ThaFormula.com - How exactly did you and DJ Quik first hook up?

Suga Free - I hooked up with Quik through my man Tony Lane.

ThaFormula.com - How long did it take you to complete your first album "Street Gospel?"

Suga Free - Probably, uh, I think it was about a month or a month and a half.

ThaFormula.com - To many people that album's considered a classic, what were your thoughts when you read your review for it in the Source?

Suga Free - I really didn't care because if you ain't a pimp or a hoe, you ain't really gonna get the message even 5 years from now.

ThaFormula.com - Did you realize your album wasn't gonna sell as good as it should have because your flow and delivery was just ahead of it's time when you dropped?

Suga Free - Yeah, that's ran across my mind, but then again I'm spittin' the pimp game, something that's been down since the cave man days. I mean my delivery is just something natural that comes out my chest. I want the first few words that I bust on a track to either make you laugh or say "God Damn!" I try to make myself do it. New flows are gonna always fuck people up. I'm 32 man and I'm gonna fuck everything up. I don't care what muthafuckas say, I think I'm the best.

ThaFormula.com - What was the first thing Quik said to you when he heard your music?

Suga Free - He said, "how does it feel to be a star?"

ThaFormula.com - Is that really what he said to you?

Suga Free - Yeah and I said "for real man?" and he said, "Nah." Then he said "nah I'm just fuckin with you man!" (laughs).

ThaFormula.com - After you and Quik met, how long before you got into the studio?

Suga Free - Immediately.

ThaFormula.com - And how long after that did you get the label deal with Island?

Suga Free - Shit, uh we recorded 3 songs. We recorded "Fly 4 Life," "On My Way," and we walked in and got a deal with them. They heard the music and said "finish it!" We went back in the studio and finished up the album in about 30 to 45 days. I mean I don't know how we recorded it in such a short period of time. The music was there and my lyrics, man I already had in my head and it fuckin worked. I couldn't believe it you know.

ThaFormula.com - Now this is something that has bothered many people for a long time and I wanted to know if you felt the same way. I notice that so many times Quik will give a dope beat to somebody and they will ruin it with some wack rhymes?

Suga Free - It's like they are taking advantage of my boy's music, you know what I mean? Look ain't nobody gonna ride Quik's beats like me. I mean, it's right there in your face. The "Street Gospel" album is right there in your face. Who is gonna ride them tracks like that? Who's gonna bring a sense of humor across like that man? Nobody! C'mon man, I'm one of the Last of the Mohicans, and I know.

ThaFormula.com - Well, just make sure that you don't let anybody else touch the production on your next LP other then Quik. He needs to do that whole album cause I'm sick of all these new producers ruining albums!

Suga Free - Look, I don't give a fuck if I got to go cut his grass! Quik is doing my whole album, if not people are gonna be waiting a long time for it.

ThaFormula.com - One of the things I have always liked about you Free is that you have never rhymed over a wack beat, which shows me you have a ear for good music man.

Suga Free - Oh, right on man, but you know it's just that I want people to like it. I want and need you to like it. Whether it's the music or something I say, something in there has got to stick or mean something.

ThaFormula.com - Do you ever listen to your album and say to yourself this was a great album?

Suga Free - Hell Yeah, I'll do it right now. I pay attention to little shit like effects and what was cool or why Quik made me work harder on certain songs and stuff like that.

ThaFormula.com - Do you think that the beats he put down on your album are the best beats he has ever done?

Suga Free - Oh No (Laughs). No! No! No! But you got my songs "I'd Rather Give You My Bitch," "Fly 4 life," and "On my way" that's some good music, but compared to what's in this dudes head. Man! I wish I could just get a jack and just plug to the back of his neck and just listen to some shit (Laughs). Put some headphones on and just listen to what goes on in that dudes mind. He's the funkiest dude, I'm tellin' you. He's so tight, he'll bring pop lockin' back.

ThaFormula.com - When the album was done was it both of you choosing the beats or was it you doing the rhymes and Quik choosing the beats?

Suga Free - It was me providing the rhymes and him providing the beats, but you know we kind of worked together on the beats. I'm not much of a producer.

ThaFormula.com - How many tracks were recorded for your album and did all the tracks that were recorded make the album?

Suga Free - Quik pretty much knew what to do. He said, this is gonna be like this, this is gonna be like that and he organized them. He said this is first, this is second, this third, this is that and we went with it man and shit blew up.

ThaFormula.com - So why do you think the beats on your first album are so much different then anything he's ever done?

Suga Free - I don't know man. Probably because he felt me as a real pimp and he wanted everything to be different. I mean he would take equipment out of one room in the house and put it in another room for some certain type of sound he would get know what I mean. He's so particular about what he wants to record and you know everything matters. The lighting and all kinds of shit matters to him. The dude is at the top of his shit.

ThaFormula.com - What exactly was the situation with Island Records?

Suga Free - They let me go with me not owing them anything.

ThaFormula.com - Did you see any money from that first album?

Suga Free - Not really and you know that's something else that I'm not concerned about. Whether it went platinum or where's my plaque, man I don't give a fuck about that shit.

ThaFormula.com - But doesn't it make you mad that you didn't see the amount of money that you should have?

Suga Free - Oh yeah, but it doesn't govern my day. It don't ruin me. I'm just glad for the name and the game that I got and the gift that god blessed me with to a DJ Quik beat.

ThaFormula.com - Did you and Quik have a connection from the very minute you guys met?

Suga Free - Oh hell yeah. The first five minutes it was on and poppin' cause I knew I was fittin' to do some shit that he had never witnessed. That no mortal man has ever sat down and witnessed.

ThaFormula.com - What were you doing music wise before you hooked up with Quik?

Suga Free - I was beatin' on the tables and rappin' to them making my own beats on the table and rappin'. I'm talkin' about hard-core raps. I'm talkin' about beats with the high hat, the kick and the snare.

ThaFormula.com - Is Black Tone someone you grew up with?

Suga Free - I knew Tone since like '91 and had never met a dude like him and doubt I ever will. There's somethin about those special dudes man. One day he heard me on this little cassette tape where I was flowin' from the head. He looked me up and he found me. He said "you wanna make records?" I said "yeah" and here we are.

ThaFormula.com - Was the way you rhyme now the same style you had when you started?

Suga Free - Oh yeah and wasn't nobody talkin' about no pimp shit but Shorty and on the New Testament, I'm fittin' to discipline all these cats out here that wanna be pimps now. I mean I'm here on the daily from Santa Ana to O.C., to right here in Pomona where we got the best hoe stroll out here. I deal with these cats man. I get out and I have drinks with these pimps. I smoke weed with them man and none of these cats that I hear on these records be out here with these brothers man. Man I would look foolish askin' "oh man you seen what's his name out here?" Man, I'll look stupid.

ThaFormula.com - Where exactly is the best hoe stroll up in Pomona?

Suga Free - Ah man, Hope Street man. From where the 71 Freeway is man, straight on through to Ontario man.

ThaFormula.com - If you had to choose between the rap game and the pimp game what would you choose?

Suga Free - I'll choose the rap game.

ThaFormula.com - Why would you choose that?

Suga Free - Because it's more positive. Out there man it's way out, but see one thing that's so good about pimpin' is that you could change it. You know do massage parlors and all that, but overall music man. I'm gonna always do both. I would never have to pick.

ThaFormula.com - Now I remember a while back there were a few rumors that you were gonna sign to Doggy Style Records, was there ever any truth to that?

Suga Free - I don't know. I guess people out there are just talkin' and people just I guess have to keep stuff up in the air. I got a lot of respect for Snoop and them, but I would never leave my camp.

ThaFormula.com - Were you ever close at all to signing with them?

Suga Free - No! I would never leave my camp.

ThaFormula.com - What's been the major delay with your second album? Your first one dropped a few years back and in many people's eyes it was considered an instant classic, were you happy with the results of that album?

Suga Free - I was happy with the results, but I wasn't happy with the business end of it. Then I got incarcerated and I had said fuck it in my own little way and you know kept pimpin' and had more fun in the streets at times.

ThaFormula.com - So would you say that your a pimp before a rapper?

Suga Free - Yeah.

ThaFormula.com - Has the pimpin' got you through certain hard times as far as money goes seeing that you haven't dropped an album in a few years?

Suga Free - Hell Yeah cause that's what I was doing before this stuff. I pimp and I'm happy.

ThaFormula.com - Did you watch the movie "American Pimp?"

Suga Free - Man I'm about to put it on right now again.

ThaFormula.com - What did you think about that movie?

Suga Free - It's a blessing. If anything got to do with some pimps and hoes that a muthafucka would take their time out to write and organize and put on tape is a blessing. That's the problem with niggaz now. Don't wanna give a muthafucka no credit. Look man, pimps know magic man. We different type of niggaz man. Hoes like fuckin' with us man. They know we ain't quick to jump in their panties. They know we just want the money and they gonna see some light out of it to. Anything that got something to do with some pimps man they say to never talk down on a player man. Never talk down on no players man. Man if a piece of a pimp got some type of limelight man, pop your collar for the man.

ThaFormula.com - Where do you think Suga Free would have fit in that movie?

Suga Free - I would have fit in every 4 corners of that movie.

ThaFormula.com - So how much money is Suga Free clockin' in off of pimpin' at the moment?

Suga Free - Ahh man, I'm just comfortable man.

ThaFormula.com - Is pimpin' something that you have done since the day you were born?

Suga Free - Nah, I really started getting my feet wet at 17 and I ain't looked back since. I remember I stepped to a McDonald's in West Covina one day. I macked so cold on a white bitch named Tammy who came from behind the counter with her McDonald's shit on, that next day she was on the hoe stroll. She stayed with me for a year cause to get a year out of a hoe man that's good man cause hoes come and go man.

ThaFormula.com - What would you say is usually the average?

Suga Free - Man I don't know. 2 or 3 months or something.

ThaFormula.com - At this point in time how many are you pimpin?

Suga Free - I got 2.

ThaFormula.com - Will there be a Suga Free porno soon and if so what would it be like?

Suga Free - Yes! Asses wigglin' and titties jigglin' (laughs). The whole thing, pimpin, porn, magazines, and video man, I'm with all that. I mean sex sells man and I'm gonna get me somethin' out of it.

ThaFormula.com - Now there is a rumor going around that you have 1 strike left, Is that true?

Suga Free - Yeah, I got 1 strike left. Anything violent that I do shit y'all are gonna have to talk to me from the inside.

ThaFormula.com - Does knowing that really bother you?

Suga Free - It don't bother me because I know I ain't fittin' to do no stupid shit. It don't bother me.

ThaFormula.com - Drop a gem on kids and explain to them how Suga Free chooses a hoe. Are they coming to you because of your rap status?

Suga Free - Nah, because when I wasn't no rapper I was pimpin'. A hoe will just like you because your comin' at her at the right time. She might be somewhere where shit ain't cool or you know she ain't havin' much. She might be tired of dealin' with these little fuckers that wanna fuck them all the time, get them pregnant and shit like that. You know you find them and you can just tell that they're a hoe. You can just tell. You just have a eye for that shit and you could just tell.

ThaFormula.com - Did the pimpin' game become tougher or better when you became a rap superstar?

Suga Free - It got better. I mean shit, I done had bitches faint on me. In Oakland man, I was doing a show man where 2 hoes, a mother and a daughter were like you know tellin' me, "we been waitin on you" and this and that. The mom's daughter fuckin' passed out on me in the club "Sweet Jimmy's" and I just ran away from her cause I didn't want nobody to think I did anything you know. So hell yeah it's definitely workin' wonders for me but still you know I don't crowd myself around a whole bunch of hard headed bitches. All I know is that I got this album to make.

ThaFormula.com - How hard did the loss of Mausberg hit the whole camp?

Suga Free - I was in prison and muthafucka got killed I think a week before I got out of jail and I took that as a personal statement. I was scared as fuck when I first came home, but I had my hand on my guns, you know what I mean and I was just fuckin' petrified cause that's the second guy that died in our camp. Me and Mausberg were real cool man. I remember I told him I needed 500 dollars one day and he gave it to me and I really needed it and paid him back too. He was a big nice dude.

ThaFormula.com - It seems like only the dopest rappers or hot up and coming rappers seem to pass away.

Suga Free - Yeah, you know it's all in how you carry yourself to me. I don't carry myself like a lot of people think I do. You don't catch me at parties or clubs. If I'm going to do anything I make sure that the person that I'm gonna do it with is the only person that I'll be in touch with and there will be nobody else around, and if there is anybody else around excuse me for just drivin' off.

ThaFormula.com - What do you think is the main reason the West gets hated on a lot on by all these East Coast magazines?

Suga Free - You know what. I don't know man and I don't care. I don't really give a damn. They could do what they wanna do. 99.9% of the stuff that I put out is gonna be about Pimps, Hoes, the hustlin' game and the life. Every single time I will not switch and talk about nothin' else. I'm not gonna talk about shootin', I'm not gonna talk about gang bangin, I'm not gonna talk about gangsta shit, I'm gonna talk about fly individuals with fly conversations for a prostitute.

ThaFormula.com - So how is the new album coming along?

Suga Free - Damn, uh it's under construction right now.

ThaFormula.com - Is it gonna be completely done by Quik?

Suga Free - Oh yeah, ain't no other producer gonna touch this I don't think.

ThaFormula.com - How many songs have you guys recorded so far?

Suga Free - Probably 3 or 4.

ThaFormula.com - How long do you picture it taking to record?

Suga Free - If I'm there with him everyday man probably a few weeks. I see the album being done and complete in a month or two.

ThaFormula.com - How is this album gonna be different from the last one?

Suga Free - It ain't gonna be different. I'm gonna talk about the same shit and ain't nothin gonna be different. I'm just a little more political now. But the same shit applies everyday so I'm not changing nothin'. I'm stayin' with the game. I'm stayin' with what the book say. The book don't change. The rules always been the same and it's only a few of them and they don't change.

ThaFormula.com - When are you looking to drop the new album?

Suga Free - I think early 2003.

ThaFormula.com - Any guest appearances?

Suga Free - Oh no. Just me. You remember when you bought Al Green, you bought Al Green for Al Green, you know what I mean. Now you got a lot of cats a lot of features and stuff like that and that's cool, but I don't want my album clogged up cause I got to much to say and their just gonna take my time away from me. Cause I know what I got to say is more powerful then what they got to say on a pimp record. So it will just be me and my camp basically.

ThaFormula.com - Now there were a few tracks that seemed to have got leaked out to the public on the Internet and on bootlegs like "Let's Get Together," "Inside Out," and a few others. What exactly were those tracks from?

Suga Free - I'm really not gonna say. That's just some music that we recorded that was really unfinished. It was unfinished and it got hot and people liked it. So I'm happy and it really don't matter to me.

ThaFormula.com - Do you have any ideas on what you plan on callin' the new album?

Suga Free - Yeah, I wanna call it "The New Testament" because when I'm around and I talk to people (Laughs). I mean I don't know it's like I'm Santa Clause ridin' and I done gave them something. I met a lot of pimps man that I done helped. I met a lot of pimps that travel across country and my cd gets them from point A to point B, you know what I'm sayin' and I feel good man cause who else is gonna put it down like that. That's why these girls like me cause I ain't scared to talk about that shit and stay on that shit. Not just for a minute. I ain't bullshittin' man.

ThaFormula.com - Is there anything else that we can catch you on in the future other then your album?

Suga Free - Well, I just did something with E-40 and B-Legit that I'm real proud of. I just ran into Too Short in Vegas and I would like to have him on my album.

ThaFormula.com - So what's up with a book man. When are we gonna get a book from Suga Free?

Suga Free - Ah, well you know what man. Next month I got Suga Free's hoe guide comin (laughs). Nah, Im just fuckin' with you man!

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