Interview with Eastsidaz by allen S. Gordon

You were locked up when Snoop first started out in 1991. Did you guys write each other then to plan working together once you got out?

Tray Dee: Naw. I didn’t even know Snoop back then. I just heard he was an up and coming rapper on the scene representing my city. I was hearing this from all different gang members, convicts and felons that was coming through to do their piece, and it made me curious as to why they was giving him his props. It was some real serious things giving it up for his city. I been writing rhymes behind the walls since 1987 as a hobby. Just rhymes for the homies, telling tales about my exploits on the streets, what I was gonna do when I touch down.

Were you rhyming to hopefully one day get a deal, or just banging on the walls to pass time away?

It was really something to pass time away. Really, except for what I was hearing from all the rappers like Ice T, Rakim, Grandmaster Flash and a couple more people, there were a whole lotta people saying a whole lotta nothing. I knew I could say a whole lotta something if I was provided the opportunity. But I really didn’t believe I would be provided with the opportunity as swift as it came.

So who approached who? I remember you were on Snoop’s first executive project "Beware of My Crew" as a member of the LBC Crew with Bad Azz, South Sentrelle and Lil’ C-Style.

We had a mutual homie named C-Style and he was running tough with Snoop at the time. We was on the block one day drinking, smoking and I was freestyling about some of the things that I spit in the pen, and he was like "You tight. You need to be in the game. I’ma holler at Snoop Dogg and let him know what’s up. Let him give you an ear." I was like cool, but by me not knowing him I didn’t think he would be cool with that, being that he was fresh on the scene himself. As it turned out, a few weeks went by and I met him at a club just chilling doing low, jacking busters and C-Style introduced us. Snoop asked me if I could flow to this instrumental, which was "G Thang," and I busted this rhyme I had wrote called "Take A Survey."

Do you still remember that rhyme?

Yeah. I’m steppin hard with no regard as to who get’s stepped on/Those who chose to get with this wish they’d have kept on, pass me when they ass be exposed to toxic lyrics that I drop with the knowledge of a prophet/And don’t attempt to glimpse at the blueprints, cuz you could never ride or fill the size of my shoeprints/And those that suppose they could match and surpass this, I warn ya’ California’s coming something disastrous.

When I heard "Beware of My Crew" I figured you and Bad Azz would take this thing further. The skills were off the hook. You just had this dusty O.G. feel and wisdom to the rhyme like a Melle Mel representing that Blue car.

Yeah, I was pretty much with the whatever, because I was still on the turf gang-banging. I didn’t have any understanding of the lucrative side of making records. I just thought it was a form of creating art and being famous. I knew nothing about the pay, and because I was a crook back then I wasn’t eager about making rap songs. Though, I was eager to work with Snoop Dogg, so I could showcase my talents next to his and see what people thought. So when it finally took place I was getting responses from people on the streets and various places, so I shifted my style from like a flossy MC/educator to straight gangsta. Telling the stories of how I lived and what I’d do. I didn’t try to find the balance between the two, I just stuck to one and tried to improve and be the best that I can.

After cutting that song, did you have any concerns being exposed to enemies when doing shows or being ID’d in videos? Or were passes given for shows at the Sports Arena, etc?

That was a big concern of mine. Like I said, I was a crook. I had done a lot of robberies, a lot of things that might have got me identified by other people later on in life when they see my face on TV. I used to be buckwild and not masked up sometimes, and I got exposed a couple of times to my victims. So being in front of the camera was a concern of mine, but I figured I would take that chance for this opportunity.

What was the transition like to be an older dude banging then turning into an artist with all the new territory of the entertainment world?

It was all a learning process for me from the beginning by me coming in with Snoop at the top of his game with The Chronic and Doggystyle. Me having that large exposure at the inception of my career, I had to take my time and really learn what I was into before I could feel like taking the reigns and riding the horse myself. I let him know that I would be a loyal student and take what he taught me, internalize that so I could handle these matters myself when he no longer be used as a crutch for me.

What about all the paperwork, lawyers, and all that?

I have a pretty good command, as well as, comprehension of English and business dealings, so understanding the contracts wasn’t much of a task. I just had to put my trust in Snoop. That’s why I showed him I would be loyal, so he would in turn be loyal to me and help me learn things through his experiences. The good as well as the mistakes that would prepare me for the pitfalls I would encounter in this game. I was never really fearful, because Snoop and I established a friendship in the beginning that if something was amiss, it wouldn’t be too hard to rectify. We are both real cool and have a respect for humanity. We ain’t no cutthroat dog-ass muthafuckas to our people. I saw that quality in his character that he was sincere. As far as paperwork, like I said I know how to conduct myself with other adults and tense situations.

I know Snoop really enjoys taking folks from the block on the road, especially overseas and to Hawaii, to enjoy some of the world like he has. When was your first time on the road with him?

It was at Jack The Rapper in Florida in 1994. That was the first time I went out of town with him. I really didn’t have any responsibilities or have a song out on the radio. It was just becoming a part of the family. It wasn’t like that the first time out and we weren’t really awarded a lot of privileges that came with being on the road with Snoop, He was still fresh to the scene and we was rolling with Death Row Records. As you know, we’re Crips and they’re Bloods, so me just coming into close proximity with the opposing factor at that time was something. We had an understanding though, but I had my eyes peeled no less. There was sarcasm and hints of disrespect in the air, so it wasn’t as festive as it would have been if it was just us. We had to form an alliance with the opposition and that was new to me.

When you all formed The Eastsidaz, was there overwhelming pressure for your debut?

It had been five to six years in the making so it wasn’t as tense for me as it was for Goldie Loc, because he’s younger. He had just appeared on a couple of major projects and I had been on several. I just knew that it was time for me to brace up and give the world a view of what I can deliver as an individual within the structure of a group. So I knew I had to bring the O.G. flavor, the old school, banged out. . . I just had to shine a light that wasn’t blaring in Hip Hop then. I had to represent strength, no nonsense, actual life situations where decisions had to be made about routes taken in life and where those routes could possibly lead. I felt I had to express the pressure we live in this society as gang bangers, as Black men, as inner city criminals. You have to eek out your existence on this Earth when you living in those worlds, especially when all those lives are active for a certain group of people.

What was the biggest challenge for you as a member?

I‘m just glad Snoop was devoting some time to giving me shine to the world. That was real big to me. That had me scratching lines out, rephrasing my lyrics or the way I expressed a certain word or verse. I just made sure I was on my P’s and Q’s all the way around.

What is your history in music prior to The Eastsidaz?

Goldie Loc: I’ve been doing it as a kid, because I love rhythm. I used to DJ. I had my two Technics doing my thing for parties and shows. I had just started running the streets about this time and ran into this cat who was trying to get a label and he was down with my work. He was helping me out and funding my muisc, so whatever he paid for I gave him. Snoop’s little brother, Pretty Tony, was on the same label [OG’s to Wall Street] with me, so I used to come over here with him. Snoop knew me through the streets and the homies telling him about me. Snoop wanted to hear me, but the homies wasn’t really trying to go that route. So when we started coming through here, Snoop respected the way me and his brother was hustling- the clean way. Snoop’s brother had his crew of about seven people, and I was by myself- producing, making beats, rapping and working the whole studio.

Tray Dee mentioned that you were heavy into producing as well as rapping. You have a particular sound that you enjoy?

I like the warm sound. I like to produce warm music- a sound I can come up with as quick as lyrics. It’s just talking to me. I like my bass hitting and I like samples, but replay it the way I like it. I feel the music has to have its own story just like the lyrics. I produced "Give It To Em Dogg" on the first Eastsidaz album and I was fucking with these horns, but I couldn’t get them to sound right. So I had to get a machine and put a synthesizer on it to tweak the horns. That’s why I love all these machines. Each machine can provide something different to your creation, and I can work with all these machines and make them speak the language I want them to.

Any piece of equipment you favor over others?

No. It’s different machinery for different methods of what you are trying to accomplish. Sometimes you may go into a warm place so you only need something small. You don’t need too many keyboards, sound modules. . . that ain’t even producing. Producing is just using your mind to create. You can have all the machines and equipment that Dr. Dre, myself or Hi-Tek have, but if you don’t understand the rhythm of soul, harmony, melody or how certain instruments and sounds do sing themselves, then you don’t understand what this is. Anybody can make a beat or loop a track for eight bars over and over, but the music has to have life to move something. Music is the best way of delivering feelings and messages.

How did the chemistry improve from the first album to the new album Deuces and Trays?

The first album I came in from doing songs with Snoop and No Limit, so now that I’ve already done an album with Snoop and Tray Dee, I’m more comfortable and know what I have to do. I write quicker now, Snoop and I write songs in 20 minutes. I can say from the first album, my transition has been from a young man’s point of view to a man’s point of view. The pressure was off for this album. The first album I felt like I was on an All Star team with no stats of my own, that’s how much pressure I had on me. Now I don’t feel that people are looking at me to see if I can keep up with these boys.

Tray Dee said this album had it’s own game plan and everyone just executed flawlessly.

This album was automatically organized. It just came together naturally. The first album we just put together and it still came out tight. It was like, even if you fell off the subject and went on a tangent, oh well- keep it movin’. This album I raised the balance, and this album is conceptual top to bottom. The last album was straight street life. I didn’t do any beats on this album, because we already had songs. The foundation for this album had been laid the moment we hit the road to promote our album.

Did performing together on tour enhance the chemistry from the first album?

Doing shows together definitely helped the chemistry of the group and the production of this album. Like I said, this album Deuces and Trays: The Old Fashion Way, came together like clockwork. However we had a concept, we rode it out to the end. Being on the Up In Smoke tour helped us. Everybody has to put their heads together in order to make the organization strong.

Do you remember your first time on stage?

Man it was crazy. It was Jay Leno I think. We was doing "Lodi Dodi," I was on stage and just froze up and faded in the back when I was supposed to be helping with the ad libs. I felt like I was watching him on TV until I started walking in cameras and shit. I was shocked. Snoop told me, "Homie, we about to do this shit every day. Get used to it." Then we went on the road with No Limit. I felt the most comfortable when I had songs, because it was on me. I was still uncomfortable doing the background until like the fifth show, then I just got onto rapping somebody else’s verse.

What is the selection process for songs? Who decides what’s banging?

The moment everybody agrees on a song, we know it stays. If one of us disagrees, then that song or concept will go on the shelf to be worked on or scrapped at a later time. We pick the best one that everyone of us vibes to. We look at each other, but we look at the homies to see how they vibe to it when we have parties or family gatherings.

Tray Dee: We always throw parties over here at Snoop’s or low ride and dip with the homies. Wherever we go we got to have our music. We want to get a response to our work before we make a final decision.

As the youngest member were you nervous when your first album released?

I used to ride around to every Wherehouse I saw and buy a copy of our album. You know what I’m saying. Me and Snoop was in the mall one day and I bought our album twice. I wasn’t looking at SoundScan or checking Billboard and I wanted to make sure people heard the album, so I would give random people a copy of the album and be like, "Bump this." Then Snoop was like, "Man, why are you buying our album? The shit is gonna do what it’s gonna do." So we just laughed and I worked my confidence up. Especially when I would hear people banging the song in their rides. But now I don’t have to do that with this album.

This is our sixth or seventh interview in nine years, but this time you are a CEO and doing your part to keep the West Coast popular at home and abroad.

Snoop: It was like the shit that was missing out here was missing from the game in general. So when Master P showed me how to get money and be an entrepreneur there were lessons that I learned that I can bring back to my city, my state on how to utilize myself as a business. Snoop Dogg, not Calvin. While I was under his jurisdiction, Master P showed me more than just how to make a hit record or a hit video. He showed me how to make long term money and turn Snoop Dogg into a business. Given that opportunity, I came back, started up a record label, got my own clothing line, doing movies, putting out my own films as well- everything I learned from him I can do on my own now.

Was that what you were looking for during the time Dre was gone and you left the other label?

When I made my decision to move to No Limit, all those were factors. I needed a breath of fresh air and to be in an atmosphere that was conducive to learning. That was what I needed. I was in a situation to learn more, and three years later I can apply what I learned and teach.

Tray Dee said that you took the idea for the LBC Crew to the Row originally, but Suge wasn’t hearing it.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t let me talk about it. He heard me out. That’s how I put the LBC Crew together, I had a whole album done. It was a matter of whether he would let it grow into the competition and let me build my own franchise outside of Death Row. I don’t think he was ready for that at the time. So by the blessing of God, I was able to have this opportunity years later.

You had ideas for amusement parks and restaurants as well.

My hopes and dreams are coming together a little at a time. I just have to be patient and work hard towards those goals. Just like I dreamed of being a rap star, I dream of other things. I may not have the blueprint from the start, but I have heart and soul and that is the foundation of pursuing a dream. Wanting to make it happen. By me doing that, I may have the governor of Mississippi wanting to work with me to make an amusement park a reality.

This album concentrates more on Goldie and Tray and they both mentioned how easily this project came together.

I had a plan in my head. I figured that I was where I needed to be as far as Snoop Dogg was concerned. I felt like my peers finally respected me as a businessman so they could believe in the artists I would sign. So on Deuces and Trays, I felt I needed to be coaching and quarterbacking more instead of blocking and running routes, because this time it should be more about Goldie Loc and Tray Dee. Which is why I’m glad this interview is more about them. You heard the album, most of the songs are just based on them and getting to know who they are and what they represent. This one is banging way harder than the first because everyone knew the plan of attack and executed. We’ve run these routes and went over these plays in practice, so at game time in the studio we just dominated like my Lakers did.

Goldie mentioned that all the beats had already been selected prior to any vocal work.

My thing is I like fucking with people who have the same spirit I have. I like people that I connect with that are on the same page that I am. All the producers: Swizz, Hi-Tek, Alchemist, Soopafly, Meech, Jellyroll, Battlecat- we all cut from the same cloth so we feel good working together and we feel good about each other. When we in the studio we are all trying to make music that is saying something. All of us have been making hot music since we’ve been in the game, so nobody is afraid to say, "hey man, I like your work. Let’s get in the studio and make something happen."

You have also taken an active role in establishing relationships with many acts from different regions and keeping peace between certain camps.

I feel I’m Martin Luther King at times. I fell like Malcom X at times, and I feel like I’m Marvin Gaye at times. All in one. All these feelings have to play their role and do what they do. A lot of times you see me smiling and being peaceful, I’m in MLK mode keeping the peace. Moving things and keeping our people together as one finding a better way other than violence. If you see me with a hundred of my homies mashin, Crippin’ and banging- I’m in my Malcolm X mode. Not giving a fuck because suckers are plotting on me and the air is getting thick. When you see me in a performance mode or at an awards ceremony, I’m feeling like Marvin Gaye spreading my love and connecting with the people. In every part of the world at every moment, I need to flex one of those faces at all times.

What else can we expect from Snoop the businessman?

We’re trying to advance this clothing line, Snoop Dogg clothing. I have a movie company called Doggfather Ent. that just released an adult film Doggystyle Vol. 1. I worked on it with Larry Flynt of Hustler and broke all kinds of home adult film records. I got the Eastsidaz movie that is hitting hard. Right now, if you look at Dogghouse, it’s a little No Limit and that’s a good model. Master P took No Limit from a little street label to a top grossing company that topped Forbes list. That’s what I’m looking at, except I want to take it a step further.

You’ve definitely got a more focused outlook than when we last talked.

That’s what it’s all about, putting yourself in this position. Three years ago I didn’t deserve all this. I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t have the right mind frame. I didn’t have the access to information and my leadership skills weren’t what they are now. I enjoyed coming off the bench at No Limit backing up the starting team. I had one championships at Death Row, but I enjoyed being a sixth man at No Limit and winning more championships. I played more roles, coming with key points at the right time- or not scoring at all but cheering loud as a motherfucker and patting niggaz on the back during timeouts. I loved being around them cats and they showed me how to structure my shit. I’m giving my artists all their publishing. My starting five, the people who help me establish my business- I don’t want to take nothing from them.

Learning from experiences and creating new opportunities.....

Right. I’ve had the opportunity to work with two of the largest record labels in the history of music, how could I not come out of that hoping to provide something on my own terms. I’m a nigga with a vision and I’m just trying to stay creative and keep it moving. I’m gonna start work on Doggystyle Vol 2. at some point this year. But what I really want to do is something for the kids. I want to tap into animation and give back something for the children like Bill Cosby did with Fat Albert. Remember Fat Albert? I want to have something similar to that for kids to look at and have as a part of their upbringing just like you and me can remember how Fat Albert touched our childhood. Cartoons today don’t really address things like Fat Albert did. Just a great cartoon that will never die.

It’s good that you’re stepping into the shadow to let Goldie and Tray have the sun. Those brothers have a lot to say and a lot to offer.

That’s why I fuck with them, plus they tight as fuck. Everybody knows my story. It changes. It gets better, it gets a little more intense. I got people speaking negative on me and folks are wondering how I’m gonna handle it. I got friends turning against me and all kinds of shit happening with me. But motherfuckers know I’m the coolest nigga in the game, but also know where I’ve come from and what I’m about. Goldie Loc and Tray Dee are the same way.

BG
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