thaFormula.com - Last time we spoke you were getting ready to drop "Visions of Gandhi."  How did that work out for you guys man?

Vinnie Paz - It did real good man.  It sold real well for us and it was good.  We toured for a good part of that year after it, and then got right back in the studio and started on Legacy of Blood.

thaFormula.com - Now you had alot of people complaining that you had dumbed down your lyrics for that album and that you guys had fell off a little.  How did you feel about that?

Vinnie Paz - (Laughs) It wasn't a problem for me, it was a problem for them.  But you know how people are man.  They are fucking crumbs, they ain't got no heart.  They got heart on the internet.  Don't none of them say nothing to me because I'll punch them in they fuckin' mouth.  No one said nothing to me.  The irony about the whole situation is that it outsold everything we ever did.  So someone was feelin' it.  Obviously those talkin' about dumbin' down lyrics didn't listen to the song with Canibus or Raskass.  There was some songs where I was comin' on some straight lyrical shit.  There was a couple of little more bouncy joints where I concentrated more on my flow I guess.  I don't really worry about that though.  It's usually 14 year old white kids who bought their first hip hop record 3 years ago.  So that shit don't even effect me.

thaFormula.com - At the same time, you got mc's coming with crazy complex lyrics that never seem to be able to find success, when releasing their albums.  Is that a reason that you didn't wanna come crazy lyrical on every track?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, it's possible.  I don't know if it was a conscious decision.  I know that I definitely had the understanding of that.  You see people making really good records, but they don't sell because it's over people's heads.  Some shit is a little hard for people to digest.  I guess what I was doing was trying to mix it up.  But it's not like that record was a commercial record.  If it was commercial, they would put our ass on MTV and that ain't happening anytime soon.

thaFormula.com - The sales for the album were good though right?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah it sold real good.  At the time it was our best selling record.

thaFormula.com - So after the success of that album, how did you guys approach the new album "Legacy Of Blood"?

Vinnie Paz - I guess the biggest difference is that we weren't in New York to record the album.  We stayed in Philly that whole record. We just decided to go back to basics.  We had less guest appearances.  It was basically just me and Stoupe.  My whole crew was in the studio with me the whole time, which was different from "Visions Of Gandhi" because I was in another State.  So we were just basically drinking and smoking and recorded that whole record in like 3 to 6 weeks.  We were working on beats and just going right in the studio because it was in Philly.  

thaFormula.com - Was it a big difference recording back in Philly this time instead of New York?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, it was for me man because I'm a home body.  I'm like Philly to the core.  Being in your own city creates a different mood.  There has been classic records where alot of people will tell you that their environment had alot to do with those records.  Wherever your at the mind state is different.  Your more comfortable.  I didn't really have anything to think about except the record.  In New York, I'm thinking about how I'm gonna get from point A to B, making sure everyone is cool back at home and things like that.  With this record, it was 110 percent all thoughts on this record.

thaFormula.com - So I know you got GZA down on the new album.  How did that come about?

Vinnie Paz - A few months prior to starting the record, maybe in the winter of 2004, we did a benefit show together in Brooklyn for an organization called Music For America.  It's basically an organization that tries to get young people to vote.  So we did a show together and kind of vibed backstage and kicked the idea around of doing a joint together.  So it sort of came from that.  After that he went to Europe for a few months, so I didn't really know if it was gonna happen.  But he got back and Chuck from my label hooked it up.  So we did it in New York.  It was a pleasure man and honor to be able to work with these people that have had an influence on me.  

thaFormula.com - So how did "Legacy Of Blood" do for you guys man?

Vinnie Paz - It did really good man and it's still selling cause we are still touring off of it.  That's the thing with our records man.  Were not really a group that sells everything in the first month.  We consistently sell.  All our albums are still selling.  Were not a group on a major label so the grind is different.  Everytime we come out though, we do like 60,000 records.  "Legacy of Blood" is primed to do like 80,000 and were still touring.  Were about to go back on tour on March 26th, so were just grindin' man.  

thaFormula.com - That's crazy numbers for an independent nowadays man?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, we been blessed.

thaFormula.com - You guys are 4 albums deep and each has done better then the last.  That is a very tough thing to do nowadays man...

Vinnie Paz - Yeah.  We figure there is always cats like you and me out there that want that raw shit.

thaFormula.com - So now that you guys are selling as much as your selling, do you feel alot more pressure to update you style when recording a new album?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, you know I do think about that.  Sometimes I think about whether or not it's even an option to update our style.  It's like sort of that whole theory of, if it ain't broke don't fix it.  

thaFormula.com - I always wonder also, if at a certain age or point in their career, does an artist start to question whether or not he still knows what time it is?

Vinnie Paz - I don't know man because I'm such a kid at heart man.  But I guess it does cross my mind.  I think the problem people have with it, is not just getting old.  It's getting old and understanding that this thing that you been doing for most of your life doesn't exist anymore.  I think it's sort of the equivalent of someone in sports.  Everyone has to get old, but I don't think everyone necessarily wants to except it.  I mean you got Kevin Willis still in the NBA and he's like 42.  But then there is other people who are older and you don't figure them as old because they kept updating their shit.  Like Jay-Z is in his mid 30's now.  Jay-Z is as old as Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane.  I think Redman is pushing his mid 30's now.  So I think the objective is to never really go away because I think that's when people get old, when they go away and try to come back.  That would be my answer and that's when people seem to turn old.

thaFormula.com - So this is the way you make your living now right?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah man.  

thaFormula.com - So now that your no longer a kid and have now reached the point in your life where this is how you are making a living, what is your state of mind going into a new album?

Vinnie Paz - That's a really good question man, but like always, you guys always got the best questions man.  It's a really good question because you have these kids, especially in underground/independent music that are just making music as a hobby.  Because they are not capable of moving the units to sustain a living from it.  That's why I find it funny that you have so many critics.  You got a 16 year old white kid in Idaho critiquing my shit, when he's got like a college fund.  That shit don't equate to me.  I didn't have money coming up.  My father died at a young age and my mother was broke.  To me you have people critiquing your shit that don't really understand where you coming from.  I make music for people that understand me and understand our generation.  If other people like it, that's cool and I love that. When this is what you do for a living, it no longer becomes this hobby of yours.  It becomes your livelihood and how you help your family out and sustain the people around you.  Jedi Mind Tricks has a tour manager, we have a merchandise cat.  There is alot of people that rely on us.  I'm also bringing out other groups with me like "Outerspace."  That's my brothers and I executive produced their records.  I'm trying to let everyone eat around me.  So it's no longer like a fucking joke or something to take lightly.

thaFormula.com - I notice people always ask why can't Jedi do another "Violent By Design."  The answer is obvious to me, but I'm wondering how would you answer that?

Vinnie Paz - It's like everything that contributed to that record doesn't exist anymore.  Our age at that time, the conditions, us being broke.  We recorded and mixed that whole album in a fucking bedroom.  It's just something that's different to recapture just because you could never go back and recapture what you were going through at that point in your life.  It's just hard to revisit the struggle.

thaFormula.com - Now that you are doing alright economically, how do you look at hip hop in general now.  Do you still get bothered by what you see happening, or have you reached a point now where you don't even think about it anymore?

Vinnie Paz - I guess that goes back to our conversation on age.  When your younger, I think your more bitter about things and got a chip on your shoulder.  Your complaining and calling everything wack.  To me man, I'm just like, everyone is trying to eat man so I can't really critique the next man.  If I don't like shit, I just don't listen to it.  I don't go on the internet like these fucking bums and critique another man's livelihood.  I don't know Nelly, so I can't talk about him.  I don't know him as a person and I don't listen to his records.  So I'm not gonna run around wasting my energy telling everyone he's wack.  You can't really judge a man and that's what you are doing when your talking about what they do for a living.

thaFormula.com - Now I heard that you guys have reunited with Jus Allah.  Is this true?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah.  Well a guy that you guys know named AC The Program Director reached out to Jus and told him you should really give them guys a call.  They are not really holding any ill will as everyone is grown up and this and that.  So he sort of contacted us and me and him had a long conversation.  We ironed out some personal things.  He's working on some solo shit right now with Agallah.  I just finished up this record called Army Of The Pharaohs.  I finished rapping it up last night.  It's Jedi Mind, 7L and Esoteric, Outerspace, King Size, Apathy, Celph Titled, Chief Kamachi.  We got like 16 joints man, it's crazy.  So Jus Allah is finishing up his solo record and like I said, I just finished up this Pharaohs record.  Were gonna tour for the next couple of months here and there.  Stoupe is working on a solo project right now.  It's basically a producer record.  He's doing some Portishead type shit with a couple of different singers on that record and he's got a couple of different mc's on there and a bunch of instrumentals.  But were definitely like this summer, starting a new Jedi Mind record and Jus Allah is definitely back in the mix on that.

thaFormula.com - Do you think the chemistry will still be the same as it was between you guys?

Vinnie Paz - Yeah, because when we talked, we picked right back off where we left off.  That's the thing man.  Were both grown men now and we have known each other since like 1993.  We always had a certain kind of chemistry because alot of the shit that we did came from our friendship.  So our prime objective was to put that back together.  So I don't really have any doubts about that because I know how we worked together for a mad amount of years.   

thaFormula.com - So when should people expect new projects from you guys?

Vinnie Paz - The Army Of The Pharaohs album which is called "The Torture Papers" will probably drop like in July.  Expect a single probably sometime in May.  Jus Allah's solo album comes out in May.  It's called "All Fates Have Changed" and his single should be leaked this week.

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