Jayo Felony interview from Murderdog

[ABN]

How does In The Trenches measure up to your earlier albums?

I had a lot of fun releasing all of my shit, but the bottom line is I just got a team behind me having my back which I really never had in my career. The label that I’m at now, we’re in it through the thick and thin and that is the difference now.

How does it make you feel to see the West come back?

I have been representing Diego since day one and LA. When I got started I was on the run. That was where me and Jay met out here in LA. I’m happy to be a part of what is going on and everybody finally being together and putting all this beef aside and moving forward to make the West Coast stronger. It’s a blessing and I’m happy to be here still standing strong.

Were you at the West Coast conference?

Definitely! I popped up, made my appearance. It was real cool with everyone coming together trying to move forward bringing the Coast tighter making music like we use to do. Back in the day that was what it was! Everybody was dealing with everybody and we were on each other’s projects all the time doing shows, tours and the whole nine.

What can you tell me about In The Trenches the album?

In The Trenches is off the meat rack! I finally made an album where I had fun with it and the label let me be creative and do what I wanted to do. I made a good album and it’s not an album that I made out of frustration, but an album I made for everybody to get into and see what I’m really made of. I know this is gonna be one of the tightest albums coming out of the West Coast this year and not only the West Coast, but out of the industry as a whole. It’s gonna be real big and we’re gonna have a lot of fun with it.

What’s behind the song "100 Bars"?

I just released some anger on there and show the world that the West Coast does have some lyrics. However they wanna label it, but as an MC I feel that I am one of the best out there. I’m not just talking about it, but proving it. There are not a lot of MC that can hold 100 bar songs and not get boring. It is catchy all the way through and it’s off the meat rack. When you hear that you are gonna be like "Ahhh man!" It ain’t for play I’m here to stay. I’m a true MC and regardless of me not putting out an album in a couple years. My skills have sharpened up even more and a lot of people are gonna be in trouble if they don’t know how to rap. Cats will lose their jobs. With everybody coming together, and with me, Snoop, Xzibit and Game all these doors are back open. People will see I’m out here to have fun and make money. At the end of the day I was one of the only West Coast rappers that was on everyone albums like a Snoop. I was on Ja Rule, LL, Scarface, Xzibit, Kurupt, E-40 and it is about to be on again. Blow niggaz out on their own songs so you better come to the table!

Who did the beats for the album?

I got some off the meat rack shit with my boy Jelly Roll, who did something with Snoop, Jadakiss and Method Man. He definitely blessed the album and we did four or five tracks on the album. I got my boy Black who laced me with the title track "In the Trenches". I got Havoc from Mob Deep; he did the "Rifleman" song we got on there with me, Mob Deep and Kurupt. We got that group called The Riflemen! Then we got Scott Storch and we are about to do it big with him and one of those records is gonna feature Snoop and The Game. Then I got DJ Silk, who has been working with me for years. He did the one "I’m So Into You" featuring Sleepy Brown. That track was for the females and I ain’t just coming back trying to kill up everybody. I got a song called "Can’t Sit All The Way Down On It" because I really gave it up all the way for all of the females. When I play that record they don’t give a shit what I’m saying because they just wait for that hook to come in "Betcha can't wait to get down on it." That’s the business man! I had a lot of fun with this record man and my record label really had my back.

Aren’t you doing something with the movies too?

It is off the hook! It is called "Eyes Of Darkness" and it’s like a comedy/horror flick. I play an artist that is shooting a video which isn’t that hard and on the set something happened that where this crazy clown gets killed by the video girls. This muthafucka ends up killing every muthafucka on the set. My boy Del directed it! I got my song called "1,2,3" which is actually the song I’m doing in the movie. It’s going to work out real cool.

The Riflemen, is that your group?

That is gonna be real bi! Mr. Kurupt and Tha Dogg Pound are about to do this little tour and get it crackin’. We put all that bullshit behind us and now it is about to be real big. The group is Havoc and Prodigy of Mob Deep, 40 Glocc, Kurupt and myself. When we ride together there ain’t too many cats that can fuck wit it. Everybody is calling us the super group! We ain’t never said that before, but that is how people are putting it. They know me and Kurupt ain’t to be fucked with on the West and we got one of the East Coast’s crews that have been holding it down since day one and that is Mob Deep.

Is the group working on an album?

We got a lot of songs done already and some mixtape records done, but we are about to really put it down and handle our business and get the deal done and it is really gonna be big. Now that Kurupt's business is straight it’s a lot of doors being open for that project. We are shopping it right now and have a couple offers on the table. It’s about to be big! Tell my boys they better bring their lunch on that Riflemen record because I ain’t playin’.

You were once signed to JMJ, did you know him good?

That was my dog! I basically used to live with Jam Master Jay. He is the one that got me in the game and helped me become who I am. Much love and respect to him for even believing in me way back then. He put up with all the crazy shit of my childhood when I was raw fresh out the hood, not really giving a fuck. He dealt with everything that another muthafucka wouldn’ta dealt with. He stuck with me until I did get on point. Even after I left the label he was still doing things to help me out and get me further out in my career like getting me on Scarface’s album and stuff like that. He was still helping out! Me and dude was real close! That was my dog! He taught me a lot, and the first album I came out with he produced a lot of the shit on there.

How did all that fame feel?

It was all just a blessing. Jam Master Jay did put me in the game and when I was at Def Jam Jay had all of the juice up there. He got me rappin’ on shit like Jason’s Lyric soundtrack and The Show soundtrack and it was crazy to me. They took me fresh out of the hood homey! I’m watching Def Jam Comedy and seeing my shit playing on there. I got a good start just from being with Jay.

Did you drop any underground shit in San Diego before you got with Jam Master Jay?

I dropped something called Give It Up For The Hood where I was dissing my enemies. That was what basically got me my deal. That was the product that I put in the stores on my own on consignment. I was on the run from YA, which is Youth Authority. I was on parole and they were looking for a muthafucka so I just left town. I ended up taking one of the tapes to Jam Master Jay’s mothers house and then dude came looking for me in LA and we hooked up and it was over.

Why were you on the run?

It was like one of those situations where I was violating parole and once I turned I was off parole and they couldn’t do nothing to me no more. I just had to stay out of their state until I turned a certain age. That was the California Youth Authority and that’s where all the hard heads go before the penitentiary. If you hurt somebody or murder somebody or whatever they keep you up until you are 25 and then they make you an M number and send you to the pen. I was on the run from that shit when I came to New York. I went into Virginia and my brother picked me up and took me out of town.

How did you get the contact on Jam Master Jay?

I ran into a manager that was from New York and he took me out to Jam Master Jay’s mom’s house and that was when we left the tape up there and he came looking for me. That’s what started it all right there. The tape helped me get the deal and just grinding on my own. I put a tape together with just two songs on it and that led to me getting the deal.

Were you in the studio together with Scarface when you did the song for his album?

Actually on the song that we did for The Last Of A Dying Breed album. It was me, Kurupt and Daz on that record. We were all in the studio together knocking it out. At the time we were all young and it was a blessing for us to even be in there with Face making a record. Me, Kurupt and Daz were real happy about being on that project.

It sounds like you have real good chemistry with Tha Dogg Pound?

It is pretty good! Not tooting my own horn, but it says a lot for me not being from LA, Death Row, or Dogg Pound, but I was in the middle of all that shit. A nigga can rap my ass off man! I had fun with them because the chemistry was there and they know what the fuck they are doing on the mic. Before all the bullshit went down we were all together. Even though I wasn’t from that camp we all made a lot of hit records together. It was all like a team! Everybody is back together and now we’re about to do a tour with me and Tha Dogg Pound. At the end of the day all that beef was a bunch of drama and bullshit that we could’ve gone to the table and put behind us so we can move forward and get this money, because that is what it is about. From myself, if I never have another problem with another West Coast artist I’m not going public or saying shit about them in a magazine or nothing. I’m gonna tell ’em "Look, let’s go to the back and beat each other up and make a song together afterwards." If it ain’t serious enough to take a muthafucka’s life, then it ain’t serious enough to hurt a muthafucka's pockets.

What will we hear on the new album?

They’re gonna see the anger and the happiness and everything that an album is supposed to be. It’s a well rounded album! You have a lot of artists out here today who’ll make one or two good records and put those records out as singles to sell their record, but then you go buy their records and it is a piece of shit. From dealing with Jam Master Jay and studying the Ice Cube’s and the NWA’s, I know how to put albums together if nothing else. If I never came out with a video and people just knew my album in the store it would sell because people know I won’t make two hot songs with the rest of it being bullshit. I can’t do it! I put my effort into everything that I do. This is an album that everybody can get into whether you are a Crip, Blood, females, East Coast, West Coast, or Down South. There is something on there for everybody. I’m not finished with my collaborations; I got a couple more sledgehammers. What I learned from Def Jam was to kill a fly with a sledgehammer.

Who is on In The Trenches so far?

I got Kurupt, Mob Deep, Sleepy Brown and I’m about to do the song with Game and Snoop this weekend. Then I’m about to do one with Yo-Yo as well! I got one more record we are trying to put together with me, T.I., and Juvenile from the South. My album is all done as far as my solo songs and everything is arranged and ready to go and we are knocking out these last couple of records. I just got about 3 more records to do! I’m happy to be back and all of the doors are open for me. I don’t have no beef with nobody or no gripes. One thing that me and Kurupt knew by that West Coast conference going down was me and Kurupt is gonna benefit a whole lot from that.

Why?

We were the main two artists that were getting cut out of our fuckin money because we were household names that people love to hear. Now that the bullshit is out of the way, The Snoop Dogg’s, The Game’s and everybody wants to work with us because we love what we do.

You were more angry on Crip Hop, but it sounds like you won’t be as angry on this one?

Exactly, you hit it right on the nose. Crip Hop was an album where I was going through a whole lot, but at the same time don’t act like it was all my muthafuckin’ fault. These rappers were doing sneaky little shit to me because I wasn’t signing to their labels. I don’t want to go into it and bring up old news, but at the same time muthafuckaz was trying to sign me to their labels and I wouldn’t sign to their labels and they did little subliminal shit to diss me indirectly. The past is the past and it is time to make money and move on. I’m willing to shut those doors and move forward with my life and career

[Spicemuthafuc*in1]

thanx dope read

[Eddie G.]

thanx dope read

[We Fly High]

jelly roll let me hear some of the tracks he did with JAYO. UNBELIEVABLE tracks man, hottest west coast tracks of the year hands down. Jayo & Jelly holdin it down strong.

[Meho]

^^souns great

cant wait for the album,production and features sounds tight(cant wait to hear that track with game and snoop)   

oh and i dont think rifelman will do anything since mobb deep signed to gunit 

[Okka]

Thanks for the interview, nice to see that Riflemen is still happenin'...

[IzUwitIt]

yea good read
album im most lookin forward to rite now

and justin just got me fiendin for these jellyroll/jayo collabos

[Tha G In Deee]

thanx dope read

A VERY dope read...

[Darksider]

Thanks for the interview, nice to see that Riflemen is still happenin'...

[Lord Funk]

thanx dope read

A VERY dope read...

Dude sounds really positive and humble and shit... good luck to him with this album.

[CRAFTY]

jelly roll let me hear some of the tracks he did with JAYO. UNBELIEVABLE tracks man, hottest west coast tracks of the year hands down. Jayo & Jelly holdin it down strong.

Sounds great!
I wonder what the first single will be (probably the cut produced by Storch...).

[MOB]

Thanks for the interview, nice to see that Riflemen is still happenin'...

i think this interview was done before mobb deep signed to g unit

[ABN]

Thanks for the interview, nice to see that Riflemen is still happenin'...

i think this interview was done before mobb deep signed to g unit

yea i think it was done in April. but this doesn´t have to mean that The Riflemen project will be cancelled coz don´t forget that Jayo and 40 are pretty close with Spider.