DX: I gotta ask. Not just with you, but in general – were drugs at play?
AP: You know what’s funny? On the west coast, no! It was a crazy thing! I’ve never done drugs. I don’t drink or smoke or nothin’ like that, which is a surprise comin’ from N.W.A. [Laughs] Back then, I drank a lot, but not no more. But even back then, dude, nobody was really on that scene on the west coast. It was just this crazy party town. People smoked weed, and maybe drank, but nah, it was the furthest thing from the ‘80s scene. You would think I would say, “Yeah, drugs were heavy.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody heavy on drugs back in the ‘80s.

DX: You mentioned N.W.A. Sources say different things. Do you, or did you consider yourself a founding member or simply an affiliate of the group?
AP: You know what’s funny, man? I am a founding member. I was there for two albums – N.W.A. & The Posse and Straight Outta Compton. The people who don’t think I was there or in the group are the people that are younger or they’re the people who get the misinformation from around. If you look at the first album, and a lot of people think that N.W.A. & The Posse is the album, that wasn’t the album; that was a bootleg that Macola [Records] put out.

DX: Really?
AP: Yeah. The actual, first ever N.W.A. album was just called N.W.A. There was no posse. There were just four or five songs, so you’d probably consider it an EP as opposed to an album. It had the same cover, with everybody in an alley. On the back, it was just two pictures of the four of us – me, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube [click to read] and Eazy-E.

DX: No Yella or Ren?
AP: No. No Yella, no Ren at that point. In one we’re sitting on Eazy’s Jeep. In another, we’re standing on like a crate or something. That was it! It was very simple. Then we did the Straight Outta Compton album, and I left halfway between the release of that and when we were on tour ‘cause we weren’t getting paid, but yeah, I was definitely in the group. I was more…I won’t say behind the scenes, but more in the studio with Dre, making beats and playing music and stuff as opposed to rappin’ on the cuts. I was definitely there.

DX: Were you out there in terms of selling cassettes out of Eazy’s trunk?
AP: Oh yeah. It was all done at Macola Records. When we pressed that stuff up, our weekly or daily routine was – this was our bread and butter, this was how we made money, this was how we put gas in the car, this was how we paid our bills. Go down to Macola, pick up a box or two, hit the swap meets or hit the stores. When we toured, we’d take them around, nobody had heard of us, and we’d go into a store, “Boom. Can we give you a couple of these? If they sell, here’s a phone number, call us.” That’s what it was. We had the old school cell-phones back in the day – the briefcases with the antenna on it. [Laughs] We were definitely going to be contacted. It just blew up because of word of mouth of gettin’ it around.

DX: You got a major production credit in J.J. Fad’s “Supersonic.” That being said, what did you think of Fergie’s “Fergalicious.” Quiet as kept, I bought my girl at the time the album and saw no sample listings in there…
AP: Right. [Will.i.am] [click to read] did the right thing and the good thing by actually saying, “Okay, yeah, I got this from ‘Supersonic,’ we’re gonna go ahead and get the publishing on this and pay royalties to me, whoever else and the girls.” So that was a good thing. Also, it actually helped to bring the sound back, because if you listen to Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control,” which is [a remake] of Cybotron’s “Clear,” or now you hear Flo Rida’s new joint [“In The Ayer”] with Will.i.am, which is straight Electro Funk. That sounds like they stole it out my garage when I wasn’t lookin’, back in ’87. [Laughs] It’s come full circle; it’s back! Me and Egyptian Lover were in Germany last week, and we were on the airplane talkin’ like, “Man, it’s time. We need to go and do this thing one more time before the gray hairs start showing.” [Laughs]

DX: Looking at those three records you mentioned, are you in a position or does it interest you to produce again, for artists seeking this sound?
AP: Oh yeah, definitely, man! Quiet as kept, I ghostwrite for a lot of people, so I got hits on the radio right now. I’ve done it that way over the years, because when all the animosity has gone on in Hip Hop and the violence and stuff that’s gone on, I have no beef with no one. No beef with anybody in N.W.A., I’m still cool with everybody, still kick it with everybody, so I didn’t want to get that whole guilty by association thing. So when people ask me to produce stuff for ‘em, man, unless it’s something that’s real mild, like a Stones Throw remix or something, I’m like, “Dude, whatever you want. Just put your name on it, and pay me. Give me the contract, make sure I get my royalties and my writers, and I’m cool. I don’t care what you do with it.” Yeah, most definitely. But recently, I’ve really been thinking about getting back into it 100%. I think I will be doing that this year. I just found a new girl – I really admire M.I.A. She just retired from what I hear [click to read], that’s crazy! So I just ran across some random girl, 20 years old, that does beats in her bedroom by herself, creative as I don’t know what, and has got that same sound. I’m about to produce her. Continued on page 3 »