The state of West Coast Rap… Maybe this Game nigga will bring the majors back out West… you know… without Nelly, Chingy never gets a deal… Without Twista, that new Chicago nigga never gets a deal… Kanye did wonders for backpack niggas, Eminem gave white boys salvation in a post-Vanilla Ice industry. Lil Whyte and Bubba, Haystack and them all owe Em’ some gratitude. So maybe Game can get the light back on the West, but I’ll tell you why it doesn’t matter. Number one, when we say West Coast, subconsciously, we’re sayin California. And when we say California, subconsciously, we’re saying Los Angeles and her satellite cities (Compton, Long Beach, etc…), so Game’s success will do nothing for Northern Cali and Cali as a whole unless that niggas do what Pac did and unite Northern and Southern California rappers. Then there’s a bigger issue… you gotta sell records. Game’s success is a result of 50 Cent, Dr. Dre and Eminem’s public endorsement and Jimmy Iovine’s private investment. That’s literally some major shit. But who is Game on his own and what can he do for himself, as 50 Cent did post-Get Rich Or Die Tryin’? That will determine if the West will benefit from his success. But like I was saying… Record sales… man, we depend too heavily on California for record sales. It’s like NY got in the late 80’d and early 90’s. We act like we don’t need the USA as a whole. We’re all “Fuck this and fuck that” but we cryin’ cuz our shit won’t sell? (ha ha ha) But , okay, fuck New York, fuck everywhere right? So now what? Man, the West Coast is not just California, and it definitely ain’t just LA. Shit, Yukmouth could murder half the rappers in LA on his own, and we got Hyroglyphics for that lyrical shit. Nor Cal got fire. E-A Ski got beats as hard as Dr. Dre, and fools forget that Ric Roc and Cyper Clef and Federation is from Sacramento. Dr. Dre uses Ric Roc beats himself, so what’s really good? Jayo is hard as fuck, but he’s from San Diego! He ain’t no LA nigga. Besides the nigga Crooked I, don’t know no LA niggas blow me away as no emcees, cuzz, and that includes Kurupt becuz that niggas not writing, he is freestyling, and hot albums ain’t made that way. Ras Kass is god in LA. I mean, they exist, but it’s bigger than Southern and Northern Cali. We need to be in the streets of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Shit,, Kansas City loves Cali niggas, too. These places combine to create the West Coast, and if we actually networked and impacted these states, we would be platinum every album without a NY or Southern nigga ever even buyin’ our shit. Master P proved it and, evidently, nobody in Cali paid attention! He used states that were being neglected… Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas to go platinum. As a result of lockin’ down home, the USA came to him as a whole to see what all the fuss was about, which took him 5X platinum. And he did it all with wack-ass music. So what’s really? In my opinion, no matter how good or bad the music, the West Coast will never achieve non-Dr. Dre or Snoop Dogg assisted success until we do what they did… establish love in areas other than just California. Until then, the Guerilla Blacks and the whoever-the-fucks, including me, will continue to achieve underground legend status and that alone. Otherwise, E-40 would be platinum plus. I’m gonna try to do it, but I’ll need a lot of help and time, both of which I got plenty. As far as Sac-Town rap, I think we got some of the best cadences and deliveries in the game, but the lyrics are basted on nothing 60% of the time. It’s all murder, battle, bitches and I kinda started it… (ha ha ha) So now I gotta alter it a bit. I’ll give ‘em something else to follow as an example when Unforgiven Volume 2 drops.
WorldWideConnected.com: What rappers are you feeling the most right now? And what rappers are you not feeling? And also, do you have beef with Shyne?
I’m feeling different dudes for different reasons. I like Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit becuz of the beats, and Eminem and Young Buck’s rhymes. I like to see anybody smash and be successful, and Dr. Dre’s success is a beautiful thing to me, as a fan of over 20 years. The nigga influenced me more than anybody, period, ever, so I root for Dre to succeed. However you shake it, without Dre, we’d really be in trouble out West becuz at least Dre could blow one of us up… who else we got who could do it? Snoop? (ha ha ha) Then why ain’t Soopafly and them blew? Becuz Snoop can only blow up Snoop, and even that’s becuz of Dre, so it all comes back to Dre, so I’m feelin’ Aftermath. Besides Aftermath, I basically buy everything becuz I’m a competitive nigga. I’ll listen to Twista and love it, write a rhyme to his beats that are just as fast as his shit… just to prove it to my fam… Then I move on… I look for reasons to write, like Jordan looked for reasons to drop 40 on niggas. “Oh, that nigga thinks he’s fast?” (ha ha ha) But it’s cuz I love that shit. I’m a Twista fan of over a decade. I’ve owned everything he ever released. People said Pac was a prolific writer becuz he had accumulated so many songs… So I wrote 200 in two years to determine whether or not I am gifted, whether or not I deserve the crown. I got rid of the garbage, most of it, I hope (ha ha ha) and I had about 150 songs. I dropped Unforgiven Vol 1, Nefarious, Vengeance Iz Mine, Initiation and Sac-A-Indo in a three year span without ever repeating a rhyme! At 15 songs per album, that’s 75 songs I dropped in 36 months… So who’s prolific? I get my motivation from niggas I like. Their struggles and successes inspire me, so Twista is the man to me. I like Ludacris a lot. Killa Tay is, like, my favorite to hear at any time. He's great. Luni Coleone makes me laugh… I threw rocks with that nigga as a kid, real ones and coke ones, so it’s like, “Hey, it’s MONTERIO RAPPING!” It amazes me. As far as who I’m not feeling… It fluctuates. Every emcee is capable of a wack rhyme, even me… Just less likely than, say, your Nelly’s and Chingy’s. But I’m not feelin’ any nigga rippin’ off his shit and singin’ a hook who ain’t clearly an R&B artist. I ain’t feelin’ no nigga who is hard in his rhymes and a bitch on the street. I ain’t feelin’ no nigga who ain’t workin’ to advance Hip Hop. Basically, I ain’t feelin’ that intentionally Pop Hip Hop, it sucks. And no, I ain’t got beef wit’ Shyne. I don’t even know that nigga. I disliked the way the media tried to tell ME, X-Raided Loc, that Shyne was “The Truth”. I disliked the media sayin’ he accomplished something unparalleled when the LIFERS GROUP, MAC DRE, and then I put out nationally distributed albums from jail first. And his shit wasn’t MADE in jail, it was unreleased shit from before/during his trial, so they tried to play us. Man, I’ve dropped, what, six long players from WITHIN’ THE PRISONS, without permission, been in “the hole” for it for months of my life, and you wanna tell me SHYNE is the truth? (ha ha ha) I reject that enthusiastically. I wish the brother great success. I’ve been told by the right people that the kid is a solid dude, so Thug King to Godfather, I wish the nigga the best, on the Blocc, even if I got a little angry about that Def Jam deal! (ha ha ha) If Shyne’s the truth… I’m the Holy Grail, dogg. I’m jus’ sayin.
WorldWideConnected.com: What do you think about 2Pac’s new album?
I didn’t get to hear Pac’s new album ‘cuz I’m in the hole right now. But I have it. I’ll knock it ASAP. It’s in my boxes of property as we speak.
WorldWideConnected.com: Who would you want to work with that you have not worked with yet?
Who would I wanna work with that I haven’t… Damn, jan, I’ll work wit’ the kid with a palm top studio to the nigga workin’ at Sony Studios. I’m an emcee, fam… I will rhyme with anybody even if I dislike the nigga… ‘Cuz I could still want to stomp him on his own track (ha ha ha) Man, I’m from the true school! My “dreams” aren’t about who I could rap with, it’s more who I could rap for and who could produce my shit. I’d love to live in the studio with Dre for a year. We would change the game. I’d re-energize that nigga and give him another 5 years of fire. And I’d love to write an album for Ice Cube ‘cuz he’s, like, not too focused. I could take him back to the FIRE. He is a West Coast legend. I’d love to write some Too Short shit… Give him the inspiration he once gave me… Give them my YOUTH. Man, I’d work with a million muh fuccas… Anybody who ain’t wack and/or disrespecting the culture. And I’d work with Alicia Keys too, Alicia got great beats.
WorldWideConnected.com: Are you still working on your autobiography? When do you think it will be released?
Yup… Still workin’ on my autobiography. I have Soren Baker and Billy Jam supporting me with the book thing, and we’re looking to secure a deal for it as we speak. I hope to get it released this year… there is no reason why we shouldn’t.