Interview with
Proof
By David Friedman
From Murder Dog Vol. 10 #1
Is it true that after all the joking around you did on the D12 and Promatic albums, you’re going to be serious on your solo debut, the “Searching 4 Jerry Garcia”?
I feel like a lot of shit I’ve done, it’s been me. But you really don’t know anything about Proof. You really don’t know like ‘What kind of individual is he?’ You can only assume. By being serious, it’s not even personal in the fact of I’m gonna tell you what me and my mother’s relationship is or how me and my kids are—none of that. It’s a side of me where I express myself about issues and everything. Not that I’m about to become a politician, but just a
different
side of me.
What are some of the things fans will learn about you from listening to your new album?
I smoke crack!...That common sense ain’t all that common. And that’s what I’m bringing to the game. I promise that. I want people to realize that hip-hop—it’s all mundane and monotonous now. And I want them to grow. It should be a growth.
You’ve got a song on the new album called “Ike Turner.” What’s that about?
It’s kind of deep. It’s more demonic because it’s about me and my girl, who I’ve got a divorce from now. It’s like Ike Turner, but it’s a demon in my house-type thing. You know what I’m saying? You’ll see. It’s gonna be a deep, dark song. You listen, man. It’s real fresh.
So you’re saying that your ex-wife used to treat you like Ike Turner treated his wife, Tina Turner?
Yeah. She used to hit me. She got me a couple good blows. I’m feelin’ like Tina Turner.
I heard that the guy who is designing your album cover used to do illustrations for the Grateful Dead. Is that right?
Yeah. His name is Phil Garris. He did the ‘Blues for Allah’ cover for the Grateful Dead. He did another one, but this is the one that really caught me and made me want him to do my artwork. He’s doing the whole thing.
What are some of the other subjects you address on the “Jerry Garcia” album?
It ranges, man. It ranges from things that my momma always told me to spaced out, wild shit—like this raver shit. When we’re going around the world seeing a lot of things, there’s so much more to express, I feel, than just spittin’, spittin’, spittin’, spittin’. I think we should have substance. Hip-hop is lacking a lot of substance.
You’ve got a lot of songs named after famous people, including “Janis Joplin,” “Kurt Cobain,” “Billie Holiday” and “Neil Armstrong.” What made you pick these people to name your songs after?
Well, ‘Kurt Cobain’ is a song addressed to D12, Eminem and a lot of my closest friends and family members. It’s like a letter to them all. Then, of course, at the end of the song I kill myself. When I made the song, I felt like some Kurt Cobain shit where you reach the end of your rope. Then, with the ‘Billie Holiday,’ the feel of it puts me in a smoky nightclub, jazzy type shit. One of my mother’s lessons she taught me in life is applied there. It talks about being abused, beaten, crucified.
Which track does Eminem rap on?
We have a song called nothing. We haven’t come up with a name for it yet. I’ve got the vocals done. It’s basically about when I started my own label, I had a partner in the label that robbed me for money when I was on the Anger Management Tour. It just explains about how money in all this is nothing, but a friendship foremost should be there. You know how people play themselves out just for money.
Being that you’re such close friends with Eminem, I’ve got to wonder why you’re releasing your album on I.F. Records/AMC and not Shady Records or Aftermath,. Why not take advantage of that connection with Eminem?
I want to build my own thing. I will support your house as much as possible. Thank you for helping me build my house. That’s all. It’s a relationship where I want to step out and have my own label, I want to put out my own artists, I’ve got my own views. There’s no conflict or anything between us. It’s just grown man shit. I want to do my own thing. But I’m not straying away from my camp at all. You know how most people jump and they totally just leave the whole thing alone? You’ll still see me on stage with Eminem as a hype man—whether it’s five million records sold, whether it’s two million records sold, whether it’s two records sold. That bond is forever. We’re sweet on that. A tattoo is for life. We don’t play those games.
Why would Eminem put out 50 Cent’s album and Obie Trice’s album before your solo album?
Because it’s his business thing. I’ve already got my own thing structured and he’s already got D12. I’m already part of that scene. And if people look at it like that, I think people are very closed-minded to the fact that he already looked out for his homies. And
Shady Records is a label. It’s not just a haven for homies. It’s a business.
Are you aiming for the level of commercial success with your solo album that you achieved with the D12 album in 2001?
I’m not even looking for the kind of commercial success I had with D12. This is to establish myself as an emcee, to establish my add on to hip-hip. I’m not here to take or ride the coattail of anyone, and it’s not even a spin-off or anything like that. There will be no D12 or Eminem-sounding songs. It’s just Proof.
Your mother reads poetry on the song “Billie Holiday” on your solo album. What was it like putting that song together?
That was cool, man, because me and my mother, we don’t see eye to eye a lot. My mother was a hustler. She still runs an after-hours in Detroit, out of her house on the east side of Detroit. My mom is a hustler for life. And I felt like, for a long time, we developed a relationship together. I thought my mother was crazy the way she used to chase her men around her husband at the time, who is now a preacher. So you know how that was.
What’s the story with your father?
My dad’s a crack head. My father had a group called The Politicians and he produced The Jones Girls. He produced Marvin Gaye, he produced Tower of Power, he did some shit with Rare Earth or Ohio Players. He did a lot of work back in the day. He did Holland and Dozier stuff. My father was doing it.
Other than rapping, what were you into when you were growing up?
Breaking and entering. That’s the main thing we used to do on Runyon. That was it, man. I was for rap. That was me. We used to play a little tennis and baseball, crazy shit like that for a minute.
Who are the rappers who you consider to be your main influences?
I’m an old school cat, man. I like the Rakims, KRS-Ones, Big Daddys, LL Cool Js, Public Enemy, Redman—shit like that, as far as rap goes.
Did you listen to any Detroit rappers while you were coming up into the rap game?
The local scene? Yeah. Mercilous Amir, A.W.O.L. and, of course, Breed, Awesome Dre. I listened to B-Boy X, who was actually Drunken Master back in the day. Smiley...of course K-Stone. I could go on for days with all kinds of old school acts. Ghost Town, which later became Slum Village. Mad muthafuckas. I am the underground scene. I’ve been here forever.
A lot of fans look at the early to mid-’90s, before Eminem and Kid Rock became household names and international rap stars, and they think of the groups that started a movement in Detroit. There was the House of Krazees, Insane Clown Posse and Esham and Natas. What are your thoughts on those groups?
House of Krazees, they did their thing. Insane Clown Posse, those muthafuckas never were running the D like that. They ain’t even from Detroit. That’s the truth of the matter. Esham, he was doing his thing back in the day but he fell off when his brother went over the cuckoo’s nest. It was all good. Esham, in fact, had one of those independent companies that could have really did something had he not been so shallow minded.
What do you mean by that?
As far as expanding their company. They could’ve taken it to the next level and shit. But I think when he tried to do that it was too late because he turned his back on his grassroots fans that he had when he just tried to start making titty bar music and tried to get all like that. He abandoned his so-called patented acid rap when he left it alone. Now he’s trying to go back to it, but it’s too late. I mean, Esham, he did some good things, man. At one point in time, he did a lot of dope music, back in the day. Not even dope music...It was some controversial shit when he was cussing out God and shit. It was like, ‘Oh, my God. He’s cussing out God.’
Esham and his followers have said in the past that D12 has ripped off his style. To me, that’s no more accurate than saying that Esham bit N.W.A. or the Geto Boys style or that N.W.A. bit Kurtis Blow’s style. The D12 and Eminem albums sound nothing like Esham’s albums to me. What do you make of all of that?
You know what? That’s shit. Whoever Esham talked to, he must have programmed their head. That shit is so night and day, you can’t compare it. He’s talking about, his first album was ‘Sittin’ down in the crack house, earning my pay. If a base head gets crazy, I’ll just blow them away.’ Right there, rhyme structures are everything. He’s a single-syllable rhyming word person. He doesn’t use compound structures. Our shock value of rap, what we do, is some battling. Esham’s never been a battle rapper. I’ve seen Esham get chased home by Champtown many a time. And that’s another thing. He’s talking all that gangsta shit. And I know the truth. All that went out the window, man. I feel like for him to even say Em stole this from him, I’m like, ‘What the fuck are you talking about? Y’all is two totally different rappers.’ For one, who could Esham even battle? He has no battling skills. The disses he does are so stupid, you can’t even reply to them. It’s just wack.
Psychopathic Records or Reel Life Productions could have tried to corner the market on Detroit rap by signing Eminem and D12 well before you joined Interscope and Aftermath. Why do you think they never tried to sign you?
That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Even before there was an Eminem, they could have had a lot of rappers signed. But they couldn’t. They couldn’t see it that way. They can’t even do it that way because they’ve gotta be on top. And that’s why the karma of their actions is just all against them now.
How old were you when you started rapping?
I’ve been rapping for like 14, 15 years. So I was about 12, 13.
So you had been rapping for about 13 years before the D12 album came out. Had you recorded a lot of material before then?
I’ve probably got about 150 to 200 songs locally. I’ve got a lot of songs, man.
Looking back on D12’s debut album, “Devil’s Night,” were you happy with going platinum or did you feel like that album should have done even better?
You know, the feeling is that this time we’ve gotta come for our respect. Because by Em’s popularity, it took us into the spotlight, but it also took us the wrong way. And therefore our street credibility demised instantly. So now we have to reinvent ourselves and come for respect and come for identity. I think my identity is pretty much together because whenever you see Em, you see me. And I do this little shit, put out the Promatic project, just little underground shit. I keep moving. As for the rest of my fellas, they’ve gotta get their identities together. You know Bizarre because of that wild, off the wall shit he says. But the other guys have to step up to the plate and we have to reinvent the whole D12 thing and bring it back harder and with more substance.
Does that mean that Eminem won’t be rapping on the songs as much even though he’s a member of D12?
He’s gonna play the background more, in production. He’ll do his thing. It’s still gonna be in D12, the crew. But it’s a maturity that has to happen.
Were you disappointed that Eminem wasn’t able to participate more in the D12 concert tour a while back?
We didn’t think he was gonna pistol-whip motherfuckers and all kinds of shit. That probation-type thing fucked it up, and then the movie. But we don’t feel like sittin’ still, so we just got up and did it.
Have you already started recorded the next D12 album?
Right now we’re recording the next album. Budgets just started opening up, so we’re getting busy right now as we speak. We’re finishing the Obie Trice album and they just finished the 50 Cent album two weeks ago. We try to do everything collectively. We just did a show in Philly yesterday, D12 and Obie Trice.
Have you known Obie Trice for a long time?
Man, I gave Obie Trice his rap name. He was Obie Won when I met him. I was like, ‘Man, what’s your real name?’ He was like, ‘Obie Trice.’ I said, ‘Now, that’s your rap name.’ I gave him that name. That was his name then. Then, it came out that my daughter is his first cousin. We just found this out last year. So now we’re on some cousin shit.
You’ve got your own label, Iron Fist Records. Who are you working with on your label?
Right now, I’m working with Mountain Climbaz. Strike didn’t get out of jail. That’s the dude that’s in the movie with the braids—Lickety Split. I’m working with him. I’m trying to work with Breed. Of course, I work with Dogmatic. I’m also working with 1st Born. And, after this solo album, I’m about to drop a compilation called “Game Spit.” I’m working on taking D12 members, Shady Records members and featuring them with people. Have you noticed that there’s not a lot of features for the Shady Records family? So I’m about to take G-Unit members, D12 members and put them on songs—like put Proof and Bubba Sparxxx on a song, put Dina Rae and Brooklyn on a song. Some shit so that motherfuckers could see that aspect. Put Swift and Biz Markie on a song, ‘Nobody Beats the Swift.’ Just some crazy shit where you have that element.
In December 2002, you released a six-song, vinyl EP called “Electric Cool-Aid: Acid Testing.” Are you still planning on releasing a full-length album by the same title?
Yep. But that’s gonna be just underground Internet shit. It’ll be an actual CD, but they’ll probably be floating around Detroit like mix tapes. It’ll probably be on D12world.com. The crazy thing is, it’s only gonna cost like a dollar or $2 or something. It’s gonna be some wild shit.
With most of the rappers, rap groups and even rock bands that I really like, I can get a copy of every song they’ve ever released pretty easily. But with Eminem and D12, since you do so many songs, it would be nearly impossible to collect them all and keep up with it. How do you find time to get on so many tracks?
We’re not touring all this time, right? We should be recording. This is what we do, right? This is our job. Our place of business should be the studio. But I guess a lot of emcees chase a lot of girls or whatever. You’re right, because sometimes when somebody’s career goes away, no songs that were supposed to come out ever resurface. Did you ever notice that? I always wonder, ‘Where’s some other Special Ed songs? What else did he do?’ I always wondered shit like that. I’m pretty sure there had to be scratched (songs) or something.
I also have noticed that when you do a guest appearance on an album, whether it’s a rap star you’re working with or a local rapper who isn’t even that good, you give it your all. Do you try to give a quality verse every time you’re on someone’s album?
Oh, yeah. You should, man. You shouldn’t be like, ‘Oh, this motherfucker, whatever.’ And then, on top of that, if you put a milestone, then you might make an artist grow. Nobody wants to hear, ‘Hey, your album was all right, man, but Proof tore it up’ or ‘You’re album was all right, man. Em was spittin’ the shit out of you.’ So you want to step the game up on it.
A lot of times you go to a concert and the performers don’t take the time to meet their fans, which is understandable since they’re busy. But when D12 comes around, you make it a point to be out there before the show and you hang out with your fans more than most artists do. Why do you make time for that?
You know who I’ve seen do stuff like that, man? I’ve seen Wyclef do that when he came to St. Andrew’s. I’ve seen Redman, I’ve seen Method Man. And I thought, ‘Man, that shit is dope.’ I mean, I’m here. Why do I have to be backstage (with people) waiting to see me. Because they’re still gonna feel you even more when you walk on stage. It’s like the mystique of an artist, ‘Oh, you won’t see me until I get on stage.’ That’s kind of lame. I could see if you just got there. I mean, you’ve gotta go straight to the stage. But if you’re there, check it out. Then you’ve got people on tour with you. Go kick it with them. Watch their show.
Let’s talk about the other guests who will appear on the “Searching 4 Jerry Garcia” album. In addition to Eminem, D12 and Obie Trice, you’ve got Nelly Furtado, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Jay Dee from Slum Village. How did you get working with them?
Well, me and Mike Shinoda, we used to always see each other and I was like, ‘I want to do something.’ And he wanted to do something with me, so we were going back and forth. We’ve got the track now. With Marilyn Manson, we’re on Interscope together and we always see each other at all the functions. And ‘Dope Show’ was one of my little anthems for a minute while I was on the Warped Tour and shit. Nelly Furtado, I love her shit. I wanted to work with her and shit. It’s hard to find Nelly Furtado nowadays. And Nelly, if you’re reading this, hit your man up!
What are you goals with the “Searching 4 Jerry Garcia” album?
Just to open people’s eyes, man. Hip-hop is not one level. There’s a lot of different levels of hip-hop. I think these people have become redundant and mundane and keeping shit stagnated. Hip-hop should grow at the speed of light. I will make more betterest music. That’s my new word—more betterest.
By David Friedman
From Murder Dog Vol. 10 #1
Is it true that after all the joking around you did on the D12 and Promatic albums, you’re going to be serious on your solo debut, the “Searching 4 Jerry Garcia”?
I feel like a lot of shit I’ve done, it’s been me. But you really don’t know anything about Proof. You really don’t know like ‘What kind of individual is he?’ You can only assume. By being serious, it’s not even personal in the fact of I’m gonna tell you what me and my mother’s relationship is or how me and my kids are—none of that. It’s a side of me where I express myself about issues and everything. Not that I’m about to become a politician, but just a
different
side of me.What are some of the things fans will learn about you from listening to your new album?
I smoke crack!...That common sense ain’t all that common. And that’s what I’m bringing to the game. I promise that. I want people to realize that hip-hop—it’s all mundane and monotonous now. And I want them to grow. It should be a growth.
You’ve got a song on the new album called “Ike Turner.” What’s that about?
It’s kind of deep. It’s more demonic because it’s about me and my girl, who I’ve got a divorce from now. It’s like Ike Turner, but it’s a demon in my house-type thing. You know what I’m saying? You’ll see. It’s gonna be a deep, dark song. You listen, man. It’s real fresh.
So you’re saying that your ex-wife used to treat you like Ike Turner treated his wife, Tina Turner?
Yeah. She used to hit me. She got me a couple good blows. I’m feelin’ like Tina Turner.
I heard that the guy who is designing your album cover used to do illustrations for the Grateful Dead. Is that right?
Yeah. His name is Phil Garris. He did the ‘Blues for Allah’ cover for the Grateful Dead. He did another one, but this is the one that really caught me and made me want him to do my artwork. He’s doing the whole thing.
What are some of the other subjects you address on the “Jerry Garcia” album?
It ranges, man. It ranges from things that my momma always told me to spaced out, wild shit—like this raver shit. When we’re going around the world seeing a lot of things, there’s so much more to express, I feel, than just spittin’, spittin’, spittin’, spittin’. I think we should have substance. Hip-hop is lacking a lot of substance.
You’ve got a lot of songs named after famous people, including “Janis Joplin,” “Kurt Cobain,” “Billie Holiday” and “Neil Armstrong.” What made you pick these people to name your songs after?
Well, ‘Kurt Cobain’ is a song addressed to D12, Eminem and a lot of my closest friends and family members. It’s like a letter to them all. Then, of course, at the end of the song I kill myself. When I made the song, I felt like some Kurt Cobain shit where you reach the end of your rope. Then, with the ‘Billie Holiday,’ the feel of it puts me in a smoky nightclub, jazzy type shit. One of my mother’s lessons she taught me in life is applied there. It talks about being abused, beaten, crucified.
Which track does Eminem rap on?
We have a song called nothing. We haven’t come up with a name for it yet. I’ve got the vocals done. It’s basically about when I started my own label, I had a partner in the label that robbed me for money when I was on the Anger Management Tour. It just explains about how money in all this is nothing, but a friendship foremost should be there. You know how people play themselves out just for money.
Being that you’re such close friends with Eminem, I’ve got to wonder why you’re releasing your album on I.F. Records/AMC and not Shady Records or Aftermath,. Why not take advantage of that connection with Eminem?
I want to build my own thing. I will support your house as much as possible. Thank you for helping me build my house. That’s all. It’s a relationship where I want to step out and have my own label, I want to put out my own artists, I’ve got my own views. There’s no conflict or anything between us. It’s just grown man shit. I want to do my own thing. But I’m not straying away from my camp at all. You know how most people jump and they totally just leave the whole thing alone? You’ll still see me on stage with Eminem as a hype man—whether it’s five million records sold, whether it’s two million records sold, whether it’s two records sold. That bond is forever. We’re sweet on that. A tattoo is for life. We don’t play those games.
Why would Eminem put out 50 Cent’s album and Obie Trice’s album before your solo album?
Because it’s his business thing. I’ve already got my own thing structured and he’s already got D12. I’m already part of that scene. And if people look at it like that, I think people are very closed-minded to the fact that he already looked out for his homies. And
Shady Records is a label. It’s not just a haven for homies. It’s a business.
Are you aiming for the level of commercial success with your solo album that you achieved with the D12 album in 2001?
I’m not even looking for the kind of commercial success I had with D12. This is to establish myself as an emcee, to establish my add on to hip-hip. I’m not here to take or ride the coattail of anyone, and it’s not even a spin-off or anything like that. There will be no D12 or Eminem-sounding songs. It’s just Proof.
Your mother reads poetry on the song “Billie Holiday” on your solo album. What was it like putting that song together?
That was cool, man, because me and my mother, we don’t see eye to eye a lot. My mother was a hustler. She still runs an after-hours in Detroit, out of her house on the east side of Detroit. My mom is a hustler for life. And I felt like, for a long time, we developed a relationship together. I thought my mother was crazy the way she used to chase her men around her husband at the time, who is now a preacher. So you know how that was.
What’s the story with your father?
My dad’s a crack head. My father had a group called The Politicians and he produced The Jones Girls. He produced Marvin Gaye, he produced Tower of Power, he did some shit with Rare Earth or Ohio Players. He did a lot of work back in the day. He did Holland and Dozier stuff. My father was doing it.
Other than rapping, what were you into when you were growing up?
Breaking and entering. That’s the main thing we used to do on Runyon. That was it, man. I was for rap. That was me. We used to play a little tennis and baseball, crazy shit like that for a minute.
Who are the rappers who you consider to be your main influences?
I’m an old school cat, man. I like the Rakims, KRS-Ones, Big Daddys, LL Cool Js, Public Enemy, Redman—shit like that, as far as rap goes.
Did you listen to any Detroit rappers while you were coming up into the rap game?
The local scene? Yeah. Mercilous Amir, A.W.O.L. and, of course, Breed, Awesome Dre. I listened to B-Boy X, who was actually Drunken Master back in the day. Smiley...of course K-Stone. I could go on for days with all kinds of old school acts. Ghost Town, which later became Slum Village. Mad muthafuckas. I am the underground scene. I’ve been here forever.
A lot of fans look at the early to mid-’90s, before Eminem and Kid Rock became household names and international rap stars, and they think of the groups that started a movement in Detroit. There was the House of Krazees, Insane Clown Posse and Esham and Natas. What are your thoughts on those groups?
House of Krazees, they did their thing. Insane Clown Posse, those muthafuckas never were running the D like that. They ain’t even from Detroit. That’s the truth of the matter. Esham, he was doing his thing back in the day but he fell off when his brother went over the cuckoo’s nest. It was all good. Esham, in fact, had one of those independent companies that could have really did something had he not been so shallow minded.
What do you mean by that?
As far as expanding their company. They could’ve taken it to the next level and shit. But I think when he tried to do that it was too late because he turned his back on his grassroots fans that he had when he just tried to start making titty bar music and tried to get all like that. He abandoned his so-called patented acid rap when he left it alone. Now he’s trying to go back to it, but it’s too late. I mean, Esham, he did some good things, man. At one point in time, he did a lot of dope music, back in the day. Not even dope music...It was some controversial shit when he was cussing out God and shit. It was like, ‘Oh, my God. He’s cussing out God.’
Esham and his followers have said in the past that D12 has ripped off his style. To me, that’s no more accurate than saying that Esham bit N.W.A. or the Geto Boys style or that N.W.A. bit Kurtis Blow’s style. The D12 and Eminem albums sound nothing like Esham’s albums to me. What do you make of all of that?
You know what? That’s shit. Whoever Esham talked to, he must have programmed their head. That shit is so night and day, you can’t compare it. He’s talking about, his first album was ‘Sittin’ down in the crack house, earning my pay. If a base head gets crazy, I’ll just blow them away.’ Right there, rhyme structures are everything. He’s a single-syllable rhyming word person. He doesn’t use compound structures. Our shock value of rap, what we do, is some battling. Esham’s never been a battle rapper. I’ve seen Esham get chased home by Champtown many a time. And that’s another thing. He’s talking all that gangsta shit. And I know the truth. All that went out the window, man. I feel like for him to even say Em stole this from him, I’m like, ‘What the fuck are you talking about? Y’all is two totally different rappers.’ For one, who could Esham even battle? He has no battling skills. The disses he does are so stupid, you can’t even reply to them. It’s just wack.
Psychopathic Records or Reel Life Productions could have tried to corner the market on Detroit rap by signing Eminem and D12 well before you joined Interscope and Aftermath. Why do you think they never tried to sign you?
That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Even before there was an Eminem, they could have had a lot of rappers signed. But they couldn’t. They couldn’t see it that way. They can’t even do it that way because they’ve gotta be on top. And that’s why the karma of their actions is just all against them now.
How old were you when you started rapping?
I’ve been rapping for like 14, 15 years. So I was about 12, 13.
So you had been rapping for about 13 years before the D12 album came out. Had you recorded a lot of material before then?
I’ve probably got about 150 to 200 songs locally. I’ve got a lot of songs, man.
Looking back on D12’s debut album, “Devil’s Night,” were you happy with going platinum or did you feel like that album should have done even better?
You know, the feeling is that this time we’ve gotta come for our respect. Because by Em’s popularity, it took us into the spotlight, but it also took us the wrong way. And therefore our street credibility demised instantly. So now we have to reinvent ourselves and come for respect and come for identity. I think my identity is pretty much together because whenever you see Em, you see me. And I do this little shit, put out the Promatic project, just little underground shit. I keep moving. As for the rest of my fellas, they’ve gotta get their identities together. You know Bizarre because of that wild, off the wall shit he says. But the other guys have to step up to the plate and we have to reinvent the whole D12 thing and bring it back harder and with more substance.
Does that mean that Eminem won’t be rapping on the songs as much even though he’s a member of D12?
He’s gonna play the background more, in production. He’ll do his thing. It’s still gonna be in D12, the crew. But it’s a maturity that has to happen.
Were you disappointed that Eminem wasn’t able to participate more in the D12 concert tour a while back?
We didn’t think he was gonna pistol-whip motherfuckers and all kinds of shit. That probation-type thing fucked it up, and then the movie. But we don’t feel like sittin’ still, so we just got up and did it.
Have you already started recorded the next D12 album?
Right now we’re recording the next album. Budgets just started opening up, so we’re getting busy right now as we speak. We’re finishing the Obie Trice album and they just finished the 50 Cent album two weeks ago. We try to do everything collectively. We just did a show in Philly yesterday, D12 and Obie Trice.
Have you known Obie Trice for a long time?
Man, I gave Obie Trice his rap name. He was Obie Won when I met him. I was like, ‘Man, what’s your real name?’ He was like, ‘Obie Trice.’ I said, ‘Now, that’s your rap name.’ I gave him that name. That was his name then. Then, it came out that my daughter is his first cousin. We just found this out last year. So now we’re on some cousin shit.
You’ve got your own label, Iron Fist Records. Who are you working with on your label?
Right now, I’m working with Mountain Climbaz. Strike didn’t get out of jail. That’s the dude that’s in the movie with the braids—Lickety Split. I’m working with him. I’m trying to work with Breed. Of course, I work with Dogmatic. I’m also working with 1st Born. And, after this solo album, I’m about to drop a compilation called “Game Spit.” I’m working on taking D12 members, Shady Records members and featuring them with people. Have you noticed that there’s not a lot of features for the Shady Records family? So I’m about to take G-Unit members, D12 members and put them on songs—like put Proof and Bubba Sparxxx on a song, put Dina Rae and Brooklyn on a song. Some shit so that motherfuckers could see that aspect. Put Swift and Biz Markie on a song, ‘Nobody Beats the Swift.’ Just some crazy shit where you have that element.
In December 2002, you released a six-song, vinyl EP called “Electric Cool-Aid: Acid Testing.” Are you still planning on releasing a full-length album by the same title?
Yep. But that’s gonna be just underground Internet shit. It’ll be an actual CD, but they’ll probably be floating around Detroit like mix tapes. It’ll probably be on D12world.com. The crazy thing is, it’s only gonna cost like a dollar or $2 or something. It’s gonna be some wild shit.
With most of the rappers, rap groups and even rock bands that I really like, I can get a copy of every song they’ve ever released pretty easily. But with Eminem and D12, since you do so many songs, it would be nearly impossible to collect them all and keep up with it. How do you find time to get on so many tracks?
We’re not touring all this time, right? We should be recording. This is what we do, right? This is our job. Our place of business should be the studio. But I guess a lot of emcees chase a lot of girls or whatever. You’re right, because sometimes when somebody’s career goes away, no songs that were supposed to come out ever resurface. Did you ever notice that? I always wonder, ‘Where’s some other Special Ed songs? What else did he do?’ I always wondered shit like that. I’m pretty sure there had to be scratched (songs) or something.
I also have noticed that when you do a guest appearance on an album, whether it’s a rap star you’re working with or a local rapper who isn’t even that good, you give it your all. Do you try to give a quality verse every time you’re on someone’s album?
Oh, yeah. You should, man. You shouldn’t be like, ‘Oh, this motherfucker, whatever.’ And then, on top of that, if you put a milestone, then you might make an artist grow. Nobody wants to hear, ‘Hey, your album was all right, man, but Proof tore it up’ or ‘You’re album was all right, man. Em was spittin’ the shit out of you.’ So you want to step the game up on it.
A lot of times you go to a concert and the performers don’t take the time to meet their fans, which is understandable since they’re busy. But when D12 comes around, you make it a point to be out there before the show and you hang out with your fans more than most artists do. Why do you make time for that?
You know who I’ve seen do stuff like that, man? I’ve seen Wyclef do that when he came to St. Andrew’s. I’ve seen Redman, I’ve seen Method Man. And I thought, ‘Man, that shit is dope.’ I mean, I’m here. Why do I have to be backstage (with people) waiting to see me. Because they’re still gonna feel you even more when you walk on stage. It’s like the mystique of an artist, ‘Oh, you won’t see me until I get on stage.’ That’s kind of lame. I could see if you just got there. I mean, you’ve gotta go straight to the stage. But if you’re there, check it out. Then you’ve got people on tour with you. Go kick it with them. Watch their show.
Let’s talk about the other guests who will appear on the “Searching 4 Jerry Garcia” album. In addition to Eminem, D12 and Obie Trice, you’ve got Nelly Furtado, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Jay Dee from Slum Village. How did you get working with them?
Well, me and Mike Shinoda, we used to always see each other and I was like, ‘I want to do something.’ And he wanted to do something with me, so we were going back and forth. We’ve got the track now. With Marilyn Manson, we’re on Interscope together and we always see each other at all the functions. And ‘Dope Show’ was one of my little anthems for a minute while I was on the Warped Tour and shit. Nelly Furtado, I love her shit. I wanted to work with her and shit. It’s hard to find Nelly Furtado nowadays. And Nelly, if you’re reading this, hit your man up!
What are you goals with the “Searching 4 Jerry Garcia” album?
Just to open people’s eyes, man. Hip-hop is not one level. There’s a lot of different levels of hip-hop. I think these people have become redundant and mundane and keeping shit stagnated. Hip-hop should grow at the speed of light. I will make more betterest music. That’s my new word—more betterest.
