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7/7/2006 What's good? Everything is good. I haven't seen any mixtapes from you in a minute. What have you been up to? I've been on tour with the Clipse for the past two and a half months. When I knew I was going on the road, I dropped six or seven mixtapes at once so I could keep it going. That's why I haven't dropped in a minute. How's the road treating you? It's treating me good. I'm meeting a lot of dudes and getting some good contacts. I'm meeting a lot of new artists I think are hot and I'm making some good connections. Who's hot right now? I'm hot right now. Who's as hot as me? My squad, the Heatholders, the Major Figgas up in Philly, my man Omar Cruz in LA, my man Curtains in Brooklyn, and that's it really. That's the only people whose music I'm feeling right now. What are you working on now? I have a mixtape dropping now. That's where my focus has been and where my focus is now, until we get our point across with the mixtape. What's the point you're trying to get across? There's still more here in Virginia. It's not just Skateboard P and it's just not the Clipse. There are people who still need to be heard, such as myself and Fam Lay's on his way. He has a new record. There are two sides to everything. Is Virginia slept on right now? Yeah. It always has been. Why do you think that is? I don't know, man. People that are always in the middle seem to get picked on. We're in the middle of everything. We're not north and we're not necessarily the south. I don't know if people don't think we got it, but we're definitely here. How's the Clipse's album coming? They're just promoting right now and getting it out there. Is the album done? Yeah. Was "Mr. Me Too" the right single for the Clipse? Yeah, it is. It's going to be proven if it hasn't been proven already. Everybody's a Mr. Me Too if they're not their own person. If you don't know who you are, you're a Mr. Me Too. People mainly know you as DJ Noe Dout, but you're also rhyming as Dout Gotcha. People know me in the public as DJ Noe Dout because that's what I did to get to where I'm at right now. Dout Gotcha has always been there before the parties. I've always been rapping and I never stopped rapping. I'm just trying to let people know what I'm doing. How's it been going as Dout Gotcha? It's going smoother than I thought it would because the music speaks for itself and my talent speaks for itself. I don't have to portray somebody I'm not or be somebody I'm not or ride the bandwagon because I'm down with the Clipse. My lyrics show I can go with the best of them. Is it going to be hard for fans to take you seriously since you're really known as a DJ now? No. The music speaks for itself. You can hear it in my lyrics. I know what I'm talking about. I'm not starting to rap because my peoples are rapping. I've been rapping since I was ten years-old. How's the mixtape coming? It's called Sucker Free and the whole meaning behind the mixtape is a sucker, who is easily deceived or cheated, and I want to free myself from anybody who's like that. I don't want to be around anyone who's like that. The whole concept is sucker free. I don't need people in the industry to get on my mixtape or someone to do this or that. I have my family on this mixtape. And for the record, this isn't my first mixtape. I had one called Get It Poppin' with Major Figgas, Roscoe P. Coldchain, Fam Lay, and the Clipse. That one had a whole lot of collabs. My first one was Lay 'Em Down. That one had everyone on there with drops from Young Buck from G-Unit, the Clipse, and there was just a list of people calling me and leaving drops. This one here is really like my third mixtape with me rapping. How is it working with the Clipse as an MC instead of as a DJ? We have a personal relationship and they know that I'm an artist, so it's really no different. Is your focus going to be on rapping or DJ'ing? My focus is on music. I'm not going to stop rapping and I'm not going to stop dropping mixtapes, but my focus is on my music right now. When's your album dropping? I don't have a date for the album. I'm just working in the studio doing tracks and setting up meetings and trying to see what people are talking about as far as a situation. That's what I really need right now to get my point across. Would you pursue rapping if you had to cut back on DJ'ing? My goal is to be an artist because that's where my heart is. I'm not saying it's not in DJ'ing because it's gotten me this far, but if an opportunity or situation came in my way, I'm going for it. I'm putting everything on the line. Will you be touring with the Clipse in the future? I will steady be on the road with the Clipse. That's not going to stop unless a situation appears. I might go with the situation if it's essential to me. Until then, I'm on the road with the Clipse and promoting me and doing what I do. How did you get down with the Clipse and Fam Lay initially? We're from the same hood. Both of our families' houses are five minutes away from each other. They're older than me, but we used to bump heads in the streets. They saw me doing my thing and I saw them doing their thing. I was 16 and I was doing a homecoming party down in North Carolina. I saw Malice in the mall and asked him if he could come down. That was when "Funeral" was out. I wanted to put their music out more in the streets and I had this big homecoming party I knew would benefit the both of us. They came out and performed at the college and we've just been cool ever since. Do you consider yourself VA's top DJ? Of course I would. Why not? I didn't just start doing this. I've been doing mixtapes since they were tapes and you had to buy cassettes. I'm 24 and when I was making mixtapes, there were no kids around me thinking about putting out mixtapes. I've been doing this a long time. Virginia's always been a melting pot of the north and south. How would you describe the VA sound? Virginia is a military city and you have people from everywhere. You have all different nationalities. If you are truly from Virginia, you know what Virginia sounds like. You know our words, how we talk, how we dress...you know it. There are a lot of kids down here who don't know who they are. They live in Virginia Beach and talk like they're from Brooklyn. The people who are from here know who they are. Our styles have been jacked so many times. There was no one wearing Ice Creams before us. I was wearing Bape's in 2002. We have our own identity that hasn't been put out besides the Clipse. When Fam Lay comes out, you're going to see how he does it in Norfolk. There are seven cities out here. Virginia Beach has their identity, Norfolk has their identity, Chesapeake has their identity...there are seven identities, but we're all one. What does Virginia need to do to get the props it deserves? Virginia just needs to go hard. That's the only thing I could say. Virginia needs to stop the hate. If it's hot, it's hot. You can't stop it if it's hot. The labels are coming to Virignia because we're the next spot to do it, and I'm going to prove that. It has to come back to the east coast sometime. What's Fam Lay been up to? He has a new record out with Pharrell. They're going to shoot the video sometime in July. It's a hot record. I just talked to him. He's excited and people at Interscope are excited. Also look out for our mixtape coming out sometime in July. What's held Fam Lay back all these years? Just getting that opportunity and getting someone to give him a push. Any assumptions or anything anybody has to say about him should be answered sometime in July with his mixtape and video. What's your focus now? My focus is getting my "Dopeman" record out. I'm trying to get it out to anybody who likes it, who likes hip-hop and who likes hard beats. I want to send it to any DJ who wants it. I'm just hustling and grinding for me right now. I need to get my voice out there and I need to promote so I'm going to be working all summer promoting. What do you want to say to everyone reading the interview? Look out for "Dopeman" featuring the Clipse. It's that uncut, raw street banger that's about to surface and tie the scene up. Keep supporting me and look out for me. If you don't know me, get to know me. I'm going to be here and just keep me on your mind because I'm not going anywhere.

By Brian Kayser

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