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6/10/2008
Your new album Politics and Bullshit is coming out this week. Where does this album stand in your catalogue of music?
Oh, that’s the follow-up to that motherfucking Writer’s Block 5! That motherfucking classic. That opens up another lane. This is that classic, for real. That greatness. It’s me.
Why not title this one Writer’s Block 6?
You know, I’m going to come with Writer’s Block 6, probably later this year or next year. I already put out Writer’s Block 5. I don’t want to smother them too much. I know they can’t breathe out there how I’m putting out projects. I wanted to switch it up one time. This is how I felt. Politics and Bullshit.
Does your state of mind change when doing a Writer’s Block mixtape or a project with another title?
Yeah. Hell yeah. You know, with the album, I’m putting my life on that paper and I’m really putting together a masterpiece, strategically with the intro and track to track, the second to third track, and the mixtapes, I’m going in. I’m freestyling. I’m destroying beats. I’m going stupid. I’m giving them that crack.
On your MySpace page, you blogged that people would be throwing up after listening to your album. Is that a guarantee?
Yes, sir. Go pick up that album tomorrow and you’ll see what I’m talking about, man. That motherfucking greatness, man. That crack, Brian. I’ve been on my shit, man, but I stepped it up, like, 10 more notches, for real. I’m on my bullshit for real.
Should I be careful about vomiting in my car while listening to the album?
Oh, you already know. You’re going to get vomit on your seats. You’re going to have to put plastic on your joints. It might get messy in that car.
You’re able to drop albums at a pretty consistent rate. How have you been able to do that?
Oh, I’m constantly working. I got my own studio at my house and I record myself, actually. I engineer my own shit and mix it down and go get it mastered. I record my own shit. I hit the button, record, do the adlibs to the doubles. It’s crazy. I’m a one man army.
I bet Dipset engineer Saga doesn’t like hearing that.
Oh, that’s my nigga, man. I learned all my motherfucking techniques from Saga. He mixed down Politics and Bullshit. I learned basically everything from him. He’s been recording me since I was like 13 or 14. I learned a lot from him. Shout out to Saga.
Do you record better by yourself without producers and engineers in the studio with you?
Yeah, by myself, because you know what it is? When I’m recording myself, I can take my time and really…I don’t have somebody there waiting on me. I could go back and fix the littlest things and do whatever I wanna do. I can light a blunt and do the verse in 10 or 20 minutes, whatever. I don’t have to tell nobody what I want them to do.
Are you happy with the feedback to your lead single “Do Dat”?
Yeah. You know, it’s for the streets. This is a mixtape I’m coming out with. The people out there love it right now. We just have to push it to the radio right now some more and go hard with that. But the whole radio thing, that’s politics and bullshit. That’s one of the reasons why I named my mixtape that.
In the song, you talk about how you never have to wait in line. Can you really get cuts whenever you want?
If I gotta wait in line, I’m outta there. And I know a couple people are leaving because they want to see me. Writer! (laughs) But if I’m going to the club, I have to walk straight through and I might have to walk through the back if the front’s crazy. VIP status. I can’t do the line.
Does that translate to places like the DMV and McDonald’s as well?
Everything. Everything, my dude. You would be surprised with the type of hook-ups I got. I get VIP status everywhere. (laughs)
You’re considering Politics and Bullshit a mixtape. What’s the difference between your mixtapes and albums?
You can compare them. You can listen to Writer’s Block 3 and Politics and Bullshit and compare it to History in the Making, my first album. And you will see the difference. History in the Making is like a movie about me and some other shit. It’s a masterpiece. The songs are classics. They’re hits. There’s all types of songs and all types of concepts on there. And then on the mixtape, I’m going crazy. I’m going in. I’m showing how lyrical I am. I’m destroying beats and I might destroy a couple niggas’ careers. It’s shit like that, man.
Are you looking to end any careers on Politics and Bullshit?
Oh, I’m chilling on that. I’m just working on me right now. Politics and Bullshit is dropping. Go pick up that classic, man.
From listening to your older music when you were doing six and eight minute freestyles up to now, you can really hear a lot of growth in your music. How would you describe your growth?
I just feel like I’ve been tightening my shit and mastering my shit. I write every day and I record every day. I feel like every day I wake up, I get better. I switch my flows up and find a different style of rhyming. It’s easy. I try to live up to my name “Writer” for my fans. I don’t like to disappoint them. Sometimes it gets so easy that I can just write it off the top of my head. I just make it do what it do and it comes out and that’s what it is.
What is your writing process like?
I do a couple of things. I’ll keep it funky, “Do Dat” was off the head. I don’t follow nobody’s trends, but sometimes it’s just so many ideas and lines coming to my head at once that I don’t even have time to write it all on paper. I just want to go in and drop that and do the doubles and finish it up.
How do you come up with your punchlines?
It just comes to me, man. It’s natural. I’ve mastered the flow. I’ve been rhyming like this for a minute. Ever since last year I’ve been going hard and working on the flow. It just comes to me as far as punchlines. I don’t sit there thinking of new punchlines. They just come to me, man. Sometimes I’ll hit you with line after line after line. Sometimes it’s the piff in my system or the purple. I’ll be in Mars somewhere, man.
You’ve talked a lot about space travel in your older songs. If you weren’t rapping would you be an astronaut?
(laughs) I might as well be an astronaut the way I be flowing. The way I be spitting that shit, I be somewhere in space with it, man. I mean, sometimes I be surprising myself, Brian.
Do you have any sales goals for Politics and Bullshit?
Not at all. I’m just going hard, man, promoting. You know how the sales are in hip-hop. What can I do about it, man? I just have to play my part and go hard and let it do what it do and keep supplying that crack because I’m going to always be making that music.
You signed a seven-figure deal with Babygrande last year. Are you happy with how everything is moving for you over there?
Yeah. Shout out to Chuck. They’re cutting those big checks. Oh yeah. They’re going hard with your boy. We’re plotting on that next move. It’s going to be big, man.
In your MySpace blog, you talked about how Dipset was forever. What exactly is going on with Dipset right now?
I mean, we’re here, man. I’m here. Politics and Bullshit on June 10. You’ll hear what’s going on. I answered a couple of questions on there. If you pick that CD up, you’ll hear me answering those questions. Go pick that up and then holla at me. Go pick that crack up.
I’m still going to ask you a few questions and try to get an answer. It always seemed like you were closest to Cam. Have you been working with him?
Politics and Bullshit, June 10. Go pick that up on Tuesday. Get at me.
Still not giving up. A few years ago, everything Dipset was dropping was getting a ton of listens. Has the buzz died down?
I can speak for myself. We’re the strongest movement and we’re in the streets hardbody. But as far as my projects and my latest mixtapes, it’s the promo. You have to go hard and you have to get out there. I’m on my grind. That’s what I’m doing now. I’m getting out there and showing my face and being out in the streets and doing videos and shit like that. I’m just going hard. You have to promote yourself as well. You can’t rely on the label at times and then the label’s gotta be right too.
Will there be a new Diplomats album where everyone records together like the two Diplomatic Immunity albums?
There might be. Look out for that. That would be a good look. That would be crazy. You know what it is. We been going hard.
You think that will actually happen?
It might. It might happen. You never know. You never know, baby. You gotta look out for that. That would be crazy. That’s going to be crazy.
You really don’t want to answer these questions, do you?
I want them to go pick up that motherfucking CD Politics and Bullshit because that’s all politics and bullshit, baby. You gotta go pick that up. The questions are answered in there. Come holla at me. It’s the motherfucking crack.
Does the media look too deeply into what’s going on internally with Dipset?
Yes, sir. And that’s why I’m answering these questions like this. Politics and Bullshit on June 10. Every day you go through that in life. There’s a lot of politics in this game and there’s a lot of bullshit, but that’s everyday shit. June 10, go pick that up. Dipset for life. Yeah!
How’s your album with Hell Rell, Double Trouble, coming?
We’re working on that right now. I just was in the studio with him four or five days ago. I did something for his album that’s coming out on July 22. It’s Black Mask, Black Gloves. Look out for that. That’s going to light the streets up. You know when me and him get in the studio, it’s greatness for real. For real. We go hard. I don’t know about those other dudes that’s out right now. I don’t even listen to nobody but me. But Double Trouble is coming soon. That’s definitely coming soon.
So you got 100 JR Writer CDs in your car?
100 JR Writer CDs, songs, I got shit that nobody ever heard. I might be bumping my shit that I do an hour from now. I record constantly. I’m always on my grind. I might not be in that spotlight all the time. That’s not because I’m not doing what I’m supposed to do. I’m always plotting on my next move. Oh yeah.
Are you able to record songs at a pretty fast rate?
I mean, if the beat is right, yeah. If the beat is crack, hell yeah. Especially if the beat is crack. That’s what motivates me, like, ‘This shit is hard.’ That’s what motivates me. But I’m always here in the motherfucking studio, doing what I gotta do. My little brother is over here, Fred Money, recording with me and I’m over here by myself doing the damn thing, engineering my own shit like a one man army and putting that crack down.
What’s been going on with Fred Money?
He’s finishing up his mixtape right now, Money Rules the World. Oh yeah. That’s going to be stupid. I’m working on that with him. Me, him and my other little brother are still working on the Family Ties mixtape. My little brother Spectacula has hits under his belt and we’re going to put that together and come out with some classic shit later this year. You know we’re working. We’re always working. You know if you’re around me we’re working 24-7.
How’s your sophomore album Write Away coming?
That’s going to be stupid. Expect some big records, especially on some other shit. I’m reaching out to people I wouldn’t normally reach out to. It’s going to be crazy. It’s going to be a big surprise. It’s going to be crazy. It’s going to be stupid. Trust me.
And that’s going to be the album right there. Everything besides History in the Making is a mixtape. Writer’s Block 4, you know that’s a mixtape. Writer’s Block 3. You know, the series are all mixtapes. Those are all mixtapes. I might have got a six-figure check for it, but it’s still a mixtape. Politics and Bullshit is a mixtape also. I was going to put it in the streets but my man Chuck hollered at me and he was real interested in it. He wanted to put it in stores across the country and we did it.
You’ve definitely been supported by a lot of DJs. What did you think of Lil’ Wayne’s “fuck mixtape DJs” statement and subsequent apology?
You know what I thought, Brian? I thought Politics and Bullshit, June 10. Go pick that up. That’s what I thought.
That’s really what you thought of when you heard Wayne say that? Your album release date?
Politics and Bullshit, baby. Go pick that up, man.
I give up.
Dipset for motherfucking life. Holla at me, my dude. |