DX: You had that line about you getting more buzz from playing Jay-Z in Connect Four on YouTube than your art. Having been on records in 1996, and having done this for so long, do you get frustrated with even that in of itself?
C: This is entertainment at the end of the day, and a show business. So a piece like me playing Jay-Z in Connect Four is lifestyle. Life is bigger than music, most of the time. You have to make people invest their money in you. Give them reason. That’s what temperature is to a label. People aren’t interested. People still want to buy into entertainment, and to music, but they have to be given just cause to. Everybody ain’t gonna sell a million records, and they definitely ain’t gonna do it right off the bat. The thing is, you have to give people reason to go to the store. The late ‘90s and early ‘00s kinda spoiled a lot of artists. Due to the fact that people were spending so much money. People were comin’ off a great economy. Everything circumvents. When you’re coming off of a great economy – like The Clinton era, people have money and they want [to spend]. Now with the Bush situation, there’s no money. You’ve got to adapt to that situation. You can’t assume that people just aren’t interested. Life is 360.

DX: I’m glad you brought that up. Do you think any candidate can affect Hip Hop commercialism in the next four years?
C: The only person I can give an honest answer to is Hillary, because of the Bill factor. She was instrumental in his administration as I’m pretty sure he would be in hers’. McCain is really…he’s a Republican, he’s running with the same ideology as Bush. The threat [of terrorism] and national security. I don’t know where he stands economically. Obama is very articulate, very clever, very smart guy, I just have never seen him execute, as far as a plan that would boost an economy. I only have one point of reference, ‘cause of Bill Clinton. That’s the only reason I can say that.

DX: I’m rarely a fan of mixtape verses. You had this track “Do The Math” that I probably play five times a week, from years ago. Tell me about that record…
C: Oh, “Do The Math!” That’s probably one of my favorite raps! “I had a homie named Al, that we would call algebra / But he could count money, just as fast as any challenger / And when it came down to certain days on the calendar / He’d walk around with a .38 caliber,” that’s just exercise. I just do verses like that ‘cause I still love to rap. I still love to challenge myself when I do verses like that, or the verse on “Gone” or the verse on “Champions.” That’s just me loving to rap. I just hope I can keep doing verses like that.

DX: What do you think fans gravitate to the most in your style?
C: I come from the era of ill. The era where Redman’s first album [Whut? Thee Album] came out, Snoop’s first album [Doggystyle] came out. You remember what it was. You really had to say something to make an impression. To incorporate the now, what I do is try to stay relevant. Just with the response my album got within the last year, it is relevant. My approach is do what I feel in my heart. When I hear records, I think of how I felt when I first heard “Drink Away the Pain” [by Mobb Deep], how it made me feel. When I was in the studio, the first couple times I was really starting to hang out with Q-Tip, and was being ushered into [A Tribe Called Quest]. We was in the studio when Nas was recording “One Love.” I was high outta my mind, passed out on the boards, but still, I was like, “Yo, this is ill!” [Laughs] That’s where I come from, and that’s what makes me write things like “Do The Math,” that impression that that era left on me. It makes me go there. This is where I come from. When I spit for my guys, I want them to be like, “Oh, this shit is crazy!” [in Tyrone Biggums' voice]. I don’t rhyme to get to the chorus; I’ll get there later. I write choruses too, that ain’t nothing. Me and Q-Tip was the ones who came up with “Stressed Out.” It’s nothing --- it’s something, ‘cause that’s where that bread is at. It’s something, but it’s definitely isn’t everything. What I’m saying to get to the chorus is as important as the chorus itself.

DX: When the numbers came in for Don’t Quit Your Day Job, you very publicly, offered to personally refund anybody who was unhappy with the album. How many people took you up on that?
C: Um, it might have been one person, honestly, out of thousands. It was people calling or leaving messages like, “Yo, how much do I owe you for making this?” Or, “Yo B, I’m gonna tell the homies to make sure they go get this, ‘cause they ain’t up on game.” It was one person who was like, “Yo man – dog, I don’t really like this!” [Laughs] Well, come get your money. I’m right on the block. Come get it. [Laughs] Continued on page 3 »