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SHOCK G
(February 2011) | Interviewer Paul Edwards 
It was almost 5 years ago when Paul Edwards contacted Dubcnn with the
idea he had to write a book focusing on the "Art & Science of the Hip-Hop
MC" and asking for help in speaking to artists themselves to get their
input. Years later and with more interviews than countless journalists will
ever manage to secure Paul finally released his epic read to critical
acclaim and commercial success, it has been in Amazon's Top 10 Hip-Hop and
Rap books since it came out and it's also being published in Japanese and
Korean.
"How
to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC" is compiled
from interviews with over 100 MCs, and featuring many West Coast artists.
Highlights include – Shock G describing working with 2Pac and his writing
processes, RBX on ghostwriting for Dr. Dre, Lady of Rage explaining how she
comes up with flows and content, B-Real recalling how he came up with
Cypress Hill’s biggest hits, Crooked I on writing lyrics down and using tape
recorders, DJ Quik discussing being both an MC and a produce, E-40 on coming
up with slang and rhythms and much more.
Other West Coast artists and groups interviewed include Bishop Lamont,
Cashis, Crooked I, Yukmouth, Glasses Malone, Guerilla Black, Omar Cruz,
Spider Loc, The Federation, Tha Alkaholiks and more.
Now, thanks to the great relationship between Dubcnn and Paul Edwards, the
writer has given Dubcnn EXCLUSIVE rights to release all the
key WestCoast interviews that were compiled to create "How
to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC." Each
of these interviews give an insight into an artists thought process around
creating a track and help you understand why being a Hip-Hop MC is truly an
Art and Science!
Read on and enjoy. As always feel free to hit up
the forum with questions or comments.
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Previous "How To Rap" Interview Installments
Week One:
The Lady Of Rage
Week One:
Bishop Lamont
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Questions Asked By: Paul Edwards in October 2007
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How to Rap: How did you learn how to rap?
Shock G: From singing along and imitating my favorite emcees of
the time, mostly unknown people from my junior-high era neighborhood,
but later also the famous and popular emcees once the rap records
started coming out in the early '80s.
How to Rap: Is there a set process you go through when you're
writing lyrics?
Shock G: Yes, there's about 3 different ones: 1 is the "thought about it
my whole life" gripe you gotta get off your chest, which is a rhyme
you've been loosely creating and upgrading in your daydreams all day,
all week, all year, several years even, waiting for the right music or
the right situation to record it. Then when the time comes to record it,
you simply clean it up or modernize it to fit the tastes, styles, or
music of the times. This type of rhyme is often updated and re-recorded
several times in a person's studio history, each time another
opportunity comes along to make it better or get it "right".
An example of this could be "Doowutchyalike" which had been recorded 3
different times in 3 different cities over the course of a 2 year
period, until we finally did the released version that made our first
album. Another example could be when 2Pac would take one of his older
works from his poetry or rhyme book and "adjust" it to fit the current
beat. Rhymes like these are usually things a person feels they "have to
say" and remain urgent to the writer year after year, regardless of
style changes or trends in the industry.
2 is the "pattern priority" method, where there's a fun new pattern you
want to try, perhaps your own, perhaps a mixture of your own and
something that influenced you. The words could be important to you too
at the time, but it may not be something you would've said last year
or will still be thinking about next year. Instead, the flow pattern and
delivery gets more effort and focus than the topic or content. I think
it's more common to write this way in a "guest rapper" situation, or
when it's a multiple-emcee song and everyone's writing their verses on
the spot. The topic may be sparked from something fun that day or a
recent beef or whatever, but it's not a serious lifetime opinion or
moral statement being made here. I believe there are rappers who walk
around with patterns in their heads that are just as intense and sacred
to them as another rappers words and topics may be, and who also are
waiting for the right opportunity to bust the pattern out. Sometimes a
persons creative new
flow pattern does as much for the art form, and can change the game, as
much as a persons lyrical content can.
When the above 2 passions come together in one rhyme, (serious life-long
issue, meets an effective original pattern), it usually creates the most
memorable songs of all. Many of the classics we enjoy today are a result
of this rare combination. I say "rare" because of the millions of
rappers out there today, the majority of us usually have 1 strength or
the other, style and delivery or content. The true greats always
possess, and are aware of, both. Add a great voice, a cool look, and a
great personality to these traits and "presto", a superstar is born.
3 is the plain and simple "go with the flow" method. This is when either
the music itself or the other artists involved have already set the
tone, perhaps with a specific melody or flow, and/or topic, and you just
jump on board with your own lyrics and flava, but still sticking to the
pre-agreed concept. An example of this could be "I Get Around" with us
and Pac, the music sample already seemed to say "I get aroouuunn..." (it
was actually Roger Troutman saying "I been around"), and the live keys
tracks were already kinda jazzy and seductive, so we just rolled with
the vibe that was already there. This one wasn't one of Pacs major
points he carried around in his notorious rhymebook, or that was stored
in his
heart long before the session, like say "So Many Tears" or "Keep ya Head
Up" probably were.
How to Rap: Do you write your lyrics down on paper?
Shock G: Yes, always, but I personally know a few good emcees who never
do. Not that they're necessarily freestyling everything, it's more that
they write it from memory, and rehearse it in their heads only, without
paper or pen. I admire and envy that ability in people. Rappers like
myself, who also either play an instrument, DJ, or produce and mix,
rarely have enough RAM left to write in that way, as our heads are
always jammed-full of music patterns, chord progressions, equipment
functions, or the names and model numbers to all the equipment we use or
can't wait to work on. So we get "slow," like a computer that's heavy
with data and continually multi-processing. This is why so many people
who are supposed to be "smart", like world renown mathematicians,
scientists, genius inventors, political leaders, and older people in
general, seem to talk and answer questions so slowly when put on the
spot, their "random access memory" is over-loaded with a lifetime of
data. But the
fresh new emcee on the block is like a brand-new computer with powerful
multi-processors pumped-up and ready ta fly!
How to Rap: Where do most of the ideas come from?
Shock G: I write from joy, the highlights of my day or life. Or even
just the highlights of my imagination, sometimes science fiction or
fantasy even. I understand that this is not as popular in hip hop, nor
does it carry as much passion or depth as stuff that's written from
pain. This makes logical sense as the majority of the world is under
intense stress, many in pain, so works of that nature relate more to the
majority I guess.
The atmosphere in my house growing up was generally light, fun, and
happy a lot of the time, and that became my center of balance, where
I'm most comfortable creating from. When I'm stressed or sad, I don't
write, even as a release. I'm a sulker, and I've never written a rhyme
or created in that state. I wait till I'm happy again. I was taught,
"What you put out into the world and universe is what comes back to
you". So I try not to recycle my problems, when I canhelp it. Some
peoples problems may be too urgent, or too constant, for it not to
surface in their work, and rightfully so.
How to Rap: Do you ever research the information for your
lyrics?
Shock G: Oh yes. To a self-critical virgo perfectionalist like myself,
accuracy is crucial. We researched MDMA (ecstasy), as well as psilocybin
mushrooms, LSD (acid), and DMT (dimethyltryptamine); the 3 major
hallucinogens, before we settled on the "official" lingo for the Sex
Packets lyrics and album literature. Afterward, our sex packets became
G.S.R.A., or "genetic suppression relief antidotes". Hee hee.
How to Rap: Do you think hip-hop today lacks a sense of humor?
Shock G: Hell no, these emcees these days are straight comedians intheir
wise-guy battle raps, and in their retaliations on each other, and to
their perceived enemies. Yes, it's wise-guy/gangsta/Italian/cowboy
funny, but it's still funny. What about when 50 said, "the store owner's
watching you, fo' somethin gets stolen stolen stolen." Hahahaha, you
gotta admit that's a creative and humorous way to call somebody a broke
muhfucka.
How to Rap: How do you come up with the flows and rhythms (how
the lyrics fit to the beat)?
Shock G: Often it's a combination of what I like personally, what I
think others will like, and what I think the game needs. Other times
it's just however what I wanted to say came out my mouth; wherever the
words fell over the music.
How to Rap: Do you have a way of writing down the flow and the
rhythms?
Shock G: I hear and remember the word positions like percussion parts in
my head. If I need to remind myself that the next sentence starts
earlier or later than the "one" of the beat, I write it further to the
left or right in relation to where all the rest of the sentences
started. Like....,......this.
My friend Saafir (an American West coast underground champion) once told
me he gets his word patterns from jazz horn players like Charlie
Parker and John Coltrane. He swings his words around the beat rather
than on it.
How to Rap: Is it ever difficult to make lyrics rhyme and
express your meaning clearly?
Shock G: Yes. Usually you have to make a decision before you begin,
"shall I favor meaning and content, or flow?" If you choose to make
every word of every sentence rhyme perfectly with every word of every
other sentence, the message won't be stated at optimum impact, and vice
versa.
If you choose to not "settle" in either area, it will be a more
difficult rhyme to write, but will also hold the potential of being
something unique and special. I believe it's easier to keep a perfect
and consistent pattern going when sticking to the easy topics; how dope
me/my clique/my neighbourhood is, how wack you and yours are. But if
you're trying to tackle a specific issue, and trying to maintain
passion, emotional impact,
clarity of position, and factual accuracy; you will then need to
sacrifice some flow.
How to Rap: How long does it take you to write lyrics normally?
Shock G: Too long. I'm the slowest writer I know. Everyone
around me usually writes faster. I never understood what the big rush
is? If it becomes popular, you're gonna have ta say that shit a thousand
more times in your life anyway, and it may get listened to around the
world
for years and years, or even forever; so you might as well make sure
it's what you really wanted to say. From touring I learned to constantly
review my material first, test it for long term meaning, moral position,
breathing space...can you jump around on a 90-degree outdoor stage
saying it, etc.? 'Cause you might just wind up having to perform it for
the next 20 years!
How to Rap: Do you write to the beat you will be rapping over,
or do you write without the beat or a different beat?
Shock G: "Humpty Dance" the beat wasn't made yet, it was just to the
music in my head at the time, which wasn't any specific beat, more like
a vague/montage/fusion of all the stuff I liked at the time. My "dream
beat" you could call it, we all have one and it can never be made or
fully translated. It's the total mental collection of your personal
highlights, the lifetime summary of your music listening experiences.
It's the beat that's in your head when you're not even thinking about
it. I wrote those 3 verses over the course of a day or so, a few hours
at a time, mostly at the kitchen table in our manager "Sleuth"s house.
"Freaks of the Industry" was also written before a beat was made, and so
was "Doowutchyalike". With all three of these, the lyrical content set
the mood and guided the beat-making.
On "Same Song", as I was finishing the beat at home, Tupac and Money-B
would call occasionally to hear it over the phone as they wrote and
perfected their verses from their homes. I wrote mine immediately after
I saved the pattern, and I think we went in the studio that same night.
The rush this time was due to us leaving town the next day, and we had
to get in the studio before we bounced, or we wouldn't had made the
soundtrack or the film because they wanted the song also performed in
the film. That meant they needed to hear and approve the song before
they actually confirmed us for the role, and had us standing by for a
phone call from the films director Dan Akroyd to describe what kind of
song he wanted. So that day, after Dan and I had spoke and figured it
out, I immediately called Mon and Pac: "Yo, the title's Same Song, 8
bars each, I'ma start making the beat right now. They're booking the
studio as we speak, it might go down tonight so be ready".
"Kiss You Back" and "I Get Around" were both written while listening to
the actual tracks they became.
At the "Get Around "session, Pac came into the studio with his
versesready after having the beat for a few weeks, so I'm not sure how
long he spent on it. He announced that a messenger from Interscope
records was on his way to the Bay Area to collect the tapes as soon as
we finished, and then fly them back down to LA in time for the album's
scheduled mastering session the next morning. I planned to begin writing
a verse afterward, but as I was putting the final touches on the track
and adding all the little live piano accents and whatnot, Pac was
walking around with a pad writing verses for me and Money-B. Mun didn't
like his and decided to write his own, but I liked what Pac wrote for
me, so I rewrote it in my own writing, (to read it easier), and
rehearsed it once or twice before I laid it. (Thanks for the hot verse
Pac! R.I.P.)
How to Rap: Where do you usually write? (home, studio, car, etc)
Shock G: Absolutely anywhere. Wherever you are when the idea hits, on a
bus, train, at work, at home. A lot of things begin for me on restaurant
napkins. Or peep-show booth toilet paper, hahahaha.
How to Rap: Do you write the hooks first or the verses?
Shock G: Both equally as random.
How to Rap: Do you prefer rapping over tracks you've produced
yourself?
Shock G: Nope, not particularly. It's fun to rhyme over anything hot and
interesting no matter who made it. Speaking of producing, I don't
consider myself a producer, I'm just a musician who likes to mix and
arrange stuff a bit. I guess I made a few tracks, but I never really
"produced" per say, meaning I didn't shape or groom the other artists.
I'd just take an idea as far as I could take it, and then leave the
holes for the next rapper or musician to add their thing to it. I'm not
the type to "shape" someone else's career, I don't have that kinda
vision, or at least not the gumption and ego it takes to tell another
artist how something should go, what they should say, or how their music
should be; it's all just opinion to me.
Real producers help with all that stuff, but with Digital Underground we
all just took our turns adding our parts. If telling whoever's in the
booth "yay or nay" as to whether they should re-do a vocal or not, if
that's considered producing, then everybody in Digital was a "producer"
'cause we all did that for each other. Whoever was at the board when
you're in the booth was your producer, even the pizza guy.
I was clear on what I wanted to hear, so I would just do the parts
myself to keep from losing it in translation. Humpty was a rapper I
myself wanted to see and hear but nobody else was doing it so I just did
it myself. I wasn't Pacs producer, I was his piano player and
keyboardist, his samplist, and so was Big D who was also his DJ. Pee Wee
was his organist, Roniece Levias was his singer, Ray Luv was his ghost
writer, and sure, maybe I stayed behind with the engineer to help mix
the tracks that I laid; but does that make me a producer?
Dr. Dre's a producer. Rick Rubin's a producer. Puffy's a producer for
what he did with Biggie, because if you take Puffy out of the picture, a
major hole is left in Biggies' program. But if you take any of Pac's
beat-makers out of Pac's equation, you'd still have the same glorious
(and tragic) career, just different music. Therefore, Pac was
essentially his own producer, making his rounds and gathering his tracks
and collaborators. Um, what was the question again? Ha, sorry!
How to Rap: Have you changed the way you put together lyrics
since you first started?
Shock G: Not that I know of, same process. But the processes themselves
have changed out there, so my era's style of writing has ecome old
school in itself, therefore making it seem like I have changed, but in
fact, it's the world that has changed. For instance, Redman's new album
is as good as his first or second, even better to most of my friends who
listen to him, so his skills are definitely up. But it's not featured on
radio or TV as much as his first albums were, so who actually changed,
him or the radio? Or the public in general?
How to Rap: Do you use most of the rhymes you write?
Shock G: Probably about half. I usually won't write a rhyme unless
there's a project or purpose in motion already, and about half of those
ever make it to fruition. Back when I was a teenager though, I used to
write just to do it, just to hear it myself.
How to Rap: Is it easier collaborating with other MCs or doing
solo tracks?
Shock G: Solo's easier for keeping an idea uniform, to where it
maintains a certain style or point of view, like "Humpty Dance" or "So
Many Tears" by Tupac. Even though we were back to produce another one
for him, unlike "I Get Around," Pac kept us off "Tears" cause it was
specific and focused on his life, just like the "Dance" focused on
Humpty's.
But then, collaborations are easier for making something interesting and
diverse; more input, more variety, more levels of thought. Like "Doowutchyalike"
or "Same Song".
How to Rap: What's more important to you, the subject matter or
the flow?
Shock G: The honesty and believability is most important, no matter what
the subject matter or flow is. If subject matter was more important,
Talib Kweli and Common would out sell Snoop and Too Short, but they
usually don't. If flow was more important, Tech N9NE or Wu-Tang or
Twista (depending on what u like) would out sell, say, Lauren Hill or
Tupac, but they usually don't. How come Tone Loc and Sir Mix-A-lot have
as much popularity as say Ras Kass or Immortal Technique? Because people
believe all 4 of them.
How to Rap: Do you freestyle any of your lyrics on records?
Shock G: No, hardly ever. Once or twice here and there, but nothing that
ever really did anything.
How to Rap: Do you memorize your lyrics before you record them,
or do you read them from the paper?
Shock G: Both, but it always sounds better when it's fully memorized.
Sometimes time and schedules doesn't permit though.
How to Rap: Do you decide where you're going to breathe in the
track so you don't run out of breath?
Shock G: Yes, if it's tricky like that. I also walk around and test bust
it loud and live, to make sure I can breathe it.
How to Rap: Do you record a verse all in one take, or do you
punch-in different lines and put them together?
Shock G: Both, but mostly one long take.
How to Rap: Has your breath control improved since you first
started?
Shock G: No, not really. It gets harder as you age really. There's more
energy per breath when you're younger.
How to Rap: Do you prefer performing live or recording in the
studio?
Shock G: Live is so much better, you can feed off the energy from the
audience. You can also instantly gauge and adjust the performance from
their instant feedback.
How to Rap: Is being a good live performer as important as
having good records?
Shock G: I don't think any of it's "important," it's all just
entertainment. And no record is really more "good" than another, just
more popular. Every record's good to at least one person, the fool who
made it.
But for the record, a good performance doesn't require any specific
behavior, it only means that your audience left happy and satisfied.
Let's take for instance, Jay Z, Diddy, LL, and Pac: Pac moved around on
stage with a blunt in one hand, a drink in the other, voice cracking and
gasping for breath the entire time. LL moves around on stage
substance-free and with plenty of breath, but also sweaty and with no
shirt. Diddy wears a nice shirt on stage, a suit even, but still moves
around, and even does extensive dance routines. While Jay-Z, who also
dresses neatly, barely moves, rarely breaks a sweat, and instead uses
smoothness and clever wordplay to keep the audience interested and
entertained. All of them totally different on stage but still move the
crowd, and all make great records in my opinion.
Acts like Biggie or Wu-Tang just stand there and bust, with with all
their homies and entourage on stage, not giving a fuck. But they know
their audiences don't wanna see them dance, they just wanna see and hear
them. Hmm, perhaps this suggests that good records are more important,
because if people like your records, it doesn't matter what you do on
stage.
How to Rap: What extra skills do you need to perform well live?
Shock G: Nerve. Self confidence. Gall. Hahaha... also intuitiveness.
Gotta constantly read the audience.
How to Rap: What do you think about today's MCs, compared to
older MCs?
Shock G: Tougher skin, due to rougher times, hard times, war times, and
also due to 100 times the competition older emcees had to face. Hats off
to all the current rising emcees, 'cause it ain't no cake walk out
there.
How to Rap: What advice would you give to people who want to be
better at MCing?
Shock G: Don't try to fit in, screw these cliques and rules and "codes",
even if spoken by your favorite rapper or magazine. Break all the rules
and go left young Jedi. The fans and listeners will appreciate you more.
Doowutchyalike, writewutchyalike, and be free! Think HUGE, don't plan to
add another leaf to the tree of hip-hop, instead start you're own
branch. Shit, plant your own tree even. Everybody who does, and who
means it, and who sticks to it, eventually wins.
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