thaFormula.com - How did you get started in production Ag?

Agallah The Don Bishop - I started production through my man Bobby Crawford in 1994.  I started fucking with the MPC and mass production around 1994.  Everything just started picking up from there.  I was a drummer in music school when I was in class, so I knew about the drums and shit.  But I always wanted to spit though, because that was my love.  So I just wanted to try to build myself up as a producer and a rapper.  I never was serious about the production until after I started rappin'.  I came out with a single in 95' which was a commercial single off of Elektra.  After that I dropped a joint with Mr. Cheeks of the Lost Boyz.  Then I just started doing mad shit for other people like PMD, Das Efx, EPMD.  I was doing beats and I was rhymin'.  When I did a beat for Busta, that was when people started checkin' for me.  Premier came at me for production for Teflon, Tony Touch came at me for Peacemaker, Onyx got at me, and others.  The Agallah history goes way back.  But I was a young dude back then and I was getting taken advantage of, seeing that I was mad young.  I had to learn the business the hard way and that's why it never popped off like it should have.  But now shit has changed, being that I am doing things with Juelz, Jim Jones, Sheist, Cam, and others.  So it is basically time to shine.

thaFormula.com - I really thought that people slept on the work you did on the last Group Home album...

Agallah The Don Bishop - Yeah, I got with Lil' Dap.  I know him from way back in the Brooklyn days runnin' around tryin to get on.  Me and him linked up and did that.  Same with Sean Price.  We are all niggaz from the same area trying to come up.  

thaFormula.com - How did you feel about producing that second Group Home album, since they were coming off of a classic debut album that Premier produced?

Agallah The Don Bishop - I know Premier did alot of work with them and he created a classic with them.  He gave them alot of good production.  I used to always hang out in the studio with them and I got cool with Guru and Premier and basically the whole Gangstarr team.  That's why I guess that light got passed on to me, being that Primo and them had a situation going on.  So Dap came to me and asked me to do it.  So I helped him get the deal and we tried to put something together.  It was a dope album and I'm glad I got to do something with them.  That album was Brooklyn for real.  

thaFormula.com - After that you kind of disappeared for a minute.  What happened?

Agallah The Don Bishop - Well I was dealing with alot of things at that time.  My moms passed away and I just had some real personal problems going on.  I had to cut ties with alot of cats that were trying to put false dreams in my head.  But later the word got out that a nigga was raw in New York.  You had alot of niggaz that was doing beats and alot that was rapping.  But you didn't have alot that was rappin' and producin' for a long time.

thaFormula.com - When did your connection with Dipset & Purple City come about?

Agallah The Don Bishop - My man I used to hang with all the time introduced me to Sheist 3 years ago.  I used to come uptown and hang out and all that where I used to see him on the streets.  Sheist had heard about me through a mutual friend.  So my man Dee, Sheist and me started rocking together.  One day he came to me and said he wanted to do this Purple City thing.  Now mind you, The Dips used to come through and hang out with him.  Jim knew one of my mans and heard this song I did called "Gangsta" and went bananas.  He asked to get that for his mixtape and I wound up being on Diplomats Part 4.  So basically from there, I just started linking up with them dudes doing music and all that and that's how it happened.  They started coming to the studio jumpin' on joints and fuckin' with us on the musical level.  Juelz, Cam and them was coming through.   

thaFormula.com - Did the Dipset connection open some doors for you?

Agallah The Don Bishop - Basically, it showed people that I was on my grind for this music man.  Everyday they see me, I'm in the studio rappin', making beats, engineering my own sessions.  I'm like a one man band son.  My talent was just outshinin' shit.

thaFormula.com - So when did you guys actually decide to really do the Purple City thing?

Agallah The Don Bishop - Sheist came up wit that.  There is a history behind that name.  There was dudes in Harlem that used to have that name that was doing their thing in the streets back in the 80's.  We rebirthed the name because the dudes that had the name kind of let it fade.  Originally, it was supposed to be a club or lounge for rappers, producers, and executives to come hang out and check out new talent.  But then he flipped it and made it like a crew.  We more like a unit.

thaFormula.com - How has the Purple city album done so far?

Agallah The Don Bishop - It's doing real good right now.  It's in the stores man.  It's doing lovely.  We are like #3 on the Billboard Independent albums.  We doing real good right now.

thaFormula.com - So as far as production goes, what you got coming?

Agallah The Don Bishop - I got my new artist Ikeyes getting ready to drop in a minute after my album.  Basically, we got Un coming next from Purple City and Sheist after that.  Then we got another Agallah album droppin' after that.  I'm droppin' all new shit on my album.  Shit that niggaz ain't heard.  We will be doing another Purple City album, after we all do our solo albums.  Right now, go cop all them mix tapes.  

thaFormula.com - So after everything you been through since you came in the game, do you feel that it is all finally starting to come together like you pictured it?

Agallah The Don Bishop - Yeah. I'm here and I'm in my prime.  A nigga just feel like he is here.  I can still come at them and still reign like a youngsta, but with the mind of an old man.  I will never get old.  I just keep absorbing and all these cats gonna feel me.

thaFormula.com - Are you producing your whole solo album?

Agallah The Don Bishop - Yeah, I'm doing the whole thing.  it's basically done now.  I'm just doing my mixtape shit right now.  This album is gonna define who I am.  It's gonna define my realness in the streets and everything I believe in.  Look for it to drop July 22nd.

feedback: info@thaformula.com

Be  sure to join the over 600,000 Industry Heads that have signed up to our exclusive mailing list!!  Click here to join and receive exclusive interviews only available to members. Leave contact info ( name, email address, city, state, and country) at info@thaformula.com.