Tribe Albums:

The Love Movement (1998)

Beats, Rhymes and Life (1996)

Midnight Marauders (1993)

The Low End Theory (1991)

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990)

Solo Albums:

Ventilation: Da LP (2000)

I know you’ve been asked this question a lot lately but we have to do it as responsible journalists. What’s going on with the Knicks right now because they are looking horrible. Van Horn is your main man right now and that’s scary.

Van Horn is definitely not my man. I don’t even know why he is on the squad because he is not even consistent like that. The way he played in Philly last year I can’t even imagine him coming to New York and doing the same thing. He won’t last for the whole season. He’ll be there because that’s Scott Layden’s boy, but Scott Layden is already an asshole. Scott Layden used to be the GM for the Jazz. He came over to New York and got Shandon Anderson, like we needed him, and Howard Eisley, like we needed him. If he wanted to make us the New York Jazz he should have brought Karl Malone over. I’m not even fond of Karl Malone but you can’t front on his game. I just want to win and the Knicks haven’t won since ’73 and we’re not gonna win with Van Horn, Howard Eisley as the point guard and Dikembe at center.

I forgot they’re even paying Dikembe.

We need him on the defensive side but when he starts shooting we’re in trouble. I don’t mind him being in the middle because when Patrick was here teams weren’t going to the middle all crazy. We had him taking up a lot of space but as soon as he left they started dunking and laying it up on us with no problem. I don’t think that will be happening with Dikembe in the middle but once the offense has to go through him we’re in trouble.

It’s the official start of the Lebron James era what do you expect from him, Carmelo, and Darko?

It’s gonna take Darko a minute but Larry Brown is definitely going to get him to play some defense. Lebron is going to fill up the seats in Cleveland and he’s going to have the advantage because Paul Silas is gonna put him at point guard. I think rookie of the year should be Carmelo Anthony for the simple fact that his game is a little more refined being that he spent that one year in college and won the whole thing. Not only that he’s in a tougher conference and he’s playing the three and that position is no joke in the western conference. I expect him to do his thing but it looks like they are trying to give Lebron rookie of the year already.

Every time I see Carmelo play its like he’s moving in slow motion.

That’s because his game is just smooth. His game is not flashy. He’ll do the turn around jumper on you, back you down and he runs the wing really well. I think he’ll be the beneficiary of a lot of good passes since Denver has Andre Miller. He just has an Adrian Dantley, Mark Acguire type game. Besides Michael Jordan was picked third and who won rookie of the year.

Looking at the Lakers talent wise how excited are you to see that squad together?

I’m not excited about it. It’s a travesty to me but I think they are gonna win it all unless they get injured.

Why do you think it’s a travesty?

I don’t want to see Karl Malone win a title. Gary Payton I can deal with but Karl Malone is a cry baby ass nigga. I have a problem with Karl because of what he said about Magic. I didn’t appreciate that. I think he’s a dirty ballplayer to a certain extent but he is somebody I would like to have on my team.

I read somewhere that you are not trying to be a sports commentator anymore.

Nah, I probably said I wasn’t looking forward to doing the agent thing because that shit is grimy right there. My friend is Marshall Faulk’s agent, he schooled me on things, and I see how ugly it can get. If I get a chance to do it I will but I rather just be an analyst. I’m not really that type of dude to be stepping on toes and getting my toes stepped on. I lie to get out of trouble but to live your life and feed your family off that shit. Nah.

How do you even break into the sports commentating field without being an ex athlete? What are you doing now to prepare?

From what I understand, it’s almost like acting. You’re going to have to take classes. I know how to speak properly, but at the same time I’m used to speaking ebonics with my friends. I know I’ll need a coach for that plus I don’t like wearing suits but if I get the job I wouldn’t mind. I want to start with maybe radio stations or access cable because I believe in crawling before you walk. Everybody thinks all we know how to do is be rappers or MCs but it takes a lot to be a good rapper and MC. You have to have good diction, business etiquette and things of that nature.

What’s your opinion on the situation with Maurice Clarrett?

I’m a Ohio State fan and I thought we was really onto something big when we won that championship last year. I really think what he should do is go to school and do these semesters and get his grades and play next year for Ohio State. I think he should do that but I really don’t know what happened. He saying he ain’t going back. He talking to Jim Brown and Jim Brown has him on some militant shit. He either needs to go to Ohio State and finish school or transfer. I think he needs to go back to Ohio State because we need him.

Who’s your pick in NFL?

As far as who my heart is with I’m a Jets fan and a Eagles fan and both aren’t looking good right now. In the NFC, other than my Eagles, I’d like to see Bill Parcells take the Cowboys because I love Bill. In the AFC I already told my ex about KC. I told her all KC has to do is up that defense and they are gonna be right. I think they have a chance.

Aiight onto music topics. You have a label called Smokin’ Needles, with your man Roots. When did you start it up and what’s the focus of the label?

We pretty much started that in 2001. We just wanted to have something to call our own. Most labels want everything they’re way and it’s about time we started owning our own regardless. Right now, we’re looking for distribution and investing. We basically want to sign artists we think are hot. The two people that are messing up this music are the radio stations and the labels. They are just going for whatever they think is hot. I’m tired of letting radio stations dictate to me what’s hot when I know much better than they do.

Going through all the label difficulties that you’ve had in the past is working with Smokin’ Needles crazy easy now since you’ve seen almost all the problems?

It’s not easy because there are still a lot of thing we are going to have to learn and need to learn. The easy part of it is picking who you think is hot and that’s all I really want to deal with. But there is so much more to it. Even with the artist you may think they are hot but they got a lot of baggage with them at times [or] they don’t want to listen. It’s crazy. We have to be real choosy. I think an artist that owns [his or her] own label makes the best A&R because they were artists at one time and understand what the artist may need and want as well as what they need from that particular artist.

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Posted by Halftime on Wednesday, December 10th, 2003 and is filed under HIP HOP ICON SERIES.