Author Topic: Knoc-Turn'al Interview (Part 1 of 2) (Read 162 times)

D-Nice · « **on:** October 13, 2010, 09:31:36 PM »

http://illuminati2g.com/site/?p=99

I2G sat down with one of the west coast's unique talents, Knoc-turn'al for a 2 part interview. In part one we discuss his new album, Knoc'sVille, in stores November 9th and some of the notable tracks on the album, his favorite songs from each of his albums and much more so sit back and enjoy.

Illuminati 2G is here with Knoc-turn'al. How's it going?

It's pretty good, how you doing?

Good. You have your new album Knoc'sVille, set to drop on November 9th. How does it feel to get a release date and everything set for the album to drop?

Everything is good, I could have had a release date anytime I wanted to. The whole thing was I had to revert back to square one as far as keeping my family together. When I first came out, I did not have a family and it was driving me crazy not being home and paying for something for 10 months and never being home. Once I had a family I had to kick back and take care of that, you can't be a man if you can't take care of your family.

Absolutely. Is there any details that you can give about the new album? Producers, guests?

Well there are alot of people on the album, but the details for my album is basically that it is a album that lets people know that I am still the same. I have matured alot, I am doing what I need to do, I paid my dues, everything is in order as far as my career is concerned. I am on my way to become, so they say, one of the west coasts greats and legends, but I do not feel that I have acheived that yet.

If I can't feel my family together, first and foremost, then I am a preacher preaching bullshit. If I can't keep my rap aura together then I am a preacher preaching bullshit. And I feel I keep all that in order with Knoc'sVille.

You have a track entitled Gimme The Night, which is a George Benson track. What inspired you to redo that track?

Well my name is Knoc-turn'al of course, but at the same time, there are alot of songs out there about the night. When I was growing up, my Dad was a huge George Benson fan and that song kind of stuck with me. George Benson is a incredible artist and he is kind of like me, he was underrated because of the whole Lionel Richie thing. That was a inspiration to me because he was the underdog and I feel that I am the most underrated rapper of all times.

To become great, you have to keep pushing on and believe in yourself.

You just recently shot videos this past weekend for I've Been Here For Years and Gimme The Night. Do you have a projected release date for any of those videos?

Well the editor is working on that right now, so I believe that he will be done in a couple of days and then after that, we will release those the beginning or the end of next week.

I also seen from the tracklisting a track called Sorry I Left You, and a remix as well. Tell me a little bit about the concept behind the song.

Well the concept behind that song is me basically apologizing to my public and to my fans for stepping back and leaving the west coast like I did. I did not do anything wrong to the point where oh I got blackballed or I got put into a different society to where I turned my back on the west coast. All that happened in the manner of me is I took a step back with all of the chaos that was surrounding me.

For one, it reverts back to the preacher term, you gotta make sure you keep yourself in order. Sorry I Left You is a song apologizing to my fans, because it was not right to my fans, it is kind of like...., I can cuss right?

Yeah, say what you want.

Ok, it is kind of like you fingering a bitch and not fucking her.

(Laughs)

It's like of like you fingering her and she is giving you a blow job but then you don't fuck her. That is why I made that song, and that is why on the remix I have alot of various different artists saying the same thing on it, and they feel the same way. If we can put the west coast back on the spectrum of getting back together and working together, that is the kind of movement that I am trying to make.

I know it is not just about the west, but at the same time on the west there are so many different gangs and different personalities that it hinders us and separates us as a unit. If we could figure out a way to come together and put all the gang banging and the other stuff aside, because I am from Long Beach City and you have people from different areas and the west coast has alot of talent.

The problem is we can't figure out how to come together. The way we need to come together is put all the gang banging and different things aside, and just make good music. It is always a thing where people say oh if I go on a tour with him, but then he brings his people and I bring my people, and it is not even the two artists that get into it. It is the people that are around us that get into it.

Absolutely.

That is not business like, so we need to go on tours, and certain people have been successful but even recent artists that have come out on the west, they get themselves caught up into, how can I say this without disrespecting anybody. They get themselves caught up in they homeboys instead of the industry. I have matured alot since the last time I have been out and we have to move as a unit to make a movement.

There is no movement if it is just a solo movement. The point being is we have to come together as a unit and that is what Dr. Dre has always tried to do is make people come together from different areas and come together as a unit. Even in the NWA days, and then with Snoop, Compton and Long Beach together, now you know you in trouble. Compton and Long Beach back then was feuding.

We need to find a way to come together as a unit so people can understand that we are together. Together we stand, divided we fall.

I just wanted to go over a couple of your solo albums and ask you what are your favorite tracks or some favorite memories from those albums. The first one would be L.A. Confidential Presents Knoc-turn'al (aka Knoc's Landing).

I would say the one I did with Too $hort (Cash Sniffin Hoes). Because he is from the north bay and I am from the south bay and I have been listening to Too $hort since I have been a kid.

I know you did the song Musik that was produced by Kanye West, did you do anymore songs with Kanye or are you going to work with him in the near future?

Nah, but I will tell you the great part about that is Jay Brown was working directly with Sylvia Rhone at the time. He found out that I was not signed to Dre and I was trying to do L.A. Confidential and what happened with that is he missed his flight to attend the meeting that was to make sure I got signed to Elektra. Before Lyor took it over, so I ended up getting a great deal and every stipulation I wanted, they gave it to me.

I appreciate them for helping me start L.A. Confidential, and the good thing about all of that and what came out of it, is that people know who Knoc'tur-nal is for one, two, I have a chance at a second coming, like Eminem and others that have come back before. Three, I just want to make sure that I do not go out and become the same jerk and not being business minded that I was in the past. I am much more mature now, I know there is a vision there and I am glad there are still Knoc-turn'al fans that want to listen to my music. I have not released a album in 5 years and I go to the grocery store and there are still people that recognize me.

As much as I just wanted to relax with my family, now is a time that I have to come back and help the west coast. I know there are some new west coast artists that are trying to come out, but you have to stand out when you are a west coast artist because we have it hard on the west. It is not like it is easy to break through and be a west coast artist and this is what people do not understand.

If people understood how hard it is to be a west coast artist, and get your city to back you up, when you are going into different territories and different gang hoods doing these clubs and working your way up in the underground, they would have a different respect and a different light for the west coast. They would respect the artists from the west coast that have actually made it because I know there are different areas that are rough too, but gang banging has been alive for a long time.

You have to have the cojones to actually go in other peoples hood and at they clubs in their different areas and say I don't care and it does not matter where I am from, tonight I am going to rock the mic.

Absolutely.

Most artists will not even go into someone elses territory. They like what hood is that in? Fuck that I ain't going there. But you got to have the balls to go and do that. I did that and I am going to do it again. There are alot of artists that won't perform in certain areas, they feel like they are being set up. Whether I felt like I was being set up or not, I went.

Next album is The Way I Am, what is your favorite track off of that album?

My favorite track is The Way I Am.

You still throw that joint on in the clubs and that is going to get everyone out on the dance floor.

And you know the funny thing about that song? I am going to tell you something humorous about that song that people don't realize. Even though it is a dope song, and I am glad that it came out. I actually wanted to release Peepin Tom and in that song I put the title to every west coast song that was a hit and charted on the Billboard 200 and I used segments and parts of all these west coast songs like black pussy, I always talk about it because I love it.

Like I'm on the radio. Every single word I made 3 verses out of it that was out of west coast titles. That was a ingenious song and people slept on that song. Basically I was saying in that song that I was Peepin Tom and I was peepin out the west coast out and I know exactly how to do it because I am a part of them. The reason why The Way I Am is my favorite song is for one reason and one reason only.

Because that is really a song to explain to people what is going on with me. The thing that people do not understand about that song is I was talking about robbing somebody. If you listen to the hook, and they turned it into a party song, which is brillant, but that was not my intention when I made the song. When I made the song and Scott Storch produced it, I say put your hands up and come off them grams, I ain't trippin that's the way I am.

It amazed me when I went it front of crowds I when I said put your hands up, people would do it. I was like wow you can never guess what people will like. The song says clearly that I am going to rob you.

(Laughs) Yeah that's true.

For your dope, put your hands up and off them grams, I ain't trippin that's the way I am. And if you see me with heat in my hand, you better duck, that's the way I am. But you never know with people, I did not expect that to be the first single, but when I made it, I made it originally all by myself. Sylvia Rhone said you know what, let's get Snoop on it. I was like ok, Snoop got on it, made it a brillant song as he always does, and it just took off from there.

Because I never intended for that song to be my first single, I wanted the song I did with Timbaland to be the first single which was Have Fun. I did not want people to feel like they had to be scared of me or I was unapproachable so I wanted that to be the first single, but they obviously made the right choice and they know what they are doing because that song blew up.

What is your favorite track off of the new album Knoc'sVille?

Gimme The Night of course. Because like I said when I was growing up, that was one of my father's favorite songs. I don't know if you know what a Peugeot is.

Yeah I remember those cars.

My dad had a old Peugeot, his name was Willie Dynamite and he had a sunroof in the car. He really did not care too much, I remember..., and it was dangerous now that I think about it, because I could have flew out of the moonroof. But he used to let me stand on the middle console and be out the moonroof. Just like how people do it out of limos, he would let me do it out of his Peugeot.

Gimme The Night was a song that I would always have fun with him. He would do his little dance to it and I would try to mimmick it and it is a good memory for me. It is something that I can actually have fun with in my memory. Sometimes people do not realize that artists make music from their memories, unless they are fake artists. The fun thing about Gimme The Night is, I had a fun producer, Kompo or known as Komplex to most, and he actually sat down and took the time and try to not do his beat (George Benson), but try to re create that whole feel.

So when I did the video for Gimme The Night, I had the same thing. Chris Nelson did the video and we have the whole disco scene and the shit is crazy. The video is going to be absolutely fun, it's a fun record and the craziest thing about the Knoc'sVille album is that there is something there for everybody. If people want to listen to good music, and this album is actually a prequel to The Book Of Knoc.

Just to introduce myself because I have not been out in 5 years, so I am introducing myself to the world again with the fun record, then I am going to get down to the corporate, business side with The Book Of Knoc. The Knoc'sVille record is basically a fun record for those who like to party. If you like to party, get Knoc'sVille.

Be sure to check back with I2G for part 2 of our interview with Knoc, where we discuss Dr. Dre, Mathmadix, Noah Jones and Jaguar and much more!