For me it was more or less talking about coming from nothing and finding something, or something finding me. [Hip Hop] allowed me to go all over the world, and it hasn’t made me a millionaire, but it allowed me to be able to make different choices in my life. I didn’t want to glorify anything; it’s about glorifying Hip Hop and making me change what I could have been. A lot of my friends were hustling; a lot of my friends were running around shooting people and what have you. It was funny to me that when I was 16, the hustle game was crazy and a lot of my friends were getting mad money. We’d be shopping, and I’d have the same amount of money, if not more than them, and I didn’t have to lift a finger on the block. That’s what was dope about it, and that’s what inspired that song.

DX: With people who represent Queensbridge like Prodigy and Tragedy Khadafi serving time right now, I imagine it really hits home.
CG: Like I said, I love Hip Hop, and the thought of not being able to do it would really kill me. The simple fact that I can go in the studio with Marley and have him paint that canvas with the perfect beat is priceless. The best feeling making this album was sitting back and listening to songs. Once they were done I’m watching Marley scrunch his face up thinking, “Yeah, I know he likes it.” Marley doesn’t really tell you if he likes the song, so you’ve gotta look. To me, being creative is the craziest thing to me and I don’t know what I’d do if I was unable to do that.

DX: That chemistry between you two resurfaced in 2003, when you guys did “Let’s Get Up.” Is there any difference in the chemistry and the approach to doing a song together versus an entire concept album?
CG: Nah, not to me. The album kind of grew into its own, but as far as me and Marley—this is like my brother. I look at him as the dude that put me on. We do a lot of shows together and we’d make music together regardless. When we started this it wasn’t even about doing an album. We were just making joints and it happened to grow into an album. When me and Marley work together it just like, “Let’s do some hot joints, B.” That’s how it always comes about, and it keeps going and going. Before you know it we’re looking at each other like, “Damn. You know we’ve got like 30 songs here, right?”
MM: Plus when we get together it’s like, “Alright, let’s see where we’re at.” I’m looking to see where you’re at lyrically and you want to see where I’m at beatwise.
CG: I’ll be like, “Alright, man. Let me see what you got.” He’ll tell me to hold on for a minute and start playing with stuff and cueing the beats up. And as soon as I hear that one, I’m like, “Hold on, whose beat is that?”
MM: It’s yours if you rock it right.
CG: Then I go, “Okay. Hold on. Give me like an hour.” That’s our approach.

DX: So you two are still trying to push each other to bring out the best after all these years?
CG: Yeah. I mean, Marley is like the Svengali when it comes to this. As early as I can remember he’d be like, “Yo, I got this beat, but you’ve got to rock it. If you don’t rock it I’m giving it to Biz [Markie].”
h You’ve got to think about it. We did “Droppin’ Science” [click to read] together. There aren’t too many records that came out before or after that I can say were fuckin’ with that. It’s still here, so I guess we keep trying to top “Droppin’ Science.”
CG: Yeah, exactly. I believe lightning in a bottle can be caught twice, but sometimes it just takes working.
MM: Son was on “The Symphony” [click to read]. Come on!

DX: [Laughs.] So the bar was raised so high from the beginning that it just stayed up there?
CG: Sometimes you need that. I can honestly say that Marley pushes me, and not a lot of producers do that. I respect that because it’s easy to get content. There’s mad takes on this album that I had to do over.

DX: That’s a good point. Being in your position it’s easy to say, “I was on ‘The Symphony’. I shouldn’t have to lay that verse down again.”
CG: That’s the other thing for us. It’s great that we did those songs, and those songs are etched in time. I’ll speak for myself, but I’m pretty sure Marley feels the same way when I say this. We still got heat, man. It’s almost a shame to not want to hear it and be pigeonholed because of the classics we made. It’s like riding a bike. When I go to the studio or to Marley’s crib and hear him throw on I beat, I just smile to myself. I’m just sitting there thinking, “This dude’s still got it. Ain’t nothing changed.” The only thing that’s changed is that I’ve got to write harder to keep the beat. Come to think of it, that’s always been the same too. Continued on page 3 »