Features

ThaFormula.Com - Now I know that you guys were rollin' with the Hit Squad but did you guys actually think that your first album would end up getting as big as it did to where everybody would start biting your shit?

Skoob - Nah definitely not man. We thought it would at least get to the point to where it would be on the radio because we were dealing with EPMD who was already an established Hip-Hop group. They had a lot of connections, so they already kind of new the ropes when it came to producing groups and trying to get them put on and get them established in the game and all that. We figured "all right cool, we put this little album together and maybe we will get on the radio, hopefully we will get on a little tour with these cats or whatever the case is and you know keep it movin'," but as it turned out you know it got a little crazy in a good way.

ThaFormula.Com - Did you guys make any loot off of that album because I notice most artists never made what they should have and some even made nothing?

Skoob - I mean you know I'm pretty sure we got jerked but we ate overall. It was good enough to come from nothing to something and to pay your dues and kind of learn like "okay I got a little bit of dough but I didn't get exactly what I should have gotten so next time around I'ma try to make sure I get everything that's coming to me.

ThaFormula.Com - What did that album end up selling anyway man cause that was a huge album?

Skoob - Well right now I don't know where its at but when we last looked it was at like close to 2 million.

ThaFormula.com - How did you guys feel when you started hearing everyone biting your shit? I mean everyone was trying to do the "diggedy" flow at one point.

Drayz - Nah, I mean we was pretty pissed off at first. We had niggaz in our crew that was pretty pissed off. We would see a couple of them niggaz that was sounding like us and it would be a little tense. You had a whole bunch of kids I remember uh…Funkdoobiest all of them, but as time went on we just broke it down like "yo the same shit happened to Kane, the same shit happened to Slick Rick," so its basically you know we figured it out you know that when your the shit everybody wanna be like you so we just chilled 'cause you can't fuck the whole world up. We wasn't even in it for that. We just wanted to make good music and for a minute we was the pied piper of Hip-Hop. It was all good man we didn't trip. This is what it's gonna be and it's what it is.

ThaFormula.com - What was up with Solid Scheme 'cause they produced all the albums but always seemed to be slept on?

Skoob - Actually one of the members Derek Lynch is out here in L.A. right now. He's out here parlaying putting together a little documentary. He got a couple of other things going on. He is still doing beats and all of that so everybody is still doing them but I guess you can say in a different feel branching out and doing other things.

ThaFormula.com - You guys had a good chemistry when you worked together man. I remember in the beginning I thought you guys were Solid Scheme 'cause I had never really heard of them?

Drayze - Yeah it was a combination of stuff like that. We felt like we had a little point to prove. We was just getting a lot of backlash inside and outside the industry. Maybe we would have done it different if it was nowadays but maybe not. The thing is also that first album you heard we did that maybe a year and a half prior to when y'all heard it but we was ready to move on stylistically and all that. We was just ready to move on and try new sounds.

ThaFormula.com - When the second album dropped what was the response like, and were you happy with how that one turned out?

Drayze - I mean the response was you know people were shocked. The second album, I call it like a microwave album. It was just put together real fast. Solid Scheme, they was working from the first album so they didn't really get a chance to take a break so they didn't get a chance uh…we really didn't get a chance to sit down like we did with the first one and plan it out and go over the steps and form a new sound and all that so to me it was just kind of like the album…uh the label callin' on Monday and saying they needed it by Thursday so we kind of just slapped it together like a sloppy sandwich and we got pretty much sloppy results I think.

ThaFormula.com - One of the things that I thought was crazy was that you guys blew up and crossed over commercially with you first album but came back with a second album that was even more hardcore then the first. That is kind of rare to happen once you blow up commercially.

Skoob - Yeah the whole situation with Das dawg is we never made an album intentionally to cross over. We just went in the studio and tried to bang out some hot joints and we always been fans of like real underground cats anyway so I guess that pretty much reflects in our music. You know when it came to going and doing the second one even after the success we still had the same focus like "we just got to do us dawg even if we don't use whatever styles were accustomed to." It was a natural progression dawg. We had already done that so I'm pretty sure that even if the world hadn't bitten the style like that, it probably would haven been different anyway.

ThaFormula.com - I just never seen anyone get bit as hard as you guys did man. It was just crazy to me to see so many muthafuckas doing the "diggedy" shit. Nobody ever talks about that man and just imagine the amount of money you could have made from the biters?

Skoob - Could have been a gazillionaire.

ThaFormula.com - Did that second album do what you hoped it would have done?

Skoob - As far as being commercially successful to a major label nah, it didn't do what it was supposed to do. Did it come out and sell a lot of units? Hell yeah, that shit sold a lot of units but it wasn't that double or triple Platinum joint.

ThaFormula.com - Did you feel though that now you guys were treated with more respect instead of just being looked at as that group with that one great album and number one hit?

Skoob - I don't know if I looked at it that way at that point. I think I more kind of looked at it that way once we got to the third album, 'cause it was like the second one was more of a trial and error basically. But even doing the second album we already had the mindset like "dawg we will never do another 'They Want EFX' ever again in life. That was a one time deal dawg," but that never took away from my creativity, my talent and all of that stuff, so I always knew I could always do a good record no question, but was it gonna be as commercially successful as "They Want EFX?" I don't know, but am I gonna sell a lot more units then the average cat? Hell yeah. I looked at it like "aight I guess I did my job," especially on the third album, I kind of went even grittier and felt real good about it.

ThaFormula.com - When you look back at The Hit Squad man, do you feel that there was anything that could have been done to keep the squad together or did you feel there was nothing that could have been done to change what happened?

Skoob - Nah, that was a done deal man. I mean it was like a bridge over troubled waters before we even got into The Hit Squad. We got there when all the problems and events that led up to the break up had already happened so it was like we walked into a damn tornado and shit, right into the eye of the muthafucka. I guess whatever problems they had, they had already discussed what was going down or if not, uh…somebody already had an outlook of what would go down so it was already destined to happen dawg. I don't think we could have forced those guys to do anything either way you know.

ThaFormula.com - Was the label pressing you guys to make another hit like "They Want EFX" or was it a lot different back then?

Skoob - It was a little different back then 'cause if the song that you did was good and you didn't really make a radio hit, they somehow would try to do a remix and turn it into a radio joint. These days you just get another artist, put them on the same beat and that's the remix. But back then you could do a totally different song or whatever the case may be and go for the radio, so it was kind of a thing where you know you wanted to keep the streets happy but at the same time once the streets got accustomed to it and they were straight then you would remix the record and try to go to radio with it.

ThaFormula.com - So now up next came the third album "Hold It Down." This time you hit up Clark Kent, Primo, and Easy Moe Bee. What made you guys hit up some new producers for the third album?

Skoob - We just really wanted to work with those cats. They were the grimiest dudes in the Industry at the time and we felt that we were the grimiest rappers so we needed to make that connect and just go out and do it big with some of the hall of famers. Everybody was pretty much fans of Das. We had already had history with Primo, we had been on tour with him and all that. Clark Kent had worked at the label for a minute and you know Clark was from the hood anyway. I go back with Easy Moe, I knew his people for years from Brooklyn, so it was like no problem at all.

ThaFormula.com - So what were you guys thinking coming into the third album?

Drayze - I just think we weren't really satisfied with the second album so we wanted to really get busy on the third and maybe give Solid Scheme a little rest as well and we suddenly realized that "yo we're in the music industry and you don't have to use one set of producers all the time, you could just have your base producers." So I remember we just tried to go right back even harder and you know, we was still fans of the game, so we just took advantage of it. We put our wish list together and said "you know I remember when I was outside the game I would have loved to work with Primo and go right down the list," so its pretty much what we did.

ThaFormula.com - So how did the album end up doing for you guys and were you satisfied with the results of that one?

Drayze - If I remember, with that album we had a little bit of tension with us and the label by then. We wanted to put out "No Diggedy" as a single and I just remember at those meetings they was like "nah we can't do that because people might get it twisted and think you all mean no more 'diggedy' style," so they was scared but we was like "yo man come on, fuck all that."

ThaFormula.com - So this time around they weren't letting you pick the singles where in the last albums they were?

Drayze - Yeah you know how it go. Britney could fucking pick anything off of her fucking songs but Jessica Simpson? Know what I'm sayin'? So that's what it was, if you don't meet that quota you know they wanna hold your hand through the whole fuckin' process so you know, we was kind of faced with that shit as well. We had to roll with the punches like "aight whatever, let's do it." The streets loved the album and we could go in any hood and be straight.

ThaFormula.com - But did the label love it?

Drayze - Hell no, they still wanted another million records sold. That's just the name of the game, dollar signs all day and all night. They don't give a fuck about street credibility and all that so nah you know, it wasn't all love by then.

ThaFormula.com - So then 3 years later came your 4th album "Generation EFX." It was 1998 times had changed, how were you guys feelin' coming into this one?

Skoob - That album was a little crazy man. That was a huge tug of war because by then the label had certain producers that they were accustomed to using with their artists. I don't think in the big picture that the label was seeing was the same big picture that Das was seeing, because it was like the record label was leaning more towards like commercial music and Das wasn't a commercial group. Once they tried to step in and hook us up with there commercial type producers and put out an album like that it was kind of crazy man. That was sort of the last straw you know?

ThaFormula.com - Did you guys notice how Hip-Hop had changed in just those 3 years alone man?

Skoob - I mean yeah, the music definitely changed drastically man. It was a time too, where as you know a lot of the "hardcore" groups really didn't depend on radio to generate sells, and this was the age of where everybody was coming up with a formula or a certain look to try to gain sells and all of that, so it was definitely changing man. It was changing fast and in a big way.

ThaFormula.com - Is this still fun to you guys man and enjoyable or is this more like a job now in 2004? I mean do you guys still feel the same way about the music as you did in the early 90's?

Drayze - It's just you know your wiser now that's all. You know muthafuckas is making money off this shit. I mean you knew that before but you didn't know to what extent. You knew there were opportunities before you just didn't know to what extent. You see now muthafuckas getting sneaker deals, book deals, clothes deals, so now basically one day you wake up and your like instead of driving with your hands over your eyes, you're driving with your eyes open now. So speaking for us, we're not going in and being like "okay let's fuckin' get some cold singing shit going on," but you're going in there and you're saying "I'm gonna make music," uh not that you weren't saying that before but part of you now is like "I'ma make my shit bangin', bangin', bangin', because I know what the shit can lead to." It's just more then going out and doing shows and then getting your little show money. You want your phone to ring and you want somebody to offer you the fuckin' world you know what I'm sayin'? It's only right. Why? Because rappers ain't got dental plans and insurance and all this other shit, but the people in the record companies, they've got all that shit. When you in the studio up late night trying to think of them lines and trying to get that shit across on the mic, you don't know where them record people are at. They up in they crib doing whatever they doing. So all they doing is sitting back waiting for you to hand the music over and then they're like "okay thank you asshole." But know you're like "whoa, whoa, whoa," you hold on to that DAT a little tighter and you say "wait, wait, wait, before you break out, this is what I would like." So you know nobody wants to be an asshole their whole life.

ThaFormula.com - Were you guys one of those artists that saved your money wisely or the kind that thought the money was gonna be there forever?

Drayze - Man we ain't no different from nobody else. It's just luckily we got our foot half way still in the door and when your from the fucking ghetto your making more money then your parents, you getting accountants thrown at you and now you got a lawyer and now you got all this bullshit that you really don't need. You do think the shit is gonna last forever. Rappers out here today doing the stupid shit. niggaz think that shit is guaranteed man. That shit ain't guaranteed.

ThaFormula.com - So what happened between 1998 and 2004 for such a long delay in a new album. It seems like 98 was a year when a lot of the OG's left?

Drayze - I don't think we left by choice. I don't think we said "ok we're out." Back when we was doing it a lot of us back then we wasn't doing it like these rappers nowadays coming out saying "yo this is my last album, I retire." That shows you how fucking sweet the game must be to them. They are like "shit I done made what I wanted, I'm out nigga, I'm out!" I'm like "shit I wish I had it that good," I could say that, but in between we was trying to get a new deal, searching for a new record company. We felt we had a little bit of knowledge by then so you know we just didn't wanna sign any old piece of napkin. We fired this one fired that one, its like a hot air balloon and shit. This shit starts sinking and you gotta throw some of them sandbags off, so we tried to go that route, we tried to do the independent route, got with this label, they promise you the whole world, and they cant do shit for you so that takes about a year to figure that out. We go to another deal and 6 months later we're out. So we went through that 3 or 4 times for all I know and then between all that, you know recording on your own off your own little budget, doing shows…the bills still keep coming, the mortgage gotta get paid, you know the story "blah, blah, blah" you know? Boom before you know it look, the shit was 3 years between the other album so 5 years ain't really shit.

ThaFormula.com - Did you guys see a dime off of the "Best of Das EFX" LP that dropped in 2001?

Drayze - Man if we did, that's what we did see literally, a dime. Unless somebody ain't tellin' us something.

ThaFormula.com - So now 2003 comes, the game is on life support, what was your guys plan for coming back and did you guys know what the game was like now?

Skoob - I guess basically the plan was the same plan as before, just do what we do but at the same time go against that grain. It just that right now, it's just a different grain to go against. I see the game huge right now. You got so many different types of people in the game right now that are thinking their own way. It's just a lot of things going on right now. When we first came into the game in '92, the game was a little crazy too with Rico Suave and cats like that runnin' around, so I think it just takes that one group or that team of artists or whatever the case may be to come through, and come through with something new and refreshing and real Hip-Hop. I think everything that goes around comes back around. The game has always been a circle even as far as music wise with cats producing using beats and samples from the 50's, 60's, 70's and whatever. That's just reinventing that music from back then, so I think there is room for the game to change. I'm still waiting for that next X-Clan to come through and really kill them.

ThaFormula.com - But man it's becoming a long ass circle…can it come back around with all these companies merging together to where you got three companies owning every major?

Drayze - Yeah, fuck it does…your right god dammit. You see the whole shit man. There ain't no room for no EPMD's no more, or no Slick Rick's. There ain't no room for a muthafucka like them to get on the radio and be consistent and go gold. It's almost impossible right now. There won't be no NWA like before. Now the closest thing your gonna get is 50 Cent so fuckin' deal with it and that's it, or else you gotta go to the hood and buy the mix tapes and then maybe the streets will get together again. Dawg, those fucking people who run the companies whether they are White, Asian, or Black they had the meeting already. They been had the meeting while we was fucking getting' high. They said "we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that, were gonna get a few of those muthafuckas that can fuckin' run the game for us," meaning like the Puffys' and you know all these muthafuckas and I don't know who else, but they chose who they wanted to choose and then they said "boom we're gonna let music out that's fucking not hurting nobody, its real cool," so that's why you have the Nelly's blowing up twenty-hundred million, that's why you have the Ja Rule's going 50 kabillion, 'cause they are gonna select and choose what they want. You still got muthafuckas like EPMD and like you said Dead Prez but they squashed that shit like a bug man, they ain't fuckin' with that shit. That's why you get muthafuckas runnin' around here today like "Das EFX who? Never heard of y'all." The fucking Redman's and the Method Man's, they only some of the last Mohicans, and they really still in 'cause they doin' movies and all that other crazy shit. They're trying to crossover as much as they can and shit and keep it real at the same time, but let those muthafuckas fuck around…they will be back in the hood fuckin' doin' nothin'. But like I said while we was high and sleepin', they industry had put a plan together and they made sure that the real shit gets swept under the fuckin' rug dawg. They cut you down from having 3 videos to 2 videos 'til they give you 1 video per album and if you fuck around and don't make that shit do what you gotta do, niggaz ain't gonna remember you and they ain't gonna give you another album the following year. They gonna say "uh we will get back to you two a year and a half from now." Look at the niggaz in the Wu-Tang…who can you name from the Wu-Tang to these kids nowadays? They are like "Wu who?" Method man that's it.

ThaFormula.com - So with the new album how has it been going so far man?

Drayze - I mean we are on an independent label nah mean, and we're trying to get it out there. We on the grind and shit. The tour is cool, I mean it could be worse. It could be better, but its better then being home so if we reach three people, yo that's three people that might tell three more people. This new album is kind of like a "Holdin' it Down" album. "How We Do," the title track to me is like our "No Diggedy" or "Real Hip-Hop" or whatever. The thing with us is we wanted to do a muthafuckin album that one, the fans who knew of us would be I guess, pleased. They would say "okay I guess those guys can still do it," and then two, the muthafuckas runnin' around here who never heard of us because its been so long they would be like "oh shit! Who's this," and they wouldn't just be like "oh they aight," they would be like "oh these muthafuckas is nice." You know that's what we was hopin' for. We was hopin' to just come and side swipe these kids who just don't know who we are. We just wanted to get one big "oh shit!" With us we don't have to come out for ten years but that don't mean we cant compete with what's going on. That's how we get down or whatever, so that's why the album is "How We Do," 'cause this is just how we do man. We were just hopin' to put an album together working with what we had to work with. We didn't have no big ass budget so we couldn't go after the big ass producers and luckily we are always in the streets, so we are always runnin' into those kids who want a chance and got beats up the ass.

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