The Gatfather

The highly anticipated street collaboration of political rap duo, dead prez and Tupac’s super group, The Outlawz recently teamed up to release the LP “Can’t Sell Dope Forever”. Outlawz and dead prez insist that there are ways to empower yourself beyond selling dope and glorifying the flash of the drug game. They felt there are too many artists being irresponsible about the street life and moved pro-actively to offer more balance to the game. With a mission, a message and an album that’s hot like fire, there’s no doubt that 2006 belongs to dead prez and The Outlawz. Yo! Raps shows what these two groups, represented by Young Noble and stic.man, are really about. This is not an average interview like all the others that only concentrate on the new release. Yo! Raps tries to dig deeper as you know...

What is the first hip-hop record you ever heard?

Young Nobel: I don’t even remember the first hip-hop song I heard. I just remember being a young n**** in the room just listening to the radio just laying on the floor just banging that shit in my head. As far as songs I got a million favorites I probably know damn near every hip-hop song that ever came out, I’m like a real fan of hip-hop pick a song I bet I know it.

What’s your favorite song of all time?

Young Nobel: I’m going to pick a song by my n**** Pac “So Many Tears”. Every time I hear that song it gives me chills in my bones.

stic.man: I’m gonna go old school on you and pick “The Message” by Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash. Today if you play that record it´s blowing shit out the water.

Young Nobel: That kind of song (speaking of “The Message”) last forever because muthafuckers is always gonna feel like I’m close to the edge, like dealing with real life everybody gonna have problems and struggles and that’s the kind of shit that last forever real shit like that.

What age did you start rapping?

Young Nobel: I was 12, I had a group in Jersey called the Fly Clips, but I gave that shit up at 13. Once I moved back to Cali when I was almost 17 I had went back to school, I was hustling in shit in Jersey my brother was deep into his shit my, my moms was deep into her shit and I was like really heavy into the game. I was on my own since I was 14 almost 15, so I felt like I couldn’t sell coke forever I ended up going back to school, but meanwhile I’m doing that I’m writing rhymes like everyday. I got really serious when I was 17 and that’s when I hooked up with Pac.

stic.man: I was probably in the 5th grade when my brother first put me on he had this record by this group called “Whistles” and it was like that funk you know that, “buma na, buma, na, bump, ba, bump, bump,” I don’t know if you know about that, but it was some old school Jazzy Jeff sounding shit. I remember he bought that particular record and it was kind of popping on the radio where we was at and he was like, “yo, dats hip-hop! You gonna be the rapper and I´m gonna a be the DJ .” He put me on and I did it for that summer and then I put it to the side and it wasn’t until the 9th grade that one of my teachers was like, “you been doing raps for a while, they’re going to have a black history celebration you should do some of them raps about black history.” I had never heard of black history I never heard of Malcolm X, Martin, or nobody. As strong as my mom is she wasn’t the type of person to talk about that type of shit. I really had no clue of what it [black history] really meant. So my teacher gave me these ebony pictorial books that had civil rights shit in there and I read through it and tried to write a rhyme. The rhyme I write was called Black As I Can Be. It was from the heart at the same time I didn’t know about my culture and I said, “to hell with Uncle Sam he very ignorant,” and I said that shit in a assembly and the next thing you know the NAACP is at school, windows getting broke, white boys getting choked, and the whole assembly is turning into a small little rebellion. I found myself realizing that this rap shit got something to do with our struggle and our people, so that was my eye opening and they kicked me out of school and I been teaching myself ever since.

So they kicked you out of school for rapping about what was in your heart?

stic.man: Yeah, then I went to this high school that was supposed to be the worst school in Tallahassee, Florida. I wrote an article about the US flag and how that shit is really a slap in the face more than something we should stand up and respect and they printed it in the school newspaper. Then these n**** kicked me out of school, so I was kicked out of two high schools and never went back.

Young Nobel: [responding to Stic’s comment] For you using your voice that’s crazy, but look at you now boy...

What musical artists influenced you musically and personally?

Young Nobel: You know I can’t say nobody else, but Tupac Shakur. He molded me into the MC that I am. Even more than that just being around him he always tried to instill being the best that I can be. Like when I do this music shit I don’t really feel like I’m competing with nobody because ain´t nobody me so I just really just gotta be the best that I can be. I don’t give a fuck who you put me on a song with if I’m on my shit I’m gonna be right there with ´em - it don’t make a difference. I would have to say Pac influenced me the most musically. I grew up listening to Kool G Rap, I used to love. Pac was like my n**** in real life. He put me in the game so he was my biggest influence.

stic.man: Definitely Pac was a major influence in my musical career. His message, skill, things he would talk about, the sacrifices he made, the way he represented himself, and his whole movement was a part of me growing up. I grew up listening to Too Short, Big Daddy Kane, Nas when he came out with his first shit I thought he was incredible. Basically hip hop in general like my mind is always open to the new shit and if it´s some real shit or some skillful shit involved in it, it´s going to inspire me in some kind of way.

Young Nobel: When you a hip hop fan of this shit really everybody can inspire you it can be the slightest muthafucker that you might never think would inspire you. So if you a fan of the music everybody inspired you. When Mobb Deep first came out I use to bang they shit...

stic.man: I was even inspired and influenced by 50 Cent. How he had the mixtapes on blast at one time...

What was your relationship with Tupac, and how did you guys meet?

Young Nobel: The first time I met Pac they bought me to his crib and he just got out he was paranoid and shit Kadafi introduced me. He was like, “yo, this our n**** Nobel from Jersey this our people.” But Pac didn’t like it he was like, “yo, man why ya’ll bring this nigga to my crib.” He was paranoid and I respected that because I´m the same way -anybody can´t just come to my crib. Pac was set up - he been shot before all this crazy shit so he was a little skeptical he was like why ya’ll bring this nigga. He looked at me and was like, “yo, no disrespect to you I´m talking to these n*****. After that I started being around them n**** all the time being in the studio I was there the whole time when n***** was doing All Eyez On Me. I’m his n**** by now. I’m cutting everybody hair since I was around so much I was gonna be the designer of the Outlawz clothing line because I was a little fashion n**** coming from Jersey - I always stayed fresh. So he basically was like, “yo, you gonna go to school or come out here and fuck wit us?” So basically he was like, “yo, come live with us!” So basically I started living with them n**** and after a while go by maybe like a month or something I started brining out my raps. To make a long story short a ended up kicking some shit for him and he goes bananas gets all mad at me because I ain´t been kicking rap for him and he like, “how you gonna be around all this time and don’t even let n**** know you rhyme.” Basically that was the first of me being the last Outlaw. I was going to be the first solo Outlaw to come out he respected the fact that I was around and never even came at him on no music tip because that wasn’t never my ******. I was just fucking with them on some homey shit.

What is your opinion on today’s hip hop?

stic.man: I’m proud of where hip hop is at in terms of its creating so many opportunities for n***** to make a living. We always been struggling since we got off this so called plantation to try to do something as a community and be self sufficient. Not that we’re there yet, but hip hop is opening a lot of doors in terms of business as well as the conversation in hip hop so being that it’s a billion dollar international industry, being that hip hop is the number cultural export from America and around the world. I think the state of hip hop is that the control of it the business control, the content control, and etc really needs to be in the people’s hands who do it and the community that it comes from controls it. So I think right now it’s a challenging position it’s a fork in the road where we have to decide do we want to be coned for other folks or do we want to play this game as leaders since we have this great resource called hip hop. I ain’t hating on snap music, I ain´t hating on no type of music that’s out here because I know at a barbecue I don’t want to hear my own damn song. It ain’t nothing wrong with artist doing the music that they feel in their heart. What the problem is the people who control the radio is only letting certain shit in. Then it makes it look like it’s a beef between snap music versus revolutionary music when it ain´t. The reality is they only letting the shit get through that they think is non offensive, totally not challenging the status quo, totally not saying nothing at all just shaking your body parts and shit. That makes our community which I love to dance and all that shit, but that makes the community say all that other shit you can´t do that right now, you can´t talk about nothing, you can´t be about nothing because they ain´t gonna let you get no where. We have a bullshit mentality just because we trying to survive and it makes people censor themselves before it even get to the station, you like, “I ain´t gonna do that because they ain´t gonna play that”. It compromises the whole art. I think that’s the state of hip hop...

If you could bring one moment, person, or thing back to hip hop what would it be and why?

stic.man: You already know….

Young Nobel: I would definitely bring Pac back - no question about it. I’d bring Pac and Biggie back and have both them n***** together and do a album, imagine that shit.

What do you think about all the controversy your first album created?

Stic Man: I guess it was controversial to the oppressor and the people who had their nuts in their backpack and the people who thought their degree was going to free ´em and the people who was eating McDonalds everyday. I think it is controversial, but when people who have family members with heart attacks and diabetes from McDonalds and shit and people who got people locked up for the dope game and people who been kicked out of school and people who got degrees from college and can´t get no job it wasn’t controversial at all. We ain’t trying to make controversy. We just trying to get our point of view across...

Do you have an upcoming solo album or other projects you want to talk about?

Young Nobel: We got the album that’s in stores right now titled Can’t Sell Dope Forever. We got a stic.man and Young Noble album that’s done called Souljah To Souljah. It´s another classic that comes out October 3rd. We got a another dead prez & Outlawz album that we are working on. It´s 90 percent done and it´s called Banging On The System. stic.man got a solo album coming out soon, Young Noble got a solo album coming out soon. We just grinding...

THUGBABYDOLL

OH HELL YEAH!

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I AIN'T GOING NOWHERE.-BLACK CONNECTION IS THE MOB AND UM MARRIED TO IT-GUSH MOTTO:P.U.S.H.
PRAY UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS!-ONE LOVE, THUG B. -DOLL- THE LOINESS! RAAAAHHHHH!