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ThaFormula.com - So what's up with the new album. you still workin on it or what?

Thirstin - Nah, Nah. I just finished mixing down. I'm in the process of finishing the mixin and manufacturing. You can get you pre order of the Serial Skiller album at our site www.spitfactoryonline.com  You can get all Lo - Life albums and info their.

ThaFormula.com - I remember back then you were just workin with 4 tracks and instrumentals. What you workin with now?

Thirstin - This is my first all original production, all professional recordings and shit like that. No more 4 track stuff, no more jackin beats. Everything is professional and original on this album. You know with the success of the last album we  did, you know with all the instrumentals and 4 tracks, we were able to you know it helped get us money to buy all the stuff we didn't have.

ThaFormula.com - Who's handling the production this time around. Is it all Lo - Life production?

Thirstin - Well P.F. Cuttin from Blahzay Blahzay is doin some tracks and he helped mix the entire album. We worked on the whole album together. I produced the entire album myself other then what P. F. did.

ThaFormula.com - How was it being behind the boards?

Thirstin - It was a learning experience. Their was alot of people that gave me pointers you know. I mean all I basically needed to know was the functions of the equipment.  As far as the ear for hip hop, I have that already, I know what I like and I know what I want. I'm gonna only get better with time.

ThaFormula.com - What's the deal with Masta Fo'ul. Are you guys still workin together or what?

Thirstin - Yeah, yeah. Masta is still family. He's just been workin on his solo shit so much man. But you know Masta Fu is part of the party type bounce shit that we talked about. But everyone is different and I respect whatever he wants to do and that's his choice you know.

ThaFormula.com - In your eyes were Tupac and Biggie as dope as people made them out, I mean did you see them as the two dopest ever on the mic?

Thirstin - Nah, Nah. Their are many, many, rappaz that I put as far as skill and talent way above them. All dues to Biggie though cause he put Brooklyn on the map again. You know I'm a Brooklyn nigga, so I can't hate on that. But as far as skills and lyrics and all that. Their were many, many greater. 

ThaFormula.com - So was Biggie always the man in Brooklyn?

Thirstin - Biggie is still the man in Brooklyn, just like Jay - Z is.  

ThaFormula.com - So does Jay still get the same amount of props and respect he got back in the day. Nobody ever says "Yo he sold out" or "He went commercial"?

Thirstin - Nah, he's still the same. You know why. one thing even I myself say. JAY - Z IS REALLY THE GREATEST WHO EVER DID IT, because he conquered it in so many levels, especially in ownin his own shit and his level of consistency. No one in hip hop has been that successful and that consistent at the same time, album after album to be on the top ten for years. And even before he started doin all the commercial shit, he was the greatest lyricists. I mean lyrically the way he put words together, the way he flipped concepts. He still, even on every album he might do alot of commercial shit, but he always gives you a record to let you know, "Regardless of all the commercial shit I do, I'm a nasty nigga when it comes to these lyrics and all that".  I gotta respect him on a business level. He's a business man and he's the greatest who ever did it. That's in my opinion.

ThaFormula.com - So do you think he would have blew up and been where he's at now regardless of whether Biggie was alive or not?

Thirstin -Yeah, he still would a blew.  To me he was a greater lyricists then Biggie. He had more vocabulary. Biggie, he was more thugged out, he used alot of street slang, but Jay's vocabulary was extensive. He was using highly intellectual words and still makin it slick and thugged out.

ThaFormula.com - Do you believe things would have been different if Pac and Biggie would have never died, I mean do you feel things changed in hip hop right after their death?

Thirstin - Yeah, alot of people used their death or glorified their death for their own reasons and benefit. But, to me it would have still been the same if you ask me.

ThaFormula.com - So you think guys like Ja Rule and DMX would have still blew up or..

Thirstin - Came out soundin like Pac.

ThaFormula.com - Yeah

Thirstin - I don't know cause Pac would have probably stepped to them if he was alive. He would have probably busted Ja Rules shit by now!

ThaFormula.com - Does Ja Rule get props out their in New York?

Thirstin - Not like that, but he's a platinum artist and the bitchez love him, you know it's all about the bitchez. I don't sit no where, where Ja Rule come up on a conversation.

ThaFormula.com - Do you feel their are alot of fake thugs in hip hop?

Thirstin - Yeah a majority. 90% are fake thugs. They up their glorifying it and all that cause they not going thru it. For one if you got that much drama, you not trying to tell everyone.  Cause you doin shows everywhere, so if you really got beef and all that drama, people know where to go getcha. They hear Jay - Z kick some real shit and they try to mimic it or whatever, but theirs alot of real muthafuckaz out there to.

ThaFormula.com - What do you think about a guy like Freddie Foxxx?

Thirstin - I didn't know him personally, but I remember when I had come home from jail in 1989. My man Doggz got tickets from Biz Markie for a show at the Tunnel, so we went to the show and I chilled on stage with Big Daddy Kane, Krs1, Freddie Foxxx, and Chub Rock. All of them was on here just rockin. I mean these were some of the greatest of that era.  And Freddie Foxxx, he was shinin in that era too, but he didn't have as much exposure as the other ones did.  But he tore that shit down that day! I heard Freddie Foxxx crushin more than anybody and this was Kane, Krs, you know the greatest were up there. But the way Freddie Foxxx tore it down, alot of people never got to see him within his prime and shit. He's still nasty nowadays at what he does and he's respected as a street person, because he holds it down for whatever he believes and he's not afraid to speak his mind and handle his own business. That's a real Muthafucka right there!

ThaFormula.com - What about producers like Pete Rock and DJ Premier?

Thirstin - You know, I feel Pete Rock is a legend and Premier is a legend. I love all of Pete Rock's shit and I don't know what happened, I mean why people stopped checkin for his sound cause he's definitely hot, hot.  Premier, I feel he's a legend and all, but I don't feel everything he does like some people. To me he's over rated  like anything he does, they suckin his dick. Even now I hear Oh! you need a Premier track. I talk  to A & R's and people interested in signing me and shit, they always mention Oh! we need to get you on a Premier track. I mean it's all good, but I don't give a fuck about no Premier track you know. Their is so many other Muthafuckaz out there with different sounds and other talents you know.

ThaFormula.com - Who would you like to work with in the future?

Thirstin - D.R. Period. He produce alot of M.O.P. stuff and Smooth and Trigga shit. He doesn't have that much exposure, but he did that Ante Up and shit like that.  What he can do is no fucken joke and he's a Brownsville nigga. That is somebody I would really like to work with in the future when I got a budget or something. My nigga P.F. Cuttin is a nasty nigga too. His shit is true hip hop, you don't hear all the keyboard sound, cause alot of people are makin dance tracks, you know keyboard dance tracks and bounce tracks without that ruff edge to it. So much shit is watered down you know. I love that ruff shit.  The nigga Rza too man, I like his production alot.  That's somebody I would definitely love to work with in the future. The whole sound that he brought to the table and all that. The whole Wu Tang contribution to hip hop was great.

ThaFormula.com - What's your thoughts on freestylin?

Thirstin - I'm a freestyle fiend man.

ThaFormula.com - Why do you think nobody freestyles much anymore?

Thirstin - It only stopped cause muthafuckaz is makin money. I'm not tryin to freestyle no songs neither.  I'm out to make songs that stick to concepts and shit like that. Too me freestylin is the actual love of it all, I mean I can sit in a room with a bunch of muthafuckaz and freestyle all night. But everybody is not on the same level freestylin as certain muthafuckaz so they don't wanna do shit like that, cause that's a true talent man. That's one of the greatest talents to be able to do and I'll say 75 percent of these rappaz can't freestyle.  But I don't hold it against them cause Biggie said he couldn't freestyle, but he made bangin songs.  Especially when you get in the industry and you get in the business, you know when it becomes a BUSINESS!

ThaFormula.com - What's the difference?

Thirstin - It's a big difference man, It's a real big difference. For one it's a job, it's not like you just hangin out with your boyz and kickin it no more. you know, you have to outdo what everybody else is doing. So you know that takes alot of thought, alot of concentration, alot of time and alot of focus.  It's alot of shit.

ThaFormula.com - So what exactly is Skillionaire?

Thirstin - Skillionaire is everything. It was the name of my first album and the name of my company.  Cause you know what we seen is I did the single with Game and I did the single with Rawkus and seen that I didn't need them to distribute the music that I could do cause I had the same access to all of the same distributors and shit like that.  I had to establish my own that way I could put it out when I feel like it and I can do whatever I feel like, especially when it come to the graphics of it all and all the creative control man. Skillionaire allows me to do anything I wanna do without putting limits on myself and without givin a fuck. I don't have alot of shit.  O ain't no blown up artist with a mansion and all these Benzes and all that.  I'm an artists whose manifesting true hip hop anyway possible, any means I have and I don't worry about what I have and I don't have or contacts I don't or do have. I just work with what I do have and I make the best of it. That's all from being a poor muthafucka you know.  A jail nigga! you know, a jail nigga know how to make a pie out of a pack of cookies. You crush a whole pack of cookies up while it's still in the plastic, make a little hole and when everything is crushed into crumbs you put a little bit of milk in their and then you rolled it on down and you rap it up in a towel and you tie it around a fucken steam pipe and you let it cook.  That's how a nigga make a pie!

ThaFormula.com - Yeah and you know a poor nigga puts Ketchup on everything! 

Thirstin - Yeah, Ketchup on everything, Ketchup on water you know, ain't no Kool Aid.

ThaFormula.com - So what are your thoughts on guys like Nelly and The Maintenance Man Ludicrous?

Thirstin - Oh God! That's not hip hop to me, that's Hip Pop.

ThaFormula.com - How do these guys blow up so much?

Thirstin - You know why. For one they have the contacts you know, they have the outlets. What blows them up is the outlests. What blows any music up is the push. It's not really the music alot of times. It's what's done behind the music. It's the people that do the footwork behind the music. And you know they have media, commercials, you know, TV, magazines, radio.  Any media outlet they have man gives them that advantage you know cause I don't feel none of that shit. I don't feel none of that shit! I don't buy it, I don't listen to it, I turn it off, I don't listen to the radio like that, I don't watch BET all day. But when you here the radio all day and here that song 30 times a day, you are gonna start liking the song after a while.  My son loves Nelly. Shit! but I'm not mad at him, that's his choice, but I tell him, NELLY IS WACK!! he's not hip hop.  Ain't no skills involved in that you know, that's just a fucken sing along.

ThaFormula.com - Do you think hip hop will last with shit like that being dropped?

Thirstin - Let me tell you what I've learned.  No matter whether it's wack or skillful.  As long as the rappaz are out there payin their dues.  their gonna get a shot one day out there. So if all the wack artists out there are the only one out there payin their dues and stayin focused on what they wanna accomplish in they music, they gonna keep succeeding cause that's what it's all about.  All these muthafuckaz out there with skillz complainin about the wack shit, Stay Focused man. If you wanna change hip hop stay focused and get in this game man. That's the only way you gonna ever help change it. We gotta change the standard and bring about that skill shit.  That's why everything I do is entitled skill. Skillionaire, Skillosopher, Serial Skiller, Skill or be Skilled.  Because to me it's all about skills. Skill is like at the top of the list.

ThaFormula.com - Do you ever get tempted to do a bounce track or shit like that?

Thirstin - I don't cater to that shit, but I'll try to take it to the next level or an official hip hop level.  If not I'm makin fun of it.

ThaFormula.com - Do you have any guest mc's on your new album?

Thirstin - Just my peoples man.  The only other guest is Professor X. He did like an intro and shit for me on one song.

ThaFormula.com - You talkin about Professor X from X Clan?

Thirstin - Yeah, I was actually chillin with him today. 

ThaFormula.com - What ever happened to that guy man?

Thirstin - He's workin on his new album now. It's called The Gathering.  His doing his thing. They still got it. Ain't nuthin changed.

ThaFormula.com - What would you tell an artists whose havin no luck in the game?

Thirstin - Never give up.  If you serious about what you doing, never give up. You know how some people give up for a little while and come back.  Never give up cause as long as you stick with it, everybody's turn comes.  If you quit for two weeks, that could have been the time you were supposed to get on.  And you'll never know cause you gave up for two weeks and it went right passed you and you don't even know it. Their's always gonna be opportunity presented in one way or another. It might not be in the form you want it to be.  All hard work pays off.  It doesn't matter what you doin.  Everybody gets a chance somewhere down the line.  I'm in line right now.  I'm not gonna lose my spot on line cause I been waitin on this line for a long time to get in that door.

ThaFormula.com - I thought you were signed and comin out on Rawkus man?

Thirstin -Everybody thought that!

ThaFormula.com - So what happened?

Thirstin - I never had a deal with Rawkus.

ThaFormula.com - They never offered you anything man?

Thirstin - Of course they did. But it just wasn't beneficial for Thirstin Howl you know.  I don't like playin by alot of peoples rules.  You know why cause my whole life way before I started rappin, I took whatever I wanted.  Nobody had to give me shit, I took whatever I wanted.  So for muthafuckaz to try to tell how to do shit, I'm a leader man, I been a leader my whole life.  So when you got these muthafuckaz trying to guide you or dictate everything you do man, you know.  I'm a rat against the wall and these labels just ain't ready to deal with that.  I'm a real muthafucka. My life is real and that's what shocks them. By hearing my music they don't expect me to look like what I look like. They expect to se some funny lookin guy joking.  I'm very serious you know, I don't play no muthafuckin games.

ThaFormula.com - What do you think about Funkmaster Flex bouncin with Nelly and wearin all that ice on MTV?

Thirstin - I think he's getting a check, but Funk Master Flex sold out a long time ago. For him it's all about the chips now. He's responsible for helpin all these southern groups blow up, but in his early days of hip hop he helped carry crates for legends like Chuck Chillout.  Of course he surpasses everything they ever did and is probably the most successful commercial DJ in history as far as hip hop, but I don't listen to Flex show or none of that shit.  He's just a business man.  He used to be Nine's DJ back in the day.  But see the whole objective is to get on MTV, BET, and get the commercial success.

ThaFormula.com - Is that what you want man?

Thirstin - I want to be successful.  I feel I shouldn't have to cater or do what everyone else is doing to reach that status.  Like Eminem. He's not commercial at all, he just crossed over commercial.  It just got accepted on a commercial level and their's nothing wrong with that.  As long as your not following what everybody else is doing and you get that success, that's the whole idea of being successful. To conquer masses of majorities man, millions.  

ThaFormula.com - What's your opinion on the recent rise of white mc's?

Thirstin - Their's always gonna be a spot for white mc's.  their's nothing wrong with that.  No matter what color you are, as long as you love your art.  Your skill and all that is gonna be based on how much you love your art.  Look at Eminem, nobody can deny he is a real mc. The nigga is lyrical, I dunn sat up for hours spittin with that nigga back to back freestylin off the head.  But we was also the Wendy Day and the Rap Coalitions team in the Rap Olympics.   Myself, Eminem, Juice, Wordsworth, and Quest The Madd Ladd.  Everybody on the team was super nice off the head.  That's what made our team so exceptional man. Me and Em was a team. 

ThaFormula.com - Em seems to get dissed alot nowadays.

Thirstin - Yeah, but those are the people that aren't true hip hop people.  Eminem came to Brooklyn, to Brownsville, to hang out in my crib and he sat up with me and freestyled for 5 or 6 hours non stop.  I never met that many people who could even do that or would have even the skills to keep up.  Their's few people who could do that in hip hop.  Em is the real thing man!

ThaFormula.com - Cause alot of people say that he fell off since his first album or he's not as dope as people make him out to be.

Thirstin - He didn't fall off, he gets better. I don't feel everything he does now on other peoples shit, bit when I hear his shit, he shows you what he saved his shit for.

ThaFormula.com - Who do you consider the dopest freestyler ever?

Thirstin - Probably Supernat or Juice.  I been in a room with all of them at the same time and they are all dope freestylers but they got their strengths and their weaknesses, but if I have to choose between all of them.  I would say Supernat is the best because he has so much character, he can imitate any rapper in a freestyle, his energy level, I mean he adds alot to his shit man that nobody could compare too.  Juice, he's one of the best too, but his character is limited within his rhymes and all that.  He can put alot of words together and make some slick shit and make it rhyme and keep it going non stop, but he lacks alot of character in the way he does it.

ThaFormula.com - Did you get a chance to hear the Juice and Supernatural battle man?

Thirstin - Nah, I heard about it.  Supernat tore his ass up right.

ThaFormula.com -Yeah he did man?

Thirstin - I thought I was the greatest until I met Supernat.

ThaFormula.com - How was it freestylin with all them?

Thirstin - I went to the Rap Sheet battles in 96 in DC and me and Juice were both sent out there through the Rap Coalition so we had to share a hotel room and all that.  So you know we was freestylin and you know I learned alot from him and I'm sure he learned alot from me cause we brought so much different shit to the table and we both were the best at we we did on our form.  

ThaFormula.com - Did you watch the Blaze Battle?

Thirstin - Nah! That's wack.  I refuse to go into anymore battles man.  I refuse to be in battles where I gotta battle by somebody else's rules.  I'm a thirsty mic hog you know.  You can't give me rules on how to battle.  All this 3 seconds and all that, nigga I hog the fucken mic.  I ain't battling by nobodies rules never again.  I battle by my own rules.

ThaFormula.com - That's pretty much it man. 

Thirstin - Don't forget to let the world know about our brand new site and were definitely trying to bring it up now. It's www.spitfactoryonline.com and try to throw it around the site a few times if you can cause we want to let the world know about it.

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