AG: For those that know Joe, they know LL is his inspiration so he always has to do it on that level.

Halftime: When you guys did the Runaway Slave album the topics seemed like you were just having fun. Ya’ll wasn’t trying to fall into any particular. How did you come up with songs like “Bounce to This”?

AG: Honestly, when we did that album Show and I were together like every hour of everyday so we thought in unison. We did the same things together so a lot of the music was just a reflection of our everyday life. When we were first trying to get our foot in the door Black Sheep was really taking off along with Nice & Smooth. The first time I ever saw Black Sheep perform was opening up for Nice and Smooth who were also in our circle. They showed tremendous love to us. We would go on the road with these guys and it’d be Gangstarr, Show & AG, Nice & Smooth, and Black Sheep. On “Bounce to This” with Dres, what we did was reflect on what we did on the regular after the show which was going to clubs. But then you can go somewhere totally different with “More than One Way out of the Ghetto.” That’s how I felt that day going to the studio. Then it could be “Party Groove” where we want to bend and stretch. Then we go over to “Runaway Slave.” That’s what was great about it. We doing so many things and making so many moves that each move presented a song. I think that’s why that album is very special. Show had the music to represent that feeling with the big band sound he was working with. Nobody was really using the drums he was using or the horns and stuff like that so it made our stuff seemed really to the left but the message was what everybody was thinking about in the hood. That’s what I was talking about with the album I want to do. It doesn’t matter how left or right your music is, if your message is really on point some people might see through that and take the music as a breathe of fresh air. People are tired of hearing the same loops or same drums flipped a thousand ways. The only person who I haven’t gotten tired of that yet with is Lil Jon. I was onto Lil Jon years ago before anyone knew who he was. It was different and he was yelling on the whole record. I was telling Party Arty this dude don’t even rhyme he just say the hook the whole record. What got me was he’s doing what he wanna do but he has a message we all can relate too. I’m going to the club, this nigga wanna play, and we get crunk I’ll see you outside.

Halftime: How did you take Big L’s death and what was going through your mind when you first heard about it?

AG: That was very hard. Everything that I explained to ya’ll, about my music and how its time to do different things regardless of what fans think, L went through that. We even spoke about it at times. We used to tour a lot together overseas and I saw it working. The single “Ebonics” was the first time dudes went outside of the camp to get music and it was a different sound. I don’t think there is a sample on that record. He showed that if we update what we doing and apply our skills like we always have then we can make a bigger mark. Then to see it about to happen with Roc-A-Fella and Jay-Z feeling him and then to see it get taken out it makes you want to make a decision and carry it out as soon as possible because nothing is guaranteed. Before he came out with those singles we all were doing independent things trying to get our niche back and he did it. Him not being able to carry that out made me see that I have to live everyday to the fullest. He touched new fans and the niggas he was worried about felt him even more because they hear the talent, passion and the history. I think you’re gonna hear that on my album. This album is done solely just to fuck with some of the cats that I haven’t fucked with that’s not really on the radar like that but are in the same kind of market as me. That’s how this whole thing came about with Madlib, Jaydee, Oh No, Jake One and Dave West. These are artists that are doing some numbers in the market that I’m in and are really being felt. And of course I have Show, Buck and Finesse on the album too.

Halftime: I was gonna ask what’s up with Showbiz and the possibility of you guys doing another album.

AG: Yea we are gonna do another Showbiz and AG album. That could be the biggest album coming out of our camp. This album is to get me back on the radar and make some noise. That would be the complete album because he brings so much to the table that it makes my whole job easier.

Halftime: What do you think it was about your styles that really complimented each other?

AG: I think his knowledge of music blended with my raw talent. I might not know the records or loops he knows but I know this is my passion and this is what I love to do. So when you get the non-formatted with something that has organization the contrasts that come together to make it work like a battery which has positive and negative sides. If you noticed on the first album on the songs that we rhymed together on I may have come from a totally different perspective like on “40 Acres and My Props.” We are talking about something totally different but they both go under the concept and that’s what makes it dope because you are covering more than one person’s point of view.

Halftime: Do you think he’ll rap on your next group album?

AG: I doubt it. He really never had a passion for it. He only did it because one day I didn’t show up to the studio and him and Diamond recorded vocals and everybody said that shit was hot. At one point I thought he was a better rapper than I was. Lyrically, I could be on the street and burn a cat or too but he had the melodies and he knows how to make sharp choruses. When you got an artist like that like Biz Mark they don’t even have to rhyme. They can do whatever. Show had that and the talent to rhyme as well. I thought Goodfellas, where he didn’t rhyme, was a good album as well. It was gloomier than the first because it was totally my thoughts whereas the first was both of our thoughts. I feed off of other people a lot though. I’d rather do that than something by myself.

Halftime: So how is your new album going to be formatted? Are you gonna have a bunch of guest emcees or are cats like Finesse just gonna do beats?

AG: The guest emcees on the album are the ones around my camp like Party Arty, D-Flow, some new cats called 9:50 and a 13 year old girl named Lil Lo.

Halftime: A 13 year old girl?

AG: Yea, she spit. She’s in my hood. I really wanted to give people in my hood a chance that had some talent. I didn’t go outside of that. The album is gonna tell you about what I went through. This is how I felt, this is where I am now, and this is where I’m going. The artists on the album were around during that whole process, so I felt it was good to reward them. These are the people that keep me young because without them I wouldn’t have as much passion for the music.

Halftime: Yea and who’s hungrier than the cat going through the everyday struggle?

AG: I think a lot of music today is made to make you believe there are people hungrier than those in the everyday struggle but I don’t think so. You can’t tell me you hungry when you got a big ass crib and cars. They don’t even want the money they just want to be heard. They just want to be on the radio. That type of hunger is always infectious and good to have around. When you start to think about the business side the music starts to suffer. The great ones manage to put it together or have a great team that allows them to concentrate on music.

Halftime: It’s messed up to see someone lose their passion because when you are a fan of an artist and you hear them the first time and they just fucking rip the track you can feel that hunger. Like the first time I heard Canibus, I was like damn this kid is hungry as shit he won’t even put the mic down!

AG & Marcus: Yea!!

AG: A lot of times what it is since I’ve been through is a lot of people tell you how they like you to do music and if you’re not strong minded somewhere down the line you give in. For instance say I’m a Canibus type rapper and I’m spitting, “I’m walking bare foot on the sun looking for shade” or shit like that. That’s crazy saying, “I roll up on your crew quicker than long sleeves at a speed that would confuse Keanu Reeves.” He says shit where you are like oh my goodness. But imagine an artist like that and after your first album your management, label and everyone saying you need to make some records for some girls or an older crowd. You hear that enough and you gonna start making music that way. Maybe not the whole album but they’ll start trying to reach to that audience. Every artist wants everyone to like them so when you start getting feedback its better to just filter that out. If you’re not a strong minded person you’ll end up doing all types of music.

Halftime: Sadly, you see that in the best of artists. As a fan you think damn this dude was so ill why they even listen to these people.

AG: When you in a magazine and artists coming up to you and people are like that’s the sickest album of last year but yet your landlord is telling you that you have 30 days to pay your rent you start making some changes. Some of the artists who made the best albums didn’t sell the way it was supposed to and now he is questioning himself like I know the album was hot but how do I make money doing what I do. That creates a lot of the change as well.

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Posted by Jbutters on Thursday, March 16th, 2006 and is filed under HIP HOP ICON SERIES.