DX: I wanna switch gears here and ask you about a few verses you spit on the new album, the first being from the title-track, “I’m a decade in, from my borough/Way wicked than Wes Craven/Then again, certain things I could never do.” What things were you speaking on?
AZ: [Laughs] Just certain things, a lot of sucka shit that goes on. Like, I can’t shit on my peoples. And I’m talking about my real peoples, not somebody like, Oh, that’s my man from high school. And, if I’m gonna do the crime I’m gonna do the time. That’s the type of person I am. There’s just certain things I’d never do, go out the back door on somebody, I’m not a thief. I don’t steal. I don’t take. There’s just certain principles I stand by. And there’s just certain things that I would never do that would equate to a crab level because that’s not in my nature. You ain’t gotta worry about me doing none of that sucka shit.

DX: I thought maybe you were referring to moves in this music business?
AZ: Including that. When I speak it’s all of the above. It’s hard to differentiate the streets from the music business because the same type of people exist in both. They’re mirror reflections of each other.

DX: Now this next bar is from “Superstar,” which is like my favorite track on the Undeniable sampler, “I was told they want the old God back, I’m here.” Do you feel you strayed from the AZ of old?
AZ: We grow, but yeah, I strayed a little bit from keeping it raw, keeping it one hunnid. But I’m here now.

DX: On “The Game Don’t Stop” did I understand the story you were telling correctly, your seed made you walk away from the game at 19?
AZ: That made me walk away from the street game. I left the streets and embraced the music business.

DX: So is there an AZ Jr.?
AZ: [Laughs] Yeah, I got a son. I got two sons actually.

DX: They found their way to a microphone yet?
AZ: I think my oldest one trying to work towards it, so we’ll see what comes out of it.

DX: Word. Hey, put him on the album.
AZ: I know, right, see what he do. We might gotta experiment with that.

DX: He got a rap name?
AZ: He calls himself Lil AZ. He gotta find his own attribute. That’s what I’m always trying to tell him, Be you. But for now he’s Lil AZ.

DX: We’re in this new era, man, where it’s really like second, third generation and we’re gonna see if the next generation can do anything with it.
AZ: Can they? I wanna see it. I wanna see some substance brought to the table. We know what it is, we know music comes in all different forms, but when we grew up it was substance and it helped sculpt us into the people we are. So with this second and third generation I wanna see what they bring to the table, because it’s experience that’s the best teacher. This new generation isn’t experiencing what we went through, so it’s hard to forecast what’s gonna come from them musically.

DX: Some of the second generation of rappers get it, like Peter Gunz son Cory Gunz, but they don’t get heard unfortunately.
AZ: You right. I like him too, I like Cory Gunz.

DX: Now I got a few questions here about stuff you spit on “Life On The Line,” the first being were you referring to L.L. Cool J when you said, “Rap well, since ‘Sugar Hill,’ homie ask L?”
AZ: No, the L was for L.E.S., who produced “Life’s A Bitch” and “Sugar Hill.”

DX: The next verse from that song I wanna ask you about is, “I’m still rhyming/I’m surviving on tour, with them war wounds on me/Y’all dudes so corny, cowards.” Who are the cornballs you’re referring to?
AZ: [Laughs]. Just the muthafuckas that ain’t letting me in the game, that’s all. Let me in. Let’s stop the blackballing and the hating and just let me in. It is the music business and with business you got your positives and you got your negatives. There’s certain people in power that can make certain things happen or not happen, ya dig what I’m saying? So, c’mon, let’s play fair instead of saying, Well, I’ma lock radio down and make sure nobody else shit get played. Only play these artists, don’t play these artists.

DX: Now this final line from “Life On The Line” I gotta ask you about is a pretty obvious one, “Nas got rich and reached back, I ain’t rich yet.” Can you elaborate on what you were saying there?
AZ: It’s like this, like I said I got sons and they listen to Hip Hop and they hearing all of this beefin’ going on, like with 50. And he hears me on Nas’ album and is like, “What’s up with y’all? Y’all not doing no more music?”

DX: He’s interviewing you before I even get to you.
AZ: Ya dig what I’m sayin’! And I’m like, “Nah, he’s doing him now.” I’m trying to explain it to him, and he’s like, “So, are you gonna start a beef with Nas? Like, that’s how you can sell records.” He’s thinking that’s the way to sell records. And I’m saying, “No, you gotta be successful based on your own merit. He got rich and reached back, I ain’t rich yet and you see me still doing what I’m doing. Be a man.” And if I can reach him like that, [I can reach] everybody else that’s coming into the game thinking that’s the way it is. Like, No, you ain’t gotta do that to sell records. Show your talent to sell records. Be a man. And I know a lot of brothers will take that [verse] and misconstrue it. “Nas got rich and reached back, I ain’t rich yet,” like, Oh, the muthafucka just said fuck Nas. But that’s not gonna stop me. I know the world want us to go to war. What you think, Paul, they want us to go to war? Continued on page 4 »