STAT QUO INTERVIEW 4/18/09
http://illuminati2g.webs.com/statquointerview.htm
Illuminati 2G chopped it up with Stat Quo for a exclusive interview. We discuss his new mixtape out now, The Invisible Man, and his torrid work pace in putting mixtapes out, his new street album, Smokin Mirrors, dropping next week and we also get some insight on his new album, including the title and probable release date. Always candid and one to speak his mind, Stat fans are in for a real treat, check it out.
For audio of the interview, click on the link: http://www.zshare.net/audio/5890270713a81cfd/
Illuminati 2G is here with Stat Quo how's it going?
Aww man what's going on?
Not too much. For those people that are unfamiliar with your start in hip hop, how did you get your start in the game?
I started putting mixtapes out in Atlanta, then I started garnering some attention from some of the big wigs. I ended up signing with Dr. Dre and Eminem and that is pretty much what it was. I started with my music on the streets and working my music on the street level.
You had been on Shady/Aftermath for a couple of years. What do you feel is the biggest lesson that you learned on Interscope and working with Dre and Eminem?
The biggest lesson I learned is with contract negotiations is one of the most important things that you do. When it comes to getting yourself heard out here musically. It's very important that you have your contract together. Whatever you want to accomplish, videos, whatever, you need to have all that drawn out in the contract. You should have it in there and make it to where they pay you if they do not uphold that.
Would you like to maybe in the future link back up with Eminem and Dre and do more music outside of what they do with Interscope now that you are independent?
Of course, if that ever happens, it will be beautiful. I never had a problem them. I just did not agree with alot of the business decisions that I was subject to going through at the time. But musically we always got along, they like hot music and dope shit so it was never a problem.
Is there anyone else on Shady/G-Unit/Aftermath that you still keep in touch with or you are going to be collaborating with in the near future?
What is so crazy is I have talked to a bunch of artists over there that are signed there, but with that situation and being the way that it is I don't know who is still over there and who is not. All I know is from my understanding it is Dr. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent HAVE to put they albums out. If not then it is not going on. That is all that matters really when it comes to Shady/Aftermath. Those are the only 3 albums from those artists that the investors with that company really care about when it comes to those labels.
Since late year you have dropped 4 mixtapes, South Has Got Something To Say, The Bailout, QuoCity and Checks & Balances, which is a crazy amount of material. Do you have any more mixtapes planned to drop anytime soon or are you just going to fall back and focus on your album?
Nah I have The Invisible Man coming out tomorrow ( interview done 4/7/09, day before the mixtape dropped) and then I have Smokin Mirrors, which is a digital release and will be available at all your major subscribers to purchase online. Then I have the album, The Great Depression coming out in June. My thing is I feel like the times have changed from what it used to be. Where at one time you might put out one project and you ride that out for a year or two, right now I think fans demand more material from their favorite artists. If you are not going to be able to do that or sustain that kind of work ethic, you are not a true recording artist.
Now for all those other mixtapes were those tracks that you had for a while or pretty much after you left the label you just got in the studio and knocking tracks out?
Yeah all this is new material. I work everyday, I have a studio in my house so all I do is pretty much work out of there. That's it, that is all I do. I eat, sleep, breathe this rap shit. I am working constantly on music. I just stepped out of the booth to do this interview. The way I work is I record probably about 4 times a week, the other 3 days I am writing. I probably do around 7 or 8 songs a day. In my time over there with Dre, he used to tell me stories about 2pac and just how Pac would not leave the studio without recording 4 songs. He did not care about what was going on or what he had to do, when he came to the studio, his mindstate was I have to do 4 records. To this day he is probably the most prolific rapper of all time as far as material. Quality material, so I feel the more I do this, the better I will become at it. My goal is to be the greatest that ever did it. Michael Jordan would not have been half the basketball player if he did not bust his ass everyday and try to get better so that is why I stay in the studio.
Couple of tracks that I love from that Checks & Balances was the Dear Summer tracks where you were breaking down your start in the industry all the way down to you leaving Interscope. Just what was your mindstate with that? Did you feel like you had to get all that out on a pen and a pad and rap about it?
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV8n24cHyyA
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAlZtCXIfYY
I mean I do all these mixtape joints and people always ask me in the streets when my album is coming out. I wanted to do those tracks for the people that have been following my career for years. The ones that have been loving my music and my material. I wanted to put something out to let them know what was going on, no politics or nothing, just the real story so they could hear it all. That was the whole thing behind creating those records.
Another track, probably my favorite track off of the Checks N Balances mixtape is that Intermission track that you did. How did that track come together for you?
My manager Ricky his people made this beat and when I heard it, it took me back to 95, 92, 93. That whole era where it was not about hooks, it was just about dope songs. Just a beat and a MC just spitting.
Yeah that track almost had kind of like a Pete Rock or a Tribe Called Quest vibe to it. You did your thing on that track, I really enjoy that track. It is something completely different then what normally I would hear you on, so I really enjoyed it for that reason.
Yeah that is another thing to, because I was signed to Dre and Em, I guess people would still like to think that. There is a certain sound that goes along with being in that camp. At any job you want to please your boss, so alot of my music at the time that I was making was kind of geared around that. But now that I have my freedom, I pretty much am my own A&R and I am more about pleasing myself and the people that love me and my music. Tracks like Intermission is definitely relevant to the music that I want to make.
Couple of weeks ago a new track called Stylin dropped out on the net that you did. Tell me how the track came together.
I heard that track and for me it is like that Intermission track, but it threw me back even farther, like 1982. The 80's, so when I heard it, I was like yeah I am getting on that. You know it is like those old school joints with the hook. I was in the basement of my house and I was like cool. I came up with the hook and there it was. I let the track kind of inspire the lyrics. It's all about being fresh and it is a attitude. It's a feeling that when you get up in the morning, despite of what's going on in the world or what's happening or the bad times, you still doing your thing. You still that dude and that is what the song is about.
Is that going to be on The Invisible Man or the Smokin Mirrors album?
It is going to be on the Invisible Man mixtape but that is the first single off of the Great Depression album.
Ok cool. Do you have a current label situation or anything for the Great Depression album? Any details that you can give about the album?
We are putting that out through Gracie Music, they are distributing it. As far as me signing with a major, that is not in the works for me right now. I am not really looking to do that because until someone presents me with a opportunity to somewhat control my destiny, I am not going to do that. I think the label's mentality is kind of pre historic. It is like trying to treat a human being with medicine that was created for dinosaurs. That is pretty much what it is. They are behind the times and they are trying to catch up. If I know where it's going and they are trying to find out where it is going, they are of no benefit to me. They will actually just hinder me. That is pretty much is what has happened to be honest.
I can definitely respect that. I know you said in a previous interview with Raptalk, you said you had plans of releasing Statlanta? Do you still have plans on doing that?
I definitely do. With that music and that time, because I spent so much time in making it, my heart and soul. I want to make sure it is put out at a time where it is appreciated. I don't want to throw it out like it is some of my other material, I want to put it out when I know these dudes is going hard (Em & Dre). Because then it will garner the attention that it needs and it deserves. If Dre and Em is sitting back and they ain't going hard to put something out, it is not going to do anything. But if these dudes is going, they got they albums coming out, they getting ready to start doing more promotion and to be seen more, that is when that music becomes that much more relevant. Because it will then get the attention it deserves where if I just throw it out there and they aren't going hard, people will be like whatever. I do want that music to be like that, because I put too much time and work into it.
It is anticipated, alot of people have been waiting on that album for a long time.
I am going to put it out and I am not going to make any money off of it. I am putting it out there for the people that have been waiting on that album.
What are your feelings right now on the state of hip hop?
I'm more disappointed in people then I am hip hop. Because people are the ones that are making the music so I am more disappointed in people. Hip hop is still hip hop, it is what it is. I am just more disappointed in people and it is more society's fault. There is no more working hard, everything is so user friendly, it's easy and there is nothing out there to stimulate your mind and you brain to make you want to do anything. They got books that you can just listen to now instead of reading a book. Like that is some bullshit.
What it does is it dumbs down society more so than it ever has. People wonder why George Bush is the president. Well the majority of Americans are not intelligent, that is why he was the president. People can relate to him because he is not that intelligent. Let me correct that, because he had to be intelligent to get where he was at. But the way he came across you would think he is a idiot, so that is why someone would see him and be like wow I could relate to that. So I am more disappointed in people in society because it seems like there is no more effort put into doing anything anymore. It is not the way it used to be, things have changed.
Do you have any upcoming shows or tour dates around the US or in Georgia you want to let the people know about that you got coming up for you?
After the Smokin Mirrors album drops and the Great Depression comes out, I am going to go ahead and go on tour for the summer in the US and then Europe. We are just going to run it like that.
What is you website or myspace info for people looking to check out your music?
www.myspace.com/statquo. And then as far as my music or anything that people want from me, I always says use that google or yahoo search. Type in my name and just watch the pages come up. Whatever you like or whatever you think you like, download it, check it out.
Well that is all the questions I have for you, appreciate you getting down for the interview. New mixtape Invisible Man drops tomorrow?
Yup tomorrow
We will let all the people know about that. Is there any last words or shoutouts you want to get out there to the people?
Man I just want everybody to stay strong through these times and if you think it, you say it, it can happen for you. If you out here being negative about your situation and about the future or what you got going on, then it is going to be negative. But if you positive, then positive things are going to happen for you. Period, point blank. This Stat Quo.
http://illuminati2g.webs.com/statquointerview.htm
Illuminati 2G chopped it up with Stat Quo for a exclusive interview. We discuss his new mixtape out now, The Invisible Man, and his torrid work pace in putting mixtapes out, his new street album, Smokin Mirrors, dropping next week and we also get some insight on his new album, including the title and probable release date. Always candid and one to speak his mind, Stat fans are in for a real treat, check it out.
For audio of the interview, click on the link: http://www.zshare.net/audio/5890270713a81cfd/
Illuminati 2G is here with Stat Quo how's it going?
Aww man what's going on?
Not too much. For those people that are unfamiliar with your start in hip hop, how did you get your start in the game?
I started putting mixtapes out in Atlanta, then I started garnering some attention from some of the big wigs. I ended up signing with Dr. Dre and Eminem and that is pretty much what it was. I started with my music on the streets and working my music on the street level.
You had been on Shady/Aftermath for a couple of years. What do you feel is the biggest lesson that you learned on Interscope and working with Dre and Eminem?
The biggest lesson I learned is with contract negotiations is one of the most important things that you do. When it comes to getting yourself heard out here musically. It's very important that you have your contract together. Whatever you want to accomplish, videos, whatever, you need to have all that drawn out in the contract. You should have it in there and make it to where they pay you if they do not uphold that.
Would you like to maybe in the future link back up with Eminem and Dre and do more music outside of what they do with Interscope now that you are independent?
Of course, if that ever happens, it will be beautiful. I never had a problem them. I just did not agree with alot of the business decisions that I was subject to going through at the time. But musically we always got along, they like hot music and dope shit so it was never a problem.
Is there anyone else on Shady/G-Unit/Aftermath that you still keep in touch with or you are going to be collaborating with in the near future?
What is so crazy is I have talked to a bunch of artists over there that are signed there, but with that situation and being the way that it is I don't know who is still over there and who is not. All I know is from my understanding it is Dr. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent HAVE to put they albums out. If not then it is not going on. That is all that matters really when it comes to Shady/Aftermath. Those are the only 3 albums from those artists that the investors with that company really care about when it comes to those labels.
Since late year you have dropped 4 mixtapes, South Has Got Something To Say, The Bailout, QuoCity and Checks & Balances, which is a crazy amount of material. Do you have any more mixtapes planned to drop anytime soon or are you just going to fall back and focus on your album?
Nah I have The Invisible Man coming out tomorrow ( interview done 4/7/09, day before the mixtape dropped) and then I have Smokin Mirrors, which is a digital release and will be available at all your major subscribers to purchase online. Then I have the album, The Great Depression coming out in June. My thing is I feel like the times have changed from what it used to be. Where at one time you might put out one project and you ride that out for a year or two, right now I think fans demand more material from their favorite artists. If you are not going to be able to do that or sustain that kind of work ethic, you are not a true recording artist.
Now for all those other mixtapes were those tracks that you had for a while or pretty much after you left the label you just got in the studio and knocking tracks out?
Yeah all this is new material. I work everyday, I have a studio in my house so all I do is pretty much work out of there. That's it, that is all I do. I eat, sleep, breathe this rap shit. I am working constantly on music. I just stepped out of the booth to do this interview. The way I work is I record probably about 4 times a week, the other 3 days I am writing. I probably do around 7 or 8 songs a day. In my time over there with Dre, he used to tell me stories about 2pac and just how Pac would not leave the studio without recording 4 songs. He did not care about what was going on or what he had to do, when he came to the studio, his mindstate was I have to do 4 records. To this day he is probably the most prolific rapper of all time as far as material. Quality material, so I feel the more I do this, the better I will become at it. My goal is to be the greatest that ever did it. Michael Jordan would not have been half the basketball player if he did not bust his ass everyday and try to get better so that is why I stay in the studio.
Couple of tracks that I love from that Checks & Balances was the Dear Summer tracks where you were breaking down your start in the industry all the way down to you leaving Interscope. Just what was your mindstate with that? Did you feel like you had to get all that out on a pen and a pad and rap about it?
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV8n24cHyyA
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAlZtCXIfYY
I mean I do all these mixtape joints and people always ask me in the streets when my album is coming out. I wanted to do those tracks for the people that have been following my career for years. The ones that have been loving my music and my material. I wanted to put something out to let them know what was going on, no politics or nothing, just the real story so they could hear it all. That was the whole thing behind creating those records.
Another track, probably my favorite track off of the Checks N Balances mixtape is that Intermission track that you did. How did that track come together for you?
My manager Ricky his people made this beat and when I heard it, it took me back to 95, 92, 93. That whole era where it was not about hooks, it was just about dope songs. Just a beat and a MC just spitting.
Yeah that track almost had kind of like a Pete Rock or a Tribe Called Quest vibe to it. You did your thing on that track, I really enjoy that track. It is something completely different then what normally I would hear you on, so I really enjoyed it for that reason.
Yeah that is another thing to, because I was signed to Dre and Em, I guess people would still like to think that. There is a certain sound that goes along with being in that camp. At any job you want to please your boss, so alot of my music at the time that I was making was kind of geared around that. But now that I have my freedom, I pretty much am my own A&R and I am more about pleasing myself and the people that love me and my music. Tracks like Intermission is definitely relevant to the music that I want to make.
Couple of weeks ago a new track called Stylin dropped out on the net that you did. Tell me how the track came together.
I heard that track and for me it is like that Intermission track, but it threw me back even farther, like 1982. The 80's, so when I heard it, I was like yeah I am getting on that. You know it is like those old school joints with the hook. I was in the basement of my house and I was like cool. I came up with the hook and there it was. I let the track kind of inspire the lyrics. It's all about being fresh and it is a attitude. It's a feeling that when you get up in the morning, despite of what's going on in the world or what's happening or the bad times, you still doing your thing. You still that dude and that is what the song is about.
Is that going to be on The Invisible Man or the Smokin Mirrors album?
It is going to be on the Invisible Man mixtape but that is the first single off of the Great Depression album.
Ok cool. Do you have a current label situation or anything for the Great Depression album? Any details that you can give about the album?
We are putting that out through Gracie Music, they are distributing it. As far as me signing with a major, that is not in the works for me right now. I am not really looking to do that because until someone presents me with a opportunity to somewhat control my destiny, I am not going to do that. I think the label's mentality is kind of pre historic. It is like trying to treat a human being with medicine that was created for dinosaurs. That is pretty much what it is. They are behind the times and they are trying to catch up. If I know where it's going and they are trying to find out where it is going, they are of no benefit to me. They will actually just hinder me. That is pretty much is what has happened to be honest.
I can definitely respect that. I know you said in a previous interview with Raptalk, you said you had plans of releasing Statlanta? Do you still have plans on doing that?
I definitely do. With that music and that time, because I spent so much time in making it, my heart and soul. I want to make sure it is put out at a time where it is appreciated. I don't want to throw it out like it is some of my other material, I want to put it out when I know these dudes is going hard (Em & Dre). Because then it will garner the attention that it needs and it deserves. If Dre and Em is sitting back and they ain't going hard to put something out, it is not going to do anything. But if these dudes is going, they got they albums coming out, they getting ready to start doing more promotion and to be seen more, that is when that music becomes that much more relevant. Because it will then get the attention it deserves where if I just throw it out there and they aren't going hard, people will be like whatever. I do want that music to be like that, because I put too much time and work into it.
It is anticipated, alot of people have been waiting on that album for a long time.
I am going to put it out and I am not going to make any money off of it. I am putting it out there for the people that have been waiting on that album.
What are your feelings right now on the state of hip hop?
I'm more disappointed in people then I am hip hop. Because people are the ones that are making the music so I am more disappointed in people. Hip hop is still hip hop, it is what it is. I am just more disappointed in people and it is more society's fault. There is no more working hard, everything is so user friendly, it's easy and there is nothing out there to stimulate your mind and you brain to make you want to do anything. They got books that you can just listen to now instead of reading a book. Like that is some bullshit.
What it does is it dumbs down society more so than it ever has. People wonder why George Bush is the president. Well the majority of Americans are not intelligent, that is why he was the president. People can relate to him because he is not that intelligent. Let me correct that, because he had to be intelligent to get where he was at. But the way he came across you would think he is a idiot, so that is why someone would see him and be like wow I could relate to that. So I am more disappointed in people in society because it seems like there is no more effort put into doing anything anymore. It is not the way it used to be, things have changed.
Do you have any upcoming shows or tour dates around the US or in Georgia you want to let the people know about that you got coming up for you?
After the Smokin Mirrors album drops and the Great Depression comes out, I am going to go ahead and go on tour for the summer in the US and then Europe. We are just going to run it like that.
What is you website or myspace info for people looking to check out your music?
www.myspace.com/statquo. And then as far as my music or anything that people want from me, I always says use that google or yahoo search. Type in my name and just watch the pages come up. Whatever you like or whatever you think you like, download it, check it out.
Well that is all the questions I have for you, appreciate you getting down for the interview. New mixtape Invisible Man drops tomorrow?
Yup tomorrow
We will let all the people know about that. Is there any last words or shoutouts you want to get out there to the people?
Man I just want everybody to stay strong through these times and if you think it, you say it, it can happen for you. If you out here being negative about your situation and about the future or what you got going on, then it is going to be negative. But if you positive, then positive things are going to happen for you. Period, point blank. This Stat Quo.