New Hopsin interview (Talking bout Knock Madness, Em & more)

[Shadizz]

Give me a brief summary of your music career and where it all started.

I started off in 2001 downloading instrumentals back when Napster was hot and I started passing CDs around my high school just to get a laugh out of my friends. I’ve played the piano since I was three or four years old, so I already had a sense of how to make music.

I started to develop a lyrical skill, making beats and soon enough I was pretty much the coolest guy in high school just off rapping. Girls didn’t like me though (laughs). I was the weird kinda cool, not the cool kind of cool. I dropped out of high school ‘cause at the time I didn’t see any real future in going to college. I just wanted to rap. In 2005 I found the white contacts and I felt real comfortable with them in. In 2007 I got signed to Ruthless Records and that didn’t go too well. I got told the usual ‘Oh we’re gonna make you famous’ bullshit and they kinda left me hanging for about three years. During that time I caught up with an old high school friend named Swizz and we started making music on the side and we developed this record label called Funk Volume.

Swizz’s older brother was majoring in business at some college so he came in to the label. While I was trying to get off Ruthless, we came up with all these different marketing plans and I wrote an album called Raw, which basically just told everyone what was going on in my life and my label situation. It turned out to be really successful. It boosted up my status and boosted up Funk Volume’s status as a whole. So now it’s got me in a position where I’m ready to start touring.

What do you consider your role as an artist to be?

I know this is going to sound so cliché or over the top, but I feel like I’m the Jesus Christ of hip-hop. Over time people are going to see what I’m saying. I know right now people see me as this sinful, crazy dude but really I don’t wanna be this guy. I don’t want to, but I have to ‘cause no one is gonna listen to what I have to say if I come out tryna make peace. People are still gonna hate regardless, and I probably wouldn’t have the buzz I have right now if I didn’t do it this way.

Sometimes to get people’s attention you have to scream at them with your middle finger up in their face and then when they realise how talented you are you’re able to guide their minds in the right direction. And that makes their lives better, which leads to making the world better.

I know everyone thinks I’m a psycho right now and I know alotta people hate me, but I guarantee you if they met me they’d have a different perception of me. They’d know that I’m just on a mission to do something and this is what it takes. I am sacrificing people thinking that I’m a nice guy in doing it this way, but it’s basically just to get their attention so that when I do something positive they’ll be like “Oh snap! I’ve been listening to this dude for years and I know that he’s trying to make a real change”.

So you’re a hero disguised as a villain?

Well yeah, I would die over my music. I really don’t care. I live for this. This is what I do. And I know I’ll probably get my ass beat sooner or later for calling out the wrong name. But it is what it is.

On that note, you called out Tyler the Creator in your latest Ill Mind Of Hopsin chronicle. To what extent do you denounce Tyler as an artist and is there anything that you do appreciate about his music?

Well he’s definitely an artist. I’m not gonna take that away from him. But he’s not very good. He’s got a good flow, but his beats aren’t good. And that’s not even me hating. His beats just aren’t good. And his message is just so negative to the point where it’s like, what are you doing man? Are you just doing music because some stereotypical business heads wanna invest in you and make money off you and juice you for everything you’ve got?

I mean, you’re going in to the minds of these teenagers and promoting all this negativity when it’s just unnecessary. I went through that stage, too, though. If someone wanted to put money in my pocket back in the day to make songs about stupid shit, I probably would have. But now I’m smarter, I’m wiser, I’ve been through bad situations with record companies and I’ve realised how much more powerful artists are than what it seems.

I know some rappers say, “Well kids watch violent movies and no one says shit”. But no, it’s not like the movies. These are real people rapping about real quote-unquote situations. I know how the rappers I was listening to growing up had an influence on me and I know that I would have done anything to be just like them. If you rap about “I shot a nigga on the corner” that really can be enough encouragement for someone to handle a situation like that.

So how do you define a true hip-hop artist?

For one, a true hip-hop artist studies the art of hip-hop. They know how to flow and how to capture people’s minds. They know how to make music that people can connect with and vibe out to and once they get to the stage of having power, knowing how to use it positively. I mean it’s fine to rap about the struggle and the violence that’s going on in the streets, but once you get to the stage where you’re not living that no more, you gotta know when to stop.

It’s cool that some of these dudes were once selling drugs, they came up and they started doing something productive with their lives. But once you get to that level where you’re not living that life no more and you’re still rapping about it, that’s just being cruel and selfish – in other words, a bad person. And that’s where I think it’s my responsibility to go to town on them and call them out lyrically.

Can you explain your method to writing some of your experience-driven songs like Kill Her or You Are My Enemy. Do you write these songs as you’re going through the situation to streamline some kind of outcome, or from a reflective standpoint to achieve some kind of closure with the situations?

Yeah, sometimes I save the experiences. Say for instance, like if you and I were hanging out or if you made me mad or something, I’ll be thinking, “Okay I’ll remember this and when the time comes I’ll write a song about it”.

I have a song in the back of my head sometimes, and five or six months later when I’m making a beat or if I’m working on an album I might throw that experience on there. And most times it comes out sounding cool. Sometimes I do make songs on the spot, if I’m really worked up about something. But always throughout my life, I’m always thinking about rhymes. Whether I’m hanging out or if I see somebody trip over, I’m always thinking of rhymes.

How have the women in your life reacted to songs like Heather Nicole and Baby’s Daddy?

(Laughs) Look, I actually really do want to make a heartfelt love song. I don’t want to be the guy always making songs about relationships gone bad. Kind of like the way LL Cool J made I Need Love. For it to come off so emotional and yet become so big was really cool. So I wanna do that in the Hopsin kind of way with a 2012 kind of twist to it and hopefully I can pull it off without falling in to the Justin Bieber category (laughs).

Heather and I still haven’t spoken so I don’t know if she’s heard the song or what her reaction is. But ummm… (laughs awkwardly) the girl I dissed in the Baby’s Daddy song, she’s heard all the songs and it was kind of hard for her at first ‘cause she didn’t really realise how big an artist I was. She must have thought that I was just a MySpace rapper or something. So when she found out that I’d dissed her in a song and put it out to the world to hear, she felt bad. At the time I felt good that she felt bad, but now I just feel bad that she felt bad. She got over it though and she’s not mad at me anymore.

So hopefully I don’t have to resort to doing any negative songs like that about females. Well actually no, there will be one on Knock Madness. I have to get it out of me. It’s a real song though, it’s not me bashing on anyone, it’s more like a how could you do this to me? type song. I’m sure it’ll be another one that people can connect with.

If things weren’t going so well for you now what do you think you would be doing with your life?

I would probably be skateboarding or doing animation. Those have been the only things that have ever really interested me as far as a career.

Nice. What can you tell us about the correlation between skate and hip-hop culture?

I’ve been in to skateboarding ever since I was a kid. Like it wasn’t a cultural thing for me. It was just something I thought was dope from a young age. But it wasn’t until high school some friends showed me really how to do it.

Funnily enough, I never wanted to clash the two worlds though. I mean, sometimes you’re kind of scared to tell people the truth about who you are. Like you’re just supposed to do what you hear on the radio and MTV and all that. So I was kinda scared to show people my full self. I didn’t want people to know I was in Special Ed. I didn’t want people to know I was in to skateboarding. I just wanted to come off as hard. But as time went on I realised that there’s no reason to be like that. People will like me for who I am. In the Sag My Pants video I showed people that I’m a real skateboarder. It’s who I am. I didn’t come up with some marketing idea to bring the two worlds together, it’s just who I am, same with me being in Special Ed in high school. It’s just my experiences and who I am and I want the world to see that. It’s not gonna be in every video though, cause I don’t want to be seen as a skater-rapper.

How did you come about getting in to video production?

It wasn’t something I intended. I think that happened in 2006. I just didn’t have anyone who could do that for me and it needed to get done. Everyone was asking for ridiculous amounts of money, so I just had to learn it on my own.

I found that I had Windows Movie Maker on my computer and one of my homies had just a normal digital camera that happened to be able to take videos as well. So I used it to shoot my first little bootleg video. I used to do a little extra work and I’ve got in to acting. I just paid close attention to the cameramen and the techniques they used and applied them to what I was doing with my videos and over time I just got better and better. YouTube became my college on how to do things. It’s taught me so much about green screening and how to do special effects, editing and all that. And every video is just getting better and better.

Are you putting out any more videos for the Raw album or are you done with that project?

The Raw project is done, for now. There may be a time even five to six years from now that I do videos to old songs just to give to the fans and to make my music live on even longer. Not to sell more records or none of that, but because I enjoy doing it.

I’m hoping Nocturnal Rainbows is at the top of that list.

Yeah I’ve been brainstorming what to do for Nocturnal Rainbows. But I think it’s definitely out of my budget. I’d really need somebody to come in and help me with that one, ‘cause I know sometimes music videos can sometimes kill the song. It would really need to be up there against the Kanye videos.

How do you envision the video to be?

Well I sure would like a nocturnal rainbow in it! That in itself would take a lot of editing and skill which I don’t have right now. And I don’t want to go too controversial where it seems like I’m tryna put Obama on blast too much, ‘cause at the end of the day I’m just a guy with an opinion. I mean I don’t work in the White House or nothing so I don’t want it to seem like I’ve been through things that I haven’t. So I know I should be careful as far as that’s concerned. Out of all the songs I’ve done, I think that would be the video I’d be the most confused about.

On that note, you articulated your distrust in the Obama administration in a way that really hasn’t been heard from many other hip-hop artists. How did these beliefs, or lackthereof, come about?

I just view things as an individual. I don’t work with them. I don’t know them. I’m just one guy and l’m going off what I see. I know a lot of people in my community like Obama strictly because he’s African American, which is wrong. I mean it’s great to know that there are some African Americans up there, but that shouldn’t be your only reason for liking him. I mean, for me personally, I feel like I’m living the same life and everybody’s still broke. Jobs over here are still very limited. Kids come out of college and can’t find a job, at least from what I’ve seen. I could be wrong about him and I’m willing to admit that I’m wrong if that’s not the case. But it just seems that way from what I’ve seen and from what I’ve researched. But the main thing people need to understand is that I’m just one person with an opinion.

What does the term “Illuminati” mean to you?

To me, it’s just a general term for the people who really call the shots behind the scenes. Some people look at it as one big coalition of people that run everything together, but when I speak on it, I’m talking about that small percentage of people who really do own everything, the people at the top who probably will never show their faces. But more specifically in the music business, the people who are making things go downhill…the people who know that if fans get smarter, they won’t have the control.

Like right now you got wack-ass artists coming out like Wacka Flocka or Gucci Mane and all these other dudes who are just horrible rappers and some of them even admit it themselves that they’re horrible too! But at the same time they say it’s all cool ‘cause they’re making money. It’s not about money. It’s about the message.

So I don’t know who specifically, but I think that there are these people behind the scenes bringing up these kinds of artists intentionally to dumb down society. They sign a wack rapper who does nothing but glamorise negativity in a few basic bars, they put him on the radio, make him to be some big icon. So then you have millions of people looking up to these dumb people and take the focus off what’s really going on.

What annoys me the most is that you have kids as young as 13-14 years old looking up to these people because they don’t know any better. Music influences people, period. I know that in the back of my mind when I dropped out of high school I had a sense of security in knowing that a lot of the rappers I was looking up to had also dropped out of high school.

So you believe this is being deliberately marketed to people?

I mean, African Americans love Wacka Flocka for instance. People look at him like he’s the new Tupac. And I always wonder why, ‘cause this guy is rapping nothing like Tupac. They say he’s the truth and I just don’t understand why. But when I talk about Wacka Flocka, really I’m talking about the bigger head above him that’s just laughing at all of us, all the way to the bank, with his brilliant marketing plan, saying “Hahaha. I just made all this money and these stupid people think he’s the next Tupac”.

You know what’s funny though? I’m noticing that most of the truest hip-hop fans are the underground white people. They don’t support the bullshit. They want the real shit more than black people.

Do you think negativity is more marketable?

There is a market for the negativity, but there are people who are really tryna juice that and I really don’t like that. I want people in my environment to be smarter. I want people to not always have to resort to smoking weed all the time. Not that weed is bad. There are people I know who smoke and drink and still handle their business. I don’t smoke it personally, but I just know that a lot of people I know become lazy from it. I could be cruel, too, and say fuck ‘em I’ll make whatever music sells but I don’t wanna be cruel like that. I don’t have the heart to leave people in the dark. If I’m successful I want people to know how I did it. I want to show them the way.

What if Wacka were to switch it up and really get on some conscious shit? Would you be open to work with him?

If he were to make a change for the good and stepped up his lyrics then yeah, I wouldn’t mind doing that. I mean, I’m not gonna hate the dude. But with the stuff he’s promoting right now, nah, not at all.

Who are some of the artists you would like to collaborate with?

Off the top of my head: Crooked I, Eminem, Ludacris, Kanye, The Neptunes, Missy Elliot… and oh yeah Yelawolf! Yelawolf probably just under Kanye.

That’s interesting. Some of those names you mentioned have been alleged to be a part of the “illuminati” conspiracy. That doesn’t affect your decision in working with them?

Yeah, I heard stuff about that too and it could be, but who knows.

What are your thoughts on the Watch The Throne album?

I haven’t really listened to it yet. I like that song with the Otis Redding sample and the one with the dude from Odd Future. But I haven’t really listened to it yet. Is it any good?

Yeah musically and lyrically, it’s pretty genius, but very Masonic so I dunno if it would be your kinda thing. Might inspire another diss record.

Haha okay I’ll have to check it out.

What does the title of your next album Knock Madness mean?

An album that really knocks, with crazy wild lyrics. The underground has really dope lyrics but mostly they slack on the beats, whereas in the commercial world they have really dope beats but they slack on the lyrics. So you combine the two and you get Knock Madness.

What should we expect to see more of or less of on the album?

You’re gonna get a bunch of realness. I’m talking about real life situations and I’m just going in to full detail with the way I’ve been feeling recently. Whether its love or all this new fame that I’m getting. It’s just gonna be another long trip through the ill mind of Hopsin.

I might say stupid stuff like I’ll backflip off a rooftop and land on a midgets head just for the sake of comedy. I mean, I can’t turn that off completely just yet, but I’m striving to be as real as possible. I just wanna keep putting out the really heartfelt songs that have allowed me to connect with so many people and that have taken me on this journey.

What are some of the things you hope to achieve in your career?

I wanna be extremely independent. Like straight out the basement independent. No major label ties at all independent. I want to have a situation where I’m directly connected with my fan base and I just want to have millions of fans all over the world just off word-of-mouth.

I don’t want to have one major distribution tie. I don’t want to be on MTV, I don’t wanna be on the radio, I don’t care about competing with the next dude. I just wanna do my own thing. My personal goal is to do what I’m doing now and have millions of fans all around the world. That would make me feel accomplished. And it’s to mainly to prove a point. I wanna prove to the world that real music still has a lane. People are never gonna stop listening to dope music. Alotta rappers don’t understand that. They wanna mimic what the next dude is doing. But if they just do what they feel is true to them and be dope at it, then word of mouth will spread and there will have true fans. That’s how it’s been working with me so far.

So if Eminem wanted to sign you, you would turn him down?

As far as the way I feel right now, I don’t think I would join. But I would like to just sit down with him, ‘cause he’s been one of my biggest inspirations in life. So I’d like to sit down and talk to him for a couple of hours. You know, just to see how he is as a person.

If you had one week to live, what would you do?

(Long pause)Well, if we were to start from Sunday. I’d make one song. I don’t know what it would be about, but it would be a heartfelt song. I’d make the beat that day, I’d write the song that day, I’d shoot a cheap little video and put it out. Second day, I’d take my dog out. I’d give her everything she needed.

What kind of dog is he or she?

It’s a pug, named Bubbles. Third day, I’d take my family out. I don’t know where, but I’d take them out. Fourth day, it’d probably just be a do whatever I want day. I don’t know. I might go and have sex with ten prostitutes whatever. Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Day, whatever girl is in my life I’d go spend my last days with her. Just have a nice romantic time and love each other and I’d die. And that would be my week.

Why should we see come see your tour in September?

For one, I’m not just up there rapping. We actually put on a real show. We are entertainers and we like to let the crowd participate. Two, we’ve come all the way from the other side of the globe so the least you could do is show up. I don’t know when we’ll be able to come back, but you gotta give us a good reason to. I’m not like all these other Hollywood rappers, I actually come and kick it with the people. If there’s a dope afterparty somewhere and it’s trustworthy enough, I’ll come chill, we can go out or whatever . What you guys gotta understand is that there is no Hollywood side to me at all. I’m there to kick it with the fans.

What is your perception of Australia/ Australians so far?

Well for one, just in speaking to you, they don’t have as heavy an accent as I thought they did. I’m curious to see the cars on the other side of the road and the steering wheels on the other side of the car. I can’t picture that. It’s gonna blow my mind. But mostly, I just wanna see how the people there are in general, compared to Americans. I know alotta people outside America say that we’re stupid. So I wanna see why. I’m not saying that Australians say that, but…

Oh we definitely say that…

(laughs) Well, then that’s one thing you guys win on: you guys are real.

[Sam.]

I'm surprised he mentioned Ludacris :S

You just hatin', *****'s dope as fuck.

He fell off tbh ,his last Album was average .

[flyingmonkey10]

dope interview

thanks for posting

[SG.]

He does realise being completely independent stops him collaborating with half of his list, doesn't he?

[BILI]

He`s lying about that Shady Records thing...

[ChristinaE12]

Nice read.

Although I highly doubt if Eminem contacted Hopsin right now about signing him to the label, Hopsin wouldn't even hesitate to say yes.. And he'd be dumb if he did. Even if it didn't work out it would get Hopsin out there more. And Eminem would just make his name bigger. He isn't the type of person to make people change everything up. Win-win situation.

[Slim Fiasco]

Nice read.

Although I highly doubt if Eminem contacted Hopsin right now about signing him to the label, Hopsin wouldn't even hesitate to say yes.. And he'd be dumb if he did. Even if it didn't work out it would get Hopsin out there more. And Eminem would just make his name bigger. He isn't the type of person to make people change everything up. Win-win situation.

This. Plus Hopsin would get to outrap his favorite rapper.

[RaidsTheThrone]

Knock Madness gonna be real nice

Cant wait to see what hes got planned

[Solace]

Really sick interview, thanks for posting. Waiting on Knock Madness.

[deaneedog]

Thanks for posting.

[Slim Fiasco]

Awesome interview, good read. Thanks for posting Oh and PS: I wonder what SwizZz would say if Hops actually signed with SR after saying his not gonna do it. He'd probably just ble happy for him

I'd be too. Because if he goes Lupe Fiasco on it he will fuck things up. Look at Lupe, he turned down a deal from Jay-Z because he had his own shitty label (1st & 15th, which is something like Funk Volume is to Hopsin) and then he went on to do business with Atlantic Records and the whole Lasers bullshit happened. Hopsin does seem to have different aspirations though, but I believe it'd be very unwise to turn down a Shady Records deal. Not only he would get to work with some of the finest MCs in the game and people he respects, but he'll still have the creative control and ability to push quality music to the masses.