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ThaFormula.Com
- Last time we spoke Eiht, you had just dropped
"Veterans Day" and your feelings towards the
radio and hip hop in general were not good. How
are you feeling about things nowadays?
MC
Eiht - The radio ain't never showed me no love, so
complaining about that is just plain ridiculous.
But I have been getting a lot of play you know off the
latest single, especially with the emergence of the
West Coast movement out here. KDAY has been
showing a lot of love. I'm getting a little bit
of love now ‘cause the streets is demanding it.
ThaFormula.Com
- It amazes me sometimes that we live in L.A. and we
have a West Side Radio show or a West Coast Wednesday
mix show and that's it. I mean we are in L.A.
where it should be the complete opposite.
MC
Eiht - We definitely need a forum for people to do
their thing and we don't have that. It's just
messed up that we got popular radio stations over here
that appeal to the masses, but they play everything
else but the hometown favorites. We don't get no
Too Short, Above The Law, Mac Dre, CMW, or none of
that on the radio. They don't support West Coast
Music and that's just ridiculous for West Coast radio
stations to not be supportive of West Coast music.
I mean they are gonna play a Dre, Snoop, Game, or a
track that might be hot at the moment, but they won't
play nothing else? They wonder why West Coast
artists don't get a chance to shine. It's
because we don't get no forum. They ain't
playing our music, so people ain't gonna feel us.
ThaFormula.Com
- What do you think was the main factor that brought
us to this situation?
MC
Eiht - Because, niggaz didn't wanna support the
gangsta shit or street music. They were scared
of it even though they were making a gang of money.
When all the stuff started cracking with the Bentleys
and the platinum chains and all that shit, it took
away from our music. Nobody wanted to hear
anymore about niggaz in the hood, on the corners, your
tattoos, where you from or the police. They
didn't wanna hear that. All they wanted to hear
was booties, Cristal, the cost of my chain, and
Bentley’s. So West Coast music died because we
couldn't compete with that because we ain't on that
type of level. So then we just ended up getting
sucked up into that shit by copying what they were
doing because that's what was making money.
ThaFormula.Com
- Did you and DJ Quik ever record anything together
after the beef was settled?
MC
Eiht - I been in the studio with Quik before where he
produced and did the hook on a song that I did with
Mausberg and I think Hi-C. This was a long time
ago man. It was supposed to be for a movie
soundtrack, but the movie never made it to where it
was supposed to go. I don't know what happened
to the song. I'm pretty sure Quik got it in his
archives somewhere.
ThaFormula.Com
- How did "Veterans Day" do for you man?
MC
Eiht - It was a good project, but it was just a
stepping stone. I was just trying to get back in
the studio and flex my muscles. Things didn't
work right because of the promotion and whatever.
It was a good project but sometimes things happen to
where everybody don't get to the point to where they
need to be. That's why I decided to get with
Koch and get with some people who was gonna help me
blow the project out.
ThaFormula.Com
- Did it do what you set out for it to do as far as
building a little buzz for the future?
MC
Eiht - It created enough buzz to where people knew
that I was still in the house with doing records and I
could make good music. It let me know that I
could do a record and people still feel it. So
it’s not me and the music. It lets me know
that we still in the game, because ain't nobody doing
nothing no better then we doing. So now I can go
a little stronger and then on the next one a little
stronger and hopefully put it back where it needs to
be. We are dealing with a lot of youths today.
We gotta lot of OG's still in the game, but we dealing
with a lot of kids today too. We can't slam it
on them hard because they don't understand where a
nigga came from or what he represents.
ThaFormula.Com
- I hear you. Sometimes I forget that we ain't
in the golden era no more and a lot of those fans just
don't exist no more. How do you look at things
knowing that a lot of the old fan base just isn't
there no more?
MC
Eiht - Thank god for me, the comments I get are
usually from the generation I come from or people
that's coming through the same things I come through.
A 15 or 16 year old isn't gonna understand the music
we did, but somebody 27 and up will. But a lot
of old fans grew up and said fuck the music, because
look at what they got to deal with.
ThaFormula.Com
- Why do you think someone like yourself, Kane,
Gangstarr, Too Short, Cube and others can pack in so
called old school shows all across the country, but
when you drop a new album, that same support isn't
there?
MC
Eiht - Maybe because these muthafuckin' record
companies ain't putting no support behind the artist.
When a nigga can't sell a record, it's because of the
promotion. Record company execs decide what
comes out on the streets. When they sign you,
they are supposed to have the knowledge right then and
there if your shit is garbage or not. So it's
all in promotion and what they do. When they put
out a record on a Big Daddy Kane or a Rakim, they are
looking at it like, "oh, this ain't Nelly or
Eminem." These dudes put out albums in the
early 90's, so ain't no way they are gonna compete
with the bling-bling shit that is going on today.
So why go flood money into there marketing and
promotion budget. Why do that? So that's
why niggaz is forced to put out their own albums
independently and do about 20 to 30,000 copies and
keep the bread at the end of the day. Or niggaz
go sign to a big major company, don't get nothing and
still fall back right flat on their face. Record
companies decide who is gonna blow up by paying for
radio, promo, commercials, magazine covers, and more.
So we ain't ever gonna be able to compete with the
corporate dollar, because they got billions to do what
they want.
ThaFormula.Com
- I hear you man…
MC
Eiht - So you just have to go out and make a name for
yourself. That's why I'm trying to kill them on
the independent tip. I ain't trying to go mass
appeal. FUCK IT, I LOVE IT IN THE HOOD. I
STAY RIGHT THERE BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE I GET MOST OF MY
RESPECT FROM. These corporate muthafuckas don't
respect me, but they see a nigga on the radio and
their records being requested, then they are gonna
wanna come fuck with you. They do that.
ThaFormula.Com
- I notice you kept going right after "Veterans
Day" with more projects...
MC
Eiht - Yeah, I was always working because that's how I
keep it going. That's how I keep money in my
pocket. I put out 4 or 5 projects because people
want that. I go do a project with Spice 1 here,
a project with Brother Lynch Hung there and kick back.
Let this one do 30,000, this one to 20,000, let this
one do 40,000 and so on. So at the end of the
year, I done sold 150,000 copies and then I can eat.
ThaFormula.Com
- So what projects do you got coming out?
MC
Eiht - Well the Brother Lynch album is out. Me
and him did an album together. I did a record
with Spice 1 that is out now. I got the
"Affiliated" album dropping April 4th, which
is my solo album. I got the Compton's Most
Wanted record called "Gangsta Business"
which is coming out in July and I got my next solo
which is "Still Drive By Music" dropping in
November. So that's how you keep it movin'.
I got to stick it in their face and stick it in their
face hard. I ain't one of these cats who just
sits around and says, "I'm gonna do one album in
3 years." I got to stick it in their face.
So you know I'm working man. Like my nigga WC
say, "If you don't work, you don't eat."
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