[Interview] J-Zone – Celebrate My Failure Pt. II
In Part II of his interview with Nene Wallace Reed, J-Zone discusses his new book “Root for the Villain: Rap, Bullshit, and a Celebration of Failure”, telling TheWellVersed about music industry shadiness, being sued by one of his idols, the releases he’s most proud of and how he’d fare in the YouTube world.
TWV: You talked about it in the book, discussing what happened with Dru Ha at Beat Society. Is this whole phony aspect of interaction something that happens with hip-hop specifically or is that just the state of the music business itself?
J-Zone: It’s a music business thing. I worked in the underground hip-hop world, so I spoke about my experience, so I can’t give talk to it. But that chapter was just to say that not matter where you are in the music business, it’s a business where a lot of people are in it because they don’t want to do other things. I know a lot of rappers that just don’t want to get a job and it’s not because they can’t work, it’s that they don’t want to have to get up at 8am or report to anybody. If there’s a meeting at 9 o’clock, they can say “fuck that, Imma smoke these trees first.” You can’t do that if you’re working for a major company. If you’re a school teacher you have to be there early to prepare your lesson plans. You can’t show up 20 minutes late to school if you’re a teacher because you’ll get fired. The underlying the tone of that chapter is just to respect people’s time. I found that in the music business people don’t respect people’s time. There are so many people in the music business that don’t like my music, but I’ll see them and we’ll talk, and laugh and joke and that’s it. We don’t have to work together. My music was an acquired taste. A lot of people didn’t like my music. You either loved it or hated it. If you didn’t like it, I wasn’t going to get mad at that. You’re entitled to your opinion. I don’t believe in that ‘hater’ shit. If someone doesn’t like your shit, they just don’t like your shit, it’s just an opinion. It’s cool, I’ll respect your opinion. But when you start saying that you’ll holler at me and don’t, it’s disingenuous. It’s about respecting people’s time and being honest and up-front. Rap or no rap, we’re all just people and it’s about respecting other people.
TWV: Another thing you talk about in the book is about almost being sued by Rudy Ray Moore. Can you talk about that a little bit?
J-Zone: I got busted for a sample I took of Mr. Moore speaking, but my lawyer had to explain to his people that I really wasn’t making much money. They tried to sue me for the same amount they settled with N.W.A. for back in the day. I damn sure wasn’t making N.W.A. money! It was a complex matter, but we settled out of court.
TWV: You definitely made a transition from a “humble newcomer” to being a lot more opinionated and being the black sheep of indie hip-hop. But this was a conscious decision, do you think that contributed to slowing your career?
J-Zone: It was a conscious decision, but it happened gradually. I felt that direction at the time, so I allowed it to flow. On Music for Tu Madre, I was still in my shell and not comfortable as an MC. Later on, I felt a lot more at ease with the brash comedy style. That change took me out of my shyness and helped me develop my confidence as an artist, but a lot of people didn’t know how to take it. I also realized that the indie/underground rap scene wasn’t as open to creativity and free of politics as it was made to seem. It was a poor man’s mainstream, really. I was kind of fighting back against rap convention and the protocol of the business, so the edgier approach fit my mentality at the time.
TWV:Even though you are ‘retired’, you must get that itch again from time to time.
J-Zone: Every so often I’ll make a beat. I just did a remix for my man Has-Lo that’s gotten some buzz online. It’s rare (maybe 2-3 times a year), but I’ll definitely go make something when I get the itch. Music is a hobby again and I actually appreciate it more now than I did at the end of my rap career. I’ll still sample some shit and chop it up for sport! I also just bought some drums and am learning the craft, so I’m ready to start funkin’ it up soon.
TWV:You actually received an offer from Atlantic Records, what happened with that?
J-Zone: They were checking out a few indie rap acts at the time, I believe they were Dilated Peoples, Apathy, Louis Logic, and myself. This was late 2001, like right after 9/11. Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes had just dropped and they were sniffing around the indie rap scene. They actually liked me as an MC more than my production; they thought I was a personality that had potential on a major scale. They wanted to re-release Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes with some bonus cuts “for the club,” but I knew they’d make me clear samples and do stuff I didn’t agree with. Plus, the advance wasn’t much and I had a feeling I’d get shelved because I never compromised my music whatsoever.
TWV: Which of your albums are you most proud of. Also, who would you love to do some production work for now, if anybody.
J-Zone: That’s a hard one. My favorite is Chief Chinchilla. A lot of people didn’t like it and didn’t really consider it a J-Zone album because it was my alter-ego. It was silly and more like a comedy album than anything else. But that one and Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes were made against some serious odds. Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes isn’t one of my personal favorites, but it’s a fan favorite. I’m proud of those two for different reasons. PDPD I’m proud of because I got it out there on my own with no help from a label or publicist. The pressure was on, I had built a buzz all by myself with my previous two albums and turned down two deals with indie labels to do it myself. People told me I was crazy to put that album out myself and told me it would be a mistake. It wound up being my most successful record, including the ones with major distribution from BMG. Chief Chinchilla I’m proud of because I was so deflated and frustrated with the music business at the time I made it. I somehow found a wave of passion and made that album in 26 days. I still don’t know how I found that much passion for music during that dark period in my career. I didn’t think I’d have that much fun in the studio again, and I loved every minute of recording that album, despite the (lack of) sales and response. I never did find that level of passion again.
TWV: If you were making music right now, do you think that he would have fared better with the current blog/youtube scene.
J-Zone: That’s a great question. I don’t have anything on my phone but a phone. No internet shit. I’m Mr. anti-technology. At the same time, one thing that hurt me in my career was never having video. By the time I started using it, it was too late. I think I would’ve done alright. I’m the type of guy that likes full length albums and thought out shit, so I wouldn’t have done well with the blog shit. But I’d been able to use YouTube, I would’ve been real ill. I did the “Chief Chinchilla” and “Onion Ring” and “Pay Phone Pimpin” videos and people loved it. I did all of those videos and people were feelin’ it. But with the rate that I would have to pump shit out to keep people’s attention I would have definitely struggled with that. I come from the school where Rakim made an album every two years. Kool G. Rap made an album every two years. That was my school, so I was about going into the lab and developing and trying to drop something every two years. So I would have struggled with trying to do mixtapes and freestyles for blogs. But as far as the YouTube angle, I would have done well because I know how to be entertaining and I have a lot of crazy ideas. I think it would have been 50/50.
