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4/24/2006 What's good, Pen? Oh, shit, this dude just got snuffed! It's like Macho Man Randy Savage! I've never seen anybody use that move in a real fight! It sounds wild where you're at. Son, he hit him with a double-axe-handle. Damn. Yeah. We're in Cali. We did San Francisco last night. We're out here chilling. We're about to do this DVD interview. You got your guns ready? I couldn't fly out to Cali with the ones from home. (laughs). Remy Martin doesn't have to go through security. I don't have that hook-up. I guess I don't need it right now. What's up with this new mixtape you're dropping? It's good. It's real fucking good. It's in a few stores now. I'm selling at my shows. Are you recording right now? Yeah. Oh, shit! I didn't know that. I got to go into my rapper voice. What's hood, nah mean? Word. Word. Guns and guns and bitches, son. Word up. I'll shoot you in your motherfucking mouth and all that shit. Word. It's a good thing we're doing a phone interview. For real. I might have a goon that works for the phone company slap you through the phone. For real, the mixtape is cool. It's called "Pick Your Poison." Immortal Technique's hosting the shit. There's a few joints with Technique that nobody's heard before. There's a few songs off the album. There's a few collabos on here because I'm not collab-heavy on the album. When you've waited ten years to drop the album, you don't want to have a lot of collaborations, so I got everybody for the mixtape. Stronghold is on there, Technique is all over it, Heltah Skeltah is on there. Those are my Boot Camp brothers. My Emveez are up there, Superstar Billy Gram…It's an album's worth of material with a few freestyles. Most of the shit is original songs. It's not one of those so-called mixtapes where there is actually no mixing involved. No disrespect, if you call yourself a DJ, you're supposed to DJ. 730 doesn't call himself a DJ, so I can say that. We got mixing and cuts and scratches on it. We're blending. I come from that era when people used to do that shit, so I said, "Fuck it, we're going to do it like that." I'm a Hip Hop dude. You still have your Hip Hop pass? No doubt! Being from Brooklyn, that's free. I have the Hip Hop pass, the Ghetto pass, all that, son. I come from the days when it was scary to be in Brooklyn. Are you frustrated "The Money Shot" took so long to come out? I'm going to call it "Blue Balls." I've been waiting for so long. I'm not really frustrated. I never was, because I always knew I was going to be in a situation. It's not always everybody's time to shine. You just have to be patient and do what you do. I was never impatient. I knew I was always going to be good. I wanted it to come out in it's proper way. I'm pretty confident now. I'm doing ok now. I like the platform Duck Down is giving me. I'm not in a long-term deal. I signed a one-album deal with an option for two. A label is like a bitch you want to fuck. She may have a fat ass but you want to see if she has some good pussy to make you stay around for awhile. I've seen her little booky. She's not ridiculous, she's all right. I wouldn't be embarrassed walking down the street with her. I don't see the point in artists signing long-term indie deals and getting bogged down. Keep your options down. So far so good. I've known Dru Ha and the homies for a long time. I've been running with Duck Down as a homie for damn near ten years. I was in the "Knight Riders" video and all them shits. Sean Price is the big homie. Ruck and Rock, man. I was going to do something with Duck Down awhile ago but they got nervous when I was fucking with Nervous. They thought I was going to sign with Mike Weiss, so they backed off. What happened with Nervous? It wasn't nothing. They wanted to sign me. I don't have any beef with them. They just didn't do what they said they were going to do. I'm very well-known in New York City. I told Steele they were trying to put my album out. Nervous drew up a contract and Steele ran to my house like, "Let me see that." I spoke to Steele and Evil Dee, and they told me they'd support me regardless, but to make sure my business was handled because they'd try to get you. I told them I didn't want to sign for no album. I told Nervous that based on the experience of my people, I shouldn't even trust them. They told me they were trying to turn over a new leaf so I sat down with them. Instead of signing a record deal, I said, "I want to throw this single out. If we do this record and everything goes according to plan, why wouldn't I want to sign with you? Right now, let's do the record. I licensed that project to them and they tried to offer me the world. They told me where I'd be and all these tours. I signed on to do that shit. I actually got a decent check. That's the main reason why I don't hate those motherfuckers. They cut me a check and the check ain't bounce. I give them credit for putting it in stores and the check not bouncing. Other than that, they didn't do anything else. They didn't do anything else right. I kept it moving. I don't speak to the dudes at all. I don't like how it went down. There's no beef. It's nothing. They didn't live up to what they said, it was a lot of talk, but they got the record out further than I probably would have gotten it. Due to the check not bouncing, I don't hate them. What's your relationship with MF Grimm? Oh man! We just did a track for this Dr. Dre tribute album. That's my brother. Day by Day are the homies. I've known Azar for ten-plus years. She's always supported me. She put out my "Fall Back" record. Day by Day is always with me even if I'm not signed to Day by Day. They may not be the biggest label, but they're honest and they do what they say they're going to do. I have no problem with them. I hope everything gets better for them. Azar is my friend for life. How many different versions of "The Money Shot" have you done? I've recorded like seventy songs for that shit. I've recorded too many songs for it. I wasn't in no rush. I know me and I know my talent, and honestly, I'm living off Hip Hop without an album. I'm on tour right now with Immortal Technique. Every show is sold out. I host the joint and Tech comes out for an hour and a half. I've been living off singles and appearances. I'm not a motherfucking baller, but I'm all right. My rent is paid from rap, and that's the truth, with God as my witness. That's why I was never so upset. Motherfuckers are going to hate you all day. I got a gang of motherfuckers who think I'm one of the best out, and a gang of motherfuckers who think I'm garbage. I've seen what motherfuckers have to say on HipHopGame and I laugh at that shit. I'm actually thinking about putting out another mixtape before "The Money Shot" but I don't want to oversaturate the game. Some people blew up off mixtapes and then everyone thought that was the way. That worked for 50. These motherfuckers in New York claim they're the best and they get no shows. I get shows without having a record out. I'm living off shows and I can go anywhere. A lot of times I'm just hosting it. That's my lane. At the same time, the music is sick. There was never a rush with my album. At the same time, I know that people have a short attention span, so after "The Money Shot" drops, I'm trying to drop another one within a year. I did so many songs in this shit. I've done songs with a million motherfuckers but I've stuck with my producers DJ Static, Chum the Skrilla Gorilla, Oren Barz, Dub L, Tonedeff, Malstone, and Audiobots and I got the best engineers out, Ariel Borujow, Earl Blaize, Frank Jordan, and Chum. You can Google Ariel Borujow to see what he's done. He just did some stuff on TI's "King" album. I'm patient. It's nothing. It's not everybody's destiny to be a fucking star and to be on and popping at 21 years-old and then you're a has-been at 30 years-old. Slow and steady wins the race. This is a marathon. It's not a sprint. Did you ever think about giving up? Giving up? No. Frustrated? Yes. That's because I gauge things by what happened before. As long as things are moving in a forward motion, I'm not upset. I'm on the phone with you in the middle of California on top of a building. I just did a sold-out show. Shit is real. I feel frustrated because sometimes I feel like these people just don't get it. X, Y, and Z get all this love and I'm still over here struggling. I just said, "Doggy, it's not your time. It'll come." My mother believes in me and my family believes in me. Something is working. I was frustrated because stuff wasn't happening that I wanted to happen, but every year gets better with the exposure and everything else. In the past few months I've done two video games. I did "Warriors." I did "Grand Theft Auto." I'm in mad shit. I've done DVD's, and not those hood wannabe shits. I'm on the Insomniac DVD. I'm not worried about this shit. I'm a confident brother. I know what I can do and it's time for everyone else to see that. I never wanted to quit because this is, honestly, the only thing in my life I never gave up on. Everything else I gave up on. I dropped the fuck out of college. If I didn't like jobs, I'd leave. If I didn't want to do it, I didn't do it. With bitches I didn't want to talk to anymore, I just stopped answering the phone. Why would I stop now? I said in a song with Grimm, "I've been Poison Pen a long time/It's been a long grind/But the long grind translates to a long shine." I never wanted to say "Fuck it" and stop, ever, ever, ever. I look at it like no matter how successful you are, there are more motherfuckers that don't give a fuck about you or care about you. If you go online, go to the Census and see how many people live in this nation. If there's 300 million people in the United States and you're going gold and that's success, or if you go platinum, that's a million, you know what that means? There's 299 million other motherfuckers that don't give a fuck about your existence. You're not going to please everybody. That's why I rock for my motherfuckers. I just don't like it when people are negative for no reason. I don't care if you don't like my shit. No matter what your level of success is, more people couldn't care less about you. There's a million people that live in Bed Stuy alone, that's my neighborhood. These levels of success are kind of flawed. It's a flawed system. Shit like that doesn't really phase me. No matter what you do, there's going to be more people that don't like you. What is it about you that makes people want to put you on the bill and have you host shows? First of all, I put it down. Even if you don't like me personally, you can't look me dead in my face and tell me I don't put it down. You'd be lying out of your fucking mouth. Nobody can deny me that. Something's wrong with you, homie. You're fucked up. I put it down. On top of that, when it comes to performing, it's charisma. If you're not drawing people to you, no one wants to see you. That's what gets me over. A lot of people don't know my records verbatim. A lot of people do, but that's a small audience. People say they like my personality. I talk to everybody. Last night I came out with a fifth of Bacardi. I talked to the whole crowd. I made eye contact with every motherfucker and I poured them drinks. Fuck it, I was going to win them over. At the end of the night, it was sold out and I got paid. All the merchandise was gone. It's a beautiful thing. You really have to have the personality that makes people want to listen to you. I think it helps that I'm a big motherfucker, so I am kind of imposing. A problem with a lot of motherfuckers and lot of motherfuckers from Brooklyn is they just want to out-thug you and out-scare you. You look like a motherfucking clown. I tell people all the time I'm not a motherfucking gangster, but come see what's good. I'm not running around saying I'm a gangster. Look at all my pictures. I always have a smile on my face. I might spit tough because I'm a rowdy brother by nature. I'm from Bed Stuy. My last record was "I'm Fuckin' You Up." Everybody grabs their dick in Hip Hop and everyone gets the most bitches, but at the end of the day, somebody's lying. I just go out on stage and I speak to the crowd. I don't cuss the sound man out. I thank that motherfucker. "Good looking sound man." I thank security. You've got to be humble. I know I got talent, but you have to be humble. That's why people fuck with me. I get in the club before everybody gets there and I leave after everyone else has. I'm not going to lie. I get a lot of fans because they know I'm affiliated with Immortal Technique. That's fine. It doesn't bother me. Immortal Technique is my brother. We came up together, it just so happens that now he's popular. That helps me. That's what family is supposed to do. That's what happens. Me and Technique have done so many things together. Beyond rap, we've broke motherfuckers' faces. We've broke bread on holidays with family. Everything that you can think of, we've done on some brother shit. I know a lot of people check for me because they heard me with him. That's not a problem. I'll ride that wave. Think about it. 90% of rappers have done that. Any successful rapper you can name has done that. 50 Cent came in the game through Onyx and Jammaster Jay. Then he created his own thing. Look at Nas. He came in the game with MC Serch and Large Professor. Look at Jay-Z, "I came in the game on Jaz' back." He said it. Redman came in through EPMD. Everybody comes in the game through somebody else. The only person that I can't think of that's sold mad records is Nelly. I can't recall who he came in the game through. I guess St. Louis was behind him so much that he blew like that. It is what it is. Oh shit, I just spit off this roof and it flip-flopped for twenty seconds and it landed on some chick. It seems like you've got an interesting life. Yo, on the real, every time I'm chilling, that's when I get in the most shit. I get in the most shit when I'm doing nothing. When I'm doing some dumb shit, I never get in trouble. I don't have any major problems with the law. I don't have no felonies. You can print that, I don't give a fuck. I don't say I'm superthug because I ain't. I get busy but I ain't that. I'm just a dude who enjoys music. On the real, I caught a case in the Bronx. They told me I incited a riot at Fordham University. This cop was talking to me like I was a motherfucking kid. He was playing tough so I played tough back. I wasn't trying to back down and they tried to throw the cuffs on me but I'm a big nigga. I have to go to court for that shit. It's funny because all the dumb shit I've done, I was never a shoot-em-up motherfucker, but I used to boost. Now, I don't do nothing. I don't start any trouble. I'm trying to travel, support my peoples, and get this money in a way that's legal, so what do I look like doing some dumb shit that I get locked up for and then I can't leave this country? I got friends that can't travel with me to this day because of their past. When I caught that case in the Bronx, word to my mother, I was chilling. The cop stepped out of order and he thought I had to bow down and suck his dick. Fuck that nigga from the 84th Precinct. He's a faggot. I don't get in any crazy trouble really. I probably just jinxed myself saying that dumb shit. People see you and they get intimidated and want to call the police Last night, we were in the hotel in San Francisco on Market Street. It's a nice little spot. Me and Immortal Technique and some others are chilling at three or four in the morning. One of my shorties had called me and I'm sitting in front of my room in the hall on my phone. This guy walks by. Mind you I didn't even look at him. In the five seconds that he walked by, he runs downstairs and tells security that I'm causing trouble and sleeping in the hallways and my people are wiling out. Mind you, I'm on the phone with shorty so I'm in mack mode. I got my Barry White shit on. I'm sitting against the wall by myself. I didn't even look at dude and he walks by, looks, and I didn't even look at him. Fucking two minutes later, this big security guard comes up like, "Heeey." I'm like, "I'm just on the phone, B. Nobody's doing shit." "I heard that you're sleeping out here." "I'm sitting in front of my room. These are my keys." Whatever, it wasn't nothing. This is just dumb shit. It's little annoying shit. I'm six feet tall and 296 pounds. They see a big black motherfucker, not to be on no racist shit, but it's true, and they get intimidated. Motherfuckers are faggots. I was just sitting there talking on the phone to a girl and you have to go and call somebody. I wasn't even looking at you. You weren't even on my fucking radar, but you have to go and get security. Motherfuckers are sweet. It ain't nothing. God is on my side. A lot of things could have happened and situations could have been a lot worse. There are a lot of people that don't have no love for us. For the most part, I stay out of trouble. HipHopGame has your back. Word up, man. I know you got my back. You always got love for me. "Hip Hop Disciples Part XIV." I remember when I was Artist of the Month and people were hating like where did I come from and saying I was so wack. I read it every so often and people say shit like, "He lost to my man in a battle." Who cares? Does your man have a record out? No. Shut the fuck up. If you want gauge something on an MC battle, then that motherfucker has some issues with Hip Hop. If your claim to fame is you beat Poison Pen in a battle, and that's it, sorry, man. Who fucking cares? I got some lines ready. Let me tell you, the last guy that tried to battle me on stage, I yoked him up. It was somewhere on the East that wasn't New York. I was up on stage and this dude just felt the urge to start rhyming about me. If I'm in a battle and there for a battle, which I don't even do anymore, shit, I haven't battled in 100,000 years…I'm a host. If I'm there for a battle, I don't care what you say. That's the nature of the sport. Whoever wins, wins, and whoever loses, loses. This dude felt the urge to come at Poison Pen. I had already gotten paid so it really didn't matter. He didn't say anything hot, but he was definitely talking about me. I stepped off stage and I stuck out my hand like I was going to give him a pound, and I yanked him off the stage and handled him. "Dude, I ain't here for that. Watch your fucking mouth. What the fuck are you talking about me for? I'm not here to battle. Shut the fuck up with that bullshit." Word. It's not even about being nice no more. In the underground, there are different levels. The mixtape battle rappers aren't nothing but spitting about how good their guns are and how they fuck your sister. Then the underground is saying "you look like this person's illegitimate son" and "the only reason your girl does this and that is because of me." Neither one is hot. They're both corny. It's about who can out-thug who or it's a comedy-fest. Motherfuckers don't even have to be on beat no more. It's fucking pitiful. They just tell jokes over a beat. I like jokes. I laugh at jokes. I'm not going to mention any names because I don't have beef, but I've seen this one dude and he's mega-funny. He's talking some battle shit, but is he really nice as an MC or is he just a funny nigga? He's not nice. I'm not a comedian. I say funny shit and I have a funny personality, but I'm not a comedian. If you want someone who can spit a million jokes and be mad funny, then that motherfucker will always win. Richard Pryor, Rest in Peace, could have been a battle champ. That doesn't mean he'd be an ill rapper. Battles don't engage anything anymore. I've seen the Fight Klub battles. There are a lot of motherfuckers that are entertaining. Winning a battle only means that you were hot on a particular day. Battling has nothing to do with you making records or songs. When I was battling, I'm going to keep it funky, my songs were wack. My battery is dying. What do you want to say to everyone? To my fans, good looking. This dude walked up to me yesterday and bought four CD's. I was like, "Why'd you buy four CD's?" "They might get scratched up. You're a legend, dog." If you support me, thank you. I'm a big motherfucker but I'm a small speck on the radar right now. I'm going to keep working towards expanding the name and expanding the grind. If you know who I am now, that's what it is, you can tell everybody else. If you're not feeling me, all right, whatever. I don't really have anything to say to you. I'm not going to fight you if you don't like me. I take issue when you start yelling out negative comments. Then it's a problem. If you feel me, good. I appreciate that with all my heart and soul, and I mean that from the bottom of my soul. I really appreciate that. You really have a choice with so many motherfuckers that rap. If you're not feeling my shit, it's all right. It's cool. At the end of the day, it's whatever. Like I said, there's 300 million people in this country. Fuck it, that's what it is. Thanks to everybody. Stronghold all day. Emveez, DuckDown, N.A. Rock, I'm still in Bed Stuy, 11216.

By Brian Kayser

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