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11/6/2008 You’ve been on the road with Sean Price for the last month. What’s it like being on the road with him?  It’s crazy. It’s great. I love being on the road with him and doing shows and shit. It’s been cool.  Your debut album Indestructible is finally out. How does that feel?  Shoot, I don’t even know how to feel. I was just like, ‘Damn!’ I’m excited about this shit. I just hope this shit does good.  Was it ever frustrating waiting all these years to have an album with proper promotion come out?  Yeah. Yeah, it was a lot of waiting. I was dropping different albums and shit. I was on Select before and I was putting out a lot of singles and shit. It’s all good though. I wasn’t stressed like that but you know, I was waiting to put my shit out though. It’s all right.  You released a few mixtapes in the past as well. What were you able to do on Indestructible that you couldn’t do on your mixtapes?  The whole album is not going to be like freestyle verses. On my album I was trying to make more singles and songs with concepts. I was trying to put a classic album together. On mixtapes you just go in and you spit. I was just trying to make a classic album, man, and I think that’s what I did.  Did you get everything you wanted for Indestructible?  Yeah. I hit up the producers that I fuck with. There are some main producers that I fuck with like P.F. Cuttin and Black Milk. It was good. I worked on it for like, almost a year and now it’s time.  Why did you keep the cameos on Indestructible so limited?  I could have anybody on the album like Black Moon, Buckshot or Smif N Wessun. Everybody was doing their own thing and I wasn’t stressing nobody. By the time it was finished I didn’t even want to change it to put somebody else on it. It was good like it was. Actually Sean Price is supposed to be on “Wipe Off Ya Smile” but the engineer who was mixing it down actually put my sister’s verse on there instead and we kept it like that.  Are you kind of happy that there aren’t any guest spots that overshadow you?  Yeah. Then dudes can’t say that I did good numbers because everybody else is on it. I’m Ruste Juxx and I can hold my own on this shit.  How important was it to showcase the talent your late sister Blaze had?  Man, I was so surprised when I played the joint on there. I was like, ‘Wow, I got her on my album!’ She passed before I recorded it and I got a song dedicated to her. When you hear what I’m saying on the song, you can hear what type of person she was. That shit is good.  Was it hard for you to write and record “Blaze My Fire” tribute song?  Yeah because I kind of, like, waited until the end of the album to do that, you know? I was trying to find the right beat for that and it was hard for me to do that. It’s only been a year now that she passed. She passed last year. The shit was hard, man, but once I found the right track I was able to do it.  Do you have more tracks of hers to release?  Well, she had a single on one of my homeboy’s albums called “Once Upon A Cloud.” I’m going to put that one something. But she doesn’t really have no other material. She was on my mixtapes.  Your album has a wide range of song topics. How important was it to show different sides of yourself?  I wanted to showcase what I could do. You’re not just going to get me being hardcore all the time. I can be funny and silly and I can talk about loving my girl and whatever. On “Optimistic” I can talk about some optimistic-type shit. Somebody might like me more for “Optimistic” or somebody might like me more for “Machine Gun Skunk.” It’s for everybody.  The project is titled “Sean Price Presents Ruste Juxx.” What exactly did Sean P do?  (laughs) Nothing. (laughs) I don’t know. He’s just Sean P.  So him being Sean P was enough.  Yeah, exactly. (laughs) Yep. He put his stamp on it and shit so everybody will really hear it. They might not want it in their stores if it just says Ruste Juxx. If Sean P stamps it, it gives it that extra push.  You’ve been associated pretty closely with Sean Price. Do you think that will die down as you establish yourself more as a solo artist?  It doesn’t matter. That’s my man and we’re going to still continue to do music so either way, it’s all good.  Are you happy with the feedback you’ve gotten from the fans so far for Indestructible?  Yeah. Since we’ve been on tour everybody’s been feeling the new joints we’ve been performing. The album has been selling good on the road. The people are buying it. They’re peeping my MySpace and they’re feeling it. We’re just praying for the best.  You released a single “Vic Flair” over a year ago and it’s not on the album. Why?  Well, really it was because the producer, I forgot his name. (laughs) I didn’t know how to get in contact with him. That’s the real reason. And it’s my man. I mean, we was cool for a minute and then I just lost contact with him so I couldn’t actually use it. But it helped though. It was a buzz single. It set it up for the album. Everybody was feeling “Vic Flair” and the video got a lot of clicks on YouTube. It’s all good. We got it on The Prelude mixtape to my album so people can get it on there.  You glossed yourself “Vic Flair” throughout the album. Who’s your favorite wrestler?  Hulk Hogan! I was a Hulkamaniac back in the day! I was Hulk Hogan like a motherfucker, man! I was eating my vitamins and saying my prayers. I fuck with Ric Flair too. Hulk Hogan is the greatest, man!  No doubt. Have you started working on your next album?  Oh, hell yeah, man! I’m trying to get everything together for that. I’m working on that immediately. We’re still on tour so when I get back I’m going to start working on that. I’m trying to get some shit from Khrysis. You’ll be hearing a lot more from me now. I’m trying to spread the word and hopefully will get a tour going in a month or so or something so I can get out and really promote the album and do a Ruste Juxx tour and give everybody some good shows because I’ll be tearing them shows up. It’s some good music. The shows are great too.  What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you and Sean P while you’ve been on tour?   Well, we’ve seen a whole bunch of crazy things. There was this dude who was supposed to be selling us some weed. By the time we got to the hotel, he was looking like the police. This motherfucker came to the door and everything he said sounded like a cop. He was like, ‘You got the cheddar?’ We were like, ‘What?’ It was crazy. Shit was crazy. You got a bunch of weirdoes, man. You gotta be there to see that shit. It’s crazy. We got a bunch of drunks at our shows acting up but it’s cool.

By Brian Kayser

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