Interview Time: Dead Prez And The Outlawz

Dead Prez And The Outlawz

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The highly-anticipated street collaboration of political rap duo dead prez, and 2Pac’s group, The Outlawz, finally dropped this summer with a clear message of unity, power and progression for the hip hop society.

In a monumental move, two of rap’s most politically-driven and outspoken groups came together to produce an album of musical brotherhood and political unity – the result is the ground-breaking ‘Can’t Sell Dope Forever’, which features guest appearances from Layzie Bone and Messy Marv, as well as newcomers Stormey and Malachi.

Melisa Tang got talking to dead prez’s stic.man and Young Noble of The Outlawz to get the full story behind this project, their thoughts on future 2Pac releases, and the reason why hip hop today isn’t what it used to be...

This album is an amazing collaborative effort. How did the pairing come about?

Young Noble: Well our artist, Storm, he connected us together, and me and Stic.man were probably the first two to chop it up… Matter of fact, I think M-1 and Castro used to chop it up a while ago; that right Stic?

Stic.man: Yeah, that’s true.

YN: Well Storm was the dude who really got us working together, ‘cos [The Outlawz] respect dead prez, and vice versa, they got love for us, so me, I be on my sh*t, talking on the phone telling Stic, ‘We need to do a project together!’, and he’ll be like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do it!’ As far as the ‘Can’t Sell Dope Forever’ album, it’s crazy ’cos people out here in Atlanta been rocking the shirts for a minute now; the name of the company’s Miseducated Society. They make T-shirts with a message on it and I’d seen a shirt one day and was like, ‘Damn, I need to do a song with something like that!’ So I did a song one day, but two days before, Stormy did a song with Stic.man, and Stic.man was doing the album called ‘Can’t Sell Dope Forever’. Then Stormy came to my house and I played him my song, and he was like, ‘Yo, Stic was just saying two days ago that we need to do a song like that!’ It was just perfect like that; it was almost amazing!

How do you hope the release of ‘Can’t Sell Dope Forever’ will affect the youths listening to hip hop?

S: It’s gon’ be a ripple in the ocean, but it’s a big ocean, man! We ain’t trying to change the world with a few records, you know, but what we are trying to do is say to the young homies that [are] being influenced by not just rap, but by the world we live in and the traditions that make us sell dope in the first place, to think one second longer, or maybe consider something else and not feel like it’s about trying to be cool, but about trying to make a wise decision. I know when the grandmamas and the young homies and everyone else hear the record, they gon’ wanna transmit that and share that with people that they know could relate to that and feel that. You know what I mean? On the album, not only are we talking ’bout selling dope, but we talking about the effects on people [who] use the dope. We talking about the time that you get, and we talk about the camaraderie that you get from hustling. It’s that whole question that we get under our microscope and you getting it from people who been in it, who still in it; people that actually give a f*ck about the dope boys and not just trying to preach or talk down to nobody. I mean, this [is] our families, for real, you know?

Stic.man, your mother even gets a cameo on the track ‘Believe’ – how did you convince her to appear on it?

S: Yeah, that song is real important to me because in my household, we been dealing with the crack epidemic since it came in the Eighties! So that’s on the usual side! Me and my moms, along with my brother and pops, we been kinda like each other’s support in going through all that process right there, that struggle. So for us to come together and try to do a piece to inspire, you know that piece was originally called ‘A Fiend’s Anthem’, and it was supposed to be the words for anybody that was addicted to or abuse substances, for them to hear them words, probably the first time in their life that they’re actually saying it in their own heads, you know, ‘I can get this sh*t out of me, no matter what I done in the past, I can plan a new future.’ So for me and my moms to come together on that, that’s real special to me, I hope motherf*ckers can feel that song; that’s my favourite right there.

YN: Yeah, that song is really about inspiration and just trying to be a better person. At the end of the day, if you ain’t running around being the devil and just running around here murdering motherf*ckers, you gon’ be a better person, man. When I hear that song, that sh*t inspire me; I believe I can be whatever the f*ck I wanna be, and be the best I can be. Really to me, the whole album is really inspirational, like, we giving you all different sides of the game, it’s like we ain’t no means preaching on it, we just offering inspiration from people who been through it. Like, my brother been a crackhead since he was 14 years old; my mama was a fiend when I was six years old, you know what I mean? These are real life stories we telling y’all motherf*ckers! We done came out of it with scars, but those scars made us better people!

S: And don’t assume, when we say ‘Can’t Sell Dope Forever’ that we just talking to young, black, poor motherf*ckers, ‘cos really, we also saying that to the industry, ‘cos we gon’ bring that balance and that real talk. We talking to the powers that be at the same time; the Whitehouse is the ‘Rockhouse’, know what I mean? They is the No.1 pusher man! Whether dope be lies they telling over Iraq and Lebanon right now, or the lies they tell on our neighbourhood.

Young Noble: You guys initially got into the hip hop game as 2Pac’s ‘super group’. How do you feel about the continuous 2Pac releases being put out by various record companies? How much is too much?

YN: I mean, as far as saying how much is too much, I’ma be happy if they officially say, ‘Ok, this is gonna be the last Pac album; you gon’ have to buy what’s already out there.’ But, at the end of the day, Pac did so many songs, and I love my n*gga; I love his voice. Pac ain’t been here for 10 years - to me, that’s just Pac; he always gon’ be heard. If they put out the last album tomorrow, it ain’t gon’ make no difference, n*ggas still gon’ go back and buy some Pac sh*t, but I feel like, what should they do? Let Pac’s vocals just sit in the booth and let nobody hear that sh*t? He’s the greatest rapper of all time; motherf*ckers wanna keep hearing some 2Pac. He’s the realest motherf*cker and his voice ain’t just a regular voice; Pac is Pac! I feel like it’s a disgrace to Pac if they didn’t put his music out! Pac is a voice of inspiration! Why you think we still here, 10 years later? You know what I mean?

S: Yeah, let’s give credit where credit is due, and salute him. The thing is, for those who didn’t know Pac personally, they feel like they know him through his music. Every time they put out a new record, it’s a new Pac voice, a new song, a new energy, and it’s like, you gotta give respect for that, ‘cos how many people can say they done that? Even what you heard in the music, the Black Panther Party, the crack, the same sh*t we talking bout with this new album, and he’s still able to be a boss and be a leader in that situation, so Pac still gets the respect on an international level that he deserves. So when you ask when is enough enough? Man, that’s a momma and her family giving homage to the greatest emcee to do this sh*t this side of Malcolm! So it’s like, it ain’t never enough! Word up!

What are your thoughts on the hip hop scene at present?

YN: I love hip hop, man! I love hip hop! Everybody got their place; I love to see n*ggas get money, number one, so just ’cos a motherf*cker isn’t as slick as I am with the lyrics, it don’t matter. At the end of the day, hip hop is hip hop, and the reason why we the underdogs is ’cos we gon’ bring balance to this sh*t; we gon’ be here. A lot of these motherf*ckers gon’ come and go, but we gon’ still be here with this sh*t – Outlawz and dead prez, we still gon’ be here ’cos we represent the struggle, and we represent world life, and that sh*t is forever. I feel like there’s not a lot of dudes who at the top of they game that’s really using their voice as far as a political tool, just really a tool for the people. I mean, when I watch TV and listen to the radio, I don’t hear sh*t that really relates to the world right now. The dope boy sh*t, that’s a reflection but it ain’t really nothing new, n*ggas been doing that since the early Eighties! The motherf*ckers that on top of the game really need to start using their voice, otherwise we gon’ start pushing n*ggas to the side and start running this sh*t.

What are you working on at the moment? When can we expect new dead prez or Outlawz albums?

S: First of all, everyone can get constant updates on both groups, dead prez updates you can get at bossupbu.com, and Outlawz at 1nationentertainment.net. I gon’ let Noble tell you bout the surprise we got coming.

YN: Yeah, we got the Stic.man and Noble album dropping October 3rd, it’s called ‘The Soldier’ on Real Tell Entertainment. It’s gon’ be one of those albums you wake up in the morning and pop it in, and be motivated. Then we got Stic.man’s solo album coming up soon, got a Young Noble solo album coming up soon, a new Outlawz album, a new album by our artist Stormy coming, there’s a new Pac album coming November, so we just working. We also got another Outlawz/dead prez project coming up, called ‘Bangin’ On The System’, and that’s the next step.

S: And if people don’t know, I got the ‘Art of Emceeing’ book and CD that’s available on the website too. So people gotta get up on it!

YN: Yeah, that book is amazing. We also gotta hook you up with our MySpace addresses, myspace.com/youngnobleoutlaw; hit me up if you need features, beats, whatever man.

S: You can get me at bossupbu.com, hit me up on there and I’ll get back to you.

‘Can’t Sell Dope Forever’ is out now on Affluent Records.