Features

Krumbsnatcha - I was actually signed to Interscope but I lost my deal. I got caught up in some technicalities man and got locked up. So I was supposed to come out a couple of years ago. The D&D album was put out there just to recreate a buzz for the real album. I did the D&D album in 3 weeks.

ThaFormula.com - So the D&D album you did wasn't your real album?

Krumbsnatcha - Nah, that was just something done in 3 weeks. It was basically a demo with some producers and it was done in 3 weeks real quick man. Now we're taking our time picking the right producers and beats.

ThaFormula.com - So you got so far?

Krumbsnatcha - Well so far we got Pete Rock, this new hot cat from Boston, DJ Premier, Alchemist and DJ Lord Ron.

ThaFormula.com - Do you guys see how the industry has tried to really shut the hardcore Hip-Hop market out?

Krumbsnatcha - Yeah, they are trying but its not happening man. Just by seeing the response we got on this tour with Common you can tell the underground is gonna survive through this shit. You got the wrong people trying to say what's Hip-Hop and what's not. All these little young new suburban white kids are now supposedly saying what's Hip-Hop and what's not Hip-Hop.

ThaFormula.com - How did the D&D project end up doing?

Krumbsnatcha - I think it's close to 20,000, but you know with promotion and everything, I don't know what really happened.

ThaFormula.com - Did you even get anything out of it man?

Krumbsnatcha - Nah, not really. Small money but you know I looked at it as a paid demo. You know we got a few joints on there that's cool.

ThaFormula.com - You might really wanna clear that up cause many people really think that was your debut and that it was very disappointing?

Krumbsnatcha - Nah no way in the world son. I mean you know I got love for D&D for giving me a chance when labels didn't want to cause they thought I was a high risk. But I'm confident that when you start hearing these new singles drop, people are gonna know what the fuck is poppin'. I'm not even worried about that. I mean I was doing 2 or 3 songs per session for that album in a 3 week period so you know it was just me warming up and getting familiarized with the studios and shit. That's basically all that was.

ThaFormula.com - How does it feel to be down with the Gangstarr Foundation man?

Krumbsnatcha - It feels good man. It feels like an honor man. Basically, they took me under their wing and are basically recreating me and shaping up my image and getting me right so I can be presented right. So you know definitely when the new album drops, you will hear a whole different shit.

ThaFormula.com - You know one of the problems a lot of heads have with Hip-Hop is these bullshit sell-out magazines that used to represent the real. I mean 99.9 percent of these magazines out now on paper and on-line are part of it to man. They are part of this machine that is fucking everything up?

Krumbsnatcha - It's homos man. The bottom line to that shit is it's a whole homo network that's poppin' off inside the industry with certain people that got control. So they wanna keep their foot on certain artists man that's gonna bring a change to the game or trying to get the shit back on the right track. I don't know how these dudes got into the Hip-Hop game but the shit is just crazy. That's one of things that took my love from the game. Actually, I didn't even wanna rhyme no more. I was like fuck this whole bullshit until I came on tour with Gangstarr and got re-affiliated with the whole shit and getting the love back for the game. 'Cause after I lost the Interscope deal and the whole politics and bullshit I was ready to stop rhymin'. But you know it's really our fault to in my opinion because we let all this shit happen. Dudes is not buying records and supporting artists. Everybody wants to be a rapper and be that muthafucka. That's how the South was winning cause they were sellin' units on they own through their region and that's all the labels care about is selling records so that's how that whole situation you know got through the cracks. Now it's like everybody is talkin' about they got this and that. Rappers who ain't fuckin' got a deal are talkin' about they got iced out watches and yachts and houses. That's lyrics that's supposed to be dope? But I still don't think this Hip-Hop shit is over as long as we got soldiers that's willing to ride for this music and not sell out their integrity and soul for this rap shit.

ThaFormula.com - It seems like the love for Hip-Hop has pretty much disappeared except for a few artists out there like you guys still trying to keep the love and fun in it. But so many artists now seem like they just don't feel it anymore and it shows in their music…

Krumbsnatcha - Yeah as far as me I just started feelin' it again just being amongst the ranks of these cats. I think people are gonna appreciate Gangstarr when they out, and they are not really gonna fucking understand the accomplishments that these dudes did until they retire. Then they are gonna be like "oh shit they did all this shit right here?" Nobody has more hits then Gangstarr that are still rockin' with the DJ and the MC. Still keepin' the essence of what this shit started from. But you know everything is gonna come to a change man. This shit comes to a circle and we just waiting for when that shit comes back to our fucking turn man.

ThaFormula.com - It's been a long circle man…

Krumbsnatcha - Yeah, a loooong circle! Very long and I think that we only like half way.

ThaFormula.com - Okay here is a question I like to ask artists a lot. When was the last time you heard a classic Hip-Hop album from an artist that didn't come out in the early 90's? I'm talkin' about an album that just blew you away?

Krumbsnatcha - Classic, uh. (Long Pause). None. That shits crazy.

ThaFormula.com - Yeah, I like to tell that to a lot of artists hoping that it will inspire the readers and artists to step it up and come with some classic material. We can't let Hip-Hop go out like Jazz did.

Krumbsnatcha - Nah, that shit is not gonna happen. I feel you. The same shit happened with Elvis and the whole Rock & Roll shit. See Hip-Hop music was spawned off of struggle. A lot of dudes used Hip-Hop music as a voice for they struggle and we got other muthafuckas that are taking the shit into some whole other shit and I almost fell into that category myself. I'm not even gonna lie. Like with the D&D album where I had to be like "whoa let me pump the brakes here." Hold on you know what I'm sayin', in a rush to get a record deal trying to conform to the norm.

ThaFormula.com - Yeah, I know that when you made your album you were saying I got to make a track for the clubs, a track for the underground, a track for the bitches, a track for the South, East, West, etc. A lot of the artists need to stop that man. I mean sometimes it comes off like you guys think the fans are stupid and won't notice when you or another artist are trying to make a sell out type track. I mean you either do what you do best and make some real shit, or sell out completely. I mean you have to pick one or the other cause you can't be in between. The heads know when something is real and something is fake.

Krumbsnatcha - That's real man and I'm tellin' you all definitely this. As far as on my behalf, definitely look out for my album "1st Round Draft Pick". It's gonna be something totally different then what they expect and that's basically as far as me that's the most I can really say. It's just up to me to show and prove through my ways and actions how we do this. Guru and Premier are more in control in picking these beats. Before they was there, but D&D had more control like with the choice of the beats. D&D wanted to put me somewhere else. They wanted me to do certain type of things that wasn't me. It probably hurt them to as well. As far as they credibility. It's like the whole picture on my cover with the shirt off and all that shit. A lot of that shit wasn't my decision. That's just people trying to market me a certain way. But like I said now, Guru and Premier have taken control of the shit. I mean Primo and Guru backed away from the D&D project. Guru tried to work and do his thing but Premier was just like, "look, you're rushing the album, I cant fuck with it." Which is understandable. He still gave me a beat and let me do my thing to it.

ThaFormula.com - Right...

Krumbsnatcha - But not to cut it off. Guru, I wanted you to touch on this D&D shit. 'Cause he asked me a couple of things about the D&D thing like was that my real album and what was going on.

Guru - First of all, No! The D&D was just a back home off of parole violation album (Laughs). It's just "let me get back, I been in jail I feel a little rusty type shit before I really get loose." That's all that was, plus D&D didn't let him or me have any control. I had to scream at them just to put me as Associate Producer. As I tried to be Associate Producer they still didn't listen to my input and they basically were trying to show me and Primo, uh like one of the guys at D&D he's a music guy and the other guy is a business guy. Dave and Doug, and Doug is more like he used to be this, he did beats, he produced and so he was like "let me pick the beats." I credit him for one thing. They negotiated the hell out of the producers. I mean they got beats for good prices or whatever but the point is, it wasn't ultimately every…you know Krumbs ideal beat from those producers. It was like they rushed him to meet a deadline for the distributors, etc, etc. But at the same time it's okay because the fact we rushed it, its all done and 30 days after it was released he was free anyway. So it's just a thing to keep working. It was a one album thing to put a little money in his pocket and went out on tour with me with the "Bald Head" tour. We expected them to do more. They should have did a video to "Incredible" instead of "Oxygen" and that's why it didn't go to BET and other things.

ThaFormula.com - That's crazy...

Guru -They did the shit all ass backwards and didn't listen to me and Premier. That actually made me have a fallout with that dude Doug. I'm not really all that cool with him. The thing is the D&D era for us is kinda like over. They closed up after 20 years, it's a wrap. But this goes to show that just like the guy who owned Wild Pitch, he got into the game, but he didn't get into the game for the love of Hip-Hop. He got in the game to fucking cash in and he cashed out when he made his 5 million. Now he's doing something else. These D&D guys, they made their money, but they don't love us and all that shit. Fuck that! It's like exploitation man. I mean they should fuckin' give the studio to Primo. They want us to take it over, but they want to sell us the equipment for way more then what it's worth. That will show you right there they ain't our boys. I did vocals on Krumbs track and Premier did beats for D&D and they didn't even want to give us free studio time and they gave me a check for 500 bucks. He did "Incredible" for free. See, now you know the politics of this business.

DJ Lord Ron -You guys made that studio!

Guru -So in my opinion on the low…but you can put it on-line I don't care, FUCK D&D. It was what it was. It was a part of some historical moments, but what made it historical was us, Black Moon, Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas. I mean even Shaq came through there to say what's up to Premier. Those were the moments that made D&D fuckin' what it was. The Fat Boys back in the day. Peter Tosh worked there. A lot of people worked there but fuck D&D itself and definitely fuck the record company because I had a deal going on with Ill Kid that I was gonna run instead of going through Landspeed. I was gonna run it through Red Distribution and the D&D guys blocked my shit because there shit is going through Red and they wanted to make sure they were a Priority so they told the dude to see if Guru wants to put Ill Kid through D&D. Dude, I got my own stripes in this business and why I gotta go through you're shit?

ThaFormula.com - The Ill Kid thing seemed to be going good for a minute Guru in the beginning…

Guru -That was all with my own money and I didn't have enough to you know make it bigger and that wasn't even a label, that was just me pressing up 1500 copies with my own money and it blew up. You see what I'm saying? I put out Bahamadia, Big Shug, and Group Home on separate vinyl. 1500 copies each and each one of them got a deal from that, but I was only using it to help them get deals. I wasn't using it to be a label 'cause I didn't know enough and I didn't have enough money to do it myself. If I would have had investors I could have done it. That's the thing too, that's another part of the game that we never knew about. Using other people's money, which is a whole different thing. Like Puffy and Master P used other peoples money and flipped it. If I would have known that I would have been done that shit. I'm a person that tries to do shit myself anyway and I don't wanna take nobody's money for nothin', but the aspects of the way cats did it, I'm learning from that. Everybody is doing that. I know a dude and that's all he does. He's a marketing guy that sells urban culture to the major corporations like McDonald's and Pepsi and all that. Like he'll go around finding out what young urban people want and like and sell that shit to the major corporations. Using their money to do shit.

ThaFormula.com - You know I really honestly thought that you guys were one of the very few underground Hip-Hop groups making major dough?

Guru -See if a person sells here, we might not sell in fucking New Orleans. There are Gangstarr fans in New Orleans but the majority of muthafuckas is listening to the local dude Choppa or somebody like that.

ThaFormula.com - What about the money you make from touring?

Guru -Nah, but we haven't even toured in a while. When was this?

ThaFormula.com - What about overseas. You said you do a lot of overseas shit?

Guru -Yeah, but I tour because I have to 'cause I be broke. Not because we tour for astronomical amounts of money. First of all, touring has gone down too 'cause like I said, they got rappers from their own spot. They got German rappers now, French rappers. I mean they will come to the shows, but muthafuckas will do shows and it won't be packed sometimes. Not Gangstarr though. But, I'll put it to you like this, if I'm going by myself I'm getting' one price. If I go with Gangstarr I'm getting another, and if we go with Gangstarr, we bring all our boys so they can fucking make some money 'cause they don't have shit. So where are you getting' rich at? See what I'm sayin? I would be paid if they wouldn't have fucked up my "Jazzamatazz," "Bald Head Slick" and all types of shit. But like I said, I can't dwell on that shit so we on to the next page now. We gonna get paid now. If we don't get paid, ain't nobody gonna be getting paid. We'll shut it down, FUCK THAT! I'ma shut the whole muthafucka now! But you gotta understand this is the music business period dog, not even just the rap game. Mad artists have been exploited by their record labels and shit. You know how many artists back in the day in Black music were done like that? That's the nature of the shit.

ThaFormula.com - Many people out there never thought that something like this would be happening to Gangstarr after all the classic albums you guys have dropped and the consistency you have shown over time…

Guru -Well as a business person who also knows the culture you kind of should know that. It's like that should be a given cause most of the groups that are authentic and that stick to their principles are the ones that don't get the fucking loot. It's always like that. I mean we never been on a Def Jam. This is the way the cards were dealt. If we was on Def Jam, we'd be double platinum. That's why I told the niggas at Virgin to let us go. We been having a hostage situation with this album. It's like fuck it, let us go! You don't wanna pay our engineers, you don't wanna pay D&D the rest of their bills, you don't wanna release this money for marketing because we haven't turned the album in. What are you a fucking idiot? You think we just came out and started shopping demos? This is what they brought us to dog. I mean there is still some cool cats at the label, but it's too late in the game to just give them some shit. This shit is hot. This is our hottest album besides "Moment of Truth" to me. This is like my fucking favorite shit, this fucking shit is sick. And it's well rounded as far MC's being able to talk about different shit from bitches, to battling, to just regular skillz records, to struggle records, to shit about the streets, to shit about girls. All of that shit. So I'm just like "damn man we can't give these niggaz this shit if they ain't gonna do it." Fuck that! That's what the muthafuckas on the Internet gotta understand. Rappers is regular people. You can't be approaching us on some shit! Recognize that I'm a regular person and if you say something slick you might be getting' punched in the face on some real shit. I'm not playin'. I mean I'm not saying I can beat everybody or nothin' like that, I'm not saying that. Just don't say slick shit to me cause I'm a regular dude. I got a chip on my shoulder.

ThaFormula.com - That's exactly what has been said…

Guru - I do. But now I got a sober chip on my shoulder so now I'm even more aware of the devilish shit that muthafuckas are up to, so don't come around with that bullshit devil bullshit. Come around me and conduct yourself as a righteous person would. Treat me like you would wish to be treated and everything will be love. Don't come to me sideways or nothing, otherwise stay across and whisper to your bitch ass friends. Don't even come up and say what's up. I never sweated no rapper when I was trying to get on. I went up to Chuck D after his show and said "How you doing, your shit is dope, I'm in this group called Gangstarr, your gonna hear about me? Peace! Keep doing you're thing!" That was all I said! I didn't say shit else. I didn't ask for nothin', you know what I mean? That's to everybody, Doug E Fresh, Kane, every single person when I met them. And I said that shit on the "Hard To Earn" album. Just give me a pound and keep it movin'. Get the fuck out of my face! For what? I can't sign you tonight, I gotta save my voice plus maybe I wanna fucking relax. Maybe. I'm one of the hardest working niggaz in this shit. Muthafuckas is weird yo! All that shit is weird! All that fake underground shit is weird too, cause some niggas that's getting' played on the radio are gully as shit. I mean the shit you all be sayin' about Guru, you wouldn't say that shit to 50 Cent and you can't say that shit to me neither. If I see you, I'ma bust yo ass. Certain cats they wouldn't say it too because of their status. They got the right promotions, they got the radio play. They should appreciate me, 'cause I don't got no security around me. Appreciate me. I'm with the people whether I'm drunk or not. I'm with you and standing out here. Ain't nobody protecting me. My boys is watching and got their eye out, but I'm sayin' I'm letting you know I'm with the people. So respect me. Fuck it, don't even say nothing. Just fuckin' give me a hug and keep it movin'. Just give me a pound and let me hug your girl. Niggas is like little babies. I never did that shit to no rappers. I done met some really famous actors and all that. I wanna get into acting but I don't sweat those niggas. It's fucking wack. I don't know, this whole male groupie mentality is wack. That's wack.

Krumbsnatcha - It's a homo network. Headshots make your neck jerk!

Guru - My marksman on the roof is an expert! (Laughs)

ThaFormula.com - So basically it all comes down to payin' dues? Nobody seems to wanna pay dues no more right?

Guru - Nope. Not even these muthafuckin so called fans. They don't even learn about what this shit is really about. They just wanna make comments on the Internet. Got nothing else to do. Let's talk about how we gonna get a union and make the fucking shit better. Let's talk about how we should have more radio stations competing. Like in New York, the new station that came out was competing with Hot 97. But now they both sound exactly the same. Now it's exactly the same and now even the mix shows play the same shit. That's what Primo was screamin' at niggas at the fucking mix show awards. He was screaming on niggaz man. What the fuck! Y'all ain't playin' what you all wanna play, y'all are supposed to be the ones breaking the new shit. Primo is a quiet dude but when it comes to something passionate, he will speak. We all came up together man. We ain't young men no more, we're grown ass men. "The Ownerz" is a grown man's album. Krumbsnatcha's album is grown ass men albums man. Big Shug, Bumpy, MOP, most of us is fathers first of all and I'm talkin' about responsible fathers. Not niggas runnin' around not taking care of their seeds. You can relate to that right Lord Ron?

DJ Lord Ron - Oh yeah, I take care of mine without a doubt.

Guru - That's my man right there, Lord Ron. That's my boy right now son. I'm tellin' you man watch us 4 right here do some shit just on our own that will shock the world. Fuck these muthafuckin' haters man.

Krumbsnatcha - You know what we don't need to waste energy on these homos man. Just keep doin' us.

Guru - But that's why these things happen. For us to cross paths that was destiny. It was written you know that shit is real.

Krumbsnatcha - How I met you was dope. I didn't run into Guru like, "Yo here's my demo please sign me."

Guru - Or even on some fake gansta thug shit like, "yo son you know I'm that nigga." You know niggaz be doing that everywhere I go, from whatever city. You know I can do every cities accent? You name a city, I'll tell you how they sound. You know what Ron just said Krumb? Tell me if this ain't what Primo always says…tell Krumb what you said on the way in about how you can make those kind of joints but...

DJ Lord Ron - I'm not gonna do it, I'm gonna stick to my shit.

Guru - He said that somebody suggested to him that he make those type of beats just to make the money. I understand though cause it's like when niggaz said to Fat Joe "why you put out the Ginuwine one?" or "Why you doing those songs?" and Joe said fuck that I'm competing with the times, but I still got that gully shit, and plus I'm that nigga, I can do it. I can actually do the shit that I'm rhymin' about so that's different. See but everybody can't do that. Most muthafuckas rentin' the furs and rentin' the jewelry, that's not. But when we got on his case about it, that's why he did the video with us in it to the gully ass one that Buckwild did. That's why he put that video out for the streets, but still it's like he should have put that one out first and then came with the Ginuwine one. See what it is, is Jay-Z had it like that 'cause he can keep coming like that with that type of shit. Everybody can't come like that, like Nas tried to do that and we lost faith in Nas when he did that. That's what it is cause fuck that Jay-Z is one type of MC. Everybody is different and what happens with the industry is it makes all these good MC's compete to try to be like one instead of everyone having their own spot and that's the wack part of that shit. Cause Fat Joe is the gulliest dude. He's like my uncle man. That dude used to lend me money and everything back in the day when I was living in the Bronx. He just liked something about me. I didn't have shit dog. You think "8 Mile" is gully? When you see the Guru movie, that will be the gully shit. The life of a fucking street prophet muthafucka. Street ministry (Laughs).

ThaFormula.com - Next Up, DAY 5!!!  

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