HipHopRemix.com sits down with J-Zone to talk about his music, why he is stepping away from the mic, production methods, fat girls, horrible jobs, and why Zone wants to knock Paris Hilton the FUCK OUT!

When did fun become taboo in hip hop? With all the "hard," mean muggin' motherfuckers out there a lot of hip hop fans tend to forget the foundation of this movement. Hip Hop was a block party, a street corner night club, two turntables, a microphone, and a Cheshire cat smile that erased the stresses that were peeking over the horizon into the year 1980. Many have forgotten how to have fun...but there is one ‘boss hogg' that still remembers.

Enter-J-Zone. The eclectic producer, emcee, and DJ who has rocked crowds from NY to Australia, who has worked with Biz Markie to Devin The Dude, and one who has NEVER failed to make a hip hop head laugh with his various aliases and antics. Whether it be Captain Back$lap the Tom Jones of Rap, Chief Chinchilla, Kenny Hoggins, Mr. Don't Holla, or just plain J-Zone-you can expect genuine entertainment.

With the mundane and faux at the forefront of hip hop and its charts, Zone has always been a cold beer in hell, a breath of fresh 0², and the musical stand up comedian that you can always count on for a laugh.

HipHopRemix.com sits down with J-Zone to talk about his music, why he is stepping away from the mic, production methods, fat girls, horrible jobs, and why Zone wants to knock Paris Hilton the FUCK OUT!


Wreck HHR: So, how are the ‘hoggettes' treating you these days?

J-Zone: (Laughing) I'm retired, man...all the ‘hoggettes'...I fired them! Ain't no more hoggettes, man. I had to get them out of my life-they were becoming an ulcer.

Wreck HHR: Did J-Zone settle down?

J-Zone: Yeah, I'm focused on other things now. Keeping up with the ‘hoggettes' will give you an ulcer...they didn't have no talent anyway. I couldn't squeeze a song out of them, so, that was on some ‘menudo' shit-short lived.

Wreck HHR: (Laughing) Whats new in the world of J-Zone-what kind of projects are you working on?

J-Zone: At the moment I am doing a lot of different things behind the scenes. I stepped away from the emceeing thing and I'm trying to move onto the next chapter of life. I'm still doing production and doing beats for different people. I'm DJing a lot-I have a monthly mix show called ‘Gators and Furs' that I do for fun and I just put up the first edition last week. Workin on some side projects too, some stuff that's kinda different for me.

I'm also writing for a couple of basketball magazines-Reverse, a French magazine, I do a lot of NBA blogging, and I'm also trying to get a gig covering high school basketball in New York City. I'm also going to be teaching a music course in the fall at a college.

Trying to diversify myself-still do the music thing but stay behind the scenes and focus more on production and DJing...trying to stay out the spotlight. Rapping is a young man's game, so, I'm trying to stay away from the limelight as far as being an artist.

Wreck HHR: Stepping away from the mic-is that from growing and maturing? Or just getting sick and tired of being an emcee?

J-Zone: It's a lot of different things, man. First and foremost I'm getting older, so, me as a person, I'm changing and to be the J-Zone character that people expect you to be...and that character is always going to be apart of who I am...but, as you get older you kind of want to try new things. On top of that my career was kind of strange-I came out with a certain sound and had a niche following but then halfway through my career I wanted to try some new things and a lot of fans didn't like the direction I went in. So, I found a different fan base but never found it all the way.

There was just a lot of things in my career that got pigeonholed and put in a box, so, it became, "J-Zone...what's up with Lucy Liu?!" From a emcee and production standpoint I just got pigeonholed and wasn't really able to escape what people really wanted from me and try something new. And on the flip, a lotta people thought I was a one trick pony so it became 'did I change what made me dope to begin with or did I do the same shit over and over?' I couldnt win! The humor also hurt my career as a producer because people saw me as a novelty act even though I worked hard and took my production and work ethic very seriously.

After a while you get really tired of the grind, you know what I'm saying? I only made music to have fun and never really tried to impress anybody, never really cared about selling a whole lot of units, and never was out to make albums to try to please. Music to me was always therapy. I always did it for fun and when it feels like it's not fun anymore and you are feeling like you are running in quicksand, fuck it. That's what happened at the end of my career when it was like I was enjoying making the records but everything else was a pain in the ass, so, I was like I might as well put all my energy into something else that could have better results.

Wreck HHR: It seems as if a lot of artists are fading out, retiring, or just overall sick and tired of emceeing and grinding lately...

J-Zone: Yeah, it's just hard, man. On the indie rap level we ain't selling Jay-Z units, we ain't selling Eminem units-its really draining being an artist. When you are a musician and an artist and are doing this for fun and a hobby becomes your living, it's hard to separate. All my life music has been a hobby, but then when I put out my first record it became my living, then every record you make is yours until it gets released. But after its released, the critics, fans, your peers, everybody judges it and its now their property to percieve it how they want.

So, a lot of times it just takes something out of you. A lot of people expect certain things. Earlier in my career I did 3 albums with me, Hug (Huggy Bear), and Shid (Al-Shid), and afterwards we all wanted to go our separate ways because we all wanted to try new shit and things hit a ceiling with us. We aren't thinking about what the fans think at this point, we are thinking we are three grown men solo artists who want to try something different and are growing apart, but then the fans look at it like, "Aw, man! This is how we are accustomed to you. You had a formula and it worked and you fucked us! You guys need to make a re-union! Where's the Old Maid Billionaires? Where's the accordion beats?" And we didn't realize it. We didn't realize the first impression really gets to people. When they first get familiar you that's the set picture. Click! And every album I did since then, it's like "well its nothing like the first three, why bother?" Everyone when thinking of Nas, thinks of him sitting on the project bench doing ‘Illmatic,' but now he's 30 something years old and he ain't living in Queensbridge no more, he can't make another Illmatic, but fans don't see that.

Biggie, on 'Life After Death' didn't sound like he did on ‘Ready to Die,' because he wasn't living on Fulton Street hustling drugs anymore. Artists, we grow and change as people, but a lot of fans don't get it and it can get really frustrating when you are trying to create stuff, do it from your heart, and you can't get your new stuff across-it's something that always happens and it really wears you out.

Wreck HHR: You make some off the wall beats-is there a certain trick, style, or method you have as far as crate digging or sampling goes?

J-Zone: My thing is to just go against the grain and go with what feels good. In terms of keyboards and sound modules I never went out and bought the same shit that everyone was buying, I would buy the weird shit that no one wants. When it comes to sampling I just use music that no one else uses. Everybody likes soul records on 45 rpm now, its the trend, I don't care for that style though. I just listen for what I like and get stuff that appeals to me, I don't care. I really don't follow trends and that can help or hurt you. The good thing about having a signature sound is you create your own thing, but the bad thing is people pigeonhole you and you have a tendency to get old quick or if you try new things you've fallen off. My secret is if it sounds funky and sounds good to me then I roll with it. I don't play no rules. When I'm making music I'm only considering me, that helps and hurts me, but that's my approach to beats. Even if it sounds too crazy to rap on...I would still rap on that shit.

Wreck HHR: Where did the sample from "Candy Razors" come from?

J-Zone: It's from an un-released Britney Spears album from 1943.

Wreck HHR: For all the curious producers out there-what equipment do you use?

J-Zone: I use the MPC 2000, TR Rack Module, a Roland 8080-a synthesizer module, an old analog board, a Sony effects processor that I run a lot of my sounds through to give it a weird ass sound, to try to change the chamber of the sound. I got a lot of analog outboard gear, I like to doctor stuff...I'm not really a loop kind of guy...I like to take sounds and chop, manipulate, and play over them-I like to really fuck with a beat. Kind of like that Ultramagnetic thing where Ced Gee would manipulate sounds, change them, and fuck with them. I was never like lets find a loop and its over-I like to sit and the studio and fool around...I get curious.

Wreck HHR: What does your record/vinyl collection look like? Do you have a library like Madlib or Questlove?

J-Zone: It's small. I got two big bookcases with three shelves full and 7 milk crates...and that's it! I don't believe in keeping records just to have them. I was never one of those guys to buy a record just because someone else sampled it. I buy records that I A) Like to hear or B) Like to mess with-I'm not going to have a record just to have it.

I couldn't have anymore than maybe 2 thousand and I'm constantly downsizing. I'll go through and just get rid of shit that I don't want. I really don't see the value in having tons and tons of records. I like to have records that have a purpose. I'm not one of those cats that have to have it because it's rare...

Wreck HHR: What is the absolute BEST hip hop beat you have ever heard?

J-Zone: The best PRODUCED hip hop song would probably be something from ‘Fear of a Black Planet' by Public Enemy because the way they were layering shit. I like the shit that sounds like chaos, I like noise, and dissonance. "Revolutionary Generation" or "Brothers Gonna Work it Out" by PE-the way they manipulated noise broke all the rules in music at the time and wasn't just a James Brown loop and some drums, they were just building a wall of sound and I always really liked that shit. Most of the shit on ‘Fear of a Black Planet' was just great. Doing that doesn't really fly anymore at least in rap...only on experimental shit. Cypress Hill's first album had a lot of my favorite all time beats too.

Bombsquad and 45 King are probably my favorite producers.

Wreck HHR: 45 King is a wizard. I got to ask...have you ever actually been "Hoggin" before?! (FYI: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoggin)

J-Zone: (Laughing) NEVER! Nobody believes me when I say it. I think close...I've been half hoggin'...never been full hoggin! Like on my song "Lightweight" that was just an exaggeration...the girl was just half hog. I've never gone all out boss hog (laughing). I need a lot of Long Island Iced Teas to do that! And I don't even drink like that anymore, so, I don't think I'll be hoggin' like that in this lifetime...but you can never say never, man...

Wreck HHR: I'm all for fat girls!

J-Zone: Oh, I have nothing against them! Women are beautiful of all shapes and sizes. There are a lot of big girls that are pretty...so, hey...like I said...never say never. A lot of girls are too skinny nowdays anyway. Fuckin' shriveling up and shit. Dying of anorexia...shit ain't cool...you need to eat, girl! Eatin salads with nothin on it and you're 97 pounds ain't cool. I need a girl to have at least a lil ass on her!

Wreck HHR: Say a day like in the song No Consequences (http://ohhla.com/anonymous/j_zone/whup_ass/no_con.jzn.txt) really happened-what would be the first thing that you would do?

J-Zone: I don't even know. I ask that shit to the audience every time I perform the song. I dunno...I'd probably sit home and do nothing like I do everyday (Laughs). I do everything that I want to do, man. I don't let anyone stop me...if I really want to do something-I'll do it. Maybe I'll get a Jeri Curl and not have to worry about my girl getting mad...

Wreck HHR: What's the worst job you've ever had?

J-Zone: Oh God! Saxony Icehouse! They bag ice cubes and shit. I worked there for a month and they had us doing all types of dangerous shit. Our boss was just a fuckin racist...he probably was a fuckin Klan member...he was a DICK! It was me, my friend Petey, some heavy metal dude, and a bunch of Mexicans that were working there. I guess they felt, since they had a mostly minority staff, that they could do some racist push around shit. I needed money bad...it was a summer job in my first year of college. The shit I endured on that job, man...I almost killed a guy one day...went after him and they held me back. It was just a real negative experience and to this day I still have nightmares about that place. I had to actually get counseling once because I had such strong feelings of hate towards this guy and I was having nightmares 2 years later. The shit that went down at that place, man-never work at a icehouse! It was a fucked up job and that guy was an asshole. From that day on I knew I wasn't going to work for nobody else ever again. That traumatized me from taking orders from people-that was a really fucked up job!

Wreck HHR: I still say telemarketing is the WORST job...

J-Zone: I did that too. I worked at AAA, I was a custodian when I was in high school...I had a lot of little bullshit jobs...worked in a toy store. I had a lot of jobs but NOTHING beat that Icehouse because it was physically and emotionally fucked up.

Wreck HHR: If you had to take one bitch, one record, and one miscellaneous thing to a deserted island to chill with for the rest of your life-what/who would it be?

J-Zone: If I could take one girl I'd take Darlene, Ice-T's wife on the cover of Power, I'd take Darlene in the 80's. What a dime she was. The record would be Tim Dog "Penicillin on Wax." The one misc. thing would be a clean pair of underwear (laughing)-you got to have a clean pair of draws!

Wreck HHR: If you could have one free punch on anyone in the world who would it be?

J-Zone: Paris Hilton. I just want to fight her.

Wreck HHR: So do I! Fucking HATE that girl...

J-Zone: She's just like a skinny, skanky, nasty bitch and I just want to cock back on her one good time! I can't even pinpoint what I hate about her...she's just the kind of bitch you want to knock out.

Wreck HHR: I know how you feel-I went to high school with girls just like her.

J-Zone: She's just a skank. She would be fun to knockout! I'd wake her up , knock her out again, wake her up...fuck her real good outta spite...kill her...fuck it.

Wreck HHR: If you were elected President of the United States what would be your first order of business?

J-Zone: I'd make all these kids stop wearing their grandmother's earrings! I see boys that are 15, 16, 17 years old and they got tight ass pants, big long shirts, and these big ass earrings. Men wear studs and hoops which is fine, but these dudes now wear big girly earrings and try to act mad thug-that shit is just backwards to me. That's like emo-thug to me. I know we looked fucked up as kids too with our fashion but these guys are wearing HUUUUGE silver dollar earrings in both ears and just look ridiculous.

If I was President I would be like you got to take care of that, man...you aren't supposed to look like a woman.

Wreck HHR: The First J-Zone Amendment...Don't wear Grandma's earrings!

J-Zone: Yea...there's nothing wrong with wearing earrings. You can go look at my Myspace page and look at my old pictures and can tell I was a funky, poorly dressed teen, but we never wore woman's clothes. I'm waiting for men to start wearing dresses but run around acting HARD.

Wreck HHR: (Laughing) Al Sharpton has recently been protesting for the censorship of hip hop lyrics-what would you say to him if he came knocking at your door?

J-Zone: I would say go out and fight some of the real problems going on. Why at my local High School they won't let anybody in wearing red because of the gang problems that our out of control. The school is closing for good in 2 weeks. The music can definitely have an effect on the kids but at the end of the day I grew up listening to the NWA, Eazy-E, and Too Short. I had a father to show me right and wrong and entertainment versus reality though, which is where the real problem is. Parenting.

Instead of censoring, Sharpton needs to come down and to these schools and speak to these kids. Banning CDs won't eliminate the problem, it'll make the music more appealing if anything. But going to the kids and speaking about it may help. Instead of rolling over somebody's CD...call him up and tell the artist to go into one of these high schools and tell the kids that killing each other over a color ain't cool.

I feel like Al Sharpton has done a lot of great things but he has also picked a lot of trivial battles. Him and Jesse Jackson should come into the community and put more pressure on these big platinum rappers to come back into the hood to talk to these kids. Rolling over these tapes isn't going to do shit...that's too easy of a scapegoat and that is foolish of him to do that. Reverend Calvin Butts did the same thing in 1993 and that didn't stop anything, so, he should know by now that censoring hip hop and banishing tapes ain't going to do no good. Get into the community and talk to these knucklehead kids.

Wreck HHR: What are your thoughts on hip hop right now?

J-Zone: It is what it is. The market is over saturated with crap, its all about movements, big names, and who endorses you, it's not about fun. Everybody is divided, beefin about NY vs. the West vs. the South. That's just stupid. De La Soul, NWA, LL and Slick Rick all toured together back in the day, think about that. Intelligent Hoodlum and Too $hort. Totally different styles, but it was all music and all that really mattered was good or bad. I feel as if the industry needs to totally blow up and fall apart just to create something better. I feel if no one is making money off of music it's going to weed out the motherfuckers that aren't doing it for fun and all you are going to have left is people who are doing it because they enjoy it.

I make my living off of music and it hurts. We are all losing money and no one is getting paid. All music is just so accessible with the technology and the internet and it has leveled the playing field. Someone can wake up, make an album, and put it on the internet. Then, you are judged by how many hits you get on your Myspace page. So, it completely levels the playing field. It's not like back in the day where if I wanted LL Cool J on my record I would have to work, and work, and work, and work to get a name, a budget, etc. It's not really about catalog and earning your way up anymore. Everybody is equal at this point and everyone wants to over-saturate the market. They want to drop ten albums and ten mixtapes...

And you can't tell me that all of these artists are doing it for the love...some are doing it because it is easy. There is no filtering of the market...everything is put out dumped into a box that we are all in, squirming to find an indentity. There is still positive things happening today, there is still good music coming out, I embrace the new technology myself. I'm not being negative or complaining, but as a whole the industry is in a bad spot. I think it has to self destruct and start over. We got to get it to where having an album is a PRIVELEGE...where making an album means something.

Wreck HHR: I just think its insane that people are getting signed off of Youtube right now. Justin Timberlake signed a little girl straight off of Youtube recently...that is insane to me!

J-Zone: Yea! Like, back in the 90's you'd have to put out an independent record like Cash Money, E-40, Too Short, and Ludacris. Then these dudes would take over an entire region and then the majors would pick them up and that's what did it. Now, it's a single game. Like, Mims ‘This Is Why I'm Hot,' no one pays attention to the albums...people are giving out singles deals now.

It's about hits on your myspace and youtube. It's not about how great of an album dude made or your catalog. Being an old school dude like me it threw me off at first and now I'm realizing it's just a new game, a new era, and you can do two things-you can complain about it or you can try to find your calling and swim.

Wreck HHR: Spurs or Cavs?

J-Zone: Unfortunately, Spurs.

Wreck HHR: You damn right!!

J-Zone: I want the Cavs...but the Spurs are too fundamental and they execute too well.

Wreck HHR: I like their (Spurs) hidden dirtyness...

J-Zone: There like...real conservative...but REAL dirty.

Wreck HHR: They remind me of a team full of Jeff Hornaceks...

J-Zone: They got the old school values but will go out and throw elbows. Manu Ginobli is a flopper though and I can't STAND that guy!

Wreck HHR: C'mon! You know you loved Vlade Divac back in the day...he was a genius!!

J-Zone: Oh god...flop king. I like Finley and Horry though, so, worst comes to worst my man Finley gets a ring because he deserves it.

 

Want to know more about J-Zone?!

http://www.myspace.com/jzoneoldmaid

and

http://www.zonesite.net/