Halftime: Are ya’ll still in touch with cats like Latifah and Treach?

Dres: Not really. We’re cordial with everyone and proud of cats but we don’t really kick it with them like that. Maybe every once in a while someone will reach out and say what’s up but not really.

Halftime: How many takes for “U Mean I’m Not”?

Dres: I don’t know I probably had to laugh quite a few times. I’m the type to really try to get it right behind the mic so it probably took a few.

Halftime: What did you mean in the second verse of “Black With N.V. (No Vision)” when you were like ‘Wish while I wash the water gets hot…” Were you just playing with words?

Dres: I felt like I was trying to say I need to do something with myself otherwise it’s like time can do you if you don’t do your time. I guess I was trying to be a little slick but at the same time I was trying to say I need to make some moves with myself. It was just the realities of what I see at this time.

Halftime: How much did the skinz level increase after the first album?

Dres: Ahh man a lot. I’ll just leave it at that.

Halftime: What’s your favorite Black Sheep track?

Lawnge: I would have to say “The Choice is Yours (Remix).”

Dres: I guess I would say that one too.

Halftime: What would you guys point to as your most memorable moment of your career?

Dres: I guess the first time we rocked a stadium. That was in Miami and I was like whoa this is great. I remember the audience singing the words to a song that I never heard and I was like who is that onstage? It was DJ Quik and that was the first time I saw him and he ripped it up. I was like whoa. It was just crazy to perform at a stadium. I guess what coincides with that is the Apollo show on the Ice Cube tour.

Lawnge: Yea, that’s my most memorable moment the Apollo. That was crazy.

Dres: I thought the rafters were gonna break. I literally thought the balcony was gonna break loose. It was crazy.

Halftime: Similar to that what do you think has been your biggest contribution to hip hop?

Dres: Just being ourselves and sincere about what we do. It’s not like we do brain surgery.

Lawnge: Doing an unintentional classic record. That’s a contribution that will last forever. That’s one of the biggest marks we’ve made thus far.

Halftime: I heard Prince Paul is working on putting together a Native Tongues tour. Has he talked to you guys? What’s the status on getting you all back together?

Dres: We’ve been talking to Paul who’s spearheading the project of putting something on film about putting together the Native Tongue situation on tour and maybe even a record. We’re definitely in the beginning stages.

Lawnge: It’s very possible it could happen. I look at it as a money issue. As long as all the cats get what they want then it can happen but certain people want to stick to their numbers. They don’t want to negotiate their level of paper intake.

Halftime: So when can we expect the new project?

Dres: The album is called 8WM / Novakane and it drops digitally in October [Available now]. I say it drops digitally because we’re dropping it online exclusively and it will be available on itunes, napster and aol. We’re also going to drop a couple of singles over the summer. We’re trying to do the unprecedented in that we aren’t stressing the labels this time around. We’re gonna try and reach our people on a different level and create a situation where we’re doing our own thing. We’re gonna put it out in stores as well but we’re gonna do it online initially. You can check for some of the music online at myspace.com/blacksheep. The first single is called ‘Be Careful.’ There’s only about 10 or 11 cuts on the album and maybe a hidden track. At the end of the day we reached out to a bunch of new cats from Bean One to Vitamin D from Seattle. Kwame did a joint, Showbiz did a joint and others that you probably never heard of.

Halftime: Lawnge I heard you got a side project coming out as well tell us about that?

Lawnge: Yea, the outside project is called the Class of ’89 and it’s just me reflecting on what once was and what I cherished about hip hop coming up in hip hop. It is kinda a reflection of me talking about the times and what it really meant to me as an artist. Its different levels of what I call hip hop and not rap music.

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Posted by Jbutters on Monday, December 18th, 2006 and is filed under HIP HOP ICON SERIES.