Dubcnn sat down with Bay Area rapper The Jacka to talk about his new album “Tear Gas”. He tells us about the making of the album, working with Devin The Dude and Freeway, and the many other artists he collaborated with on his album.
Jacka also tells us about the future of the Mob Figaz now that Husalah is out, and he touched on his current relationship with C-Bo. We also speak about the Bay Area scene, which up and coming artists to watch out for and Jack spits some knowledge for the youngsters.
Interview By: Nima Etminan of www.dubcnn.com
Dubcnn: We linked up with The Jacka today to talk about his new album “Tear Gas”. I ran into you the other day at Yukmouth’s in-store for his new album at Rasputins, and a lot of people came out to support: Keak Da Sneak, Mistah FAB, Dru Down and yourself amongst others. Is that something that ya’ll do often, or was that a rare occasion?
You know, Yuk lives in L.A., so everytime he comes up with come f-ck with him, and everytime we go to L.A., we go f-ck with him. But everybody out here, we all pretty much get along with each other man. It ain’t really nothing, it’s love, the way you see artists come together down south or in the mid-west. We do it the same way. Everybody got a name for themselves, but we’re all cool with each other. So if anyone of them people that you seen had something going on, we would have all been there, same way.
Dubcnn: Your album “Tear Gas” has been a long time coming. Now that it’s out, did it come out the way you originally wanted it to?
I had to run it through a new distribution and to leave a few songs off the album due to some samples that I couldn’t clear, but other than that it was something new. I sold a lot of records, at a faster pace than I have in the past. It’s a new experience for me, I like the music. It’s definitely setting the bar real high for up and coming artists trying to come out. You gotta see what else is out there and what your competition is.
Dubcnn: You got a lot of features on the album, how did you pick the artists that you wanted to collaborate with?
I f-ck with who f-cks with me. Whoever is cool with me, that’s who I’m cool with. A lot of them were just feeling what I was doing anyway, so we just got down. Pretty much everybody on the album is a good friend of mine, so it ain’t like I had to go all out and search for these guys or nothing like that. It just happened.
Dubcnn: My personal favorite is the song with Devin The Dude, how did you hook up with him?
My producer MG, he had Devin in the lab, he came to town while I was working on my album. I came into the studio, I was loaded as usual, gone off the lean, I was leaning like a muthaf-cka. That’s when I was on it heavy. Sh-t, he was a cool ass cat, real laid back, he looked past the fact that I was leaning hella hard, so I couldn’t really express myself as much as I wanted to to him. The raps and everything was cool, but I really wanted to holla at him a little more at that time. But I was so loaded that I couldn’t do it. But it was cool, he’s a real cat and I get a lot of compliments on that song.
Dubcnn: What about Freeway?
Freeway came to town, same way. He’s a cool dude, we burnt a couple, had some cherry pie. Cherry Pie is the new sh-t out here, the new weed we smoke out here, only a very few selected people get it. We got some of that, smoked, listened to a couple tracks and he was like “This one!”. He hopped on, that’s it! He’s a muslim, we’re both muslims, so you get a automatic bond with somebody who’s a muslim and who’s doing the same thing you’re doing. It ain’t no reason not to do it.
Dubcnn: Would you say that you being a muslim influences the music that you make?
Yeah, definitely. I have to teach people the same way I was taught. It’s tough, we all live a certain lifestyle, but the ultimate goal is to become muslim, one who submits his will to God, 100%. It’s a lot of traps on the way to keep you down, but we just look at that as the mental war you gotta try to overcome. It ain’t easy, we’re only human, and Allah has given me a lot of chances and a lot of breaks. We’re just trying to work with what we’ve got, do our best and be our best. It definitely influences my music, there’s an Islamic message in my music for sure.
Dubcnn: an we expect a video to come out from your album?
Oh yeah. I got the one with me and Cellski, we just shot that video, so that’s gonna come out. Then I got the one with Andre Nickatina, “Glamorous Lifestyle”, that’s about to be out. We finna shoot a video for damn near every song on the album, so watch out! We’ve already got ideas on how we wanna do most of them, so look for that.
Dubcnn: We heard that Hussalah is free now.
Yeah!
Dubcnn: Have you seen him since he’s been out?
Yeah, I’ve seen him since he’s been out, a few times. We still get it in, he gotta do what he gotta do to get that sh-t off his deck. He’s in a halfway house right now, which means he can only stay out till like 2:30pm, or he would be here right now! He just gotta do what he gotta do, it’s unfortunate that sometimes sh-t like that happens, he’s missing out on his family time, and trying to do the rap thang and all that, he’s caught up. That’s why some of you young n-ggas, you really gotta look at that sh-t and learn from it. A lot of sh-t come along with f-cking off in the streets man. When something like that happens, it’ll all f-ck you over in the long run. It might work for a little bit and you’re having fun and living life, but then when it all comes down on you, you probably don’t wanna deal with that all the shit that comes along with it. If you do it, you gotta just learn to not f-ck with muthaf-ckas, period, and use your own brain. If something don’t feel right, don’t f-ck with it. Just try to do something to better yourself, better your situation. Muthaf-ckas only sell dope to better their situation, not because they’re trying to be cool or no shit like that. I know people from the ghetto, though. Learn from our mistakes and muthaf-ckas who you’ve seen f-ck themselves. Once you’re in the feds, you’re -ucked! And you f-cking the n-ggas that’s around you too, cause you’re hot! That makes us all hot. So ya’ll n-ggas be cool out there, man.
Dubcnn: Can we expect a new Mob Figaz project?
Hell yeah! That’s all people have been talking about! Me, I’m with it, I’m already with it! I’m just waiting on a few things, once that is out of the way then it’s gonna be over! That boy Fed-X he with me everyday, I’m just waiting on a few people, get everything out the way and then we’re gonna kick in! Once Hus gets out of his little situation, that’s really what the big wait is. We’re waiting on him to get out of his little situation over there at the halfway house. We’ll be in the lab everyday!
Dubcnn: The first time I heard from the Mob Figaz was through C-Bo. What’s your current relationship with him?
He’s still the man. We still love C-Bo man. When you got genuine love for somebody and sh-t, it don’t go nowhere. We never fell out or no shit like that. He’s a thug, he’s a sav, he goes to prison just like everybody else. He get locked up, he do what he gotta do to support his family. Sometimes, when you’re out there like that, that’s the type of sh-t that happens. But if it wasn’t for Bo, I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair right now telling you anything! You know what I mean? I gotta respect that n-gga for the rest of my life, no matter what. I’m hella happy. I love that n-gga, man. We all still get along and nobody ever fell out with nobody, it was never no problems, no beef, we never broke up, it’s still the same sh-t!
Dubcnn: For those who ain’t up on the Bay Area scene right now, who would you say are the top artists from the Bay right now that we should be watching out for?
Definitely the Mob Figaz man, every one of my n-ggas is ridiculous. D.B. The General, he’s hot, Sleepy D is hot, Dubb 20 is ridiculous, the list goes on and on Young Scoop. Zo The Roaster he’s hot. These are young hot cats that I’m naming. But we’re always gonna last, keep it lit and keep that dope sh-t coming.
Dubcnn: Alright, before we go is there anything else you wanna let everybody know?
If you wanna check me out hit me up on the MySpace I got the music and the videos up on there. Hit me on Twitter too, It’s numerous things you can do, You can go to iTunes and download everything I’ve ever owned or put out. You can go to a local moms and pop store and buy the CD’s. Everything you can do to support The Jacka, cause I ain’t gonna let you down baby!
Buy @ Rapbay
Listen To “Tear Gas” here
www.myspace.com/thejackamobfigaz
Ap.9 Speaks about his album “I Am Legend” (An exclusive preview of the album will be available here on thebaymusic.com soon if you didn’t get a chance to listen to the Album) along with Young Gasz. J. GiB talks about his hit new single “Sidekick” Featuring Rawsmoov. Then Ap.9 speaks on the Husalah. The Mob Figaz are re-united and we can now expect a new Mob Figaz album.
http://www.myspace.com/ap9
http://www.myspace.com/takeovaent
Bay Area Producers Conference 2009 from Juan Bonilla on Vimeo.
Good Felaz Ent. & Management welcomes you and is proud to present the first annual bay Area Producers Conference in San Francisco California, held at the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Saturday July 25, 2009.
The Bay Area Producers Conference is a one-day workshop that will serve as a venue for upcoming producers, artists and the music industry as a whole to network and learn more about the music business and its different branches. Our workshop will provide great panelists including celebrity producers and artists from the Bay Area, information about new production gear, technology promotion, A&R, publishing, management and representation.
For Sponsorship opportunities please contact Mario Flores at bapc415@gmail.com.
To buy tickets go to http://www.bayareaproducersconference.com
By Brandon Michael Dunlap
West Coast Gangsta rap veteran Spice 1 is not a grumpy old man. But dude is pissed about the state of the music he has spent the greater part of two decades etching with his thought-filled hardcore rhymes.
In the early ’90s, coming in on the back of a well-known Bay area comrade Too Short, Spice quickly established himself with memorable joints like “187 Proof ,” “In My Neighborhood” and “Welcome to the Ghetto.” Obtaining a slot on the Jive Records roster two years out of high school, the Hayward, CA native felt fairly quickly the woes of labels pressure versus an artist’s fight to protect his own raw musical vision.
Though releasing a chart-topping self-titled major label debut, platinum plaques, and over a million records sold, Spice 1 still found himself chasing his dream without the backing of Jive and the commercialized Rap music machine. Since then he has learned the independent game brick-by-brick from the ground up, released more than 15 solo albums and spawning his own Thug World imprint¾this year marks the label’s first album in his sixteenth solo Home Sweet Home.
After recovering from a gun shot to the chest from an attempted carjacking in 2007 that left him in critical condition, Spice 1 takes his life and his music a whole lot more seriously these days. No wonder the voice that once inspired 2Pac, finds it hard to have sympathy for all the pop star wannabe rappers in rotation now.
AllHipHop.com: Why do you think it seems like you have been gone from the game, but in fact you never left?
Spice 1: Because I guess all of my projects since I’ve been off Jive in the ’90s have been independent projects. I’ve just been putting out as much material as I can to stay afloat, keep my fans happy and keep something out there. But most of the material I’ve been dropping has been independent underground projects. They’re probably mainstream, listening to some of that kiddy a** s**t, that’s probably why they haven’t heard. Those motherf**kas are too busy listening to the damn radio and listening to that fake s**t everybody tells them they’re supposed to listen to, when the real s**t is on the underground.
AllHipHop.com: Back in the day you were sort of discovered by Too Short. But as an artist, why does it seem like you quickly stepped out from Short’s shadow while both of you were at Jive together as a Bay Area artists?
Spice 1: Short was definitely responsible for bringing me out and into the game. But we were both different types of artists, both different as individuals. Jive really was intending to corner the Bay real hard, but I’ve always been on my own s**t.
AllHipHop.com: People always respect cats like Too Short, Dre, Pac, Cube and Snoop as pioneers of the West Coast. Obviously you’ve been around a long time, do you feel like people give you your props as a pioneer for the West?
Spice 1: To a certain extent in the streets, yeah. But in the industry, no. I think a lot of these industry cats, real n****s in the industry they’ll give me my props but these fake ass motherf**kas, no; they’re not going to give me props because they can’t do what I can do. Some motherf**kas when they see a n***a that can do something that they can’t do, they want to hate on that s**t. But some real n****s will see that and respect it. But most hate on that s**t, that’s probably why a n***a doesn’t have his props like he is supposed to.
AllHipHop.com: Does that bother you at all?
Spice 1: It does bother me, but what am I supposed to do? All I can do is keep dropping albums. I mean, I’m arguing with certain people that don’t even know I had videos on MTV, or that I’ve been No. 1 on the Billboard three times in a row on some gangsta s**t. It’s motherf**kas that don’t know I sold half a million copies in one week. Some motherf**kas that don’t even know I dropped my first album with no features and went platinum. It’s motherf**kas that don’t even know that s**t and still want to criticize me and say, “He’s underground. He’s a legend in his own mind, he don’t know s**t, and he ain’t nobody.”
Those are the motherf**kas that need a swift kick, a long ass size 14 in they’re ass. They need to go check their rap history and see what a real n***a is about, because they’re all stuck on this jumping around, kiddy ass bulls**t. I’ll put it this way, the only reason I’m still in the industry is because I think that real rap music has the chance to come back.
AllHipHop.com: People look at artists today like Lil’ Wayne and all the high volume of mixtape material and collabos he’s had in recent years…but over the course of your career you have released over 14 or 15 solo albums almost year after year, not to mention collabos and compilations since the early ’90s. What has kept you going, staying consistent in the game for so long?
Spice 1: Just that right there, the point of being able to crush other MCs and the wack ass rappers. Just being able to smash on fake n****s keeps me motivated to do this. I’m just waiting on one of these non-rapping ass n****s to say something so I can eat they’re ass up. Show them how a real rap artist gets down instead of all these n****s rapping about all this fake ass s**t that they rap about, that’s the only thing that keeps me motivated. That and the money, taking care of my kids and having a nice life, that’s fine but you’re supposed to have that in life anyway. Your goal is supposed to be for some real stuff, not all this, “I get money, I got b*tches,” and that’s it. That’s not what life is all about. Some of these motherf**kas think that’s what it is and that’s all they can rap about. They need to expand they’re mind or something.
AllHipHop.com: When you were being picked up by Jive in 1992, you were only 21 years old. Talking about the streets and a lot of hardcore stuff at such a young age, creatively, how were you able to release so much of that type of music on a major label?
Spice 1: It’s just so much to talk about. I constantly write and I’m always thinking about something to say, s**t is always in the back of my head. It’s just f**ked up because I’ll be touching on valid points and the s**t doesn’t get heard because of a lack of marketing and promotion. That’s why I don’t understand where they come in with this fake ass funny rap s**t. Reggae music had substance, even pop music had substance, they talk about the real life. Rock music has substance, but this s**t that these n****s are rapping about has no substance to song, and it’s not music. It’s not feeding my soul like it’s supposed to.
That’s my whole point about this, these youngsters, they want a motherf****r to respect them. N***a, eat me up on the mic and then I’ll respect you! Like all that ol’ Soulja Boy s**t, man that ain’t no battle. I ain’t dissing that little n***a. I don’t have time to be dissing no punk puny ass b***h ass n***a, I’m an OG, a real gangsta. I don’t have time to argue with no little kid, but as far as a n***a having skills, I can respect that. Back in the day if a n***a even thought about dissing a respected rapper like Ice T would get handled, he is a straight OG. And as far as a motherf**ka not knowing how to rap at all, I can respect a n***a getting his paper but he is lying to the game and the fans. I think they’re being cheated because the n***a can’t rap his way out of a plastic bag. But they’re buying his s**t, thinking it’s the business, and the radio is playing that s**t all hard.
AllHipHop.com: The Spiceberg Slim album marked your first release since Let It Be Known that you were without the backing of a major label. After leaving Jive, did going independent make things harder or easier for you to do your thing?
Spice 1: I was 21 when I dropped my first CD, and I was on a major label. I didn’t know s**t about [the] independent game at all when I got off Jive. All I knew was major label signing. So I kind of had to start all over. And all the way until I was 27, when I got off of Jive it was ‘99 and I was released into the water where the sharks were. I was sheltered by the major labels for so long, by the time they let me out into the wild, I didn’t know how to survive.
I had to learn how to work it, market, distribute, promote and I had to learn how to do all that independently all over again. That’s why it took me so long to get me back to the point where I am now, comfortable with the independent s**t. I had to learn that again and on top of that deal with getting shot, going to jail, my pops passing away and my momma having cancer.
AllHipHop.com: Do you have any regrets?
Spice 1: Well I just really wish I would have known more at my age, but that was impossible at that age, to know how to run a record label at 21 years old. All I could do then was write music and perform. As far as knowing the business, I never went to college for that or anything, I had to learn from on-hand experience. There are a few regrets but the most thing that came off the regrets is that I got what I wanted, respect and to respect my mind. As far as my props, real n****s give me those and the fake n****s are going to hate.
AllHipHop.com: Being in the game for so long, how do you feel about the industry today? And even coming out of your own hood with the hyphy movement, what do you think of these new bloods, when you talk about substance?
Spice 1: Again when you talk about substance, it’s just sort of like I’m here, I’m the s**t, I’ve got my hands in the air, (What! What! What!) That is what the hyphy movement is about to me. It’s all about partying, dancing and jumping up and down—that’s fine. But I grew up listening to Marvin Gaye and real s**t. So I feel that music should have some type of substance or soul and I’m not getting it from this hyphy movement, I’m not getting it from crunk music, I’m not getting it from nothing but motherf**kas like Pac, Scarface, the older rap artists. And it doesn’t have anything to do with their age, I mean we were 21 years old writing songs like “Welcome to the Ghetto.” So why can’t one of these 21-year-old motherf**kas write s**t like that now?
Why are they too busy writing about some bulls**t that don’t make any damn sense in their 20s? They’re too busy worrying about how much ass they’re going to get and how many b***hes are going to be on their nuts, when that isn’t even important. What would n****s rap about if we were in the middle of World War IV¾their cars and b***hes? They don’t know nothing about real life. I’m just looking at it like f**k the cars, f**k the b***hes and f**k the money, now write your rap.
AllHipHop.com: It’s been nearly two years now since you were shot. Did that happening change anything for you in your life or your career? How has it affected you?
Spice 1: To keep it real, it just made me want to shoot the next motherf**ka that walks past me. And it got me to the point, where I used to be like, “That n***a has a gun, let me get the f**k out of his face.” Now I already know what that feels like, “You’re going to have to use that motherf**ka.” I can’t say it has changed me in a positive way, because I was already positive. It got me to the point where I had to control myself because I’m mad as f**k this b***h ass n***a shot me and ran. It was crazy too because I usually always carry my piece on me and that just happened to be the day I didn’t. A lot of people would think it would make a n***a soft, but it actually put about 30 pounds on me, so I am bigger than I was before.
But it made me write more real s**t, of course I wrote real s**t before. But it really made me want to come harder and realer than ever before. I’ll tell you one thing though, I’m happy it was a b***h ass n***a that shot me, I’ll tell you that much. Because if it was a real n***a, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.
AllHipHop.com: Also you’re preparing to release a new album this year Home Sweet Home on your own label, what can people expect from it?
Spice 1: They can definitely expect for my s**t to not sound like everybody else. I ain’t dissing nobody on there and there is no T-Pain on my s**t. Everybody is trying to sound like T-Pain now, but I’m giving him his props. My fans can actually look forward to hearing something different. My music has always been the soundtrack to my life, I’m not copying anybody. We also have Scarface, Devin the Dude, Katt Williams, Daz Dillinger, David Hollister from Blackstreet, San Quinn and Clyde Carson, and a few more local cats. There is a going to be some L.A. cats and we’re going to get [Too] Short on there. I didn’t want too many features but that’s enough.
Be looking for Home Sweet Home, sometime in July and we’re going to start pushing the single called “Candy.” It’s like a “187 Proof” but I made women sound like different candy. It’s hot s**t, for the ears of females, males, young and old. Right now, we’re in the process of getting Thug World together and I signed myself to my own label. This album is the first album I’m dropping on that label, so I’m putting more energy, blood, sweat and tears into this one than I did for damn near all of my albums put together.
Source/For more information: AllHipHop.com
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