Features

ThaFormula.com - I wasn't sure with the way Hip-Hop is going that you guys would be able to do another good album, but it's nice to see you dropped another banger. Now this album is definitely a little different then the last, in fact I think that where as the last one some people were sayin' it was a little do dark for them, this one they will probably say it's a little too happy for them. What do you say to somethin' like that?

Vinnie Paz - I mean to me that seems to be the thing with us with every critic. No matter what we do they want the opposite know what I mean? "This kids always too raw, the beats are always to raw, blah, blah, blah." We did something with some salsa loops and people got a problem with that. The bottom line is it's always gonna be raw. The drums is always gonna be raw. Our shit's not happy it's just some of it might be a little bit more easier to bounce to or bang your head to but to me we're just doing what we're doing and trying to represent the mid to late 80's and the early 90's.

ThaFormula.com - Do you ever wish that you guys were recording during that time and coming out with albums back then?

Vinnie Paz - Absolutely man I wish my parents had me a little bit earlier because that era is the standard that I hold up everything that I listen to. When shit comes out now I'm not like is this as good as this other album, I'm like "is this as good as 'It Takes a Nation of Millions'?" "Is this as good as 'Straight Outta Compton'?" 'cause that's all the good shit.

ThaFormula.com - How do you look at the new album compared to the last album "Violent by Design"?

Vinnie Paz - I think it's better and I think it's definitely better sonically because we worked with Chris Conway at Chung King studios who won the Grammy for the "Marshal Mathers" LP so he really helped us with our sound to open it and make the drums crack a little bit more, make the bass pound a little bit more. The other projects we had done we mixed down ourselves like on some ghetto shit. We actually had a professional sittin' there with us, making suggestions sayin' "maybe you all should do this or that," and that helped a lot.

ThaFormula.com - Well the production seemed a lot cleaner then the last album which was real dirty. You can really tell that this one was done in a real studio…

Vinnie Paz - Thank You.

ThaFormula.com - Now one of the verses that caught my attention on your album is when you talk about MC's rhymin' about flowers and shit. You seem to see what a lot of people are doing now with this pussy rap...

Vinnie Paz - Yeah man I with none of that shit man. If you're rhymin' about flowers, granola bars, incense, and fuckin' how much you miss your ex girlfriend man, take that shit to a poetry night or something.

ThaFormula.com - Then you got this spoken word stuff being mixed with Hip-Hop, what are your thoughts on that?

Vinnie Paz - Nah man, I ain't with that shit either. They are trying to incorporate that shit into Hip-Hop. I don't got beef with none of them people but then I started getting' pissed when people start calling things Hip-Hop that aren't Hip-Hop.

ThaFormula.com - Then they call you a hater when you say anything…

Vinnie Paz - That's what I'm sayin'. It's like why am I a hater cause your shit is wack? If you call someone's shit wack they call you a hater. Why can't they just admit that their shit is wack? If someone don't like my shit, I'm like whatever.

ThaFormula.com - How do you see the lyricists of today?

Vinnie Paz - I mean there is still heads out there. I'm happy to see that PMD is still making records. I'm happy to see that Kool G. Rap put out an album last year. I'm happy to see that Kane is puttin' out another album. It's like you said man, it's not a lot of heads left but take pride in the people that are still trying to keep it raw.

ThaFormula.com - Why did you decide to go with so many special guests on the album?

Vinnie Paz - Well what had happened was when we were recording in New York we just kept bumpin' into people and it wasn't even on no professional shit. Me and Percee P had known each other for a while and we bumped into each other in a bar. I was like, "come through to the studio tomorrow," and he was like "alright." Non-Phixion, our managers knew each other and bumped into each other so it was like, "come on through." We were just doing joints. We weren't necessarily doing them like, "yo we have to have this many guest appearances," or "yo we have to have this guy or that guy." Some of the people we knew and some of the people we just bumped into them and it ended up being what it was being.

ThaFormula.com - It was nice to see you guys hook up with Non-Phixion?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, a lot of people for years have been like "y'all gotta do shit with Non-Phixion," and then when I talked to Sabac Red he said everyone was tellin' him the same thing. So when we hooked up it was just lovely. Those are cool brothas man. Nuff respect to Non-Phixion and I would love to work with them again.

ThaFormula.com - Now I heard what happened with Jus Allah leavin' the group and I thought it was a shame 'cause you guys had good chemistry together?

Vinnie Paz - I mean we had chemistry as MC's and we had chemistry as friends. That was my homeboy. Some people gassed him up, they fucked his head up. He made the wrong decision and he knows he made the wrong decision and now he's gotta live with that. That's the shame about it all 'cause on the real dog, on some real shit, he's nasty, he's dope. I would never say that he's not dope. He's a real dope MC but the fact of the matter is when he was with me and Stoupe, we were able to bring out the best in him. But you know things happen in life dog and it happened to the best of them. 3rd Bass broke up and others did too.

ThaFormula.com - But on the real what was it really all about man?

Vinnie Paz - To tell you the truth like I talked to him on the phone one night and he was basically like, "yo man, I don't know if I wanna do this anymore," and I was like "well listen dog, this is my life and I'm gonna continue on with or without you, if you can't do it anymore I respect that and I respect you as a man." That was our conversation. It was peaceful, and when the conversation was over we both said peace and like a week later some bullshit interview came out with him makin' up all this crazy shit and to this day I still don't know if it was him that said it or if it was cats at his label that put him up to it. I ain't talked to the brother since then.

ThaFormula.com - So you haven't spoken to him since then at all?

Vinnie Paz - Nah, like I said the last time I spoke to him it was all peace and that's why I thought it was a bitch move. I remember it was around the time when 9/11 happened. That was probably the last time I spoke to him.

ThaFormula.com - Now I know he said he couldn't do this no more, but then I noticed he dropped his own single "White Nightmare"...

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, I don't know what that's about, and then that single didn't sell nothin'. That shit flopped and they all felt like assholes. So it's like I'm just trying to move on.

ThaFormula.com - So there is probably no chance of you guys getting back together again?

Vinnie Paz - I mean the fact of the matter is dog it was completely 110 percent his fault. If he calls me and apologizes and says that he knows he did wrong. If he calls Stoupe and says he knows he did wrong and calls everyone that he dissed in that interview and says he knows he did wrong. Yo all these people treated him like family yo, he used to come to my family bar-b-que's. He was close with my mother and family then your gonna flip on your fam like that man, that shit ain't right. He gotta come to me like a man and apologize for what he did and then maybe we can talk about making music again.

ThaFormula.com - How did Stoupe feel about all this?

Vinnie Paz - I mean Stoupe's whole steez was it's been me and him since like '91 anyway. I was the one who brought Jus Allah in. When I brought Jus Allah in he was sorta leery about it. Like, "yo dog it's always been me and you and are you sure this kid is right?" I sort of went out on a limb for Jus Allah.

ThaFormula.com - So when exactly did Jus Allah come into the group?

Vinnie Paz - See me him and Stoupe were a group back in like '93 and he went away to college and then when we dropped the "Psycho Social" album and all that shit. We were on "Violent By Design" and when he came back I ran into him and I was like, "yo fam it's still all love if you wanna come back and do some joints hit me up." So he came through and we just kept doing good songs and that's how he got back in the group. But Stoupe was on like some "fuck it we just gonna keep doing what we do best."

ThaFormula.com - How has the response been to the album so far?

Vinnie Paz - Everything I have heard so far has been positive. There was tons of pre-orders for the album and hopefully it will be our biggest album and we're leavin' to go on tour.

ThaFormula.com - You seem to have shown that no matter how bad Hip-Hop gets it's still possible to make good music during really bad times…

Vinnie Paz - Yeah cause we always been influenced by the same shit. EPMD, Gangstarr, Brand Nubian, Tribe, De La. So it's like as long as you stay influenced by the same things you can keep making raw shit. As long as people like Gangstarr and Redman, keep coming out we can still keep it alive man.

ThaFormula.com - Are you surprised at the amount of dope guest artists you got on this album that you probably always wanted to work with?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah man I wanted to work with all of them my whole life, especially Kool G. Rap who is the greatest rapper of all time in my opinion, so that was an honor. I'm just lucky enough that I have the connections to holla at these people and they heard of us and respected us and wanted tom get down on a joint. Everyone we worked with was mad cool so that's why it came out good.

ThaFormula.com - Now I heard that one of your albums was mixed on a 4-track is this true?

Vinnie Paz - He produced "Violent By Design" on a 8-track and did "Psycho Social," on a 4-track out the bedroom and mixed it down. He's a talented brother man.

ThaFormula.com - Stoupe is a producer that doesn't seem to get the props he deserves…

Vinnie Paz - Yeah man. But you know Canibus got at him for that "Rip the Jacker" album so that helped him a lot. Tragedy hollered at him and they're gonna do something together. There is a couple of people now getting' at him so he's getting' a little shine, but as far as up until know I think he's one of the nicest in the game and people gotta start respectin' that.

ThaFormula.com - Now I know you got to live and eat off of this Hip-Hop thing so with that said, what stops you guys from doing the radio or fruity type shit to try and sell more records?

Vinnie Paz - It's just not in my nature man. I can't do it. Same with Stoupe, like even if we tried. We grew up on too much raw shit to ever like disgrace the culture by doing something like that.

ThaFormula.com - Now I know you also got the "Army Of The Pharaohs" LP comin' right?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, you know we just finished our album and Apathy is finishing up his album and everyone is just finishing their album and once they're done we're probably gonna start workin' on it like after the tour which will probably be about early November.

ThaFormula.com - So what's the deal with Virtuoso? What happened with him?

Vinnie Paz - I mean he was one of the cat's gassin' up Jus Allah so as far as I'm concerned he's cut off too. Him and his little homeboy was the one gassin' Jus Allah up.

ThaFormula.com - Up Next, Part 2!!

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