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Hip-Hop is an epic story. How does it feel to be a big part of its newest chapter?
Big Sean (BS): A complete honor. You think back.. selling CDs in high school, to getting a deal, to nobody knowing you, to having two people at your shows, to having 10 people at your shows, to have 100 people, then to selling out shows. Now we got debut albums coming out, people recognize, showing us love, showing me love.. That’s all I could ever ask for.
Wiz Khalifa (WK): I always thought I was dope from back in the day. So now, that we’re even sitting right here, where everybody else is saying that we’re tight, that in itself is pretty cool. It’s just good to be making fun music and music that we wanna make and people is accepting it and putting us up there as the’ next dudes.’
What was your reaction when you find out you would be playing Rock The Bells?
WK: It’s big for me.. not only to be able to share the stage with (the legends), but to have my own following and fanbase and people there to see me. The real thing is the fact that many people, the same people whose coming to see the legends in the game, are coming to see and enjoy me as well.
BS: Tribe Called Quest, Snoop, Wu-Tang…all the long list of people who are performing, sharing the stage with them…that’s all you can really ask for. Having your own following there, all the real G’s that’s gonna be there, all the pretty girls. That’s the best man.
When did you get turned on to hip-hop?
BS: Mine was the Bad Boy era. I really started rapping for the girls at first when I was like 12 cause all the girls was into Mase and Puff Daddy and all that. B.I.G. was really one of my top favorites, and also that was around the time the Ruff Ryders was poppin. That was such an exciting time in hip-hop. You just started falling in love with it.
WK: It was like the same thing for me. I was into Bone before I was into Bad Boy and stuff like that. I was heavily into Bone. This was what was coming on TV and the music that we were stealing from our cousins and stuff.
BS: Exactly
WK: We were listing to all the same shit. I got turned out by Bad Boy and just the imagery.. just that life, for me, when I was younger, it just looked like what I wanted to be doing.
Snoop Dogg is performing “Doggystyle” on this tour. When was the first time you heard that legendary album?
WK: I heard it when it first came out, and I was too young to be hearing it, but my mom had one of them ghetto friends. My mom wasn’t listening to that stuff…she was into rap but she wasn’t into gangsta rap back then. She had one of them ghetto friends (who) had a loud ass truck and she used to come through and pick us up and be blasting that Snoop. That sounded soo baaad to me. It was scary how it sounded. The synths and the shit they were saying, and how hard they were saying the cuss words. I was way too young to even experience it.
BS: I was so young but somehow I ended up getting it. I don’t remember if I got it from somebody at school…maybe one of the bad ass kids. I think it was like at Thanksgiving or something, the year it came out, and I was playing it near the Thanksgiving table. Man, I think I got my ass whooping that day. My granddaddy and my grandma…man they whooped my ass that day. That’s how bad that CD is.
WK: That calls for an ass whooping
How does it feel to listen to that album now all these years later?
BS: Man, it’s just like the definition of Snoop man. It’s like that real Snoop shit…him at his finest. That’s definitely one of my favorite albums of all time.
WK: I ride to that almost every day, hearing different parts of the song, making sure I learn the words to other songs on there. I don’t think that’s ever gonna get old.
BS: That’s one of the Top Ten albums of all time.
WK: And that’s before I was smoking weed or anything, dog
BS: Yah, before the weed.
A Tribe Called Quest’s “Midnight Marauders” was a different brand of hip-hop, focusing on lyricism, but also social consciousness and positivity. How important is maintaining a positive message in today’s brand of hip-hop?
BS: Having a positive message doesn’t necessarily mean rapping about abstinence. Just for instance, letting people know you gotta keep a certain order. If you doing some party shit, it’s not cool to fight and do all that. It’s cool to enjoy a good time, lay back, smoke something, chill with the baddest girls ever, chill with the realest people ever. I always try and keep that message instilled in all my songs. It’s just how I live.
WK: If you’re a positive individual, that’s gonna come out—no matter how you put, no matter which way you put it. I rap about smoking weed and fucking bitches all the time, and somehow people tell me it’s a release for them.
BS: Everybody loves smoking weed and fucking bitches.
WK: (laughing) Once or twice.
Mixtapes and the Internet were keys to both of your success so far. How vital have non-traditional methods of getting your music out there been for you?
WK: I put my first mixtape out when I was in like tenth grade. That was when the Internet was kinda poppin but it wasn’t as accessible for everybody else. We were just adapting to the game. I seen whatever I did for myself was the best thing. With mixtapes, you gotta keep dropping material, or at least have people buying into what you got going on. So that’s when the mixtape thing popped off better and that led to more shows. My shows come strictly from the Internet whereas back in the day somebody have to go on the road and literally pass out CDs. I started through the Internet and it got me to where I’m at now.
BS: Mixtapes are so important. Honestly, the avenues that mixtapes open are crazy. I’ve gotten my own fanbase, my own following, and that’s strictly from blogs, strictly from Internet sites, strictly from putting music on MySpace. It’s a beautiful thing to even get paid for a performance without having anything on the radio. What more could you ask for. I’ve really stressed the importance to my label, how important mixtapes are.
How often do you check out what other MCs are up to?
BS: I’m on the blogs everyday. I wake up and go on before I do what I do. Seeing people who run the blogs, like Wiz.. he’s on there all the time with new shit…videos, songs. That really does fuel you and keep you going. It lets you know you gotta be on that bitch too…stand your ground. You gotta know what the competition is doing…the friendly competition.
WK: I get on blogs every day and if I get on there and I see Sean got a video, the video is gonna be tight cause I know he’s consistent, so I’ll look at the video and I’ll hear the song and I’ll be like ‘Man, I gotta go do a video now.’ It’s not like a bad competition.. we motivating each other. I might be sitting at home in my bed just waking up, getting high, and it’s making me wanna go to the studio by seeing whatever I’m watching (on the blogs).
You have to pick one legendary artist performing at Rock The Bells to watch perform their classic album in full. Who is it going to be?
WK: Is it even a question for me?
BS: Snoop, exactly.
WK: I got a jar this big (extends hands a foot wide) waiting for Snoop to do Doggystyle. And I’m gonna be right there the whole time.
BS: I wanna see Snoop, I wanna see Lauryn Hill too. I ain’t gonna lie, Miseducation, she’s a legend and I wanna see her come back
WK: I’m waiting for Snoop man, gotta give it up.
Big Sean (BS): A complete honor. You think back.. selling CDs in high school, to getting a deal, to nobody knowing you, to having two people at your shows, to having 10 people at your shows, to have 100 people, then to selling out shows. Now we got debut albums coming out, people recognize, showing us love, showing me love.. That’s all I could ever ask for.
Wiz Khalifa (WK): I always thought I was dope from back in the day. So now, that we’re even sitting right here, where everybody else is saying that we’re tight, that in itself is pretty cool. It’s just good to be making fun music and music that we wanna make and people is accepting it and putting us up there as the’ next dudes.’
What was your reaction when you find out you would be playing Rock The Bells?
WK: It’s big for me.. not only to be able to share the stage with (the legends), but to have my own following and fanbase and people there to see me. The real thing is the fact that many people, the same people whose coming to see the legends in the game, are coming to see and enjoy me as well.
BS: Tribe Called Quest, Snoop, Wu-Tang…all the long list of people who are performing, sharing the stage with them…that’s all you can really ask for. Having your own following there, all the real G’s that’s gonna be there, all the pretty girls. That’s the best man.
When did you get turned on to hip-hop?
BS: Mine was the Bad Boy era. I really started rapping for the girls at first when I was like 12 cause all the girls was into Mase and Puff Daddy and all that. B.I.G. was really one of my top favorites, and also that was around the time the Ruff Ryders was poppin. That was such an exciting time in hip-hop. You just started falling in love with it.
WK: It was like the same thing for me. I was into Bone before I was into Bad Boy and stuff like that. I was heavily into Bone. This was what was coming on TV and the music that we were stealing from our cousins and stuff.
BS: Exactly
WK: We were listing to all the same shit. I got turned out by Bad Boy and just the imagery.. just that life, for me, when I was younger, it just looked like what I wanted to be doing.
Snoop Dogg is performing “Doggystyle” on this tour. When was the first time you heard that legendary album?
WK: I heard it when it first came out, and I was too young to be hearing it, but my mom had one of them ghetto friends. My mom wasn’t listening to that stuff…she was into rap but she wasn’t into gangsta rap back then. She had one of them ghetto friends (who) had a loud ass truck and she used to come through and pick us up and be blasting that Snoop. That sounded soo baaad to me. It was scary how it sounded. The synths and the shit they were saying, and how hard they were saying the cuss words. I was way too young to even experience it.
BS: I was so young but somehow I ended up getting it. I don’t remember if I got it from somebody at school…maybe one of the bad ass kids. I think it was like at Thanksgiving or something, the year it came out, and I was playing it near the Thanksgiving table. Man, I think I got my ass whooping that day. My granddaddy and my grandma…man they whooped my ass that day. That’s how bad that CD is.
WK: That calls for an ass whooping
How does it feel to listen to that album now all these years later?
BS: Man, it’s just like the definition of Snoop man. It’s like that real Snoop shit…him at his finest. That’s definitely one of my favorite albums of all time.
WK: I ride to that almost every day, hearing different parts of the song, making sure I learn the words to other songs on there. I don’t think that’s ever gonna get old.
BS: That’s one of the Top Ten albums of all time.
WK: And that’s before I was smoking weed or anything, dog
BS: Yah, before the weed.
A Tribe Called Quest’s “Midnight Marauders” was a different brand of hip-hop, focusing on lyricism, but also social consciousness and positivity. How important is maintaining a positive message in today’s brand of hip-hop?
BS: Having a positive message doesn’t necessarily mean rapping about abstinence. Just for instance, letting people know you gotta keep a certain order. If you doing some party shit, it’s not cool to fight and do all that. It’s cool to enjoy a good time, lay back, smoke something, chill with the baddest girls ever, chill with the realest people ever. I always try and keep that message instilled in all my songs. It’s just how I live.
WK: If you’re a positive individual, that’s gonna come out—no matter how you put, no matter which way you put it. I rap about smoking weed and fucking bitches all the time, and somehow people tell me it’s a release for them.
BS: Everybody loves smoking weed and fucking bitches.
WK: (laughing) Once or twice.
Mixtapes and the Internet were keys to both of your success so far. How vital have non-traditional methods of getting your music out there been for you?
WK: I put my first mixtape out when I was in like tenth grade. That was when the Internet was kinda poppin but it wasn’t as accessible for everybody else. We were just adapting to the game. I seen whatever I did for myself was the best thing. With mixtapes, you gotta keep dropping material, or at least have people buying into what you got going on. So that’s when the mixtape thing popped off better and that led to more shows. My shows come strictly from the Internet whereas back in the day somebody have to go on the road and literally pass out CDs. I started through the Internet and it got me to where I’m at now.
BS: Mixtapes are so important. Honestly, the avenues that mixtapes open are crazy. I’ve gotten my own fanbase, my own following, and that’s strictly from blogs, strictly from Internet sites, strictly from putting music on MySpace. It’s a beautiful thing to even get paid for a performance without having anything on the radio. What more could you ask for. I’ve really stressed the importance to my label, how important mixtapes are.
How often do you check out what other MCs are up to?
BS: I’m on the blogs everyday. I wake up and go on before I do what I do. Seeing people who run the blogs, like Wiz.. he’s on there all the time with new shit…videos, songs. That really does fuel you and keep you going. It lets you know you gotta be on that bitch too…stand your ground. You gotta know what the competition is doing…the friendly competition.
WK: I get on blogs every day and if I get on there and I see Sean got a video, the video is gonna be tight cause I know he’s consistent, so I’ll look at the video and I’ll hear the song and I’ll be like ‘Man, I gotta go do a video now.’ It’s not like a bad competition.. we motivating each other. I might be sitting at home in my bed just waking up, getting high, and it’s making me wanna go to the studio by seeing whatever I’m watching (on the blogs).
You have to pick one legendary artist performing at Rock The Bells to watch perform their classic album in full. Who is it going to be?
WK: Is it even a question for me?
BS: Snoop, exactly.
WK: I got a jar this big (extends hands a foot wide) waiting for Snoop to do Doggystyle. And I’m gonna be right there the whole time.
BS: I wanna see Snoop, I wanna see Lauryn Hill too. I ain’t gonna lie, Miseducation, she’s a legend and I wanna see her come back
WK: I’m waiting for Snoop man, gotta give it up.
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