Yukmouth

Interview by Scott Bedja
photo by Karine Simon

When did you first hear about Murder Dog?

Oh shit man, back in the 90’s, probably right around when we got signed. Like ‘95 or ‘96.

And it was right there in the Bay Area. I was thinking the other day, I reviewed the Godzilla and interviewed you for the cover and that’s 22 years ago already.

That’s crazy man, time flies. Ya dig? I got the other one framed where y’all had me on the motorcycle. I did a couple covers.

The game has changed so much. Back in the day mixtapes were relevant. Whatever happened to the mixtape thing. I remember the All Out War, The Regime. Why do you think mixtapes arent poppin’ anymore?

I think physical media isn’t popping anymore, unless people do it as a collectors thing. They do a collectors pack and like the vinyl and shit but it’s really more about the streams now. So the accountability, the shit that the record labels was against, now they promoting. They was against Napster and all them people that was stealing the music and putting free downloads, but now they supporting the same shit which is Itunes and all the other streaming channels, they doing the same shit Napster was doing. But now the record label is able to get paid off the shit, so that’s cool but that shut down the physical. It’s really not the same. I don’t think the passion in the music is the same. Everything is a playlist, people don’t even have their favorite artist like they would have just played they whole album.

Looking back, you were there through it all. What was some of your favorite eras in your career, and how do they compare to what’s going on today?

I’d say the 90’s was the best to me. The best era of hip hop you know. The early 2000’s as well. Those were the best to me and not because I was in it but because they was producing the best music. Everybody had they own style, they own production style, rap style, it wasn’t so copy cat like it is now. Everybody sound alike now and back in the day there was so much originality and it was just better. Better music, more range of music, more thought put into the hooks and everything. It was just more complex, you had more instrumentation. It was just different and on a bigger scale I think.

There was more distinction back then. You knew that Yuk was from the Bay Area and this dude was from Houston and this dude was from New York.

But let’s say this, ok boom. The RZA he has his sound with the Wu Tang. You got KLC who had his sound with No Limit. You have Dr. Dre who had his sound with Death Row. You had Ant Banks who had his sound with Too Short. Everyone had their own sound. Mannie Fresh with the Hot Boys. It wasn’t nobody copying. They had they own production, they own style and now it’s different. Everybody got the same producer, the same writers the same rappers it just sounds like the same shit being played over and over again.

What about you? What are you up to these days as far as music? I know you been in the lab. You got something coming for us?

Yeah I got a lot of group albums about to drop but my next solo album, City of Dope Part 2 that’s gonna be a double album with a documentary so it’s gonna be a triple album. I’ma sell that hard copies direct to fans and I’m only pressing up a limited amount. Once those run out I will put the album up for streaming. But this album I’m doing directly for the fans. The fans been begging me to come back. I just been chilling, doing a lot of shows. We been booked every week. Doing arenas and all that. Doing podcasts and all that. I’m still in the rap game but just working on the album in bits and pieces. In the studio for a week, then take off a month, then back in the studio. I been working on an album the whole time. The best of the best gonna stay on the album. Me and C-Bo working on the next Thug Wars, Cocaine Cowboys. That’s the new album we working on. Me and J-Hood from D-Block got a group called Savages and we working on our second album. Me and Amp-Pacino, you know my Regime Dragon Gang buddy family we working on a Godzilla and King Kong album. Me and Monsta Ganjah from the Regime doing an album too, Enter the Dragon. And me and DZ from Seattle putting out an album called The Seahawk and the Raider. People been asking for it so I’m gonna give it to them.

So you are talking about artists from the midwest, the west coast, the east coast. You can work with anybody. I think your lyrical ability is really high. Do you ever feel overlooked?

People give me props, I feel they respect me. Fans always show me love, rappers always give me respect. You know even the top dogs. Nas showed me respect. Jay Z showed me respect, told me I ‘m dope. Scarface let me know I’m dope. When you got your peers letting you know you are dope that’s all I need.

The media doesn’t determine shit man, it’s the peers, it’s the fans. Where are you going next?

We just did the Aretha Franklin Ampitheater in Detroit with Too Short and Scarface and DJ Quik a couple weeks ago. We about to do a casino next month and I have a show coming up in Virginia and after that in KC. We just have shows back to back staying active you know.

You told me a while back that you fell on the stage into a hole and broke a rib or two. Did you hesitate to get back on the road after that?

No I was ready to get back on the road. As soon as I healed we were back. It took me a minute to heal, I had to get my voice back, with that lung being gone, I was whispering. I thought I lost my voice like The DOC but it came back slowly but surely as my lungs healed.

You lived a hell of a life man, what can we expect on this documentary?

It’s the City of Dope. It’s a little bit of my life and a little bit of Oakland as well. It ain’t like a whole documentary about the Luniz or something it’s about my life in the streets and Oakland, you know. The history I got from the streets to the black power movements to sports and athletes and the music scene and the culture. So it’s a whole combination of all of that. Not just me, it’s not a pure Yuk documentary it’s a lot about Oakland.

Is there a Yukmouth documentary or a book coming in the future?

Oh yeah of course, the Yukmouth documentary will be more like when we do a Luniz documentary when we do the whole combo. This City of Dope will be the closest to a Yukmouth documentary because it goes through the history from childhood to adulthood. So it’s definitely gonna be more of a Yuk documentary.

Looking back you set a lot of trends man. The whole Ice Cream Man, you wrote that when you was in juvie right?

Absolutely. In a juvenile cap. Serving a year and it was hella heavy rap in that muthafucka, everybody was rapping and I knew how to rap so I started doing my thing and Ice Cream Man was one of the first songs I wrote. That ended up being the song that got us signed and started our career off. We love that song. We super attached toit. That’s why we felt some type of way when Master P did his thing with it.

That’s amazing how you go from a situation and you ain’t got your freedom, you’re locked up and you write something and that becomes the start of something that’s still going today. That’s amazing.

I never thought about it like that but you are absolutely right. That was the start of something that is still going today, 30 years later.

Sometimes out of a fucked situation, like being locked up or something you can birth something like I said that’s just going strong today.

Right I mean bro when you been locked up for rehabilitation so if you there you know you ain’t taking advantage of your time and you let the time do you instead of doing the time, you gotta take advantage and think without prison you wouln’t have Malcolm X because he was a pimp and he went to jail and came out a Muslim. A lot of people change they life when they go to jail. They get out of the lifestyle. Especially when you have to sit down for a long time it make you want to rise up. You learn from your lesson and you come out and want to do something positive and you constructing what you want to do while you in prison. Whether its writing books or getting a college degree. There’s all types of things that people do in prison or jail period and when they get out they succeed in it.

I have to ask you about the homey Young Noble. That’s a tragic loss. Do you have any memories you can reflect on about him?

Aw man, there’s too many memories man. When they was out here in LA and I got them signed to Rap A Lot and brought them to Houston they was just so happy. J. Prince showed them the maximum love and you know Face, everybody, it was like a family period. Brought em all back together. Fatal wouldn’t fuck with them for a minute and J. Prince brought them back together. We was doing our thing in Houston. We was in the studio smoking them out, bitches drank, we was partying like rock stars still handling business knocking out songs every day. That was a good time out there in Houston. We really was able to build and become friends and family. We been family since. Our studio chemistry was just awesome, I felt like I was an Outlaw. When we would get in the studio together it would remind you of some shit Pac would do with them. The chemistry was there from the beginning. That was my guy beyond music. We gonna hold him down and keep his name and legacy alive.

We have lost a lot of legends and that’s the hardest part for me.

Yeah man it sucks. My homeys are dying from health conditions, heart attacks and strokes and shit it’s going crazy as you get older. I want to tell people to be sure to get their yearly check ups, health is wealth. Stay in the gym, eat healthy, not too much beef all the time and mix it up with some chicken and fish and some vegetables. And cut down on the alcohol as well.

Yeah I learned that alcohol is poison man. I try to stick with the herb. Speaking of herb, do you still have your strain out there?

Yeah the Yukmouth Koolato is still in the mix we still one of the number one strains on the West Coast. We always got the best genetics with The Vault Seed Bank. They come up with some immaculate exotic strands. They actually grow and invent new shit. It’s a whole nother level.

Is it a hybrid, sativa or indica?

It’s a hybrid. An indica hybrid.

We come a long way from that brick weed in the 80’s and 90’s but you guys in Cali always had the good shit.

We specialize in the good weed out here in Cali from north to south we have the best weed in the world. And I been around the world. Nothing can fuck with Cali weed. I done been to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam can’t see us on a bad day. Nobody can fuck with California.

Anything you want to add?

Look out for all my releases coming soon and my three podcasts I have on Youtube. I also have a comic book out.