New Smiff-n-Wesson Interview!!! (Part 2)

Interviewed By: Dirty Backpacks Late Night Noise




Smiff N Wessun are undeniable legends in this Hip Hop game. Their new album, Smiff N Wessun Reloaded, is set to impact in September as the 3rd and final release in Duck Down’s “Triple Threat” summer (following Buckshot & 9th Wonder’s Chemistry and Sean Price’s Monkey Barz). In the game since the mid-90s, they’ve been through it all – shady record deals, people biting their style (and not giving credit), politics with their name, and a lack of economic success to match the massive critical acclaim and respect in the Hip Hop world they have attained. But don’t count them out, and definitely don’t sleep on them – Tek & Steele are, in my opinion, one of the greatest and most underrated duos in Hip Hop history. In a Hiphophavoc.com exclusive two-part interview, Tek & Steele tackle all topics and hold nothing back – their legacy, their influence, and their longevity in the game are all subjects that are touched upon – not to mention the status of the One Nation project they did with 2pac. But far be it from me to tell you everything – read on to really Wrekonize why the Cocoa B’s are Still Shinin’. Welcome To Bucktown, USA.




PART 2

Audio


>>>>>>> Click Here to Listen to PART 2 <<<<<<<






>>>>>>> Click Here to Listen to PART 1 <<<<<<<



(In Part I, I spoke to Tek about the history of Smiff N Wessun, their legacy and lack of mainstream exposure, and the issues with the name change and different labels. Not to mention we talked about the album and the different collaborations – especially the bond they and The Boot Camp Clique have formed with 9th Wonder and his Justus League crew. But it don’t stop there – read on in Part II of this exclusive interview as Steele talks about the bond formed with the late Tupac Shakur and drops some real sh*t about Hip Hop in general. The interview immediately went from an interview to an expressive dialogue between a representative of one of the greatest Hip Hop collectives in history and an exuberant fan of real Hip Hop – not just a rapper and a journalist. Read on as two like-minded gods sit down and build.)







Steele: Yo, what’s happening?


Dirty Backpacks: What’s up, Steele?


Steele: What’s good with you, fam?


Dirty Backpacks: Good man – doing good.


Steele: That’s whassup, baby.


DBP: Did you hear the question I just gave to Tek?


Steele: Naw, actually I didn’t.


DBP: I asked, I said….y’all done had your own style; you always had your own style. And everyone in the Boot Camp Clique has always had their own style. Over the years, there’s alot of rappers that have mimicked and copied your styles and your concepts, and they had success off of that without giving you or your Clique credit.


Steele: Yeah….


DBP: I want you to speak on that for a minute.


Steele: Well, I have a kind of “candle burns at both ends” (philosophy) on that one right there, because what’s crazy is that…what’s fortunate is that if they don’t like a part of you, they’ll never use a part of you. Your legacy won’t even get off the block. Forget about the block – it won’t even leave off your head! We took rhymes from some of the cats we grew up with. We followed the styles. Treach is one of the people that we look up to. Treach is one of the only other rappers who I seen wearing boots year round like Smiff N Wessun. You know – “knuckle up, guard ya grill, knuckle up” – hardcore, coming on stage with a bat and a machete, and sh*t like that. And then it’s the other side, like – damn, we don’t get the credit. We look in these books and we see Missy Elliott rockin’ a camouflage hat or G-Unit “soldiers”. It kind of…like I said, it burns at both ends, cuz we know that we pioneers, but we not gonna b**** about it. As long as we able to come back and continue to tell our part and we know that our fans and our family – our distant family, which is the fans to us – know what time it is.

So, we gotta cling to that, man, and through going through different struggles, we gotta realize that you can’t really watch what other muthaf**kas do and beef about it. You just gotta pretty much make sure your sh*t is substantiated through what you do. A smack in the face is when you put out bangin’ product. Ya know?


DBP: Still going off on that concept, being that you recognize some of the cats that blew up off of your concepts, your ideas, mimicked y’all or whatever, what do you say when you run across these cats? Are you cool with them? Or do you kinda look at them like “you know, this cat really just blew up off of something that I did”?


Steele: A lot of times it’s a cool vibe. Because a lot of these guys don’t really mean no harm. It’s like I say – they see something that they like, and they take a little bit of that and they run with it. Like, you could say that we bit off of Public Enemy. Or we bit off of EPMD. But we didn’t, we just evolved. We the evolution of that. So, it’s almost like it’s a compliment because…I don’t want to be the rapper that’s gonna complain “yo, you took my sh*t”, cuz that’s what is gonna be my claim to fame – the sh*t that you took from me and blew up. And if that be the case, then you could say “well f**k it, you ain’t do it right then.” But what I know is that people know that we did the sh*t, so when we bump into a Beanie Siegel in California, he like “Smiff N Wessun out of Bucktown startin’ mad trouble – what up, ni99as?” You know what I mean? Or we bump into a Jay-Z, or we bump into a – even a Ja Rule! Or we bump into a Tony Yayo. We see these cats in all walks. So instead of us promoting “yo, look at that corny ni99a that stole our sh*t” – instead of promoting that vibe, we go up to ‘em and be like “yo, what up baby?” And they like “yo Smiff N Wessun – what up, man?” They show respect. And we try to build off of that level – “yo, we need to do something, let’s get together, yo. I like your album.” “Word?!? Yo – I love y’all ni99as!!” And most times, like 9 and a half times out of 10, that be the concept. “I love y’all ni99as.” And we take that, and we like “aight – we doing something right.”


We gotta continue to know that what we do is right, because if we don’t then we gonna be trying different things. It’s crazy at the same time, man, cuz you wanna be known as a muthaf**ka who brought Timbs to the rap game. We made it cool to wear Timbs in the club – Smiff N Wessun did that. We made it cool to wear whatever the f**k you wanna wear!! You ain’t gotta be a fly a$$ ni99a, but if you are, you good with us too! You know? You ain’t gotta have a f**kin’ exclusive luxury German car. You could have a f**kin’ Pinto if you want, muthaf**ka! And you ain’t gotta have a CD in your ride, you could still play tape decks if you want – long as the sh*t go loud enough where you can hear the words to the songs, you know?


It’s like…we gotta take control of it and always be aware of the positive aspects of us being who we are because – we’re well-respected by a lot of rappers in this game, you know? And whether they would admit it or not, I think that’s the downfall of Hip Hop as whole, because you won’t see the connection between Boot Camp and a lot of artists. That’s why it was important for us to do a song with Dead Prez on our album because I look at Dead Prez and I’m like “that’s Little Boot Camp right there.” RBG’z family – that’s a little Boot Camp right there. “Yo Dead Prez, let’s do some sh*t together.” “No doubt, baby – let’s do it! Yo I love y’all ni99as – yo, long overdue!” Aight, let’s go. Or Pac reachin’ out to us. You know what I mean – we Little Outlawz to 2pac, and Pac is Big Homie Boot Camp to us. Outlawz is our Boot Camp cousins. So we extend it where we can. Like even with Little Brother. They’re like our Beatminerz cousins. You know the vibe, the vibe grows on, and the more we able to connect with each other, that’s what’s gonna keep us here for another 10 years.


DBP: You touched on 2pac (note: 2pac is this interviewer’s favorite MC of all-time, so Steele just hit the right button) and y’all was on his posthumous album Better Dayz, the joint “Military Minds” with Buckshot.


Steele: Yeah…


DBP: It’s well-known that y’all was cool…


Steele: Yeah…


DBP: Talk about the One Nation Project that you guys did with 2pac before he passed…what was that experience like, and will we ever see that project come out to light?


Steele: Well, I don’t think the project as we know it will out. We spent a week with 2pac – that’s our brother. I mean that’s our brother from another mother. 2pac and Tek got the same astrological sign, they both eat hot sauce on they Turkey Bacon…(starts to chuckle)


DBP: (starts laughing)


Steele: (still chuckling) You know what I’m saying? And dude…he was just like me and you, know what I mean? He was just like me and you, but the majority of people who knew him from a distance didn’t get a chance to see it and it was unfortunate. But what was great, the conception that he tried to make happen was that he tried to bring Hip Hop together as one nation. That was his goal. But he reached out to us and we reached back out and grabbed his hand as he was reaching for us cuz nobody else did it. So, it’s a part of me that wants to start calling out rappers who do songs on 2pac’s sh*t who never did songs (with him) or who never showed him respect when he was alive, and trying to eat off his name. Then it’s another thing where I’m like “yo, you know what? I can take it to my grave that I ACTUALLY f**ked with this guy. And not f**k with him per se, but his movement and his energy. He’s a Hip Hop angel. He’s like…for lack of a better term, I’d say he’s like Black Jesus FOR REAL, cuz what he brought to us was more than just Rap. You know what I mean – he brought a movement, and that One Nation sh*t was so powerful because it was brought off at a time when it was a so-called East and West beef.

His dream for doing that was to have all the rappers in one nation and do a tour, like in the vein of Fresh Fest – have all these hot rappers. Not “Anger Management”. Like, f**k all that angry sh*t – what you angry for?!? If you got mad bread what the f**k is you angry about? If you got people buying records, what you angry about? Ni99as on Fresh Fest wasn’t angry! You had…Jermaine Dupri was a dancer when they was doing Fresh Fest. Now he’s a “business mogul”. You gotta remember what doors you opened and you gotta remember when your big brother reaches out to you, you get on it. You get on it, and you do it like you do it for TV. So, as far as us going through it, man, we made a bond that will never be broken. We Outlawz to the death and Outlawz are Boot Camp to the death.

As far as it coming out – naw, it’ll never come out. That’s just for the Chosen Few (note: that’s the name of a Boot Camp album – do the knowledge!) to experience. They already done sucked that out all through the Bootleg Circuit, ya know?


DBP: (Chuckles)


Steele: But at least they got it. They got it. Cuz I think it was too powerful of a concept to be released. I think that the media – not the media – for lack of a better term, the people even – they gravitate more to the violent aspects. You know the old saying, “if it bleeds, it leads – I wanna hear drama.” And as you see the deaths of 2pac and Biggie, like these both was two peaceful brothers who was “at war” from what we saw but it wasn’t like that. Not really. I mean it was just two individuals who had a misunderstanding and they happened to be – both happened to be rappers. And they both happened to have the consciousness of propaganda. Pac was a soldier – he was raised by a Black Panther, so propaganda is one of your best tools. As well as one of your greatest defenses to keep your name and keep your movement alive. But with the One Nation sh*t he tried to do something that I don’t think the Powers That Be wanted him to accomplish.

So that’s why every other album came out EXCEPT One Nation. Like One Nation – we don’t want one nation. We want The Dirty South to be The Dirty South, we want East Coast to be East Coast, we want The West Side to be The West Side, we want Up North to be Up North. We wanna keep the separation because if you can divide, you can conquer.


DBP: Wow…

Steele: They all together, then we’ll have a problem with getting into this Hip Hop sh*t. And then what you do is, you make some people big, and you keep some people hungry, so you always have a dependence; you start building a dependence in Hip Hop. Then you separate yourself and you be like “yo f**k Jay-Z cuz he making money, that ni99a driving a Bentley.” Why f**k Jay-Z? Cuz he making money? Why? “Well his sh*t playing on…” Is that his fault? That ain’t his fault.

I went to a panel the other day, it was at a DJ panel where I bumped into Kid Capri and Clinton Sparks and another DJ. It was crazy because these DJs was talking about some sh*t that wasn’t true. Not THEM per se, but there was a couple of other cats that was in there that was like, you know, Hot 97…they was like “Hip Hop – ain’t nothing new coming out, and it’s pretty much the same thing…” and I’m like that’s not true! It’s not all the same thing. What Y’ALL play is the same sh*t because y’all gotta – it has to mix. Whatever come on after Ying Yang Twins gotta blend with Ying Yang Twins, so before you know your whole half an hour is a Down South set! And I like the music, but because I ain’t got nothing in there, you might breed a separation with me saying “yo, F**K all that Down South sh*t, kid!” You know what I’m saying? And what’s real is…Little Brother’s from Down South. They just did a WHOLE ALBUM with Buckshot! Florida is East Coast, even though it’s in The South. So, I gotta realize that it’s not me that actually hates them, it’s the SITUATION that I’m presented with. And I have to be a generator of positive things because most of these mutha f**kas? They LOVE our sh*t!

Like Just Blaze? He loves our sh*t. He loves Beatminerz. And we sometimes, we be like “F**K dat ni99a, yo. He a thief, he a biter.” But then, when he hears that, he like “oh word? Well, f**k dat ni99a. F**k dem ni99as, they bums.” But when we see each other? Like, I just saw Just Blaze at The Soundstage. I seen and was like “yo Just – what’s good?” “What up, ni99a?” (We gave each other) 5 – boop, bop bop and we kept walking. We ain’t gotta do a song. I ain’t gotta be like “yo Just I need a beat from you…” F**k all that, that’s corny, that’s fake.I’m just gonna hail you up, salute, “keep up the good work”, and keep it moving. Cuz when you see me, you gonna be like “Damn – that’s a real muthaf**ka right there. Don’t they got an album coming out?” “Word, I heard that, I heard some sh*t too.” “Word, they had that Mary sh*t that was hot…” You start having a conversation all over again because when you over-saturated with bullsh*t you have nothing to think about but bullsh*t. It’s like a muthaf**ka that eats fast food all day. “I eat fast food cuz I’m on the move…” Well, just take it easy for one day and eat some good soul food. That’s what the Reloaded album is – some soul food. Food for your soul.


DBP: That’s knowledge. (Chuckling) That’s knowledge!


Steele: (Chuckling as well) Yo, if it wasn’t for Hip Hop I don’t know where the f**k I’d be, and I say that because…it has taught me so much. And I’ve met so many incredible muthaf**kas! I remember the first time I went to Colorado, I didn’t know what I was going into! I seen a bunch of sheep and goats…I ain’t never seen a sheep up close!


DBP: (Cracks up)


Steele: A goat up close, a horse…I ain’t never seen none of that! Well, I seen a horse, but you know – cows and sh*t like that. I’m like “WHO THE F**K IS GONNA COME TO OUR SHOW OUT HERE?!?” And when I went out there and I saw ALL them muthaf**kas, I’m like “WOW!” It’s the impact that WE have, and we not even platinum! We’re not gold, we’re not platinum artists – but we can come to Colorado and have a packed house? That’s amazing to me. And then after the show, I’ll have a conversation with like 20 kids and it’ll just be like crazy, know what I mean? I ain’t gotta worry about a security guard getting on some “get out the way, get out the way.” And I ain’t gotta worry about getting into a fight after the show cuz I ain’t gotta carry no guns cuz they love me.

So, Hip Hop took me to Germany, took me to Amsterdam…WOOOO – AMSTERDAM!


DBP: (Chuckles)


Steele: Pardon me, I just had a flashback! It’s a beautiful tool, man, that’s why at the same time you can see why cats want to rape and pillage it. Because, if you don’t get a handle on it, then these little boys and girls might start really becoming independent. You might have to give Hip Hop muthaf**kas a sovereign nation! And you can’t have that sh*t. It’s crazy though, man. But I love to build though, man – I love to build, and the best way I could do it is through my rhymes and hope that people listen and they enjoy it without (me) trying be a f**kin’ preacher.


DBP: Yeah.


Steele: My Boot Camp ni99as call me “The Good Reverend”. Cuz I always try to build. Sometimes I talk too f**kin’ much, but I think if you get a platform to do it, then do it.


DBP: That’s true, though. That’s true – the gods gotta share knowledge.


Steele: It’s crazy cuz some magazines will be like “yeah, Smiff N Wessun coming with the hardcore, Timberland, weed, braggadocio rap” and I’m like “Damn – that’s all we came with?” That’s all we came with? F**K – I could’ve sworn I said some food for thought on that song! “Here I Stand”? Yeah…

Here I stand, testimonial to harsh reality,


Poverty’s a mere technicality,
Actually, I was schooled in the belly of the beast that carried me
Loyal to these streets that married me

This ain’t no parody
We suffer to increase the salary
Sadly, all tales don’t end happily…


(HHH Note: At this point, with Steele spitting classic rhymes, our interviewer has just lost all cognizance of this being an actual interview and is in Hip Hop Nirvana…)


Steele: It’s like “You ain’t hear what I just said?!?” You know what I mean?!?


I shine, you shine,
In this day and time
We maintain the same frame of mind
Elevation – we start the circulation
360 degrees in rotation
Stimulation – as the herb bless my physical creation
Slip into a hallucination…


Like, you don’t hear sh*t like that now!


DBP: Naw – you don’t.


Steele: You don’t hear that, and…those type of rhymes make people feel good about themselves. I’m not against partying, but sometimes partying will make a muthaf**ka forget his problems. But our music lyrics will make you address your problems, and turn your problems into situations that you can handle, where they’re not problems any more. Cuz, you look around, muthaf**kas is depressed as all hell. Everywhere you look, ni99as – they got so many different drugs for depression! All you gotta do is look for some good ol’ fashioned Hip Hop! Maybe smoke a spliff, know what I mean? And then wake up in the morning and go do some f**kin’ work, man! Exercise, do something! Put your boots to work!


But I love this sh*t, I love this sh*t, and I love to f**kin’ have a conversation with muthaf**kas who seem like they got some god-damned sense! You know?


DBP: Well, I try man, I try. Yet again, I’m kinda biased – I’m like one of the biggest fans in the world!


Steele: (Laughs)


DBP: There’s not a Boot Camp album that drops that I don’t go out and get!