Interview with Devin the Dude
By Matt Sonzala
From Murder Dog Vol. 9# 3
Where were you born?
Where was I born? I was born in Pontiac, Michigan. My family is from St. Petersburg, Florida. My grandfather is from Michigan and my mom went to go visit him and I was born while she was up there. Then like two or three weeks after that she moved to St. Pete. All the rest of my family was born in St. Pete, but I was a vacation baby.
How long did you live in St. Petersburg?
I lived there until about 4th grade then we moved to a small place in Texas called Douglasville to live with my grandmother for a couple of years. It was kind of small. There wasn't anything around there. It was 20 miles to the nearest grocery store. So one week, I guess my mom couldn't take it anymore and she got a map and said she wanted to move to the biggest city in Texas, which was Houston. So we came here, she got a job, set up shop, and the rest was history. I went to school here from 6th grade all the way to 10th. Then I went back to the country to finish 11th and 12th grade. To a place called New Boston, Texas. Then when I graduated high school I moved back to Houston to start on what I thought was my whole life—to get a '79 Seville and to have a Rap album out.
What were you rapping about back then?
Oh it was about drinking, smoking, fucking with hoes. I mean, excuse me, fondling bitches.
When did you hook up with Rap-A-Lot?
In 1992 with the Odd Squad.
For people who don’t know, can you break down who the Odd Squad was?
Me, Rob Quest, and Jugg Mugg. Me and Rob met like in '90 at a TSU talent show and me and Jugg was old school homeboys from like '85. He and my brother and myself would be out there popping and breaking. And it was just after that I'd lost touch with him cause he was like my brother's close friend. So after I came back to Houston, I started trying to pursue the rap career thing and I got in touch with him. I was like "hey what's up Jugg I'm back in the house. Let's put it down, start recording demos and stuff like that." And he said "man you still doing that rap shit man? I don't know, I'll probably come over there." So I said "we got some weed, some drinks, and some hoes might be over" and he said "oh yeah! Well I'm on my way." It was about the fun back then. It wasn't just all about music music music. It was more about the fun. We had 15-20 songs before we had a name for the group.
Is it true that Screw was your first DJ?
Yeah, he DJed on the demo tape that we landed a contract with. He wasn't screwing stuff down then, he just had cuts. Some real nice cuts. He'd talk at the beginning of a song for the tape like "You got the weed.? Yeah, you got the papers? Yeah man shit. Get the fuck out of here." That was called "Running the Streets of H-Town." That was the name of that song.
When do we get to hear that?
Man pretty soon man. I'm gonna have to dig it on up.
Did Screw hook you up with Rap-A-Lot?
Naw, Crazy C who was a friend of Rob's back in the day they went to church and Big Mello, they was from the same hood, Hiram Clarke. And he found out that Rob was in a group and he was trying to get something established and we had demo packages and all kind of things. So when he got a hold of a tape he was working at Rap A Lot, and he gave him a chance to hear it. A few days after that he came to 3rd Ward and knocked on our door. And a few months after that we signed.
Well that's three pretty important Houston icons right there. DJ Screw, Crazy C, and James Smith. Would you say that back in those days the Houston scene was pretty tight knit?
Aw it was too tight. Everybody was wondering about the Geto Boys, Scarface, and Rap A Lot had all these groups and all the groups were original. Wasn't nobody really trying to sound too much like each other. It was just everybody was trying to get to Houston then. It was the start of some south shit. That was the start of it.
It seems like things are still pretty tight here now. How do you think things have changed?
I mean the market is flooded. There's a group on every three or four blocks. Everybody has their hands in it and everybody has a chance to make something happen for themselves so you got a wide variety A lot of choices to choose from. Different kinds of Rap. You have the Hip Hop style, you have a kind of underground sound, you have a Techno sound, Hip Hop, you have all that here in Houston now. Back in the day it was all ghetto, street, nigga hard "muthafucka what you say?" type shit.
Did you sign to Scarface at one time?
Interface? Yeah with the Face Mob.
I was kind of disappointed that there was never another Face Mob album. Some incredible artists came together on that album. Who was on that album?
Chi Ray from Chicago, DMG from Minnesota, 350 from Cleveland, Face, me from Houston, Big Smitty, Uncle Eddy, he was a bass player. Warren Lee—"brought my brother Warren Lee down from New Jersey—Face's brother, Nore from Chicago. We was on the road with Face a lot and figured it would be a good idea to start a group and it turned out pretty good. We had some fun doing it.
Can you explain who the Coughee Brothaz are?
Coughee Brothaz consist of, actually it's like the Odd Squad with Rob Quest and Jugg Mugg who came out in 1994 with the Fadanuf Fa Erybody album. But also it involves a lot of our homeboys who sip coughee with us and with talent. Some sing, some rap, some of em even engineer. It's a lot of people and there's not a set number of brothaz; at least 20 people are gonna be on the album. We'll have some Odd Squad songs, a couple solo songs on there, but for the most part it's gonna be new unheard of rappers and some you may have heard of. Like E Rock from the 5th Ward Boyz, he's a Coughee Brotha. He's down and it's gonna be real cool.
It's been a long time since we've heard the Odd Squad on record. How long will it be until we hear this Coughee Brothaz record?
The Coughee Brothaz album is right around the corner. Everything is working out real cool. It's kind of slow motion but it's better than no motion. After my album drops, it should be around the corner. If it's not out right before my album it's gonna be out right after the album.
Was that Odd Squad album your first appearance on record?
Actually our first appearance was on "Bring It On" on the Geto Boys album. We got a verse on that.
Will we ever hear another straight Odd Squad album?
That's in the making also, so stay tuned for that. We just trying to keep it together to see if we can do an album on our own, independent. Odd Squad, that means so much to me. I don't want to just do it and it doesn't go right. Who's to say what it's gonna do but I want to make the best of it.
Will we hear a lot of production from Rob and Domo from the Coughee Brothaz production team?
Of course, on this album right here. Those are some of my favorites. I got a song called "Tough Love" dealing with relationships and stuff. Rob did that one and it's outta here. It's one of my favorites. Domo got a song on there called "Whatever" and it's heat man.
When the Odd Squad album came out, I looked at them as some of the best producers I had heard. Some of the freshest sounding producers at that time and I always found it funny that there really were no Rap-A-Lot albums after that featuring Odd Squad production. Are they working with anyone outside you and the camp?
Yeah well, through word of mouth people call and come through the studio and we have tracks upon tracks. MDDL FNGZ got some tracks from the Coughee Pot; D from the Menace Clan just laid one two weeks ago. 14K from New Mexico, my homeboys named Wood and Quad from New Mexico, they stay in Houston now.
What are your expectations for the rest of this year?
I wouldn't mind the album coming out in the summer of this year. I wouldn't mind having most of the music that we already did and not changing too much more. I wouldn't mind having a nice little tour, and if I could choose any of the people to go with me I wouldn't mind doing that. It might take me a week…
Have you done any tight features lately?
I did a song with Too Short, Bun B, and Big Gipp, for Short's next album. I did two tracks with Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz. There's a few local acts and stuff like that too but I'm not too sure when it's gonna come out. Rally Boyz, Big Ben, I did that. Powerhouze. Can't forget about Powerhouze. But man it's been real cool. When somebody asks me to come do something for a song, that's saying something right there. For them to reach out at me, that's the biggest part. I actually get nervous before every song because a lot of people expect this or that when they reach out so I don't want to let anybody down.
Does it keep you pretty busy?
Yeah for the most part. But I've been getting kind of a little rest period after we finished the album. But it's been non-stop doing my album and features. Of course I don't want to have too long of a break and get old and get muscles and stuff cramping up and bones and shit, you know. But it's been wonderful so far. It's been more than I ever expected and more than I ever asked for. Back in the day I used to pray to just get a record deal and get a 79 Seville. And that came like that and I was like whoa, what do I want now. And it's just the love and respect from the rappers and fans man that's cool with me.
It's been a long time since we've heard a record from you. I hear that you finally have a release date for your Just Tryin' To Live album. Have you learned that patience truly is a virtue?
Of course man, of course. It seems like my whole Rap life has involved patience, and I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to wait. If you get frustrated about the waiting, then that's it.
Eminem's album hit the Internet and hit the streets about a month before his album came out and Jay Z's last couple of albums came out the same way. It seems like your record is another highly anticipated album. Are you worried about bootleggers? Have you seen any problems with bootleggers yet?
Not just yet. I've heard couple of people say they heard of a couple of people who had the album already. But you can't hardly stop that man. I'm not really worried, but I'm kind of concerned about it because it will take a lot away from what we've been working toward. If you can get it on the Internet then why buy it? There's some loyal fans out there who like to just see the album covers and the inside stuff, so I'm pretty sure it'd be cool. I'm not really mad at whoever got the album cause you can't really stop that. I'm on the other end of the spectrum, the selling side, not the buying side. I'm pretty sure if I wanted an album and it was out on the Internet but it wasn't out in the stores, I would maybe get a copy of it and also buy the album too when it comes out if I was a big fan.
You just got on the Internet recently. What's up with your website?
www.herecomesthadude.com. It's like another step towards what we trying to do as far as the independent thing. You know independent stuff, just because you're with a label doesn't mean you're obligated just to do everything with them. Of course they are gonna be in control of a lot of stuff but you gotta take it upon yourself to reach out to people on your own. And the internet is one of the ways you can do it.
What are you offering and what are you looking to get into with the Internet?
It's a form of communication around the world. Right now we've got paraphernalia. We got shirts, pictures, music you can download. We're just taking it a step at a time. If I start getting some kind of response from it then we'll take it to another level as far as Coughee Brothaz Music. You know actually record new music with other artists, artists with names already. That should work out real good.
