XL MIDDLETON  (September 2006) | Interview By: Zuka

   

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Interview was done in September 2006

Questions Asked By: Zuka

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In August XL Middleton released an album with label mate 1stBorn, The Angry Asians Album. The critics have been positive and the feedback has been positive as well.

“Our lead single Konnichi West is getting radio play and club spins in Japan. We did a remix with some artists over there, so that's extra life for the track. We're moving them how we always do outside of Japan. You can always get our titles from CD Baby and Tower Records and of course from our own website www.crowncityentertainment.com. I guess people like the combination of me and 1stBorn, that's the general consensus. It's weird cause I do my, you know, that West Coast funk shit. 1st is more on that hip hop tip, but when we put it together it meshes real well. We've been making music together for almost 10 years, so I guess we know what will work when it comes time for us to collaborate. It's a real strong album, I can honestly say it's worth your chip, go out and get that!”


The single Konnichi West was a big hit and on the album you can find the bonus remix of Konnichi West featuring Japanese cats spitting bars.

“We recorded the original at The Slacker Pad in Pasadena, CA, that's our recording studio slash artist colony *laughs* It pretty much started out like any other song. We didn't know it would turn out that strong, but once we realized it was gonna be a hit over there, G-House, that's the label that puts our shit out in Japan, came up with the idea to do a Japanese remix. It ended up as a bonus cut on the album. You won't know what the hell they're saying unless you know Japanese, but you might just wanna give it one listen to just bug out like "wow this is really some international shit". They [did] put out a single that has the words written on the insert. I can't read it, but here and there they say a few English words. Sounds like they're just riding and partying, just like we do out here. On my new album Drunken Evening Pt. 2: The Refill I got one of the dudes from the remix to feature on one of the songs.”


XL Middleton actually made the HMV top 10 in Japan. “The Angry Asians Album was up there, right alongside some big names like DMX and I forget who else. I've never been to Japan to actually gauge my own buzz out there, but people tell me it's getting pretty big, and judging by the HMV rating that's probably the case.”

“My two main markets right now are Japan and France, so anytime I can make an impact in those two regions, I know it's gonna equal record sales and that's really the bottom line for me cause I'm not the dude in the Cali streets with the huge buzz, I'm not the dude that people are looking for to spit 50 bars on a mixtape, I gotta go where the paper is at for me. That's why you may not know who the fuck I am but I'm doing all right. MTV, the radio, these are all huge corporate entities that don't have shit to offer me right now. Oh yeah, HMV also did a special artist profile on me."

Click here to check out that artist profile. It might be odd to see XL being more popular abroad than in his own state, but he’s definitely not the only artist in that position. A good example is Flipsyde who is more popular in Asia and Europe than in the U.S., even though they did do NBC’s theme song for the last Olympics.

“The American market is the basically the toughest market to crack in the world. If you can actually get through over here then you can be successful anywhere. Thing is, I could be going the mixtape route and putting out all kinds of promotional shit to build my buzz over here, but then where would I be in my life? I'd probably still be working a 9 to 5 because I wouldn't be making no money off the music. I need to get that chip right now. When I'm not behind the mic or behind the boards I got rent to pay, I got a wife, we need that big house, we need those cars. I can't sit here and wait for a deal that might not come. But that's all I'm a say about it. Before you know it everyone's gonna be trying to do it big in Japan or wherever and it's gonna make the scene just as oversaturated as it is in the U.S.”

“I'm gonna be touring out there [Japan]. I got shows in several of the cities, Gunma, Yokohama, even Tokyo. It's real hard to get a show in Tokyo cause that's like the center of everything. They pretty much roll with whatever is hot in the U.S., so for a West Coast artist to perform there it's tough, even if there's a grip of fans there the promoters may not be with it. Luckily G-House stays pushing hard for me. Aside from that, I'm gonna be in the studio with a few different acts. I'm fucking with DS455. They're like the most popular act in Japan when it comes to West Coast-oriented hip hop, they're signed to Universal Japan. Soon as I touch down I'm gonna be making a radio appearance on Joint One Radio, doing a few magazine interviews. Overall it's gonna be a busy ass time, which I'm thankful for! If you don't work you don't eat ya dig?”

“The distribution in Japan is pretty much nationwide, you can get it in pretty much all the big cities. I think after this tour is over I'll be in a better position to sell more units. I can live off what I do, but I'm trying to LIVE off what I do.”

“G-House is a one stop shop, they handle everything once I deliver them the master CD and they approve the records on it. They get the artwork done, they get it manufactured, they get it to their distributors who actually get it to the stores. That's something that's interesting about Japan. Shit passes through a lot of different hands sometimes and when I say hands I mean distributors. That's why everything costs so much out there. And also the game works a little differently there because chances are you won't sell your product to just one distributor. You may have 2 or 3, plus you might sell directly to some-shops or just private dealers who act as distributors even though they're just one person and not a whole company. It's cool because you don't have to worry about selling your soul on some exclusive shit.”

“You could disappear for 10 years and come back and they'll be like "when is dude gonna put out some new shit?" With that kind of loyalty, it's like you gotta give them something extra to show that you appreciate them supporting you.”


But life is not always good. XL had some legal trouble with Middleton Black and Mild Cigars. XL’s Crown City Entertainment signee Black & Mild released an album called Bottled Up. We let Mr. Middleton explain the situation:

"Tell you the truth I'm not even sure if it's okay for me to be talking about it. I'll just say that there was problems with some of the artwork for Black's album Bottled Up, so we removed it from our store catalogue. It was nothing to do with the music. So that's why he shortened it from Black & Mild to just Black. Everything is cool now. It's just the process of business. They got at us and we handled everything professionally, there's no hard feelings or anything.”


The next album that XL Middleton will release is the follow up to Music 4 A Drunken Evening.

“It's the sequel Drunken Evening Pt. 2: The Refill. I already got the single Ah Yes circulating. That one is on some spitting type shit. Like I said earlier, I'm not the go to guy for those hot mixtape verses, but I should be cause I can kill it on the mic! I got wordplay, punch lines and above all: substance! I don't know too many other rappers who can be on some let's-get-drunk-and-act-a-fool shit on one track, then switch it over to some social commentary shit on the next track. A lot of dudes is like, take away the guns, take away the crack, take away the bragging about shit they ain't got, they don't have shit left to rap about. Man, I done got through five solo albums, not to mention this Angry Asians project, without rapping about any of that shit. Not to knock any particular artist who is on that type shit, but man come on, it's your real life story but it ain't interesting! This is entertainment, entertain somebody!"


The future of Crown City Entertainment looks bright. You don’t have to have mainstream success to be successful. There’s other ways around it.

“We take our squad and move past Japan. I love Japan, that's what we got going right now, but the goal is to make it worldwide. I wanna do it without radio, without MTV. These DJ's be on gay shit anyway and nobody wants to call them on it because they're scared of getting blackballed, but if you like, man fuck the radio, then it's nothing to be scared of. It's other ways to promote your music. You can go outside of the regular avenues, you can build that cult following, haha.”


Like for example to promote your music on Dubcnn!

“Exactly! Come on now, that's a perfect example! The internet hasn't even reached its full potential as a marketing tool, because there's still so many who don't trust it or don't understand how to use it. In the next 5 years, I think we're gonna see some big changes as things become more accessible, more easy to use and less expensive. Then we can do away with conventional radio, they won't have the power -no pun intended-, then it's a level playing field cause anyone can promote and anyone can release whatever they want. Then it's really gonna be a true test where the quality music will have to stand out above the trash music cause there's so much of it. Well, ideally that's where it would go. You never know, big business essentially has more power than the government, so you never know how they gonna put their hands in it and fuck that up. But that's my vision of how the online shit ties into promoting what we do. I don't even have to stress that or explain why Myspace is such a big promotional tool if you use it right. But for all you artists, just remember: putting up a new song on your page does not count as an event that you can invite people to! Hahahaha!”


The day XL Middleton will take over the world is the day that...

“People start to realize that funk is the West Coast sound. Not G-Funk cause that's been done and did. I just mean funk. Then you'll realize why I've been doing what I've been doing for years already. There's a way to work that sound into something that's viable in today's hip hop scene, that's what I tinker with almost everyday. Either that or I'm gonna open a bar that stretches all the way around the world so everyone can drink with me!

Get that Drunken Evening Pt. 2 when it drops, September 27th! As usual, shoutouts to everyone I fuck with: my Crown City fam, 1st, Black, Rev, Sic Sense, my other folks like Big Saccs, Bumpus, Mista Mil & the L22 fam, Clinton Wayne, Bo$$, Coolwadda. Man, it's too many to name but I gotta try each time anyway! And my homie Hadies, man, I'm a get in touch with you so we can smooth that shit out! You know the bizz, west-west drinks up, ah yes, all that good shit man I'm gone!"