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7/24/2006 Interview with Zaakir What's up? I'm doing all right, man. I'm doing all right. How are you feeling about Feedback right now? I'm feeling good about it. It's a funny thing. It's like a two-way street. I'm feeling good about it but I'm also nervous as hell because it's been a long time. It's going to be hard for me. It is hard for me. It's really hard for me. What I like about it is that it's finally coming out and we get to go on the road. The other thing is that first week of sales. Will the label still be behind us after that? It's one of those bittersweet things because everything ain't going to go the way I planned it. I know somewhere God has his own plan and I'm going to have to succumb to that. It's bittersweet. I'm excited but at the same time I'm nervous as hell. We'll see. It's been almost four years since Power in Numbers. Do you have to reintroduce yourself to a new generation of hip-hop fans? Yeah. You have to reintroduce yourself every time you come out, but you damn-sure have to come with a brand new house after four years. Usually you can just throw some paint on it and it will look good. We have to build a whole new foundation. We have the people who liked us, but it's been four years and they got older. I don't know if they're going to be there. Are they going to show up? I don't know. You have these new, fickle fans and you don't know if they'll ever show up. You go out there and throw your dick in the wind and see what it'll catch. Why the title Feedback? There's no crazy answer behind it. Actually one of the cat's wives thought of it. After four years, you're going to have a lot of feedback from the last one. You have your long-time fans who caught on with Quality Control. Will those fans like Feedback? It's funny because you have to be real careful. I think we changed, but we also stayed the same. This album has some stuff on it like that Quality Control era. That's to keep the core fans satisfied. We're also trying to stretch a little bit with this Dave Matthews song and "Brown Girl" with Scott Storch. You can't go all left. Common did it with Electric Circus and it didn't work. He tried to do what he had to do and people didn't want to hear that shit. He had to go back. I didn't want to hear it and I like Common. You have to be real careful when you try to expand because that shit isn't always a hit out the park. Sometimes it backfires. We are who we are on this record. You'll hear this J5 shit. It's like a curse doing that old-school shit. I would have never thought in a million years that people would hate to hear that old-school shit. People act like old-school owes them some money and shit and they hate to hear it. I don't know. The Dave Matthews single "Work It Out" is definitely a reach from your other debut singles "Quality Control" and "What's Golden." What's the response been so far? It's not a reach for us. When you have five people in the group, the tastes vary. It wasn't a reach for us. In this game, you have to be real, real meticulous with how you do certain things. You can't just do what you want to do. You're in the business of selling art. Some of the greatest artists in the world didn't get any love until they fell off and died. Then the abstract stuff was so great, but when they were on earth nobody wanted to see their shit. That's how this industry is. You can do songs with Judas Priest but are people going to dig it? You're in the business of selling art. I think the core fans probably aren't going to like it. Some of them will, but the majority will probably not feel it. I can't let them dictate my feelings and what I should be making. I respect them, but I can't let them dictate what I'm doing. Looking at that and where the Black Eyed Peas have gone… Man, I wish I was a Black Eyed Pea! Man, I would give anything to be Taboo right now. I would give anything! I don't care what your readers say after they read that. You know why? Let me tell you why. People had them dead. People had them dead in the water. You know how when something dies they come and scoop the shit up so it doesn't pollute the rest of the water? They left them there in the water for the fish to eat. The Black Eyed Peas kept their pulse and now millions of people love them. They are the best. They're like Cinderella Man. Have you ever seen Cinderella Man? Nah. Oh, man. You have to see that. It's about a boxer who lost everything and he was at rock bottom and he got a second chance. He's like the Black Eyed Peas. They sure give me hope. I'm not at rock bottom, but I'm damn-sure not at the top. Do you see J5 evolving the same way the Black Eyed Peas did and going the commercial route? It's hard to say. We threw the Dave Matthews song out to see how it would do. I'm not going to be eager to get with Mariah Carey the next time. If it blows up, I can't say that I'm not going to want to do anymore hard hip-hop shit. I just want to see what it does. If it was all about doing the type of music we do and the type of music people are accustomed to, we would have been popping. A lot of people ask us what kind of music we make. I need to ask the consumers what type of shit they want to hear. People swear they don't like the candy shit, but when you turn around that's all that's getting play and it's selling millions of records. That "real" shit that people swear on their mothers that they love don't get no love. We've gone that route. I'm not going to come out with a twelve-track pop record. I'm not going to do that, but what do you want me to do? I tried to do it the way I knew. I tried to do it the hip-hop way and y'all didn't want to accept it. Y'all would rather hear "They see me rolling." I'm not saying that's not hip-hop, but that boom-bap shit that you supposedly love, when J5 did it, they didn't want to hear it. Should I apologize for the Dave Matthews song? I shouldn't have to apologize. When we came out with "What's Golden," some people felt it but the majority didn't. This Dave Matthews song may not do anything. We don't have a history at radio stations. They might say, "I know what these dudes are about. It's not going to do anything." I'm going to have to accept that with a grain of salt and keep it moving. I don't want the people to be mad. I want them to have the same understanding that I have even though I know that I'm wishing. I would like for it to be like that. How would you describe the rest of Feedback? (pause) I guess people aren't usually stumped about their own shit, but give me a second. (pause) I guess I would describe the album as giving you the best of what we had at that particular time. I usually like to let people get their own opinion of it. Maybe that's wrong and I should tell people it's the bomb album and they need to pick it up and if they don't they're tripping. We have some shit that people are accustomed to and some shit they're not. Quit thinking you know what we're about and just listen. How did things change without Cut Chemist being a part of the group? Nothing changed to be honest with you. Well, that sounds bitter and it's not like that. The creativity changed. We don't have a gang of those intricate skits that Cut Chemist is known for. We don't have a lot of that and it's not that I don't miss it. It's either-or for me on that. It depends on whether or not the people like it. The production didn't stop because we were able to go outside to other people whose music we respect. We were able to go and do that. Anytime you start out with somebody, you definitely lose a little bit. Cut is J5 because that's where he got his start at, but at the same time you have to keep moving and keep walking and fill whatever hole he left. He's only one dude. If all five dudes left and left one, then I would tell that dude he was in trouble. If one dude left five and if we can't fill up that empty space, there's nothing wrong with Cut. He was the smart one if we can't plug up the hole that one man left. Working with other producers is a first for J5. How did it feel going outside? I loved it, and that's not to take anything away from the other cats. I loved it because we got to work with Salaam Remi who did a lot of Nas' work and the Fugees' work. It was nice to see how other people got down and he was pulling stuff out of us that we ain't never thought of. It's the same with Scott Storch. We're working on a different caliber. At the same time we want to find our niche with these cats because I already know what Salaam Remi can do for Nas and what Scott Storch can do for Fat Joe. You get in there and see what they can do for you and if that will mesh. It was dope and everybody does that. I think at first it was a little funny for people, but as far as the MC's, we were going to do it. This is what it's about and I'm not about always holding everything in-house and not letting anybody touch it. You don't want to make people think you're better than them and all that. It was dope though. Do you wish you had gotten some outside help for Quality Control and Power in Numbers? I'm not going to say that because we were happy to be in the game and you always want everybody to shine. If we would have coat-tailed off of somebody, we probably could have been blowing up. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to make it on our own. That's where I was at. And if I had to do it over again, I would do it the same way because I feel better about it. How has your view on the industry changed from the early days to today? It's gotten harder. As far as the record business, that shit is in shambles. It's looking bleak right now. It's looking bad. Hip-hop has changed in two ways. Financially, it's great. You have people owning basketball teams and you have Snoop Dogg doing a commercial with Lee Iacocca. You would have never thought you would have seen that. Creatively though, that shit is terrible. Creatively, the wack shit is the fly shit now. If you try to do some shit and be creative, you're looked at like a damn fool. Financially it's great but creatively it's terrible. At least J5 can go on the road. Thank God for touring and thank God we're able to do it, because if we didn't I would be under a bridge crying with a "Will Rap for Food" sign. Thankfully that's been keeping us afloat and hopefully it will continue to keep us afloat. Touring is great. I love it. How much time do you put into your routine? All the time. Sometimes we're practicing on-stage. If we have new shit we want to incorporate, we do it right there. You don't know if your show is cracking until you go out. Some people think their show is the greatest but they're cupping the mic, they're overly hyped, they're losing their breath and that's because they've been performing in front of the homies who haven't told them anything. When you're performing for people who paid their money to see it, they don't give a fuck. If they're paying money, they're going to let you know if you're wack. That varies from venue to venue. Just because the 9:30 Club loves us, we may go down the street to Howard and they'll find us wack. A lot of it isn't what you do but how you do it. We've done shows where people don't know who we are, but after they see us, they're like, "You guys are tight." With five people on-stage, we all have our time to shine and we're harmonizing and all that. People love that. It's not so much about what you're doing but how you're doing it. If people don't like you, they're at least going to take notice. They're going to notice that we do know how to perform. They may not buy the record, but they know we can perform. That's all we got right now. J5 is known as being a touring band. That's all we're known for. How's the tour bus? It's cool, but sometimes you just wish they would leave. It's like living with your parents past a certain age. You mom may say some slick shit to you and you may storm out of the house, but you still love them and you still come back. That's how we are. I can say this, nobody has ever said some foul shit like "I hate you" or "I wish you were dead." It's always some "clean up your bunk" or "put some stronger deodorant on." Nobody's walking around just saying mean, spiteful shit to people. Do you have any plans to go solo? Nobody wants to see me go solo. Nah. (laughs) To be honest with you, Brian, I'm going to be honest with you and don't let this get out: I'm lazy. I don't know. You know how some people write everyday…people are going to read this and say, "That's why this nigga is wack." I want to do it just to do it. I have a few solo songs that I'm wondering what to do with it. Maybe I'll put some 12"'s out. I kind of like it, but I like working with everybody else. I've been with my group so long that it's awkward when I'm not with them. You never know. If I'm going to do it, I have to do it now. I can't wait four years to do it. If I'm going to make a move, I have to do it now. Chali has a solo record he's been working on. I don't know when it's coming. Numark has put out two solo records. Mark7 just wrote a movie and Ice Cube's company Cubevision picked it up and they're going to do it. There's other shit going on here. Are you going to be singing more? I can't sing the way I used to. If you would have caught me in '83…were you born in '83? Yeah. I could sing. My throat is kind of messed up now from not singing the proper way. I could maybe hit a note or two now where you could say, "That boy is good." It wouldn't be enough for you to want to interview me if I put out a singing album. I don't know. I just dabble in it a little bit. Are you going to get into more acting? I want to, but it's hard. My acting shit would have to springboard off of this because I'm not in the position to say, "Hey, I'm just going to act." I can't do that because this is my bread and butter. Acting would have to springboard off of J5. It's hard. If we were a super-famous group, I could do it. I've had the opportunity to do some things and I want to do more. Quiet as kept, I'm an interesting dude. My mama told me I was interesting. I'm just looking for the opportunity to do some more shit. Is there going to be as long of a delay between Feedback and the next J5 record? No. I can confidently say that. The next record is going to come a lot faster. You can quote me on that. If you can't quote me on anything else, you can quote me on that. We fucked up on that. We fucked up real bad. The next one will be coming much quicker. What do you want to say to everybody? Listen to the record and give us the opportunity. See if we have something on there that you could enjoy. Come out to the show and we're going to keep giving you what we've been giving you, and that's 100% of us. Hopefully you enjoy it.

By Brian Kayser

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