Killa Tay
Interview by Scott Bejda
From Murder Dog vol. 13 #1
What have you been working on Tay?
Me and C-Bo got an album coming out called “The Moment Of Truth” next month. We went down to San Diego and did most of it and finished it in Hollywood. We did it with The Siccness, with Nemo.
How is it to work with C-Bo?
Me and Bo have been doing this for a long time and I guess it’s like natural chemistry because we are like best friends. He tells me I’m his inspiration and it’s all pretty natur
al. In the studio we have fun with it!How long have you and C-Bo known each other?
We’ve known each other for about thirteen years now.
Do you have any solo projects in the works?
I’m probably going to wait until the Summer time. I actually have some artists out here where I live that I have been working with. I got an artist named Dobad, who is one of the tightest White rappers that I have ever heard.
Where did you find him at?
He is out here in Marin! Him and Coz Pacino grew up together and Coz is another cat that I work with who is doing the production on the album that I’m going to do.
What do you think of the Hyphy movement in the Bay?
I’m from the Mobb era, but I think it’s interesting. I got some cats from my circle that are doing it. It is fun as hell but I’m a little older so I’m more Mobb. I dig the movement and don’t have anything against it but it is not really my genre.
Hyphy is cool, but it’s up to people like you and Bo to keep Mobb music alive?
That’s how I feel because everyone is switching over. That’s why I think that this album me and C-Bo did means a lot. I’ve listened to it a lot and there hasn’t been an album like this in a long time, we’re missing that. It reminds me of some of the older AWOL days and it’s real underground. Mainstream might not ever accept it, but I think that it’s the truest form for a lot of people. Cats come up to me all the time and tell me thank you because they say they needed this. This is still where my heart is!
Being that you and Bo spit real shit is that why you called the album “The Moment Of Truth?”
Exactly. Back in 2001 when I had just got out of jail we were talking about doing the album and Bo ask me what I wanted to call it and I came up with the title. It took a while for us to do it, but we held on to that title. There are a lot of fabrication in music and this is needed right now.
Everyone talks about that material bullshit that you can’t even take with you when you are six feet deep!
Yeah! It really killed off our shit! We have West Coast music and that form of music made it really hard for people to eat out here in the West. There are more hoods out here than the lavish shit! A lot of people make it try to seem lavish but that is not the case.
California is one of the gang bang Mecca’s along with Chicago. In the streets it can be harsh.
Exactly! It’s more of that rough era and that is the truth because I look at as Chicago, California and New York but everywhere somebody migrated and put it out there. There are real gangstaz everywhere but I think the foundations are exactly what you said. Most of the lingo came from out here. I look at it like we are trendsetters.
Are you going to do any more DVD’s?
I got this cat who does a lot of footage for me and I’m definitely working on that. The album that I am working on is gonna be all me to the face. I’m thinking about doing a double CD with a DVD and have it all me.
Do you have any features on “The Moment of Truth”?
We got Yuk on there and a couple cats from San Diego like Mitchy Slick and Super Nova, Iroc, and The Realest. It was just people that we are affiliated with and who was around us at the time. It’s a real solid album and something I’m real proud of. It was a nine day project. We went down there and knocked it out and we had some fire music.
I hope Bo stays out but it is like the law has a target on his back!
It’s like that with a lot of my peers out here. California is kind of like that and once you get in the system they have it out for you and it’s hard to escape it. They’ve been watching us for years and we got raided by the Feds in ’96. Once the police know you it’s hard to break away from it. They get in the way, from shows to just regular living. They don’t want us to enjoy our life and would rather just make things hard on us. But we are soldiers. We are the voice of the streets!
Ya’ll stay true to the streets!
We do what we know! We can go to the club and enjoy that movement but it’s not really our area. We have never been the type of cats that danced a lot but that does bring a good light to the music out here. I also think Mac Dre was doing a real good job and he had a big chance to really shine. He had the whole package!
I think he was about to do it too.
That is like all of our struggle. We had the underground fame, but we were missing the visual. We never had the TV time that people have in other areas. We had our underground DVD’s but we never had the BET shines or the 106th & Park shines. We stay true to our self and keep pushing it.
Fuck ’em! You are being true to what you do.
Even though we never got that Cash Money deal we are doing what is true to our heart. I know the people who are the real fans appreciate our music. As long as I can satisfy them then I’m happy with that.
How many albums do you have out?
This one will be about my 12th album!
What made you get into Rap?
I started rappin’ when I was seven years old and I grew up on the east coast. I was born in D.C. and I lived in Philadelphia and I also was in Chicago. When I was about seven I started listening to Kurtis Blow. It was a gift and I started writing poetry and raps in school when I was in third grade. It is part of my culture and I kept pushing because I was good at it. Rap can be a gift because some people know how to use it for the right outlets. It makes a living for people and is a good asset but we get a lot of bad publicity because of the content. When I moved to California I loved NWA! With the “Fuck Tha Police” song people really felt like that! They come down on us a little harder because they think that we shouldn’t organize anything. It’s never going to be fair and it was something that I thought I could change with my words. But that’s something that will never stop.
