Interview with Mac Mall by Lil' Ray Ray

Let's about the next Mac Mall joint.

Actually I'm puttin out my first solo Sessed Out release, and it's called Immaculate. The first track on the album is "Mac Jesus". That's basically tellin you where my head is act. It talks about all the shit I been through, from Illegal Business 2000 to now. The success that I done had from that, to the name sayers, to love I done felt, to the hate I done felt. It's life. I have a song on there with Federal Insane, my kinfolks, my New Jersey kinfolks. We do it real big on that song. The record is produced by Khayree--who did a lotta platinum shit, from Pac to 40. And a new producer that I'm bringin to the table, who's also my DJ, DJ Yon. And I can't forget, my folks Dion. He also produced for Pac. And Shock G did a vicious song that me and him did together on my record. I feel like I owe my fans. Through all the shit, my fans stayed with me and supported me, dude. I feel responsible for my music and what I bring to the table. I think they're gonna be happy.

When's the album releasing?

It'll be out February 26. By the time everybody reads this it'll be in stores already. People know what to expect from me. There were people before me. I'm not sayin that I started it. But I am sayin that I perfected it, cuz. I pay respects to those that came before me. All praises. But I perfected it. I'm takin the game to where it needs to be. If you look right now at the game--Pac said that he was gonna make thugs outta suckas, and he really did. It's hella niggaz now. But on the other side of that coin there's muthafuckas who tryna go heavy on that playa shit, who goin heavy on that pimp shit, but they ain't never got no dough from a ho. Callin him pimp cause he got an outfit. Cats nowadays, they tryna come like Donald Goines, which is one of my favorite authors. I did that when I was 13 and 14 and 15, now I'm on some Makavelli shit. You gotta elevate your game. Now I'm a grown man at 24, and this shit is serious. Now Mac Mall is a corporation. This Sessed Out Records, we on some corporate shit. Now I'm tryin to reach my hand out to some young brothas who startin out like me. Young brothas that can get focused on their dreams and really go after it.

Niggaz be needin that guidance sometimes.

I got it from real muthafuckas, but I also had a lotta people pullin too. I grew up in this Rap game. My first record came out when I was sixteen, I was three years older than Bow Wow. You see niggaz come and go. I was able to survive cause me and Khayree, we based our music on more than what the average cat base his music on. We tryin to make you shake your ass, but also we're tryna make songs that touch you and that you're gonna wanna slam a year from now. Songs that make you feel the same way that you did when you first heard it. We're real serious bout this music.

It's cool that you and Khayree are still on good terms and working together.

Me and Khayree are tight. He produced some of the best songs on this record. We're gonna continue to work with each other and keep it crackin. I started with him. Plus, I'm in this game for a reason. There are niggaz who died tryin to get in this game. Such as the Mac, Michael Robinson. That's the cat who on all my tapes I'm givin big love to. And DJ Cease, who was the DJ for all of from the Crest--he died. I'm tryna give it to him. I'm tryna give it to Young Lay's baby. His baby mama died in my neighborhood and his baby got kidnapped and shit. The shit is bigger than me. With Sessed Out, I'm here to get it right. And I'm here to give an opportunity to other young cats.

You seem to have come through this with a lot of knowledge and understanding.

It ain't really the time that you spend on this earth that make you the person that you is, it's the experience. It ain't where you at or how much money you got, it's the experience. And how you react to the experience that make you the person that you is. That's life's game, cutty. That's what I mean about the game. There's dogs who wanna just say the game is dope, weed, bitches, hoes, it's bigger than that. It's that too, but it's bigger.

A lotta people don't know that you and E-40 are family. Set the record straight.

Damn right we're family. We family like a muthafucka. The shit got way back to Louisiana. That's where I come from. 40's grandmother and my grandfather is first cousins. And they came to Vallejo together. They all settled in Floyd Terrace and shit. Then they moved to the Hillside and my grandmother moved to the North of Vallejo. We cousins. Shuga T used to stay with my auntie and shit. The Click is like my big cousins.

When did you start rappin?

I been rappin all my life, it's all I ever did. I'm like a youngster in Vallejo, and I'm seein 40 and them doin it. And I'm in the Crest, seein my Crestside folks doin it. The Mac was the first one to ever come out. And DJ Cease and Khayree was just startin Strictly Business Records. This Bay Area Rap. We were onto Too Short, his early shit, before he even got on wax. Before 75 Girls and all that. Cats like Magic Mike and Calvin T were doin it. That's the Rap that I represent. The game. Cats like that was like superstars to me. At the same time Run DMC was doin their thing, these cats was doin it in the Bay. Short was one of the godfathers of this shit. He had the tapes comin from Oakland to Vallejo, through the D Boy circuit. And down in Richmond Magic Mike and Calvin T, they was some of the coldest cats to ever touch the mic. These are my peers, these are the people that inspired me to do this Rap shit.

They laced you with game when you were a youngster.

In this Rap game that we playin a lotta muthafuckas represent a lotta different shit. You got your Black conscious Rap. You got your rich nigga rap. Thug shit. You got your straight pimp shit. That's what I represent, that mack shit. Muthafucka represents the game. That covers life. Up and down, love and hate, betrayal. It covers it all.

You started rapping young, and you had a record out early too.

I made my first record when I was sixteen. That's when I came out with the classic record, Illegal Business. I wrote it when I was 15 and 16. It came out on Young Black Brotha.

How was you relationship with Young Black Brotha?

Beautiful. Just like any relationship. I fucked with them for a minute. I started on YBB with the first record on a new label. Khayree just started his own label, Young Black Brotha. Actually, I was spittin for the neighborhood. I'm still in high school. As it turned out, me spittin for my neighborhood ended up touchin a lotta people all over the country. The shit blew. It did more than we expected it to do. We expected it to do good, but it blew. From there--I was just startin the game, I wanted to experience stuff--I went and fucked with Relativity Records.

What made you decide to make that move?

People see different directions they wanna go. At that time I was seein another vision and YBB was seein another vision. We decided to separate with love. So I do my thing on Relativity, come up with the Untouchable album.

And that muthafucka's the shit. I been bangin that muthafucka for some years now.

Much love. That's when I was on the cover with the gator. I had took them pictures in Louisiana at the gator farm. But I'm fuckin with Relativity and that was my first time on a major. I went in there, 19 years old, and I negotiated a deal that was super saucy. So we did our thing, released the record, it's all good. But as time went by I really didn't like the feelin of the major record label. It's too corporate for me. I had a beautiful contract too. But I got fed up with the corporate thing, and kinda fell out with the muthafuckas, and we end up in court. And it went real faulty, that's how they play. It ain't like the dope game.

Then you came outta that deal and started your own label?

It was some years, dude. Two years that I'm goin to court. Meanwhile I'm doin compilations, I'm doin guest appearances, I'm doin shows. I gotta say much love for all the muthafuckas who supported me, cause it's tough when you gotta wait 2 years to come up with a record. I maintained, came back out with Illegal Business 2000. That's when I started Sessed Out Records, and me and Khayree hooked up again. It was a Sessed Out/Young Black Brotha release. On that record I had one of my biggest songs on the radio in my career. That came out right after "Player's Holiday". My single "Wide Open" came out and blew up. That same year me and JT hooked up and wrote, directed and starred in our own movie. We also did a soundtrack for that. I ended up handlin my business and came out swingin like a soldier.

You got a taste of the major deal and then you decided to get back independent.

I decided to own my masters, put my own record out. I had distribution, I been havin distribution. I got distribution with Bay Side now. We brought the Sessed Out staff out here. We got the whole roster line up. We got R & B acts. Got tight rappers like Ray Luv, he's fuckin with the Moses Soul Music Group. We're doin our thing out here Sessed Out Records/Moses Soul. That's me and my manager, Leila.

I heard she was Tupac's former manager.

Please believe it. She's been through it all. She been with me since I was sixteen years old. We're doin our thug thing. I'm doin shit with Quincy Jones. It's like a family thing, cause QD3's did the track.

Let's hear what's coming up from Sessed Out Records/Moses Soul.

Doin work with Ray Luv, he's comin back out. He's got a Rock record, one of them Hip Hop/Rap shit. Plus he's got a straight Ray Luv record comin out. Then we got Big Psyche, he on his way. Hello, hello. We got a lotta shit comin. We're also lookin for new talent. I'm lookin for a certain thing for my label. And for Moses Soul Music Group we're lookin for all typa sounds.

BG
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