New Ren Interview (Says What He Is Doing Now)

[Adam Donnelly]

Where did you grow up and what was it like?

Well I grew up in Compton. It was basically like any other hood. Drugs, hoes, all that shit… You know…

How’d you hook up with the rest of the members to form the group NWA?

Well I grew up right around the quorner from Eazy-E. He was my older brother. He was my older brother, my homeboy. And he knew I could rhyme and shit… I started rhyming in 83. So when he put out “Boyz in the hood” he put that out independent. It was just like a local lil hit or whatever… At that time, that was probably about 86-87, I hooked up with em, he knew I could rhyme and I used to go around to his mothers house where he lived at n shit… I’d go over there and stay in the garage. He had a turntable and a mic and a gang of records. And I went over there one day and he told me to freestyle. So I freestyled probably like 15 minutes on the take. While he scratched and DJ’d in the back. He took the tape and went to Dre, and they wanted to do a lil solo project on me. You know what I mean?

Yeah

So from that point on, I was just gonna do my MC Ren, I was gonna be a solo artist. Cuz they already had the nucleus of the group. Back then, it wasn’t shaped or anything but it was like they had the nucleus of it. It wasn’t polished and shit yet. It was Eazy, Dre, Arabian Prince, Cube… who else… a couple more cats who was just helping out and everything. So I really didn’t get into the group steadily like… Cube left and went off to school and shit in like 87. He went off to school cuz he didn’t think that… See this is how it went down. Cube wrote “Boyz in the hood”, “Dope man” and “8 Ball”. So when Cube left in 87, he went off to school. He took the train to Arizona. He didn’t feel that it was gonna pop or whatever. When he left they had nobody to write Erics shit, so they knew I could write and all of that from being around them and since they were gonna give me a lil solo shot. And so I wrote “Eazy duz it”, “Radio” and “Ruthless villan”. And when I did that, it was like “c’mon in”.

How about Dj Yella? You didn’t mention him.

Yeah… He was in the group… Yeah he was in it, you can say that. See the group at first was like Eazy, Dre, Cube and Arabian Prince. When I came in the group like when the group really got formed and we knew what we were gonna do and all the other fools got put out and we kept the people that we knew we was gonna do it with – that’s when Yella really came into the picture. Ya know what I mean?

Yeah

Cuz like he was in the Wrecking Cru with Dre and they wanted to leave Alonzo and so when Dre got over with Eric he came with em, and it was like boom and that’s how he got in. We started doing shows and shit and everybody just clicked like that.

Howcome some of those original members you talked about didn’t stay with NWA?

See when it first started out, Eazy was trying to put together a lil west coast group and he got Cube, Arabian Prince cuz he was doing that techno shit. And he got Dre, you know. But not all them mothafuckas in the beginning had it so like once we got together and said “this is the kind of shit we’re gonna do”. It was like certain people couldn’t keep up, ya know what I mean? It was like a basketball team and cuts being made. We wasn’t looking for that. That’s not gonna get us where we have to go. Because if we woulda kept Arabian Prince in there… man that woulda been crazy. And that’s why on “Straight outta Compton” he’s only on one song. And that’s the only song he was able to do, because when that record was starting to get recorded we was on that vibe like all the records was just being made boom boom boom. And that shit didn’t fit in. So he stopped coming to the studio… and you know, Eric felt sorry for him and was like “man, let him do this song”. And Eric, Dre and Yella was on that song. Me and Cube wasn’t o nthat record. It was like… we wasn’t doing that type of shit. So he had to go and you know.. an other cat started, his name was Ron Dayvu… You know, some people just didn’t have… everybody that stayed had what we needed, ya know?

Yeah. So it wasn’t like you kicked them out or anything?

No it wasn’t like we kicked them out. We was still cool with them but it’s just like, and I think he knew this, the music that he did didn’t fit in with what we were trying to do.

Howcome you stayed with Ruthless after Eazy E died?

Cuz I didn’t just wanna bone out… ya know?

Yeah. Jumping ship.

Exactly! I had a lot of history with the label and I knew a lot of people there. It was like I was trying to do things to keep that ship going. Cuz there wasn’t nobody left there but like… me and Bone that really… ya know? So I tried to stay there and work that shit out, but… I shouldn’t have stayed but I did stay, ya know what I mean? I had a lot of problems staying with they ass…

So how do you feel about Tomika Wright today?

I think she don’t know nothing about running no record company! She a cool person, but I don’t feel she know how to run a record company.

Ok. You know, there’s been rumors about that she did SOMETHING to Eazy E on his death bed.

That she did what?

I don’t know what she did, but there’s been rumors about Tomika Wright doing SOMETHING to Eazy E on his death bed. I have no idea what it could be tho…

I don’t know what she did on his death bed… People used to say lil things, but I don’t know nothing about that.

Yeah it could just be…

I don’t see how you can let a mothafuckin record company that powerful just go down the drain. I mean damn… That’s what I don’t understand. And that she’s not keeping his legazy alive. Like if you look at Pac’s mama, she’s got foundations and Biggies mother… Like the persons spirit is alive, ya know what I’m saying?

Yeah

I see a lot of hiphop shows and I see them pay respect like to dead rappers. And a lot of times they don’t even show him!

What do you think about the newly release Eazy E record from Ruthless?

I didn’t even hear that shit.

Oh, ok.

I didn’t even ever listen to that shit.

Yeah. I think it’s reproduced and…

Yeah it is, cuz they gonna do like Pac. They take his vocals and… the only thing different about this and Pac is that on Pac, they put tight beats. And mothafuckas whoever Ruthless do, they gonna put em on crazy wack beats. Like… this is Eazy E! This is the mothafucka that started this shit. They should have all the hot mothafuckas on this and have this shit produced right. It’s like they half ass do shit, and that’s why he’s half ass remembered. It’s like them mothafuckas over there don’t know how to do shit.

Like they don’t do it for the memory and only for the money?

For the money! Not cuz of the memory. Exactly!

Ok. So what are you working on right now?

Right now man, I got my website that I just launched. Fuck record companies. If anybody want a record of mine, they can come to my site. Mcrensofficialsite.com. I’m selling my albums… I’mma have my single on there in January. My maxi single. And then I’m gonna have my album coming out a month or two after on there… Everything! I’m not fucking with record companies. How the game is now, record companies to me are obsolete. They like… flooded the game with all this bullshit. They scared of shit that I do, so I just don’t deal with them.

Ok. So the single’s coming out in January. When’s the album coming out?

In like March or April.

Do you have a title for it?

Yeah. Reincarnated. And you can only get that shit on my site.

Ok. So who’s gonna produce on the album?

I’ve got this mothafucka named Flip. Big Flip. And he’s doing like most or majority of that shit. I’m not going out here like all these other fools like running with this and that cat. I’m keeping my shit with one mothafucka, like back in the day and just vibe with him on all of that shit. It’s gonna be hot! Man my shit is gonna be super-hot. You’ll see.

Do you plan on having any guests on there?

Man I’ve got this lil group I’m fucking with. They’re called John Doe. I might have them on that mothafucka. I’mma probably have them on a couple of songs on that maxi single I’m putting out. So you know… It ain’t no bling bling type shit. Just like some… You’ll see what I’m saying.

So that’s like your protiges? You’re helping them into the game?

Exactly. I’m gonna be on all of that. All of that.

There’s been a lot of talk about a New NWA album… Are you going to release an album?

Right now, I don’t see that going down. I know a lot of people want that shit to happen, but I don’t see that going down right now.

For what reasons?

Man, I don’t know. Everybody’s just busy doing their own shit. And we went on the up in smoke tour and we was supposed to do it then, but that shit got so hectic like… on the road we couldn’t even do nothing. That might not even happen. That might not ever happen.

How do you feel about Snoop taking Eazy E’s place in the group?

He sounded cool on the shit we did and I feel like… you know a lot of dudes are feeling like “why the fuck is Snoop doing it”, but I feel like Snoop.. to me and the rest of us, from that period, Snoop was the only mothafucka out here that really put it down and really came like… boom, right there. Like, right after us it was Dre and Snoop. It’s like he’s still connected to that shit. All them niggas are saying like “yeah, Snoop used to be around”. It wasn’t like “why ya’ll putting Snoop on there? What other west coast artist can fill them shoes like a knew Eazy, that was around… ya know what I mean?

Yeah.

So when we did that “Hello” and that other shit, he was there and it was gonna be on the album. Everybody agreed and was like “let Snoop do it”.

Someone from our forum was wondering if you were cool with him, but I guess you are. Cuz they say he was dissing you on The Chronic.

Nah he wasn’t dissing me on The Chronic. He came out and said “Wassup Ren”. He wasn’t dissing me. See, that that time I was kickin’ it with them while they were doing it. So he was dissing Eric and Ruthless when he said that. “Wassup Ren”. It’s like he was saying what’s up to me. Cuz I was with them when they did that. He was talking about Eazy and he was talking about Jerry and Ruthless, and then he was like “Oh yeah, wassup Ren”. Nah man that’s my nigga”.

Cool. Can we expect you to be on his or any other artists albums in the future?

Well I did some shit with the Eastsidaz probably like a month ago. For their new shit. They’re the last ones I did some shit with, like a month ago. Other than that I’ve just recorded my own shit. But every one in a while I do shit with n*ggas.

Speaking of the Eastsidaz. Did you hear about the Tray Dee thing?

Yeah I heard about that…

Do you have anything to say about that?

Yeah. I mean that shit’s crazy.

Do you think they’ll work it out?

I don’t know man… that’s hard after someone did some shit like that. I mean damn… I don’t know, man. That’s a hard one right there.

Yeah sounds kinda crazy.

Yeah that’s crazy. I mean if you got your house and you got your kids in there and somebody’s trippin on em… it’s hard to make peace after some shit like that. Hopefully they will, I don’t know how but… I ain’t never heard noone making peace after that but I hope they can be the first and shit...

Speaking of beefs. Do you have any beefs?

Nah. I don’t have no beefs with nobody.

Ok. Cool. Did you hear Eazy E’s son, Lil E? He’s gonna release an album soon…

Yeah I heard about him. Is he rhyming now or something?

Yeah. Last thing I heard he was on DPG Recordz. Daz’s label.

Yeah I heard something about that, man. I ain’t gonna be on it. I remember him from he was a lil kid and shit… Real real little. Back in the NWA days he was a little little little kid. He looked just like his daddie too.

What do you feel about the state of hiphop right now?

It’s towed up. It’s all raggedy right now. It’s bullshit. It’s like… every mothafuckin song got singing. Everybody think they pimps. It’s like… ain’t no creativity. Just all garbage right now. All garbage. And the reason it’s garbage is cuz these mothafuckin record companies got fake ass mothafuckas out here being A&R’s and corporate mothafuckas running these companies. And they don’t wanna fuck with no real shit. Like Public Enemy said: “Revolution won’t be televised”… The real shit ain’t being televised no more. The real music… they don’t want that. Companies don’t want no real shit. They don’t want that. They’re scared of mothafuckas they sign so they’re like… “we don’t wanna sign noone that we’re scared of”. Ya feel me?

Yeah.

They want happy niggas that think they pimps that they know they ain’t pimps and singing mothafuckas… they want all that happy shit. They don’t want no real real type shit. Like I said, the revolution won’t be televised. That’s the revolution, cuz they won’t televise that shit. So we have to use other means to do this other ways. Cuz as long as these same mothafuckas is in charge of these companies, the music is just gonna get fucked up, fucked up and more fucked up. I remember when I first heard that song, that Friends remix, back in the day with Rakim. And that’s when motherfuckin singers first started to have n*ggaz rap on their shit. At first they didn’t want nothing to do with the rappers, but then after that her shit blew up it was like all the singers wanted to pull the rappers. Now this shit is about all the rappers wanting to pull the singers. Every song mothafuckas got singing… mothafuckas is happy… you see mothafuckas come out hard and then these mothafuckin companies make them soft. And they used to be hard! First album, second album, get to the third album and they’re on MTV smiling all the time, cheesing… Looking like bitches! Straight up, man! And they are the type of mothafuckas that they want. They blow up because it’s all happy shit. Mothafuckas they ain’t scared of. Mothafuckas that they know… if they fuck their contract up they’re not gonna come up there and whoop they ass. That’s the kind of mothafuckas they want! Things ain’t the same.

Do you think that’s related to the east and west thing? Because some rappers think that the East are hating on the West. Not playing their music and everything…

It’s like this dawg. I think if you got some tight ass music, them mothafuckas ain’t gonna click. It’s all politics. If you got some wack shit or say you got a n*gga that’s wacker than a mothafucka… but shit be wack today and still be on the radio all day. I don’t give a fuck about where you’re from, if your shit is the shit that these mothafuckas is promoting right now, this wack ass shit, it don’t matter where you’re from they will blow your shit up. It don’t matter!

Yeah the people with the money get all the hits…

Yeah! That’s what I’m saying. These mothafuckas who got the companies and shit. They’ve got the money to put that shit out… they’ve got the connections like “play my shit”. “Play this, play that”. They go out and find that shit! They don’t know what real shit is. And a lot of these A&R’s that sign them, they ain’t made a record in their mothafuckin life! How are you gonna have a mothafucka that ain’t never made a record in his whole life signing a mothafucka. Can’t even make a beat, can’t do nothing. It’s like with basketball they get scouts. They give them jobs to mothafuckas that played in the league and all that. They know what they’re looking at! Shit, them A&R’s is like sending me out to scout an NBA team. I don’t know what the fuck I’m looking for! Ya know what I mean?

Yeah

I can think I know cuz I’ve watched it on TV. Like these A&R mothafuckas seen it on TV. I can see that, but I don’t know the technical shit, what I need.

We got a question here from our forum. “Who do you think will bring back the west” but since you’re saying that it’s not an east or west thing let’s rephrase that to “Who do you think will bring back the real rap”?

It’s all about good music, man. It’s like this. Everything is wack right now. Sooner or later somebody’s gonna make some real ass shit that’s just different… Cuz the fans will change on you. They change from one thing to an other… and it’s like a lil movement out here against all this wack shit. A lot of mothafuckas is getting tired of this wack shit and they just want hard shit. That’s why it’s gonna be more underground, dawg. This is gonna start all over again. How it started in the beginning – we gonna have to do that all over again. Through the internet, through underground spots… that’s why mixtapes are so big. Cuz when hiphop was getting big back in the day it was all about tapes and mixtapes. Now it’s back to that, cuz mothafuckas are tired of all that other shit. It’s just slowly starting all over again. And hopefully some new mothafucka will come. Someone like Pac or Biggie – some original mothafucka. Not sounding like them, but somebody coming just way to the left and BOOM, and be so hard that everybody gotta point to the left. Ya know what I mean? It’s like hiphop needs a saviour right now. But it’s gonna take a while… maaan it’s gonna take a minute, cuz everybody’s stuffed right now.

Speaking of mainstream… How do you feel about the Shady Murder INC beef?

Maan, I don’t know man… It’s like… I don’t really wanna speak on that shit.

Ok.

Ya know what I mean? But I just feel like this: All it’s really gonna do is sell records. Them n*ggas could be doing it cuz they know they’re both gonna sell records. No matter how much they beef, their record sales is going to increase. They doing it for that and as long as n*ggaz don’t get into violence and shit… you know… cuz mothafuckas don’t need that. Ya know what I mean?

Yeah I know what you mean.

But I’m kinda cool on all of that, man. I’m waiting on some hot hot, like I said, like a saviour to this shit. Somebody that just make you go like “damn”… A Brown James of hiphop.

Do you think there’s any upcoming rapper right now that could fit that description?

Uhm… nah. They calling Brown James the beats, I don’t see no beats in hiphop. A young fool that’s just CRAZY. Nah, I don’t see it right now. There’s probably one out there and I just haven’t seen em. He’s probably not where everybody can see em. Ya know what I mean?

Yeah

I’m talking about like a young n*gga coming in, being just CRAZY! Crazy and looking like he’s from 88 or some shit. Just a mixture of all that old… maan c’mon.

Yeah, someone that the mainstream just can’t turn down.

Yeah! That they can’t turn down and he’s just way to the left from their bullshit but they just can’t deny him. Like undeniable. Ya know what I mean!

Who would you say is the best rapper ever?

The best rapper ever…

A kinda hard question.

That’s TOO hard, man… I don’t know if I can just name best ever… that’s harder than a muthafucka.

Yeah… do you have like a few picks?

If I go by the best ever as far as accomplishment… and still their lyrics… I have to say…. Damn that’s a hard one… I’d have to say Run DMC is first… Then it had to be LL. Cuz LL is the shit, man. If it wasn’t for LL, mothafuckas wouldn’t know how to be hard back in the day. All them mothafuckas that used to be rapping back in the day used to be cocky and shit… they got that from LL… Melly Mel… Chuck D and KRS. It’s hard man, but they’re the ones just standing out in my head… cuz I used to listen to them mothafuckas like crazy.

Anyone else?

Cube!

Ok… Are you still a muslim?

Yeah. I’ll be a muslim till I die. Muslim only means admitting to the will of God, and I’ll always be that. A man of peace. I’ll always be that.

Ok. Cuz you spoke on that a lot on “Shock of the hour” but not on your last album. Is there a reason for that?

The reason for that was that when I did “Shock of the hour” I was in the Nation of Islam. So I was fired up and had a lot of shit in my head. But I left the Nation of Islam. When I did the last album, I wasn’t in the Nation Of Islam. So it’s like… I left that and went to the Orthodox Islam. But yeah, I’m a muslim. I’ll be a muslim forever. Man… I study all religions… I study everything.

That’s cool.

But I don’t like when somebody trying to bottle me up and be like “oh you a muslim!”. They can’t just bottle me up, cuz I’m a lot of things ya know? I’m educated to that point where you can’t just bottle me up like that. Man I’ve been studying and shit. Religion, Egyptology… ya know? That was before Islam, that shit in Egypt. So it’s like there’s so much shit, ya know what I mean?

Yeah ok.

But that’s an other story an other time.

Hehe ok. Do you produce? Cuz there was rumours about you producing some of the first NWA material.

Nah, that’s a lie. I never produced any of that. Everything we did that was Dre doing it. I never attempted to do no NWA shit… I just wrote rhymes on it.

Ok. Speaking of Dr Dre what’s your relationship with him right now?

I don’t even talk to him right now.

Is there a special reason for that?

Well you know… He do his thing and I do mine.

Do you have any advices for young and upcoming rappers?

Yup. My advice for young and rappers coming up is be original, be creative… You ain’t gotta go begging to no record companies to put your shit out. Do it yourself. Press that shit yourself and do that shit yourself, ya know what I’m saying? Just stay true to it… and I would tell them to go study all the old shit… so that they know the history of hiphop, ya know what I mean? So that they know where it started in the mothafuckin Bronz all the way to where it hit – in the west coast… and around the world. Study all that shit. Because if they study all them classic, man, it’s like studying books. They study all the classic from back in the day and they’ll see that “damn, these foos was creative, ain’t nobody doing no shit alike”… and if someone did sound alike, everybody back in the day would start clowning em and calling em biters, ya know what I mean? So go study all of that shit and get them their character, they’ll be a hell of an MC.

Ok let’s do some word association. Is that ok?

Yea.

First word is: The Source Magazine.

Bullshit.

Haha ok.

Cuz I saw that mothafucka probably like two months ago and it was like a special issue and they had like top group or something, and them mothafuckas had NWA but didn’t have me on there. Like they threw me out of the group or something.

Seriously?

Yeah! I mean what the fuck how are they gonna have Dre, Cube and Eazy and just have them like they was the group… like that’s NWA. Cube left after the first album? Ya know what I mean?

Yeah that’s fucked up man.

Fuck The Source with their fashion and clothes and shit. Fuck em and you can quote me on that.

Next word is Def Jam.

Def Jam? It was the shit back in the day…

Ok. I saw some stuff on your website that they had been using NWA for some shit… I don’t really remember…

Yeah, they did. They put a mothafuckin record out… Scarface the movie… and they had our music and I was looking at BET and I saw the commercials and it said “Music inspired by the movie Scarface” and they had us on there…. I’m like maaaaaan, who the fuck said we ever been… that shit ain’t influence our fucking music.

Oh so they just made that up?

Ya know what I’m saying! Whoever did that for money is a bitch. I don’t know whoever put that together cuz they ain’t even call us and ask us. I just want all the fans to know that that shit ain’t influenced us. The movies, that I put on my website, that influenced me was like I said: Crush Groove, Deep Streets, Lifestyles and shit like that… Not no mothafuckin Scarface movie. I know no fake ass script that a mothafucka wrote is gonna influence my music. They better go say that shit influenced somebody else. Put that there… them mothafuckas is lying. Don’t buy that shit!

Next word is Suge Knight.

Shit he’s cool with me.

Daz Dillinger

Cool with me too.

The Internet.

Shit, that’s cool man. That’s like a whole other world. Like I told my homie; you got a physical world you see, and you got a virtual world that’s bigger than the mothafucka you see. That’s my new outlet. I’m gonna hit all my people with my internet shit. That’s where they’ll find me.

On a site note, I know a webdesigner who said he could do your site…

Nah I’m cool. Tell him I’m cool. I’m keeping my shit gutter like that. I don’t want it man. I’m keeping my shit the way it is. People be saying “man I’m a webdesigner” and then I have people calling me saying “this shit’s cool, it’s gutter, it’s pure”. I’m keeping my shit just like that. It’s like I’m not formatting my shit after no company… you know no Def Jam, no Ruthless, no Interscope website. I just keep it ghetto. I put on there what I wanna put on there. Like boom, n*gga, that’s what it is.

Like making a statement just by the design?

You know what I’m sayin! Like boom, that’s the new thang and you can put that there.

Next word is R. Kelly.

That n*gga crazy! That’s my word for that n*gga. That n*gga crazy!

Above The Law

Tight. Legends.

P. Diddy

Smart business man.

Okay… Ludacris

Like he said, he’s the male Missy.

Kurupt

Tight.

And last word is yourself, MC Ren.

Ahh man… Me… Legendary. Hehe… yeah man. Legendary. Haha I ain’t gonna bite my toung… But on the real tho. Legendary, man.

Yeah. Is there anything else you’d like to say to the fans?

This is what I wanna say to the fans… I’m like Don King… Come to my official website, mcrensofficialsite.com. I’mma sell my records there, come get that. For all the haters… Fuck all the haters, fuck the radio and fuck these bullshit ass companies. Fuck all ya’ll n*ggaz that got something to say. Fuck ya’ll.

[michael jackson]

I luv u for that chit cuzz

 u supporting my nigga ren, one luv

[West C. Connected]

Great read.

[Z the laidback Virus]

Hehe ok. Do you produce? Cuz there was rumours about you producing some of the first NWA material.

Nah, that’s a lie. I never produced any of that. Everything we did that was Dre doing it. I never attempted to do no NWA shit… I just wrote rhymes on it.

Does this mean he didn't produce the CPO album either? I thought he did?

[Code Blue]

Coo' interview. Damn ain't no one respectin' the Source anymore. They messed up. Kinda sucks that no one will be rappin'/producin' on "Ren-Incarnation" though. I wonder why that is?

[Lil Jay]

It’s towed up. It’s all raggedy right now. It’s bullshit. It’s like… every mothafuckin song got singing. Everybody think they pimps. It’s like… ain’t no creativity. Just all garbage right now. All garbage. And the reason it’s garbage is cuz these mothafuckin record companies got fake ass mothafuckas out here being A&R’s and corporate mothafuckas running these companies. And they don’t wanna fuck with no real shit. Like Public Enemy said: “Revolution won’t be televised”… The real shit ain’t being televised no more. The real music… they don’t want that. Companies don’t want no real shit. They don’t want that. They’re scared of mothafuckas they sign so they’re like… “we don’t wanna sign noone that we’re scared of”. Ya feel me?

So true. Here is the og btw:

http://www.worldwideconnected.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=213

[hector]

props, tight shit.  I got mad respect for Ren, he is one of the realest and smartest niggaz in rap ever.

[The Predator]

Ren really keeps a distinct line with truth and bullshit.

Ren gets my respect for his dope rhyming with NWA but,

This new Ren should step up his game lyrically coz all his new verses for the last few years is like :  My dick'll make ya bitch choke/lift ya skirt like the pope

Ren is capable of much much better.

[Darksider]

thanks for the interview

[Juronimo]

Ren is the muthafuckin man period. Tight interview.

[Bramsterdam (see ya)]

Ren is the muthafuckin man period. Tight interview.

I agree 100000000% with you there..

Ren is the most amazing artist ever. well, thats my opinion..

[Lincoln]

Good read. Glad to see he's Orthodox now rather than NOI. Also can't wait for the new album.