Smiff N Wessun - Interview with audio (Part1)

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 I

Audio

>>>>>>> Click Here to Listen to Interview <<<<<<<





Dirty Backpacks: Your new album, Smiff N Wessun Reloaded, is the third album to drop from Duck Down this Summer, following Sean Price and Buckshot & 9th Wonder. Both of those albums have been well received and are excellent. Do you feel any pressure with your album to perform or succeed?


Tek: HELL TO THA NAW!!! Smiff N Wessun gon’ make it do like it do, baby! We the best at what we do, and that’s just what that is. Not to sound like anything, but….nah, ain’t no pressure there, man – we just gonna make it work. Cuz that’s the bottom line – it gotta work.



Dirty Backpacks: Did they save the best for last?



Tek: Ya know – I ain’t say it, you said it, but you know how it go.



DBP: Let’s go into the history of Smiff N Wessun a little bit. How did you guys originally link up, and how did you become a part of The Boot Camp Clique?


Tek: We been runnin’ around in the streets from day 1 together, man. We got family together and everything. And the Boot Camp….basically it was just – we got that from – we put Timbs on the map in The Hood, man, we brought Timbs to The Hood. Rockin’ ‘em all year round wit shorts, playing basketball and all that, and they was like “Damn, how they playin’ and they got on them Timbs and boots?” And after that, it was cool to rock. You know, we put the fatigues with it and made it look “Hoody”, and from there it was like “yo, our style is Boot Camp.” You know, trials and tribulations. We been on some workout sh*t, trying to just keep the body in tune with the mind. And then we met….my PNC, Steele, met Buckshot. They was rockin’ on that side of town together and I met his sister through night school – I had to repeat some joints. And so, you know, one thing led to another and Boot Camp was officially made into a music group. Then we put on Heltah Skeltah, OGC – from there it was history.



DBP: Y’all been in the game for a while, and you’ve certainly had your share of ups and downs in the record industry with this being your 3rd album released after, like, 3 different label situations. Talk to me about that.


Tek: Man, like you said. It’s trials and tribulations; that’s what Boot Camp is about. We go through it; it’s all about how you come out of it, man – unscathed. If it don’t kill you, it’s gonna make you stronger. We grown ass men, this ain’t no little kid sh*t, and we just keepin’ it moving. That’s they loss, that’s those labels’ loss.


DBP: Your 1st album, Da Shinin’, that was a Hip Hop classic.


Tek: Good lookin’.


DBP: Your 2nd album, The Rude Awakening….


Tek: Uh-huh?


DBP: That’s an under-rated masterpiece! I BANGED THAT for years!


Tek: Good lookin’! That sh*t is so slept on. But you know, as time goes on, people’s minds start to open up. They be like “Damn! I ain’t even know this sh*t was on THIS album, this sh*t is crazy!” So then when you go online or you catch ‘em in the street, they like “son, and I ain’t even know you did that!” or “I ain’t know you had something with son, I was just listening to Rude Awakening – that sh*t is crazy!” Like, yeah, see – you got bamboozled over the name change so much, cuz you thought it was gonna be so different! When you didn’t see Smiff N Wessun, you ain’t know Cocoa B’s was the same-a$$ people! But people don’t listen sometimes when you talk to them, so that’s why you gotta whip people sometimes, and put sh*t into their head, and make ‘em know – listen, this is that, that is this, and it is what it is. Yeah – that’s definitely a slept on album – I LOVE THAT ALBUM.


DBP: Same here! With the legacy you got with those 1st two albums, what can we expect from the 3rd official album?


Tek: Man….sh*t like that is indescribable, like having a kid; it’s like having your 1st child – you don’t know what words to put into it. We been away for so long….not away, but just out of the public’s sight. We been working, been touring the world doing shows. Just to get back into the studio and get something recorded – it’s a beautiful thing. Reloaded is definitely going to tell a story.


DBP: You and the entire Boot Camp collective….y’all been around a long time. And y’all seen a lot of cats in the game come and go. What’s the key to your longevity?


Tek: Can’t give away all the secrets! We can’t tell ‘em everything, but – basically, it’s just staying true to yourself and true to your company that surrounds you. You’re only as good as the people that’s around you, as good as your team, and if you got weak links, then you gonna fall apart. But if you keep that chain nice and oily, keep it strong, then that’s what you gonna be – you gonna be a strong individual for yourself. Then, when you come together as a collective, it’s gonna make a definite impact - people is gonna see that, and they gonna respect it. So it’s just basically being faithful to yourself and having good people around you, and knowing what you wanna do and have your mind focused. Sh*t can’t be all clouded. You can get your high, get your drink on, but you still gotta be on point at all times.


DBP: Now, y’all went from Smiff N Wessun to Cocoa B’s, and now you’re kind of returning to your namesake that y’all blew up on. Can we expect to see albums and releases incorporating the original name in the future?


Tek: Oh but of course. But of course. Smiff N Wessun is what it is, man. I don’t give a f**k if we record an album under the name Hell and Boot, we still gonna be Smiff N Wessun, it’s still gonna be Tek & Steele, and that’s what it is. Cocoa B’s is just a one-off something – that was because of what we was doing in the streets, in The Hood, that people referred to us as that. We always supplied people wit joints like that. That was just “let’s just see, just to avoid all that bullsh*t, to cut all that down, let’s just record this under this so we can get this music out, and then we can deal with everything else as it comes.” And right now – we had to put it back to Smiff N Wessun – anything else is uncivilized.


DBP: Let’s talk about the name change – how bad do you think that hurt the 2nd album?


Tek: I think we really lost a couple of album sales, probably even lost a couple of fans behind it because they was waiting for Smiff N Wessun for so long. They didn’t know the name changed from Smiff N Wessun to Cocoa B’s. So, when that album dropped, they didn’t put 1 and 1 together at that time. They just let it slip. It went all over their heads or under their nose. I mean, it hurt us for a minute but you can’t keep a good man down. Like I said – it’s all about how you get up and keep it moving after that. So far, we right back on track.


DBP: Y’all done collabo’d with some of the best in Hip Hop…


Tek: Geah!


DBP: …and y’all got tons of classics to your name….


Tek: Geah!


DBP: ….but you never enjoyed the widespread exposure or mainstream success of some wacker MCs. With a list as long as yours, does it bother you that the numbers have never matched the notoriety and the respect that you get?


Tek: Aaaaahhhhh….I mean, sometimes a ni99a might think about that, but that sh*t don’t bother me, man. People in the streets know what time it is, and it’s the youth that I’m worried about that’s coming up, and some of them – you can’t sleep on all of them, cuz some of them do know, and at the same time, as long as I got my family with me, my success is there. They know what Unc do, they know what Pops do, and you know – it’ll come when it’s time to come, man. It’ll come.


DBP: In terms of the album, let’s talk about the producers and the collabos that you got – who you got on the album?


Tek: Oh, we got our boys, RBG – we bangin’ wit Dead Prez!


DBP: Oh! Okay!


Tek: And the rest of The Boot Camp. Other than that, it’s just Smiff N Wessun in your face all day – we ain’t promoting nobody else but us. And that’s what it is. We got some of the dopest production on there from my family The Beatminerz. We got some production from these cats from Sweden; this cat from up north call Moss, and of course we got my man Coptic who does a lot of Puff’s Hitman music. So you know, we got some joints up there. We just opened it up to different people and it gives people a different taste but it ain’t nothing out of the ordinary. It ain’t nothing that ain’t Smiff N Wessun-ish, and that’s what it is.


DBP: Yeah, speaking of the producers that you got, I noticed y’all got Khrysis.


Tek: Yeah, Justus League.


DBP: Yeah, I noticed him on a couple of the other albums that came out this summer. I got both albums – I love Boot Camp…


Tek: Good lookin’!


DBP: Y’all cats could cough on an album and I’d buy it!


Tek: (Chuckles) Yeah, we just took a trip out to North Carolina – we was originally gonna get up with the boy 9th Wonder who Buck did his collabo, Chemistry, with.


DBP: Exactly.


Tek: We was gonna get up with him, but he (Khrysis) was like “yeah, I do beats too.” He just started throwin’ on that fire! We was like “yo – son, don’t even worry about it, we gonna get something from you too, 9th.” And if it happens, it happens. You know, it’s all family – it just so happened that Buck and Ruck (Sean Price) was diggin’ more of the joints that 9th was playing. Not saying we ain’t dig his music, cuz his sh*t was bangin’ too, but we ain’t wanna over-saturate sh*t with one sound. Plus, son is under him (9th Wonder) anyway. That’s like his little soldier that he got under him, so we was like “you know what? Y’all roll with the big boy, and we gonna take son’s joints and do what we do with them.” Now what I mean? He gonna give us something to give back. We ain’t always gotta have the big names; we never been on it like that. We make our own sh*t. We give people those names. And so that’s what Khrysis was – when he had some fire joints, then we was like “yo – let’s do it.”


DBP: Let’s the people know – what’s the 1st single?


Tek: Well right now we’re leaning heavily towards this joint called “Timbs 2 Work” produced by this boy Moss – he got some fire with him, and you know, we just put it down on wax and just recorded it. Heltah Skeltah is on it, so it’s like a double introduction. The boy Rock is on it, so you know it’s some words being spoken over that joint.


DBP: Okay – you got any videos comin’ out?


Tek: Yeah! Sean Price just filmed two videos for his joint; Buck was just working on his. We just wrapping our joint (the album) up right now; we ain’t even go into production yet and start shooting nothin’, but as soon as we get it we definitely gonna let you know.


DBP: Tell the people - why was it so long between the 2nd album and this one? After the Rawkus Records deal fell apart, what happened with y’all?


Tek: We had to fall back for a minute and get our minds right, man. We had to make sure this was the route that Smiff N Wessun wanted to go in. We was being called for so many shows, to do so many things with people. We was running around helping the inner-city youth, talking to single parent kids, just having families, just trying to get things in the right perspective. Allah just worked it out for us that it came at the time that it did – that’s why it’s Reloaded.


DBP: Y’all have always had your own style, as has everyone in The Boot Camp Clique. And over the years, a lot of rappers done copied, done mimicked your style, your concepts.


Tek: (Begins chuckling)


DBP: And they had success off of that without giving you or your Clique credit!


Tek: Ah, we never get credit for nothin’ we do, man. I’mma let my PNC answer that one.


Keep your eyes open for Part II of the Smiff N Wessun interview with Steele, where he talks about their influence, and that Boot Camp/2pac album that never came out…


All Images courtesy of duckdown.com