Federation
Interview By Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog Vol.11 #2
Do you think Federation will happen?
Because we sat back for so many years and watched so many groups and so many people surpass us. We watched the East Coast come back. We watched Down South emerge and take the whole music industry by storm. And ever since Tupac died, the Bay ain’t been right. Down in Southern California you got Ice Cube and them, they been holding us down over the years. Westside Connection, Xzibit. But for the Bay all we had is E-40. As far as emcee and
production,
Rick Rock. He stayed out here and we endured our seven years. The curse is over.
I think the reason why we gonna win is because each individual is a real artist with real talent. All of us are real artist and we have real talent, and we’re serious about our crafts. We got character. That’s another reason why I think we’re going to win. Each one of us got a certified character. If you be around us, you’re going to see that, and if you hear the music you’re gonna hear that.
It’s a really tight album. Right now is a good time for the Bay, with us being accepted on the radio, and a lot of deejays are starting to embrace Northern Cali music. We starting to get spins which I believe we had a lot to do with. Which makes us feel good. It gets shit crackin’. What with Messy Marv, Keak Da Sneak and San Quinn and everybody else that’s putting it down. But it’s really a solid album. I think the Bay Area was really taking a loss, and it was a lot of our fault as well because we was doing too many compilations. It became a hustle. Everybody taking their money and getting wack. People that can’t really flow but they just want to get it. They love it like we love it but they don’t really have it to do it. Not everybody have it. And they saturated the market with a lot of bullshit and that hurt us. I be in New York riding with some of my peoples and shit out there, and they’ll be telling me that it’s a lot of bullshit, and it’s too much of people not taking it seriously. Whereas this album is solid. It’s the real deal. It’s off the chain.
When you go to a record store you really don’t know what to buy.
It over-saturated the market. Back in the day you knew what was what. It came to a point where it was just like two or three hundred CD’s from a whole bunch people from here. There’s not two or three hundred dope ass emcee albums out in this CD. Out of them there’s probably like fifteen that are cool. But you can’t get to the ten or fifteen because you don’t want to buy all that bullshit. That’s why we hurtin.’ It stopped me from going and I buying all kind of shit. Now that it all died down, now the real people that are really trying to do it are coming out with some cool shit, so I’ll go buy that shit.
What happened in the Bay is happening in the South right now.
They’re catching up. They reaping how we reaped it back then. That hurt our art form out here. It’s still the mob out here, but you have to know how to elevate it. It’s still mob. The Bay is going to be mob forever. That’s what’s up in Northern Cali.
Does Federation have a Bay sound?
It’s well rounded. It’s not Bay at all. It’s just a tight album. I hate to even say it, I’m not going to even say that no more, that it’s the Bay. You don’t hear New York or any other place talking about that shit. They’re going to be talking about their album. That’s all it is. It’s just a good ass album. I want to get out of whether it’s a Bay album or it’s not. It’s a bomb ass. This shit is right! Everybody who knows my production knows how I get down for my production. It’s elevated from that. It’s a step up for me, definitely from doing it from front to back and doing as many songs as we did. It’s off the chain. I feel it and I think it leaves room for us to grow for the next album.
It’s got Bay elements, but it’s not just a Bay album. It’s universal. It don’t just have potential to sell just in the Bay. It has potential to sell everywhere.
You have worked with a lot of artists doing production.
I just worked finished Mace. I got Mace’s next single. Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre, E-40, Snoop, Angie Martinez, Keak Da Sneak, Fabolous, Will Smith, Xzibit, Jay-Z.
Are you working on all those artist’s albums?
I already did them. Right now I’m working on Xzibit, Mace, and I’m working on a new Busta. And I’m working on Chingy.
How do you get to produce for so many big artists? Do they call you up?
When I sit down and do a beat (which is on the DVD, on the album) I show them how I get down with a beat. I get in there and I do it right then. When I do that I usually do four or five beats at one time because I just got to get it all out of my mind. I do a gang of beats so I might have a CD a week that might have twenty beats on it, and I send them out. That’s how I network. I shoot them out to all the people and have them check it out. If they hear something, they call me back and tell me what they want. Some people just heard about me and reach out because they want to fuck with me, and we get in the studio and knock it out. It just depends.
What was your big break, Rick Rock?
I think really it was consistency. But as far as the break through and everybody started knowing me, probably what changed the game is Jay-Z. But before that my break was the RBL Posse album, the Eye For An Eye album. Black C let me get five songs on there. And we had a video of me and him, Luni, Big Lurch and Mystikal.
What year did Eye For An Eye come out?
That was ’97 or something like that.
Were you new to the Bay?
I came in ’96. I was sleeping on Mike Mosley’s floor. I didn’t have nowhere to live, so he let me live on his floor in the studio. He would be bullshitting, being late, and people would be there. While they were there I would get on and do a beat. That’s how I got on some shit. Black C came through to fuck with Mike, and Mike was like an hour and a half late. They were just waiting, so I said “fuck it,” and I got on the MPC and did like two beats. He picked both of them.
Was that OK with Mike?
I don’t know if it was or not. I took the initiative to try and make a crack on my own, but I always stayed underneath his umbrella and kept a respect for him because I appreciated him letting me live there. He wasn’t like a hater. He was just like, OK that’s cool. But two turned into three, three turned into four, and four turned into five. We just kept working. I thought that was the shit because one dude came up to me in the mall one time and said he loved that “Eye For an Eye” song. And once when I was driving to Reno someone came up playing it. To me, that’s when I got accepted.
When did you start working with people like E-40?
Same thing with 40! 40 came through the studio and I don’t know where Mike was but I jumped on there. The first beat I did for him was called “Record Haters.” It had Big Lurch on it. That was the first one we ever did. I did that beat in four or five minutes just fuckin’ around. Now we’ve done nine songs on each, but in them days he was waiting for Mike, and I got on there and just fucked around and figured if he heard something he liked, he’d say something. I didn’t tell him I was doing a beat for him. I was just on there fucking around, and he was like, “what’s that?” I told him it was just something I was fooling around with. Everything I did for Forty, I did for free. I just told him to make sure he got my credits on there. That’s how I started that shit.
Do you think Federation has Southern, Bay Area and New York elements because you are all from different parts?
I think so. Because when I first came here all I worked on was the SP-12 drum machine and you only got like two seconds to sample in it. When I got here everybody wanted that Mobb shit. I didn’t really know what they was talking about, but I was trying to figure it out. Through that process I got the Mobb shit down and I incorporated it with whatever else I was going through. I had been living in Alabama, but I was doing New York style music. It all just came together and I think that’s what’s happening with the group. We’re here and we became accepted out here but Me and Dewey are really from a lot of different places. And we bring that. And they bring the solid Northern Cali shit. Not just the Bay but Northern Cali, from Sacramento to San Ho.
This is Doonie Baby. I know when I first stepped out here, being out here expanded my game. Everything I had learned from the South, when I mixed it with the Bay Area game out here, it gave me a full circle. As far as my music, my words, slang, everything. It just blended well. That little mesh. Everybody feeds off of everybody. They learn something off of me and I learn stuff from them. And then we come up with our own stuff. We just create stuff. Make up our own slang words.
Our sound is a combination of everything. It’s not even just from Rap music because Rick, he’s listening to everything. Doonie, he’s the type who will throw some old blues and jazz on you. Stress, he do the alternative thing, rock thing, the rap thing. We all do it all is what it is. We definitely feed off each other. We cut the MPC on, bring the mic up, get the beat. The first three sounds, five sounds that sound good, we feed off that. That’s how we work.
We just go straight off of sleazy aura chemistry. We go off the energy of how we’re feeling that day. It’s creative. We just go off of how we feel. I’m from the West Coast. Me and Goldie from the Bay and Rick from both. All the creative energy comes together. It’s a federation. That’s what it is. It’s not a Bay sound. It’s not a New York sound. It’s not a West Coast sound. It’s the Federation. You can’t really put a stamp on it. It’s all the elements sewed together.
Lyrically what are we going to get from Federation?
Doonie was talking about flies and insects and bugs having sex on your back. Rick told me I had to calm down. I used to rap fast but Rick told me no, that I had to make the good shit they can rewind and play back. We started challenging each other, upping each other’s game. Rick would come in and ask if we heard such and such’s album, and whether we were going to let them eat our ass up. We’d feed off that. Then we’d take it to the next level. We would also have to slow down to spoon feed people. But as far as our lyrical content, I like to talk about life, lust, drugs, anything that’ll bust your head from my twisted perspective from my twenty-three years of living. I’m a Hip Hop muthafucka definitely. I’m a Hip Hop Head, and I’m also a freestyle emcee. That’s what I do. That’s my thing. I love Hip Hop music, but I love gangsta music too. I love Tribe Call Quest, NWA, all mixed in. On the songs you are going to hear on the Federation album, we’re not battling each other, but when we got in there it’ll be like: you can’t fuck with Doonie’s verse, you can’t fuck with Goldie’s verse on this song, or you can’t fuck with Stress’ verse. We had to all up the ante. One song we compete against each other. That’s what we really do, but you’re not going to hear it. But that’s what we do when we get in there—we compete against each other. I might have a hot verse and I’ll be like, “Oh you can’t fuck with me, Smoke.” And then Doonie comes with a verse and we just get down like that.
I think we are all mad scientists when it comes to the lyrics. We all get in our own zone – in our own world – and whatever Rick come with on the beat we land it with that, and there it is.
How does Rick come with beats?
Sometime he’ll have a particular beat and he’ll say “I want ya’ll to get on this.” He already hear something. He’ll have an idea and it’s not complete. We’ll all feed off each other to complete the actual song, but he’ll have an idea of what he wants. The other times, we’ll just get up in there and he’ll do the beat on the spot and we just come with something. Or we might have an idea. We might have a hook and he’ll build a beat. Then we might have to go back and change some words or something like that. It goes all types of ways.
Does Rick have anything to say about the lyrics?
Sometimes he’ll be like, “I think you can come tighter than that.” But that’s about it. He don’t tell us what to say because we’re all grown men. We say how we feel. But if he feels like we can come tighter that we’ll do it over. Sometimes it will be a challenge. I might think it’s tight and we won’t agree. But sometimes I’ll feel him on that and I’ll write it over and write a different version.
You say that you are Hip Hop heads, does that mean you’re not into the street shit?
Nah, man I got shot when I was sixteen. This is Kinsmoke. Check my resume. We’ve been doing this shit for many ions.
We just saying we like Hip Hop music. That’s where it started from. You got to give praise and due to how Rap and Hip Hop all started. It started off with Hip Hop. Then the Gangsta Rap from the West Coast came in. Then you got Southern part of the Rap game. And the Midwest put they little twist on it. But it all started from just Hip Hop. That’s why we say we definitely appreciate Hip Hop music. I think Federation music is a whole other genre of Hip Hop and Rap and Gangsta and all that. I think we’re in our own little category.
Rick Rock, how do you see your production? Is it more toward Hip Hop?
I make hits and I make that street shit. I make that turf monkey shit, and I make them hits. That’s what I do. That’s what I’m from. I don’t do straight Hip Hop. It’s all mixed into one but it won’t be leaning toward either one. Hip Hop has gotten like bad a taste, like backpack rappin’. To me, Hip Hop is Gangsta Rap, it’s Country Rap, it’s all that shit. I come from the original, but what people think “backpack ta boom bap” type of shit—I don’t do that. I can’t really explain what I do. It’s definitely some Mobb shit. It’s turf monkey shit. Federation makes hits.
How would you describe Mobb music?
Mobb music was slow. It was Northern Cali gangsta shit, really. It was that slow base line with that little hand clap. No snares. It was just like high hat claps and a lot of low end and a swollen long base end. I had to figure it out. I really didn’t know.
What were you doing before?
I was doing East Coast type shit. My shit was choppy base lines. I would put a base line just on the kick. Other shit was cool but it just wasn’t my thing. I came from a New York – South type of music. I was doing Hip Hop, LL, all that shit. I just love that shit. When I came here to live – to make money – I had to do that shit. I just soaked it in and changed it. My homey Chauncy from Funky Chicken in Fairfield, he was like, “Man, we do this Mobb shit out here, and you going to have to get used to it and start doing it.” I told him “I’m gonna fuck around and I’m gonna do my own thing.” I’m gonna make muthafucka’s switch over to me. I’m gonna switch it to what I’m doing. Shit’s crazy because shit’s happening. The shit is sick. I’ve been hearing people doing beats, trying to do beats I be doing and shit. Trying to do it and it’s crazy as fuck.
In the beginning when he was doing his type of beats – the mesh – a lot of people didn’t want them beats. But the Federation has always been on to them Rick Rock beats before everyone else was on them. Now here comes the real group on top of the Rick Rock beats. We’re going to bring the classic Rick Rock slaps to the game.
“Slaps”, is that what you call your style?
That’s the “Northern Cali King of Slaps.”
I’m the King of the Slaps. It’s a couple dope producers out here. I’m not taking nothing from them but they think they the dopest and I think I’m the dopest.
I just want to say one more time. After this Federation album drops all the producers better step your beat game up because that’s what it’s coming down to. When this album drops we’re years ahead of our time. This shouldn’t even drop until 2008. Step your beat game up. You want to know what everyone in the Federation is lyrically? After this drop, step your rap game up. We comin and we comin in the door hard. Rick Rock has opened the door for us and we’re comin in full steam.
It’s all bad. He done let the wrong niggas in the game. We ain’t friendly. You got us fucked up. That’s what’s up. The only thing friendly is making money. Other than that, ain’t shit friendly. I mean, you can smoke your weed with me though.
Do you see a lot of different styles of production starting to happen, like the Crunk music with Lil Jon?
That shit is off the chain. That shit don’t do nothing but inspire me. I know Lil Jon’s whole thing or how he came up. I used to see him in Atlanta when I lived in Alabama and I seen him grind it out. I know when he was over there at some little record label, Ichiban, years ago and I seen now is his time. He done put his work in and this is his time. I love that shit because that’s me. I’m waiting my turn. And if it’s meant to be, If you’re doing what you’re suppose to do, when the window opens for you and the door open - “bam!” You do what you gotta muthafuckin’ do. I really fuck with Lil Jon because he started a movement in the whole club. That crunk shit. It’s kind of like some old Luke shit, like Luke Skywalker used to do in 2000. We do that up tempo crunk shit for here. On our album, you’ll see a few of those on there too. That energy.
Do you have that crunk energy on this album?
Yeah, but it’s our style. It’s going to turn into the Bay style. It’s music for how they are out here.
Everybody in Northern California need to respect the Federation as the niggas that’s really putting the smash down for Northern California. You can check the sound scan. None of these dudes getting no play. Not even hatin’ on anybody else. That’s what the whole mission is. We hear things. Everybody just needs to respect it for what it is.
With Federation you will change the sound coming from the Bay.
Right. That’s what we want to get. We want to get that fo’ sho’. Like the records for Keak. I’m seeing Keak on the cover of Murder Dog. His song that blew up, “The Tee Shirts, Blue Jeans and Nikes” that I produced for him. And his other single “Here Comes Keak the Sneak”. Keak goes off the chain as an artist anyway – how he gets down with his thing. I seen the interview in Murder Dog where he said he does the beats and then produces. But he don’t do none of the beats that I do. I do them. But working with him – he’s an Oakland turf nigga all day and he got game with that Oakland spit he got and that different ass style. Put it on some different shit and now all of a sudden it’s a special record. Instead of just an ordinary record or some regular ass shit you’ve already heard a million times. Another thing I noticed was when the mix tape thing started happening, I started seeing just how dope niggas are here. When they started rapping on other people’s beats, some dope beats, I was like. “This sounds cool.” Personally, I want to say: all you producers, we got to step it up. I’m gonna put myself in there because I challenge myself every day. I feel like people got to be stepping their beat game up, they just be complacent to where they already are. They think theirs shit is dope and the shit ain’t. It’s making the emcees suffer.
Did you have this Federation project in mind for a long time?
I had the name. We didn’t really have the whole movement. I definitely knew that I wanted to bring something new to the game., some new Northern Cali energy. It just happened how it happened. It came about how it came about. I definitely wanted to always do it. I just didn’t have the personnel. Now I found the right people so we just started getting down.
How did you get the group and the whole project together?
We was already kicking it and fucking around already all the time. It just evolved into something. It was more of a family thing how I like to get down with. I work with everybody right now anyway. I could always work with a lot of people as far as production, but I wanted to always bring my own vision to the game – a record produced from top to bottom just by me. That’s how I feel like I can really show what I can do and bring it the next level, by doing a whole album. Bringing a vision to people instead of just doing a record here and a single there.
Federation is the first group to get signed to a major label in a long time from the Bay. We should all be celebrating.
That’s real! We’re celebrating, but we ain’t celebrating that hard yet because the mission’s not complete.
At one time everybody in the Bay had a muthafuckin’ deal. Now a lot of them don’t. They doing the independent thing and getting their money. I’ve been doing this so I understand it’s all work. It’s here right now and it’s going to be gone if we don’t work hard. Celebration is cool. We hit one step. Now let’s go on to the next step and the next step. We got a lot of work to do. We got to sell them records so we don’t lose our deal.
What type of deal do you have with Virgin?
It’s a one record deal if we don’t do shit. It’s seven records. It’s the regular deal. You know how regular deals are. It’s seven records.
Is it a deal for Federation?
It’s both. Federation signed through Federation Records which is signed to Virgin Montbello Records.
Do you have another group that you are producing?
We got a group called Kinsmoke which is Runaway Train, Tick, Nay Nay Make Mess and Goldie Gold from Federation. I met him through him. They used to run around doing they thing. They were doing the Kinsmoke thing and I pulled them into the group. But he has his own group called Kinsmoke and that’s going to be Make Manson, Goldie Gold, Underflow, Runaway Train. Then we got L Dog. He’s a solo artist from Harlem.
Is Federation the name of your label too?
It’s both. Southwest Federation is the name of the label. Federation is the name of the family. It’s the whole family but stepping up forward is going to be the three that starts it all off. Then there’s going to be a whole bunch of other people stepping in doing their thing. We got Ridezilla from Sacramento.
Battle Loc’s out of San Diego. Federation is playing it Down South, out here on the West Coast, New York. We all over the place.
How did you meet everybody in the group? Is it because of your production work?
It’s basically from travels.
It’s because we’re real muthafuckas.
Have you known Rick for a long time, Doonie?
I’ve been knowing Rick since probably ’92. Back in Alabama.
Are you from Alabama too?
I’m originally from Mississippi, then I moved to Alabama. Then came out here to Northern California.
What about you Rick?
I was born in Montgomery, Alabama—Maxwell Air Force Base. I moved to California when I was about two. Then I moved back when I was fourteen or fifteen. I moved back nine or ten years after that. So I’m from both places – Northern Cali and Alabama.
What about you, Goldie?
I was born in Reno and raised in Vallejo. I lived in Fairfield, got shot when I was sixteen, met up with Rick Rock when I was in a wheelchair. Got out the wheelchair and we started doing our thing. I migrated to Sac. Now I’m back home in the Bay.
What about you, Stress?
I’m from Fairfield. I came into the group through Doonie. I’ve been knowing Goldie. You might as well say Goldie’s from Fairfield but Goldie’s from Vallejo too. We here to bring that West Coast shot back.
We’re here to put that Bay shit all the way on the map – nationwide, everywhere – to the mainstream.
When you asked me if I already had a plan for it, it’s like you always want to do something big, and I personally want to help people I see around doing their thing with talent and bring them up off the street and give them a career. That’s big for me. I would love to do that and see them have it. I didn’t go look for them. It just happened. I met El Dorado Red in Alabama. That’s El Dog. He’s from Harlem but he was in Alabama. I met Doonie Baby in Alabama. I just met Kinsmoke, Ridezilla. I just meet them all around. I just clicks and we start doing our thing.
Smoking together, drinking together. We get on a family level first. Then if you got talent, we get up in the studio, but first we on the family element.
And we ain’t looking for no new friends, either.
We can eat. We can get dough together. But no new inside niggas dot com.
Do you consider yourself to be from the Bay?
I consider us from Northern Cali. We represent Northern California. We got Richmond niggas. We got Fairfield niggas. We got Oakland niggas. We got Sacramento niggas. We got Vallejo. Then we got Doonie up from the South and El Dorado Red from Harlem. It’s all over. I like to say Northern Cali as it applies to our collective Federation because like I say, I put Ridezilla, and they’re from Sacramento, Oak Park and 916. I put Kinsmoke out and that’s Oakland, Richmond, Fairfield, Vallejo. We got it all. And what you said earlier, I think is real. The thing is, if you got one person from Compton and he’s never been out of Compton, then he can only talk about Compton, or what he read or seen on TV. His music will be tunnel vision. If you put that same nigga on a muthafuckin’ boat, train, truck, transit system, and put him in Harlem or New York for a few weeks, then fly him out to Africa for a couple weeks, do some touring with the little bitches out there in China. And then take him back to Chicago, just have him worldwide with his gang, his tunnel and his vision will open and his music will open as a result of his vision. That’s what the group collectively is because his tunnel vision is cool. Everybody’s tunnel vision will equal something bigger because I know I’ve been around the world and the country doing all these different things. I might have a different version of what I might think might be a hit as opposed to this nigga who’s just coming into it. Right now once he’s going through this shit with the labels and everything and working with radios, he’s seeing now that it’s all just gettin laced. That’s all I thing it is – an absorption of knowledge that makes these records bigger than what they are. I think that if any nigga wants to do it. they got to get out and go network all around the country. That’s what’s up and records will show that.
Go hard or go home.
Stop being scared to be different. That’s my thing. This is Doonie again. Like Rick was saying, there are a lot of tight ass Bay Area artist. I love a lot of the Bay rappers out here. I be amazed at some of them. How they put. Their word play and everything and their different styles, but it seems like they are stuck in a rut a lot of them. I want to see them get on different beats. Get on a muthafuckin’ rock beat. Get on a Down South beat. Don’t be a scared to challenge yourself. That’s the only thing I see that’s wrong in it. And we don’t network enough out here. And we don’t take constructive criticism real good out here. I feel like if we could get over that then the Bay is completely bad.
That’s why I like Tech N9ne because there’s no one like him in Kansas. He stepped out to do something different.
There’s no one like Tech N9ne because he ain’t even from this planet. That’s what’s up. Tech N9ne should keep doing what he’s doing.
He’s going to win.
Let me tell you what kind of rapper Tech N9ne is. If I had to send ten emcees to go rap against ten emcees from another planet who would take our planet if our emcees didn’t bomb, I’d send Tech N9ne because he doesn’t rap like he’s from this planet. I love him for that. And the way he looks and everything.
Straight up. He’s doing his own thing! And that’s what the Federation is about – our own thing!
You’ll never meet another nigga like Goldie. It’s all about character.
How did you meet Goldie?
I met Goldie when I was riding in Fairfield and he was in a wheelchair. He had gold hair and he was telling me how tight he is, that I should fuck with him. Actually, he was trying to holla at Mike and I was in the car with him. That was in ’96 or ’97.
Before Rick came out here from Alabama, I was under Mike Mosley. Then Mike Mosley started and his name got hot. He started going to LA and back so he really didn’t have time, because I was young. I was like fourteen or fifteen. Then we started growing up. Kinsmoke popped off with some street niggas. I met Rick Rock. He was like, “Ain’t no one can fuck with me.” Every time I see him. Chauncy from the Funky Chicken grew up with Rick Rock, so he was like, “I got this youngster I want you to hear.” I used to win battles with muthafuckas at lunchtime for lunch money at Chauncy’s shop. Then Rick Rock came into the record store. I did my thing, gave it to them, and I’m where I’m at now. It’s been hell and it’s been one fun ride, and I don’t want to get off the bus yet.
What about Stress?
I battled at school. I’m originally a battle rapper. I don’t do that shit no more because I’m not really into that shit. Me and Doonie battled to. I met Doonie at a record store in Fairfield that used to be called “Blue Light Records.” But it was really the Funky Chicken. Chauncy owned it.
I don’t mean to cut my man off. God forgive us for this one, but the truth shall set you free. Me and Stress used to be in church drunk together. Let’s be real. That’s what’s up.
Me and Goldie went to the same church. I know Goldie’s mom.
It’s easier to understand God when you’re drunk.
Goldie might be drunk. I was drunk a couple times, but that nigga was probably drunk more than me. I wasn’t really drunk that many times. I was drunk a couple times. I was high a couple times but not like that. I didn’t go to church high all like that.
Tell the truth.
I’m the truth. I got lyrics. I got shit and when you hear me on the album you’ll be like, “That nigga busts!” I bust! I come from the heart and I bust.
On this album, do you all appear on each song?
It’s mostly us three on all the songs but we got the other niggas from the Federation on the songs. But we really don’t have any solo songs on there at all.
Does Rick consider himself as part of the group?
I’m just getting them started. It’s just them. I don’t rap. The last time I rapped, it was on B-Legit album and that is probably gonna be the last time. That really ain’t my thing. I want to step back and concentrate and do this. I don’t want to be all on their records trying to still be trying to rap while the beats are suffering and I’m not giving them their shine, their chance or whatever. It’s all about them.
How did you decide what beats to give each group?
Usually I just get down. I work on certain things mainly at one time. If I’m concentrating on Federation, I’m concentrating on that. Now, if Perk or Ridezilla’s come through and they want a beat, maybe I’ll get down and squeeze one and do one with them right then. Or, I’ll give them a beat CD if they pick one or something like that. But I focus on one thing. Then when I’m done with that, I focus on something else. Then when I focus on that, I’m focused on that, and everybody else can probably get a beat or two but I’m mainly focused on them. That’s where they get their beats from because we getting’ down. Each artist is different. For the Kinsmoke album, it’s straight, beat ‘em up. I assess the group. For Kinsmoke, it’s a hard street groove. It’s straight grimy shit.
When does that album come out?
We don’t know. We’re working on it right now. I’m working on Kinsmoke’s album right now. And I’m working on El Dorado Red. He’s an East Coast Cat but he’s like a game soaker, so he’ll be in the South soaking up that game and the West Coast. His spit reflects that. He can rap on different types of things but I have more of an East Coast feel for him. Ridezilla’s going to be some straight gangsta shit too. It’s going to be some hard shit.
Most of your artists are groups not solo artists?
Yeah. But we have all the capabilities to be solo artists.
El Dorado Red is a solo artist and Battle Loc is a solo artist. Battle Loc’s shit is gangsta shit. He’s a Crip out of Dago. His shit is gangsta shit to the extreme but he’s onto some other shit. He’s on some weird shit. That’s what it is. It’s easier for me to work with the groups. Like Ridezilla, there might two or three solo artists in there but I can’t do all the solo artists. So we do the group thing. Same with Kinsmoke.
How did you work out the deal with Virgin?
Federation is with Virgin. My label is Southwest Federation. Through EMI. Big Jon signed me over at EMI publishing signed me. He got a situation at Virgin. I’ve been giving him Federation shit for years. I always send him some songs. He didn’t really want to fuck with them. He didn’t feel that they was ready. That was years ago, a couple, two or three years ago. It probably wasn’t ready. We worked trying to find ourselves.
Eddie wanted me to do a solo deal. I didn’t feel I was ready for the solo thing yet.
You want to know what Rick did? He called me up and played a beat. I heard it and wrote the hook in my head. Me and Doonie did the song “And It Don’t Stop”. We went to LA, shoved it down their throat. Them muthafuckas were jumping up and down on our dick.
That’s how it happened?
We shove “And It Don’t Stop” down LA’s throat. And it was really a shock to us because it was like, “We from the Bay! And LA playing the hell out of this” You know all them industry muthafuckas is in LA and they hear it on the radio. Now they feel we’re ready and they gave us a deal. We got to take it from scratch now that we got the deal. We can’t do all this old shit. Now we got to do new shit.
He’s right. We weren’t getting no deal. I was shopping on shit and no one was fuckin’ with us really. I was like, “fuck it!” We were going to do a song, which ever one we thought was going to hit. He did the other route. We didn’t go independent. We went and tried to go radio and get BDS spins. We did the album, I mixed it mastered, and sent it to get BDS, got a relationship with the technicians, and got spins on the radio. They started checking the spins and they were like okay, “OK they’re getting a little bit of spins, let’s fuck with them.”
Then they rushed Rick with the muthafuckin contract.
What do you think of Virgin? Virgin doesn’t do to much rap. Do you think they will do a good job for you?
It’s a double edged sword. It’s bad that they don’t really do a lot of the Rap. But it’s good that we’re one of the only ones there and they can concentrate on that. And it’s good that I work with the label from my label’s standpoint to work with them for some shit they might not get, if I feel like they don’t get it as far as knowing the group and knowing what we trying to movement. I have a lot of say, so that helps to. They’re a big wheel. They’re corporate. They got to go through all the different things an indie don’t have to do. We try to bring an indie label type of attitude with their big wheel. Right now it’s cool. They got a lot of people over there in the Urban Department doing their thing. Hopefully the shit works out. As far as the marriage working out, we’re doing our end with the music, and willing to get out there and work. Now it’s just up to them to push that shit and do what they got to do.
Is the album ready to go?
It’s a done deal. It’s a wrap. I mastered the album seven or eight times because I just want it to be right. I’ll take a song off and add another one to see how it works. Big John might be like, “Maybe we should take this off.” Then while we working and waiting for the release date, we’re doing new songs, so we’re like, “Fuck it. Fuck that, and put this on there.” I’m going to mix one more song tomorrow. The albums already mastered but after I mix that if it’s dope, I’m gonna slap that on there too.
Everybody, even if you consider yourself to be the dopest artist, when you hear this album you are going to know them boys are dope.
And it’s going to make you elevate your goddamn self.
You are going to say it’s time to go back to the drawing board. When I first them rap, every time I said I got to go back to the drawing board. And I’m dope. And when I rap, you are going to go back to the drawing board. I’ll will make you got back to the drawing boards. Every time it’s going to be the same thing. It’s not going to be no skipping songs. You are not going to skip a song. If you skip a song and there’s a passenger in your car, he’s going to fight with you. You are not going to be able to skip a song when you puts this album on. Back to back slaps. This is the one.
How many songs?
Right now, it’s seventeen or eighteen. The label kind of wanted me to take a couple off, trim it down. We did about thirty of them that are mixed and everything and ready to go, but only about seventeen are going to make the cut. Maybe a bonus hidden track on there or something like that.
Are you putting out a single?
Yeah, we’re shooting a video for “Go Dum”. We got a couple singles, but I don’t know what we’re going to do after that. We just want to start it off with “Go Dum” and capture how this shit goes down out here. We want people hanging out the door. We want to show how to bang and how muthafuckas get down, from Sacramento, Fairfield, Vallejo, Frisco. Oakland, San Ho, all the whole shit! How retarded niggas is out here. The door is wide open. The world hasn’t seen that. If you show them that, that’s the shit. The South comin with their little shit, that’s some different shit. Now we bring what we’re bring what we bring and show the visuals from this area. And people are going to say, let’s go fuck with that. And that’s all we need to get you into the door. Then you will listen to the music.
Interview By Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog Vol.11 #2
Do you think Federation will happen?
Because we sat back for so many years and watched so many groups and so many people surpass us. We watched the East Coast come back. We watched Down South emerge and take the whole music industry by storm. And ever since Tupac died, the Bay ain’t been right. Down in Southern California you got Ice Cube and them, they been holding us down over the years. Westside Connection, Xzibit. But for the Bay all we had is E-40. As far as emcee and
production,
Rick Rock. He stayed out here and we endured our seven years. The curse is over.I think the reason why we gonna win is because each individual is a real artist with real talent. All of us are real artist and we have real talent, and we’re serious about our crafts. We got character. That’s another reason why I think we’re going to win. Each one of us got a certified character. If you be around us, you’re going to see that, and if you hear the music you’re gonna hear that.
It’s a really tight album. Right now is a good time for the Bay, with us being accepted on the radio, and a lot of deejays are starting to embrace Northern Cali music. We starting to get spins which I believe we had a lot to do with. Which makes us feel good. It gets shit crackin’. What with Messy Marv, Keak Da Sneak and San Quinn and everybody else that’s putting it down. But it’s really a solid album. I think the Bay Area was really taking a loss, and it was a lot of our fault as well because we was doing too many compilations. It became a hustle. Everybody taking their money and getting wack. People that can’t really flow but they just want to get it. They love it like we love it but they don’t really have it to do it. Not everybody have it. And they saturated the market with a lot of bullshit and that hurt us. I be in New York riding with some of my peoples and shit out there, and they’ll be telling me that it’s a lot of bullshit, and it’s too much of people not taking it seriously. Whereas this album is solid. It’s the real deal. It’s off the chain.
When you go to a record store you really don’t know what to buy.
It over-saturated the market. Back in the day you knew what was what. It came to a point where it was just like two or three hundred CD’s from a whole bunch people from here. There’s not two or three hundred dope ass emcee albums out in this CD. Out of them there’s probably like fifteen that are cool. But you can’t get to the ten or fifteen because you don’t want to buy all that bullshit. That’s why we hurtin.’ It stopped me from going and I buying all kind of shit. Now that it all died down, now the real people that are really trying to do it are coming out with some cool shit, so I’ll go buy that shit.
What happened in the Bay is happening in the South right now.
They’re catching up. They reaping how we reaped it back then. That hurt our art form out here. It’s still the mob out here, but you have to know how to elevate it. It’s still mob. The Bay is going to be mob forever. That’s what’s up in Northern Cali.
Does Federation have a Bay sound?
It’s well rounded. It’s not Bay at all. It’s just a tight album. I hate to even say it, I’m not going to even say that no more, that it’s the Bay. You don’t hear New York or any other place talking about that shit. They’re going to be talking about their album. That’s all it is. It’s just a good ass album. I want to get out of whether it’s a Bay album or it’s not. It’s a bomb ass. This shit is right! Everybody who knows my production knows how I get down for my production. It’s elevated from that. It’s a step up for me, definitely from doing it from front to back and doing as many songs as we did. It’s off the chain. I feel it and I think it leaves room for us to grow for the next album.
It’s got Bay elements, but it’s not just a Bay album. It’s universal. It don’t just have potential to sell just in the Bay. It has potential to sell everywhere.
You have worked with a lot of artists doing production.
I just worked finished Mace. I got Mace’s next single. Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre, E-40, Snoop, Angie Martinez, Keak Da Sneak, Fabolous, Will Smith, Xzibit, Jay-Z.
Are you working on all those artist’s albums?
I already did them. Right now I’m working on Xzibit, Mace, and I’m working on a new Busta. And I’m working on Chingy.
How do you get to produce for so many big artists? Do they call you up?
When I sit down and do a beat (which is on the DVD, on the album) I show them how I get down with a beat. I get in there and I do it right then. When I do that I usually do four or five beats at one time because I just got to get it all out of my mind. I do a gang of beats so I might have a CD a week that might have twenty beats on it, and I send them out. That’s how I network. I shoot them out to all the people and have them check it out. If they hear something, they call me back and tell me what they want. Some people just heard about me and reach out because they want to fuck with me, and we get in the studio and knock it out. It just depends.
What was your big break, Rick Rock?
I think really it was consistency. But as far as the break through and everybody started knowing me, probably what changed the game is Jay-Z. But before that my break was the RBL Posse album, the Eye For An Eye album. Black C let me get five songs on there. And we had a video of me and him, Luni, Big Lurch and Mystikal.
What year did Eye For An Eye come out?
That was ’97 or something like that.
Were you new to the Bay?
I came in ’96. I was sleeping on Mike Mosley’s floor. I didn’t have nowhere to live, so he let me live on his floor in the studio. He would be bullshitting, being late, and people would be there. While they were there I would get on and do a beat. That’s how I got on some shit. Black C came through to fuck with Mike, and Mike was like an hour and a half late. They were just waiting, so I said “fuck it,” and I got on the MPC and did like two beats. He picked both of them.
Was that OK with Mike?
I don’t know if it was or not. I took the initiative to try and make a crack on my own, but I always stayed underneath his umbrella and kept a respect for him because I appreciated him letting me live there. He wasn’t like a hater. He was just like, OK that’s cool. But two turned into three, three turned into four, and four turned into five. We just kept working. I thought that was the shit because one dude came up to me in the mall one time and said he loved that “Eye For an Eye” song. And once when I was driving to Reno someone came up playing it. To me, that’s when I got accepted.
When did you start working with people like E-40?
Same thing with 40! 40 came through the studio and I don’t know where Mike was but I jumped on there. The first beat I did for him was called “Record Haters.” It had Big Lurch on it. That was the first one we ever did. I did that beat in four or five minutes just fuckin’ around. Now we’ve done nine songs on each, but in them days he was waiting for Mike, and I got on there and just fucked around and figured if he heard something he liked, he’d say something. I didn’t tell him I was doing a beat for him. I was just on there fucking around, and he was like, “what’s that?” I told him it was just something I was fooling around with. Everything I did for Forty, I did for free. I just told him to make sure he got my credits on there. That’s how I started that shit.
Do you think Federation has Southern, Bay Area and New York elements because you are all from different parts?
I think so. Because when I first came here all I worked on was the SP-12 drum machine and you only got like two seconds to sample in it. When I got here everybody wanted that Mobb shit. I didn’t really know what they was talking about, but I was trying to figure it out. Through that process I got the Mobb shit down and I incorporated it with whatever else I was going through. I had been living in Alabama, but I was doing New York style music. It all just came together and I think that’s what’s happening with the group. We’re here and we became accepted out here but Me and Dewey are really from a lot of different places. And we bring that. And they bring the solid Northern Cali shit. Not just the Bay but Northern Cali, from Sacramento to San Ho.
This is Doonie Baby. I know when I first stepped out here, being out here expanded my game. Everything I had learned from the South, when I mixed it with the Bay Area game out here, it gave me a full circle. As far as my music, my words, slang, everything. It just blended well. That little mesh. Everybody feeds off of everybody. They learn something off of me and I learn stuff from them. And then we come up with our own stuff. We just create stuff. Make up our own slang words.
Our sound is a combination of everything. It’s not even just from Rap music because Rick, he’s listening to everything. Doonie, he’s the type who will throw some old blues and jazz on you. Stress, he do the alternative thing, rock thing, the rap thing. We all do it all is what it is. We definitely feed off each other. We cut the MPC on, bring the mic up, get the beat. The first three sounds, five sounds that sound good, we feed off that. That’s how we work.
We just go straight off of sleazy aura chemistry. We go off the energy of how we’re feeling that day. It’s creative. We just go off of how we feel. I’m from the West Coast. Me and Goldie from the Bay and Rick from both. All the creative energy comes together. It’s a federation. That’s what it is. It’s not a Bay sound. It’s not a New York sound. It’s not a West Coast sound. It’s the Federation. You can’t really put a stamp on it. It’s all the elements sewed together.
Lyrically what are we going to get from Federation?
Doonie was talking about flies and insects and bugs having sex on your back. Rick told me I had to calm down. I used to rap fast but Rick told me no, that I had to make the good shit they can rewind and play back. We started challenging each other, upping each other’s game. Rick would come in and ask if we heard such and such’s album, and whether we were going to let them eat our ass up. We’d feed off that. Then we’d take it to the next level. We would also have to slow down to spoon feed people. But as far as our lyrical content, I like to talk about life, lust, drugs, anything that’ll bust your head from my twisted perspective from my twenty-three years of living. I’m a Hip Hop muthafucka definitely. I’m a Hip Hop Head, and I’m also a freestyle emcee. That’s what I do. That’s my thing. I love Hip Hop music, but I love gangsta music too. I love Tribe Call Quest, NWA, all mixed in. On the songs you are going to hear on the Federation album, we’re not battling each other, but when we got in there it’ll be like: you can’t fuck with Doonie’s verse, you can’t fuck with Goldie’s verse on this song, or you can’t fuck with Stress’ verse. We had to all up the ante. One song we compete against each other. That’s what we really do, but you’re not going to hear it. But that’s what we do when we get in there—we compete against each other. I might have a hot verse and I’ll be like, “Oh you can’t fuck with me, Smoke.” And then Doonie comes with a verse and we just get down like that.
I think we are all mad scientists when it comes to the lyrics. We all get in our own zone – in our own world – and whatever Rick come with on the beat we land it with that, and there it is.
How does Rick come with beats?
Sometime he’ll have a particular beat and he’ll say “I want ya’ll to get on this.” He already hear something. He’ll have an idea and it’s not complete. We’ll all feed off each other to complete the actual song, but he’ll have an idea of what he wants. The other times, we’ll just get up in there and he’ll do the beat on the spot and we just come with something. Or we might have an idea. We might have a hook and he’ll build a beat. Then we might have to go back and change some words or something like that. It goes all types of ways.
Does Rick have anything to say about the lyrics?
Sometimes he’ll be like, “I think you can come tighter than that.” But that’s about it. He don’t tell us what to say because we’re all grown men. We say how we feel. But if he feels like we can come tighter that we’ll do it over. Sometimes it will be a challenge. I might think it’s tight and we won’t agree. But sometimes I’ll feel him on that and I’ll write it over and write a different version.
You say that you are Hip Hop heads, does that mean you’re not into the street shit?
Nah, man I got shot when I was sixteen. This is Kinsmoke. Check my resume. We’ve been doing this shit for many ions.
We just saying we like Hip Hop music. That’s where it started from. You got to give praise and due to how Rap and Hip Hop all started. It started off with Hip Hop. Then the Gangsta Rap from the West Coast came in. Then you got Southern part of the Rap game. And the Midwest put they little twist on it. But it all started from just Hip Hop. That’s why we say we definitely appreciate Hip Hop music. I think Federation music is a whole other genre of Hip Hop and Rap and Gangsta and all that. I think we’re in our own little category.
Rick Rock, how do you see your production? Is it more toward Hip Hop?
I make hits and I make that street shit. I make that turf monkey shit, and I make them hits. That’s what I do. That’s what I’m from. I don’t do straight Hip Hop. It’s all mixed into one but it won’t be leaning toward either one. Hip Hop has gotten like bad a taste, like backpack rappin’. To me, Hip Hop is Gangsta Rap, it’s Country Rap, it’s all that shit. I come from the original, but what people think “backpack ta boom bap” type of shit—I don’t do that. I can’t really explain what I do. It’s definitely some Mobb shit. It’s turf monkey shit. Federation makes hits.
How would you describe Mobb music?
Mobb music was slow. It was Northern Cali gangsta shit, really. It was that slow base line with that little hand clap. No snares. It was just like high hat claps and a lot of low end and a swollen long base end. I had to figure it out. I really didn’t know.
What were you doing before?
I was doing East Coast type shit. My shit was choppy base lines. I would put a base line just on the kick. Other shit was cool but it just wasn’t my thing. I came from a New York – South type of music. I was doing Hip Hop, LL, all that shit. I just love that shit. When I came here to live – to make money – I had to do that shit. I just soaked it in and changed it. My homey Chauncy from Funky Chicken in Fairfield, he was like, “Man, we do this Mobb shit out here, and you going to have to get used to it and start doing it.” I told him “I’m gonna fuck around and I’m gonna do my own thing.” I’m gonna make muthafucka’s switch over to me. I’m gonna switch it to what I’m doing. Shit’s crazy because shit’s happening. The shit is sick. I’ve been hearing people doing beats, trying to do beats I be doing and shit. Trying to do it and it’s crazy as fuck.
In the beginning when he was doing his type of beats – the mesh – a lot of people didn’t want them beats. But the Federation has always been on to them Rick Rock beats before everyone else was on them. Now here comes the real group on top of the Rick Rock beats. We’re going to bring the classic Rick Rock slaps to the game.
“Slaps”, is that what you call your style?
That’s the “Northern Cali King of Slaps.”
I’m the King of the Slaps. It’s a couple dope producers out here. I’m not taking nothing from them but they think they the dopest and I think I’m the dopest.
I just want to say one more time. After this Federation album drops all the producers better step your beat game up because that’s what it’s coming down to. When this album drops we’re years ahead of our time. This shouldn’t even drop until 2008. Step your beat game up. You want to know what everyone in the Federation is lyrically? After this drop, step your rap game up. We comin and we comin in the door hard. Rick Rock has opened the door for us and we’re comin in full steam.
It’s all bad. He done let the wrong niggas in the game. We ain’t friendly. You got us fucked up. That’s what’s up. The only thing friendly is making money. Other than that, ain’t shit friendly. I mean, you can smoke your weed with me though.
Do you see a lot of different styles of production starting to happen, like the Crunk music with Lil Jon?
That shit is off the chain. That shit don’t do nothing but inspire me. I know Lil Jon’s whole thing or how he came up. I used to see him in Atlanta when I lived in Alabama and I seen him grind it out. I know when he was over there at some little record label, Ichiban, years ago and I seen now is his time. He done put his work in and this is his time. I love that shit because that’s me. I’m waiting my turn. And if it’s meant to be, If you’re doing what you’re suppose to do, when the window opens for you and the door open - “bam!” You do what you gotta muthafuckin’ do. I really fuck with Lil Jon because he started a movement in the whole club. That crunk shit. It’s kind of like some old Luke shit, like Luke Skywalker used to do in 2000. We do that up tempo crunk shit for here. On our album, you’ll see a few of those on there too. That energy.
Do you have that crunk energy on this album?
Yeah, but it’s our style. It’s going to turn into the Bay style. It’s music for how they are out here.
Everybody in Northern California need to respect the Federation as the niggas that’s really putting the smash down for Northern California. You can check the sound scan. None of these dudes getting no play. Not even hatin’ on anybody else. That’s what the whole mission is. We hear things. Everybody just needs to respect it for what it is.
With Federation you will change the sound coming from the Bay.
Right. That’s what we want to get. We want to get that fo’ sho’. Like the records for Keak. I’m seeing Keak on the cover of Murder Dog. His song that blew up, “The Tee Shirts, Blue Jeans and Nikes” that I produced for him. And his other single “Here Comes Keak the Sneak”. Keak goes off the chain as an artist anyway – how he gets down with his thing. I seen the interview in Murder Dog where he said he does the beats and then produces. But he don’t do none of the beats that I do. I do them. But working with him – he’s an Oakland turf nigga all day and he got game with that Oakland spit he got and that different ass style. Put it on some different shit and now all of a sudden it’s a special record. Instead of just an ordinary record or some regular ass shit you’ve already heard a million times. Another thing I noticed was when the mix tape thing started happening, I started seeing just how dope niggas are here. When they started rapping on other people’s beats, some dope beats, I was like. “This sounds cool.” Personally, I want to say: all you producers, we got to step it up. I’m gonna put myself in there because I challenge myself every day. I feel like people got to be stepping their beat game up, they just be complacent to where they already are. They think theirs shit is dope and the shit ain’t. It’s making the emcees suffer.
Did you have this Federation project in mind for a long time?
I had the name. We didn’t really have the whole movement. I definitely knew that I wanted to bring something new to the game., some new Northern Cali energy. It just happened how it happened. It came about how it came about. I definitely wanted to always do it. I just didn’t have the personnel. Now I found the right people so we just started getting down.
How did you get the group and the whole project together?
We was already kicking it and fucking around already all the time. It just evolved into something. It was more of a family thing how I like to get down with. I work with everybody right now anyway. I could always work with a lot of people as far as production, but I wanted to always bring my own vision to the game – a record produced from top to bottom just by me. That’s how I feel like I can really show what I can do and bring it the next level, by doing a whole album. Bringing a vision to people instead of just doing a record here and a single there.
Federation is the first group to get signed to a major label in a long time from the Bay. We should all be celebrating.
That’s real! We’re celebrating, but we ain’t celebrating that hard yet because the mission’s not complete.
At one time everybody in the Bay had a muthafuckin’ deal. Now a lot of them don’t. They doing the independent thing and getting their money. I’ve been doing this so I understand it’s all work. It’s here right now and it’s going to be gone if we don’t work hard. Celebration is cool. We hit one step. Now let’s go on to the next step and the next step. We got a lot of work to do. We got to sell them records so we don’t lose our deal.
What type of deal do you have with Virgin?
It’s a one record deal if we don’t do shit. It’s seven records. It’s the regular deal. You know how regular deals are. It’s seven records.
Is it a deal for Federation?
It’s both. Federation signed through Federation Records which is signed to Virgin Montbello Records.
Do you have another group that you are producing?
We got a group called Kinsmoke which is Runaway Train, Tick, Nay Nay Make Mess and Goldie Gold from Federation. I met him through him. They used to run around doing they thing. They were doing the Kinsmoke thing and I pulled them into the group. But he has his own group called Kinsmoke and that’s going to be Make Manson, Goldie Gold, Underflow, Runaway Train. Then we got L Dog. He’s a solo artist from Harlem.
Is Federation the name of your label too?
It’s both. Southwest Federation is the name of the label. Federation is the name of the family. It’s the whole family but stepping up forward is going to be the three that starts it all off. Then there’s going to be a whole bunch of other people stepping in doing their thing. We got Ridezilla from Sacramento.
Battle Loc’s out of San Diego. Federation is playing it Down South, out here on the West Coast, New York. We all over the place.
How did you meet everybody in the group? Is it because of your production work?
It’s basically from travels.
It’s because we’re real muthafuckas.
Have you known Rick for a long time, Doonie?
I’ve been knowing Rick since probably ’92. Back in Alabama.
Are you from Alabama too?
I’m originally from Mississippi, then I moved to Alabama. Then came out here to Northern California.
What about you Rick?
I was born in Montgomery, Alabama—Maxwell Air Force Base. I moved to California when I was about two. Then I moved back when I was fourteen or fifteen. I moved back nine or ten years after that. So I’m from both places – Northern Cali and Alabama.
What about you, Goldie?
I was born in Reno and raised in Vallejo. I lived in Fairfield, got shot when I was sixteen, met up with Rick Rock when I was in a wheelchair. Got out the wheelchair and we started doing our thing. I migrated to Sac. Now I’m back home in the Bay.
What about you, Stress?
I’m from Fairfield. I came into the group through Doonie. I’ve been knowing Goldie. You might as well say Goldie’s from Fairfield but Goldie’s from Vallejo too. We here to bring that West Coast shot back.
We’re here to put that Bay shit all the way on the map – nationwide, everywhere – to the mainstream.
When you asked me if I already had a plan for it, it’s like you always want to do something big, and I personally want to help people I see around doing their thing with talent and bring them up off the street and give them a career. That’s big for me. I would love to do that and see them have it. I didn’t go look for them. It just happened. I met El Dorado Red in Alabama. That’s El Dog. He’s from Harlem but he was in Alabama. I met Doonie Baby in Alabama. I just met Kinsmoke, Ridezilla. I just meet them all around. I just clicks and we start doing our thing.
Smoking together, drinking together. We get on a family level first. Then if you got talent, we get up in the studio, but first we on the family element.
And we ain’t looking for no new friends, either.
We can eat. We can get dough together. But no new inside niggas dot com.
Do you consider yourself to be from the Bay?
I consider us from Northern Cali. We represent Northern California. We got Richmond niggas. We got Fairfield niggas. We got Oakland niggas. We got Sacramento niggas. We got Vallejo. Then we got Doonie up from the South and El Dorado Red from Harlem. It’s all over. I like to say Northern Cali as it applies to our collective Federation because like I say, I put Ridezilla, and they’re from Sacramento, Oak Park and 916. I put Kinsmoke out and that’s Oakland, Richmond, Fairfield, Vallejo. We got it all. And what you said earlier, I think is real. The thing is, if you got one person from Compton and he’s never been out of Compton, then he can only talk about Compton, or what he read or seen on TV. His music will be tunnel vision. If you put that same nigga on a muthafuckin’ boat, train, truck, transit system, and put him in Harlem or New York for a few weeks, then fly him out to Africa for a couple weeks, do some touring with the little bitches out there in China. And then take him back to Chicago, just have him worldwide with his gang, his tunnel and his vision will open and his music will open as a result of his vision. That’s what the group collectively is because his tunnel vision is cool. Everybody’s tunnel vision will equal something bigger because I know I’ve been around the world and the country doing all these different things. I might have a different version of what I might think might be a hit as opposed to this nigga who’s just coming into it. Right now once he’s going through this shit with the labels and everything and working with radios, he’s seeing now that it’s all just gettin laced. That’s all I thing it is – an absorption of knowledge that makes these records bigger than what they are. I think that if any nigga wants to do it. they got to get out and go network all around the country. That’s what’s up and records will show that.
Go hard or go home.
Stop being scared to be different. That’s my thing. This is Doonie again. Like Rick was saying, there are a lot of tight ass Bay Area artist. I love a lot of the Bay rappers out here. I be amazed at some of them. How they put. Their word play and everything and their different styles, but it seems like they are stuck in a rut a lot of them. I want to see them get on different beats. Get on a muthafuckin’ rock beat. Get on a Down South beat. Don’t be a scared to challenge yourself. That’s the only thing I see that’s wrong in it. And we don’t network enough out here. And we don’t take constructive criticism real good out here. I feel like if we could get over that then the Bay is completely bad.
That’s why I like Tech N9ne because there’s no one like him in Kansas. He stepped out to do something different.
There’s no one like Tech N9ne because he ain’t even from this planet. That’s what’s up. Tech N9ne should keep doing what he’s doing.
He’s going to win.
Let me tell you what kind of rapper Tech N9ne is. If I had to send ten emcees to go rap against ten emcees from another planet who would take our planet if our emcees didn’t bomb, I’d send Tech N9ne because he doesn’t rap like he’s from this planet. I love him for that. And the way he looks and everything.
Straight up. He’s doing his own thing! And that’s what the Federation is about – our own thing!
You’ll never meet another nigga like Goldie. It’s all about character.
How did you meet Goldie?
I met Goldie when I was riding in Fairfield and he was in a wheelchair. He had gold hair and he was telling me how tight he is, that I should fuck with him. Actually, he was trying to holla at Mike and I was in the car with him. That was in ’96 or ’97.
Before Rick came out here from Alabama, I was under Mike Mosley. Then Mike Mosley started and his name got hot. He started going to LA and back so he really didn’t have time, because I was young. I was like fourteen or fifteen. Then we started growing up. Kinsmoke popped off with some street niggas. I met Rick Rock. He was like, “Ain’t no one can fuck with me.” Every time I see him. Chauncy from the Funky Chicken grew up with Rick Rock, so he was like, “I got this youngster I want you to hear.” I used to win battles with muthafuckas at lunchtime for lunch money at Chauncy’s shop. Then Rick Rock came into the record store. I did my thing, gave it to them, and I’m where I’m at now. It’s been hell and it’s been one fun ride, and I don’t want to get off the bus yet.
What about Stress?
I battled at school. I’m originally a battle rapper. I don’t do that shit no more because I’m not really into that shit. Me and Doonie battled to. I met Doonie at a record store in Fairfield that used to be called “Blue Light Records.” But it was really the Funky Chicken. Chauncy owned it.
I don’t mean to cut my man off. God forgive us for this one, but the truth shall set you free. Me and Stress used to be in church drunk together. Let’s be real. That’s what’s up.
Me and Goldie went to the same church. I know Goldie’s mom.
It’s easier to understand God when you’re drunk.
Goldie might be drunk. I was drunk a couple times, but that nigga was probably drunk more than me. I wasn’t really drunk that many times. I was drunk a couple times. I was high a couple times but not like that. I didn’t go to church high all like that.
Tell the truth.
I’m the truth. I got lyrics. I got shit and when you hear me on the album you’ll be like, “That nigga busts!” I bust! I come from the heart and I bust.
On this album, do you all appear on each song?
It’s mostly us three on all the songs but we got the other niggas from the Federation on the songs. But we really don’t have any solo songs on there at all.
Does Rick consider himself as part of the group?
I’m just getting them started. It’s just them. I don’t rap. The last time I rapped, it was on B-Legit album and that is probably gonna be the last time. That really ain’t my thing. I want to step back and concentrate and do this. I don’t want to be all on their records trying to still be trying to rap while the beats are suffering and I’m not giving them their shine, their chance or whatever. It’s all about them.
How did you decide what beats to give each group?
Usually I just get down. I work on certain things mainly at one time. If I’m concentrating on Federation, I’m concentrating on that. Now, if Perk or Ridezilla’s come through and they want a beat, maybe I’ll get down and squeeze one and do one with them right then. Or, I’ll give them a beat CD if they pick one or something like that. But I focus on one thing. Then when I’m done with that, I focus on something else. Then when I focus on that, I’m focused on that, and everybody else can probably get a beat or two but I’m mainly focused on them. That’s where they get their beats from because we getting’ down. Each artist is different. For the Kinsmoke album, it’s straight, beat ‘em up. I assess the group. For Kinsmoke, it’s a hard street groove. It’s straight grimy shit.
When does that album come out?
We don’t know. We’re working on it right now. I’m working on Kinsmoke’s album right now. And I’m working on El Dorado Red. He’s an East Coast Cat but he’s like a game soaker, so he’ll be in the South soaking up that game and the West Coast. His spit reflects that. He can rap on different types of things but I have more of an East Coast feel for him. Ridezilla’s going to be some straight gangsta shit too. It’s going to be some hard shit.
Most of your artists are groups not solo artists?
Yeah. But we have all the capabilities to be solo artists.
El Dorado Red is a solo artist and Battle Loc is a solo artist. Battle Loc’s shit is gangsta shit. He’s a Crip out of Dago. His shit is gangsta shit to the extreme but he’s onto some other shit. He’s on some weird shit. That’s what it is. It’s easier for me to work with the groups. Like Ridezilla, there might two or three solo artists in there but I can’t do all the solo artists. So we do the group thing. Same with Kinsmoke.
How did you work out the deal with Virgin?
Federation is with Virgin. My label is Southwest Federation. Through EMI. Big Jon signed me over at EMI publishing signed me. He got a situation at Virgin. I’ve been giving him Federation shit for years. I always send him some songs. He didn’t really want to fuck with them. He didn’t feel that they was ready. That was years ago, a couple, two or three years ago. It probably wasn’t ready. We worked trying to find ourselves.
Eddie wanted me to do a solo deal. I didn’t feel I was ready for the solo thing yet.
You want to know what Rick did? He called me up and played a beat. I heard it and wrote the hook in my head. Me and Doonie did the song “And It Don’t Stop”. We went to LA, shoved it down their throat. Them muthafuckas were jumping up and down on our dick.
That’s how it happened?
We shove “And It Don’t Stop” down LA’s throat. And it was really a shock to us because it was like, “We from the Bay! And LA playing the hell out of this” You know all them industry muthafuckas is in LA and they hear it on the radio. Now they feel we’re ready and they gave us a deal. We got to take it from scratch now that we got the deal. We can’t do all this old shit. Now we got to do new shit.
He’s right. We weren’t getting no deal. I was shopping on shit and no one was fuckin’ with us really. I was like, “fuck it!” We were going to do a song, which ever one we thought was going to hit. He did the other route. We didn’t go independent. We went and tried to go radio and get BDS spins. We did the album, I mixed it mastered, and sent it to get BDS, got a relationship with the technicians, and got spins on the radio. They started checking the spins and they were like okay, “OK they’re getting a little bit of spins, let’s fuck with them.”
Then they rushed Rick with the muthafuckin contract.
What do you think of Virgin? Virgin doesn’t do to much rap. Do you think they will do a good job for you?
It’s a double edged sword. It’s bad that they don’t really do a lot of the Rap. But it’s good that we’re one of the only ones there and they can concentrate on that. And it’s good that I work with the label from my label’s standpoint to work with them for some shit they might not get, if I feel like they don’t get it as far as knowing the group and knowing what we trying to movement. I have a lot of say, so that helps to. They’re a big wheel. They’re corporate. They got to go through all the different things an indie don’t have to do. We try to bring an indie label type of attitude with their big wheel. Right now it’s cool. They got a lot of people over there in the Urban Department doing their thing. Hopefully the shit works out. As far as the marriage working out, we’re doing our end with the music, and willing to get out there and work. Now it’s just up to them to push that shit and do what they got to do.
Is the album ready to go?
It’s a done deal. It’s a wrap. I mastered the album seven or eight times because I just want it to be right. I’ll take a song off and add another one to see how it works. Big John might be like, “Maybe we should take this off.” Then while we working and waiting for the release date, we’re doing new songs, so we’re like, “Fuck it. Fuck that, and put this on there.” I’m going to mix one more song tomorrow. The albums already mastered but after I mix that if it’s dope, I’m gonna slap that on there too.
Everybody, even if you consider yourself to be the dopest artist, when you hear this album you are going to know them boys are dope.
And it’s going to make you elevate your goddamn self.
You are going to say it’s time to go back to the drawing board. When I first them rap, every time I said I got to go back to the drawing board. And I’m dope. And when I rap, you are going to go back to the drawing board. I’ll will make you got back to the drawing boards. Every time it’s going to be the same thing. It’s not going to be no skipping songs. You are not going to skip a song. If you skip a song and there’s a passenger in your car, he’s going to fight with you. You are not going to be able to skip a song when you puts this album on. Back to back slaps. This is the one.
How many songs?
Right now, it’s seventeen or eighteen. The label kind of wanted me to take a couple off, trim it down. We did about thirty of them that are mixed and everything and ready to go, but only about seventeen are going to make the cut. Maybe a bonus hidden track on there or something like that.
Are you putting out a single?
Yeah, we’re shooting a video for “Go Dum”. We got a couple singles, but I don’t know what we’re going to do after that. We just want to start it off with “Go Dum” and capture how this shit goes down out here. We want people hanging out the door. We want to show how to bang and how muthafuckas get down, from Sacramento, Fairfield, Vallejo, Frisco. Oakland, San Ho, all the whole shit! How retarded niggas is out here. The door is wide open. The world hasn’t seen that. If you show them that, that’s the shit. The South comin with their little shit, that’s some different shit. Now we bring what we’re bring what we bring and show the visuals from this area. And people are going to say, let’s go fuck with that. And that’s all we need to get you into the door. Then you will listen to the music.
