Heres The Assassin Interview:
(massie) first off can you tell us a little info on how
you got into the bizz?
(assassin)What Up ! The Vaults and all
supporters and true fans of real Hip-Hop! Well as you
can see the name is Assassin and it started way back
like in 83-84 rockin the 2 turntables (radio shack
mixer and pulled out turntables from moms 8 track
machine)
You see i use to find old 8track players that came
with a turntable on top and radio already built in and
rip the turntable out and make a holder out a
cardboard box and start to get rippin on them bad
boyz.I went by Scratch Terminator way back until my
homie gave me the name THE KING ASSASSIN so i dropped
the king because evrybody in them days was either
taggin or using king before they name so i kept it for
a while then dropped it(who knows i might bring the
king back one day) (lol) So you can say i got my start
as a DJ into the wonderful world of production to
M.C.N and been at it over since with over 12 releases
on my lable LIFERDEF.
(massie)can you tell us about Liferdef Enterprise for the
people that are not familiar with it ?
(assassin)The Liferdef
Enterprise is my lable and been running for like 10
years now and is set to branch off in to movie/dvd
production in 2005.We are also affiliated with Steady
Mobbin a production company that consist of myself and
80 million record selling producer Mike
Mosley.Liferdef Steady Mobbin will have over 10
releases in all this 2005 believe it or not.And i will
be the first to post the great news by the end of the
year.
(massie) how is it different working on a indy lable
instead of working a huge group like time warner etc
?
(assassin)The first thing is all the flexability on your
artistic freedom and not being thrown on someone's
shelf and collecting dust.The great part is you decide
to drop your own street date and the downside is your
using all your personal cash ,but the pay off is more
greater with a promising selling product .As being
Independent there are no charge backs as if you were
to be on a major they can tax you dearly and if your
product does not sell you are marked for life and
probably will not ever get a deal again and considered
a flop to the head honcho lables.I try to stay away
from these politics and remain underground because my
fans are loyal and remain to be supportive of my
releases.The independent scene is a gamble with
different titles so i just stay true to what im use to
and what works and will continue to do so without the
drama!
(massie) any new up and comming artitist your working with you would like to speak on ?
(assassin)
New artist yes indeed i
got a DUO called DOUBLE TROUBLE that were looking into
dropping from the Central Valley California we also
got Uncle Jon, Sydal and the homie Hex that have all
albums in the work as we speak on LIFERDEF.
(massie)before we get into the new mixtape your working on
can you tell us about how you first hooked up with
2pac?
(assassin) When i first met Pac was with Digital
Underground at a Gavin convention in S.F where they
were fresh on the scene and doing shows on Townsend.It
wasn't til years later we hooked up in the studio to
actual get work put in at a los angeles recording
studio Echo Sound where everyone who was somebody at
the time recorded there.At that time i was in the
studio working for DEFJAM's Mr. Russell Simmons
(massie)can u name the songs you worked on with 2pac for
> the ppl that might have missed you mentioning it b4?
(assassin)
Judgement Day (original soldiers like me)look for the
promising version on THE WAY HE WANTED IT,Real Bad
Boyz,Love Letterz,Kriminal Minded,All Out,Death B4
Dishonor to name a few.But the cut that im mostly
known for is REAL BAD BOYZ! "Bad boy Bad boy what'cha
gone do when they come for you!"
(massie) i heard you was in the studio during the
recording of dear mama was you in the studio for any
others?
(assassin)Yes i was in the studio for Life's so hard on
a Nigga when youre living like a g, Fuck The World and
DEAR MAMA those tracks from Me against the world were
recorded at Blue Palm Studios and Westlake Studios.I
was at other sessions at Echo Sound with Rated R and
Macadoshis with Pac for alotta songs.
(massie)can you give
us a little info about what
it was like in the studio at the time?
(assassin)It was fun and
alot of drinking and smoking from what i remember ,Fat
Blunts being passed around the whole room and made
across almost 2 times but they were the size of a
cigar from cuba!Those were the days,i remeber Shock
from the underground comin in on a session and bringin
a songbook where i get around made it to sheet music
which was crazy seeing Hip Hop take it to that form to
america,that's when i realized that this hiphop music
thing is BIG!Shock always been a big part of my
succsess and teachings of the industry that;s my big
brother right there.He was just down for my birthday
which was cool because we havent lounged out in a
minute.
(massie) what is your thought not only on the remixing of
judgement day/soldier like me but also songs like
all out you worked on beeing remixed and the total
feel of the song beeing changed?
(assassin) To tell you the
truth i dont mind the remixing because i come from a
DJ perspective but my motto is if you cant come close
to the OG or even better just trash it or try another
track.Not to say that those who remixed any of my trax
didnt do it justice but more than half the time i get
emails from fans telling me that the track was ruined
and why is this happenin.This is one of the reasons
why we are also doing the mixtape because of so many
request and why's.As far as how i feel about the trax
we did getting flipped that's cool, but give respect
to those that even made the track possible at least on
the credits.Because if there werent for OG trax there
wouldnt be a remix or nothing to go on so show some
respect.
(massie) would you ever work on a amaru 2pac cd in the
> future?
(assassin)I have no problem neither does Shock,Mike
Mosley and other producers such as Big D it's just our
phone doesn't ring for these jobs because we are not
sitting with a number one hit in 2005 and backed by
millions and others in charge are behind a desk lookin
at statistics plotting on who should produce the new
2pac album his friends or a stranger with a number one
hit at the time that's the difference the real essence
is gone where it came from in the first place and now
a essence made from folks who never even knew pac but
probably got love for him but still dont understand
what pac felt he wanted to rap toand to top it off
prbably an artist with a hit and not a producer with a
longevity of past hits.It's a dirty game if your hot
your hot if your not your not and the jobs for stuff
like this dont come unless your sittin at #1 for a
while and thats how it is.Im not complaining i just
want to get to work and do my thing, but i see how
this whole industry now is ran and will continue to
run.
(massie) i saw you mentioned about working on the never
released makaveli part 2 .can you give any more info
on it some song names ,artists ft on it etc?
(assassin)There is
no info and anything set for this as far as i know of
right now.It sure would be nice if it did happen
because it sure can.
(massie) what made you decide to make a 2pac remix
cd?
(assassin)What made us want to make this happen because of
all the dissapointment that happened from the last
release,If fans were happy with l.t.t.g there would be
no mixtape and no emails of request to do this,The
whole idea came from fans and folks from Hitemup.com
and Raptalk.net and numerous other Pac affiliated
sites.
(massie) how will this cd be better than others released
in the past?
(assassin)We hope that it will be accepted and
what the fans want.We cannot promise better but can
give you our all out hard work of what pac wanted us
to do,So we will just follow from what we are used to
doing from the past and thats the formula!
(massie)do you have any song titles that you would like
> to tell at this time thats gonna be on it? Love
Letters,Ghetto Gospel 2005,Struggle Continues,Death b4
Dishonor to name a brief few
(massie) alot of ppl are asking about will it ship
> worldwide,price etc? has any of that been finalized
> yet?
(assassin)Nothing is finalized yet until we have completed
everything from artwork to the whole campaign,it's a
mixtape so there wont be no outlandish price, just
something enough to press it up and get it to the
fans.
(massie)can you mention any other artists that will be on
> it?
(assassin)Mostly everyone that was close to Pac and have
been on tracks before no one that will be a surprise
like dam i didnt know pac knew him!! (gunit) (50)
(eminem) just a lot of bay boys and thuglife to make a
long list short.
(massie) there are alot of ppl that are really looking
forward to this and appreciate it ignore the haters
that will come
(assassin)!Indeed thanx for the support we all
sure appreciate here!
(massie) ill let you get back to work thanks for the time any last words?
(assassin)God Bless and take everyday like your
last and respect your family because we are not
promised tomorrow. Assassin Craig "Po"Nitty
Troublesome 2005!
« Last Edit: Apr 5th, 2005, 8:49am by MASSIE »
Dramacydal
I think something got confused about the whole makaveli part 2 in there though (ill try and figure that out later) ..thanks to assassin for taking time to do this
.
