The Source Awards for 1991

Straight from the January 1992 issue of The Source.

The awards were determined by polling 5,000 subscribers and 500 industry heads.

Artist of the Year
- Ice Cube

New Artist of the Year
- Naughty by Nature (I guess even then, they over looked the New Style release)

Album of the Year
- N.W.A. - Niggaz 4 Life

Single of the Year
- Geto Boys - Mind Playin' Tricks On Me

Top 15 Albums of 1991 (According To The Source)

1. N.W.A. - Niggaz4Life
2. Brand Nubian - All For One
3. A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
4. Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91: The Enemy Strikes Black
5. De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
6. Main Source - Breaking Atoms
7. Geto Boys - We Can't Be Stopped
8. EPMD - Business As Usual
9. DJ Quik - Quik Is The Name
10. Naughty By Nature - Naughty By Nature
11. Chubb Rock - The One
12. Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
13. Nice & Smooth - Ain't A Damn Thing Changed
14. Gang Starr - Step Into The Arena
15. Scarface - Mr. Scarface Is Back

Top 20 Singles of 1991 (According to The Source)

1. Geto Boys - My Mind Playing Tricks On Me
2. Naughty By Nature - O.P.P.
3. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Summertime
4. MC Breed & The DFC - Ain't No Future In Yo' Frontin'
5. 3rd Bass - Pop Goes The Weasel
6. Yo-Yo - Can't Play With My Yo-Yo
7. Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs - I Gotta Have It
8. Chubb Rock - Treat 'Em Right
9. Brand Nubian - Slow Down
10. Digital Underground - Same Song
11. AMG - Bitch Betta Have My Money
12. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
13. DJ Quik - Quik Is The Name
14. Public Enemy - Can't Truss It
15. Compton's Most Wanted - Growin' Up In The Hood
16. A Tribe Called Quest - Check The Rhime
17. Nice & Smooth - Hip Hop Junkies
18. Black Sheep - Flavor Of The Month
19. Tim Dog - Fuck Compton
20. Gang Starr - Just To Get A Rep

Platinum and Gold Records: Sales

Platinum

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Homebase
N.W.A. - Niggaz4Life
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
New Jack City OST
Too Short - Short Dogs In The House
Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91
Ice Cube - Death Certificate

Gold

Young MC - Brainstorm
Heavy D - Peaceful Journey
Geto Boys - We Can't Be Stopped
3rd Bass - Derelicts Of Dialect
De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
Digital Underground - This Is An EP Release
EPMD - Business As Usual
DJ Quik - Quik Is The Name
Ice Cube - Kill At Will
Boyz In The Hood OST
Vanilla Ice - Extremely Live
Naughty By Nature - Naughty By Nature


12 Inch Singles Sales

Platinum

Naughty By Nature - O.P.P.
Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Summertime

Gold

Heavy D - Now That We Found Love
3rd Bass - Goes The Weasel
Gerardo - Rico Sauve
LL Cool J - Around The Way Girl
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
Salt N' Pepa - Do You Want Me

VIA
WYDU

Too Short: Still Blowin?

Too Short, Oakland’s original out-the-trunk tape slanger, is making a return to the independent hustle. After a 20 year relationship, 2008's Get Off The Stage marked his split from Jive Records. He’s taking his newly reinstated freedom to the digital sphere, set to drop a new online-only LP Still Blowin.

With old material also in the cannon, the self-proclaimed "old ass rapper" talked to HipHopDX about the digital age divide, his storytelling approach and the state of Bay Area Rap.

HipHopDX: I hear you're going digital with this new album, Still Blowin?
Too Short: Yeah, it's pretty much a no-brainer for me. I've been testing the waters for the last couple of years and it's been working out pretty good. So I decided instead of playing the major label game and trying to get a deal and trying to get the marketing and video budgets and battling with the labels when they talk that good shit on the way in the door and then back the fuck away and don't push the project right once it gets out... I'm just sick of that shit.

DX: Coming from an independent background, could you have ever predicted the Internet opening up the independent world like it has?
Too Short: I can't say that I foresaw that it was gonna happen like that, but I can say that when the CD duplicators came out and downloads started getting out of hand, I knew that [the end was near]. The labels at first cried "This [is] terrible, we're losing our money." But I'm just thinking like, you guys have been getting fat with this 80/20, 90/10% splits and shit forever. It's almost like the music was fighting back against the system. The music is for the people, so I feel like all the free downloads and all the CD burning, that hurt the record sales but at the same time if you're making good music your phone is still ringing, you're still doing shows. For a guy like me to turn to digital, it's perfect at this point in my career. I've already made a name. I don't have to build a career on the Internet, I can just maintain a career. We gonna make some good music, we're gonna tour around and keep doing shows for the people. We go across the ocean. My career is beyond where it was supposed to be anyway. If you do the normal mathematical equation of what Hip Hop is, I should have been out of here years ago. So I'm just riding a wave that'll never end.

DX: Do you think majors are still a necessity for lesser-known artists?
Too Short: I think the major labels do what they do. They know how to make you a big star. If you're not on your way to being a big star then there's really no place for you at a major. They wait for that lightning in a bottle. If you put a single out and it's a super hit, they're rolling with it. Anything short of that they're not fucking with you.

How many people have we seen, in their own region, build up hundreds of thousands of dollars with independent labels? They run the community, everybody loves them and then they sign with a major and the shit fades away. "So-and-so got a five million dollar deal, they the new shit." Next thing you know, two or three years later and they're gone. It happens so many times. But then on the flip side, Cash Money [Records] and labels like that thrived in a major label system.

DX: Yeah like a few years ago when the Bay and Hyphy were being touted as the next big mainstream thing, then a lot of those artists who signed with majors just sort of fizzled.
Too Short: The Bay Area's always been on this little "do it our way" thing. This our shit. So when they called the shit Hyphy or whatever, it wasn't really a local thing. Motherfuckers were just using the word and doing the sideshows and everything that went with it, ghostriding the whip and the media dubbed it the Hyphy movement. And then everybody was like, "Oh, we got a movement, let's roll with it." But when it was supposed to go commercial and it didn't motherfuckers were like, "Let's just do what we do." It never changed. The dances didn't change, the attitude didn't change. The shit stayed the same, they just disassociated the scene with the word. So it ain't nobody running around Oakland talking about "I'm Hyphy" anymore. That shit is not even existing. But if you put on some music, it's gonna look the same as it always looked. The scene is gonna keep on.

There's a lot of artists that have regional success, that are doing their shows, traveling around. If they don't sell five to ten thousand units, they're still bringing checks home. It's a Hip Hop career. You don't have a job that you have to get up and go to. You don't have to work in a fucking warehouse or fast food or some shit. Me personally, that's the kind of Hip Hop that I came up in. We got this talent, let's get some money off this shit. Not necessarily, let's be on MTV. Fuck that shit. Let's have fun making the music and make some money out of it. If I'm eating and the homeboys eating then it's cool. That's the good shit. Not motherfuckers saying, "Oh, you sold 10,000 units, you wack." Fuck that. There's nigga's selling 10,000 units in little areas all over the country.

DX: And almost all the big artists started on that level anyway.
Too Short: I look at it like college. You talk to most of the successful rappers and ask "The day before you started making big money, how many years had you been trying to get in the game?" They all gonna tell you four, five, eight years. It's just like going to college. You gotta put in work, pay dues.

DX: Do you pay attention to any of the younger artists in the bay who are coming up now?
Too Short: You hear the names in the wind. It's a lot of dudes with skills that are coming behind the next dudes, after the Keak Da Sneaks and Mistah F.A.Bs and Messy Marvs. It's a whole new crew making a name for themselves. I think we got a lot of cats in the bay that have verbal skills. People might not know it, but it's a lot of rapper-rappers, you know? It ain't really on that jump out the car and ghostride the whip, funny, party type shit. It's motherfuckers out here spitting rhymes. There's a next generation coming and they're doing it through the MySpaces and the Facebooks and the mixtapes and all that shit.

DX: Have you been paying attention to any of the solo stuff the guys from The Pack, who used to be on your label, have been putting out lately?
Too Short: Yeah, Lil B went and got down with Soulja Boy, he's been doing his thing. When he was with The Pack and they were around me, he was the was the one who was writing all the hooks and shit. B had that energy. I haven't been seeing his tweets and his Internet activity, but I hear he stays very active. Lil Uno been posting up videos and stuff, Young L has some solo videos. I was just in Colorado and Stunna was doing solo shows. I'm glad to see them staying active.

DX: Yeah they seem real deep into the Internet thing.
Too Short: I never even heard of MySpace until I met them dudes a few years ago! When we met I was like, "What the fuck is MySpace, man?" Then they went and showed me that shit and they got a million fucking friends. Shit, that's what they grew up in. That's the new generation. They were born with Playstation controllers in their hands.

DX: Are you gonna jump into the Twitter or Facebook worlds or any of that?
Too Short: I'm personally not gonna sit around on a fucking computer and blog or have cyberspace friends and all that shit. As a business, of course we're gonna have some presence in that world, but I'm not gonna sit around all day like my boy F.A.B. You hang out with F.A.B. and he sit around all day on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, his text messages, emails and making phone calls at the same time while he's writing raps and recording. I'm like, "Motherfucker, what are you doing?" It's what he does though, it works for him. But I'm from a different era, man. I could turn around and do that shit. I know a lot of OGs, guys like Yukmouth, keeping it alive by utilizing the Internet, but that ain't me. You can find me on the net, but you're not gonna personally get me hitting the keys, talking back and forth with you.



DX: On an unrelated note, is there any chance we’ll one day be able to hear some of those old pre-75 Girls trunk tapes?
Too Short: Hey, you know now that we have the internet cracking, now's the perfect time. I can't really get into the details right now but we are getting ready to post a lot of Too Short shit that's kind of obscure. We're gonna make the shit available. I personally feel like in my career and many Hip Hop careers, that the moment when it's best is when you were broke. You just getting in the game, you young and writing, just dreaming. If you go to the early Too Short albums versus the later Too Short albums, it becomes a formula [as time goes on]. You go to the early Jay-Z albums and hear the shit he was saying, how naturally it was coming out, versus now where it's just a perfectly crafted album. It's just different. I like the young stages of a Hip Hop career. Most people can kick up that dust when their broke and still in the neighborhood and still just with the homies on the block. You ain't really got an opportunity to have some money and live somewhere else. That's when the shit is the best. The percentage of people that can get past that moment is very small. To get to that second or third album and still keep the magic, that's impossible. Me myself, I feel like my best shit was a long long long long time ago. And even though I keep going I still that it ain't never gonna capture that magic of that shit I was spitting in '89, '91. I was in the zone, I was a youngster.

DX: So why continue then?
Too Short: Because of the people go around saying that there's no such thing as an old ass rapper. If E-40 can make "Tell Me When To Go" when he's fucking 40 years old and I'm making "Blow The Whistle" when I'm 41, tell me I'm wrong. I'm making shit that's gonna hit again. I'm about turn 44 and I'm gonna have songs in rotation again. So when they put it in ink saying that you can no longer rap at a certain age you can say, "Well, Short did it." I'm just doing that for Hip Hop. I'mma fucking be an old ass rapper! I ain't never gonna dye my grey hair. I ain't never gonna lie about my age. I'm gonna say, "I got a new album coming out and it's gonna be the shit." Then the next album is gonna be the shit, no doubt about it. I'm recording it now and the shit hotter than the last. The shit is just knockin'.



DX: Who are you working with on that record?
Too Short: Right now I've only been in the studio with one producer, this guy named John G, up out of the bay. He does a lot of Dance music, but he has these Hip Hop tracks. He started playing these songs for me and I'm like, "God damn, I could be a whole new motherfucker with these beats." The shit is huge. I'm not making a "bitch, ho, suck my dick" album, it's not gonna be that at all. So you gotta just see the shit is about something. I'm actually researching Too Short myself right now. I'm listening to 50 million old Too Short songs just reminding myself who the fuck I am.

DX: How do you separate Too Short from the "bitch" talk though? So much of your identity is tied up in that.
Too Short: Just like I said. If you research Too Short there have been a large variety of subjects I've gone through. Basically, from the start it was never about degrading women. From the start it was about promoting the pimp shit and telling motherfuckers to get their motherfucking money. Just don't be no broke motherfucker, be a hustler. That's what I've been promoting. I'm just finding that perfect place to be, to stay in my lane and to pass on the knowledge. Knowledge is not teaching you how to tell a bitch to give you head, knowledge is some real motherfucking useful information.

I'ma tell you like this. The majority of the shit that I wrote is some fuckin' shit I made up sitting in a room, writing these vivid, imaginary stories. It's based on experiences, I know what I'm talking about, but Too Short was never an autobiography. The Too Short albums are not the autobiography of Todd Shaw. I made up all that shit up. "Freaky Tales" is a bunch of names that rhyme easy with other words: "Anne" and "can" and "damn." It's not rocket science. The shit was about the humor. I could have took Too Short and made him a character in a book. And instead of making 16 albums, I could have written 16 books about the character. It would have been the same shit. It would have been the same wonderful stories.

Too Short's a character, I made the shit up. I looked around Oakland. I grew up in L.A., I moved to Oakland when I was 14. I seen this city that was on a whole different heartbeat in L.A. and I liked the shit. When I heard "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel talking about New York [on "New York, New York,"] I was walking down the street with my boombox and I said, "Motherfucker, I'ma start rapping about Oakland." And that was the light that shined on me. People from Oakland come up to me and said, "Short, we love you. You put the town on the map." Shit the town put me on the map! Y'all made me. I walked around the city. I could have been an artist painting pictures and I would have fell in love with Oakland. I would have painted 16 classical paintings or some shit. Oakland has always been my muse. I could do this shit forever, as long as I got Oakland to give me the stories.

DX: What do you think it means for Hip Hop that artists aren't really willing to draw that line anymore? It's all about who's the realest.
Too Short: Hip Hop took this sort of arrogant turn. This dishonest spin off, it came with the whole "bling bling era." At first you were proud to be the best emcee, you want to stand up for you skills, you want to battle, you want to talk shit, you want to be the slickest, coolest person in your rhymes, you telling stories of your experiences and opinions about your community and the world. Hip Hop was just coming at you from every angle. From Public Enemy to Too Short to Ice-T to Brand Nubian, everybody had to have a different approach, a different look, a different sound in your voice. Nothing could be the same in those days.

Alright look, rappers, ball players and street level thugs used to be in the club in the general area. The motherfuckers who sat behind the rope with the champagne bottles was the drug kingpins, the dangerous motherfuckers that ran shit for real. When a rapper or somebody else got to come to the VIP it's because the gangsters invited you over. The kingpin said "I want to meet so-and-so, the ball player. Bring Too Short over here, I want to meet him." Then you got to hang out behind the rope. Somewhere the rappers put that shit in the video and pretended like it was them doing it, it was them at the table with the bottles. Next thing you know, life starts imitating art for real, next thing you know its all these goddamn rappers in the VIP buying champagne and shit. It turned into reality. Motherfuckers got on the mic in the studio and lied about their rented mansions and cars and pretended that they really owned that shit. And the fucking world ate that shit up. I was hearing little niggas, niggas like The Pack, when I first met them they was saying shit like, "Man, I'm trying to get rich, I need a motherfuckin' mansion." We got into Hip Hop because we was having fun and we wanted to rock the crowd. These motherfuckers, they got into Hip Hop because they wanted to be rich. So from the start, from album one, you could have been so honest and told me about your life and your struggles but the first thing you said was, "I got 40 Gs in my pocket, finna go buy some jewlery, last night I spent stacks." I watch little niggas in the studio all the time. Motherfucker, you ain't got two dollars for a burger right now and you just wrote that 16 about how rich you is. And I think most of them are just psyched out. "I gotta say what the other dudes said." We still ain't came out of that. I'm hoping that one day motherfuckers just come out of that and just get a little bit more honest. Or just start writing stories that sound honest, make me believe the shit.

DX: Do you think that it'll correct itself as less money comes into Hip Hop?
Too Short: My wish is that this fuckin' free-for-all we got going on with the Internet is gonna spread it out a little bit and make that shit a little more honest. Let some other motherfuckers get their word out there and their opinion out there. If something else just shines a little bit then the labels are gonna push that way. How many more videos are we gonna get with a house and a car and a pool and a bitch dancing? I watch Rock videos, Country Western videos and those motherfuckers be original as hell. And Hip Hop is doing the same video over and over again. We've been doing the same video for 15 years. I did a [guest appearance in a] video two months ago at a God-damn club. I'm like, "Man, another one?" I just go with the flow though. Put the bottles up on the table, spread the chicks out. But if we don't [change] it somebody in another country is gonna do it and the center of Hip Hop is gonna shift to another part of the world.

DX: Do you think that's a possibility?
Too Short: Hell yeah! When I'm in Japan motherfuckers is on stage rapping in Japanese and the crowd is singing along with it. I'm in France and they fucking flowing in French. That shit is everywhere. Motherfuckers is rapping in Africa in their native language. They ain't trying to rap in English.

International shows are just weird to me because you see these people singing along to your songs but they can't fuckin' speak English. How the fuck do you know my song if you can't speak English? I had someone say to me, "Where we're from in Africa we use Hip Hop to learn English. We learn the words through Rap."

DX: There's probably a little African kid running around saying "biiiiitch” as we speak.
Too Short: Shit, I'll take it. You can't put your finger on Hip Hop and say this is what it is. They keep on trying to do it. They want to say the new shit is wack, the old shit is better, the fucking shit's gonna die down, you can't be this age. You can't fucking tell Hip Hop what to do! This has been the vibe since day one. I remember when, in the mindstate of the mainstream, Hip Hop was the equivalent of a dance. They was like, "Oh, that little dance that the negroes are doing." The shit ain't never went away. The people who used to be in the R&B world, playing instruments, they shitted on Hip Hop when it came out. They was like "That shit is not music." The radio stations wouldn't play it at first, the awards shows wouldn't even announce the shit, even if Rap sold millions. Now you can't stop the vibe. You can't make it New York, you can't make it South, you can't make it Midwest, it's gonna do what it wanna do. And my old ass is gonna keep rapping throughout the whole shit.


VIA
HipHopDX.com

Purchase Music by Too Short

Mack 10 Speaks On Ice Cube

Back in 1995 Mack 10 was introduced to us through Ice Cube with his slamming' self-titled LP which included stand-out cuts like “Foe Life”, “On Them Thangs” and “Westside Slaughterhouse.” Then in 1996 he joined his mentor Ice Cube and fellow West Coast rapper WC to form the lethal trio known as Westside Connection which shook up the rap world with their Bow Down LP as sides were drawn in the East & West Coast war. After things cooled down between the Coasts, Mack 10 released his solo albums Based On A True Story and The Recipe with continued success. 2000's Paper Route LP was met with more criticism than previous releases and soon after Mack 10 departed from Priority Records and went in to business with the New Orleans based Cash Money Records. With the release of the Bang Or Ball, Mack 10 was back on the winning path as hits included production by the likes of Mannie Fresh and Dr. Dre. In 2003, Ice Cube, WC and Mack 10 decided to put the band back together and once again The Westside Connection was on the loose with their Terrorist Threats album. Unfortunately that would be the last time the Connect-Gang would release an LP together as Mack 10 and Ice Cube had a falling out over personal and family business. Since then, Mack 10 has put together a string of independent releases through his Hoo-Bangin' Records label and things have been relatively quite between the two former friends over the past few years until recently. To promote his upcoming album I Am The West and to connect with fans, Ice Cube has been blogging on his own site and in recent posts has directed a few comments towards Mack 10 and quite possibly to his protege' Glasses Malone who is putting out his debut album through Mack's label and Cash Money Records. As the West starts to rumble with tremors, AllHipHop.com caught up with Inglewood rapper to get his take on the recent comments of his former friend and to talk about his upcoming Money Music album with Glasses Malone.



AllHipHop.com: I'm just going to get right to it. Your former friend and mentor Ice Cube has mentioned you several times in his personal blog. One of those statements said that in order to work with him again you would have to kiss the ring. How did you feel when you heard about that statement?


Mack 10: I laughed. I see that he's taking his comedy to the next level now.


AllHipHop.com: You weren't mad in any way?


Mack 10: The thing about it is that Ice Cube knows that I'm not a sucker. I had to laugh about it. Now he's a comedian doing stand-up comedy. I said to myself, “He must have an album coming out or something. I know that the Mack & Malone album is dropping on July 13th (laughs).


AllHipHop.com: That's the same day that Ice Cube is dropping his I Am The West album.


Mack 10: (Laughs) Oh, he's got one coming out on July 13th too? The Mack & Malone will be in stores on that day. It's called Money Music on Hoo-Bangin' Records. Tell that dude to quit playing and come get this money. What's he trippin' on (laughs)?


AllHipHop.com: There's been some stories around the internet about your falling out with Ice Cube. Some have said it's personal and regarding family. What's the real story?


Mack 10: Basically, I didn't do anything to him and he didn't do anything to me. We had an argument and I guess it was taken the wrong way because his wife was present. If she wasn't there, we would probably still be doing records. His brother-in-law was disrespectful in a certain way. I don't know what kind of dude he is now, but back then he was disrespectful. It was brought to Cube about 3 or 4 times before the bullsh*t happened. If I bring something to you 3 or 4 times and you don't do anything about it – I mean just because a kid is your kid doesn't mean he has the right to go spitting about anybody. The argument and the brother-in-law wasn't worth throwing away The Westside Connection over in my opinion. When I heard the “kiss the ring” comment I just had to laugh because that's comedy. That's where I'm at with it. I don't know what he's tripping off of.


AllHipHop.com: After that argument all communication between you two ceased?


Mack 10: Just like that. It was over his disrespectful brother-in-law and I guess that's what he meant when he said that I crossed the line or the family line. I didn't cross any line. He (the brother-in-law) got in to it with several of my people. To keep it real with you, I don't know what dude is tripping off of. Whatever happened that night it wasn't worth The Westside Connection not doing anymore records together.


AllHipHop.com: Do you miss being in Westside Connection?


Mack 10: I think I miss what The Westside Connection meant to the Coast. I don't have time to feel all that about it but I miss what we meant to the West. I don't have no problem getting money. WC doesn't have any problems I'm sure.


AllHipHop.com: You and W.C are still cool? This hasn't affected your friendship?


Mack 10: We've got a couple of shows coming up.


AllHipHop.com: I heard the show on April 17th at the West Hollywood Key Club got cancelled.


Mack 10: We've got some out of town shows coming up. I'm not really tripping off The Westside Connection. I don't even know why my name came out of Ice Cube's mouth. I was very surprised at that.


AllHipHop.com: Do you think that a diss song from Ice Cube might be coming your way?


Mack 10: I ain't tripping. It's whatever. He knows me and I know him. That's on him. It surprised me that 4 years later he's now saying something. Like I said, he must have an album dropping. Mack & Malone is July 13th. Me and Malone had always planned to do this record together. We just finally finished it up and we're gonna let the people have it. Glasses has been preparing his debut album so this album that we're doing together will get him out there before his solo one drops.


AllHipHop.com: Glasses' name hasn't been brought up specifically by Ice Cube in his blogs but if one reads between the lines it's not too hard to figure out who he's talking about. How do you feel about your protege' being involved in that situation?


Mack 10: I know one thing, if Cube is trying to rap he better leave Glasses alone. I don't know if a diss is coming at Glasses but I know Malone. He's a young gunner and he ain't running from nothing. That I do know.


AllHipHop.com: Do you think that Glasses' involvement and association with you has a part in all of this?


Mack 10: I don't know and it doesn't really matter. I haven't thought too much of what's in Cube's head. I honestly laughed at all of this. I guess it's more of a big deal than what I thought it was.


AllHiphop.com: That's twice he's mentioned you. The first being that you were way out of line.


Mack 10: I wasn't out of line. Grown men are responsible for their own actions. I hate that his wife was there but when a grown man continually disrespects other grown men, sometimes sh*t happens. What's everybody supposed to do? Let themselves get disrespected just because this man is related to Ice Cube? It don't go like that. That's the truth and everybody that was there, knows that's the truth. Anything else that you hear is bullsh*t. It's not like I didn't come to him before whatever happened, happened.


AllHipHop.com: What did he say when you brought his brother-in-law's disrespect to his attention?


Mack 10: He didn't say much of anything. He just continued to allow it to happen. At a certain point, it doesn't matter who you are. If you keep disrespecting other grown men, it can turn in to an issue. I hate that it turned in to an issue that big – for us to not do any records together anymore. To me it wasn't that serious. It's all on him, dog. Cube knows what time it is, believe me.



AllHipHop.com: Let's say he decided to do away with the “kiss the ring” comment and ask you to go in to the studio again and do some records. Are you with it?


Mack 10: Check this out, I've been ready to knock out some records. That ain't nothing to me. I've done talked to dudes that have done worse. Me and him had an argument. So an argument means that we can't work together anymore? If that's what it means, then that's what it means, but I've never looked at it as being that serious. The reason why it's so serious is all on him. I don't know how an argument can stop these millions from coming in – especially when it wasn't even me and him that came to blows. Tell him to quit playing and cut out all of those jokes and sh*t (laughs).


AllHipHop.com: You were in another feud a few years back which involved the group The Relativez consisting of Big Wy and Suga Buga. I saw that the three of you did a song recently. Tell us how you guys squashed the beef.


Mack 10: They are from Inglewood and you know how it goes – sometimes tempers flare amongst soldiers and that's what happened. Nobody's going to tuck their tail and back down. Some of the other older homies got involved and helped straighten it all out. We're all just moving forward now. I'm not tripping off of anybody. I'm just having fun, to keep it real with you.


AllHipHop.com: You've been doing the independent thing for a while now with your Hoo-Bangin' Records company. Is that the route that you are going to continue on with your albums?


Mack 10: I love it like that. I've been getting it like that my whole career.


AllHipHop.com: Are you satisfied with the sales numbers that you've been getting with your last few releases?


Mack 10: I am satisfied but at the same time I am not. You can't ever think that things are good enough because they are never good enough. You've got to always want to do better. The climate being what it is these days though, with the right marketing you can still win. I'm a veteran in this business so I do what only makes sense. After the Mack & Malone album I've got about 3 more releases coming. There's Mack 10 Presents The Cartel, and I've got another solo record coming called 2000-1-0. After that I'm putting out my little cousin's record. His name is YG.


AllHipHop.com: There's been a lot of tension over the past few years between the Newer and Older West Coast artists. The youngsters are saying that the Vets aren't reaching out and the Vets are saying that the youngsters need to make a name for themselves. What's your take on it?


Mack 10: Yeah I have an opinion on that! I've always reached out and that's why Hoo-Bangin' Records always stayed alive. I've always put people out and thrown somebody a rope. That's how you keep the hood alive. You've got to keep putting people on. If you think that it's going to only be just you forever, then you are living in a fantasy world. That's thinking too much like an artist. I think too much like a businessman to think like that.


AllHipHop.com: So you feel what the youngsters are saying?


Mack 10: I understand some of them. Some dudes are holding on for dear life and they never want to pass the torch and help none of the young homies out. Anybody that has ever known me, knows that I've never been like that. I've always stayed messing with the youngsters. That's why Glasses and all them get down with me because I'm always reaching back trying to bring the youngsters with me. I think that's how you keep a region alive. You've got to people on. If you ain't putting people on, then you ain't playing the game. That's my philosophy. Everybody handles their own business their own way.


AllHipHop.com: There was a time when there weren't too many Bloods rapping. You were one of the few. Now there seems to be an abundant of Blood rappers.


Mack 10: Soo-Woo is international now. Much love – they are all on the Red team. They show me love everywhere I go so I can't do nothing but show love right back. I don't make any pre-judgments against anybody or question anybody's gangsta. I love who loves me.


AllHipHop.com: Lil Wayne and Baby's Blood affiliations have been a hot topic amongst fans.


Mack 10: That's their personal opinion. Like I said, I love who loves me. Baby and Wayne are my folks. It is what it is.


AllHipHop.com: Mack 10, thank you for your time. Any last words for us?


Mack 10: Mack and Malone, July 13th. Hoo-Bangin'.

VIA
AllHipHop.com


TAGS
"Mack 10" "Speaks On" "Ice Cube" beef vs wsc "break up" problem why diss blog

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg; Hoe Hopper (unreleased)

Two versions,your pick ;)

Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg; Hoe Hopper


and

Att Will; Hoe Hopper



Tags
"Dr. Dre"
"Snoop Dogg"
"Hoe Hopper"
unreleased
"att will"
bootleg
"death row"
ruthless
original
download
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mp3

N.W.A.'s 1-900-2-COMPTON (31 minute unreleased skit)

Info and MP3 here

What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Kid Disaster) 1

​This is an installment in The Posse Project, a 12-day series in which www.PHXmusic.com catches up with all 12 guys pictured on the cover of N.W.A's first album,
N.W.A. and the Posse.
Today, we continue with Kid Disaster,
a member of the rap group C.I.A. with Ice Cube and Sir Jinx.


^Kid Disaster then^


^Kid Disaster now^

​Kid Disaster

Also Known As:
Darryll Johnson, K-Dee


Before the Photo:
Kid Disaster hooked up with N.W.A through Purple Ice,
later known as Ice Cube, in high school.
Disaster was a member of the group C.I.A. with Ice Cube and Sir Jinx
(read Jinx's entry in The Posse Project here).

In the Photo:
Kid Disaster is just another guy not drinking any of the booze.

"It was funny because everybody brought 40s and no one really drunk 40s back then.
We had to make it look like we drank some so
we just opened them up and poured a little bit out," he tells me.
"We were all virgins, man.
We were all virgins that just happened
to be in the music business and doing something.
We were young, man, we were still in high school.
We were just having fun, we never did think it was
going to do what it did, and when it did it was like 'wow.'"



After the Photo:
Disaster was featured in a verse on on "Make It Ruff, Make It Smooth" off Cubes' Lethal Injection album.





He also worked for Cube's Street Knowledge Productions and released a solo album titled, Ass, Gas,or Cash No One Rides For Free, in 1994.
He became estranged from Cube in 1997 for reasons he doesn't know.


​Now:
K-Dee lives in L.A.,
and is in the trucking business. He's also still doing some radio work and performing live, including a recent concert with Michel'le, who is perhaps the ultimate Hip Hop temptress,
Dr. Dre's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his son Marcel.
Oddly, Michel'le also has a daughter by
Death Row Records founder Suge Knight.

People Don't Know:
How hard it is to give up a rap career after getting a taste of success.

"I've tried to give it up a couple times.
If it's in your heart, in your blood, it's hard to give it up," he says.
"When I walk the streets and people come up to me and are like
'Yo, K-Dee, What happened man?
Your album was one of the smoothest albums and we liked that,'
'If my friend knew I was talking to you he'd trip out'
and stuff like that and you're like,
'Man, I gotta get back out there!'
And you also believe you still have it."

People Don't Know:
How low the expectations for N.W.A were in the beginning.

"At the time, what I gathered from it was nobody knew it would be that big.
It was just like, we're going to get together and do something.
Dre and them were breaking off from
World Class Wreckin' Cru and they were just like,
'Let's start a group.'
Nobody knew it was going to blow up he way it blew up.
And it took off."

People Don't Know:
What separated the "N.W.A"
members who went on to become famous from "The Posse."

Even at the beginning,
the differences between the stars and
the supporting cast were obvious, says K-Dee.

"It was for the best anyway, they were the top ones," he says.
"Dre was the top producer and Cube was the top writer,
so it wasn't a puzzle."



VIA
PHXmusic.com

Related;
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse?
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Kid Disaster) 1
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Candyman) 2
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Sir Jinx) 3
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Arabian Prince) 4
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (DJ Scratch) 5
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (MC Ren) 6
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (DJ Train) 7
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Krazy D) 8
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Ice Cube) 9
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (MC Chip) 10
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Dr. Dre) 11
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Eazy-E) 12

What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Candyman) 2

​This is an installment in The Posse Project, a 12-day series in which www.PHXmusic.com catches up with all 12 guys pictured
on the cover of N.W.A's first album, N.W.A. and the Posse.
Today, we continue with Candyman,
who ironically went on to become a one hit wonder with the single "Knockin' Boots."


^Candyman then^


^Candyman today^

​Candy Man

Also Known As:
Candell Manson


Before the Photo:
If anyone caught a break because of his place on the Posse record cover,
it's Candyman.
A classmate of Ice Cube during his time at Washington Preparatory he was unaffiliated with the group at the time.
DJ Scratch and Sir Jinx report Candell Manson was splitting time between their couches when he caught a ride to the photo shoot, and somehow landed a prime spot in the front row.

Though Candyman ignored requests to be interviewed for The Posse Project,
he has talked extensively about the N.W.A. and the Posse cover before,
insinuating that there was already a conspiracy behind the group when the photo was taken, contradicting others, who say the success the group's classic lineup had came as a surprise.

"It was kind of top secret, the whole NWA project, they kept it under wraps real well," he told raptalk.net. "They knew that they were on to something big.
They knew that they had a concept that we didn't know anything about."


If that's true, why did they put Candyman right up front?
We're left to wonder.
Later in that interview Candyman claimed he wrote
his big single "Knockin' Boots" around that time but at least one actual N.W.A member contradicts that, saying Candyman had no involvement in the music business until he landed on the cover of Posse.

"I know that Candyman, at that time wasn't doing anything," said Arabian Prince.

In the Photo:
Candyman has said the cover represents the group at it's realest,
before the development of the styles commonly associated with gangster rap.

That's why you see MC Ren as the only member of the group's classic lineup who's wearing the black ballcap and white t-shirt while Ice Cube has a clock around his neck, he says.


"That was a 'real' cover. That was an honest cover.
That was without no perpetrating.
You saw how Cube looked.
You saw how Dre looked.

Everybody was being who they really were,"
he said in the raptalk.net interview.
"That cover means a lot to me.
I was right in the middle.
There were times in the Swapmeets that people thought that
'I' was Eazy E because I was right there in the middle of the picture."

Actually, Candyman later used the confusion about who was who on the Posse cover to his advantage, says Arabian Prince.

"Candyman got lucky," Arabian Prince tells me. "At the time, honestly, we used to actually get mad at Candyman because we'd be out on tour and we'd come back in town and sometimes he'd be representing N.W.A.
and we were like 'Eh, eh, eh, you're not actually in the group.
You're on the cover but... "

After the Photo:
Candyman's story is possibly the ultimate irony of the N.W.A. and the Posse cover. Three years after the photo was taken, around the time N.W.A was releasing its hard-hitting 100 Miles and Runnin' EP, Candell had a top ten hit with "Knockin' Boots," a fun little bit of early 90s pop-rap.



"Knockin' Boots" -- the second-biggest hit on the topic of boot knockin' released in the early 90s -- took his Ain't No Shame in My Game album into Billboard's top 200. Candy toured with Tone Loc and Milli Vanilli but couldn't follow up on his success. His sophomore effort, Playtime Is Over, only had one charting single, the incredibly odd "Oneighundredskytalkpinelevenotwosevenine."

In 1993, just after Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day" told of the time Cube saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp (it said "Ice Cube's a Pimp") Candyman tried to paint a similar picture with the cover of his third album, I Thought U Knew.


​The album was more Zeppelin than blimp, however, failing both commercially and critically. The longest review available simply reads: "The third Candyman CD, his first for I.R.S., lacked either the pop charm of his debut or the leering insolence of the followup."

Candyman was dropped from his major label contract soon after and decided to go gangsta. The cover of his fourth record, 1995's Phukk Watcha Goin' Thru, depicted the rapper posing in front of gold rims wearing a cabbie hat. In addition to songs tailored to his newly gangsta-fied image, Phukk contained a follow-up to Candyman's lone hit "Knockin' Boots" (again, the second-biggest hit on the topic of boot knockin' released in the early 90s) called, unsurprisingly, "Knockin Boots Pt. 2."

"Knockin Boots Pt. 2" wasn't Candyman's last variation on the boot meme. Five years later Candell got back to his pop-rap roots with an album called Knockin' Boots 2001: A Sex Odyssey.
Candyman's fourth album, "Phuck Whatcha Goin' Thru," phlopped.

​

Things got worse a year later when Candy dropped Platinum Hits. Despite what the name implies, it wasn't a greatest hits album -- Candyman only had a singular hit -- but another try at gangsta rap. Songs like "Dear Mama" and "Thug Life" weren't a success, perhaps sparing him a lawsuit from the estate of Tupac Shakur.





Now:
Candyman lives in Vegas and books parties.
Considering the heated public feuds which divided loyalties between the superstars on the Posse cover -- Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy E -- it's surprising that Candyman is probably the least popular person in this photo, dissed by several others pictured when he was mentioned.

"Candyman always kinda thought his shit didn't stink," said one of the other guys from the cover. "He's still that way."

According to Allhiphop.com's rumors page Candyman now puts together stripper parties, including one for Ray-J, the brother of R&B singer Brandy, who is most famous for his sex video for Kim Kardashian. (Candyman's reported involvement isn't the only XXX action involving a former N.W.A affiliate: DJ Yella, the only member of the group's Straight Outta Compton lineup not on the Posse cover now produces adult films.)


Though Candell's company, Candyman Entertainment, shares a name with a male stripper's company, the companies are apparently unaffiliated.


​People Don't Know:
That Candyman plays both sides of the gangsta card, alternating between 'pop-rapper' and 'streetwise thug' every couple albums. He's currently doing the pop thing and criticizing the others for not being real enough.
He also claims to be one of two people actually drinking on the N.W.A. and the Posse cover.


People Don't Know:
That Notorious B.I.G was inspired by Candyman
-- or so Candyman claims.

"I came out before Pac and Biggie.
Biggie gave me props!
I met Biggie! Biggie came right up to me and
gave me props when him and Craig Mack was out.
I remember that like yesterday.
When Biggie did that song 'One More Chance'
that was a Candyman type of song," Candyman
said in the extensive raptalk.net interview.
"People was watching the blue-print.
You can put that in writing!"




VIA
PHXmusic.com

Related;
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse?
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Kid Disaster) 1
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Candyman) 2
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Sir Jinx) 3
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Arabian Prince) 4
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (DJ Scratch) 5
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (MC Ren) 6
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (DJ Train) 7
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Krazy D) 8
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Ice Cube) 9
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (MC Chip) 10
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Dr. Dre) 11
and
What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse? (Eazy-E) 12