KRUSHADELIC (Part 2) (June 2007) | Interview By: Noncentz

      

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Interview was done by phone in May, 2007

Questions Asked By: Noncentz (Guest Contributor)

Krushadelic Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here
 

If you missed Part 1 From May 2007 then click Here

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www.myspace.com/krushadelic

www.myspace.com/thedangerouscrew
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Dubcnn: And about that time is when you hooked up with Too $hort and The Dangerous Crew?

Well, I had already been knowing $hort from just us being local rappers and being around in the game. Where he had Dangerous Music at, the studio, it was actually on the corner of where I used to hang out with some other rappers. And he opened that studio, and he actually signed one of my partners who was in my crew, J.J. Hard, when he had first started Dangerous Crew. He had Rappin’ 4-Tay, J.J. Hard, Spice-1, and he had these females called The Dangerous Girls. And that was the very first Dangerous Crew that there was. But that only lasted real quick.


Dubcnn: So how did Goldy come into the picture? How did you meet him and begin to work with him?

Well, remember me telling you about those shows we was doing back in the days? We was doing this show called The Bong Show on this show called Soul Beat. And Goldy had a cousin that was kind of cracking at that time as a rapper and then there was Big O. And before Goldy had changed his name to Goldy, he was known as X-Tray. And through his cousin, we was all just friends hanging out. And then Goldy came out with his cassette called “Look At Me” or something like that. It was his Mhisani project. And when he had that project out, we just kept on bumping into each other, doing little shows and being cool.

Once he got signed to $hort, he was trying to work his deal out with $hort, we was hanging out constantly and I was doing beats. Soonce he got his deal, we was the ones working together. It wasn’t like him and Ant Banks and the other ones. He would come to my house, or I would go to his house. I’m the one that actually came up with the title, “In The Land of Funk”. See thing is, is I didn’t co-produce them songs. I produced the songs. I was a young producer at the time. I produced the songs and got my money, but when the songs came out, it said The Dangerous Crew produced them, and was co-produced by me.

That was me being young in the game and not knowing how it was going to turn out. You get your face busted a little when you see the record. Co-produced?? I produced this! It was totally my idea. It was my stuff. I wasn’t mad over it, I was just happy at that time just to have a project I produced on a major label.


Dubcnn: That was going to my question. With the credits saying you co-produced with Ant Banks, what was that situation like working with him?

Well the thing about it with me and Ant Banks, see, I been knowing Ant Banks for a long time. I was knowing Banks when he was with MC Ant. The dude who helped me start my company, is the same dude that helped Ant Banks with his company and get us in the music game. He’s an OG right now and I still deal with him. So me and Ant Banks, we was cool. When I came into the situation, I was like the first “other” producer in the The Dangerous Crew. Cuz before I came in, Banks was handling most of the production.

When they started forming the really serious Dangerous Crew, of what it became to be known along with Rappin’ Ron and everybody else, at that time I came into the situation with Goldy. Banks was doing all the production. We actually clashed, and used to get into a lot because he felt threatened by me coming in, and I’m another producer and I’m bringing the heat, having people in there rocking! And this Goldy album was coming out fat. So sometimes he would be having serious attitudes. *laughs* And we used to clash a lot until $hort would basically separate us. And they got D-Wiz to work a bunch with Goldy because him and Banks just don’t see eye to eye.

So we was cool, but with that heat like “I don’t want him to start getting my money.” So it was like that as opposed to him looking at like, ok, here’s another young producer and I been knowing Krush for the longest and stuff, let him try to get his money, too. He was a stingy muthafucka. *laughs*


Dubcnn: Now, was Goldy’s album the only Dangerous Crew project you worked on?

That was the main one that I was really involved in, because I was involved with that one like everyday cuz it was an everyday process. And even if I wasn’t producing the track, I was doing background vocals, or helping him come up with ideas. We had actually started working on his next album that was going to release under Dangerous, but that’s when they started to having their falling out and everything. So we ceased the rest of the work we had.


Dubcnn: His album is really the only other album that dropped on Dangerous, other than Too $hort or Ant Banks. And I thought Goldy had some serious potential to be big in this game.

It was the business, man. He did! He had a lot of potential, and when we was touring we used to get real big responses for Goldy. He was ready to take it to the next level. It was just that the business end between them wasn’t right. They didn’t make him happy. Me and Goldy used to talk about the business, and with me being an artist as well as running my company, he used to ask me questions the business. I even told him he should have gutted that situation out. When you’re an artist and you’re on a major, you have to sell so many records before you get up out the red with the company. And if you still in the red with the company, they not going to just give up the money.

They going to say they need to make their money back first before they start giving out more money. And Goldy, he sold a nice amount of units, but he didn’t sell enough to get himself totally out the red. And so what they was doing, which is the normal game for these majors, is they try to give you your budget for the next album and tell you to turn that one in and they start chipping away at your royalties and stuff like that. He didn’t want to wait for his royalties like that, he wanted his right then. And he didn’t want to finish up his new album until all of that was settled.

So they came to a point like, if he didn’t want to compromise with them, then they can discuss whether he wanted to sever ties with them or not. And I can still remember him being at my house that day talking about he was thinking about leaving. And I kept telling not to leave. I told him to take this major label and ride them for what they’re worth. Whether they giving you what you want or not, if you going to decide to leave then at least set yourself up to be able to make that money independently. Use their money to promote yourself to the masses. Then you can pick up the pieces after you leave. But he didn’t ride it all the way out as long as he could have. He should have let them put out a second album, because he had a whole lot of potential. My boy be spitting that shit, man! He used to spit that shit hard.


Dubcnn: So there was work done for a second album?

Yeah! We had went in the studio and done songs and everything, man. It was right when we started working is when they had started to go through the turmoil and the issues of the money. It was like they wanted us to go in the studio, we had the time set up, but it was like we was still reluctant. And as we started working, shit started to turn into shambles. Next thing you know, it was like pull the plug. Everything was down the drain then.


Dubcnn: So what happened with all that material that was recorded?

Shit, I don’t even know, man! *laughs*


Dubcnn: I was hoping you’d say there was some unreleased gems out there or something.

If there winds up being something come out, as long as I can get what I got coming to me. *laughs* But I really don’t know what happened to the songs. I don’t know if they got turned in to Jive, or if $hort and them still go it, or whatever. I mean I was just kicking it with $hort, and we just laid a song down. We didn’t even talk about no situations like that cuz that’s pretty much like old news to us now, you know? We talking more about things we trying to accomplish now.


Dubcnn: Did you help Goldy with that Golden Rules album?

Nah, I didn’t do that one with him. He did that one with our partner CB.


Dubcnn: What’s your relationship with Goldy these days?

Goldy is my dog! Out of anybody in The Dangerous Crew, me and Goldy is dogs! Me and Goldy done been through a lot of shit, man. We done been though some serious shit! *laughs*. That’s my dog! Out of anybody in the Crew, he trusted me and I trusted him. We was the crew within a crew. We roll to the store together, room next to each other and stuff like that. And I still see Goldy from time to time.

Goldy right now is not really interested in rapping anymore. He talks about it every now and then, like he’ll tell me he’s getting that fire again little bit. But he just been working now. He’s a longshoreman right now. And he’s doing real good, man, that boy getting some paper on this longshoreman stuff. Me and him are real cool. I remember that rumor that Pee-Wee was talking about. That rumor about him being dead fucked me up, man! I had come back in from out of town and one of my homies told me that shit, and that shit had me over here boo-hooing. I called down to Atlanta to Raman, he’s my boy that runs the company with $hort, and he called around to everybody he knew until he finally talked to Goldy. He told me to stop crying. I was fucked up! *laughs*


Dubcnn: In all, what was your experience like working with and being a part of The Dangerous Crew era?

That was cool little era. I definitely learned a lot during that era, and dealing with them. I had hella fun and it gave me a lot of experience up on the touring and stuff, too. I was already travelling and things on my own, though my company, and the things I was doing with The Dangerous Crew was like another out let for me to do my thing. Cuz while I was out with them, I was promoting myself and my projects, too. So it was all a learning experience for me. And to grow up knowing $hort the way I did, like before he was making records he was making cassettes and you could give him $5 and he’d put your name in a rap.

It’s a different feeling when you watched him catching buses, seeing him dress kind of dirty, the missing teeth and all that, to then be on stage with him at the first big show I went with him on at the Henry J. Kiser Center was unbelievable to me. Becuz he was legendary to anybody who grew up from out this way. And right now, this muthafucka is Don Ballin’! You gotta respect that hustle and who he is, and how he lasted throughout. Ain’t nobody in this rap game had a longer career and that’s making records that’s relevant right now than him and LL Cool J.

Everybody who started out in this era back then, they not making records now. And none of these youngsters is not feeling them. Too $hort and LL Cool J is the only ones from the ‘80’s, ‘90’s that’s still making records that’s relevant to today’s game. Can’t name nobody else. Not Run-DMC, not Big Daddy Kane, no KRS-One, no Juice Crew, no nothing!


Dubcnn: Now, when I talked to you a few weeks ago, you made mention that you and Too $hort had hooked up to do some things. Any word on what’s going on there?

We just dropped some music that’ll be coming out during the summer. It’s an album that I put together and it’s got Ray J on there, Chaka Khan, Too $hort, Mistah F.A.B., Keak Da Sneak, Ying Yang Twins and others. Just a project that I put together.


Dubcnn: Are there any other projects you got in the works that you’re going to bless us with?

I got an artist out right now. They actually call him “The Boy Wonder of Hyphy”, he’s 16 years old, and he’s blowing up on the radios up out here. His name is Young Bari, and I’ve been developing this youngster since he was 12 years old. And he’s about to become something special up out here. I got an album coming out with my boy from the Whoridas that’s coming out in September. And then I got another Underground Rebellion album that’s going to come out later this year as well. We just keeping it cranking. We got a few companies that’s hollering at us now. I just signed a greatest hits deal with K-Tel. So I’m putting my hands on a lot of things.


Dubcnn: Let me ask you one last question, cuz you had mentioned Rappin’ Ron. Did you have any involvement with him and Ant Diddley Dog?

Yeah, they was my dogs, man. We was crew members, so we always kind of dibbled and dabbled around on little things, but nothing that really just came out and was released. We just kind of put things together as crew members, but not anything that was a particular song. And Ron, who eneded up dying, never really got the chance to spread his wings the way he wanted to. Cuz right when Ron died, Bad N-Fluenz was really getting their name up out there. People was beginning to recognize who they were. Who Rappin’ Ron and Ant Diddley Dog were. Some of the work that $hort had put in as far as helping to promote and market them, was starting to pay off.


Dubcnn: Krush, I appreciate the time you gave to us today and look forward to hearing from you again and talking with you in the future.

No doubt.