Back in the day were you always good in front of crowds or was this something you had to work on?

When you first start out you are a nervous wreck, you know we used to do contests out in the West or you know you would be rapping out in the school quad at lunch, you know you would wait for lunch to go out and do what we had to do, but once you, well at least me, once I realized that I was doing stuff that people liked, to me my job was to make sure I was good at that and not worrying about some other shit in the back of my mind and I have been doing it so long its like I have been rapping longer than I have been doing anything else in my life and it really does feel right.

But for those that have the stage presence and that can commend the attention of stadiums like you do, do you think that is why you are all so prevalent in the game today?

Yeah it is the love of the art I think that is what it comes down to.

In your track Why we Thugs you shout out Russell Simmons and Sugar Hill, who do you think the Hip-hop generation of now have to look up to as I believe we are still looking up to the likes of Sugar Hill, NWA etc.?

Yeah for real. I mean I don’t know as when you really think about it I don’t know who they respect in the game enough to follow their lead. The Game gave a lot of respect to what we built, NWA, Compton but who knows I really cant say. I thank God for Russell Simmons and Sugar Hill Records as they made dreams come true for those of us who couldn’t quite sing and dance, they made our dreams come true and I think it is only right for us to pay that respect and even if the kids don’t really know the history, maybe hearing this record they may finally figure it out.

When you look back over your lengthy career, do you feel that you still have the same writing and recording process that you had back when you first started?

I still write records in the same manner that I always have. I am a better writer at home than I am in the studio, I like to go to the studio prepared in my head with what I am going to do when I get there and anything that comes after that is kind of gravy. I always had the same process, I write my best records by myself, you know thinking it out; there is something about the vibe of the studio and to me I think that is more of a distraction. Continued on page 4 »