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YUKMOUTH
(March 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 Two:
Bishop Lamont
Week Three:
Shock G
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Questions Asked By: Paul Edwards in February 2007
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How to Rap: How did you learn to rap—where did you pick up the
skills and techniques?
Yukmouth: I picked up the skills from listening to rap, what
really made me rap was listening to Kool G Rap, KRS-One, NWA, Geto Boys,
that combination made my rap style, and Big Daddy Kane. So when them
albums came out I would learn their raps and then I started writing my
own raps and that’s how I basically started.
How to Rap: How long did it take you to learn?
Yukmouth: Aw shit man, it took years man! It didn’t happen over night! I
started in like ’86 and got real tight with it in like ’91, so it took
years. I was off and on, I was like a hustler, I wasn’t more of a
rapper, I was playing with it.
How to Rap: Did you have a lot of practice during that time?
Yukmouth: Oh yeah, from like ’87 to ’91 I was off and on with it, but
there came [a time] when I did like a year in jail and I had nothing but
time to think and write raps, so what I did that year in ’91 was when I
really mastered the craft of how to write a song, how to write a
sixteen, how to write a hook, how to make a song, before then I was just
writing raps that just go on forever, you know, a hundred-bar raps.
How to Rap: Do you listen mainly to hip-hop for your
inspiration?
Yukmouth: Yes, I listen to mainly hip-hop, and soul and R&B, old school
soul, like old school Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind, & Fire, emotional
music you know, stuff like that.
How to Rap: Is there a process you go through when you’re
writing lyrics?
Yukmouth: Yeah, like my first album Thugged Out was written all in my
little game room in my house. I got a three story house, so I got a game
room that I just chill and write all my raps at. So mainly in my game
room, then I got my own studio, and I write them in my studio.
How to Rap: Do you sit down specifically to write rhymes, or do
things come to you when you’re not expecting it?
Yukmouth: I let it hit me, I let it come to me, that’s when you write
the hot shit. When you’re just forcing it, like sitting down like, “I’ma
try to write this,” that’s when it takes longer, it ain’t like you can’t
do it, but it takes longer and the song is bullshit. But when you let
shit hit you, you get in the groove of it, feeling the vibe—that’s when
songs come out hot. So definitely, I write when the shit hit me.
How to Rap: Do you write your lyrics down on paper?
Yukmouth: I used to, right now I don’t, right now I’m doing raps
strictly in the head, writing them in my head and laying them. Yeah, I
used to, but I just started doing this, I just been doing this for two
months, but yeah, mainly, I used to write down all my raps.
How to Rap: Do you ever just go in the booth and freestyle for
recordings?
Yukmouth: Nah, I don’t freestyle, but I just go in the booth definitely
and have my rhymes in my head and hit, I don’t write no more.
How to Rap: Do you write a whole song in one go, or do you do it
all in bits and then put it together?
Yukmouth: I go with the flow, like I’ll probably lay a whole song or
I’ll probably lay two verses and come back and lay the third verse the
next day or something like that. Or I’ll lay a verse and come back and
lay the next two verses a week later. It’s shit like that, I have shit
incomplete and I finish them up or I finish it up right there at one
time. So it depends, I leave some unfinished and finish it later and I
finish some right that same day.
How to Rap: Do you usually start with an idea for the subject
matter or do you come up with some rhyming phrases first?
Yukmouth: I come up with the hook first, I don’t even make a rap unless
I come up with the hook first, 'cause the hook tells me where I’m gonna
go with the rap. So I come up with the hook and if the hook is catchy
enough I roll with the hook and then I just write off what the hook is
about. That’s basically how I get my songs, I don’t never write a song
without starting without the hook, unless the hook is already on the
song, in that case I’ll just write my verse. But yeah, I start with the
hook first, that’s the nucleus of the song, you gotta have a strong hook
and then the hook tells you what the song is about. And I write all my
own hooks too.
How to Rap: Do you write to the beat you will be rapping over,
or do you write without the beat?
Yukmouth: I write to the beat I’m rapping over—the song and the music
gotta match, so I also go in the direction that the music is going in.
So if I got a club banger, I’ma make something clubby, I’ll make a club
type of hook, if it’s a street beat, ok, I’ma make some street music,
I’m gonna make a dangerous type of ghetto hook, if it’s a slow type of
sad song I’ma make some sad shit, some reminiscing, story-telling shit
and make the hook real sad... so I go with the music. So whatever the
direction the music is going in, that’s where I’m going.
How to Rap: Do you have a way of writing down the rhythms and
the flow—how the lyrics will fit to the beat?
Yukmouth: Nah, I just play beats, because if I put the beat on and I
start shaking my head... like when you feel a song, when you feel a
beat, as soon as that beat come on, the hook usually hits you or the
first five lines of your verse hits you like as soon as that beat come
on, like whoo! You feeling it that bad. When it’s a beat like that I’ll
usually lay the song, but if I ain’t feeling it like that, if the hook
don’t hit me as soon as the beat comes on or my first couple of lines
don’t hit me soon as the beat come on, I don’t fuck with that beat. It’s
gotta be some shit that I’m feeling.
How to Rap: Have you changed the way you put together lyrics
since you first started?
Yukmouth: Oh yeah, definitely, especially with the not writing rhymes
down, just straight going in the booth and laying it, that’s a big
thing, because I’m used to writing my shit and looking at a notepad, so
to go in there and lay it and just remember shit, it’s a big step up you
know.
How to Rap: Do you think it makes it sound more spontaneous, not
reading off the paper?
Yukmouth: I think it makes you a better lyricist, definitely, because if
you can just write the shit in your head and remember it, and don’t have
to use no paper, you know that’s what Jay-Z doing, that’s why they give
him so much hype because he go in the booth and just lace the shit, he
don’t write nothing down. That’s what Biggie Smalls used to do and so
on, you know, the legends... so if I’m doing shit like that, hell yeah,
that’s high calibre shit that the legends of hip-hop is doing, so yeah,
that’s a big step, definitely.
How to Rap: Do you use most of the rhymes you write, or does a
lot never get recorded?
Yukmouth: I use everything, sometimes I’m just walking around and a
punch-line will hit me and I just keep it in my data-bank, I just keep
it locked in my head until I come up with a song that I’m feeling and
I’ll put the punch-line in this song. Ideas come to me all day, I just
keep it locked in my head and bring them out when it’s time.
How to Rap: Do you ghost-write lyrics for anyone?
Yukmouth: Yeah, I used to ghost-write for Nik Nack, when we did the song
when I was with The Luniz, 'So Much Drama'. 'Fools From The Streets,' I
wrote that and I wrote a couple of other songs. I wrote some songs for
Numskull, from The Luniz, that’s my rapping partner, wrote some songs
for a couple of my artists, so yeah, I ghost-write a lot, I do nigga’s
hooks, I do all that shit, yeah, I do that a lot.
How to Rap: Is that different from when you write your own
stuff?
Yukmouth: Yeah, way different, I take it in the direction of the artist,
I don’t write like it’s me, I write like I’m that artist, so yeah, it’s
way different.
How to Rap: Do you know how you are going to phrase things and
use your voice to deliver the lyrics before you record?
Yukmouth: Nah, I just lay the shit. Though yeah, definitely as far as
the hook, I change my voice up for the hook and do all types of shit,
people won’t even know it’s me. But as far as my rap game, my voice
gonna stay the same.
How to Rap: Do you ever change things during the recording
process?
Yukmouth: Yeah, a lot of times, like I didn’t spit the verse powerful
enough or strong enough and I gotta do it again, lay it more strongly,
like when I was kinda light in the booth. There will be times like that
when you just lazy and do a lazy verse and need to re-lay it more
stronger, yeah, there’ll be times like that.
How to Rap: Are the times when you change the actual lyrics
because of how it sounded when you heard it back?
Yukmouth: Yeah, yeah, I do little changes, little word changes or add
more words to fill blanks in, definitely.
How to Rap: Which of your raps do you think showcases best what
you can do lyrically?
Yukmouth: I’d say 'Puffin Lah,' because I really took it on some loony
shit and changed my voice, I styled it with the beat, that’s some real
shit, like not normal rap shit, strictly style. So definitely that, that
shows that I’m a nigga that knows how work styles and shit. It can be
different than just rapping off gangsta shit you know.
How to Rap: What do you think about today’s rappers and styles,
compared to older stuff?
Yukmouth: Hip-hop is evolving, I think it’s got a thousand times better
since the old school. Back in the day it used to be wack for you to say
the same shit over and over again, but now it’s so hot that you can say
the same phrase over, like you can say, “yo, I went to the store and I
copped that coke, and I came back on the block, now I got that coke,”
saying the same word. It used to be corny to say the same shit over and
over again but now it’s hot, so hip-hop has definitely changed, and it’s
for the better you know. Like people would never rhyme coke and coke in
the same two bars, like back in the day you always had to be like, “ok,
we got the coke, we got it on the boat,” or something like that where
you ain’t gone say coke and then come back and say coke again, but right
now that’s how shit is, that shit is hot, so it’s different.
How to Rap: What sort of advice would you give to people who are
learning how to rap?
Yukmouth: Listen to the best artists that did it, the best people that
did it and take notes and structure how you make a song around how they
made their songs. When I was locked up in jail, all I was listening to
in jail was the radio and all I could hear was how they structured their
songs, so learn how to structure a song. The sixteen, the eight-bar
hook, learn how to make hits, 'cause rapping is more than just
freestyling and battling man, it’s about making songs, hits. If you ever
wanna be an artist, you gotta make hit songs to even get in the
industry, you ain’t gonna be able to get in the industry and just
freestyle battle your way through to the top. You gotta make hits and
singles, so learn how to make a song, and after you learn how to make a
song, learn how to make a hit, and then you’ll be a great artist.
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