Halftime: Yea, I am on message boards and its crazy how in tuned fans are with record sales and shit like saying people flopped when that has never been an indicator of skill or quality.

AG: You might get ate up on the corner but imagine getting ate up and going to a six bedroom mansion with three cars in the lot. Is it really gonna fuck with you?

Halftime: True, so how did you hook up with this new label?

AG: I met DJ Design in 1994. They promoted a show I did out in Seattle and I see him from time to time overseas. I tour a lot overseas and make a lot of moves out there. I seen him over there and he was doing this label thing. Me and Show were working on the album but we knew it would take a while and I needed something out. He talked about bringing in Madlib and Jaydee and I was like I never really rocked over anybody else so let’s try it and see how it comes out. That’s how that went down.

Halftime: That should be a good look because Madlib and Dilla have loyal fans that will check it out and definitely helps you open up your market a bit.

AG: I respect their musical approach more than anything. If I didn’t then I wouldn’t do it regardless of their fans. I like them as musicians. I like their approach, it reminds me of myself. I just want to take that to a whole new level and make it bigger. The music that Jay-Z makes and the way he rhymes you could say he is an underground artist with a lot of exposure. He is an independent, underground artist that got a chance because he wasn’t afraid to make his music sound bigger.

Halftime: I dunno. He also said he dumbed down his lyrics just so people could feel it. I don’t know how I feel about that. At least don’t tell me!

AG: Nah, I’m gonna tell you because if you saying I’m a fool talking about money then I have to address that. I have to let you know that if you think that cool but I got to let you know the reason I dumbed it down. It may have sounded bad saying I dumbed it down to sell records but what he was really saying was he became the voice of the average nigga in the hood and now they start talking like him. He could tell you how shit should be, but what he did was tell you how it really is. So not only did I give you the truth I sold some records and you and I both got what we wanted. He stepped it up so he isn’t representing for the dude on the corner anymore but he is saying I was where you were at so you gotta feel me too. Now I’m over here because this is what I do. I think he motivates dudes to step their games up. I read Russell Simmons book and he said hip hop is the movement of the youth but truth was one of the elements. If no one tells the other side of the story then corporate America and suburbia think everything got better. So if no one says listen nigga I’ll smack the shit out of you with a bat with crack in my pocket or whatever the rest of the world will think that’s not happening any more. I know people who think he’s the best ever just because they believe he knows how they feel.

Halftime: The way I think about it is to flip it on that note and say I’m not street cat but I can relate to the style and flow and things like that. At the same time when you are an educated brother getting your grind on you want to hear some other shit.

AG: You can get Common Sense or Nas for that. He’s like this is my audience. I guarantee you if Jay-Z made a conscious album that shit would go gold, barely platinum because people don’t want to hear that message from him. Let him or 50 tell me some positive shit, I’m throwing the album away. I don’t want to hear that from you B.

Halftime: I feel you on listening to Common or Nas for some conscious shit but all of them dudes always say they dropped out of school and they got their hustle on doing what they do. Its not really a bunch of people like me who are like I went to school, got my master’s degree and I’m rapping. There have got to be some educated cats that actually finished school.

AG: If I got my master’s degree and spent some years in school why would I want to rap?

Halftime: Because you love it!

AG: Honestly, I’d rather be the manager of the fucking rapper and have ten rappers on my roster. I think to be a true rapper somewhere along the line you weren’t happy with the institution. And there is no way you gonna do twelve years and then get your master’s and say you didn’t like the institution. You wouldn’t have even made it past the twelfth. I knew from the get go I’m not with this that’s how most rap artists are. R&B artists are different. Hip Hop doesn’t require any criteria. All you have to do is have a voice and heart. You can be the ugly, funny voiced, fat nigga but if you got a point a view and you rhyming from your heart then you can be successful. You can be anybody and be successful. In an arena like that I don’t think you are gonna get too many smart cats. The smart ones are the ones doing management or production not the ones recording.

Halftime: What were some of your most memorable moments you’ve seen throughout the years?

AG: First thing was seeing Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, and KRS-ONE at the Apollo. That changed my life. I was a fan and I was like this is crazy I have to do this. Biz Mark came out of a big ass nose and did “Pickin Boogers.” The showmanship was there with Scoob, Scrap, and Kane with the flattop jumping over their leg. It wasn’t no I’m gonna just stand here and rhyme they had fun. You had fun watching. The second most memorable moment was three years later being on the same stage with KRS-ONE, Rakim, and Kane. I would say “Microphone Fiend” made me quit my job. I was working at McDonalds on Canal St. I was closing actually. The manager was my man and when we were closing we could bring out the tape deck. One of my co-workers throws in “Microphone Fiend” that he taped from the radio three nights ago and it’s my first time hearing it. I remember this shit so perfectly. It was a Friday night and we had just got paid. I gave the nigga $40 for the tape, just for that song. I had to know the words by tomorrow. When he came out with that record it had been a long time before he came out with anything. It was describing my life. The next day I took Chuck D’s order and I told him I rapped. He said you can do whatever you put your mind to you just have to do it 100%. That in combination with the tape made me say I’m out of here. I performed at the Armory one year and Chuck D came up to me and said Andre the Giant is the baddest name in hip hop. He didn’t even remember me or know the full circle of it. Those types of moments are very special because I was and still am a fan. To reach the same plateau as those who inspired me to take this serious you can’t give me a plaque or money to make me happier than that. Everyone around me from grade school knew this is what I do. When we had events at school I would rhyme and back then this was still a fad. We had a senior show but I’m a freshmen performing in it. I’m making announcements over the loud speakers rapping. The principal tried to incorporate whatever I was doing into the system. So anyone who has ever known me or been around me when they saw me on TV or wherever I know it made them feel good to say damn I knew he was gonna do that. That’s probably every rapper’s story but I’m just telling you mine because during the time that I’m talking about everybody wasn’t doing it. They weren’t giving money to emcees like that. It was selling it out from the back of your car. That whole journey is something I’m doing all over again and that’s where this conversation started.

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