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6/26/2006 What's up? I'm doing good. Everything's cool. What have you been up to lately? I've been around. You probably heard me and didn't know it was me. I did some side projects. I did the John Cena album and I did some video games. I've been staying active in the studio. That's the place where it all happens. You get out in the streets and live your life and come in here and detail it out. You put your life in music. I've been in here working on the American Black Man album. How's that coming? It's coming well. I recorded somewhere close to 180 songs, maybe 190 songs, over the last year, just trying to find a different angle. I never stop recording. I go out, I do what I do, and I come in here. Unlike most people, I own a full-blown studio. I don't rent studios and this isn't a rinky-dink studio. I wanted to build a place where I could record my records and master them as well. I go hard. I record every day. How would you compare the joints we've heard from your Street Triumph mixtape to what's on the album? The album stuff has a lot of my new flows. A lot of the stuff you're hearing now was done throughout my career. Some of those flows are dated. It shows my growth and evolution in the game. Some of the stuff where I go hard in my lyrics, I was doing it because there were fans who liked me to rhyme hard. Some fans don't like me to. It's good for me to hear the feedback and everyone can't like everything. If everything is one-sided, then it's wrong. When are you going to drop the Street Triumph mixtape? It'll come out around July 20. I'm going to drop it in July. My favorite line from "Gangsta Boogie" is when you said "I've never let the rap game prostitute me." How deep is that to you? The thing is, if you're not willing to sacrifice some of your time, some of your energy, some of your strength, and some of your creative thoughts to making yourself better, than you're not really doing what we call artistry. My first experience with the majors was not a good one for me and I refuse to relive that. I dedicated myself to putting that out and not living that life. You don't talk what you don't live because that's fake. I wanted to do my own distribution deals and everything else. Not everyone is built for that fight. I'd rather have the dignity and honor of not sending someone else's kids to college while mine are stuck in the hood when they grow up. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to really live my life like I make my music, and that's hardcore and raw. Can you ever be too hardcore for this industry? No. I do it for the love of hip-hop. The problem is you have a bunch of dick-riders who hear somebody's record and they ride that shit until the wheels fall off and then they jump on someone else's bandwagon. You have fans who only like what's hot at the moment. I have fans who ride with me whether I have a record out of not. I drop a record whenever I want. Not a lot of people can do that, but I can do that. When I'm ready to come back to work, I come back to work. I get to spend time with my family and do what I want. All of my hiatuses are at my own discretion. A lot of people say they're ballers and bosses, but they're hustling for a big corporation. I have lawyers I can call at home and when I go to the bank, I go to meet the president because I want to know who I'm dealing with. All these other clowns, they want what I call "nigga pennies" which is small money. To me, they're disrespectful not only to themselves but to the artistry of hip-hop as well. The only thing they're thinking about his how fast they can make a video and get on TV. The same stores that sell records from Sony and BMG, my records are in the same store. They may be harder to find, but the people who are my true fans find them. You actually consider yourself an MC instead of other dudes who liken themselves to "a hustler who raps" and titles of that nature. How do you feel about these "hustlers"? I think it's funny. I laugh. When I'm making records, there's a part of my life that makes me a hustler. What makes me a hustler is I know how to get up and get what I need for my family. If I tell somebody I will punch their face into their body, I'm being an MC, but when I punch your face off your body, I'm doing it as a man with a big-ass fist. I'm a real dude. A lot of these guys are like the George Jetson dinner. You put a pea on a plate and pour water on it and that's dinner. These guys are crafted from other people's lives. The bad part is when you call a coward a coward, it makes him brave. He wants to prove he's not a coward and he'll want to do something to prove he's not a coward. I listen to all that hustler shit and these niggas aren't hustlers. I haven't seen an active crack block in a long time. Jay-Z beat the crack-rap to death. Should everyone move on from the crack? Of course. It's disgusting. In my eyes, I think Jay-Z is a dope rapper. I think Jay-Z is talented as a motherfucker, man. But right now, I think Jay-Z is acting like his father is Thirsting Howell the Third. He's acting like a rich-ass white boy whose family has $800 billion dollars. He's not in touch with people. A lot of people are going to say this behind his back, but I don't care because I don't see me getting any money with the motherfucker. There are a lot of people I know who say Jay-Z fronted on him. I tried to reach out to Jay once or twice, and I know he doesn't want to sit down with me on some business. As far as I'm concerned, Jay doesn't even really represent the streets. He represents it from a rap level. He's in a high-rise doing his thing. If he came from Marcy projects, like I believe he did, then he needs to go back and kick it with some of the young rappers. He's on that snob shit. We've heard all those crack records. How many more can we have? He's a dope MC and he rhymes his ass off, but I think he needs to stretch his subject matter out a little more and keep selling good records. All that businessman corporate bullshit, and that's all good, but remember you have a lot of people who came up with you and you can't let them sink because you have a lot of money and a so-called position. Has Jay lost his hip-hop roots? I don't think he lost them, but I don't think he really cares to stay in touch with them. I think Jay-Z is a very good businessman. He's sharp. There's a certain way you act with people when you front on niggas who helped you get up to the top like that, then that's when you become a shitbag. It is what it is. When I talked to Jaz-O, he said Jay-Z has a lot of yes-men around him. Who do you keep around you for feedback and support? I got guys around me. Some of these guys, I grew up with. I got guys like my man Kap. Me and Kap were in pre-kindergarten together. He's still around me. He knows every rhyme I ever wrote. Sometimes before I go on stage, I forget my song order. He's like my human computer. He knows every rhyme I ever wrote in my life. My man Rocky is still with me. We were running around in the streets doing all crazy things. These are true friends. They don't hang out with me because they feel they can make a few dollars. All that stuff will happen regardless. I try to minimize my people because a man can't get rich with an army. You have to make sure your soldiers are strong and honest with you. Imagine if the President of the United States rolled around with a lot of yes-men. It would be a disaster. Is everyone scared to be honest today? Yes. I think that's a big part of the problem. There's no unity, I speak for New York, but there's no unity between rappers up here. There's smiling in your face and tight handshakes and Blackberry's and T-Mobile's and all that bullshit, but at the end of the day, no one gives a fuck about the next man. It's always drama. The only time they want to latch on to you is to make them richer or to feel more important. Half of these guys don't even have the courage to kick it to a woman, but now that they're in the music business, they can. You can put the make-up on and do the grinning and the skinning, but when you stand in the face of a real motherfucker, they're seen as the three-dollar bills they are. They're not honest. You have to be honest and be a real motherfucking man or women. A lot of the stuff they do, they can do on their own if they would just man up. Hip-hop is about culture and doing something in your own way. There's no way in hell that New York rappers should be hopping on dirty south music. I think dirty south music is hot when dirty south guys do it, but to hear a New York rapper does it with no ability and he's slanging his words like southern rappers, they have everybody hopping on their dick because the dirty south is popping now. That's the same thing that happened when Dr. Dre was hot out west. That's the biggest detriment to the game today. The hardest thing in the world is for these clown-ass motherfuckers to be themselves, man. It's disgusting. Is it a lack of talent, bad advice, or are they just after the dollar? You know what it is? Hip-hop became a hustle. The labels started giving bigger rewards for less talent. When people started getting all these different awards and Grammy's for people who have less talent, the people who come up behind the less-talented, they're going to think that level of talent is the max. Singers aren't real singers anymore and MC's aren't real MC's anymore. One thing I've never been is a hater. There are quality singers out here. But you have to do things under the right pretenses. Everybody wants to entertain the children. You have a guy like Brian McKnight who doesn't know what the fuck to say to the young girls, so he doesn't have a record out on the radio because he doesn't have a record for who the record labels are targeting. The whole rap audience is not between 16 and 21. You have people who grew up in hip-hop who are 35 and have real jobs and they buy records. If these guys were smart, they would cater to their audience. You have guys busting their ass and a 16 year-old or some college graduate straight out of Harvard who has never understood the concept of groundbreaking hip-hop or R&B telling you something's not hot. That's not real to me. Do you want the new generation as fans? I never turn down people as fans. I think having any types of fans is good. I'm not knocking the youth. I think they're keeping things fresh and new. My thing is just because it's not new, don't isolate it. You have cats like Big Daddy Kane and guys like that who still have a level of talent. It's not the fans that's the problem. It's the hypnotizers of the fans who's the problem. I have a lot of 15 or 16 year-olds as fans. If you have one rebellious bone in your body, you would like me. There are people who don't like it and that's fine, as long as they stay respectful. You always get people who don't know, and if somebody doesn't know, they just don't know. Reintroducing myself or getting in a situation where I can do a song how I want to and put it out how I want to on my own pretenses, that's the glory of being independent. I learned that from Showbiz and Lord Finesse. I can't disrespect what I've been taught by my peers. It's just about making good music. If fans want to come and rap with Bumpy, they're more than welcome. Have you ever been told you're too intimidating and to tone it down? I've been told that by a lot of people. A lot of people tell me I'm scary and that they're scared of me. My question is how can you be scared of somebody you don't know? They say I look scary. I think they're so used to fucking people over and if they try that with this guy, they'll end up in a trunk somewhere. That's a good fear. That means they're not going to fuck with me because they know I'll deal with them. Some of these people get their deals and before they realize that it doesn't last forever, they've already spent their money and they can't get into the building. There will never be another Big Daddy Kane, Kool G. Rap, Rakim, or Bumpy Knuckles. There will never be another Common. These guys last forever because they found their own identity and they never tried to rhyme like anybody else. I am who I am, and I'm a big guy. If people feel they have a problem with me, then fuck them. Ain't nobody whopping my ass. And any record label that feels that way, I don't have to change, so fuck them too. You've had some of the best producers work with you, from Pete Rock to DJ Premier, throughout your career. How did you get these guys to work with you? I've been blessed to be able to come up in a time where people wanted to make music with who they liked. I met Premier crossing the street outside of Sony after they did "Step in the Arena. He was like, "Oh shit, you're Freddie Foxxx." "Oh shit, you're DJ Premier." We just shook hands and on some real shit, he said he wanted to work with me. That's the same way Treach was when we did "Hot Potato." All these relationships are based off respect, regardless of what people think, it's not intimidation. I was with Premier and Showbiz yesterday and we were talking about my album and how the game is today. Pete Rock and the Alchemist are my real friends. They'll tell you the same thing. It's not any fake love because when we really need each other outside of music, we show up. You have best friends splitting up over money now, and that's because they weren't established on a respect basis. I can go knock on Premier's door at 2 am and wake him up. Do you like producing or emceeing better? I like the whole creative process. The thing is, I've been producing since my first album, but nobody ever knew that. I have a production team and I work with my guys, but it depends on the mood I'm in. I can turn on my samplers or my keyboards. I keep three or four sets of turntables in different places, and some days I'll just feel like spinning. I have folders in my computer from different producers like Primo, Pete Rock, Alchemist, DJ Scratch, Kev Brown, Buckwild, and these guys will come in and drop in fifteen or twenty beats and I'll vibe with it for a little while and if I feel like rhyming, I'll rhyme. I can do that because I'm a man first and I know I'm not going to rely on anybody else handling my business for me. If people don't respect that, then what does that tell you about them? I know you have a million joints in the stash. Yeah. I have a lot of music in the stash. And at some point, you have to give something back to hip-hop music. Sometimes it's cool. Sometimes I see guys who don't want to give people free downloads. That's sucker shit to me. Give them free records. It's still your record. Give it to them. Let them download it. It's your song. As long as your voice stays on it and it's your music, it's not going to do anything but help you anyway. That's why I put damn-near thirty-seven records on the mixtape. Everyone wants to stick to the standard of ten to fifteen records or whatever it is, but I wanted to give them more because they want more than a couple of skits and a few gunshots. Honestly, I was surprised to see you were doing a mixtape. How do you feel about the mixtape game? What I did is not so much a mixtape, per se; it's more like a compilation. I think mixtapes are cool and I listen to some mixtapes that sound better than some people's albums. Some of these guys aren't really mixing and it's called a mixtape. I haven't heard real mixing since Kid Capri or Clue. Big Mike, S&S, those guys are real DJ's on turntables. Anyone can blend things together on a computer and they title it a mixtape. That's not a mixtape. How many things going on in hip-hop make you shake your head? A lot of shit I see, I just don't commend on it. This game is out of my control. I have to do what I do. I can either speak on it or leave it alone, but I can't change it. I don't have an army with me. You can't go to war because these guys won't fight for you and they'll leave you hanging. When you look behind you, they'll be gone, trying to figure out who's ass they have to kiss. I'm not like that. I've never been a dick-rider and I've never wanted to be affiliated with someone based on who they are. I'm more for the fans. I fought the industry before. When I did Industry Shakedown, all these rappers were crying like bitches. "Oh man, you're dissing the labels, they're not going to like us anymore and they're not going to fuck with us. They're going to hate us." They were crying like bitches. You would be surprised to know who was bitching out on me. "Don't drop that record. You're talking like Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen." They were crying like bitches. Now in 2006, those same motherfuckers are coming to me saying, "Yo son, I'm trying to do some Industry Shakedown shit" because they don't have any deals anymore. When I came for the fight, they weren't standing behind me. Now that my part of the war is over, there's nothing to fight. They're not going to do it like I did. They're not going to go at corporate America. I did that for everybody who was fucked in the game. I didn't do it only for myself. I did that for everybody, and I had very little support. How do you feel about all these talented artists without major situations? Well, Premier is finishing the Christina Aguilera album. It doesn't stop no show. Any real artist knows that. If you miss one bus, you catch the next one. Who's going to sit around and cry? You have some great newer producers out here. I don't know how new Just Blaze is, but Just Blaze has always been one of my favorites. For what some of these guys are doing, like Cool and Dre, they have some hot shit out, but everybody should develop their own flavor and rock with it. That's what's hot to me. When you hear these motherfuckers doing the same thing, that's not hot to me. That's why I love Busta Rhymes. Busta does him. He does him. Busta's really a dope producer but a lot of people don't know that. Busta is so creative with his work. Nobody can ever replace Busta Rhymes. A lot of these guys are going into the studio trying to sound like someone else. That's one of the biggest don't-do's in hip-hop. When I first started hearing rappers saying other people's rhymes, I knew hip-hop was going in the wrong direction. We used to beat motherfuckers up in the park for that shit. I used to hear so much Biggies quotes, it's disgusting. Do you buy the excuse that they're "paying tribute"? Man, listen. (laughs) How do you pay tribute to a motherfucker by spitting his rhymes? That's not a tribute, that's biting. A lot of people say Biggie and 2Pac are the best rappers ever. This is some real shit. Sometimes people praise the dead to insult the living. They don't have the balls to say someone wasn't as good as Biggie. Who cares? Biggie was a don. He did what he did, but you do what you do. Why are you saying Biggie's rhymes? Biggie had his shit. 2Pac and Freaky Tah had their shit. They still got what they got, but it doesn't make any sense for people to take from their work. When we sample a record and chop a record up, we're good at that and that's publishing for them. You're not paying anybody for saying his rhymes. They're biting his whole verse and just chopping it into pieces, but nobody's hitting his mom or kids off. There's been a lot of debate on New York hip-hop and if it's fallen off. What's your take on that? At the end of the day, I don't know how many new guys are going to be able to do it, but I think some of the more seasoned rappers with experience need to get back in their studio. It's cool to make party records, but New York had their own style of party records. Think how dope it would be to see someone from the south do their thing, someone from New York, and someone from Cali do their thing. I don't want to walk in a show with a New York rapper on some crunk shit. That would be some dope shit. I guess a New York rapper could do one south record just to show they can do it. All that crunk shit is just old school New York hip-hop. It's the same shit that Bambaataa and Zulu Nation were doing. The tempo may be a little bit different, but the rhyme flows are the same. You can't get away from New York music no matter where you go, but New York rappers can't see that. The next time you get a chance, listen to some crunk music and then listen to a Bambaataa record back-to-back. It's just a refurbishing. It's the same thing that Zulu Nation was doing. You'll see it's the same shit. They just doubled-up the hi-hats and played them faster. Everything else is the same. The drum patterns are the same and the rhyme flows are the same. I think it's dope to hear dirty south guys like Chamillionaire getting off. I love Paul Wall. That's my dude. But when I see New York rappers jumping down south to get in videos because they're not hot anymore, just like they ran out west, that's pussy shit to me. I ain't feeling that. That's not my problem so I don't have to deal with it. If a motherfucker wants a dick-rider tag on his shirt, that's not my business. New York rappers are killing themselves because they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing instead of doing other people's shit, and they're doing other people's shit wrong. How do you feel about the Cristal debate? Who ain't racist? If it ain't Cristal, it's Tommy Hilfiger. If it ain't Tommy Hilfiger, it's Timberland. Racism is here. Hip-hop music, I've said this before in many interviews, is the only music since the beginning of time that's crossed every color line. I got people in Germany, Amsterdam, and Holland who I'm cool with and I know my mother could have never had conversations with their mothers like we have because they don't have anything to bond them like that. Hip-hop did that. Hip-hop has become a race in itself because when it's time to stand up for a certain cause in hip-hop, I know that a lot of my fans don't look like me. I have more white fans than I have black fans, and I'm cool with that shit. There's nothing like having a bunch of rebellious white boys on your team. That's a real go-hard squad right there. We'll run through a brick wall for Bumpy Knucks. Fucking right. I love every one of them. That's why I'm not stressing about who likes the music and who don't. I don't go to shows and play in front of empty crowds. People come to see who this 275-pound wild, bald-headed motherfucker who spits fire over beats is and who scares the shit out of the first ten rows. They come to see the wild man. They love it. It's like the wildest rollercoaster ride you ever took. When you realize you lived through it, you want to do it again. How do you get ready for your shows? I train. I have to train. When you have as many songs as I do, I have a tendency to not know what I want to perform. Sometimes I get on stage and take requests. I just have fun with what I do. I'm trying to tell you about Bumpy Knuckles. People tell me to tone it down. Tone down what? Not everyone likes Michael Jackson. I have to be who I am and I'm a little different from the average. Pumping iron has become a part of marketing now. Do you work out for image or for yourself? I've been working out since I was in the 8th grade. I started boxing in the 6th grade and I started lifting weights in 8th grade and I've been working out ever since. I've tried to keep myself in shape ever since. I'm a fighter. I can't be no fat, sloppy, and nasty motherfucker. I'm always on point. I'm always in the right shape. I always try to stay physically able to do what I do. I have heavy bags, I train in martial arts, I do isometrics, I do all that shit because I'm Bumpy Knuckles so when somebody runs up on me, I can give them a seven-piece situation. Can you take us through a Bumpy Knucks workout? I get up and I do my stretches. I'll have breakfast, which will probably be a bowl of oatmeal and maybe four egg-whites, especially when I'm training. I'll have some water, room-temperature water. I take my supplements and vitamins and all that shit. I try to do forty minutes on the treadmill, twenty when I start and twenty when I finish. If I'm doing chest, I do chest and triceps. I'll do biceps and back. I have a weird regiment. I'll switch up here and there. I used to be a soccer player so my legs are as big as a motherfucker. I played in high school but I haven't played in years. My legs got big as hell from that shit. What did you think of the Bernard Hopkins comeback? That's the man. I like the fact that he's one of those guys who keeps breaking rules. He didn't want anyone setting rules that he's too old to box. I respect that. What'd you think of the US's effort in the World Cup? I saw the last game that they lost. You win some and you lose some. When there's no communication on the field, you can't play by yourself. There are always a few guys who are the main guys and they have to all play as a unit. It's all about your setup and how good your setup is. If you're setup is good, you'll be able to do well. I've fucked up so many times and I can say that. I've fucked up so much in my career, but I can say that, keep my head high, and keep it moving. Are you going to get into sports again as a coach? Nah, not really. I like watching it on TV. I'm past all that shit now. I'm more into other shit now. I'm trying to keep up with the latest technology in computers. I like making music and I think I might end up getting back into producing jingles for commercials. I like doing that shit. You did stuff for Red Lobster, right? Yeah. I did commercials back then. I like doing commercials because I don't have to spend as much time. It's only 60-second spots, but there's a high demand. They need stuff by tomorrow, so you have to be able to deal with the drama. I like doing them, though, and I think I'm going to start doing those again. Did Konexion do what you wanted it to? For what I needed it to do, yeah. I didn't really care that the company I did it with didn't know what they were doing with hip-hop so they couldn't make it happen like Industry Shakedown. It did what it needed to do and it kept me connected to the streets. Did a lot of people miss out on it? Yeah, but when I do shows live, those songs really work. I got the album out and I accomplished a lot of things on my own. Look on my MySpace page and see how many people say I influenced their lives .That makes me happy. I don't care who sleeps on me. Sleeping on someone is not to the detriment of who's being slept on, it's a reflection of the sleeper. How do you feel about Industry Shakedown today? That record is still relevant to this day. If you replace some of the names I said with some of the new names, the record is still the same. I made it because it's an ongoing problem in this business where people are so full of shit. It's better to be straight-up with a person and say, "We're going to make you a star but we're going to reap the benefits." There are a lot of people who feel how I feel, but they don't want to say it because they feel they may jeopardize their future. There are a lot of us who started out with nothing like Russell Simmons, and now look where he is. You have to start from somewhere. We've all shot low-budget videos. People have to start somewhere and they have to stand up for themselves and stop being a coward. What's your favorite project that you've done? Each one of my projects has a special meaning. American Black Man is probably going to be my best work ever. I've worked with a lot of producers I've always admired. I worked with Kev Brown a lot of on this project. His future is so bright. He's an incredibly soulful producer. Oddissee is another one who's incredible. I worked with Clark Kent and DJ Scratch. I did a song with Christopher Williams. Who can ask for that? He's a vocalist who's legendary to me and he stood up for himself so I wanted to work with him even more. There are guys who are scared to be themselves. You just have to reach down, touch the ground, and say this is who I am and this is how I stand, and this is my space. This American Black Man album is probably one of my favorites. I did what I want to do on this album. When will it drop? In the Fall of 2006 on Fat Beats. There was a rapper named Renegade Foxxx who spelled his name with three "x's." Did you take offense at that? I don't think he does that anymore. I had a phone conversation with him. How did that go down? I don't think he does that anymore. I'm sure he doesn't do that anymore. What advice do you have for all the kids out there who want a career in hip-hop? There are two things I would tell them. If you can't read, you can't write. In hip-hop, it's good to have a vernacular. You don't have to be the king of English, but people can tell how smart you are when you open your mouth. You have to be yourself. Don't think that a Das EFX record is old school or Junior Mafia. Look back to Sugarhill and go back further than that and study hip-hop from all the way back then to now. If a rapper did that, he would be one of the best in the business. Don't you think presidents do that? When someone becomes president, they look at George Washington all the way up. They have to know all about the wars and policies. Mike Tyson's knowledge of boxing is so incredible, it's no wonder he knocked everyone out. It's not hard to study hip-hop. Go to record stores or go online. Just take some time to study hip-hop culture to see where it's been so you know where it's going. Do you want to get into anything else besides hip-hop? I have a motorcycle club called the Krupt Mob. We're doing all kinds of events. We have a big barbecue on August the 12th. I'm doing a motorcycle run for missing children. I hate pedophiles. I think motherfuckers who do that to kids ought to have their fucking necks chopped off. We ought to just axe all those motherfuckers. I hate people who do foul shit to kids. I have a record called "Hello" where I used a Lionel Ritchie sample and whatever money I make, I'm going to donate it to whatever charity finds missing children. I think shit is wack that people kidnap kids. That's one of my concerns and I've wanted to do something like that for a long time. I'm with you on that. Yeah, man. That shit is wack. There's been a lot of debate lately regarding helmet use since the Ben Roethlisberger accident. Do you always wear a helmet? Full-face, baby. We rock full-face helmets. I have a couple of guys in our club who are into the German helmet thing, but I'm not into those. They're not safe. I don't advocate that people wear those things. There's been six deaths in the past two weeks. I tell them if I catch them riding without helmets, I'm going to find them. Everybody's investing in full-face helmets at this point. We're trying to ride safe and do the right thing. What do you want to say to everybody? Everybody just check out the new album, American Black Man, coming out in the fall. The new mixtape is Street Triumph. I have a lot of music sitting in my music that I never put out. I've been recording forever and now I'm going to put them out. I have records with Pete Rock and guys like that and they gave me the clearance to put it out. Everybody tells me they want to hear the traditional Bumpy Knuckles, so when you hear it, be ready for it. I think the new stuff is cool, but be you. Be where you're from. New York rappers, let's take it back to where we came from. Nobody's going to run the game, that's what the industry will do. As artists, let's just do what we do, individualize yourself, make good music, and just keep it moving, that's the bottom line. Check out more of Freddie Foxxx at http://myspace.com/freddiefoxxx and http://myspace.com/kruptmob

By Brian Kayser

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