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ThaFormula.Com - When CMW dropped it's first album "It's A Compton Thang," did you feel you guys got compared alot to NWA?   

MC Eiht - Yeah we got compared a little bit to NWA but Compton's Most Wanted style was totally different from NWA, so we didn't get that many comparisons.  Just really with tha name only.  You know they was NWA and we were CMW, but besides that I always had my own significant flow so it was a little bit, but not too much.

ThaFormula.Com - You guys were really tha only L.A. group that I can remember that were coming with a brand of hip hop that no one was even coming close to sounding like in tha West.

MC Eiht - Well basically I was more rounded with my music and didn't just stick to tha typical thing.  So I was able to branch off and collect fans abroad more, you know more or less in tha neighborhoods.  Then you know being one of tha first significant West Coast artist to step in New York, you know I built foundations with alot of cats that was coming up back then. Like Nas, Guru, Premier, Busta, Method, Redman.  So you know I knew alot of cats in New York before they came up.  Like DJ Slip produced one of Fat Joe's first records way back when Fat Joe first got started so we just had a significant foundation with cats in New York.  I think that's how we got more respect abroad and our sound was more different then a typical West Coast artist.

ThaFormula.Com - Yeah because I never heard anyone diss CMW in tha East that I can remember.  Everyone from NWA to Quik got dissed at one time by someone in New York, but CMW seemed to get tha utmost respect from tha East?

MC Eiht - Yeah, I explored tha more street aspect you know.  Eazy and them talked about tha neighborhoods and all that but Eazy and them was on a different track.  I was more or less strictly street with it.

ThaFormula.Com - How did tha whole CMW crew come together and how long before you guys got your first deal?

MC Eiht - Basically CMW got started around junior high school.  You know just hanging out, me and Chill starting at school battling niggaz and shit like that.  You know it was just us wanting to be artists and just starving for tha aspect to get in tha studio.  We just kept working and working and we bumped into DJ Slip.  He had his own little studio, but you know he was trying to get his beats known.  So we hooked up together.  Me and Chill was going to Junior High together so we was friends before Compton's Most Wanted started.  When tha rap got heavy you know we just turned around and said we from Compton and we gonna be Compton's Most Wanted and that's how we gonna start it off.

ThaFormula.Com - Did you feel that first album got tha recognition it should have got?

MC Eiht - You know I ain't never felt we got tha recognition that we deserved seeing that we were doing tha same shit that alot of other cats was doing, but we can't get tha props.  But you know I put that on corporate shit and that's just tha way it happens.

ThaFormula.Com - The Boys In The Hood Soundtrack.  How did John Singleton decide on CMW for tha lead single and how much of an impact did that make for CMW?

MC Eiht - Well I guess from him being around in tha streets and in L.A. and doing a movie, he knew of West Coast Underground artists that was coming up.  At tha time you know tha Video Juke Box was real hot out here on the West Coast and I had my first single out which was "One time Gaffled Em Up" and tha video was playing real heavy.  So I guess him being a fan of hip hop watching tha videos and shit, he had seen my video.  So I was down with Da Lench Mob one day on tha movie set kicking it you know cause I used to hang with JDee from Da Lench real tough like everyday.  So me and JDee was kicking it at tha movie set and I guess he recognized me and from there he was like man I seen your video and I like your shit.  He said, you a real street nigga you know representing tha neighborhood.  He told me, your perfect for this movie so that's just how it came about.  I thought he was bullshittin' you know.  I'm like, yeah right this movie muthafucka, whatever.  But tha nigga called me up and bingo tha rest is history.  

ThaFormula.Com - How did that change things for you and CMW?

MC Eiht - It put me on a national scale.  It was a chance for people to really recognize CMW and set us aside from NWA and it gave us our own purpose.  "Growing Up In The Hood" was tha number one single in tha country so it was just right at tha time.

ThaFormula.Com - It's amazing how a track like that was tha number one single in tha country seeing that you would never even hear a track that hardcore on tha radio nowadays?

MC Eiht - Definitely.  Especially at tha time you know when Naughty By Nature was hittin', Tribe, Eric B & Rakim was hittin'.  It was alot of muthafuckas hittin' so to have that song and for it to be tha number one song in tha country and everybody bangin' that song and buying it, it was just overwhelming.  It just let me know that tha shit really can happen.

ThaFormula.Com - How did you feel about tha Tim Dog diss track "Fuck Compton"?

MC Eiht - I took it a little personal because if you diss Eazy and NWA that's your thang, but I just took it personal because it was a strike at Compton.  Niggaz was mad because Compton was gettin' on and doing their thang.  Just like Brooklyn was doing their thang with Biggie and Jay-Z, niggaz just hated because Compton and what we represent.  I guess nobody was feelin' tha gang bang thang and couldn't understand what was going on.

ThaFormula.Com - Did you feel that  "Straight Checkn'em" did what it should have seeing that you had tha number one single in the country?

MC Eiht - I mean all my albums should have did better then what they did, but lack of promotion you know caused that.  But as far as reaching tha niggaz in tha communities in tha hood, yeah it got to tha people that it needed to get to.  I mean it did good.  It sold 300,000 copies so for a nigga on his second album you know coming from tha hood in Compton it was very significant.  I was getting my name out there.  That's all it was really about you know,  just represent Compton. 

ThaFormula.Com - Now how did you hook up with DJ premier for that "Def Wish II" remix?

MC Eiht - Like I said, I been knowing Premier since I first got started.  My first concert and shit was with Premier.  They did their first concert in L.A. out here with CMW.  So I been knowing him ever since then.  So we always kept in contact and then over tha years we toured together, did concerts together, all that.  So from there we just kept a good relationship and then when it was time for me to get busy and I wanted to remix tha track, tha first person I thought of was Premier.

ThaFormula.Com - Now how about "One Life To Live."  How did you hook up with Pete on that Soul Survivor LP?

MC Eiht - Yeah Pete Rock, another one of tha homies I been knowing from way back in my early New York days.  That was tight right there man.  I always been a fan of Pete Rock.  Pete Rock got those jazzy tracks that is just tha shit so when he asked me to get down on tha Soul Survivor project it was nothing.

ThaFormula.Com - That was a classic album but it seemed to have come out at a time when hip hop was really changing?

MC Eiht - Oh yeah, definitely.  Everything went to bling blingin' and you know Cash Money and you know big planes and big fur coats and platinum watches and Gold.  Tha aspect kind of changed a little bit.  I mean, I know we represented tha turf and we talked about police brutality, drive by's, mad niggaz gettin' jacked and killed, but it wasn't just glorifying tha almighty dollar.  Rap just got fucked up you know.  I love it to tha position where I can represent where I'm from, but I don't wanna glorify tha mighty dollar and just talk about how many planes I fly and you know this and that and all this other bullshit.

ThaFormula.Com - How did you feel about the "Were All In The Same Gang" project and do you wish you could have been involved with that?

MC Eiht - Well I did a project with Cube and DJ Pooh then called "The Fist" so I tried to get down with that.  I participated in tha peace treaties and all that shit when tha niggaz came together and all that shit so it was a good aspect.  I wish it could have kept going because it would have signified you know, tha west coast in a whole and we could have unified a little better you know.  It was a good feeling at tha time to be able to ride around wherever you wanted to.  Where you didn't have to worry about you know these niggaz knowing you from when you gangbanged or whatever.  So it was a good feeling.

ThaFormula.Com - What do you think stopped all that?

MC Eiht - What stopped it is that niggaz is men and even though there is unity, there is always gonna be a falling out and then sometimes you can't control everybody's reconciliation's.  Sometimes niggaz don't wanna make it cool.  You might of killed my brother or you might of killed my homie and sometimes niggaz just can't let that live down, so within tha heat of animosity something is gonna happen and bingo the treaty is gonna be over with.  Because tha minute these niggaz take off on y'all, y'all gonna go take off and everybody is gonna be back to shooting.  Also they killed one of tha niggaz who started this shit who was trying to bring tha shit together.  A major nigga from tha projects, they killed him so shit was just downhill from there.  You always gonna have beefs within niggaz. You ain't gonna be able to control every nigga in your neighborhood, because there is no leaders.  Niggaz have their significant rep or stripes but there is no leader like in other places there is one nigga who leads tha gang.  There is no leaders here.  Nigga everyman for himself.  You represent tha hood, you take care of your fellow man.  I don't tell you what to do, you don't tell me what to do.  Tha older niggaz might instruct tha younger niggaz on what to do but you still your own man.  So that's why it fell apart because niggaz don't go for no unity for too long.

ThaFormula.Com - Things seemed to be looking cool for a minute.  The Video Juke Box in L.A. seemed to be doing alot for tha Bloods & Crips, CMW, and basically anyone from tha streets looking to get in this hip hop thing?

MC Eiht - Oh yeah, tha Jukebox made a significant difference because that was tha best thing they could have did for young cats trying to get on because, you could sit at home and request your own video all day. Then that muthafucka is showing all over tha West Coast and all over tha country.  They really killed us when they took tha Jukebox out because it was about people's choice.  It wasn't about being programmed but about what you wanted.  I think we need one of those stations again where a nigga can just sit up and order tha videos he wanna see.  But you know that killed tha competition because why would you watch rap city or MTV, when you can sit up here and order what you wanna see.  It put niggaz on because it really put me on.  It put me on in states I didn't even know about.  

ThaFormula.Com - Next up came "Music To Drive by."  You connected with Scarface with that album.  How was recording that LP?

MC Eiht - Yeah, I was making moves then.  "Growing Up In The Hood" did a little good for us so you know I was able to get out on tha road, make a few moves and shit.  Then it opened my eyes wider to tha seen of hip hop and what was going on.  Being able to work with Scarface and be cool with tha Geto Boys and all that shit, it was all good.  "Music To Driveby" was a significant album.  It was my best album to date.  A nigga got to open his guns up on that album and let loose.  I got to create and do a little of my own production.  That album was basically a collaboration of everybody's frustration so that's why it really got out good cause everybody got a chance to do something.  Mike T got a chance to produce, I got a chance to produce, Slip got a chance and you know it was tha shit.

ThaFormula.Com - But again alot of samples.  Was that a problem yet for CMW as far as clearance and all that?

MC Eiht - Never.  You know we never had problems with samples because we didn't go after shit that muthafuckas was hearing commonly.  We wasn't using tha George Clinton's and tha Parliament and tha Bootsy and Zapp's and all that.  We was strictly doing shit like using tha Meters, Isaac Hayes and shit that you wouldn't even think commonly about.  We was sampling shit off of TV commercials and shit like that cause we was creative like that.  You know me and Slip would sit up watching a TV commercial, hear a beat in tha background and be like fuck that.  We would sit up all night and wait till tha commercial came back on ready with tha SP 1200 to sample tha shit you know.  We was creative like that so we didn't have problems with clearing samples because basically shit we used was early 50's and 60's shit.  

ThaFormula.Com - Yeah tha way you flipped tha Isaac shit on "Hood Took Me Under" was bangin' and everytime I hear that "Straight Checkn'em" LP, I notice how you were tha first to use certain samples before anyone.

MC Eiht - Yeah that little Isaac Hayes sample everybody used after me.  Alot of cats used that record after me.  I was tha first nigga to use a gang of records.  I was tha first nigga to use tha Isley Brothers shit and then Cube used it.  Niggaz took "Straight Checkn'em" home and said I'm fittin' to do this, but it was cool man.  It was lovely and just showed me that alot of niggaz was listening to Eiht and CMW.  We wasn't tha average gangsta rappers.  Niggaz was musically inclined and knew what was crackin'.  

ThaFormula.Com - Now one of tha questions that people ask all tha time is what exactly went down between you and DJ Quik and how serious did that beef really get?

To Be Continued...Click Here For Part II!!!

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