 100%, he keeps me where I need to be. He always lets me know what it is, regardless if I want to hear it – if I don’t like it. I appreciate that most. That’s why I keep my mama around me, that’s the mom-ager; I keep my brother around me, that’s road manager. I keep nothing but real dudes around me who aren’t susceptible to the power of the pressures.

DX: Hip Hop has shifted from albums to singles. The way you describe your debut and the personnel on it, it sounds like an album that listeners may need to hear Track 3 and Track 5 to properly appreciate Track 4. With 50 Cent, Dr. Dre and Eminem restoring Hip Hop’s faith in album-making, what are you learning?
Bishop Lamont: Patience. Sacrifice, because there’s times when you know you’ve got a crazy record, but somebody else might need that record for their album. You have to be in the mindstate of, “I can make another one.” It kinda makes you more…it raises your endurance level, it raises your self-esteem level in the sense of, “I did it, I can do it again.” You become more into a comfort zone of your craft. Thirdly, you want to put your life into the records. You don’t want to be one of those cats that’s going, “What’s hot right now?” You can be observant of what people are listening to. If I go to a club, I go to examine what people are reacting to. I look at Soundscan. But as far as mimicking what other people do, I refuse to ever do that. I’ve never been a conformist. Your best record is not your best record. Just ‘cause it feels like it’s the hottest record, there’s always a new level to reach, that’s what I’ve learned from Dre.

With 50, it’s an amazing thing just to be able to sit down with dude. ‘Cause dude has the business shit on smash; his approach to records is on some whole other shit. Dre is more of a logical person and a scientist. Fif is more on some, “Timing is everything,” and setting shit up. He’s more on the power side, and really seeing the angles. That’s him. He’s a superior hustler like that. He’s gonna put the fire into the shit, the streets into the shit. That’s what he infuses to it. Dre’s gonna correct the sonics; he’s gonna look at the frequencies, the structure of the record. When I look at [50 Cent] and I look at Dre, you get the best of both worlds. I can’t say too much, ‘cause that’ll let the cat out of the bag, but there’s some fly shit with these mega-juggernauts around

DX: With that proverbial three-headed monster in the lab, you’ve been there three or four years, how are the mood and attitudes at Interscope right now, with all this coming up?
Damizza: That’s what they call it?
Bishop Lamont: I didn’t know that one. That’s hot. Interscope is still Interscope. See, they’re used to that. Like, with the exception of the cats in the rap department, them niggas is excited, and them niggas do their job. But since it’s their job, it kinda becomes burnout, because they feel we need more numbers out there, we need more new cats out there, what’s the hold-up? But they do their job. But people can lose that excitement, because when you deal with that corporate monster, it’s a lot of disappointment that happens, because other shit’s gotta be dealt with. But in reflection of seeing of seeing what’s going on with Fif having his video out, Em got his freestyles out, Detox is finally getting done, I’m almost done, it’s shifting. People are getting eager, and people want to prove that shit is real. It’s not Big Foot, it’s not a unicorn, Detox is real; Eminem’s album is the truth, 50’s shit is gonna be what the fans have been waiting for. And of course, yours truly – not just for this west coast movement, but for this Hip Hop shit.

DX: It’s Hip Hop, it’s not just like west, like you said. As I hear about it in word of mouth how crazy things are in Carson, California right now, how much are you about putting on for your city, and making it up there with Compton, Long Beach, Inglewood and Watts?
Bishop Lamont: You see, one of the first Dre records you ever heard from me was “No Stoppin’ Carson,” so it’s gonna be at the epicenter of what I’m doing. That’s like Nelly [click to read] not pushing St. Louis. But at the same, he was doing his record based on what he was supposed to do. That’s why I tell cats, don’t just center it around just being a west coast album, because that alienates people. As far as Carson goes, there’s so many fly cats comin’ out of here. Roccett [click to read] been putting his thing, not to mention that Boo-Ya T.R.I.B.E. came before, Diverse is lovely on the beats. It’s a lot of fly cats, a lot of young upstarts. It’s dope that we starting to get more light. Shouts out to David Beckham, we gotta drink and ball. [Carson is] starting to be a name that’s recognizable.

DX: When we last spoke almost two years ago, it was too premature to start talking about joints. You’re sacrificing album joints to mixtapes and other artists, but tell me about one track that’s definitely sitting tight for the album….
Damizza: Tell ‘em about the Halloween record, son!
Bishop Lamont: Oh! I was about to say that, Damizza! I can give that one away. For me, it’s exciting with this album, man, because I’ve had so much more time to work on it than I expected. So it’s become so fuckin’ super-alpha-mega-ultra type shit right now that it’s stupid. I’ll give away one. It’s a record called “Rain” that Dre produced, featuring The New Royales. It’s based on my birthday, and it’s like a ghost story.
Damizza: It’s one of those imagery records, you know how Dre makes records where you walk through a scene? It’s like one of those. It’s a story-rhyme. It’s a beat like Dre hasn’t done in years. It just paints a picture in your mind of a dude walking through his birthday. He’s going crazy, this guy!
Bishop Lamont: My birthday’s on Halloween, so I always wanted to do a record for my birthday. Since it’s supernatural, I wanted to do something ill. It’s just dope. Focus and Oscar helped me together as well. [DJ] Khalil came in. Dre came in at times to hear it and said, “Man, you made me like that beat.” It be shit he didn’t even like. It just became amazing stuff, from the cinematic level of the “Rain.” The best way to simplify it is, it’s like my “Murder Was The Case” [click to read] a “Stan” [click to read].
Damizza: Really.
Bishop Lamont: I’m proud of it.

DX: Bishop, you’re a positive person, but have recently gotten into headlines with butting heads with some other rappers in the industry. Is this you, or is the media, in yur eyes, trying to create the controversy or the crabs in the bucket mentality for the west? Is what happened last week, is this being blown out of proportion?
Bishop Lamont: You know what? The main example of industry manipulation is Miss Info. I always bring this conversation up because that bitch pissed me off to the point where I’m not gonna be satisfied till I see this bitch in person. With the Joell Ortiz [click to read] situation, when I was speaking on dude, defending dude positively, they tried to make it sound [negative]. My statement was misconstrued. Even he knew in the interview, what it really was, but he gonna feel how he felt. That was a situation where motherfuckers tried to put one good dude against another good dude on they team. I didn’t even know Joell all that well, but when he came down here to work with Focus, I was right there in the studio; it was my off-days and I came in to fuck with dude, so it’s always gonna be love with me and him. I have to go on the record and say it again for people who don’t get to hear the interviews or the other shit people need to hear.

With the situation with me and Jayceon [The Game] [click to read], it’s been that way for years. But I never tripped off the shit, because at the beginning, Dre had always informed me, “Don’t say nothin’,” – gag order. So shit kinda came to a boil with the situation in Houston, when dude fronted on me in the club. I said, “If there’s an issue, we can go right into the fuckin’ parking lot or whatever.” Nigga seen my face and saw what it was. But instead, you call us on stage, you call Glasses Malone [click to read]; there’s a million witnesses, and it’s all peace. You got other little girls on the stage, that need not be mentioned, that are gypsy rappers and do what they do, and he knows what it is. But it’s love on stage, right? Then, when you leave, you jump on the radio the next day and diss the fuck out of me and Glasses. That was kinda like the last straw for me. I’m not holding my tongue no more. I’m not trying to extend myself. Because in some interviews, I was trying to put shit together. I’m actually trying to get dude on Detox. I’m actually doing shit you wouldn’t expect me to do, but I see it for the greater cause of the situation. But at the same time, kick me once – shame on you; kick me twice – shame on me. I’m not gonna let it get to that point. I got kicked like two, three, four fuckin’ times just respecting Dre’s wishes. At that point, that’s what it is. I said my peace.

When you put the truth to it, motherfuckers are gonna get offended, and make it some kind of a wrestling match. This shit is comedy to me. What I’m never gonna do is lie about situations and scenarios. The truth is the worst thing you could hit people with, and that’s where I’ll leave it.

I don’t hate that nigga, I got love for that nigga. But dude is disrespectful and does a lot of back-stabbing, corny shit, and dude says a lot of slanderous shit. For whatever reasons he does that, I don’t know. But I couldn’t have hate for a dude when his brother is one of my best friends. Love his mom, love his sister, it is what it is, regardless. That’s the bottom line, but people want to make it Hip Hop excitement, and that’s got the fans excited, that’s great for them, but this is real life for me.

[T-Dogg]

Good interview. Props for pointing it out.

Cool to see Damizza by his side there. 'Cause dude makes moves - 'Mizza messing with Bishop cannot be a bad thing.

[Dre-Day]

the info about Rain made me curious 
but the future is uncertain, so bishop, what's the point of bringing it up 

[Dome]

Good interview.

Waht's up with Damizzas mixtape

[Tape_1]

this nigga has perfect timing............... he waits until game is about to leave for overseas and decides to dis him................ and now he got a interview at hiphopdx.............. come on i can't be the only one seein this.............. plus i have not heard anything about G. malone replin' to game about this dis ..... cause i would think that G. malone would have said something by now............ i only been on this forum for a couple of weeks but i think he be postin up in here.......... G malone if you readin this let us know what's up ?

[Elano]

Damizza: I’m currently mourning the death of Power 106, by the way. But go ahead.
 

[Episcop Cruel Cvrle]

thanx bishop for remiding me of Camp Lo Lucini--now i gotta bump that

[streetpoetry5]

why cant bishop just b himself...just b a semi talented underground rapper....some of that caltroit shit was tight....its tha fame this nigga craves.....he always involving himself in some type of weak ass drama.....he gettin at game like a disgruntled ex girlfriend.....and game weak as fuck 2....with that punk ass butterfly tattoo...maybe bishop should get a grasshopper tattoo under his eye.....he stay hoppin on and off other niggaz dicks...lol...i dont believe none of this....these niggaz will b kissin and huggin within the year.....rap is dead....it is overrun with child molestors down low homosexuals mysoginists self haters drug addicts egomaniacs rapists wannabe hustlers golddiggers wife beaters punks etc...real niggaz stand up.....spit the real to tha youngstaz who r listenining very closely 2 our words and actions......nobody is perfect...but this has gone to far......rick james was right....we should have never gave some of u niggaz money......because most of u fools have completely fucked yourselves off.....some of u niggaz have some deeplly unresolved personal issues......get some help.....

[stillinrehab]

Im not a HUGE Game fan but im sure that he would fuck Bishop up if they were face to face like he said... thats just what I think anyways! Also agree about the timing of the diss/ just as he was going overseas!
Pretty sad to see Damizza getting involved with his sort if this is how he wants to be!

[Jimmy H.]

Im not a HUGE Game fan but im sure that he would fuck Bishop up if they were face to face like he said... thats just what I think anyways! Also agree about the timing of the diss/ just as he was going overseas!
Pretty sad to see Damizza getting involved with his sort if this is how he wants to be!

  I don't get this whole "overseas" thing I keep hearing about. What does Game being in Europe or wherever the fuck he is have to do with Bishop's calling him out? It ain't like he's in some solitary confinement box and won't be able to hear it. It's a worldwide thing, man. You're gonna tell me the day that this interview happened, Game didn't know about it? They don't do interviews over there? This is 2008, people. He could go into a studio and have his own diss track in 20 minutes or get on the phone and do an interview with whoever. Game has never been one to hold his tongue on anything so when the time come, it will come. If he want to go at Bishop, he'll do the shit. Oceans ain't keeping the word. It's not like people are tossing messages in bottles to get the word across. If a mother fucker does an interview over there, we're gonna hear wherever we are. Oakland. Boston. Chicago. Houston. This is worldwide.

[manson]

I wanna hear G Malone about the situation .

Bishop lamont is a lil'bitch, cryin for attention,  dissin game but sayin he got love for him.  always sayin the name of somebody else to make it seem like they cosign him, wether it's g malone here or young dre in other interviews. Man up lil bitch say what u have to say without always involving somebody else. U so trash homie treatin game like he's a girl in other interviews but ur voice is so soft, U sound like a female on the mic (and not a female rapper, just a female), like u always complaining or cryin. U the lil toy of DRE for the moment, but the minute he dosent need u no more, its over for u. Cause u aint got 10%  of the talent game got. Only reason u livin on the west is Dr Dre but i bet u it aint enough. Ur album will never come out or flop so hard there aint gone be others.
Always actin like u hard "we can go to the parking lot, but when he saw my face blah blah blah", come on, even if u were sure to beat the fuck out of him in a fight, u wouldn't do shit cause u scared of the repercussions. Matter of fact, u start lookin like game on a lot of aspects of ur personality but without the talent, which is the only thing that saves him, but wont save u.

[Dome]

I wanna hear G Malone about the situation .

Bishop lamont is a lil'bitch, cryin for attention,  dissin game but sayin he got love for him.  always sayin the name of somebody else to make it seem like they cosign him, wether it's g malone here or young dre in other interviews. Man up lil bitch say what u have to say without always involving somebody else. U so trash homie treatin game like he's a girl in other interviews but ur voice is so soft, U sound like a female on the mic (and not a female rapper, just a female), like u always complaining or cryin. U the lil toy of DRE for the moment, but the minute he dosent need u no more, its over for u. Cause u aint got 10%  of the talent game got. Only reason u livin on the west is Dr Dre but i bet u it aint enough. Ur album will never come out or flop so hard there aint gone be others.
Always actin like u hard "we can go to the parking lot, but when he saw my face blah blah blah", come on, even if u were sure to beat the fuck out of him in a fight, u wouldn't do shit cause u scared of the repercussions. Matter of fact, u start lookin like game on a lot of aspects of ur personality but without the talent, which is the only thing that saves him, but wont save u.

 

[you gon always be my latin queen bitch]

game sounds like a bitch doin lil girl shit

[NillerTheKid]

bishop sounds like a bitch doin lil girl shit

fixed