DX: While we’re on the topic of the youth, is it just my interpretation, or is the whole aim of Pro Tools to speak to the youth about what they should be leary of in contemporary Hip Hop, and more importantly what they should be leery of in the streets, like on one of the album’s gems, “Path Of Destruction”?
GZA: Well, yeah. I think every song in itself has its own message, but it’s whatever they get from it. I didn’t really set a goal to reach a certain amount of people, or to reach a certain age group. I just did an album for people to hear – young and old, white and black, anyone that has ears can listen. I did an album for myself that I felt, that I liked and enjoyed doing, and I put it out there for the people. And whatever they get from it, then they’ll get from it. And I’m pretty sure you’ll get something.

DX: Can you elaborate on why it’s titled Pro Tools, just to clarify?
GZA: It’s just a program that’s used to record. It’s nothing in depth [behind the origins of the title]. It’s no crazy story behind it. I was looking around the room in the studio one day and my eyes happened to focus on the manual or something to that effect, and I said, “Pro Tools [click to read], that’s the name of the album.” And that was it. That’s how things come to me anyway – the titles and all that. Usually, a title don’t come [for] a song till after it’s done, with myself. Hooks don’t come until the rhyme is finished, if I decide to put a hook. Everything is last minute, more on the spontaneous level.

DX: Now on that track I referenced, “Path Of Destruction,” you spit: “Very caught up in his own drive for dominance/And to know that he would pay in the end was common sense.” Do you really think that kids today in the streets have that common sense about how the game ends, or that they’re blinded by music that seems to suggest they can emerge unharmed to become a rap star?
GZA: Yeah, most of ‘em don’t have that common sense. And the majority of ‘em are hoping [they’ll become a rapper]. I mean, when I got into Hip Hop I got into it because it was a childhood passion of mine. It was something that I enjoyed doing. I didn’t get into it to make money. I wasn’t looking at it like most kids [today] look at it. They watch videos and stuff like that and they like, “Yo, I’ma be a rapper.” Just like some kids look at the NBA. They look at that as, “I wanna be a ball player and make a lot of money and get out.” They don’t think about anything else. And actually, I think the odds now in this day and time it’s easier to get into the NBA than to be successful in rap. And the odds of [making it to] the NBA is crazy too. [But] the odds in Hip Hop is even greater. So, to those that was on the outside looking in “to know that he would pay in the end was common sense.” Those that were wise knew, but for that individual he didn’t know.

DX: That’s why I personally think the Rick Ross story [click to read], or the Plies situation [click to read], are important and need to be highlighted, because with each successive generation in Hip Hop the new youngest fans take these rappers made up personas too literally and think they can be Tony Montana until they decide to be a rapper.
GZA: Exactly. It’s crazy.

DX: Any input on the exposes of late that have been popping up on these artists?
GZA: As far as the Rick Ross thing, I’ve read a few interviews and I heard a little bit that was going on. I don’t really be online like that, [but] I heard a couple interviews. I’m hearing he was a C.O. He’s saying he wasn’t. I hear there’s all this evidence and proof that he was a C.O., but I don’t know. But my whole thing is that I don’t think whether you gangsta or you’re just a straight up regular dude from the hood, or whatever you may be, it’s nothing wrong with being a C.O. It’s a job. It’s a decent job. And you on the inside working with inmates, so you… It’s just a job, ya know? I look at it like I wouldn’t hide the fact if I was. It wouldn’t make me less than who I am. If I am who I am, it wouldn’t make me any less. I don’t really know the situation on his story, but I mean being a C.O., if you are a C.O., it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I think my whole rap thing probably woulda been built around the C.O. [image]. I woulda been C.O. Ross. Everything woulda been jail related – good and bad. I mean, that’s just how I think. So I woulda marketed that.

DX: So if young fans shouldn’t follow the lead of rappers promoting fabricated criminal backgrounds, what’s so wrong with them following the lead of Soulja Boy?
GZA: I don’t think anyone should follow the lead of anything, unless it’s something really, really positive [and] uplifting. Be yourself, man. You know when kids grow up your parents, grandparents and teachers always tell you to “be somebody,” but you already are somebody. You can be greater, but you are somebody already. And just to hear somebody say “be somebody” that means “don’t be you, be something else.”
And I mean, whatever you like, you like, as far as music. If you like Soulja Boy [click to read], you like Soulja Boy, it’s music! So you don’t really have to follow anything. You can listen to all the gangsta shit you want and still be an A student. You can not listen to gangsta shit at all and be a D student. Don’t let the music influence you in a bad way, that’s all. But we don’t have to follow anything. Continued on page 3 »