DX: When people visit overseas they always mention how Hip Hop is still practiced as an entire cultural movement. Do you guys experience that as artists?
CG: Ah, man. When I disappear for good, I’ll be in Amsterdam with a record shop. I’ve never been places, like how I’ve been overseas, and see a Jeru The Damaja song make everybody jump on the dance floor. You would’ve thought they were playing “[It’s All About the] Benjamins.” I’ve never seen that, and it still amazes me to this day. For some reason, they’re not as pretentious about their music over there. They don’t care if you don’t like it. As long as they like it, that’s it. They’re not trying to like it because everyone else does. It’s a good feeling. Whenever we come back, I always tell my brother, “Check your superstar bag at JFK ‘cause we’re back in America.”

DX: So it’s safe to assume that Amsterdam is your favorite spot?
CG: Amsterdam, Copenhagen…there’s a lot of cities that make me almost not want to go home. Marley’s got me into Japan now, so I’m heavy into Japan too. It’s amazing that, even with such a language barrier, the people know the music better than some people at home.

DX: How about you, Marley?
MM: I love going to London.
CG: Yeah, London is dope too. They’re so pure as far as the music is concerned too.
MM: France is my second [favorite].

DX: While we’re talking about live shows, the A3C Festival exposed the Juice Crew to a whole different generation of fans. How did it feel?
CG: Marley and a few other people in the crew were the ones who really got me thinking it was time. A lot of groups…a lot of collectives based what they do on us. I could sit up and complain saying, “We never got the shine we deserved.” But, when I got out on that stage and saw the reaction I was like, “Maybe I’m wrong.” Maybe it was the timing and we didn’t get the feedback before, but the vibe was just real appreciative this time around. Marley is really hard at work trying to turn this into a tour and I’m just waiting. For that first show, I’ve never been more focused in my life. Once I saw Marley scrunching his face up on the side of the stage, I was like, “Okay.”

DX: Another thing that is reintroducing you to today’s fans is this upcoming movie, The Vapors.
CG: I’ll let Marley talk about that. I don’t wanna say too much about that.

DX: You can weigh in real quick. What was your reaction when you heard the story of the Juice Crew was coming to the big screen?
CG: It’s about damn time, basically. You know what’s funny, though? One of my favorite movies is [The Temptations]. Without divulging too much, I can say that our story is crazy. For us all to still be here and for people to still recognize it is crazy to me. I think the story needs to be told. Marley and them are the ones behind the scenes taking care of that, so I can just sit back and wait for my check. I know it’s in good hands. I’m just a willing participant, because I feel the story needs to be told. Marley can explain all the other aspects of it.

DX: So what kind of progress are you guys making, Marley?
MM: They’re still on the funding tip right now. As soon as we get all of that together we should be doing some dates. The funny thing about it is, now that the word is out, other production companies are starting to get in touch with me in regards to that too. It’s still moving forward though.

DX: How did Furquan Clover get involved?
MM: He worked with me on another project—one of my earlier movie scoring projects was the Wendy Williams movie. He was involved with that, and one day I told him about this idea for The Vapors when we were sitting back chillin’. The next thing I know he was sending my lawyer a contract.

DX: There were rumors of Cuba Gooding Jr., David Banner and others being cast [click to read]. Is any of that true or is it still being worked out?
MM: It’s still in the works right now.

DX: As far as your stories, you guys come from a completely different era of Hip Hop. Aside from anything in the movie, is there one particular thing that stands out as a favorite memory from those days?
CG: For me personally, I’ve gotta say getting in the studio with Marley for the first time. I was a kid and it was all exciting. Back when we were doing it hardbody you really had to be a good rapper to make a record. You couldn’t just say, “Ah, man my cousin works here.” It was exciting because I felt like I was chosen for a golden opportunity.
MM: I’d say being back in the beginning and hearing myself on the radio for the first time. When I first heard my song on the radio, I remember thinking someone was playing it in their own box or off of a tape. That’s what bugged me out the most, and that’s the aspect of the game that really got me into it. When I saw the reaction my music could give people it kept me in the game.

DX: You can make an objective argument for the Juice Crew being the most talented collective in Hip Hop history. How do you rank some of the crews who came after you like Death Row, Wu-Tang or the Dungeon Family?
CG: The one thing I could say about Wu is they always readily admitted that they based it on us. A lot of collectives know they did the same, but Wu were the only ones who said, “We looked at The Juice Crew and we wanted to do that.” In terms of then and now, the finances were different in terms of how Hip Hop makes money. By those standards we’d probably be considered the greatest. Everything is based on finances with the fans these days—who sold what and who’s making this much. We came at a time when it wasn’t really about that. It was just about leaving your mark. So, I would honestly say the Wu because they readily admitted it. If you look at all their early interviews they shouted us out.
MM: The great thing about Wu-Tang was that everybody was able to stand on their own as an individual artist. That’s the whole premise of The Juice Crew. Everybody was able to stand on their own as an artist and do what they had to do. That’s why I would put [Wu-Tang] up there with us as one of the top crews to ever do it; damn near everybody was dope. Everybody had their own moment. Continued on page 4 »