Features
Kurupt Drops Science
Loading ...D: Yeah, I like that a lot. That’s slick man. That’s real slick. And let me ask you this too if you don’t mind. Particularly with your new album…it’s called Streetlights, right?
Streetlights dropping 4/20.
D: (laughter) April 20th man, that’s got a lot of people buzzing. Actually I was bumping the 4/20 prequel mixtape and I enjoyed it. Actually, it ties into two questions, but I’m gonna start with the first one. With the new album, obviously intentionally to be released on 4/20, making a statement. I read somewhere your intentions with it. I think you were saying, ‘the album owes its thematic content to all the silent aspects of streets, neighborhoods, and communities. How this informs it. I think you had a quote saying you “were just looking outside at the streetlights just gleaming and how basically real life footage can be captured under the streetlights, and if they had a camera ….
If you think about all the things that happen underneath that one streetlight that sits there on that one street, even the lights that shine on the freeway. You know when you roll on the freeway them lights that you be seeing, the streetlights that you be seeing as you’re passing through the neighborhoods.
Just that one light, if you filmed everything there that happened, you’d see so many different things man. If I had a camera, you’d see violence, you’d see all kinds of violence. You’d see love. You’d see everything man. You’d see drug transactions.
You’d see what real life is about. And my main thing is when I created this thing about streetlights man, I was just in a car, just left a club, and stuff passing by me. And I was in there car asleep actually but when I woke up we were on those streets rolling and lights was passing me by and I was like, ‘Yo that’s my life, that’s my life. And my life is passing me by like these lights right now on the streets.’
It sounds corny, but it’s just real. You’re going in and the lights shine, then pause to the next one, lights shine, then the next one, shines. And its like that’s how your life passes you by. That was my original concept. How my life is passing me by. Then we stopped at a streetlight, and I thought if this light could tell a tale, what would it tell?
It done seen accidents. It don’t seen people murdered. It done seen people die from accidents. It done seen hoes. It done seen everything in the world, man. Happened right there at all times.
I was like, “That’s what I’m gonna name my album after. I’m gonna name my album streetlights. And this is gonna tell the tale of the streets.”
D: That’s ill man. And I’m just curious conceptually. On each track were you like trying to tell a different tale, man? Like was each track on the upcoming album supposed to be a different streetlight telling you a different tale?
You know I’ve got a mini-movie coming out that’s about streetlights man. Its basically like Tales From the Darkside where I’m gonna break down something that happened underneath that streetlight. Like if it had a camera, what would have happened?
It’s amazing when you let your mind fly what you might think of. Like right now, somebody might have died somewhere. Right now somebody getting murdered. Right now someone getting kidnapped. Also right now somebody’s making love. Somebody’s right now making a child and bringing something new into this world. Just as someone dies, someone is born. At the same second. Every second somebody gets shot, someone is delivering a baby.
D: No kidding, that’s beautiful man. Just the idea of life, of energy continuing. I like that you take the time to be so introspective cause too often, like you said there’s so many distractions in life, its so fast-paced, we don’t take the time to sit back. I think it’s a wonderful quality.
One of my children was born one time, my son. And I was rushing to the hospital to see the boy and his mama. Cause I was late cause I had to fly in. And when I went to go see the boy I was thinking to myself, “This very second as this boy is coming out, somebody’s dying.” It’s like a double-edged sword, know what I’m saying. Its like this great thing this baby is being born and at the same second somebody’s dying. Crazy.
D: You know it’s crazy but it’s also a beautiful display of empathy because its too easy in this world to get wrapped up in our own realities and what were experiencing, but if you even had, in one of your most beautiful moments seeing your son born, you’ve taken the time to be like, “You know what I can have my joy, but it doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of pain in the world right now. Probably a thousand people are losing someone right now.”
You just have to be thankful because every breath you breathe, every second you are able to breathe, somebody’s not.
D: That’s a great line.
Michael Jackson died and someone gave birth somewhere. Isn’t that crazy?
D: It’s wild man.
You could look at it like, “the day that my child was born, one of the greatest musicians on earth died. He died and gave my child life.” Incredible.
D: That’s deep man, I like that. And the fact that you are dropping the album on April 20th, by the way thank you for being open to student questions as a couple of my students asked being the fact that you have the album coming out on 4/20 and you seem to embrace marijuana. A lot of emcees, I don’t wanna say emcees just people in life, think that marijuana can help unlock things and be a creative tool for creativity. Has that influenced your music at all, not just in terms of the content of what you rhyme about, for instance Redman has the song How To Roll a Blunt where he’s actually rhyming about marijuana, but also has it influenced the aesthetics like do you find your flow, your style is different when on weed? How has that influenced you, whether that be in content, aesthetics, anything?
Let me say this. Everything influences. You can watch a movie, write a rhyme. You can smoke some week, write those times of rhymes. That’s like same for everybody else. Some people smoke weed, write these type of rhymes, those type of rhymes.
You know to each his own. Each person has their own type of style. To me, weed does have some influence. So does drinking a little bit of alcohol, like beers and liquor. So does going through dramas in my life. So does waking up in the morning. My best records are in the morning.
Right now I’m on this timetable where, unless Snoopy calls me, I don’t really do any music til four in the morning. I’m done about twelve or one pm. I like to start my music when I don’t have no influence of weed or alcohol. To really get out what I’m really trying to say. So weed is not really an influencer at all times, but you know I can be with the homies and really smoke out good and be like, “aite I’m ready to get on the mic at 2:00 AM.” It’s a part of, just not the whole thing.
Life is of itself a part of, but not the whole. Everything is spontaneous combustion with me. You know if I smoke some weed, if I feel good enough, I’m ready to get on the mic. If I drink something and I feel good enough, I’m ready to get on the mic. If I’m angry enough and want to make one of those type of records, Ill get on the mic. Its not just weed but weed is a part. There’s so many different pieces. You’re gonna hear it on streetlights cause you’re gonna say, “This record he was smoking good on. And this record he was feeling like this one because it’s a cooool record.
I got one record on the album, that’s a bonus, called “Smoke 4/20”. Its basically 4/20 and you’re smoking. Basically that’s what its about. I also got a record for the drunk niggas. You know you be in the club and each one of the verses explains a different kind of drunk nigga. One that slaps the girls in the ass and talks shit. One that don’t respect nobody: “Get the fuck out my way, I’m drunk bitch!” And the one nigga that’s such a horn-dog man, he gets liquored up and then the big fat girl looks like Janet Jackson to him. ‘She look like Jaaaanet Jackson.’
D: Makes me think of Friday. ‘More like Freddie Jackson.” I like what you’re saying though cause with people anything, weed, drugs, alcohol, anything can be a crutch. Anything in life, even athletes, they may not be able to perform without it. Like you don’t want it where the only way you can perform is when you’re on this performance enhancer.
Do you know I been there before?
Nicholas Conway is an adjunct professor, teaching Hip Hop Music and Culture at Trinity College, Yale University And SUNY-Albany. He is currently authoring a textbook on Hip Hop and freelances for Deft magazine as well as Albany’s The Time Union, UndergroundHipHop.com and also serves as a guest lecturer on hip hop.
You might also like
|
|
|
|
|
