Hip-Hop Wired: With Biggie initially co-signing you and the era that you come from, as a fan of Hip-Hop and as a business person who’s actually involved in Hip-Hop, how does it feel to watch the game go from lyrics over the past few years to where they don’t matter anymore? Now you can be the wackest rapper in the world but have auto-tune on your song or sing and dance and suddenly you’re classified as a top MC.
Jadakiss: That’s what this album represents because I came in when the era was no ringtones and the only person on the auto-tune was Roger Troutman and Zapp. You had to be able to hold your own amongst the Wu-Tang, Dre & Snoop, Biggie, Hov, Nas… you name it. I represent that and that’s what I want you to get with this album. No gimmicks, just good beats, good lyrics, good songs. You can ride through with no interludes and just bang out. And hopefully with New York, we gone feel good about being from New York and everybody CD just start dropping and we get this thing back to where it’s supposed to be.
Hip-Hop Wired: How did you feel about the “Notorious” film and what was your experience like when you first met Biggie and how did your relationship grow from that?
Jadakiss: The first time I met Big I was like, Wow! It was like I met Santa Claus. Because we used to sit around and write rhymes just to say, “How would he like these bars right here?” And then to actually become label mates with him, that made it even crazier. So we just used to be like, “Damn.” But then we had to get it to a point where we gonna stop being in awe and start working. And once he let us know that he thought we were nice and I was nice, that just put the battery in my back even more. So that’s why “The Letter” was that much more important because he was like my mentor and my homie. He gave me a lot of advice about what was going to happen in the game after I got in. Mo Money, more problems pretty much. Plus that’s still a weird situation with his death because when we lost him, that was actually my first time going to Cali and I still miss him. I miss him a lot and think about him a lot especially every time I go out there but I just try to move on though.
Hip-Hop Wired: As far as the Notorious movie, you mentioned that you didn’t think the Pac character was believable. Why was that and do you have any comments about what actor Anthony Mackie (who played Tupac) said about Kim’s views on the movie. Mackie stated that Lil’ Kim’s career was pretty much irrelevant right now and he applauded Naturi Naughton for making Kim (who he claimed was 1 dimensional) be a 3-dimensional character who you cared and felt for.
Jadakiss: They did nice with the movie and I don’t have no problem with actual actor who played Tupac. I don’t even know that dude. I was just talking about the character and he just did what they told him to do in the script. If anything, I don’t like what they wrote for him. I don’t like how they had him. I don’t got no problem with his acting, I don’t even know him. I wasn’t making it a personal thing. I was speaking from the outside in looking at the movie.
Hip-Hop Wired: So what makes you feel that Pac wasn’t accurately portrayed in the flick?
Jadakiss: I didn’t even know Pac either but for one he don’t look like Pac and then he was little bit too chipper. If you listen to Pac’s music and watched him on Juice and watch him on any other movie, he wasn’t that happy like that. He wasn’t joking… but it might have been me because I wasn’t around back then so maybe that’s how he used to be. It’s just my personal opinion.
Hip-Hop Wired: What was the process like working with Puffy again from a business perspective after you recorded the “Letter To Big” for the Notorious Soundtrack?
Jadakiss: I just let my peoples talk to his peoples. I mean Puff respects me and he respects us (The LOX) as businessmen now because he knows we understand it a little bit more. So it wasn’t like me thinking anything funny was going to happen. It was just a matter of me connecting my peoples with his peoples and making it happen. If it wasn’t able to happen the correct way then it wouldn’t have happened.
Hip-Hop Wired: What’s the chance that the fans will ever hear The Lox, Eve, Drag-On, and DMX over a Swizz Beatz track ever again?
Jadakiss: Oh man, that’s nothing. It’s just a matter of everybody wanting to do it. Swizz can make it happen. That could even happen tomorrow. It’s just that everybody’s doing their own thing. If somebody call with a joint and say they need everybody it could be done in an hour or two. That’s nothing right there. We don’t have no beef. We still speak and stay in touch when we see each other but it ain’t like we’re enemies. We still family; it’s just that we distant. You know how you don’t see your cousin for a minute but it’s still all love when ya’ll see each other.
Hip-Hop Wired: You also flipped the script on the album with the track “Smoking Gun” featuring Jazmine Sullivan. Many people wouldn’t expect you to come from that perspective?
Jadakiss: That’s just one of them joints on the album to make you say “Wow.” Damn, I wonder why he would do this joint. But I had been talking to a few chicks over the past few months and a couple of them seemed to have some real stories inside about abuse. Whether it was a physical rape or just somebody trying to do some stuff to them and they just held it in and only told a few people with me happening to be one of them. So after hearing that, I felt like there must be a lot of ladies in the world that had stuff done to them and they holding it in and I just wanted to reach them right quick and let them know that I’m there for them. Not touchy or none of that because that’s why it’s called “Smoking Gun.” It means to let them know if they call me, I’ll come through and handle some business for them but with a different twist to it. Jasmine was cool to work with. I had to meet with her and her mom and speak with them about the song but they were real cool. I had a show with them somewhere in Connecticut and I hollered at them backstage and they said that she would do it and it was all love.
Hip-Hop Wired: So once people pop in The Last Kiss, what aspects do you want people to walk away with?
Jadakiss: Man I want them to walk away saying Kiss is that nigga. New York is back and I need more of it and until I get some more of it I’m just gonna play the words off of this shit though.
By Michael “Ice-Blue” Harris
Jadakiss: That’s what this album represents because I came in when the era was no ringtones and the only person on the auto-tune was Roger Troutman and Zapp. You had to be able to hold your own amongst the Wu-Tang, Dre & Snoop, Biggie, Hov, Nas… you name it. I represent that and that’s what I want you to get with this album. No gimmicks, just good beats, good lyrics, good songs. You can ride through with no interludes and just bang out. And hopefully with New York, we gone feel good about being from New York and everybody CD just start dropping and we get this thing back to where it’s supposed to be.
Hip-Hop Wired: How did you feel about the “Notorious” film and what was your experience like when you first met Biggie and how did your relationship grow from that?
Jadakiss: The first time I met Big I was like, Wow! It was like I met Santa Claus. Because we used to sit around and write rhymes just to say, “How would he like these bars right here?” And then to actually become label mates with him, that made it even crazier. So we just used to be like, “Damn.” But then we had to get it to a point where we gonna stop being in awe and start working. And once he let us know that he thought we were nice and I was nice, that just put the battery in my back even more. So that’s why “The Letter” was that much more important because he was like my mentor and my homie. He gave me a lot of advice about what was going to happen in the game after I got in. Mo Money, more problems pretty much. Plus that’s still a weird situation with his death because when we lost him, that was actually my first time going to Cali and I still miss him. I miss him a lot and think about him a lot especially every time I go out there but I just try to move on though.
Hip-Hop Wired: As far as the Notorious movie, you mentioned that you didn’t think the Pac character was believable. Why was that and do you have any comments about what actor Anthony Mackie (who played Tupac) said about Kim’s views on the movie. Mackie stated that Lil’ Kim’s career was pretty much irrelevant right now and he applauded Naturi Naughton for making Kim (who he claimed was 1 dimensional) be a 3-dimensional character who you cared and felt for.
Jadakiss: They did nice with the movie and I don’t have no problem with actual actor who played Tupac. I don’t even know that dude. I was just talking about the character and he just did what they told him to do in the script. If anything, I don’t like what they wrote for him. I don’t like how they had him. I don’t got no problem with his acting, I don’t even know him. I wasn’t making it a personal thing. I was speaking from the outside in looking at the movie.
Hip-Hop Wired: So what makes you feel that Pac wasn’t accurately portrayed in the flick?
Jadakiss: I didn’t even know Pac either but for one he don’t look like Pac and then he was little bit too chipper. If you listen to Pac’s music and watched him on Juice and watch him on any other movie, he wasn’t that happy like that. He wasn’t joking… but it might have been me because I wasn’t around back then so maybe that’s how he used to be. It’s just my personal opinion.
Hip-Hop Wired: What was the process like working with Puffy again from a business perspective after you recorded the “Letter To Big” for the Notorious Soundtrack?
Jadakiss: I just let my peoples talk to his peoples. I mean Puff respects me and he respects us (The LOX) as businessmen now because he knows we understand it a little bit more. So it wasn’t like me thinking anything funny was going to happen. It was just a matter of me connecting my peoples with his peoples and making it happen. If it wasn’t able to happen the correct way then it wouldn’t have happened.
Hip-Hop Wired: What’s the chance that the fans will ever hear The Lox, Eve, Drag-On, and DMX over a Swizz Beatz track ever again?
Jadakiss: Oh man, that’s nothing. It’s just a matter of everybody wanting to do it. Swizz can make it happen. That could even happen tomorrow. It’s just that everybody’s doing their own thing. If somebody call with a joint and say they need everybody it could be done in an hour or two. That’s nothing right there. We don’t have no beef. We still speak and stay in touch when we see each other but it ain’t like we’re enemies. We still family; it’s just that we distant. You know how you don’t see your cousin for a minute but it’s still all love when ya’ll see each other.
Hip-Hop Wired: You also flipped the script on the album with the track “Smoking Gun” featuring Jazmine Sullivan. Many people wouldn’t expect you to come from that perspective?
Jadakiss: That’s just one of them joints on the album to make you say “Wow.” Damn, I wonder why he would do this joint. But I had been talking to a few chicks over the past few months and a couple of them seemed to have some real stories inside about abuse. Whether it was a physical rape or just somebody trying to do some stuff to them and they just held it in and only told a few people with me happening to be one of them. So after hearing that, I felt like there must be a lot of ladies in the world that had stuff done to them and they holding it in and I just wanted to reach them right quick and let them know that I’m there for them. Not touchy or none of that because that’s why it’s called “Smoking Gun.” It means to let them know if they call me, I’ll come through and handle some business for them but with a different twist to it. Jasmine was cool to work with. I had to meet with her and her mom and speak with them about the song but they were real cool. I had a show with them somewhere in Connecticut and I hollered at them backstage and they said that she would do it and it was all love.
Hip-Hop Wired: So once people pop in The Last Kiss, what aspects do you want people to walk away with?
Jadakiss: Man I want them to walk away saying Kiss is that nigga. New York is back and I need more of it and until I get some more of it I’m just gonna play the words off of this shit though.
By Michael “Ice-Blue” Harris
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