Thug ‘til I die: Mopreme of Thug Life
by JR
www.sfbayview.com/081303/...1303.shtml
Some might know him as “Mocedes, the mellow, quite a nice fellow, met three T and hit a rhyme acappella” from the Tonies’ hit “It Feels Good.” Some might know him as Mopreme from Thug Life. Some might know him as the big brother of Tupac, and others might know him as the son of Mutulu Shakur, the Black political prisoner who is still caged in a Georgia concentration camp. The Brotha definitely brought a lot of history to this innerview and had a lot to say to open people’s eyes. We brought this to the Black August panel because it is important for younger generations to be tied in directly to the issue of political prisoners, and who better to present the issue than the son of one, a street credible rapper, and the brother of Pac? So there we go. Check him …
Mopreme, rapper/dancer Medusa and Big Country at Radiotron
JR: What going on with Thug Life? I saw y’all put it down at the Tupac birthday party in Hollywood a few months ago. Tell us what y’all got coming out?
Mopreme: The party was cool. Much respect to the Bay View for doing a write up on it. We’re just trying to stay positive and progressive. We are underground. We haven’t had as much exposure as other groups right now, but we are still on the smash. We just finished the “Thuglaw” album - me, Big Syke, the Outlaws, Thug Life, we got Brother Marquis (2 Live Crew) on there, we got Crucial Conflict, Money B, from Digital - that’s about to drop in September. I am about to do a movie in November, so you know we are just staying on the grind, man.
JR: What have y’all been up to these last few years since Thug Life has been quiet?
Mopreme: We’ve been grieving; we’ve been trying to get back stabilized, you know. We’ve been through a lot on all levels - emotionally, with business relationships. We are trying to get money in the game and still stay in the game. And you know that we are riders, so we’re gonna ride to the wheels fall off, and they ain’t completely fell off yet.
JR: Is it hard grieving the loss of somebody that is as big as Pac, in terms of every time you come around the corner somebody is talking about him, got his music bumping, got his t-shirt on. Does that help or hinder the process?
Mopreme: Especially with me, I had to develop a tough skin. I got to be reminded of it everyday. If I don’t see a video, I hear a song. They are always playing him on the radio, so it became a form of comfort rather than a form of sadness. At least I know that he is always with me. Niggaz respected him. He went out like a soldier, the way that he wanted to go out. You know, so it just became a form of comfort knowing that his spirit is still here.
JR: A lot of people have been saying stuff about Pac on their albums. Some people done tried to sound like him and copy his style. How do you feel about that?
Mopreme: A lot of cats done got carried away, you know what I’m saying? I respect muthaphuckaz who want to give it up - that’s cool to give it up - but don’t try to clone my nigga, you know what I’m saying?
Somebody asked me the other day, they asked me how do I feel about 50. I like 50. I don’t feel like he’s biting Pac though. He gives it up to him in his songs, but he doesn’t bite his style, he doesn’t try to dress like him, it’s just he gives it up.
Some niggaz try to bite my nigga’s style - the way his voice sounds, his rhymes - they try to bite the whole package. You can’t do that. That’s kind of disrespectful, so just keep it in perspective. And the rappers that are out there doing it, you know I don’t even have to say. If somebody asked you what rappers do you know that are out there imitating Pac, you could run off a list. I don’t even have to say. You know the ones who are over the board with it.
JR: How relevant is the movement (for human rights for Black people) relevant to your thinking with you being the son of political prisoner Mutulu Shakur?
Mopreme: Very, very relevant, especially right now. Eventually the rest of the public will get up on it, but we’re still under attack. We’re still under attack. The feds is on top of us, because the feds have always been at the grassroots movement.
The Black Panthers was a grassroots movement - rap, Hip Hop, this thug @#%$ is a grassroots movement - and they don’t want no leaders from this area. Just like the Pac and Biggie thing, the feds was following both of them. Why did they let that happen? Everybody needs to wake up and stay on point and remember the enemy is still out there.
They need to know their enemy, you what I’m saying. They got us @#%$ up. The feds been having a task force on rap for the last five or 10 years - targeting certain groups, certain artists, having them under surveillance - while all this drama and all of this @#%$ is going down. Why is it going down when you got the federal government watching? Why are they letting that happen, you have to ask yourself.
JR: What are some of your fondest memories being in Oakland? You was telling me that you lived in the Town, and I don’t think that a lot of people know that.
Mopreme: Yeah, O-Town, that’s where it got set off for us, between me and Pac - that’s where our first hit record came from. I did “It Feels Good” with Tony Toni Tone in ‘90-’91, you know, and I was living right there by Lake Merrit, like Lakeshore.
Pac was in Marin, but he eventually moved to Oakland. We lived together right there on MacArthur. Pac hooked up with Digital in Oakland; I hooked up with Tony, Toni, Tone in Oakland. Our first shows were there. I first studio experiences were there, so we got a strong love for Oakland, for the Bay Area period.
JR: How did Thug Life start?
Mopreme: Pac always wanted to create his own clique, his own organization, considering the history of the struggle. At first it started out as 50 Niggaz, and eventually 50 Niggaz turned into Thug Life over the years, you know.
JR: What’s up with Big Syke?
Mopreme: Big Syke Daddy, Big Sizzle-lean, he’s doing his thing. You know we’re still underground. He’s putting out the “Thuglaw Chapter 2,” you know. That’s the album that we are all doing together.
JR: Y’all still mess with Jonny J?
Mopreme: Jonny J is still our man; we just seen him. He ain’t (producing) on this album, but we still talk to him and @#%$. He is doing his thing - he got his own company cracking. We trying to get our @#%$ cracking and get some paper out here, you know. This is the second album. It should be out in September.
JR: Who is on there?
Mopreme: Brother Marquis, formerly of the 2 Live Crew, we got Crucial Conflict, Money B from Digital Underground, we got Night Owl from San Diego, we got the Outlawz, so it’s pretty hot. We got my man G-Money. Y’all might know him from the old Pac stuff that we used to do.
JR: What is the highlight of the album? What should we definitely look for?
Mopreme: You should look for the song called “Burn Out” with Thug Life and Crucial Conflict, and that is one of the highlights to me. One of my favorite songs on there, “Death is on the Side of Me,” that’s with Night Owl. So them is a couple of the hot ones.
The Outlawz got like two or three hot ones on it. The family is still here. We just need that support so we can blow and y’all can hear some real @#%$ out there rather than all of the bling bling @#%$, because niggaz need to stay focused and stay conscious because it is a bigger picture going on.
They want us like that. They want us all numb, high and @#%$ up so we don’t see what the @#%$ is going on. But we see what’s going on.
I know that there is a federal task force on Hip Hop, because these niggaz is making too much money for the feds to ignore, because all it takes is one Brotha who knows how to use that money wisely and have the proper support. He can do some major things.
JR: What are your last words to some youngstas in the Bay that look up to y’all?
Mopreme: I would like to say 1 Luv to my catz that’s in the Yay Area. You know how we do it: it’s all love, it’s all good still. We still mashin’, we still repping Oakland with this Outlaw Thug Life @#%$.
I want to tell them to stay focused. Just keep your mind off of the bullshit and just remember Pac’s work ethics. Put the smash down, put the work in, put the work in, put the work in. There’s different guys in the game that has already learned from it. Back to 50 again: look how much material he got out, and that’s from getting Pac’s work ethic - to stay on the grind, stay in the studio.
JR: Last thing, tell people what THUG LIFE means.
Mopreme: The Hate You Gave Little Infants Fucks Everybody - that’s the title that Pac put to it. The Hate You Gave Little Infants Fucks Everybody. Being in our economic class, there ain’t as much nurturing, there ain’t love, there ain’t as much caring. We have to work harder and be stronger to get over our obstacles, and we need to all keep that in mind so that we could overcome our obstacles, because you got to know your enemy.
You got to slow down to see the bumps in the road. If you mashin’ at 120 miles an hour, you’re gonna miss a stop sign, you’re gonna miss a whole bunch of @#%$, and you’re going to end up crashing, you know what I’m saying? So slow down, stay focused, stay alert, and stay away from them narcotics.
Email JR at [email protected].
by JR
www.sfbayview.com/081303/...1303.shtml
Some might know him as “Mocedes, the mellow, quite a nice fellow, met three T and hit a rhyme acappella” from the Tonies’ hit “It Feels Good.” Some might know him as Mopreme from Thug Life. Some might know him as the big brother of Tupac, and others might know him as the son of Mutulu Shakur, the Black political prisoner who is still caged in a Georgia concentration camp. The Brotha definitely brought a lot of history to this innerview and had a lot to say to open people’s eyes. We brought this to the Black August panel because it is important for younger generations to be tied in directly to the issue of political prisoners, and who better to present the issue than the son of one, a street credible rapper, and the brother of Pac? So there we go. Check him …
Mopreme, rapper/dancer Medusa and Big Country at Radiotron
JR: What going on with Thug Life? I saw y’all put it down at the Tupac birthday party in Hollywood a few months ago. Tell us what y’all got coming out?
Mopreme: The party was cool. Much respect to the Bay View for doing a write up on it. We’re just trying to stay positive and progressive. We are underground. We haven’t had as much exposure as other groups right now, but we are still on the smash. We just finished the “Thuglaw” album - me, Big Syke, the Outlaws, Thug Life, we got Brother Marquis (2 Live Crew) on there, we got Crucial Conflict, Money B, from Digital - that’s about to drop in September. I am about to do a movie in November, so you know we are just staying on the grind, man.
JR: What have y’all been up to these last few years since Thug Life has been quiet?
Mopreme: We’ve been grieving; we’ve been trying to get back stabilized, you know. We’ve been through a lot on all levels - emotionally, with business relationships. We are trying to get money in the game and still stay in the game. And you know that we are riders, so we’re gonna ride to the wheels fall off, and they ain’t completely fell off yet.
JR: Is it hard grieving the loss of somebody that is as big as Pac, in terms of every time you come around the corner somebody is talking about him, got his music bumping, got his t-shirt on. Does that help or hinder the process?
Mopreme: Especially with me, I had to develop a tough skin. I got to be reminded of it everyday. If I don’t see a video, I hear a song. They are always playing him on the radio, so it became a form of comfort rather than a form of sadness. At least I know that he is always with me. Niggaz respected him. He went out like a soldier, the way that he wanted to go out. You know, so it just became a form of comfort knowing that his spirit is still here.
JR: A lot of people have been saying stuff about Pac on their albums. Some people done tried to sound like him and copy his style. How do you feel about that?
Mopreme: A lot of cats done got carried away, you know what I’m saying? I respect muthaphuckaz who want to give it up - that’s cool to give it up - but don’t try to clone my nigga, you know what I’m saying?
Somebody asked me the other day, they asked me how do I feel about 50. I like 50. I don’t feel like he’s biting Pac though. He gives it up to him in his songs, but he doesn’t bite his style, he doesn’t try to dress like him, it’s just he gives it up.
Some niggaz try to bite my nigga’s style - the way his voice sounds, his rhymes - they try to bite the whole package. You can’t do that. That’s kind of disrespectful, so just keep it in perspective. And the rappers that are out there doing it, you know I don’t even have to say. If somebody asked you what rappers do you know that are out there imitating Pac, you could run off a list. I don’t even have to say. You know the ones who are over the board with it.
JR: How relevant is the movement (for human rights for Black people) relevant to your thinking with you being the son of political prisoner Mutulu Shakur?
Mopreme: Very, very relevant, especially right now. Eventually the rest of the public will get up on it, but we’re still under attack. We’re still under attack. The feds is on top of us, because the feds have always been at the grassroots movement.
The Black Panthers was a grassroots movement - rap, Hip Hop, this thug @#%$ is a grassroots movement - and they don’t want no leaders from this area. Just like the Pac and Biggie thing, the feds was following both of them. Why did they let that happen? Everybody needs to wake up and stay on point and remember the enemy is still out there.
They need to know their enemy, you what I’m saying. They got us @#%$ up. The feds been having a task force on rap for the last five or 10 years - targeting certain groups, certain artists, having them under surveillance - while all this drama and all of this @#%$ is going down. Why is it going down when you got the federal government watching? Why are they letting that happen, you have to ask yourself.
JR: What are some of your fondest memories being in Oakland? You was telling me that you lived in the Town, and I don’t think that a lot of people know that.
Mopreme: Yeah, O-Town, that’s where it got set off for us, between me and Pac - that’s where our first hit record came from. I did “It Feels Good” with Tony Toni Tone in ‘90-’91, you know, and I was living right there by Lake Merrit, like Lakeshore.
Pac was in Marin, but he eventually moved to Oakland. We lived together right there on MacArthur. Pac hooked up with Digital in Oakland; I hooked up with Tony, Toni, Tone in Oakland. Our first shows were there. I first studio experiences were there, so we got a strong love for Oakland, for the Bay Area period.
JR: How did Thug Life start?
Mopreme: Pac always wanted to create his own clique, his own organization, considering the history of the struggle. At first it started out as 50 Niggaz, and eventually 50 Niggaz turned into Thug Life over the years, you know.
JR: What’s up with Big Syke?
Mopreme: Big Syke Daddy, Big Sizzle-lean, he’s doing his thing. You know we’re still underground. He’s putting out the “Thuglaw Chapter 2,” you know. That’s the album that we are all doing together.
JR: Y’all still mess with Jonny J?
Mopreme: Jonny J is still our man; we just seen him. He ain’t (producing) on this album, but we still talk to him and @#%$. He is doing his thing - he got his own company cracking. We trying to get our @#%$ cracking and get some paper out here, you know. This is the second album. It should be out in September.
JR: Who is on there?
Mopreme: Brother Marquis, formerly of the 2 Live Crew, we got Crucial Conflict, Money B from Digital Underground, we got Night Owl from San Diego, we got the Outlawz, so it’s pretty hot. We got my man G-Money. Y’all might know him from the old Pac stuff that we used to do.
JR: What is the highlight of the album? What should we definitely look for?
Mopreme: You should look for the song called “Burn Out” with Thug Life and Crucial Conflict, and that is one of the highlights to me. One of my favorite songs on there, “Death is on the Side of Me,” that’s with Night Owl. So them is a couple of the hot ones.
The Outlawz got like two or three hot ones on it. The family is still here. We just need that support so we can blow and y’all can hear some real @#%$ out there rather than all of the bling bling @#%$, because niggaz need to stay focused and stay conscious because it is a bigger picture going on.
They want us like that. They want us all numb, high and @#%$ up so we don’t see what the @#%$ is going on. But we see what’s going on.
I know that there is a federal task force on Hip Hop, because these niggaz is making too much money for the feds to ignore, because all it takes is one Brotha who knows how to use that money wisely and have the proper support. He can do some major things.
JR: What are your last words to some youngstas in the Bay that look up to y’all?
Mopreme: I would like to say 1 Luv to my catz that’s in the Yay Area. You know how we do it: it’s all love, it’s all good still. We still mashin’, we still repping Oakland with this Outlaw Thug Life @#%$.
I want to tell them to stay focused. Just keep your mind off of the bullshit and just remember Pac’s work ethics. Put the smash down, put the work in, put the work in, put the work in. There’s different guys in the game that has already learned from it. Back to 50 again: look how much material he got out, and that’s from getting Pac’s work ethic - to stay on the grind, stay in the studio.
JR: Last thing, tell people what THUG LIFE means.
Mopreme: The Hate You Gave Little Infants Fucks Everybody - that’s the title that Pac put to it. The Hate You Gave Little Infants Fucks Everybody. Being in our economic class, there ain’t as much nurturing, there ain’t love, there ain’t as much caring. We have to work harder and be stronger to get over our obstacles, and we need to all keep that in mind so that we could overcome our obstacles, because you got to know your enemy.
You got to slow down to see the bumps in the road. If you mashin’ at 120 miles an hour, you’re gonna miss a stop sign, you’re gonna miss a whole bunch of @#%$, and you’re going to end up crashing, you know what I’m saying? So slow down, stay focused, stay alert, and stay away from them narcotics.
Email JR at [email protected].