Built to Last : we brought some records for you all. It’s not really a blind test, we’d like -more or less- to build around some musical memories, influences etc…We brought some of your stuff, some releases by other artists, and we’d like to know if you’d mind sharing a few words with us about…
Sean Price : (cut us off suddenly, surprisingly stoked) Oh you brought that Numark turntable thing? Did you see that on youtube? 45 King is doing parties with that shit. He plays 45’s all night, scratches them, and all that, that’s kind of cool.
Built to last : Ok thank you.We have some joints for P, some Joints for Detroiters…Who wants to begin?
Sean Price : Come on, let’s do it, let’s do it! We’ll take a little time, we’re not to the point when everything’s gonna be rushed, you know?
E.Z.B. & DJ LOS : ‘Maximum Overdrive’ (World One records 1989)
Guilty Simpson : Oh Dj Los ! That’s my homie right there. They were on World one records huh? That’s the guys who put out Kaos & Mystro too. That song: ‘Mystro on the flex’ was maybe one of the first representation of Detroit, the first generation of brothers who didn’t choose to be signed and did their thing independently, on the local level. I still talk to Dj Los to this day, he’s nice on the turntables. A very cool brother…Hey man, look at that! Crazy… (Pointing the girl on the cover, holding a guitar in a suggestive way) ha ha.
This is good, it shows the kind of empowerment we were looking forward to in Detroit. You have to remember that back then, you had to go to New York, which was the only city people were referring to if you wanted to put a record out. This kind of shit paved the way for us in a way. This is a very strong symbol of that period.
RJ latest Arrival : ‘Moving’ on up’ (LARC 1983)
Black Milk : (after 5 seconds) oh that’s RJ’s pops right here! He was behind T Barak records, you know, that’s the label Slum Village was on, my man Phat Kat…me too, I put out a few records with them back in the days. But man, you should have brought ‘Shackles’! That was his biggest song. A Detroit anthem, definitely.
(Black Milk and a smiley Guilty Simpson then start humming the hook for ‘Shackles on my feet’).
Black Milk feat RJ & the Dramatics-All I need (Barak 2004)
Built to Last : That’s your first joint, right?
Black Milk : I’m not sure, but yeah, it might be. What year is that? 2002, 2003? I’m not sure what year it’s from. But this is definitely one of the first records I was involved with. I was even one of the front men working on this project. (looking closely to the label)There’s a crazy Dilla joint on that shit (‘Do yo’ thang’ ndlr).
Built to last : (to Guilty Simpson) We tried to bring the Almighty Dreadknaughtz tape, but that shit didn’t work, as we were cut short by the interview schedule. Can you give us two words about that?
Guilty Simpson : Oh yeah, that’s the late tapes era, you know, the first street cd’s days. The first stuff that came out was on tape, probably around 1997, if I remember correctly. It was called ‘city of trees’, which was kind of like a tribute to the place we used to rhyme at-City Car Highland Park.
Built to last : Did you consider yourself a cipher rapper back then?
Guilty Simpson : (hesitating) Yes and No. We were most definitely cipher rhyming, I was doing rap battles and shit, but I was certainly not those kinds of ‘backpack rappers’ you know… I was pretty savage during those times (Sean Price cracks out laughing), I was only seeing rap as an outlet, not the most pleasant person I was…So I thank God for the music.
Guilty Simpson : this is a man’s world (Stones throw 2007)
Guilty Simpson : Oh yeah, that’s straight up right here. Turn it up please.
Built to last : Should I say it’s like your break through record?
Guilty Simpson : (contemplating for a few seconds) yeah, we can state that. It’s actually one of the last song I recorded in the studio while Dilla was still alive. It was really some very important times. And I have to say we still have some material from those sessions that most people haven’t found out yet. But at time most of them joints didn’t make it through even though they were some of the craziest shit we made. But who knows? Anyway, yeah it was a good record that allowed me to deal with the issues I was fighting with for like… eternally. Like dealing with my ‘old man’… But it went out like an outlet, and we were able to speak after that, and now we’re better than ever. Actually, when I wrote the verses I thought it was a bit too personal, too introspective, but the music finally took over, and that’s what I gave you.
But one thing I can say now that I’m older, and now I’m dealing with my own responsibilities: In every way I handle stuff, I can definitely relate with the mind state he was in when dealing with the same issues at his time. This is how it is.
Black Rock : ‘Yeah Yeah’ (Select O Hits 1973)
Black Milk : Oh yeah that black rock 45…You got it too as I see. It took me a minute to find that one. Earlier that year I was like, damn, I have to find this one, undeniable. So it took me at least one steady month of diggin’, but I came across a copy, so yeah, here you have it. But it was clearly one joint I wanted to flip (on ‘Deadly medley’ NDLR), but as everybody was about fuckin’ with the piano thing on the intro, I took it my way. I try to chop things up in a different way, whether it’s all keyboard stuff or just straight up break beats.
Built to last : Now it’s time to make P listen to some joints…But first we handle him the Heavyweight Featuring cd Corrado made earlier this year.
Sean Price : Oh really? Can I take it for me? Straight killin’ it, word. Oh shit, you see those air maxes I’m wearing? The Patta ones…I love that shit! (laughs)
Guilty Simpson : Oh you see how crazy this bastard is!!! You show him some nice work you did around all of his features, and the only thing he has to say is about his air maxes on the cover!!!
Sean Price : Ha ha, if you see the Shima Shima ones I got before going on tour, mad different colours, mad different leathers. Crazy. (We then talk about, Flight Club prices , our favourite air maxes, remembering about the ones Rusty Juxx wears on the cover of the “Fall Back” 12 ‘).
Fab 5 : Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka (Duck Down 1995)
Sean price : (starring at the cover). Ha ha. Early. I got my shirt on! Discarded.What is it? It looks like medusas! Or some fucking snakes maybe? (Laughs)
Built to last : Were you repping Polo back then? Because it was not something that was prominent on most of the BCC covers and videos from the era.
Sean Price : Actually yeah…But if you look on the ‘Nocturnal’ album back cover, I have a Ralph Lauren Jean vest, and a polo shirt on, you know what I mean? The Lo-Lifes are my people. I was a Polo head back then, no question. Always have been. He looks closer to the record.
But you see that big gold chain right here? (Sean is showing us the medallion he sports on the cover) I beat somebody up and took that chain. Word up. You don’t see it right here, but I took him his watch too, that shit was so big it looked like a wonder woman bracelet (laughter).
Back then Rock and I were broke, so we split that shit and bought some new boots with the money we made, word to mother (laughs louder)
Erick Sermon – Heltah Skeltah – O.G.C – Trigger the Gambler – If you dpn’t know (White label)
Sean Price : Oh yeah, that was by Erick Sermon! Wait a minute…Valentine’s Day…he sent us a limousine to pick us up on Valentine’s Day. I had no girlfriend at the time, so I was like: fuck it, you know what I mean? That day that way was cool anyway. It was me, Strarrang and Rock; we went all up there that day. It was supposed to come out officially. Erick was on Def Jam, and nothing never happened. But it made its way out in the streets as I can see (showing the bootleg 12”)… But I told him; give me a free beat for my verse instead of paying me. Erick said, ‘hey, no doubt!’ and I NEVER got the beat…’Hi Erick!!Do you remember me if you listen to that shit? I’m Ruck from Heltah Skeltah, Hi Erick!!’ (Laughs)
Lil Fame : The Hill That’s Real (4th & Broadway 1992)
Built to Last : We had to bring some Brownsville.
Sean Price : Oh no question man!!! The ‘Hill that’s real’ a/k/a M.O.P. Come on man! We’re all from Brownsville, but they’re part of a place we call ‘up the hill’ (Sean prices shows us some housing projects on the back cover of the album), whereas I’m from ‘down the hill’. But we’ve known each other before rap, through other ways I can’t really discuss here. But they’re all like family, big up M.O.P, my man Lil Fame, Teflon, all of them. Oh man…That’s the foundation right here man.
The interview’s done Monday, October 17 2011 at « La Dynamo » (Toulouse – France).
Photo : Matthieu Borrego
Thanks: Pedro, Trinidad (Thanks),Tieum, Bertrand, Popov, NRS Prod, Handmade Lodidodi.
SEAN PRICE « Heavyweight Featuring »
Corrado – Madzikila Saw – SEAN PRICE Heavyweight Featuring by Conçu pour durer
