It's still amazing to watch and hear Doug E. Fresh beatbox

 

Leela James Interview
Interview by ND McCray
Photos by Devin Dehaven

The little lady with the big voice returns once again with her Stax-debut, entitled My Soul. For those who remember, Leela James first appeared on the R&B radar with her 2005 release, A Change Is Gonna Come, a title that is taken from the Sam Cooke classic. And in that time she’s recorded a covers album [Let’s Do It Again] and toured the globe performing in such places as the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa.

On May 25, 2010, the day that My Soul hit stores, I had the chance to talk with Ms. James about the album, recording with her good friend, singer-songwriter Raheem DeVaughn, and how she stays grounded in the ever-changing music business.

Nu-Soul: Congrats on the new album! How does it feel to actually have your project out into the world today?
Leela: Thank you so much! I’m very, very excited naturally. I’ve definitely worked very hard on it and to have it finally out is like being pregnant or something. You know it’s like dang I got that out, thank you!

Nu-Soul: When did you know music was the thing you wanted to pursue?
Leela: Definitely by the time I was in high school and started performing in talent shows I knew then that I wanted to pursue it professionally, and be serious about it. But I still continued to go to school. I went to college and got my degree and everything. I used my student loans to pay for my band that I put together. So I financed that and performed wherever I could. So I was going to school, working part time during the day, and then at night hitting the club scene and performing wherever I could.

Nu-Soul: My Soul is kind of a throwback, is it not?
Leela: Yeah, I mean it’s old and it’s new. But it’s all from my soul, that’s why I titled it that. I pretty much wrote all but two or three records on the album. I was involved from head to toe. Stax Records was so great in allowing me the freedom to go in and do my thing and not really stand over me…unlike in the past I had a lot hands in the pot. So this time I was just literally able to do my thing and express my soul.

Nu-Soul: I first became familiar with you from your single “Soul Food” … the kiss the back of my neck bone line still makes me smile. But you seem very introspective in your songwriting; where does that come from?
Leela: Life. Living. My life, others around me; their lives, you know. Just life experience is where I get it from. I’m the kind of person where everything I sing about I’m directly and indirectly related to the subject matter, and plus it’s hard for me to sing any old thing. That’s why I can’t just sing the record without stuff being real to me and I have to know that’s it’s real for somebody else.

Nu-Soul:Why was “Tell Me You Love Me” as the first single…because I’m thinking “I Ain’t New To This” [the opening track] could have easily been it…
Leela: It’s so funny. You know it’s hard; I love my whole album but you know record companies and radio people pick a single, they’ll pick what they think…and everybody has different opinions and so you go with the majority…which usually takes precedence over everything else. But radio has their format and knows what’s good for them…so that’s how it usually goes [laughter].

But I also think it’s cool when somebody says well, I like that but I like this too. Then I’m like cool; that means they’ve heard other records that could possibly be on the radio. So that’s definitely cool. At least they’re not saying, “Naw, I don’t hear anything I like!” [laughter]

Nu-Soul: That’s definitely not the case here! But one of my other favorites is “Mr. Incredible, Ms. Unforgettable.” What was that recording process like…because you and Raheem [DeVaughn] seem to have such good chemistry?
Leela: Well we’re good friends and had always talked about doing a joint together and we finally happened to be at the same place at the same time. Whereas in the past we had always missed each other; but I was in the DC/Baltimore-area at the same time he was in town, and I was like look, come to studio. He came through and he had been working out, so he was in his gym clothes and everything. I was like I gotta get you now, we gotta get it now or it’s never going to happen. He came in late at night and we left early that morning with the song.

Nu-Soul: That’s awesome! But how do you stay so grounded in such a fickle music industry? Do have family around, a lot of close friends. How do you stay sane?
Leela: You know there is family definitely, but God keeps me humble because I don’t take myself too seriously. At the end of the day, this is business and this is work and I have to come home to my life, my family and serving God and doing the right thing. And the ultimate reward is going to be with Him and not with the world. At the end of the day, too, I know people are fickle and fake, so I don’t take it serious or myself too serious. I love music, I enjoy music and I just try to deliver that.

Nu-Soul: Just curious, being that you’re from L.A., have you ever seen the music documentary Wattstax?
Leela: Yeah yeah, the concert, the outdoor concert?! Yeah, I did. [It’s a music festival that took place in L.A. on August 20, 1972 and stars Richard Pryor, The Staple Singers, The Bar-Kays, and Isaac Hayes]

Nu-Soul: I saw it like a month ago and I thought it was pretty amazing that I ended up getting to speak with you, as you’re on the Stax label as well.
Leela: Yeah, that is amazing! [laughter]

Nu-Soul: That said, how does it feel to be apart of such a legendary soul label?
Leela: Aw man, it’s like a high for me for real. I feel like it’s the perfect marriage, it makes sense to be apart of something that represents soul to the utmost. And I consider myself a young soul continuing that legacy and the new generation of it. Again it’s like the perfect marriage; so it makes sense like when you have certain rappers who are signed to certain labels like LL on Def Jam. It’s like you get it! It’s like that’s def, you know that you can’t see him anywhere else!

Nu-Soul: That’s so true. Do you ever get star struck? I mean have you met any of the legends on Stax?
Leela: I’ve met a couple of the artists but you know it’s not star struck, you’re just honored. Usually I’m like wow, I’m still pinching myself because I can’t believe I’m here. I’m humbled and honored to be in the presence of such history and such legacy.

Nu-Soul: So I know you’ve toured all over the world, how have you found people’s reaction to your brand of soul in other parts of the country?
Leela: They’re always kind of in awe…their response is like look at this little lady, this little girl, with this little body with all this voice with so much grit and grime and soul, where is it coming from. And I’m like…it’s Los Angeles and the food, and God gave it to me. [laughter]

Nu-Soul: That’s all I have…is there anything else you’d like to add.
Leela: Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time out to interview me. Ya’ll go get that new album My Soul. Buy one for yourself and somebody else you really like and give it away. And keep watching my new show, My Black Is Beautiful on BET every Sunday [1pm EST] with Kim Coles, Tasha Smith and Alesha Renee.

Nu-Soul: One more thing: Any chance you’re coming back to New York soon.
Leela: Definitely, I’ll be back out there in a month-and-a-half I believe. [At Gramercy Theatre on August 4]

http://www.leelajames.com/

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Interview: Combat Jack Talks Dame Dash, Jay-Z, And Peter Rosenberg
November 29, 2009

Photo By Alexander Richter

After I read Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse’s reflection piece on working for Dame Dash, I immediately became interested in the stories this O.G in the game had to share. Working with Dame for several days on the Complex cover story I did with Jim Jones last year, I got to witness the dice-throwing Dash personality first-hand and it’s an experience that I’ll never forget. But this isn’t about me.

I wanted to learn more about the Dame of the past, and after I hit up CJ for an interview, I got all that and a whole lot more [II]. Combat has had a long tenure within the rap industry, first cutting his teeth in the legal department of Def Jam, and then going to work for Hip Hop legends like Chuck D, Flavor Flav, LL Cool J all while rubbing elbows with Russell Simmons and a young Lyor Cohen. Nowadays, Combat is taking the blogosphere by storm (yeah, he can write too, pick-up his book “Bling: The Hip Hop Jewelry Book”), both with his flagship site Daily Math and as a regular blogger on XXL. In this interview, Combat and I talk about the behind the scenes story of what it was like shopping a deal for Jay-Z, the gift and the curse that is working with Dame Dash, and Combat’s beef with hot 97 personality Peter Rosenberg.


JLP: People who were around Dame and Jay said that Dame was much more about looking after his friends than Jay. With your experience being around both of them, is that fair to say?

Combat Jack: I can most definitely cosign that. Roc-A-Fella was small at the time, and Damon was the one handling all of the business. Jay was an artist. Damon was making sure Jay got a lot of shows, it was Dame that was doing all the talking, all the negotiating. We did a licensing deal for Jay to ghostwrite lyrics for the Bugs Bunny character for the Space Jam’s soundtrack. Warner Brothers took some time in getting Jay’s fee to him. Damon used to pressure the shit out of me to pressure the shit out of Warner Brothers. He used to complain that Jay didn’t care how slow it took for industry money to come because he was accustomed to how fast drug money came in. Dame used to say how much Jay, as his artist would stress him out for money. How he advocated for Jay was how Damon advocated for all of his artists. Hard. Even back then he would go ape shit on anyone he felt was trying to diss either his artists or anyone in the Roc-A-Fella collective.

JLP: You were a part of the Jay-Z deals, and people rejecting him, what was that like?

Combat Jack: Clark Kent, Dame Dash, Jay-Z, these were young men that believed more in how Jay-Z was the greatest rapper of all time than they were sure that tomorrow would come. On top of that, Jay, Clark and Dame both have some really BIG personalities, especially the combination of Dame and Clark. They “Knew” that the entire industry had not yet heard what they were hearing with Young Hov. They felt that every other artist, every executive in the industry were corny. With regard to Jay, they were right. All the rejections only made them work harder, push further. Clark already had experience as one the youngest A&R men out in the game, with the proven success of Das-EFX under his belt, and Damon already made a shitload of money before his twenties so what the fuck was the industry going to tell them? If anyone had any doubts, it was most likely Jay.

JLP: Talk about Clark Kent and his role in getting Jay-Z signed, people on this site know Clark as a sneaker-god, but not many people know how influential he was in Jay and Dame’s success…

Combat Jack: Where Damon was a hustler true and true, Clark was the seasoned record man. He was a known DJ as well as a producer, and he had A&R experience. When he was at East/West, he was already hyped on how hot Jay was, but for some reason his label wouldn’t sign Jay. When he met Dame, he peeped his hustle, and as they got tighter, Clark felt Damon was the right guy to manage Jay. He felt Dame could be the outside hardnosed guy to go head to head with the labels. Clark also had a studio in his home in Brooklyn, so as a producer, his studio was like the head quarters in terms of laying down mad tracks for unsigned artists like Jay. Other than being ears for Jay’s music, Clark acted as the co-signer to Damon and Jay, extending the scope of industry connects Dame had inside the industry.

JLP: And not many of the sneaker-set know that Clark Kent really discovered Jay-Z…

Clark Kent truly saw the greatness in Jay first. He discovered Jay-Z. He went all out in making others believe in Jay, even before Jay believed in Jay. I think he also understood more than any other people the type of person Shawn Carter was, and because he knew, he was able to maintain his relationship with Jay, even after so many others have fallen out with him. What I respect so much about Clark is that he was truly the first music cat to wholeheartedly invest in Jay’s career, on the strength of how dope Jay was, without ever considering what was in it for him financially. He’s been a stand up dude in never saying how much he deserved from discovering Jay, how much he deserves on so many levels today for putting that whole Jay, Dame, Roc-A-Fella dynasty together. For as big of a personality as Clark has, he remains completely humble in his role.

JLP: You’ve said that Foxy Brown saved Jay-Z’s career, why do you feel that way?

Reasonable Doubt was a very dope regional record that was just about complete before Foxy Brown came in with the song ‘Ain’t No Nigga’. The majority of that record is about the hustle, about the drug deal, about friend or foe. It’s basically another typical New York drug rap record from that period with a very dope rapper. I remember when Dame first played ‘Aint No Nigga’ for me, shortly after Foxy Brown started catching buzz in New York. Clark went way back with Foxy, I think they’re cousins or something like that, he made sure she was featured on Reasonable Doubt. Jaz-O, Jay’s former mentor produced that song, he also sang the hook with Khadejia Bass. When Dame first played that song for me, I was like “that’s the only club record that I’ve heard on the album”. ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ was incredible, but that wasn’t the song I was trying to hear in the club like ‘Aint No Nigga” was. I pictured dancing with some chick I’m trying to score with and that song playing. I was in a club shortly after that, with my girl who later on became my wife.

JLP: Wow, that’s ill…

Combat Jack: We were in the club when the DJ dropped that record, and the whole place gravitated to the dance floor. Chicks were drunk and singing the hook and dudes was making sure they were grinding up on the chicks. It was a hit. It was a song that helped some cats get sex later that night. I always felt that if a song came on at a party, or in a club, and the chicks dug it so much as the dudes that it ended up with some people sexing later on, then that was a hit. ‘Ain’t No Nigga’ was that hit for the album. That was the record that took Jay from being just another New York drug rapper into being a New York drug rapper with a hit record. That song was the reason Def Jam came knocking, years after they turned Jay away.

JLP: Even young rap fans have been exposed to Dame wildin’ out, with videos like the one in the Def Jam board meetings surfacing online, what situation was the craziest you’ve seen him?

Combat Jack: The craziest? There’s this one incident that centered around Reasonable Doubt’s first single, ‘Can’t Knock The Hustle’ featuring Mary J. Blige. Dame and Jay recorded that song with Mary because Damon knew her before she blew up. As I recall, they dated briefly. Damon paid Mary’s people some cash for clearing her to be on the record. Even though Mary was squared away, we didn’t have any clearance from the label, Motown, Universal. When I sent a request to get clearance in an expedited manner, the label flat denied her appearance. Labels took great care in cultivating some of its promising artists and Mary was one of them. The label’s denial of that record was devastating because the single had already been pressed up. Paid ads were appearing in publications like The Source introducing Jay’s first single featuring Mary J. Blige in bold bright letters. Dame’s back was against the wall, which meant that my back was against the wall. I was very cool with a brother that was very high up in the chain of command over at Universal. A good cat that I felt if I ever needed that one favor from him, it would get a pass.

JLP: Did you hit your connect up?

Combat Jack: Damon wanted me to set up a conference call with my guy at Universal. So I’m thinking all three of us will come to some gentlemanly understanding, especially since I’m using my one big favor on Jay-Z’s first ever single, my stakes in making this deal happen is high. The minute we get on the phone, my guy is telling Dame the best Universal could do. Without skipping a beat, Dame goes in on my dude by asking him if he’s the president of Universal, is he the top man that calls the shots at the label. When dude replies that he’s pretty high up but not the CEO, Dame spits out “Oh, so I’m on the phone trying to negotiate this deal with peon!” He just called my dude a peon, on my favor, and we’re in the position of begging. My dude is very politically firing back and Dame is straight ridiculing him, joking him out and shouting down to him like how he and Cam did on that Bill O’Reilly segment, with me in the middle trying to peace shit out and it’s going from worst to worser to worst as it’s fucking going to be, and quick, so I drop Damon’s line.

JLP: Wow. You talked about him humiliating people without going into too much detail, can you give us some examples?

Combat Jack: There was this artist K-Yze, that had this hit song “Stomp”, who was on the same label as Dame’s first two acts, Original Flavor and The Future Sound. K-Yze and Dame’s groups had to do a lot of promotional shows together. K-Yze’s signature look was these giant ass chain of colorful wooden beads he wore around his neck. Damon hated K-Yze. So there’s this one show, and Damon’s been plotting for weeks on how he was done with dude and was going to finish him. At this show, they start beefing about whose closing and Dame decides, “Fuck it, I’m swinging.” So now him and K-Yze are tussling backstage, crowd out front waiting. Dame had been trained as a boxer and had this rep for being nice with his hands, I think this added to his ego. So after cats jump in to break the scuffle, Dame launches his main attack, and as they’re being separated, he reaches out and firmly clasps K-Yze’s beads in his fist. He yanks with all his might and naturally the chain pops and there’s beads flying. K-Yze has a scuffed head and his beads are bouncing every which way. To hear afterwards, how Dame told the story, how he plotted and planned to snatch them “stupid ass beads” off K-Yze’s neck, shit was funny, but shit was mad mean too. When Jay dropped ‘Super-Ugly’ during his beef with Nas, I knew that one had to come out of Dame’s book.

JLP: Did Dame get into scuffles a lot?

Combat Jack: Dame was never a street cat, he went to private school, , even though he might have had it rough growing up in Harlem. The Dash family is very remarkable in their legacy of successful relatives. He had hustle, and he had that sense of entitlement. At the same time, he repped Harlem hard, so he knew a lot of street cats, older cats that saw dude for the promise that he showed. Dame loved to scrap, so he wasn’t a punk. He had this one fight with Terror Squad at a night club. The TS cats were another set that Dame hated. So during this fight, one of the TS cats grabbed hold of a champagne bottle and was steady clocking Dame in the dome as he fought back. Dude must’ve clocked Dame three, four times straight. Dame is laughing about it a couple of days later, head swollen, bandaged up about how much he respected the other side for how they kicked ass. He was laughing about how dude kept clocking him in the head, how he was just thinking how hard champagne bottles hit because it hadn’t broken against his head, and how them blows hurt to the point that he was wishing the fucking bottle would just break. He most definitely got his hands dirty.

JLP: It seems as though people are feeling Dame’s work on the BlakRoc project, it seems like there might be room for success there.

Combat Jack: Dame is a hustler true and true. He’s an incredibly smart guy, one of the smartest I’ve ever met, with a lot of energy. He may have burned a lot of bridges but that’s the kind of cat you could never count out. Plus his ego, how one of his strongest suits is that he is an asshole, in a good and bad way. That alone will not allow him to have cats joke him out on how far he’s fallen for too long. Knowing him, he’s steady plotting on how he’s going to have the last laugh. Once one makes millions, one always knows how make more. Knowing him, his life depends on him being back on top.

JLP: Shifting gears, you’ve had issues with Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg, where do they stem from?

I dropped a post about Big Pun’s widow Liza Rios claiming Fat Joe conducted funny business. In my post I listed an estimated tally of what the monies might have looked like and how Rios might have miscalculated what Pun’s estate might have received, how said monies were spent and how Joe might not have been at fault. I negotiated more than my share of deals to pretty much have an educated view of what went on. Apparently Rosenberg read my post and twitted how he didn’t see any validity in my numbers, my math being fuzzy and worthless. So now he’s firing shots my way and I’m like “who the fuck is Rosenberg to know how deals are structured and how the monies are distributed?” I called him out on it, he tried to fire back but I was relentless.

JLP: Interesting…

Combat Jack: Then, this past summer, during Michael Jackson’s widely viewed memorial ceremony is on air and everyone is glued to the set and Twitter, Reverend Al Sharpton starts speaking and Rosenberg lets a tweet fly about how Rev. Sharpton was spoiling the ceremony because he’s an ambulance chaser. Sharpton is a lot of things to a lot of people, especially in the Black community and when I read his tweet, I was deeply offended. Not that I personally hold Sharpton as “THE Black leader”, but still, I respect that man for where he’s come from, where he is, and some of the things he’s done to support the Black community. To hear a white kid joke about Sharpton during this ceremony did not feel right to me. Rosenberg’s comment showed me that he really didn’t understand the position he was in and the responsibility he had as a voice for Hip Hop. I called him out on it via Twitter, but he hadn’t responded, still I felt dude was out of line and I let him know.

JLP: When did the conflict between you two really pick up?

Combat Jack: One morning he’s on the radio trying to stir anger and hate towards Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi who’s in New York for the United Nations Assembly. I’m like “hold up, this lil’ know-it-all is at it again”, speaking on something from solely his perspective and not respecting, not realizing that his views might not necessarily resonate with the demographics of this stations listeners, and with an arrogant tone as if he was talking down to his listeners, like they should know better. Once again, I’m not an advocate for Qaddafi, but I felt that whatever background Peter came from allowed him to have opinions that weren’t necessarily the opinions of the community to which he now spoke to, spoke for. I hit him on Twitter about how he needed to slow his role, nothing slanderous, just calling dude out on his judgments and where it stood with regard to others guilty of similar crimes. The next thing I know, Rosenberg threatens to “smack the shit outta me in front of my kids!” in broad daylight on Twitter. So now his arrogance, his sense of privilege has him thinking he can speak any way to a Black man whose not on as large a public platform as him? Get the fuck outta here, B. Not that I’m thugged out or whatever, but I don’t play that.

JLP: Yeah, I remember that exchange, how did that end up?

Combat Jack: He starts reaching me via direct messages wanting to work shit out, knowing I got him under pressure. He’s reaching out to people we both know, asking all types of questions about me. Then in public, maybe to regain some type of support from the public that’s observing our beef on Twitter, on the nets, dude pulls the lamest shit yet. As he’s trying to backpedal on his threats, knowing a lot of eyes are peeping his meltdown, he tries to throw me off by claiming I’m an anti-Semite. Come on son, I’m not having that. New York radio may have fallen off but as long as he’s around, I’m going to be waiting right there to check his Pudge Nubby candy ass. [||]. I have great fun pushing Peter Rosenberg around for breakfast.

JLP: With all that being said, are you willing to resolve issues with Rosenberg?

Combat Jack: Well, it’s nothing personal with Rosenberg. So sure I’d be willing to resolve my issues with him. I’d be a hypocrite to shun any types of dialogue, that’s where true democracy begins. He’d just have to be willing to see how he crosses the line, fall back from assuming his listeners should agree with his views that come from a different perspective, originate from a different culture, he’d have to be willing to be rehabilitated in learning how to move in certain circles. He’d have to be man enough to come from hiding behind the Hot 97 shield and realize he’s in no way bigger than me or anyone else in this game. Yeah, I’m open to having a beer summit for shits and giggles. Though I’d still check him when need be, afterwards.

JLP: I know you’re blogging at XXL now, what blogs do you read?

Combat Jack: I read a lot of blogs. Too many to mention, plus I don’t want to leave out any blogs that I really respect.
Combat Jack’s Daily Math Blog
Combat Jack’s Twitter.

Photos By Marcus Troy

Last week while I was in NYC I had the opportunity to sit down with Joe La Puma as he interviewed Capo himself, Jim Jones about his mixtape and some controversial things. I left the interview with a new found respect for JONES!

Oh yeah I took some of the pictures and video.

Check the out the dope interview here!

It’s no secret that Dipset’s Capo, Jim Jones and Complex have some history. Last year at this time, Jim graced our cover while he was getting ready to drop his album “Pray IV Reign,” and now, almost a year later he’s staying busy as he preps his forthcoming mixtape The Ghost Of Rich Porter and continues to push the collaborative BlakRoc project that dropped on November 27.

We re-connected with Jim last week at at his Manhattan studio to talk about his new mixtape, how he feels about the Jay-Z/50 back-and-forth, Cam’ron (of course), his relationship with Game, Max B’s murder charge, and the placement of “Ballin’” at #30 on Complex’s Top 100 Songs of the Decade list…

Interview by Joe La Puma

Complex: So the Ghost of Rich Porter mixtape—how long have you been working on it?

Jim Jones: Well it started as a mixtape for the street. I’ve been working on it probably for like two months now. I got over 40 songs, and we had to sit and break them shits down. It started becoming harder and harder, and there was an album there and people started offering me money for it. It went from something I was going to give away for free to something somebody was going to pay me to give away for free. So, in the end, I’m still going to give it away free.

Complex: Why did you choose to channel Rich Porter?

Jim Jones: When it comes to Rich Porter, he was a very instrumental person from Harlem as far as the days of hustling. He set the precedent for my generation coming up. Watching the hustlers, the fast cars, pretty girls, and the fast money and things like that. And the story that goes behind it as far as the love and the betrayal. This is Harlem history. So, you know for the Diplomats, me, Juelz, Zeke and Cam, coming up and being instrumental in Harlem right now, it’s like synonymous to the life we live. We do business and we’re rapping, but this is pretty much the fast life of the entertainment industry.

Complex: So when you performed at ThisIs50 Fest, I noticed you kept saying that 50 owes you a favor. What did you have in mind?

Jim Jones: [laughs] Oh yeah, he owe. Motherfucker, you owe, motherfucker! Nah, shouts to 50, he’s one of the smartest people in the game as far as strategy and the way he attacks it. So I spoke to him like, “You know, this one ain’t gonna go down that easy. You know, I charge a fee to get on stage.” He was like, “I respect you, sir.” I’ll see what happens.

Complex: Now him and Jay. He’s baiting the shit out of Jay.

Jim Jones: [Rapping 50's "So Disrespectful"] “Jay’s a big man, he too big to respond…” I was working out to that shit today, no homo. When you diss me, I’m so disrespectful. [In British accent] “I’m so disrespectful!” He caught that. He caught that song, word. “I’ve been gone so long that my accent changed.” [Laughs]. I’m still a fan of the music, so pardon me. I still listen to all the music, you might catch me boppin’ in the club to niggas I hate, but that has nothing to do with good music.

Complex: Are you referring to the video that surfaced of you boppin’ in the club to Jay’s verse on “Swagga Like Us?”

Jim Jones: I like “Swagga Like Us.” Shit, what are you going to be in the middle of the club dancing, like you got your lady with you and he come on and you’re supposed to just stop? She’ll look at you like, “You queer-ass nigga!” So shit, what the fuck is wrong with you niggas, I’m boogeying, man. And I might turn that shit up to 40 in the car if I’m moving fast. My personal issues has nothing to do with my artistic likes. If he has a hot record, he has a hot record. That shit with Alicia is dope, dope as hell. I’m not giving him props, I just like the music. I don’t give a fuck about him, fuck that nigga and the camel he rode in on. If he has a dope ass record though, what the fuck you going to do? It’s fucked up though because they don’t play “Ballin’” in the 40/40 club, that’s the hating shit I be talking about. I’ve got confirmation from DJs who have been kicked out for playing that record.

Complex: It seems like you’re the last person Jay fully responded to, when he did the Brooklyn “Ballin’” remix.

Jim Jones: Yeah, and he shouted me out on the beginning of The Blueprint 3, right? That was hot. How many albums he sold? I got a shout out, a million sold records, nigga! [laughs]. And you know I’m about to chop and screw that shit and make a hook out of it. “ I ain’t talking bout Jimmy, I ain’t talking about Jimmy.” That’s going to be the hook. See how easy that’d be? And that’s going to kill. And no, I ain’t clearing the publishing. [Laughs]

Complex: Why do you think he’ll respond to you, but he won’t respond to 50?

Jim Jones: I don’t know. Jay’s a smart dude too, man. Sometimes I guess you respond to certain things that keep your ass in the game. We damn sure definitely playing in the same ball game when it come to that. But if I was 50—they got some money over there. If I was 50, I’d run down and snuff the shit out of him. That’s what I would do. I would go get some fly-ass security, back his security down on some football shit, and just run down on him, snuff the shit out him. But I ain’t got a hundred million and shit like that. So we couldn’t pull that stunt. Now that’s publicity.

Complex: I’d say that’s the front cover of the Post right there.

Jim Jones: That’s how you know this is a game. Just baiting someone for some publicity, getting some more sales, it looks good. Two moguls going at it and shit like that. You know me, I ain’t got it all upstairs. I guess that’s why the lord said, “No, we ain’t gonna get you no hundred million right now. We’re going to cool on out.” [Laughs]

Complex: Now, you just played “Certified Gangstas Part II” for me. When did you record that with Game?

Jim Jones: Like a month ago probably.

Complex: A few weeks ago, he did a drunken freestyle where takes credit for putting you, Gucci Mane and others on to the whole Blood movement…

Jim Jones: I guess we all get drunk and say some things that’s out of context. But I’ve know Game for a very long time. I know him pretty good, I know his family, I know that he meant nothing by it. When I started this thing, the only thing I knew about the West Coast is Menace II Society. That’s the closest we got to the West Coast. We started things since about high school, about ’93. So, our mission was a little bit different than theirs. But, low and behold, it was going on. It’s nothing I’m proud of. Black on black crimes, and black people dying. The realism of it is scary. And it’s going on everywhere. Not just on the East Coast and not just on West Coast. It’s a hell of an epidemic. And there’s nothing wrong with brothers getting together and riding for a cause, but we got to get it to be positive. If you got that amount of people that’s willing to come together, you could put them to work and do something and make some money. And the homies know what I’m talking about. I don’t care if you triple OG, murderer of all murders and shit like that. When you sit back and think about all that shit, it’s like, damn.

Complex: Through all your issues with people, you tend to keep it real with how you really feel…

Jim Jones: Yeah, I’m a Cancer, I’m very fucking emotional.

Complex: How do you feel when Max gets sentenced to 75 years?

Jim Jones: I have no feelings. I’m a numb to that. You dig?

Complex: Nothing at all? 75 years is a long time…

Jim Jones: Oh, the number? The number, the number is crazy for anybody. That number is a hell of a fuckin’ number. Know what I mean?

Complex: That’s a lifetime…

Jim Jones: I have no feelings towards it. Life is life. Niggas talking about they doing good, I can’t complain. Well, shit, we don’t want hear about your complaints. Not on this side.

Complex: On a lighter note, how did you get involved with BlakRoc?

Jim Jones: Dame’s been doing that for a minute. Dame’s always has a lot of different shit like that. He was like, “I got something dope for us to do, you’re going to love it. Don’t even worry about it, just show up. Nothing to worry about, just show up, do your thing, get high, jump in that booth.” He was like, “Just please show up,” and that’s it. He didn’t have to say it twice. So the first night I show up, Black Keys was in the studio, Mos Def was in the studio, a couple of white people sprinkled around, you know Dame keeps it ethnic-friendly. The first song we did was the “Hoochie Coo” song, it’s pretty good. We performed it on Letterman. I think that’s a step for me in my lifetime.

Complex: Do you feel like you’re reaching a new demographic, maybe the hipster set, with the BlakRoc project?

Jim Jones: Maybe, as far as the rhythm and sound of the music, but if you listen to the lyrics, it’s just bringing the hipsters to my world. Sometimes you got to translate it a little bit differently. That’s all I’m doing on the BlakRoc, if you listen to the content and the music.

Complex: Speaking of new music, Zeek just did the “Feel Me” track where he said you were stealing money. You also responded over the same beat.

Jim Jones: Shouts to Zeeky, fucking punk! He wasn’t lying about things like that. I wasn’t stealing, though. I don’t steal. So he put the track out, put some real life situations out. Some parts of our history and things like that, but I felt I needed to respond. We’re having fun, so I felt I needed to respond.

Complex: How tired of the Cam’ron/Dipset questions are you?

Jim Jones: With the Diplomats, there was a lot of people involved in it. So that part is more frustrating than anything and shit. You start thinking about the money, and become a realist. There’s a lot of motherfuckin’ money at stake. I’m just saying, it’s hard out here to make a dollar, especially now. So if you got people offering you millions and millions of dollars that could feed other people. Not just about me and you, buddy, there’s other people. You claim you love Zeek so much and all that shit. If niggas are telling me, Zeek can make a mill and some change, what’s happening boss?

Complex: So you’re more concerned about the other people around you and Cam getting what they deserve?

Jim Jones: That’s what the word movement means to me. It’s not a dictatorship. It’s a movement. We move together. We eat together. And we have an opportunity to continue that, even if it’s for just once chance, at least you get to pay off some debts that we owe. I ain’t talking about niggas got invoices and shit for us, but niggas put their heart, time, energy, and life on the line. So it’s a debt to that. That don’t come for free. And I know love and loyalty is a free thing but when niggas put in time, it’s different. I want everybody to get paid, I want everybody to be rich. That’s why I don’t sit here and be over-forcing and shit like that. It ain’t gonna be just me doing it. I want my team to do it.

Complex: Can’t people say that Cam looked out for Dipset coming up, though?

Jim Jones: Dipset in the earlier stages wasn’t about Cam. Cam’ron was the artist. Diplomats was a group of individuals set up to start a business and keep it moving. You want to get to the business of it, Juelz was just as instrumental, if not more instrumental, to the Diplomat movement because he was a Diplomat artist and he went platinum. Cam’ron was a Roc-A-Fella artist. So for the Diplomat Records and the Diplomat Movement, this was something that we started. Yeah, if Cam didn’t get in the game it wouldn’t have trickled down, but we got in this shit together. You do the art, we do the mobbin’. You stay fly, we’re going to get dirty. That’s how it went. Shit happens. I ain’t blamin’ nobody. I blame myself because I was captain of the team. They don’t call me captain for nothing. It means something. I ain’t complaining because I have a goal. Let’s not get that fucked up. We went hard. I’ve seen some amazing shit, I loved every fucking split second of it. I got a chance to fulfill dreams, and then some, and then some more. We had a ball. We had some unique shit that nobody could fuck with, that nobody could understand.

Complex: I’m not sure if you’ve seen, but Complex has been doing our Best of the 2000s series, and we recently counted down the “The Top 100 Songs of the Decade.”

Jim Jones: What number was Ballin’?

Complex: Number 30

Jim Jones: That’s crazy. Nah, fuck that. Fuck that.

Complex: But listen, that’s for over a 10 year span.

Jim Jones: Fuck that. So what? How many “Ballin” type songs were there in 10 years?

Complex: Want to know who’s #1? Jay-Z’s “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)”

Jim Jones: No way, you going to tell me ‘Ballin’’ wasn’t bigger than that record? Let’s get serious. “Ballin’” was number one in the world! Statistically! Jay just got the number one joint for this New York song. How is that song bigger than “Ballin’”? Y’all ain’t even going by statistics, y’all are going by favoritism. That’s fucked up!

Complex: It’s a committee of us who came up with the list, don’t just yell at me!

Jim Jones: Nah, man. Fuck your committee, seriously man. People with statistics and people with favoritism. What’s going on here?

Complex: Not statistics, because then it’d be fucking…Miley Cyrus or some shit.

Jim Jones: I’m talking about the Jay record, it wasn’t bigger than “Ballin’.” Yeah, think about it.

Complex: Ok, off the top, what songs do you think were bigger than “Ballin’”? Was “In Da Club”?

Jim Jones: Yeah. That was bigger than “Ballin’.” I mean you know what, let’s not get to it. And let’s keep it funky, funkadelic. I did “Ballin’” on Koch. This nigga did “Ballin’” on Interscope and his family tree is NWA. Need I say more? He caught that one, I remember when Flex first played it. I’m going to have to come down to the office and debate this with your committee on video, let’s set that up.

Complex magazine

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"History repeats itself, he makes the rhymes and the beats hisself/ The only child syndrome make hits on my own, and I'mma look in the mirror if I need some help"

Kanye (before the car wreck) talking about everything from his musical influences to fashion and spitting a few verses that wound up on mixtapes, College Dropout and later albums. Many of the clips in this were later used in the "Through The Wire" music video. This is the Kanye that I fell in love with musically before he got all weird lol. College Dropout era Ye is easilly in my top 5 (With Pac, Big, Dre 3000 & Jay-Z).