Halftime: How has your approach to writing songs changed?

Nine: Nowadays I gotta hear a track. I’m at a point where I can’t write rhymes just for the sake of writing rhymes. I gotta hear the track and the track will immediately tell me what to do. It’s scary to me sometimes because I’ll know exactly what to do. I’m not like Jay, I won’t just sit there and make up a song in my head. I enjoy writing. The most exciting part to me is creating a song out of nothing. If I don’t get anything after listening to the track for five hours then I’ll move on. A lot of people think that you can rhyme over anything but I don’t think you sound good over everything. Certain tracks should be catered to you and I think the artists that rhyme to the tracks that they sound best on are the most successful.

Halftime: What are some topics you plan to be addressing that you witnessed during your ten years out of the mix and how will it be different from your previous work?

Nine: Well, on Nine Livez I was just having fun lyrically expressing myself. But on Cloud 9 I was just an angry black man. I felt the pressure when I did Cloud 9. It is not my favorite body of work which is why I can’t let it end that way. I was going through a lot of things after Nine Livez about the subject matter and how the voice was a gimmick so I think I overshot myself on that album trying to prove things. A lot of songs didn’t make that album. I hated my label. I was doing shows with dudes where the place is sold out and everyone is telling me how much they love the record and my pockets weren’t reflecting that. My deal was terrible and my publishing was horrible. Everything I got I had to go out and get on my own. This label wasn’t really doing anything for me so the second time around when I saw the same things happening I couldn’t focus. I was just angry. ‘Lyin King’ was actually the last song I did for that album. The only reason that happened is because the label said they wanted a radio song so I did it. Then they were like why don’t you do a bunch of these and I was like why man for what?

This time I’m a grown man and my songs will reflect that. I’m not gonna be preachy but there is a reason for anything that I say. I’ll be talking about basic things like everyday life. That’s where the public is pointing too. People’s attention spans are shorter and they want something where it’s like you’re right man that’s true. They want to nod their head in agreement or disagreement with you. If they don’t know what you’re talking about I don’t think they have the attention spans to even want to try and figure it out. You gotta dumb it down.

Halftime: Yo a lot of cats are starting to say that man. Jay and now Nas what’s up with that?

Nine: You don’t rap for other artists you’re rapper to the guy that does not rap and does not want to be a rapper. He works all week long and gets in on Friday and then busts his ass all weekend. He doesn’t want to put a CD in and be like.. huh what is this dude talking about? He doesn’t want to hear that shit when he can just throw on ‘Shoulder Lean.’ He just wants to chill out. He don’t want to hear you getting all complex and shit. He’s like nigga please I got bills. Talk about them bills nigga! Fuck your universal, international flow I want to know how would you handle this situation? You have to talk to people about what they are going through. I’m still blue collar so I’m of the people. I was in the Bronx all day. I live in Harlem now and Harlem really gave me my swagger back. I’ve always liked Harlem but I never lived here and I’ve been here for about a year and a half. Everybody here is really trying to get it and having that around you really fuels you.

Halftime: Business-wise how will you approach things differently without the labels behind you?

Nine: It’s just a do it yourself mentality. I’m gonna set it off with a mixtape so people can go to my myspace page and cop it. I’m putting out an album of unreleased songs that were recorded between 2000-2003. The CD is gonna be called Return of the Hardcore and people are gonna be blown away when they hear it. People haven’t heard me in a while and they definitely haven’t heard me in the form I’m coming in. I’m basically gonna make the labels come to me. I’m not gonna chase them around and shop demos. I’m past that point. I’m basically taking lessons from what I see dudes doing. I know a lot of mixtapes are out there but just like albums they are not quality. Anyone who actually puts out quality mixtapes it does something for them especially if you already have a name. I know people are curious so all I have to do is satisfy that curiosity. I’m gonna surprise a lot of doubters. I feed off of that.

Halftime: Who are some of the cats that inspired you and do you listen to today to get inspired?

Nine: Some of my inspirations for rapping back in the day were people like Rakim, KRS, Public Enemy and heads like that. As far as today I’m not inspired by anybody so I don’t even really listen to rap. I did enough listening the last couple of years to know where it’s at. There’s a very selective few that I’ll listen too. I might listen to 50 if I feel like I want to crack somebody’s head open or if I want to lay back I might throw Snoop in. I have certain people that I listen to but I don’t get inspired by anybody else because they have been inspired and I know where they got it from. So they’re not original for the most part. I mess with the cats that sound different but the creativity is gone. I think 50 is creative based on the way he approaches his melodies, Kanye is kinda creative, Jay-Z is creative because he comes with different flows but these are veterans or students of the game that I’m talking about. I like T.I. I think he’s nice. I always thought regardless of where you’re from nice is nice and to me he’s nice. Ludacris is just nice to me. I enjoy listening to them as well. You gotta be nice and that does take creativity. I think those artists are creative because they have skill to rely on but 80% of these cats don’t have skills they just have character. Character is good because in today’s business that can carry you a long way.

Halftime: So what would you like to see changed in hip hop?

Nine: I would like to see dudes really step it up. If a guy makes an album you like don’t go and try to make an album just like that. You don’t have to be left field with it just have your album stand by itself. If I bought an EPMD, Rakim, Kane and a Public Enemy album none of them would sound the same. I’d be in the mood for what I’m in the mood for. The music is really for the people not even the artist. I just want to be able to satisfy a part of someone’s mood. I don’t expect them to listen to me all day everyday or even like every song that I make. I miss that in hip hop that I can’t get albums for my different moods. Now I can just turn on the radio and it’s all the same.

Halftime: So when can we expect some new material?

Nine: Well, in about three weeks fans can go to my myspace page and hear some new material. They’ll be able to go on that page and pick up ‘Return of the Hardcore’ through paypal. I’ll be putting out another mixtape mainly in the streets of New York. I’m trying to get Mister Cee to host it even though I know he don’t really do that. That’s my man though. The mixtape is done already but I can’t really sell that because it’s copyrighted music that I’m spitting over. There will be original songs and all that on there. I’m just gonna keep pumping these mixtapes out and I’m talking to a few people about putting a package together but I really want to grind out for a couple of months. A lot of people might be surprised who I may end up fooling around with or what clique I might be apart of. We’ll see what happens. I’m just gonna get my feet wet again. I have a few shows coming up out of state. By February we should have something in place.

Halftime: When’s the last time you did a show?

Nine: Ahh man I turned down a lot of shows. I was getting a lot of requests between 2000 and 2004 to do “Whutcha Want” here or do this there and I just didn’t want to. It wasn’t even about the money I just didn’t want to. Now I want to plus I got new material now and I can pump out these mixtapes. There were also personal reasons outside of the business that I didn’t want to be out there like ‘Whutcha Want Nine!, yea whateva…’

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Posted by Jbutters on Monday, December 18th, 2006 and is filed under SICKWIDIT, LOST & FOUND, INTERVIEWS.