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5/24/2006 What's up? I'm feeling good. I can't complain. It could always be worse. Your new album American Hunger is dropping in a few days. What are your feelings right now? It's long overdue. I hope the people enjoy it. I put a lot into it and I just hope they enjoy it. If they don't, fuck it, I tried. I know you put a lot of work into this. Definitely. It was not just me alone. A lot of producers sacrificed and a lot of people put their heart and soul into this project, even if it was just support. Now it's about to happen. Are you happy with how the final product came out? Yes, without question. I'm satisfied with how it came out. It took a lot to get it where it is. I'm happy with it. What are you giving people with American Hunger? I'm trying to show every perspective of myself and show that as an artist, I'm creative and I'm not just trapped in a box. I'm touching every avenue possible. Love, war, hate, confusion, anger, happiness, I'm trying to touch everything. Every emotion I'm capable of conquering, I'm trying to bring out. Hopefully there's something on this album for everyone. There's sixty songs on this album, and I'm hoping people like one of them. I know that's low expectations, but it's about what can that one song do for the individual? I'm very creative and that's a blessing. I'm able to do something a lot of people would love to do, and that's be a recording artist, a musician, a rapper, or whatever you want to call me. I'm just happy to get it done. From listening to the promo, you're definitely dropping a lot of jewels on there. Thank you. I appreciate that. I don't know if everything I'm saying is accurate because I don't know everything and I make mistakes. I'm a human being. That shit is not written in stone, but I know I have flaws. I'm just like everybody else trying to figure out the way. Is the way becoming clearer to you as you get older? Yeah, actually it is. I'm willing to do it now. It's not about being the best artist or being the toughest, or who's battling this guy…I got all of that out of my system. I'm really doing this for myself now. I want to get away from everything else, these so-called stereotypes of being in this music. I want to represent to the next level. I know everyone says "next level," but I'm talking about my next level. I feel American Hunger will represent that appropriately. With three discs and sixty songs, how do you want people to listen to the album? That's a real good question. Personally, I wouldn't try to listen to three CD's in one day. I would listen to one CD a day. Let it marinate. Just sit back and listen to one CD, and then the next day listen to another. There's a lot of music on there and I understand that. I would take it that way. You haven't dropped an album in awhile. Why not drop one album a year instead of three all of a sudden? Because three CD's at once, as far as I'm concerned, has never been done on an independent hip-hop level. I feel the triple-CD is really where it's at. It's about being a part of history and creating history. It's too easy to just do ten or twelve songs and put it out. I know people hear I have sixty songs and they probably think I have five good songs. I love that challenge. They're going to have to find out how many good songs are on there. I also have to separate myself from my competition. Everybody's an artist, everybody's a rapper, and I have to separate myself from that. I feel I have to do a triple-CD to do that. What does the title American Hunger mean to you? American Hunger stands, to me, for the fact that America will eat its own. To stay ahead of the game, if you're destroying your future, you will never become your past. I get those feelings from America. It also programs us to act how the program is treating us. Instead of nurturing each other, we destroy each other, and we think that's ok because others are doing it. We're thinking it's ok to destroy each other and that's the way. If you're not stomping on somebody, you're not successful. That's pretty similar to hip-hop right now. That's just the way of the world from the beginning of time. I don't see it being different than anything else. It's publicized more and advertised more as being hip-hop related, and I think that's because of the urban background. There's always going to be politics. It is what it is. There have been a lot of violent incidents in hip-hop lately. How do you feel about that? To be honest, those are artists that are more well-known. Violence has been going on since the beginning. It's just something that goes on. I have no real explanation for why, all of a sudden, this is in the forefront or this brother passed away. It's life. I can easily say hip-hop is getting bad and this and that. The violence is magnified because of the magnitude of the people. For every negative act, there's ten positive acts that don't get any publicity. I don't know how to answer that because I don't know everyone's circumstances that cause the violence. It's a good question, I just don't know the answer to it. You also started AmericanHunger.com. How's the site doing? It's cool. It keeps me occupied. It's fun because I also get to discuss whatever I want. That's my own magazine. It's fun. I can display new talent, we have a comic section, it's just fun. It's fun making it. Hopefully I can continue to do it. It originated for the album, but it seems like it's not going to want to go away because so many people contact us about it. We're probably going to end up keeping it going. You released a diss track to MF Doom. Do you want to comment on that? Not really. No comment. The song's been out for awhile. Why don't you want to talk about it? I'm focusing on me, to be honest. That's really what it is. I'm just focusing on me. At Day by Day, not only are you putting out guys like Block McCloud, but you're also taking on some young dudes like Dynamix and Hasan Salaam. How important is it to do that? It feels good. It does feel good to be able to help someone and help make their dream come true. It may be a little biased with Dynamix since they help run the company. This is about putting music out. We're not Universal, but we try and we're really a family, so that's what really, really counts. We got rid of the negative aspects of the people who don't see eye-to-eye with us and we work with people who treat us how we deserve to be treated. Where do you see Day by Day standing against other indie hip-hop labels? I see us standing with them. I think that's the problem. Of course it's a competitive business, but not too many come together and work together and build. For instance, me and Ill Bill hooked up and I've really been messing with the cats at Uncle Howie a lot. Day by Day and Uncle Howie have been working together. I think other companies should hook up and build. I put us with everyone else. I don't feel we're greater and I don't feel we're less than them. I feel we're all equal. What are your goals for Day by Day? Good question. Actually, we're branching into film and book publishing. That's our concentration at the moment. That's the future of Day by Day to be honest. There will also be more concentration on rock at Day by Day. We have a group called The Kin. I'm putting all my focus and energy into The Kin. The obvious question is what does hip-hop artist GM Grimm know about rock music? Actually, I don't know that much about rock music. I know what I like. I think it would be an insult for me to sit here and act like I'm some rock professor. I know what I like and I have a great ear for music as far as I'm concerned. David Patterson runs the company with me. Little Richard and Chuck Berry are rock. I can't sit up here and pretend like I'm a rock expert. I know what I like. I also have two jazz groups on Day by Day. We have an electronica group named Mudville. I'm not an expert in that music, but I love good music. It's great when you're able to put out music you enjoy and make a difference. Do you ever find it hard balancing your responsibilities to Day by Day with your responsibilities to yourself as an artist? Yes. It can be very difficult, to be honest with you. Now I need to put myself before others. Normally, I'm known and prone to putting others before myself and I just can't do that all the time anymore. It's not fair to the artist and his work. Right now, it's about Grimm. I'm sorry to say that and sound selfish. It's something that's hard for me to do, but I have to do it. If it was up to me, I probably wouldn't even do any albums, but I have a few coming. Are you happy with how the Block McCloud album did? Man, I love Block McCloud. I'm real happy with that. I'm more excited about Spittin' Image than American Hunger. To be around him and see how humble he is and how great a family man he is, that's great. What's going on with the Monster Island Czars today? They got thirty-five to forty songs done already. They're trying to pick out the top songs. They're coming out after American Hunger. We're scheduled for an October release date. How would you compare American Hunger to The Downfall of Ibliys? It's not even a comparison to me. It's a different chapter. I don't want to say one is greater than the other, because they all mean something to me, but this is my life now. I definitely want to be fair to all my children. Are you happy with how The Downfall of Ibliys did? Yeah. It served its purpose. It definitely served its purpose. I'm not mad at it. It did great. How do you feel hearing Kurious' A Constipated Monkey today? It's still good, man. Kurious' music is positive. It's crazy. He's all over the new album. People will get that old feeling again like the days we were rocking back then. He definitely hooked it up and blessed my album. He's my brother. Will there be another Kurious album? Definitely. You're definitely going to get another Kurious album. He's putting an album coming out on Day by Day. What else is coming out on Day by Day? We're working on an independent horror film in Australia called When Evil Reigns. We're dropping that over here in the states. My focus right now is on The Kin and MIC. What do you want to say to everyone? Thank you for your time out for reading this. I'm just here and I'm trying to do something. That's about it.

By Brian Kayser

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