N2Deep
Interview by Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog vol 7 #6
Everybody knows N2Deep from way back, but now you have a new album out.
I've got two projects out right now. The new N2Deep album is called Slightly Pimpish/Mostly Doggish. And the new Latino Velvet album called Velvet City just came out. Latino Velvet came out on Celeb Entertainment and N2Deep is on Swerve. I've been promoting both of those album. I'm doing shows every weekend. I'm in Denver and Texas and Arizona. They got big love for us out that way. Seattle, Portland.
Are the people who buy your new material the same fans from the early days or is it a whole different crowd?
I still get new fans. I been doin it since '89. I had a tape out in '90, in '92 I rereleased Back To The Hotel and added new songs. We first put Back To The Hotel out as an ep, and it was called Telly, in 1990. Then we got signed in '91, did 10 new songs and it blew up. I always get recognized since back in the day. There's still people that come up to me at the shows like, Man I grew up on N2Deep, that song "Situations" used to get me pumped every morning.....I have a web site (www. n2deep.com) and I get hundreds of e-mails every day from all over. I answer all of them back too, and people are so surprised. These are like fans that been following us for years, got all your albums, all the compilations you're on.....We get much love.
N2Deep was signed to Profile back in 1991?
I always was rappin when I was in high school. Then in '89 I hooked up with Johnny Z, he was goin to Sacramento State. My partner Young TL told me that Johnny Z had a drum machine and a sampler. I was just rappin on top of other people's instrumentals at that time. So we started doin shit, did 5 or 6 little demos, next thing you know I'm drivin down the street hearin people playin my music. That was the best feeling, to hear someone else playin a song that you made and they know the lyrics and stuff. Then Johnny Z got us some time in a studio in San Francisco and we redid all the demos in a real studio. Took the four best songs and put out a little ep called Telly. Got 'em pressed up, sold 'em in all the liquor stores around Vallejo. Back then it was hard to get 'em in real record stores, but there were a couple independent stores in Vallejo back then. We sold like 2,000 of 'em, and we sent out about 30 cassettes to the big record labels. Profile Records heard it and they called us back. It took about a month and they signed us. I couldn't believe it, I'm gettin signed to Run DMC's label, DJ Quick's record label. So they gave us some loot, we went back to the studio, did like 10 new songs. We did one with E-40 and B-Legit called "V-Town". We hooked up with K-Lou for Richmond. He helped us get our sound right. We released the album and nothing happened. About a month later Wild 94.9 played "Back To The Hotel" on a Friday. By next Monday we're like number one. They played it like every hour. We had to got to the stations and do an interview 3 days later. KMEL picked it up the next week. After 2 weeks Sacramento's playin it. In a month KMEL's askin us to do Summer Jam. It was like a roller coaster. We've been makin music and doin shows ever since.
Didn't N2Deep have three members?
Yeah. It was me, Johnny Z and TL. That was my boy Young TL's older brother. That's how we got started, but the game isn't for everybody. We was strugglin for a minute, and TL couldn't hang. I stuck with it. I gave up a lotta shit for N2Deep. I neglected my kids cause I'm on the road. I never had a steady woman. I gave everything I had to N2Deep.
Then what happened with your deal with Profile?
With Profile it was cool. We sold like 800,000 albums, 900,000 singles. There were two partners that owned Profile. The guy that signed us got bought outta the record label. The other dude didn't want us on Profile no more. He fucked up the whole situation.
Then you decided to do it independent?
Then our management company was Busted Management. Hammer's brother, Louis Borrel, owned Busted Management. They were gettin us shows everywhere. We were in Hawaii 3 or 4 times, we were performing damn near every day. They had Busted Records too, so they signed us after we left Profile. But they didn't know what they were doin, and that whole label fell apart. They kinda fucked our whole reputation up. After our second record came out, 24-7-365, which was one of our best records really, we had to start all over. It took 2 or 3 years to bounce back from that. That album came out in '94-95, then I just started all over. Me and Johnny Z, he was doin most my music.
Who did the beats on this album?
I worked with K-Lou. K-Lou's always done at least one song on each of my albums. And Poorman Dre did one. Then I got with Phil Armstrong, Philly Blunt. My boy Fingazz out of Corona, CA--that's near LA. He plays voice box real good. Then my boys outta Bakersfield, Pound For Pound Productions, did something.
Is it a different N2Deep without Johnny Z?
Not that different. It's still slumpin. It just came out, but I've been gettin a real good response. Z never really did all the production. Maybe one song on the album he'd do all by himself. Most the songs me and Z would work it out together. I know how I like my music to sound, and it still sounds the same.
What was going on when you were growing up in Vallejo?
When I first started Mac Dre was poppin. E-40 was comin out so vicious back then. He had just put out the little ep Let's Side, only on cassette. Mac Dre, only on cassette. I remember the first time "Back To The Hotel" came on the radio I recorded it on cassette and took it over to 40's house, he used to stay in an apartment on the outskirts of Vallejo, played it for him. Back then we'd all like promote together. Vallejo had to stick together. I used to do a lotta stuff for 40, hittin the little music functions. We did a show at the fairgrounds--us, The Click, and Kwame--big ol' fight ended up breakin out. But it was cool.
Do you think there was a different feeling in the Vallejo Rap scene back then?
Yeah, back then there was basically N2Deep, Mac Dre and E-40 and The Click. That was it. We'd do all our shows in the Bay Area, and it was like the biggest thing to our friends when we'd perform. We used to go like 100 deep to our shows. Tearin shit up, drinkin all the way, tryin to bump hoes.
Did you grow up in Hillside?
I was born in Rancho. I went to school at Solano Junior High. Everybody from the Crest went to school at Solano Junior High. So up to ninth grade I was with people from the Crest and Rancho. Then I moved right by Vallejo High, Central Vallejo. I'm basically cool with everybody in Vallejo.
For such a small town Vallejo has had a lot of talented, unique and influential rappers. I don't feel like Vallejo gets its props.
So many rappers got game from E-40. I just saw a video on BET from a rapper that I know were raised on E-40. Everything he was sayin was E-40 related--Nelly outta St. Louis. He's good, but you know E-40 influenced him. 40 is a trend setter. 40 is the last man standing. He's 11 years strong in it, and he's still holdin it down. Vallejo definitely has a good track record. I put out 5 albums, 40 put our like 6, Mac Dre put out 6 or 7, Mac Mall put out 3. The Click put out 2. Young "D" Boyz, Celly Cel, Lil' Bruce, Potna Deuce. All of them were classics. You got music comin outta every neighborhood, and it's all Mobb.
I wonder how Vallejo got into that sound?
The originators, as far as the music, you got Studio Ton. He's got his own sound. And Khayree. You got Johnny Z. They set that Vallejo sound. They're the ones that made the Vallejo sound. E-40 also used to work a lot with Mike Mosley and Sam Bostic. Vallejo has got a definite sound. And Vallejo's got a following out there too. There's certain people out there that only buy Vallejo shit.
What's the story with your other project, Latino Velvet?
I was talkin with my partner Baby Beesh. Beesh used to be with Potna Deuce, but we go way back to before I was even with N2Deep. We always been rappin together and shit. One time we was in San Jose performing and the Mexican people there were showin us so much love. Both Beesh and I are half Mexican, and we wanted to do something for our Mexican brothers. So Beesh came up with the idea to do a group called Latino Velvet. You got a drink called Black Velvet, we're gonna call it Latino Velvet. We ain't comin out with the Cholo Rap or the gang bangin. We're comin out with pimp shit with the Latino angle to it. We hooked up and did a song together for a compilation, and muthafuckas was lovin it. So we did an album and put it out like 3 years ago. It was called Latino Velvet Clique. We had a song called "Raza Park" with me, Beech, Frost and Cisco on it. The shit was number one on 6 or 7 radio stations. New Mexico, Fresno, it was number one. The album did good. Latino Velvet started takin off. So we signed a deal with Celeb and went in and did all new songs with all four of us--me and Beesh, Frost and Cisco. The Latino Velvet was like the fattest shit I did ever. We got E-40 on it, we got Rappin' 4-Tay. It's a tight-ass album. I feel like Latino Velvet is gonna be the one to bring me back.
Interview by Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog vol 7 #6
Everybody knows N2Deep from way back, but now you have a new album out.
I've got two projects out right now. The new N2Deep album is called Slightly Pimpish/Mostly Doggish. And the new Latino Velvet album called Velvet City just came out. Latino Velvet came out on Celeb Entertainment and N2Deep is on Swerve. I've been promoting both of those album. I'm doing shows every weekend. I'm in Denver and Texas and Arizona. They got big love for us out that way. Seattle, Portland.
Are the people who buy your new material the same fans from the early days or is it a whole different crowd?
I still get new fans. I been doin it since '89. I had a tape out in '90, in '92 I rereleased Back To The Hotel and added new songs. We first put Back To The Hotel out as an ep, and it was called Telly, in 1990. Then we got signed in '91, did 10 new songs and it blew up. I always get recognized since back in the day. There's still people that come up to me at the shows like, Man I grew up on N2Deep, that song "Situations" used to get me pumped every morning.....I have a web site (www. n2deep.com) and I get hundreds of e-mails every day from all over. I answer all of them back too, and people are so surprised. These are like fans that been following us for years, got all your albums, all the compilations you're on.....We get much love.
N2Deep was signed to Profile back in 1991?
I always was rappin when I was in high school. Then in '89 I hooked up with Johnny Z, he was goin to Sacramento State. My partner Young TL told me that Johnny Z had a drum machine and a sampler. I was just rappin on top of other people's instrumentals at that time. So we started doin shit, did 5 or 6 little demos, next thing you know I'm drivin down the street hearin people playin my music. That was the best feeling, to hear someone else playin a song that you made and they know the lyrics and stuff. Then Johnny Z got us some time in a studio in San Francisco and we redid all the demos in a real studio. Took the four best songs and put out a little ep called Telly. Got 'em pressed up, sold 'em in all the liquor stores around Vallejo. Back then it was hard to get 'em in real record stores, but there were a couple independent stores in Vallejo back then. We sold like 2,000 of 'em, and we sent out about 30 cassettes to the big record labels. Profile Records heard it and they called us back. It took about a month and they signed us. I couldn't believe it, I'm gettin signed to Run DMC's label, DJ Quick's record label. So they gave us some loot, we went back to the studio, did like 10 new songs. We did one with E-40 and B-Legit called "V-Town". We hooked up with K-Lou for Richmond. He helped us get our sound right. We released the album and nothing happened. About a month later Wild 94.9 played "Back To The Hotel" on a Friday. By next Monday we're like number one. They played it like every hour. We had to got to the stations and do an interview 3 days later. KMEL picked it up the next week. After 2 weeks Sacramento's playin it. In a month KMEL's askin us to do Summer Jam. It was like a roller coaster. We've been makin music and doin shows ever since.
Didn't N2Deep have three members?
Yeah. It was me, Johnny Z and TL. That was my boy Young TL's older brother. That's how we got started, but the game isn't for everybody. We was strugglin for a minute, and TL couldn't hang. I stuck with it. I gave up a lotta shit for N2Deep. I neglected my kids cause I'm on the road. I never had a steady woman. I gave everything I had to N2Deep.
Then what happened with your deal with Profile?
With Profile it was cool. We sold like 800,000 albums, 900,000 singles. There were two partners that owned Profile. The guy that signed us got bought outta the record label. The other dude didn't want us on Profile no more. He fucked up the whole situation.
Then you decided to do it independent?
Then our management company was Busted Management. Hammer's brother, Louis Borrel, owned Busted Management. They were gettin us shows everywhere. We were in Hawaii 3 or 4 times, we were performing damn near every day. They had Busted Records too, so they signed us after we left Profile. But they didn't know what they were doin, and that whole label fell apart. They kinda fucked our whole reputation up. After our second record came out, 24-7-365, which was one of our best records really, we had to start all over. It took 2 or 3 years to bounce back from that. That album came out in '94-95, then I just started all over. Me and Johnny Z, he was doin most my music.
Who did the beats on this album?
I worked with K-Lou. K-Lou's always done at least one song on each of my albums. And Poorman Dre did one. Then I got with Phil Armstrong, Philly Blunt. My boy Fingazz out of Corona, CA--that's near LA. He plays voice box real good. Then my boys outta Bakersfield, Pound For Pound Productions, did something.
Is it a different N2Deep without Johnny Z?
Not that different. It's still slumpin. It just came out, but I've been gettin a real good response. Z never really did all the production. Maybe one song on the album he'd do all by himself. Most the songs me and Z would work it out together. I know how I like my music to sound, and it still sounds the same.
What was going on when you were growing up in Vallejo?
When I first started Mac Dre was poppin. E-40 was comin out so vicious back then. He had just put out the little ep Let's Side, only on cassette. Mac Dre, only on cassette. I remember the first time "Back To The Hotel" came on the radio I recorded it on cassette and took it over to 40's house, he used to stay in an apartment on the outskirts of Vallejo, played it for him. Back then we'd all like promote together. Vallejo had to stick together. I used to do a lotta stuff for 40, hittin the little music functions. We did a show at the fairgrounds--us, The Click, and Kwame--big ol' fight ended up breakin out. But it was cool.
Do you think there was a different feeling in the Vallejo Rap scene back then?
Yeah, back then there was basically N2Deep, Mac Dre and E-40 and The Click. That was it. We'd do all our shows in the Bay Area, and it was like the biggest thing to our friends when we'd perform. We used to go like 100 deep to our shows. Tearin shit up, drinkin all the way, tryin to bump hoes.
Did you grow up in Hillside?
I was born in Rancho. I went to school at Solano Junior High. Everybody from the Crest went to school at Solano Junior High. So up to ninth grade I was with people from the Crest and Rancho. Then I moved right by Vallejo High, Central Vallejo. I'm basically cool with everybody in Vallejo.
For such a small town Vallejo has had a lot of talented, unique and influential rappers. I don't feel like Vallejo gets its props.
So many rappers got game from E-40. I just saw a video on BET from a rapper that I know were raised on E-40. Everything he was sayin was E-40 related--Nelly outta St. Louis. He's good, but you know E-40 influenced him. 40 is a trend setter. 40 is the last man standing. He's 11 years strong in it, and he's still holdin it down. Vallejo definitely has a good track record. I put out 5 albums, 40 put our like 6, Mac Dre put out 6 or 7, Mac Mall put out 3. The Click put out 2. Young "D" Boyz, Celly Cel, Lil' Bruce, Potna Deuce. All of them were classics. You got music comin outta every neighborhood, and it's all Mobb.
I wonder how Vallejo got into that sound?
The originators, as far as the music, you got Studio Ton. He's got his own sound. And Khayree. You got Johnny Z. They set that Vallejo sound. They're the ones that made the Vallejo sound. E-40 also used to work a lot with Mike Mosley and Sam Bostic. Vallejo has got a definite sound. And Vallejo's got a following out there too. There's certain people out there that only buy Vallejo shit.
What's the story with your other project, Latino Velvet?
I was talkin with my partner Baby Beesh. Beesh used to be with Potna Deuce, but we go way back to before I was even with N2Deep. We always been rappin together and shit. One time we was in San Jose performing and the Mexican people there were showin us so much love. Both Beesh and I are half Mexican, and we wanted to do something for our Mexican brothers. So Beesh came up with the idea to do a group called Latino Velvet. You got a drink called Black Velvet, we're gonna call it Latino Velvet. We ain't comin out with the Cholo Rap or the gang bangin. We're comin out with pimp shit with the Latino angle to it. We hooked up and did a song together for a compilation, and muthafuckas was lovin it. So we did an album and put it out like 3 years ago. It was called Latino Velvet Clique. We had a song called "Raza Park" with me, Beech, Frost and Cisco on it. The shit was number one on 6 or 7 radio stations. New Mexico, Fresno, it was number one. The album did good. Latino Velvet started takin off. So we signed a deal with Celeb and went in and did all new songs with all four of us--me and Beesh, Frost and Cisco. The Latino Velvet was like the fattest shit I did ever. We got E-40 on it, we got Rappin' 4-Tay. It's a tight-ass album. I feel like Latino Velvet is gonna be the one to bring me back.
