His multisyllabic style has influenced even legendary emcees (see: Eminem’s onetime AZ-esque flow on 1996’s “Infinite”), and his cocksure cool delivery and demeanor may have arguably been more influential to the New York Hip Hop scene over the past dozen or so years than the swagger of any of his rotten apple rap peers. There’s no need to debate his worth, what AZ has brought to the game is simply undeniable.
While he might not have ever been able to enjoy the commercial success of Biggie and Jay-Z, the fellow Brooklynites he sat at the table with in ’95 as a respected equal in Jay’s “Dead Presidents” video, he is deserved of the same respect.

Unfortunately, rap fans read Soundscan, and the perception they form from it of who’s hot and who’s not becomes the reality artists must reside in. And although his debut single, 1995’s “Sugar Hill” went gold, the classic album it was featured on, Doe Or Die, inexplicably failed to net a plaque, and therefore the light shining on AZ’s commercial career grew dimmer with each subsequent release. While his next three solo efforts (1998’s Pieces of a Man, 2001’s 9 Lives, and 2002’s Aziatic) all came close to going gold, save for 1997’s group effort with Nas, Foxy Brown and Nature, The Firm: The Album, AZ has essentially remained off of mainstream rap’s radar for a decade.

Thankfully, for fans of one “Rather Unique” emcee, AZ hasn’t given up and called it quits simply because he never attained the same chart positions of B.I.G. or Jay, or even Nas, the man who introduced AZ The Visualiza to the masses on 1994’s classic collabo, “Life’s A Bitch.” Instead, Anthony Cruz has soldiered on, destined to leave a lasting legacy of great music behind. A legacy he will continue adding onto in March with the release of his seventh solo effort, Undeniable [click here to listen to album sampler]. And in a surprisingly candid conversation with HipHopDX, AZ explains why he must establish his own musical legacy without the assistance of his onetime partner-in-rhyme, how he may have some competition on the mic emerging in his own family, and most importantly why he’ll never, never, never, stop giving us that “Uncut Raw.”

HipHopDX: My first question for you is actually a question Nas posed at a recent performance in New York, “Where’s AZ at?” So, where has the Visualiza been at?
AZ: Well, just trying to figure the game out. You know I been in the game for a minute. As you get a little older in the game, you learn a little more about the business. So I was just trying to get my business tight, ‘cause I made that transition from major to independent. I been dealing with Koch since A.W.O.L. in ’05, and that was the transition from major to independent. I had my problems with majors, from EMI to Virgin to Motown, and I just made the transition to being my own boss and I just been figuring it all out. So, that’s basically it, I been trying to master my craft, the business side and the art side.

DX: I don’t know if I’m overstepping my bounds by asking this, but are you and Nas not in regular contact? Is he really unable to find you?
AZ: [Laughs]. Listen, he’s on a cloud. He’s the one chillin’. He got the better hand, so when you got the better hand you always can reach out and reach back, and make a certain move. So, I’m accessible whenever, but at the end of the day he doin’ him and I’m doin’ me right now. We had that chance to do that Batman and Robin thing, but I feel like that time has passed. That’s my perspective, I don’t know about the fans and how he feel. I just feel that time has passed, ‘cause that window was open and we ain’t really go through it. So, now I gotta plant my feet into the legacy of Hip Hop and get my story out there. And that’s basically what this album is about. Like, I’m not saying that any of my other albums been denied, but all I’m saying is on Undeniable, I’m touching on all aspects and speaking my mind. I’m just doing me. I’m trying to get my own light, so when it’s said and done I made my mark in Hip Hop, not because, Oh, what happened to you and Nas, or under that shadow.

DX: Didn’t you guys just do a track together for Undeniable though?
AZ: No, sir.

DX: There’s a phony tracklisting out there I guess then. It’s got a track called “Visions of Gandhi” that you guys supposedly did together.
AZ: Me and Nas have not recorded a record together since… Me and Nas have not been in the studio for a while. Like I said, I would always love to get in the studio with him because it’s magic. I would love it, but once you get to a certain level, business starts playing a part and then other things start playing on the psyche of man, once they get caught up in certain zones or go through certain chambers. So, like I said, if the opportunity positions itself, I’m here. And if it’s the right situation, I’m here. But other than that, I’m a man and he’s a man, and I’m gonna get respected as one. That’s how I’ma die, respected as a man. Continued on page 2 »