New M.O.P. interview

[Jome]

http://www.ballerstatus.net/features/read.php?id=94263889


M.O.P. – Mashin' Out Hard
By Matt Barone
Monday - June 21, 2004
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Since the days when they asked hip-hop fans the classic question, "How About Some Hardcore?" Brooklyn natives M.O.P. have been delivering their signature brand of 1005, hardcore rap music. Spitting rhymes with endless intensity and hunger, Lil' Fame and Billy Danze have continued to garner respect and appreciation throughout the industry, staying true to themselves and not compromising their visions for anybody.

Last year saw the group signing with Roc-A-Fella Records, a move clearly aimed at exposing M.O.P.'s talents to wider audiences. While The Roc has been dominating airwaves courtesy of Jay-Z, Young Gunz, and Kanye West, Fame and Danze have been hard at work. Never ones to simply sit on the sidelines and watch, the duo is about to flood the market with several new releases.

First up is Marxmen Cinema and Marxmen Classics, a mixtape-styled collection of new recordings and unreleased sleepers that is available now. Early June will see the release of The Mash Out Posse album, the inevitable audio marriage of M.O.P.'s always head-banging bars backed by pounding hard-rock instrumentation. On top of that, the group's first Roc-A-Fella Records album, Ghetto Warfare, is expected to grace shelves in late July. Promotional efforts for these projects will come in the form of "Weapons of Mic Destruction," a nationwide tour sporting a lineup of M.O.P., Pharaoh Monch, and former Roots member Scratch that has already kicked off.

Ballerstatus.net recently sat down with Billy Danze to learn more about each of these new ventures and to discuss the current state of hip-hop. Salute!

BallerStatus.net: First of all, it's good to see that you and Lil' Fame are keeping busy these days, with all of these new projects.

Billy Danze: Yeah, yeah. Definitely trying to keep busy.

BallerStatus.net: Let's talk about The Mash Out Posse album first. Explain what it is to the people and what they can expect from it.

Billy Danze: Well with this, we doing what we have always done. More of that really loud and aggressive music, mixed in with a little rock. We just making our music a little wider. So we can reach other people, but still not comprising our sh--.

BallerStatus.net: What do you think the response in the hip-hop community will be?

Billy Danze: The last song we put out like that was "Handle Ur Business." You know, with a bunch of screaming going on, and a tank in the video. It was crazy. People were feeling that, so I think people are gonna love this.

BallerStatus.net: Have you always been a fan of rock music?

Billy Danze: You know what, any kind of music that's good, I like. It don't make a difference if it's rock, rap, or whatever. I like R&B, you know, R&B is definitely my shit. As long as it's good, I'm down for it.

BallerStatus.net: A lot of people who listen to hip-hop don't really check for other kinds of music. What rock bands would you tell someone to listen to, to expand their tastes and appreciate The Mash Out Posse album better.

Billy Danze: Linkin Park definitely. I like those Red Hot Chili Pepper dudes, too. Like Mick Jagger, you know, the heavy, heavy dudes. The sh-- that you can barely understand. (laughs) that mind and head banging sh--.

BallerStatus.net: Why do you think it's important for people to listen to all kinds of music and not just one type?

Billy Danze: If you don't mix it up, then you will never really know what's out there, and you will never really enjoy music. Hip-hop is just hip-hop. It's not the whole of music. The whole music is you got rock, you got rap, contemporary, jazz. You gotta listen to all of that because when you are inside of rap, you always have that. It doesn't go away.

BallerStatus.net: Definitely, I feel you. Now let's talk about the "Weapons of Mic Destruction" tour. What can somebody who has never been to an M.O.P. concert expect when they buy their ticket and walk into the arena?

Billy Danze: We're going in their and raising hell dog. Know what I'm saying? The way we make music is geared for the stage and the live show. Anybody who has ever been to an M.O.P. show can tell you that we get up there, and we show our asses off. We make sure that everyone in there has a good time, because don't nobody have the money to just be giving it away. When you come to our show, you will a show. We ain't getting up there all cool and sh--. Get the f--k out of here [laughs]. We won't say, "Throw your hands in the air!" people will say, "You throw your f--king hands in the air! Get the f--k out of here, I paid $20 to $30 to get in here. I don't have to throw my f--king hands in the air."

BallerStatus.net: What's up with you and Fame going on tour this summer with Linkin Park and Ghostface?

Billy Danze: Yeah that tour is gonna be smoking. That's the next tour. We starting this one right now, then we going to jump on that one. We probably won't be home until like December.

BallerStatus.net: That's what's up. You guys also have this mixtape Marxmen Cinema and Marxmen Classic. Is it old songs or all new songs? Explain that to the people.

Billy Danze: Well it's all new M.O.P. sh--. You are getting a little M.O.P. humor here. It's not just... you know, with the M.O.P. albums, you get that straight raw. On this, we got some different joints, some geared for the younger dudes and the older dudes. We got some James Brown samples straight through, plain rocking over that. We got something over the Geto Boys "Minds Playing Tricks On Me" called "Nine and Two Clips."

BallerStatus.net: Yeah, that song is crazy.

Billy Danze: Yeah, definitely. The streets loves that one right now. We got a gang of joints on it. We got a joint called "Motherf--k The Radio." Make sure you stress that: "Motherf--k The Radio!" Put that in graffiti [laughs]. So we got a lot of smokers on there.

BallerStatus.net: How can people get this Marxmen project?

Billy Danze: It's in stores now. It's gonna be out there, and next month you will get another one. Then another one. After the third one, we gonna start branching it out to the younger dudes. We got The Corner, where new dudes come in and do some joints. We might have some unsigned dudes, where you can hear them and give some feedback. We got a throwback section, where Rakim would run that. Get some of the older dudes, the pioneers to run the joint. So every month you get a new joint from one of the legends, from a Kool G Rap, from a Big Daddy Kane. Then we might have an R& B section, with new R&B chicks and dudes coming in and doing their things. Maybe some classic R&B songs that's really banging. Some other classic rap joints that inspired all of us and made us get in this business. So it's gonna be straight banging.

BallerStatus.net: That should be hot. People are going to be really feeling that. Now let's talk about the Ghetto Warfare album on Roc-A-Fella Records . People have been really waiting on that for a minute now. When do you honestly think it's going to come out?

Billy Danze: We are looking at July. Like July 28 or something like that.

BallerStatus.net: Is there a first single lined up yet?

Billy Danze: Well, we just put joints out. We let people choose they own sh--. Choose what you like. There ain't no sense in me holding my own nuts [laughs]. I like what I like and you like what you like. So now we put that out for you.

BallerStatus.net: Who are you working with on it? You kept the same producers or worked with new people?

Billy Danze: All the usual suspects. We got DJ Premier, we got DR Period. Laze did a few joints. Fame did joints, and I did a joint.

BallerStatus.net: Yeah, some people don't even realize you and Fame produce too. What do you think the advantage is to making your own beats rather than bringing in a bunch of random people?

Billy Danze: I think the advantage to making a beat yourself is when you already have a rhyme written for it. But it doesn-t make a difference, because we aren-t cocky dudes. We make enough beats to do an album ourselves, but why would you do that? This dude's sh-- is right, so why wouldn't I want to rhymes on his sh--? When I say it don't make a difference who you are, that don't mean that any wack ass nigga can give us a beat. I don't care what your name is, how much weight you hold. You don't hold no weight with us. We make the beats anyways, man. Someone give us a beat, but we get on it and make something even more crazy.

BallerStatus.net: Why do you think M.O.P. and DJ Premier have such good chemistry together? It's obvious because he's been doing beats for you two for awhile and M.O.P. has been on the past few Gangstarr albums. Besides the fact that he is a legend, of course.

Billy Danze: Well yeah, that is one big reason. But we are so comfortable with Premier that he is family. Like he has showed up at my crib eleven and twelve o'clock in the morning just to say, "What's up." You know, he is definitely family. We don't really f--k with no outside dudes. It's not that we don't like them, it's just that we don't know them. We can't be phony and sit there because we can make a hit and make a couple of dollars. If we don't have a good vibe with someone, we can't f--k with them.

BallerStatus.net: The Roc has a lot of artists on the label, and it seems like it could get crowded. Do you have any relationships with the artists on it, or is it just make your music and bounce?

Billy Danze: As far as the artists over there, we are pretty much cool with all of them. We were doing the State Property movie with Beanie Sigel, and that was cool. Young Gunz are cool. Bleek a real cool dude. We have always had good vibes with Cam'ron and the whole Dip Set crew. Nicole Wray is a very beautiful young lady, we love her. Rell gets down. Everybody over there is cool. Anytime we go anywhere, we are real comfortable with them. We can all kick it, sit down, drink, and have a good time.

BallerStatus.net: The song "Let It Go" you two did with Cormega on his new album is crazy. You two always bring something to every song you guest appear on, so can fans expect to hear M.O.P. on any upcoming projects?

Billy Danze: Yeah, but see we ain't going to OD though. We do songs with people that we deal with and we f--k with. Cormega is a good dude. That was actually the first time that I met him, the day that we first did that song. Every time I've seen him since then, it's been a good vibe. Those are the niggas I f''k with. If we on shaky grounds, then we are on shaky grounds and I'll let you know we are. Whether I hit you in your mouth or you hit me in mine.

BallerStatus.net: There are a lot of people that are saying that rap is garbage these days and needs to go through some serious changes. What are your feelings on where hip-hop is at today?

Billy Danze: I always enjoy hip-hop. Like I can't complain, because this music of ours keeps reinventing itself. Like a Busta Rhymes, you know, you can always expect Busta to change it up. You can always expect Puff to do something that your old lady will shake her ass to. 50 and the G-Unit are doing their thing now. I would love to see Ja Rule back on deck. Kanye West is bringing something that isn't new but is different than what people are doing these days. I had a conversation with Layzie Bone the other days and his crew is coming back. I have never had a bad vibe with none of these dudes. We have never had an industry beef. I'm not mad that they play a bunch of bullsh-- on the radio.

BallerStatus.net: So it's all good for you right now, in terms of the music in 2004?

Billy Danze: As long as people keep hip-hop music going, I'm down for it. I have always loved it and I will continue to love it.

[Darksider]

thanks

[DAYUM]

dope thanks jome