Old Roscoe Interview (The Source)

[Okka]

It took a while for me to write it down, so i hope y'all like it.

ROSCOE
LIVING OFF EXPERIENCE
words by ryan ford photograph by joe treno

When you swim in the same gene pool as West Coast rhyme vet Kurupt, easily one of the foulest mouths
in the game, it's damn near unbelievable that your lyrics could be of the PG-13 variation. Nevertheless,
that is just what young David Williams, a.k.a. Roscoe, b.k.a Kurupt's brother, intends to pull off.
After premiering on Kuruption! at the age of 14, Roscoe is returning four years later with his solo
debut, Young Roscoe Philaphornia. Armed with a rowdy crew and a gospel label, lil David is certain
he will rock the Goliath music industry, but on his own terms.

The Source:
Can you recall the first time your brother heard you rhyme?

Roscoe:
I snuck outside and a saw a battle going on, so i jumped in and spit a couple bars. Kurupt thought it
was tight. It took about a year for me to show him that i really wanted to do it, though. He started
taking me to the studio in '97. I had just come to California at that time.

The Source:
While Power Rangers was all the rage with kids your age, you were running with Death Row, the
superheroes of the West Coast.

Roscoe:
When i first started performing songs with Kurupt on stage it felt very, very weird. I went straight from
being at school to being on Teen Summit and BET Live. People would come up to me at school and say
they had seen me on TV and didn't know how to adjust. But as i [left school] went into home study, i
started taking more time to concentrate on doing this.

The Source:
Do you feel like you still have a lot to learn?

Roscoe:
As fas as my talent, my skills and my knowledge of the industry, i am not a newcomer. In terms of
visually and actively forcing my career moves, i am a newcomer. This is my first time doing an album
through a major company as my own entity. But it's still coming out on my own record label and being
distributed by Capitol/Priority

The Source:
Your own record label?

Roscoe:
Yeah, it's called Rose Of Sharon Entertainment. It's Biblical. Basically, my mama wanted a gospel label
and on my label she can do gospel music because i do profanity-free lyrics. But my group, YA, will be
on Kurupt's Frontline label [which is distributed by Tha Row]. That is going to be the more explicit side
of me.

The Source:
Damn. First the Fat Boys break up and now Kurupt's little brother is following Heavy D's "don't curse"
message. You must realize the irony in that.

Roscoe:
Well, it's still a little edgy.  There's a couple of words that'll be slipped in naturally 'cause that's life,
but every verse is gonna be [mostly profanity] free. I wasn't really trippin' off of what people were
expecting. Before i was a rapper, i was a writer. I can use so many words to express myself.

The Source:
How about the baller rhetoric? Is that out the window as well?

Roscoe:
I can go ahead and rap about the things successful rappers do, because i've done them. I was 12 and 13
kickin it with NBA stars when the average 12, 13-year-old wants to be in the NBA, so i can rap about
that. But that ain't even my steez.

The Source:
Ever feel that you were forced to grow up too fast?

Roscoe:
I feel like i grew up so fast. At 11 and 12, i was in the streets doing all kinds of wild shit. I had
alot of homeboys dying for silly reasons. I don't know what would have happened if Kurupt didn't
scoop me up.

[Blood$]

+1

[Lunatic]

dope; we need another Roscoe album!

[Twisted Smoke]

Props Homie!