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8/9/2006 What's up? I'm doing all right. I'm letting everybody know about this hot album coming out on August 22. It's my first-ever solo LP I've dropped. I'm letting everybody know about that and getting the awareness out. How does it feel to finally have an album coming out? I feel vindicated, my dude. I feel excited about it. The album is definitely my best work to date. I'm real excited about it. It feels good to finally release a full-length album after all these years. Is You Already Know overdue? It's definitely overdue. But I say it's better late than never. Real talk, everybody will appreciate it. The wait is over and when they hear this, they'll know it was definitely worth the wait. Can this debut be more effective than if you had dropped back when you were 8Off? The effect it would have had then probably wouldn't have been the same effect there is now. Real talk, it's definitely a moment in history for me because I never thought I would still be here surviving this hip-hop game. I stood the true test of time and I'm here. I'm ready for the game more than ever. I'm in my prime right now. I just feel the world is my platform. I just have to perform to the best of my abilities. How do you know you're in your prime? Amongst what's going on, I feel like I learned so much since I've been in the game. I've gathered so much information and it has gotten me to where I am now. I'm still here. I survived and overcame the streets and it should definitely be a sight to see this year of me doing my thing. My personal life, I've been through a lot of trials and tribulations. This is just another testament to me in getting to where I need to be as a successful rap artist and producer. Did you ever think this was how you'd be dropping your debut album? I didn't plan this. When it started coming together, I could see the pieces of the puzzle coming together. This LP isn't something that was brought together in a day or a week. It was a whole lifetime putting this album together. What state-of-mind were you in making this record? I definitely wanted to put a record together that my peers felt and my peers could be a part of. I also wanted it to have a focus and come out with good talks and good imagery. I did just that with every record on this album. It all came together from the studio, working out of my crib every day, getting Ike up and working with him and basically crafting our songs daily until we came up with a thousand songs and then choosing the best until we came out with what we have on this album. I couldn't be happier with this album. How much piff did you go through on this album? Too much! You also reached out to producers like Premier and the Alchemist. Why do that when you're nice on the beats? They're my colleagues and I respect their sound. I'm definitely a producer myself. Rather me being stingy and doing my album, I felt I could get other producers to come in and vibe out with me and get another perspective. I definitely was happy I did that because the records I got from Al and Preme were definitely outstanding on the album. This shows the support of what hip-hop is all about and what it needs to be. How was your session with Primo? It was legendary. It was so legendary that I can't trade it for anything. If I died tomorrow, I would be very content I got to work with DJ Premier, one of the best in hip-hop to ever walk the surface. The session went down as a trade-off for a track I did for Teflon. Preme was like, "I need you to do this song for Tef'." In the conversation, he told me he respected my shit and he said if I needed something, he would hit me with something. We hung up and it registered in my mind five minutes later and I called him back. He said, "I got you." After staying on him, he gave me one of the beats off his album. Real talk, I went in and it took me about a week and a half to write "New York Rider Music" because I felt New York is our stomping grounds and the home of hip-hop, but it needed more morale like Busta's "New York Shit" and Tru Life's "New New York." This is one of Preme's favorite records. I'm glad I got to fuck with DJ Premier. Showbiz was in the session when Preme was mixing it and he was like, "Who's that?" "That's 8Off." "Oooh, that's my man." It's good to see I'm getting support from my allies who didn't know I was Agallah the Don Bishop. Shout out to everybody who's showed love. Is there a reason Purple City isn't on the record? It's an Agallah album. This is the Agallah show right now. I wasn't on a lot of songs on the last Purple City album. I was only on two records. I didn't have a lot of input. This record, I was like, "I have to go in. You're still my fam, but I have to do me." There's no animosity, but I had to do me. To all the fans, this is an Agallah album. If you like Agallah, cop my shit. If you like Purple City's shit, cop my album. Are you not as close with Shiest as you were for the first album? At the end of the day, we're businessmen and we both have our own families to feed. I didn't grow up with Shiest. I met him on the business level. It's only been a couple years since we've been down and that's young for some cats to know each other fully. We're still learning about each other and getting to know each other. Were you able to show a different side of yourself on this solo record as opposed to your Purple City music? Yeah, because Purple City records are more generically made. My album was musically nurtured. Before I laid any vocals, I knew what kind of landscapes I wanted and I recorded a thousand songs for this LP and only picked eighteen. I definitely picked a lot of vibrant colors on the LP and it will definitely show when you listen to the LP. Songs like "In the Ghetto" with M1 or "Artificial Love" will show a lot. Will you be more involved in the next Purple City record? I don't know right now. I don't know where that's going to play. Right now Ag has set himself up to have retail history. If there is never another Purple City album, I can pop off myself and sell some units. If we get right, I'm sure there will be another album. What's going on with Un Kasa? Me and Un are cool. Un is my man. I have love for Un and Un has love for me. We both know the situation at hand and that man knows what he has to do. Amongst the confusion, we have love and support for each other. I'm sure he knows that. We're the same ones that are trying to bring it together at the end of the day instead of letting it tear us apart. You have to be built for this and certain mistakes were made but at the end of the day, we're all men and we have to stand up and face the consequences and responsibilities that we both have. Is Un forgiven for the diss track? He never disrespected me. He dissed the whole movement, but he didn't diss me personally. Once you say my name, it's on and popping. He did go against the grain, but sometimes you do shit out of emotional disturbances. He felt he needed to let it out. We had a talk and he knows how I was feeling and how he was feeling. He just broke out a little quicker. I think he expected me to break out quicker. We're going to get it back together. How's Ike Eyes doing? Ike is doing great. Ike is gearing up to do his solo album. He's on my album. He's my dude. He's staying in the cut and he's ready to rip any rapper apart. My man Ike is ready to teach them a lesson or two. He's on my album on "In the Ghetto" with M1, "Yeah Baby" and he's on "Built for This." Ike has my support and Ghetto Rockstarz is coming to a theater near you in a minute. What are you plans for the rest of the summer? Stay on top of promotions and marketing. I have to stay on top of my fans and I have to know who's going to cop my album. I'm doing a lot of shows outside the tri-state area. You can go to MySpace.com/AgallahDonBishop to see where the shows are at. I'm about to do movies and soundtracks. Whatever the case may be, there's going to be a lot in store for the kid. I'm waiting for this album to drop and to see where the fans are. I have to grind it out and stay in the zone. Have you started thinking about your next album? I already came up with the title, High, My Name is Brad Piff. I think that's going to be the name of the next album. I want people to see that I keep bringing something new to the table, a whole new character and a whole new vibe and this is what they can grasp onto at the time. They might like Eddie Propane Piff but they might not like Piff Swagger. I'm coming with a new twist every time and definitely watch out for this album. Also watch out for the Eddie Propane Piff collection. I'm about to do that. I'm going to be putting out minks and all that. It's going to be real high-end. It's going to be all over the place. Do you see yourself doing a producer compilation album soon? Yeah, you might. I like Young Jeezy and Young Dro. I like Byrdgang. There are a couple of cats out there I would love to work with. It'll all come in due time. What do you want to say to everyone? Cop the album August 22, real talk. It's called You Already Know. DJ Premier, Alchemist, dead prez, Kool G. Rap, Ike Eyes…we're letting you know that we're running it. And shout out to all my people coming out of the belly of the beast. Hold your head and stay focused. It's your boy Don Bishop aka Eddie Propane Piff aka Brad Piff aka Mick Swagger. And thanks to HipHopGame who has been supporting for the longest. Thank you. This album is what it is and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

By Brian Kayser

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