Rakim part 2 due up at tha formula today

[Don Seer]

dont forget to holla... i'm amazed no ones mention this.. altho maybe the anti-climax last week kinda killed the enthusiasm

holla when its up!

[Reef]

*prepares to look stupid*

What are you talking about?

[Don Seer]

www.thaformula.com rakim interview... part 1 was a week ago today, part 2 is due up today.

[Reef]

lmao.. how did i miss part 1... ima have 2 go read that.. Thanx for the hookup Seer

[I`m Wayne Brady bitch!]

thaformula is gay,they dont have it up

[Don Seer]

^ yeah how the hell did u miss it.. lol

it was kinda wack anyways... aftermath wasnt mentioned... yet.. people really only wanna hear about 'oh my god'

[white Boy]

im confused, its tuesday, and its not up? wats goin on?

[Twentytwofifty]

Last week it didn't come up untill late.  I think I last checked at 11pm EST and it still wasn't up.

So I'm not expecting it untill I get on here tomorrow.

[Don Seer]

still not up!

[Woodrow]

ThaFormula.com - So with you sayin' that, why now with this Aftermath album do you and Dre have to do so many tracks to try and put it together?

Rakim - 'Cause what we doin' now you know I'm not with just another producer, I'm with a West Coast producer and a lot of the joints we doin' are us trying new joints. We gonna do West Coast joints and you know we definitely doing East Coast, but we trying a lot of new things know what I mean? And what we do is just if there is a beat that we feel is hot, I pen it out and if it comes out, uh if we feel its bangin' then we gonna use it. If we feel it's just okay then we gonna push it to the side. Its kind of good because I'm building my horizons to the West Coast all the way back to the East Coast. Before it was I'ma make this New York flava and every other state is gonna adapt to it. If they don't know what I'm talkin' about then, uh later! Now I'm trying to make music for the world. So it's a little different.

ThaFormula.com - Now you did the "R.A.K.I.M." song for the 8 Mile soundtrack, in your honest opinion Rah, how do you view that track? Did you have total control of that track, 'cause it seemed like the complete opposite of the track you did with Ayatollah, "A Cold Feelin'" which I thought was very dope?

Rakim - Yeah, that joint there from 8 mile…what it was, was an album joint and Em came to us and said he needed a track. We didn't have time to do a new joint and Dre let him hear a couple of joints from the album. He heard "R.A.K.I.M." and asked if he could have that for the movie. But that again was just a joint that we tried out. One of Em's producers made the track so I guess that's another reason why it was easy for them to get that one on his joint. So Dre played it for Em and Em said he loved it, so I was like yo no doubt man, take that dog, that's family! It was definitely different nah mean.

ThaFormula.com - What were your thoughts on that track though cause it didn't seem like a Rakim type track? I mean I gotta be honest with you man, I was caught off guard with that track and honestly speakin' a lot of people in the streets were disappointed. Not in the rhymes you were kickin' but in the beat and choice of hook and are worried that your gonna go in the same path as a lot of these dope MC's that are going for the more radio friendly tracks. I tell you this 'cause a lot of heads out there are really hopin' that you change the game once again and I just wanted to let you know straight up that you got a lot of heads depending on you to come with that real shit…

Rakim - Word up.

ThaFormula.com - I just wanted to be real with you man and let you know what some people are sayin' and hopefully you could appreciate what I'm tellin' you 'cause I didn't wanna be on some "yes man" stuff...

Rakim - "Yes man" shit, No doubt!

ThaFormula.com - I mean your rhymes were on point without a doubt, but I was also blown away and I don't know if this is true, but I heard that all the Primo tracks were rejected?

Rakim - Yeah, somewhat bro, he sent a couple of tracks and for one reason or another they turned them down, so it's like you know Dre has got a vision as far as where he wants the album to go. So I'ma respect that vision. So at the end of the day once we get up in the lab and you know see what we got then that's when the conscious decision is gonna be made, but right now we just trying to find the right joints, get the chemistry right and make an incredible album. If it takes me doing 20 tracks and picking the best 13, if it takes us turning down some tracks to get a better one, we gotta do what we gotta do. My man Premier, he is a professional. It didn't worry him at all. He was like "well whatever man, I'll make some new joints, send them to you and we will get it poppin' like that."

ThaFormula.com - What did you think of the Primo beats that were given to you. I mean is the album a decision between both you and Dre or is it mainly Dre's decision on what the beats are gonna be used?

Rakim - Well nah at the end of the day, I gotta write to it, but what I'm doin' right now, uh Dre is a multi-platinum artist, I'm an underground artist. I make joints for the underground. When it comes to makin' multi-sellin' CD's I'll leave that to Dre. I'ma trust him 100 percent on this.

ThaFormula.com - That track you did with Ayatollah was very nice though Rah...

Rakim - Yeah, but that was supposed to be for "The Wash" Soundtrack but I guess samples and us sending it in late and a bunch of other reasons, it was too late to make the soundtrack. I think also, somebody put it on the Internet.

ThaFormula.com - Is that gonna make it on the album?

Rakim - Well nah, I guess now they already used it up nah mean. But that was something we was holdin' you know for the end of the day to see if it was album material. He's supposed to send some more tracks.

ThaFormula.com - Also, I meant no disrespect Rah about what I said about the "R.A.K.I.M." track Rah...

Rakim - Nah, I respect that Bro, because it's like I know what everybody is expecting and I know what the Ayatollah shit was. That shit was straight fire. That was straight Rakim underground shit, but it's like I definitely respect that man cause my listeners man, that shit means a lot to me 'cause if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be me. So I want to do everything I can to make sure that when this shit drop they say, "ok, the God is bananas!"

ThaFormula.com - I just wanted to let you know what I hear some people in the streets are sayin' from a guy that's always on the streets...

Rakim - Well see what's good about that is when we sit down and decide what's gonna be on the album, that's gonna be a big talk right there. So I'm glad, especially coming from somebody who do interviews and somebody who's always in the streets and opinionating Hip-Hop man. So you know I needed that bro.

ThaFormula.com - I just want to be able to pop in the new Rakim LP and say "The God did it again!," 'cause this is one of the most important albums in Hip-Hop history at a very crucial time in Hip-Hop...

Rakim - And that's what I'ma try and do for you bro.

ThaFormula.com - Now I heard there was a little problem with the recent Source feature they ran on you. Is that true?

Rakim - Yeah, that was a lot of bullshit that jumped off after that you know what I mean?

ThaFormula.com - What exactly was the problem with that Rah?

Rakim - Well, what they were supposed to do was a little pre-interview and then they were supposed to do the big 5 page spread when the album dropped. There was a lot of questions that Aftermath asked the Source not to ask. So when we get up in there the kid wanted to ask what he wanted to ask anyway and you know it was Aftermath representative and my manager was in there and it was like yo, everytime he would go to ask a question, they was like,"nah you know he cant answer that." The brother got a little upset and you know wanted to ask what he wanted to ask, you know? Shit got a little heated and then once the shit was done, you know he printed it the way he wanted to print it.

ThaFormula.com - So a lot of the shit in the article like only 2 tracks being completed was bullshit?

Rakim - Yeah, cause we only played him one joint. Dre is trying to keep everything on the hush and I guess uh like I said, he printed the shit up the way he wanted to.

ThaFormula.com - So are you guys still working on this album and is it still an ongoing process?

Rakim - No doubt, everything is straight nah mean? Right now we trying to keep everything new.

ThaFormula.com - What people really wanna know is how close are we to getting this album and are you really close to finishing it?

Rakim - Hopefully it will drop in the summertime. Dre only got to do like another four tracks and I'ma do a couple of more in New York. I just spoke to my man Clark Kent. What I'm trying to do is cover all corners right now so you know get a couple of more tracks so that when we sit down at the end of the day and play everything we got I wanna make sure I got a big library to pick from.

ThaFormula.com - Who are you looking for to do production in the East?

Rakim - I'm speakin' to a couple of cats right now. I'm just waiting for the heaters. I'm looking for Primo, I'm waiting for my man Clark to send something through. I'm waiting for Just Blaze to send something through you know.

ThaFormula.com - Well we definitely wanna hear you over the hardest shit…

Rakim - Over the raw, ghetto grimy, ugly shit and you know it's wild though nah mean? Like through my career when I was straight grimy grimy, grimy. People would say "yo Rah why don't you do some radio friendly joints?" Then you do the radio friendly joints and its like, "nah Rah do the grimy, grimy joints." So the best thing for me man is to stick to my guns man. Grimy, grimy, Grimy!

[Don Seer]

sorry engel.. i'mma lock this one....

here's a link to the one thread i'm trying to keep discussion in... lol

http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?board=7;action=display;threadid=37441