“There’s a chance that it changes, but the slice of the pie is very slim. That slice is Kanye, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell…It’s a very thin slice, so hopefully it grows.”

When I remind him that even Skateboard P references drugs and guns in his rhymes, he explains why some MCs are determined to travel that route.

“I know that he is talking about that, because he’s a skater so I think every skater knows a skater. He’s saying that so he can have more street cred. Busta Rhymes is, too. A lot of the stuff is like ‘What are you talking about? Where did this come from?’ It’s obvious. To me, that seems a little corny. To now, all of a sudden...[Says Sarcastically] ‘Oh wow! Okay, drugs, guns and if I mess with you-I get killed. Okay, I didn’t know that! You used to be in Leaders of the New School, I’m sorry.’”

“I don’t think that’s ever going to really change. I’m not really trying to change it but I think people just don’t need to do that.”

As he mentions in "Do The Pigeon", this made him feel a need to “shine a light on these brand new jigaboos.”

“When I see a video or when I see videos of the same kind of thing, I understand that these are young black people trying to make it. Sometimes they exaggerate a little to make it. My worry is when [others] see that. My cousins in Nebraska [for instance], there’s not a lot of black people out there, so their example of black people is movies and videos. It’s almost like we’re training [others] to be like ‘This is how we act, this is how all of us act and we does our thang. And we just smile and we all in debt and we don’t even care and we just chillin’…And when you go back to an unified black people, that’s almost the foundation of it ...But black people are entertained, America is entertained but at the end, fools are still broke, broken and will be for another 100 years,” he notes.

Believing this, he set off on his album with intentions, not to preach or to sound too anti-gangsta, but to show people that there are other sides to life. He isn’t crunk, iced out, drug-affiliated or willing to degrade women. He’s that different slice of Hip-Hop. He’s not trying to impress you with his gat, mack skills or his bragging. He’s singing, rapping and sending out his message via rhymes and poems. He’s underground but poised for a mainstream push and most importantly, he’s taken his mother’s advice. He’s just Pigeon John.

Pigeon John And The Summertime Pool Party is in stores and he is working on his new album, as well as the sequel album for Brainwash Projects. Continued on page 5 »