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7/19/2005 How have you been lately? I've been chilling man, just staying above water. I've been feeling real good lately. What's good with the new album you're working on? That's the shit right there. It's a classic, it's definitely what Hip Hop needs right now. I stepped back and I've been observing the game, getting everything right. Got my paper right, my mind together. "The Offering" is going to be a classic. That's what I'm going to give to the game. That's my offering, I give you everything. No commercial shit, just straight up Hip Hop, straight up realness. How would you describe your state of mind recording this? My creativity level was so high. I got so many different styles and realms going on in this album. My mind state is that I'm feeling good, I'm confident. I'm a fan of Hip Hop, I love Hip Hop, and this album makes me feel good when I listen to it. You got Nas on the album, how did that come about? That shit was crazy. Me and Nas have run into each other a couple of times, and we always wanted to work with each other. And the song came out crazy, and I know a lot of the fans wanted to see me and Nas get down on a track. There was a mutual respect there. Son came through and blessed the song with a crazy verse. It's going to be a classic. That's something for the future. That's something that can move the whole Hip Hop world. It's unexplainable. You've just got to hear it. Who else is on the album? The Maccabeez are on there, that's my group, which is me, Razah, and Timbo. And I got some special guests on the album, I'll get Rakim if I can run into him. What did GZA do for the album? GZA came through. He's working on his joint right now. I think GZA is going to come through and bless a track. When he'd come to the studio, his mind was full of verses for his album. But I think now he'll definitely come through and lay a verse. You know we're all lyricists, but "The Offering" takes you deep into my mind. For cats that loved "Heavy Mental" or "Priesthood," this is going to take it up to another notch. What song stands out to you right now from "The Offering?" I got this song called "Ghetto Jesus," that song is going to be a classic. It's one of the first songs I've done for the album. What do you want to give fans on this album? I'm gonna give them everything. Every piece of me. I take them from the street to the cosmos. I'll take them all the way around. Everything is in that zone where I'm going to move the listener and take them along. If I lose you, I'll find you. "The Offering" is like a cathedral with doors! When do you want this album to come out? I want this album to come out for the summer, but I'm not going to be able to make that. I have the singles out now, "Truth Be Told" and "The Offering." I want it to come out around the time everyone goes back to school. Right now, we just have to create the buzz right now. We're going to hit the mixtapes too. Are you still trying to find a home for "The Offering?" Yeah, definitely man. Like I said, we got a home that's just waiting. It's going to come out one way or another. I want the right deal for this. What's the most frustrating part about pushing your music to these labels? Ohhh man! They've just got to be real. Just be real. When I got my first deal, it happened like this: "Come over here, we want to sign you." Then its other shit like "come back later." I know when they're bullshitting. If someone is feeling your music, they want to make something happen. Not all of those phone calls back and forth and all of that shit. What's up with the Maccabeez? Maccabeez are great right now. Everyone who knows me knows I've been working on that project for years. It's me, Razah, and Timbo. My man Daddy Rose got locked up, he'll be back out. Focus is coming through. My man Flames, he's dope. Maccabeez is going to represent the truth. How's the Black Market Militia going? That's doing great…that was a thought that I had…Me and Razah was going back and forth over names for Maccabeez and that's how that started. I bumped into Trag and then it happened. We went to the studio and we just made it happen. I had a lot of creativity in me at that time. It was supposed to be some Hip Hop shit with a little bit of militant shit in it, but Razah's militant too. Me and William Cooper put it together. And watching Trag, he'd come in one day and knock out five verses. Razah would do everything in one take, and Timbo was the cleaner. Everybody came in and made it straight militant and it is what it is. You can't take away the quality of that music. The album is a classic. I think that the Black Market Militia is the first time true artists came together and did the shit. It was nuts. There were some crazy-ass moments in there. I had to clear my head because I was trying to focus on my album at the same time. There was a lot of shit. And the original name was Black Market, there was no militia in it at first! A lot of people know you from the Sunz of Man also, how come you weren't on "Saviorz Day?" There were a lot of differences. I really don't fully understand that. I called to get up on a track, and I guess at that time…I read your interview with P.Sunn, and he said there was a lot of stuff going on. I think P wanted to carry the group, so it was like, I don't know man…I guess it just happened like that. Are you and Prodigal Sunn cool today? Yeah, we're cool. He's got his album out and everything. I've never had a real quarrel with him…my thing is, I know music. I always did know music. And I know the sound of Sunz of Man and the music. That's me! Sunz of Man is me! I know the sound of it. I know what tunnels to take and what doors to take because I've been doing this for a minute. Every man is their own man, so I guess he wanted to explore. He knows his realm, and everything happened the way it happened. That was his chosen move. Do you have any regrets about not being on "Saviorz Day?" No, not really. I mean, it would have been great. But like I said, everybody has to think about the bigger picture. We can't always think small-minded. Will you be on the next Sunz of Man album if there is one? Oh yeah, definitely now. We could definitely do another album, but right now I just want to get "The Offering" out. And I'm working with Razah, his shit is going to be sick too. But for Sunz of Man, we could sit down and do it again. But everybody has to know how to stick to the plan. Looking back to Heavy Mental, you had some dope skits from "The 10 Commandments," what made you want to take that? "Priest!" I always liked the Biblical films and how they talked and the words they were using. They were around the same time of the kung-fu flicks. I used to love those joints because I could see other things in them. The actors were really portraying it how they were supposed to, like you could really see Judas' expressions when he felt something. How do you feel when you listen to "Heavy Mental" today? Wow. Ahead of its time. I think people are catching up to it now. Now they're ready for that shit. Listening to it right now, I can see where I've grown at. That was some real shit. That was some crazy shit I was spitting back then. You worked with Just Blaze before he got big, how did that come about? That was crazy man. I worked with a lot of producers like that. I used to always tell Just Blaze, you could ask him to this day, I'd say "son you're going to be the shit." He did a song for me that I didn't even release. MCA at the time didn't really believe me. When I see Just Blaze, it's always love. He's been real busy lately, but every time I see him he gives me his number and he tells me "Priest I got a beat for you." What made you want to work with him back then? I was in the studio doing "View From Masada." Son came in and played about four joints that were incredible. It sounded like nobody out there. 4th was like that at the time too. I was working with 4th Disciple and True Master before they got big, way before "Cuban Linx" came out. I always knew that those niggas had some shit. Just Blaze came in and banged my head with four or five joints, and I picked every one. Son is crazy talented, because he didn't even sample back then. He was just making beats. I remember one time I spoke to somebody working with him, and he said "yo we got him sampling right now." I was like, "oh man it's a rap!" "Black August" was dope too, what was your state of mind recording "Black August." That was the shit too. I feel like that's "Priesthood 2." That was taken apart by the label, which was run by a bunch of older men. They came in and they brought everyone from the 1950's in (laughs). They wasn't really listening to me. The quality of the music was still there, it still had classic songs on there. That's why I had to drop "Black August" revisited. "Black August" is a classic, but what I want to put out again is "Priesthood," because a lot of people didn't get that. What's up with the Four Horsemen project? We're going to do it. I wanted to get them all on the album. I just spoke to Canibus' manager yesterday. I speak to Ras Kass and Kurupt here and there. That's definitely going to happen. Right now, I feel like I'm the hardest working MC in the business. I got so many groups that I work with. How do you balance everything? In my cranium, in my dome. I don't know, I got doorways or something inside my head. Sometimes, I might black out for a couple of days and not even know it because I was so tired. Looking back to the Gravediggaz, how did it feel at the time spitting for the first time on "6 Feet Deep." At the time, I didn't' want it to start like that. That was incredible for me. RZA had told me to come through and spit. That was the first time I ever spit on a mic in a studio. I just did the first thing that came to me. That was incredible for me. At the time, I didn't even want to make records. I just wanted to sit back and write by myself. I didn't want to throw it out there like that. RZA put me on the spot and it worked. And getting to build with Poetic, that was a beautiful brother. Rest in peace to him. Me and him sat and talked a lot. You and RZA seem to have had your differences over the years… I was always a stand-up cat. Really, I was fighting for the Sunz of Man also, because we would be together and we would see things happening, and the whole group needed to complain. But I was always the one to step up and talk to RZA and tell him what we need. And RZA would tell me we had what we needed. It was a back-and-forth thing. But it was a love thing because RZA knows I always talk like that. We were close. After awhile, I guess things went sour and it was all on Priest. But I was really standing up for the Sunz, because we weren't' getting no light, no interviews…but recently when I saw him, it was all love. That's for all the fans out there, that's what really went on. But when you don't see somebody who brought you into this game, like if I didn't see GZA for a minute and I was depending on him to guide me, then I'm going to shout out for him. "6 Feet Deep" was in '94, how have you grown since then? I'm more focused and relaxed on who I am. I've been around the game for a minute so I know how it is. A lot of people started and they put years into it before it really popped off. And then you have all these fly-by-night cats. I'm grateful I wasn't a fly-by-night. The cats in the Clan put me through the training route. I had two major deals, went the independent route, had a lot of people talking in my ears. I took everything, soaked it up, added it all up, and came out with the truth and what I have to do. And I'm still at it. My thing is growth. I've seen a lot, learned a lot, and I still got time,. I'm still young. People know I still got it too. I'm your favorite rapper's rapper's favorite rapper's rapper! What have you learned from dealing with these labels? You definitely have to have your own shit going on even when you're up there. If you didn't grow up with them, and you don't really, really know them and they're not really feeling you like that, you're in trouble. You have to have your team organized in one unit, and they all have to feel what you're doing. Look at Dip Set, I love those dudes because they've brought in their family and they have a unity thing going on. You've got to have your own thing to move through this industry. The record company is a monster man. My first deal, I used to be up there every day sitting down. I thought I had to be there every day like "what's going on?" But that's what a manager is supposed to do. But I got a beautiful manager now, her name is Amanda. A lot of things are going to get better because she's on point. How would you describe yourself as an MC? Very prolific. Shit just comes to me. It's just something I can do. I've always been a thinker in everything. I just apply that to my music. When I sit down and write, shit just comes out of me. It's something that I can't control. The Messiah controls that. When I sit down and put the pen to the paper, the words light up and I'm somewhere else. I describe whatever I see. You're always saying a lot of complex stuff, are you ever worried that it's going to go over people's heads? Yeah, I do (laughs). You can follow my complex songs, but what makes Priest Priest is my wordplay. It's my wordplay and my ability to take my mental and write what I see at that moment. Looking at HipHopGame, you've got a lot of loyal fans on here…how would you describe your fans? My fans know real music, real artistry. They know real shit that's not fabricated. And I'm the same way, and I love that. And I listen to a lot of shit, but 95% of the time, the cats just don't have talent. You have to just call it what it is. Hip Hop is good, but when you're an MC and you have the ability to take the listener somewhere, it's a blessing man. What do you think your fans are expecting of you right now? Some real shit. Some real Priest. This game needs my album, and they're going to get it. What do you want to say to everybody out there reading this right now? I want to say thanks for the support, keep tuning into HipHopGame, they do that real shit out there, go pick up that Black Market joint, and go pick up "Priesthood" and make sure you get "The Offering." It's definitely going to be a classic. And check out www.killahpriest.com. Also a big up to my new label Nu-Kemiz, me and my man Amal we're doing it up. Everything's gravy man, this is the real shit that we're going to do. And to all my fans out there, thank you for staying loyal. What advice do you have for kids coming up? You've got to make your plans and stick to it. That's how you blow up and become your own entity. I've never followed any trends, I've always been a trend-setter. In anything I got into, I always made sure I was good at it. If I wasn't good at the shit, I really didn't fuck with it. Everything I always got into, I always put my whole mind into it.

By Brian Kayser

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