DX: Have you kept a relationship with them since the commercial you did some years back?
KRS: “The revolution is basketball!” And cats tried to crucify KRS.

DX: Yeah, KRS and Nike! First Sprite and then Nike.
KRS: Damn, I just was like Mr. Sellout for that year.

DX: [Laughs]. Switching gears here, I’m curious to know who’s gonna be playing you in the Juice Crew movie, The Vapors, that starts filming next month?
KRS: Uh, probably Cuba Gooding…or maybe they won’t even mention me.

DX: It is interesting, the people they have recruited so far are to play Roxanne Shante and Mr. Magic, no mention of KRS.
KRS: Right, maybe they won’t even mention me and just do a movie about the creation of the Juice Crew. Because remember the original Juice Crew was not MC Shan and Marley Marl and these guys, it was Mr. Magic and 13 others that I think included Melle Mel and that click. Busy Bee may know the story better. And that was the original Juice Crew. Mr. Magic was a part of that, and kind of extended the honor to these guys, according to the legend. So they could be doing a movie on the original Juice Crew of the early ‘80’s/late ‘70’s, not really the Shante [era]. Maybe that’s like the end of their story.

DX: Yeah, I’m not sure. Has Marley talked to you at all about that? Is he involved with that?
KRS: I don’t know. Nobody’s spoken to me about it at all. As a matter of fact, this is news to me right now. You’re telling me something right now. I don’t even know anything about it.

DX: I guess while we’re taking it back to ’87, I have to ask you about a far less joyful memory from that year, this past August marked the 20th anniversary of Scott LaRock’s murder, and I just wanted you to say anything you wanna say about the anniversary. There wasn’t really any media coverage about it, so…
KRS: You know, we keep Scott’s name alive within the Hip Hop community through music and books and shout-outs and all of that kind of stuff, but really it’s… I don’t know what to say when it comes to Scott. It’s sorta…let me tell you what I’m thinking about actually, is that…have we actually grown up? Like, we’re still experiencing the same thing as in ’87. Jam Master Jay was the latest. It’s only a matter of time really, and I don’t say this morbidly, before we get another call.

DX: Or rappers killing themselves. The autopsy isn’t back, but Pimp C’s passing was likely due to drugs. Rappers killing themselves, basically.
KRS: Right. And speaking of that, my recent tragedy with my son committing suicide, have we elevated now from homicide to suicide?

DX: I wouldn’t call that an elevation, but…
KRS: I tell you, the thing I will say about Scott is we’ll continue to keep his name alive.

DX: While we’re speaking on Scott I wanna ask you about this, you and he were already working on the first Stop The Violence movement before he was murdered, right?
KRS: Oh yeah, no doubt!

DX: ‘Cause I think a lot of people think you were inspired by that and that was the catalyst.
KRS: No, no, no, and let me come back and add a little bit of clarity to that as well. It wasn’t the Stop The Violence Movement that was created [prior to Scott’s passing], it was the “Stop The Violence” record that appeared on the By All Means Necessary album in ’88. Scott LaRock was tampering with the production of that one [before he passed]. It was “Stop The Violence,” “My Philosophy” and “I’m Still #1” that Scott was working on with me production-wise before he was killed. The song “My Philosophy,” he had already chose that beat, the “Sister Sanctified” [sample]. But going back to “Stop The Violence,” that song was already done, written at least, the “One, two, three, the crew is called BDP.” That was already written and being performed back in ’87.

Now after By All Means Necessary comes out and the song “Stop The Violence” is on the album, Anne Carly, who was at the time A&R for Jive Records, comes to me and says, “I wanna start a movement based on your song, ‘Stop The Violence.’” So Anne Carly, a young Asian woman, approached KRS [to make this movement happen].

DX: And why nearly 20 years later is the official relaunch of the movement happening?
KRS: Well, I don’t think there will be an official launch, truthfully. This is a movement that’s just going to happen. All of a sudden you’ll just start seeing the expressions of this movement. If there is one date that we are all looking at right now it’s December 31, 2007. At noon it becomes December 32nd, and we take a twelve hour day of prayer, fasting and meditation. At noon, wherever you are in the world, we are asking that people take five-10 minutes to visualize peace in the world happening. We have a website called stvmovement.org and hopefully there you can see me in meditation and join us from wherever you are.
That’s the first [unofficial] launch. The second launch will be the second and third week in May. The third week in May is Hip Hop Appreciation Week. The second and third week of May I’m going to produce BET. When I went to Atlanta and accepted the “I Am Hip Hop Award” [at the BET Hip Hop Awards] I ran up on Stephen Hill and we started talking. About a week later we [had] a meeting and discussed BET and their bullshit. And when we came to the final conclusion, BET is sick of BET. The people that work at BET are sick of BET. It’s a job for them. When I gained that enlightenment, that Stephen Hill actually wants to do something… Stephen Hill suggested, “Why don’t we see what you’re talking about, in terms of balanced programming. Why don’t you take over two weeks anytime in 2008 and program Rap City.” So the Stop The Violence movement links into that because two weeks into May I will be taking over the Rap City airwaves and putting out a version of Hip Hop I would like to see.

DX: So you’re just gonna rerun a show from like ’89 or something? [Laughs].
KRS: [Laughs]. Damn, you just solved the whole issue. But nah, what I wanna do is get the memo out to artists like Common and Talib that they should do specialized videos for these two weeks. I’m not gonna take the history approach, you need to know what Hip Hop is from the past. I’m gonna take the future approach, this is the possibility of what we can become.