Who is handling the production on the new Vell Bakardy album?

Ricky Rock did most of the production on the new album and I produced some of the tracks myself. This album right here is going to be what they have been wanting from me for awhile. A lot of people got a certain expectation from me and my name is out there but a lot of people don’t know why. This is going to be the first time that a lot of people are going to hear Vell Bakardy and understand why the face and the name keep showing up in the Murder Dog. I had to sit back and pioneer a lot of things that happened here. I brought the Murder Dog situation here.

How long ago was that?

This had to be in 1999 or 2000 when I introduced Ben E. and Black Dog together.

Before Murder Dog started covering Kansas City was Kansas City getting any exposure?

It wasn’t getting the exposure that it needed. It needed that visual promotion. It really opened up a door here, because now people can sell their CD’s nationwide.

Are you going to have the song "Cracker" on the new album?

Definitely, and we got a video on there for Crackers. We got the whole funny thing going. We gonna give that to y'all as a present from Jack Pot Entertainment.

Is there any chance of you and Tech N9ne ever getting together and doing something?

Definitely. Me and Tech squashed the thing that was going on between us. Both of us are trying to make money. I’m proud of everything he has done as far as sound scans. Eventually we will sit down and talk. We was both out in California at the same time, but we kept missing each other. There will come a time that we will both sit down and do one on the strength that we haven’t done one. Even if we are thinking two different ways, we will still sit down and do it.

Have you been doing any work with AMG lately?

I haven’t had the chance to work with Jason on the new one. I saw him at a club that Quik was performing at and I talked to him for a minute. I just didn’t get a chance in California to get on the album with them, I had to get back to the Midwest. In the future I know that me and Jay are going to do a few more things. This new album is real explosive. What Genuine Liqua Hits did for me in 1995, the Now or Never album is a quadruple of that. It’s that old, but it’s new. There are 16 tracks on there.

Are there any guests on the album?

It's still open. Kurupt was suppose to be on one track and another friend of mine named Ghost from Inglewood and a couple of youths. I’m opening up the youths in Kansas City this time around. There are artists like Sunday and female rappers who really haven't been exposed.

Sounds like you have a lot of plans.

I got plans. I have always had my hands on this and that, but now it's time for me to go ahead and lay one down. The video show definitely opened it up for me to able to network with all the groups. Now I'm trying to open up Kansas City. I have done this far and I'm going to continue this mission.

A lot of people have said before that there was no unity in KC. Do you think that everyone is coming together now?

It's starting to come together. When you get people that is only worried about their neighborhood or the people that they grew up with and being successful, then you are holding back on a lot of true talent that may not even be down with you, but it's talent. You could be making money off of that too. Now that that is out of the way people are starting to network a little bit more.

What do you think the future for Kansas City holds?

Until Kansas City stops listening to CD’s from other people’s environments thinking that is the way to go and giving back that mirror effect to California then it's not gonna go nowhere. It's gonna only be a few people coming out. Once Kansas City stops watching TV for ideas and starts looking at our own environment and realize that this is a merging city. Use your talent to open this up. Anything that hasn't been exposed is new. So instead of trying to expose what Cali has already exposed, we need to expose Cali to this.

Are you getting ready to drop some mix tapes as well?

Definitely, I got some mix tapes that’s on the way. I got mix CD’s where I'm rappin over some of the hottest beats in the game. I’m gonna give y’all some heaters.

For people that only know of St. Louis rap, what is the difference between St. Louis and Kansas City?

The difference is St. Louis is more Southeast orientated. Kansas City is more West Coast orientated. When you go to St. Louis you are going to hear a lot more East Coast and Down South type of environment. In Kansas City you are going to hear more of a West Coast/Midwest environment. Chicago is one of the largest cities in the United States and St. Louis is on the edge of that. St. Louis caters to that and that goes further east. When you hear a song in Kansas City the average rapper is gonna have murder, murder, kill, kill. The average person in St. Louis is gonna have shake that rump. It's the affiliation of how they listen to music and how they appreciate music. We are trying to open up in Kansas City. I can’t say who has more talent. I feel like we got a lot of talent, but I feel like St. Louis is more aware of what’s going on.

Kansas City has an untapped market. Do you think once this Murder Dog/Blood Rush compilation comes out that things will change for the industry side of Kansas City?

No doubt. Once the compilation is promoted right it should open some doors for somebody. There is a lot of different flavor on there. It's untouched flavor and untouched conversation that’s coming from Kansas City Missouri. I think it can definitely make a powerful impact. The history goes way back. Me and Black Dog have been rubbing elbows when Murder Dog was a newspaper. I have been down with Murder Dog that long. Put this in the magazine for Kansas City if you don’t know this: Vell Bakardi is the reason why y’all are in Murder Dog Magazine right now. Y’all need to know that.

Exactly how long have you been recording music?

I have been in it since way back, dog. Since around 1989 and all the way up to when I was working with Rick Rubin. I just saw Rick Rubin surface on the video with Jay-Z called "99 Problems." I'm going to give him a call since he was my old boss.

He looks like one of the guys from ZZ Top with his long beard.

It tripped me out when I saw him. I was like "damn." I haven't seen none of us that was on the label like me, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Chino XL for a long time. Just seeing Rick Rubin in that video it was like it is meant for me to do it right now. Now is a better time because I feel stronger and my lyrics are stronger. I'm more animated with what I'm doing.

Excluding yourself, who out of Kansas City who would you think the most likely to blow up would really be?

Fhady Pacino and he has been around for a couple of years. He's from Detroit but he lives here. He's the next one.

Anything that you want to add?

Dr. Dre if you are reading this magazine then holla at your boy Vell. I got some heat.

Do you want Dre to sign you to Aftermath?

Fo' sho. I want to get linked up with Dre. I feel like it would be on. I know it. I just know it, man. We just remade that "Keep It on the Low". Man, it's so hot.

If Dr. Dre would sign you and you would blow up would you stay the same, or would you change?

It's like when you are a child and when you turn 21 and they say "Do you still think you could run like this"? It's gonna be a little changing as you move a long, but you are always gonna be you. You should never forget where you come from.

You having been doing the drunk style before the ALkaholiks. Where did the liquid come from?

I have been doing the drunk style from the "Neighborhood Called the Holy Temple". We started that in 1988. I started doing drunk flows in 1988. Actually my name was DRV at the time (Dr. Vell). Dr. Dre was out so I didn't want to use that name. I happened to be at the liquor store one day in 1988 and I was looking at some liquor. I saw Bakardy Breezer and Breezer was the first thing that I said. People wouldn't call me Vell Breezer, they would call me Vell Bakardy.

Why not gin or something else? Why Bakardy?

It just grabbed my attention out of everything that was in there. Then when I sat back and analyzed Bakardy and looked at the bottle it had eight awards on it and I was born on February the 8th. I was like "This is me right here." I have been running with it since.

When the Alkaholiks came out, did you feel like they ripped you off in a way?

Me and Tas are cool right now until this day. In the beginning we were at a Cypress Hill party and we had words about it. It was a little misunderstanding between us. They didn't know who I was or where I was coming from. What happened was my album was suppose to be Genuine Liquor Hits, but my old manager used to run with the Alkaholiks and I guess he was trying to get back at them and he flipped it to "Liqua" the way they spelled it. It cause some type of reaction and we had to get to know each other. At the time Xzibit was doing intern for 92.3 the Beat and he was the first one that I saw. He was like "Don’t even worry about it, it ain’t even that deep." It had got to that level, but we all squared it off and it was cool. It was all just a misunderstanding. They didn't realize that I had been Vell Bakardy. I'm older than all of them. Once they checked up on me and my background then everything became love.

When we hear your new album for the first time, what will we hear?

You are gonna hear an upgrading of the game, but nothing has changed. It's like that feeling you had when you first heard that first LL album, or that first Beastie Boy album or that first Run DMC album. This is that type of flavor. It's that opening of Vell Bakardy. It's now or never and I'm not holding nothing back.