You've been in the game for quite some time now…how's it feel to get your first true solo album out?

Amazing man... I really couldn't be happier at this point. I put blood sweat and tears into this album. And I'm actually a fan of it. I'm in love with this album.

It’s no secret that you've had Eastern Philosophy finished for a while, is any of the material new? How old are some of the songs?

The oldest song on their is "The Buck Stops Here.” That was a song that I originally did for my Atlantic album a couple years back. I re-recorded the vocals, mixed it properly, and had Evil Dee do the cuts... so now it's a little more up to speed. Everything else is pretty much brand new. I wanted it to be fresh material.

How'd you end up hooking up with Blue Raspberry?

When Chum and I did the The Winter song, we workin' jokin around immediately about havin' Blue on it. The reason I say "jokin", is cuz we NEVER thought we could find her, and pull it off. But that was our little dream to have her on it. Well… I figured, "fuck it", why not at least TRY to get a hold of her. So I started askin' around and puttin the word out that I was lookin' for her. Finally my good friend Carmelita Sanchez (from The Wake Up Show), told me that she's friends with RZA, and would ask RZA about Blue. I really thought that was a shot in the dark, and didn't expect much out of it. But sure enough, Carmelita called me two days later, and gave me Blue's number. I called her up, and we hit it off immediately. Now we're good friends. I gotta thank Carmelita and RZA for that one.

I've seen a number of kids on message boards and whatnot claiming you've watered down your style as you rarely spit "scientifical rhyme" anymore. How do you respond to that nonsense? Or do you not even bother?

I don't really bother. I don't give a fuck what they think. They can go and listen to "Its the Bootleg Muthafuckers" til they're blue in the face. Even while I was doing all those complex records, I was still doin' simple, normal, boom bap shit. At the same time that I did "Just Begun," I also did "Earth Girls Are Easy" and "That Ol Boom Bap." When I recorded the Jedi Mind Tricks album, I also recorded The Sure Shot affair demo, which was madddd simple. Point is... all that science shit, is just one style I touched on. If they liked it, I'm glad. But that style does not dictate who I am. Or what I have to do. It was one thing I dabbled in. I got bored of that shit REAL quick. If they don't think "Chemical" and "The Buck Stops Here" are deep concepts, I don't know what to say. If they don't think "The Winter" and "I Remember..." are poetic and introspective... then I don't know what else to do. They're never happy. So I'll do what makes me happy and hope someone agrees. Continued on page 2 »