MC Ren - Part 2 @ ThaFormula is Up!

[GEED-UP-HUSTLER]

http://www.thaformula.com/mc_ren_-_real_niggaz_don't_die_-_part_2.htm

ThaFormula.com - So up next after the "Eazy-Duz-It" came "Straight Outta Compton," how was it recording that?

MC Ren - It was cool man. I remember everyday we was in the studio. Go at 12 o'clock and stay there all night.

ThaFormula.com - Did you guys know what your were about to do as far as the concepts for the album?

MC Ren - Yeah, if you listen to "Straight Out of Compton," and "Fuck tha Police," them probably the only two on there that's talkin' like serious shit, but as far as them two songs go, yeah. I remember we was at Dre's apartment and we was going over "Fuck tha Police." Me, Cube, Dre all of us was there. I remember us writing it on paper. "How we gonna do this, we gonna make Fuck tha Police, we gonna make a chorus and shit going on in the song." I remember writing all this shit down in the studio. Niggaz busting their lyrics and it was like friendly competition. Muthafuckas writing their shit and a nigga hear another niggaz shit and be like, "ah man I'll be back." I remember one time we did "Still Talkin' Shit" and Cube heard everybody's shit and he was like "damn!" Man that nigga went the next day, beat everybody to the studio early in the morning and changed the shit 'cause he was like "damn." That's how it was. Niggaz would go over there and change their shit. Ask "what you got?" "Ah fuck that I gotta go change my shit." But that made that shit hard cause it was like you was on there by yourself but your really on there with a group. So them days was off the hook man.

ThaFormula.com - It seems like you had a major influence from the East in your rhyme style, did you?

MC Ren - Yeah I did. RUN DMC. Muthafuckin' LL, Whodini, and just a lot of them. I used to just try to get my delivery like them. DMC was one of my favorites. That niggaz voice was just so muthafuckin' cold.

ThaFormula.com - Did everything that was recorded for the "Eazy-Duz-It" and "Niggaz4Life" albums make the albums?

MC Ren - Nah there was shit that didn't even make it. Tight shit too man. I remember I had some tight shit for the "Niggaz4Life" album. I remember we had a gang of shit for the "Niggaz4Life" album and most of that shit didn't make it. But basically the first shit like "Straight Outta Compton" it seems like everything we did made it on that muthafucka 'cause we just did what was gonna make it on there.

ThaFormula.com - So now when "Straight Outta Compton" came out that's when all the controversy began?

MC Ren - Yeah with the "Fuck tha Police" shit and we didn't even give a fuck. Our thing was like any publicity is good publicity. Muthafuckas would be like "that's bad publicity," but we didn't give a fuck and we would tell muthafuckas on the news we don't care if y'all are doing this shit, we like it.

ThaFormula.com - Were you guys prepared for this when you did the album?

MC Ren - Nah. Shit, we didn't know that we was gonna get a letter from the FBI and all that shit. Nah, I didn't know that. But we didn't give a fuck. You gotta think man, niggaz young and we didn't care. They helped our shit sell.

ThaFormula.com - Now how were those NWA tours man when you look back?

MC Ren - Man those muthafuckas was off the chain. They was big arenas. I remember every city we went to damn near, we had to go to press conferences and shit cause muthafuckas didn't want us there. Like the community leaders and muthafuckin' fake ass gherri curl wearin' preachers and shit. All them type of muthafuckas trying to get their little limelight and publicity when there was a gang of other shit they could have been talkin' about. But we still performed. But it used to be cool man, you know all of us rollin' on the bus and shit on tour having to share rooms and shit (Laughs). Stupid shit like that. We sold out every night. When we first went on the road nigga we used to drive in vans, we couldn't even fly cause we wasn't making all that money. So we used to have to drive in vans all around the muthafuckin' West Coast doing spot dates here and there like crazy. I remember our first tour we did was with UTFO, Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D. We opened for them and they was looking at us like who the fuck is y'all. This was before "Straight Outta Compton." They would look and Cube and Eazy with they're gherri curls and be like "who the fuck is y'all niggaz?" (Laughs). I could feel that shit back then, like some of them New York niggaz was kind of arrogant. Like "y'all ain't no true Hip-Hop," or "y'all from the West." But then when "Straight Outta Compton" came out we had our own muthafuckin' tour and everything changed. Matter fact we played the Apollo before "Straight Outta Compton" came out when "Eazy-Duz-It" I think had just came out or something or probably right before we played the Apollo with all the New York niggaz. It was like some big ass Summer jam type shit, but it was at the Apollo. Nigga we got booed, they threw shit at us. We was the only ones man and then we had to walk back downstairs and all these New York niggaz looking at us cause they got they monitors down in them muthafuckas. They lookin' at us and I was like man, nigga you ever been somewhere where you just wanna disappear? (Laughs). Everybody lookin' at y'all like, "damn y'all got booed." But I remember after that when I had dropped "Kizz My Black Azz" and I went back to New York. I did like two shows at the Apollo and that shit was off the hook. And then I heard Cube went back when he did hid first album and muthafuckas went crazy. I remember somebody told me that that niggaz said when he was out there he was like, "yeah we came here and we booed the first time, but I'm about to rock this muthafcuka," and them muthafuckas went crazy. But it was a whole 180. Nigga I remember when we first went to New York which was when "Rebel without a Pause" came out when KDAY used to be bumpin' it. And when our shit, "Straight Outta Compton" came out, I remember we went to New York probably like a month later or some shit like that for some press shit. At that time the record was kind of getting big and shit nigga, and I remember Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad was up in the club and nigga knew all our names and shit. I was like "what the fuck?" and I was trippin' 'cause he was talkin' to Dre and shit 'cause you know how the two beat muthafuckas always find each other. I seen them two niggaz talkin' and Hank Shocklee was laughin' like "I can't believe y'all niggaz are here!" Dre was pointing at everybody I remember. He was like "this is so and so," and Hank was like "yeah I know, this is Ren, this is Eazy." Nigga he knew who I was and that tripped me out. I was like, "this nigga be fuckin' with PE and they got this hot ass shit, and this nigga know us?"

ThaFormula.com - Yeah and at that time the only producers who could fuck with Dre was the Bomb Squad…

MC Ren - Exactly and that's why Cube went to those muthafuckas.

ThaFormula.com - That's why I feel that was the only move Cube could have done and was the smartest…

MC Ren - Yeah. No other producer could have just came with no shit to just keep him like that. He went to the right muthafuckin' spot.

ThaFormula.com - So know at this point in time had you, Dre, Cube or Yella seen any money?

MC Ren - Nope. Hell Nah!!

ThaFormula.com - So you guys are having fun and all but when did the first problems start coming? 'Cause I know it's always about the money…

MC Ren - Yeah, I remember we was in muthafuckin' Arizona. Cube came to me and was says "Jerry Heller is coming up here and they want us to sign a new contract, you know he is taking advantage of muthafuckas cause we don't Know." How you just gonna pop up on a nigga with contracts and no lawyers or nothing? So that lets you know that that muthafucka was a snake. So anyway, Cube told me "I'm not signing that shit." He came to me and was like, "don't sign it." This the niggaz exact words. He said, "I could say I ain't gonna sign it and I'm just one person and the shit can still go down, but if you say it, me and you together then can't nothing happen if me and you both don't sign." I remember we were supposed to sign the shit and get 70 G'z. I ain't never seen 70 G'z know what I'm saying? So Cube was like, "I ain't signing it." So Cube didn't sign that shit and there was a little animosity. Everybody was like, "why didn't he sign it?" Nigga I had never seen no 70 G'z before in my life," and I was like, "Eric grew up right around the corner with me," I was like "this is my nigga, he brought me in and I'ma take this 70 G'z 'cause I ain't gonna get this shit nowhere else."

ThaFormula.com - So what was Dre thinking at this time?

MC Ren - Dre took it. He took the money. So Cube left. I signed, Dre signed, Yella signed.

ThaFormula.com - So did you tell Cube that you were gonna sign?

MC Ren - I think I told that nigga something like "man I ain't got no money, I ain't got no paper, I ain't got nothing." I was like "nigga I been rappin' for nothing this long and nigga fittin' to give me 70 G'z?" Shit and this was 1988, I was only 18.

ThaFormula.com - So that was basically the only reason Cube left right?

MC Ren - Yeah.

ThaFormula.com - 'Cause a lot of rumors got started about him leaving also because his solo album didn't come up next…

MC Ren - Nah, it wasn't no ego shit like that. It wasn't even like that. It was because he was like, "nigga we should get more money." He saw what I didn't see. I should have seen it. He was like, "nigga we need to get more money," because me and him used to always talk to Eric and say we wanted more money. 'Cause me and Cube used to get less 'cause we was the rappers and he would say, 'cause y'all not doing the beats." We would be like, "why they getting more then us?" "'Cause they doing the beats," he would say. Why Yella get more than us? 'Cause he doing this to help Dre. We was like, "but he ain't doing what we doing?"

ThaFormula.com - So you and Cube were making less then everybody else?

MC Ren - Everybody, and so that's the way it all happened. That nigga left.

ThaFormula.com - What were your thoughts when he left?

MC Ren - I was thinking young and stupid 'cause I was only like 18 or 19. I was Thinking that it's fucked up, that nigga shouldn't have left because we had a publicist at the time. She use to be like anytime interviews would pop up she would call Cube. She wouldn't call nobody else but Cube. So when he left the group she ended up being his manager so we felt that she had that shit planned all along. Cause Eric used to always complain to Priority like "why do she always call him for the interviews?" That bitch had probably another plan. Matter of fact, she started doing all his "Friday" movies with him and all of that. So there was animosity cause niggaz was thinkin' this shit was planned. So the beef just formed out of that shit. Matter of fact me and him never really had no beef. 'Cause even when he left the group, he went to New York and he would call me from New York when he was working with the Bomb Squad. Me and him was supposed to do a song for his album called "The Villain and the Gangsta." He was like, "man we gonna do this song," but we couldn't do the mutherfucka 'cause them niggaz got all mad and it was like all that animosity them niggaz had. It was like, "man that nigga this, and that" and then he stopped talkin' to me and we stopped talkin'.

ThaFormula.com - What did Dre think about this at the time?

MC Ren - Dre was mad that nigga left 'cause Dre brought him in so he was mad and that's why when Cube had his record he was on his homegirl Dee Barns show "Pump It Up" one night. I didn't have no beef with the nigga. It was all cool and everything but them niggaz was kind of hot and Cube said some shit on there like "I got all suckaz "100 miles and Runnin'" or some shit. He said that and we was like, "Ohh!!"

ThaFormula.com - So she set that show up with both of you (NWA and Ice Cube) on it without you even knowing right?

MC Ren - Yeah we didn't even know. She could have came to us and said "we want you all on the show," or "we want to do something," but she just did that shit for her ratings I guess, and that nigga outspoken like he was back then and said "I got all these suckaz 100 Miles and Runnin'" and we was like "what!" When he did that niggaz was hot and then he wanted to use on "Jackin' for Beats" when it comes on and says "Gimme that beat fool," he had our shit on there originally from the" Niggaz4Life" album. You know the "Prelude" beat, he had that on there first but since he was on Priority and our "Niggaz4Llife" album was fittin' to come out, we told Brian Turner 'cause he let us hear it first. We was in his office and he said, "I want you all to hear this song." He let us hear it and we was like "hell nah!" I remember Dre was like "fuck that, he can't use our beat" cause Dre made that beat. He was "like this man ain't gonna use our beat and be clowning us" you know what I'm saying? So Dre told him "if this nigga uses our beat, we ain't fuckin' with you," and Brian Turner told that nigga he couldn't use it 'cause he knew that the "Niggaz4Life" album was coming and he knew like "I can't let Cube use this muthafucka cause NWA is hot and they ain't gonna finish this muthafuckin' album if I let him do this."

ThaFormula.com - But in between all this you all did the "100 Miles and Runnin'" EP and you knew now that it was your time to step up. How did you feel about that?

MC Ren - When that nigga left, I knew I had to pick my shit up 'cause Dre wasn't really no rapper. He wasn't really no hell of a rapper back then and shit. He just would fill in. But when Cube left he started rapping more, but I always knew I had to pick it up. I was writing my shit, Eric's shit, Dre was helping write Eric shit, 'cause when Cube left we still had me, D.O.C. and Dre.

ThaFormula.com - So Dre actually wrote his shit?

MC Ren - Yeah, he wrote some of his shit. He write some of his shit and some of his shit he don't write. You can tell shit he writes. D.O.C. would write a lot of Dre's shit too. You could tell when you hear a lot of Dre shit if DOC wrote it.

ThaFormula.com - So even through all this and when you dissed Cube on the "Real Niggaz" track, were you still cool with Cube?

MC Ren - Nah, nah hell nah. Nah, Nah, Nah, I wasn't cool with that nigga at that time. It's crazy 'cause I went out on the "Up In Smoke Tour" with that nigga and me and that nigga was talkin' about them disses we did and I said "yeah nigga, I didn't even get a chance to do a whole verse on your ass." I said "nigga I would have got you!" He looked at me like "yeah ok." I said "alright nigga, you got a verse and some shit on me, but I never got a verse or song."

ThaFormula.com - Now when that dropped and Cube dropped his shit a lot of people thought NWA was through. "Niggaz4Life" hadn't dropped yet and I remember a lot of people were ready to call you guys over, did you guys hear any of this?

MC Ren - A little bit 'cause nigga, that was motivating us 'cause we was like "niggaz think we ain't gonna do shit 'cause Cube left." That was the first thing we thought. But them muthafuckas had to eat all they words though cause "Niggaz4Life" was a classic muthafuckin' album man. But I do be wishing Cube could have been on it. Can you imagine if that nigga was on that album?

ThaFormula.com - I don't know. I never thought those beats were meant for Cube. I thought that it was as good as it could have been and that no one ever rode a Dre beat like you which "Alwayz Into Something" proved…

MC Ren - Yeah that's my cut right there.

ThaFormula.com - And I loved the "Prelude" track 'cause you always dissed wack rappers and sell outs who did wack love songs…

MC Ren - And I'ma keep dissin' their wack asses.

ThaFormula.com - Now I can't forget to ask you the question that everyone has been wondering for years. When you guys heard "No Vaseline" from Cube what was your first thoughts?

ThaFormula.com - Up Next, Part III And Remember Sucka Journalists, Bitin Is Illegal!!!

[West C. Connected]

  Part threeeee?

[Don Seer]

tight!

[Dr._Funkenstein]

i love thaformula's interviews but how could they end the second part with that dope question? damn, waitin' is a bitch sometimes...

[tnp]

ThaFormula.com - And I loved the "Prelude" track 'cause you always dissed wack rappers and sell outs who did wack love songs…

MC Ren - And I'ma keep dissin' their wack asses.

haha, Ren never bullshits

"The Villain and the Gangsta"  

thanks for the interview, can't wait for part 3

[Adam Donnelly]

Phat interview
Cliff Hanger Question at the end

Part 3 Cant wait

[LAZY]

iom lovin this interveiw cant wait for part 3

[GEED-UP-HUSTLER]

i love thaformula's interviews but how could they end the second part with that dope question? damn, waitin' is a bitch sometimes...

hell yeah, they did that cligghanger shit on the end of the first part. They are notirious for that, but I guees it works because I'm clickin the link like I have ADD when the interviews supposed to be up!

[Darksider]

Phat interview
Cliff Hanger Question at the end

Part 3 Cant wait