Rap Radar

You brought the lovely Amanda Diva into the mix for “Manwomanboogie” and gave her a nice little look there.
Yeah, gave her a nice little look. You know I told her… I love Amanda and we have a thing ’cause I always tell her she’s on ten, like all the time. So I said…

Why you say that? (Laughs) Her, Amanda?
(Laughs) So I was like, “Yo, just… 6. And she kinda did that and she nailed it. I liked the tone in her voice on that. I’ve gotten a lot of comments and compliments on her voice in that.

Yeah, she sounds different on that.
But that should kinda be her thing that she shoots for.

You’ve done mad songs with Dilla. How’d you decide to go with “Move” for the album?
Well that was the last thing he and I kinda did together. He sent that to me and I was just fuckin’ wit it and ya know… so I said lemme just throw that shit on here.

I know you obviously have a personal connection with him but it seems like in America, we tend to glorify the people that are no longer here. Do you get weary sometimes of that stuff?
Yeah, totally. ‘Cause like when he was here, dudes was fuckin’ with him but not like that. It’s good that people are finding out about him and stuff like that but you see kids walkin’ around with T-shirts and it doesn’t need to be fad-y. That seems like what it’s become. It’s cool if you really get into it but get into the shit. Don’t be a girl at a party or a dude at a party with the T-shirt on and just.. you don’t even know who Phat Kat is. You don’t know who T3 is? Or you don’t know the joints he did for Pharcyde? If you gon rock it, rock it! That’s it, know what you rockin’.

Here’s the one thing that pissed me off about the album. Why is the title track all cut into “Move” and all that?
Yeah, I know, I know. That was because they was like, “We gotta get it now!” I was tweekin’ it. I was like, “I still gotta get this mix on it.” “Well fuck it!” And I was like, “Watch what’s gonna happen ’cause this shit is bananas.”

Why’d you call the next joint “Dance on Glass“?
I just thought the beat sounded… I don’t know like shard. The music just brought that title out.

The record’s kinda your jab at record labels. What happens in those kinda meetings where you present your music and they say they want something else?
Well, ya know, they offer their opinion. I listen and act like I care. (Laughs) And then I do what I wanna do. We argue and then I stomp my feet and I act like this disgruntled, spoiled brat artist. And then they say, “Fuck it because they’re gonna put about 10 artists out in 7 months.”

Have you ever changed anything from the record company input?
I mean, if I thought that it made sense I would. I listen to them but ya know, but for the most part I take it with a grain of salt ’cause I know what I wanna do. Like I never really been A&R’d and shit like that.

Part 4 Thursday.