Sheek Louch: Gorilla Monsoon Raps (NEW interview)

[Elano]

There’s a time and a place for everything. Sheek Louch knows this age-old adage very well. As one third of seminal group The LOX, Sheek was a wild boy when the Yonkers trio originally linked up with Puffy in 1997. Even after the Bad Boy Records era, it seemed like drama would precede the crew everywhere it went. Rap beef, trouble with the law, the inevitable contractual problems; you name it. But now as a CEO of D-Block Records, a father and a man of certain age, Sheek moves differently. Continuing to develop his brand, and keeping the food on the table, Sheek keeps things pushing with his recently released Extinction (Last Of A Dying Breed) mixtape.
Learn how Mr. Walk With Me plans continuing to survive the times.

AllHipHop.com: You've been in the game for ten plus years. Obviously you've matured a lot since then, how is the Sheek of 1998 different from the Sheek I am speaking to now?
Sheek Louch: You know back then it was more listening to what another person had to say and following their lead. At the time it was Diddy, management which was Dee and Wah from Ruff Ryders. I was just playing the back whenever people were in the front; I’m a boss now. That comes from age and years in the game.

AllHipHop.com: Obviously you were a lot wilder back in those times, what made you slow down?
Sheek Louch: It’s just showing growth. It’s also traveling and seeing different things outside the hood and seeing it’s okay to do a song like that [and] this. And it’s okay to do a song with homey from the south; then you start seeing your fans change and get older and wiser with you. So you have to cater to that aspect of your fan base as well.

AllHipHop.com: With that aforementioned growth are you now more careful on how hard you go considering the listeners are so young? Are you catching ten bodies on record rather than twenty?
Sheek Louch: Yeah you’re right. You got to tone that down of course a hundred percent because kids are listening. But at the same time it is entertainment. At the end of the day these kids should know just because you see or hear me saying that s**t or telling you what I’ve been through or what a homey of mine been through that doesn’t mean you got to go try to do it. Like when you finish watching one of these movies that came out on Friday, you don’t try to do the same s**t, it’s a movie. At the end of the movie they go, Cut.

AllHipHop.com: Your partner Jadakiss said, “Why do rappers lie in 80 percent of their rhymes”. How much do you lie in your songs?
Sheek Louch: Like I can only speak for myself. A lot of people have read about the things we have did and gotten into and how we handled certain beefs. So you already know what it is with us to act all crazy and be something that I’m not. So that’s where everyone should go with it. It’s a journey as well. It isn’t a walk in the park. These new guys talking all hard, people are going to test them to see what’s what.

AllHipHop.com: Someone like a Russell Simmons will go on television and defend Hip-Hop by saying rappers are just reporting on an ugly truth. Don’t you think that’s an easy escape from the fact that Rap is having an obvious negative effect on our community?
Sheek Louch: I don’t know. I think it depends on you. With Russell, dog everyone isn’t making that s**t up. Some dudes are not making up their charges or whatever they went through last week so they spitting that. But a lot of these kids haven’t traveled so that’s all they see because that’s what they are around. If he only talks about McDonalds, that’s what he probably eats everyday. That’s how I just feel about it. Maybe when that guy goes on the road and starts seeing different things, and trying different restaurants maybe his s**t will broaden. If he hears that noise outside of his window everyday, chances are that’s what he is going to spit about.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think the Hip-Hop lie encourages the youth to violent behavior?
Sheek Louch: Not the actual kids, these kids are computer geniuses now. But as far as directly encouraging no, but as far as these new rappers it might make them feel like they have to ice grill. It forces them to not say what up to their favorite rapper they grew up on; basically they have to act extra tough. You don’t have to do all that.

AllHipHop.com: You ever went back to some of past music and ever felt in a way because you went too hard?
Sheek Louch: Nah, the only thing was when we first got away from Diddy, now that I think about it we could have handled that better. Because it was just business, it was like every song was about Diddy back then. But that’s how I felt at the time based on what I just went through with him. But now that I’m older, it’s totally different because we can sit and talk to Diddy with no problem. But at the time that’s what I had to talk about.

AllHipHop.com: I could imagine how tough being the third man in a group with Styles P. and Jadakiss could be.
Sheek Louch: Yeah that was tough, it was a journey. But right now I’m hot. But before all you heard was ‘Kiss and Styles. At first I wasn’t even going to do a solo album. I just bought a studio and that’s how I went about s**t. But to gain those fans that were rightfully mine as well, I had to drop those songs “Mighty D-Block (2 Guns Up)”, and the “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye”. That was a journey in getting people to go over into my side, definitely. To see “Good Love” do so well, that felt great. I feel like I’m in my place and I’m still grinding.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the update on that J-Hood situation?
Sheek Louch: It’s over as far as us; we don’t want to deal with it. He did his thing and he’s still running his mouth. I think all he has is diss records because if he was smart, he would have put out some good music with all the hype going around everything. The contract is done though, he can do him. He’s good to go.

AllHipHop.com: Are we ever going to get that Lox Live Suffer Celebrate?
Sheek Louch: Definitely, it’s just that everyone is running around with their solo albums. But that’s coming. We got my mixtape Extinction (Last Of A Dying Breed) out, we got the D-Block compilation No Security coming in February and then I’m going to set up for my new album in the summer. So we doing us.