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4/28/2009   Your long-awaited album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 has gone through many setbacks and obstacles over the past few years. Do you think fans’ expectations got higher and higher with each setback and delay?  I mean, at the end of the day, if you’re a big fan, you’ll wait. If you really, really want this album, you gotta deal with what’s going on because you know, you gotta take your time and think about what’s going on first before you could shoot it down. But I understand how people is being a little bit frustrated with the wait but to me, it’s coming and there’s really not too much I could say. It’s like I had to deal with a couple of things and make sure that my “i’s” is dotted and my “t’s” is crossed before I could give out this product. I’m not only an artist. I’m also a businessman and I also have to deal with things that get me frustrated as well. If you’re a real fan you’re gonna wait. That’s what it is. That’s what it is.  Did Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 come out the way you envisioned it when you first came up with the concept of making this album years ago?  I mean, when I first started Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2, it was because I knew that the fans wanted it so much but it took a lot for me to do it because I had to make sure that I got the right environment that’s going to be a part of this album with me. You know, you got brothers that are moving around. You got Ghost over here and RZA doing his thing so it took a lot for me to have to be able to get all of that chemistry and what I needed to get to really give it to the fans the way they wanted it. It took some time though because everybody’s busy. Everybody’s got their own schedules that they gotta deal with and at the end of the day, I can’t make nobody jump up to do something for my project and just throw their project on the shelf. So we had to go through a lot of things as far as with that.  Then you know when I got released from Motown Universal, you know I didn’t have a situation so I had to make sure that any situation I go into again, it had to be something that I consider being somewhere where I felt appreciated. I’m not going to bring somebody a classic album that’s not going to appreciate the hard work and the time that I put into this album and think because they’re going to throw a little bit of coins at me that I’m going to be excited.  I need a motherfucker to be prestigious and really be on point with me on this record as far as nurturing. That right there was becoming a problem at some point and I felt like I’m not going to bite my nose to spite my face just to get a record out there. Everything had to make sense for me and I had to feel comfortable so that was really the purpose of making people wait for that album because I had to make sure that my business was tight.  I got a family I gotta provide for and anything that I do has to count all the way around other than me just dropping a record out there. It has to make sense and it has to be where I feel like I’m getting treated fairly and not getting treated like a bird. I’m not a bird. I’ve been in this game too long to be getting handled any kind of way. That had a lot to do with the holdup.  Was EMI being excited about the project what made them so appealing when you signed with them to release Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2?  I think EMI just recognized that I’m a veteran in the game and they recognize the value in this project and at the same time, they believe in me. They believe that Rae still got the potential to stand next to these new artists and really do his thing. They recognize that I’m a legend and that I did a lot of shit for hip-hop. So at the end of the day they came to the table with a sweet deal that I couldn’t deny as well as being real excited about working with me. They was listening to me and hearing me out and respecting that I’m really trying to own my masters right now, which they gave me the power to own so at the end of the day, it’s like for a dude that’s been in the game as long as myself, anything that I was entitled to, they felt like I deserved it though and they made a brother smile. You know what I mean?  Were you surprised that you didn’t get more interest and better situations from other labels as well?  Time changes. I’ve been doing this for a long time and at the end of the day you got your new players and dudes with egos and different philosophies that I couldn’t really respect because I don’t feel like a lot of dudes paved the way to be where they’re at but however they got there is how they got there. It’s the saying “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” That was my motto with dealing with any of these labels. You know what I mean? They’ll sit there and say this and say that but their heart is on some other shit. My spider senses start tingling and I start feeling like it ain’t good, I’m going to fall back because at the end of the day, I know how hard I worked on this album and I know that I’m bringing a classic to the table. Now if you treat it any kind of way and I feel like that’s what you’re trying to do, I don’t need to be here. I’ve been in better places before. I’ve been in worse places before. At the end of the day I’m just protecting my best interests for my family and my team.  Do you think Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 is overdue or right on time?  It’s gonna be overdue because people wanted it at the time they wanted it but I’m a true believer of the Most High telling me when it’s time for it to come out. At the end of the day, He knows what’s going on. He knows the shit that a nigga gotta deal with every day to really put this album together and I guess right now is the time because that’s what it is. It wasn’t like a nigga’s just sitting around not doing nothing. I’ve been touring the world, seeing many different parts of the world on top of building an album up and making it to where I feel it’s comfortable for me to throw it out. Everything happens for a reason.  I hate to put the fans on hold but at the end of the day, sometimes shit happens, man, where I gotta take three steps back to come in ten steps forward. So that’s what happened. I really put a lot of time and effort into this project and I think the time that it took, it gave me an opportunity to make it more stronger. If I was to do it all before, I probably wouldn’t have been appreciative of it then how I’m appreciative of it now. I put a lot of time into this album and I finally got it to where I wanted it to be and it is a classic, landslide style. I ain’t even worried about that. People will listen to this album and they will say that he didn’t try to be something that he is not. He came with what we wanted him to come with. His production, which is the most important thing to me because it ain’t really lyrics. Lyrics is like throwing a football and I got an arm. At the end of the day, to get the package that I wanted to get, it took time. I finally got it where I wanted to be and I feel real great about it right now.  Do you think because you titled this Cuban Linx 2 as a continuation of your classic debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx that it made you come even harder on the lyrics?  Absolutely. Absolutely my nigga, because I’m not going to sit there and give y’all a piece of product that’s far away from the first one. I had to go back and study the tapes to know what to give you as far as Part 2 is concerned. Part 1, that was done in ’95. It was a different time going on. It was a different generation of hip-hop. You had more fans than you have critics right now. You had more artistically inclined fans that wanted to see creativeness.  Now you got fans that basically wanna be rappers now. It’s like you got more rappers than fans. You got people watching sales and not really paying attention to creative music and shit that really counts. So my thing is like, you know, to do 2 is easy for me because it’s nothing for me to go back to giving y’all that street style of music where I’m talking about narrative stories and just making the groundwork as far as the first one. It’s nothing to do that but at the same token, my thing was I wanted to come with a solid production team that’s going to really put it in this time.  I didn’t let RZA do all of the work because I feel like RZA has many other obligations to shit that he has to do and at the same token, I’ve been in the game too long not to know how to do this. I’ve been doing this shit for a long time so at the end of the day, I wanted to go out and go get a conglomerate of producers that paved the way for hip-hop niggas such as myself and other artists. I wanted to put some of them producers involved in it and make it even more interesting and that’s what we did. We opened up our doors to having other producers come in and put their little touch and what they’re going put on it, put their special little shit on it and that’s what made it more interesting to do. It made it iller because when you listen to it, you’re going to think one producer handled it. It’s like when Nas did Illmatic or something. He had a conglomerate of producers that came together that made his record sounds hot.  This is the same with Cuban Linx 2. I could have left it in RZA’s hands but why leave it in RZA’s hands when Cuban Linx 2 is something new and something different? So right now I wanted to go another route and get other people involved with it to make it even more stronger. I went and got niggas who really put their foot down in this game and made history. Production-wise, these dudes put it in. For me to just turn my back on niggas that put it down in the game, that’s stupid. I respect and I’m fans of other dudes’ work as well, especially producers. You made a mark in the game, I’m gonna respect you.  If you’re telling me you want in on that Cuban Linx and you got something that’s really going to coincide with me, I want to see what that’s about because I’m a fan of you and that’s what I did. When you hear a track that I got from Marley Marl, you’re going to be like, ‘Damn, Marley and RZA got together and they came up with some shit like that?’ You’re going to appreciate it because it’s so authentic and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to bring an authentic sound to the table again.  You’re also working with in-house producer BT, who produced “Rearview Memories” and “Criminology ‘09.” What’s it like working with him?  He’s been really stepping up to the bar so much these days ‘cause he know I’m like a coach to him and I’m really on top of him, like really making sure that he delivers in order to be in my camp.  I told him, “Right now, you’re the youngest one on the team as far as production but you’re going to be the one that I’m really, really gonna make work hard because you’re standing next to giants” and he’s just been delivering. He’s just been doing his thing to the fullest. Me, I’m always into giving cats an opportunity to fulfill their dreams and live out their dreams as well and I think the kid has been doing his thing. We got together maybe three years ago and ever since then I’ve kept him around me because I feel that he’s a hard workers so I’m just giving him a shot. He’s been stepping up to the bar so that’s been good.  What song are you most proud of off Cuban Linx 2?  All of them. All of them. It’s going to be one of those CDs that you can throw in and you don’t have to touch it. I’ve never been an artist to say one record is going to carry this album. I have my days where certain songs fuck with me in a good way. This song may be the shit Monday or Tuesday then I go to this song and this song is the shit now. So it takes me away from the other song. I tried to make a CD that you could stick in your CD changed or your mp3 and you don’t have to touch it. You can just listen to it. You can drive around to it or have it in your iPod or you can crank it in one of your banginest systems that you paid a lot of money for. It will be something that you will get entertained off of and I didn’t lose a beat. This shit is like jumping rope right now to me. It’s nothing to make this hip-hop, man. It’s just the passion that I know that I have for it that I’m gonna make sure that you know that he made another fucking classic, B. Trust me. You’ll be all right. You’ll get your money’s worth.  How did “Flashback Memories” with Game come about?  That came about when I had did a record for Game. I had done a record for Game for his album and at that time, one of BT’s friends is an engineer for Game because BT is an engineer as well as a producer.  So he knew Game’s engineer and they was communicating with one another and they knew that me and Game was trying to get at each other so they kind of went into their own world and made that situation happen and before you know it, we’re both doing Game’s record and after I did Game’s record Game did my record. We did it both at the same time. It was kind of interesting though. It was live because at the end of the day they kind of felt like they had to take matters into their own hands to make that happen and shit but it was hot how it went down. (laughs) That’s what you call work ethic, right?  How are you able to tell what MCs you’ll be able to vibe with and make great music with, like a Busta Rhymes, and what MCs may be great at what they do but won’t have chemistry with you?  It’s just about passion for hip-hop, man. When you see me get on a song with somebody, it ain’t more or less about the money. It’s about the prestigiousness of that individual. I’m a big fan of Busta’s work and Busta’s a big fan of mine so when we get together, we kind of already know what we want to bring y’all. We kind of already know what it’s going to be because we really love hip-hop and then to sit there and be at the pinnacle of where we’re at right now, it’s like you can’t take nothing away from both of us. We’ve been doing this shit for the longest. We’re lyrically inclined. We’re built for the game and we helped a lot of people in the game survive this shit so when it’s time for us to get together, we know one plus one equals two. We can’t help but make nothing but fire because we both know where we wanna be at and for me, that’s what it’s all about.  It’s about the passion and knowing who you are when you’re doing your thing. Busta’s a real good friend and he’s been down with me for the longest. He done gave me money and I done gave him money. It’s just a friendship. It’s a mutual friendship. When we go in the booth and do our thing, it comes out beautifully because our hearts are in the same spot.  That’s important when you’re doing music with your peers. Y’all both gotta feel like at the end of the day y’all both got a lot of respect for one another’s art and what y’all do is going to determine where y’all are at right now. We’ve been doing a lot of records lately because Busta’s like a motivational speaker to me. He’s a good brother. He’s talented. He makes crazy heat and at the same token he knows my value and what I can do and we just got this kind of relationship where we keep in touch though. We’re cool like that.  When you talk about Busta being a motivational speaker for you, have you had times where you felt your motivation wasn’t what it should be?  Exactly. At one point I was feeling like what you just said. It’s like, ‘Yo, the game is starting to get corny to me’ because there’s nothing to influence the kid no more. It’s like these rappers today, they’re not giving me no momentum to really want to do this shit and I had to really go back to some of my niggas that I know that know me to be like, ‘Yo, hold up! Don’t give up, my nigga! You’re one of them dudes! You put a lot of influence into the game. You kept artists such as myself alive and I’ll be damned if I sit here and watch you lose the spit for it because you may get a little frustrated with how the shit changed’ and Busta was definitely one of them dudes that stepped up to the plate and kind of told me that I was incredible and maybe I just need to be around that kind of energy to kind of bring out the best in you and when he said those words to me it kind of boosted me up and put a shine over my head and put the sun on top of me.  You know, Wu-Tang, we go through our shit and we’ve been going through our shit for the last couple of years so at the end of the day, a lot of that shit was affecting me as far as being creative and it took a brother such as himself to come in and really talk to me to really give me the sprit that I need to move on and I love him for that because it didn’t have nothing to do with no money or no contracts or no one record shit. It was real love and that type of shit right there, I really appreciate that value in that brother. That’s what you call brotherhood. That’s brotherhood right there, man. For real.  Do you feel that same kind of brotherhood with your Wu-Tang counterparts or do you see yourself growing away from them?  At the end of the day, Wu-Tang is Wu-Tang. Them is my brothers regardless of whatever we go through. We argue. We fuss. We fight. Whatever. But at the end of the day, that’s my family and today, they’re doing what they do and me, I’m going to always be there to assist them and help them the same way how they came and helped me and represented on Cuban Linx 2 for me.  But right now we’re all at a time where everybody has to keep moving forward. You have to keep moving forward so all I could do is look at my situation and just say, ‘Yo, Rae, stay focused! Keep doing what you gotta do! Keep staying on point. Keep writing every day! Do what you do!’ And that’s what I’ve been doing. As far as everybody else in the crew, I’m sure they got the same desires to do what I’m doing. We just don’t communicate as much as we used to because brothers have other things that are a part of their agendas. It’s cool.  I’ve been running with the Clan for 15 years. We ain’t going to always keep in touch every day. I’m not expecting for niggas to call me every day and they’re not expecting me to call them every day but I know at any given second, if I need them niggas will be there for me. It’s all about growth and development for each individual and it’s about where you take it. Me, I’m just going for the gold because that’s all I could do – keep moving forward.  With Wu-Tang you made some of the most classic hip-hop music ever made. On the other hand everywhere you go you have the “W” with you, for better or worse. Can your Wu-Tang legacy be a gift and a curse at the same time?  It is a gift and a curse because people look at what y’all have done collectively and they think that every time everybody is going to be there and to me, Wu-Tang is a symbol. That’s what people gotta remember. We didn’t always sit down together when we first started rhyming and say, “We’re coming out nine niggas strong.” We was put together and at the same time of being put together, each individual had the opportunity to be a solo artist. We knew that. Even though we came in as a group, we always said we were going to do our own thing and the rest was going to do their own thing.  So yeah, it is a gift and a curse. But at the same time, with me knowing that we put so much into one another, yo, there comes a time in life when each man is gonna wanna do what he wanna do. And individuals got family, man. So this man might have to do extra work to make sure that he keep his family comfortable and keep them where they need to be at and he may not be able to be over here with this part of the situation now because he has to do this.  That’s what makes it a curse because at the end of the day, I know a nigga’s heart is there for me but if he has to go out and do this because that’s what it calls for him to do, then I gotta respect that and I think that a lot of times, fans don’t understand that when we came in the game, that’s why we could never say how much work we were gonna put in because we didn’t know how much work we was gonna have to put in.  If it was up to the labels they woulda just wanted us to be a group forever. We didn’t want to just be a group forever because we feel like each individual got the power to go and do other shit. Now when we go places or whatever and we’re doing things, people be like, ‘Yo, is the whole Clan coming?’ or this or that and sometimes, you know, everybody can’t come, man. You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, how we keep is real with one another is we make sure they go out and do that record or sing my verse.  We’re always keeping that Wu-Tang “W” shining in the air, but at the same token, it be difficult to have brothers come certain places and be there at a time when they may have other things to do. That’s just a part of life. You know what I mean? If you’re going to a family reunion and you want all of your brothers to be there, one of them may say they can’t go because they have to go do this. They already gave their time for this or they already gave their oath to go and do this. That’s what people gotta understand and sometimes it be hard for them to understand that.  It doesn’t sound like there’s any immediate rush for any kind of Wu-Tang album in the future.  Oh, no, don’t get me wrong though. We’re still going to continue to do what we gotta do but just to put a deadline on anything, that’s impossible because there are so many different things that brothers have to do within themselves. We still got business to do. Business is never over with. It’s always going on but at the same token, you got brothers doing their thing, like Meth. You got another Meth and Red album coming out. You got Ghost doing his R&B album. You got this one getting into acting and you got RZA wanting to be an actor as well. Brothers are just fulfilling their dreams and doing them in the space that they can do it. I can’t be mad at a brother trying to go for his goals. You gotta go for them because that’s what I’ma do too.  You announced on Twitter that you were leaking “Rearview Memories.” Do you plan to use Twitter and other networking sites to promote Cuban Linx 2?  Absolutely because at the end of the day I feel like that’s another form of marketing myself and actually being hands-on with the people that love me. There’s a lot of people that love niggas and they want to be able to kick it with you outside of music, whether it’s just talking about what you’re doing next or whether they’re just checking in and saying whaddup. It’s so important nowadays to be hands-on with your fans because they’re the ones that make sure that you’re okay. So why not? If we had all these different kinds of mechanisms back in ’95, everybody would be happy right now.  My thing is times change and new technology is coming so we have to stay on top of what’s going on and basically be hands-on with the fans. I think this is a key way to kind of be in a personal relationship with your fans as well as a business relationship with them as well.  I want to be able to kick it to my fans if it’s your birthday today. If it’s your birthday, yo, happy birthday, Champ. You deserve it. It’s your day. It ain’t my day today. It’s your day. And I think that goes so far with your fans because they be like, ‘Wow, he’s a regular motherfucker. He ain’t on no Hollywood shit where he’s coming at me for a dollar today. He’s coming at me on some real shit, on some happy birthday shit.’  It’s just about being mature with the people that respect what you do and they support you. I’m really a fan of that. I’m really a fan of being hands-on with my fans. I remember one time I did a show and I told the fans, “Yo, ya’ll been so good to me up on this motherfucking stage that when I get off this bitch I’m coming out there and I’m taking pictures and I’m doing autographs. I’m doing anything that y’all want me to do to let you know that I appreciate y’all.”  The fans say that there’s not a lot of motherfuckers that go and do that and they respect me for that. And that’s what I love, man, is that people know that I’m a regular dude too, man, outside of being a star, a rap star. I’m still a regular cat.  You’ve also stayed up to date with some trends, collaborating with brands like Crooks and Castles or Supreme. What are some trends that we’ll never see the Chef following?  (laughs) You’ll never see me acting like no fucking faggot! You know that. I think for the most part, man, you’re just not going to see me acting Hollywood. You know what I mean? I could sell 10 million records tomorrow and I think that I’ll still be the same individual that I am today where people could still walk up to me and just say, “That nigga is just a regular cat.” I already made an oath to myself that I’m not never going to change, B.  I came from the struggle and I ain’t even supposed to be here. All the shit that we’ve done and lived through, I’m not even supposed to be here but the fans gave me an opportunity to live life again and enjoy life and I’m enjoying it right now so my goals is to make sure that the ones that are appreciating me, I appreciate you back. The ones that don’t give a fuck about me, I don’t give a fuck about you neither.  The one thing that I’m determined to do is just staying Rae. I’ma always be Rae, man. Y’all know Raekwon. I want to let the people know that I’m still Rae. Raekwon is an artist. Rae is an individual that got manners and respect and will treat people according to how they treat themselves and how they treat me. I don’t care. You could be with your grandmother and you may need somebody to help you with the bags or something. “Yo, Rae, would you mind helping me?” Yeah, I’ll help you. I got no problem with that, fam. That’s the way I was raised and I think loyalty is so important in today’s worked and that’s not what a lot of people don’t go off of. You gotta be loyal to your friends, man. It ain’t always about what you got. It’s about how you are as a person.  And as far as trends go, we don’t have to worry about Auto Tune or wack jeans, right?  Nah. You know I ain’t going to do none of that. I don’t even know how to fucking do that. I barely know how to work the fucking computer. You ain’t gonna see me doing none of that no time soon.  That’s a relief.  (laughs) Stupid!  Did you think that Only Built 4 Cuban Linx would be the classic that it is today or did you look at it as good starting point for your solo career?  I looked at it as being a classic because I knew that the sound that we came with at that time, it was an authentic sound. The beats and production was just stupid. Coming from the forgotten borough of Shaolin, Staten Island, I felt like that album was a good representation of where we come from. As far as it blowing up to be what it was, I always want to think it was because of my music but at the same token, I just wanted to get that respect and let people know that yo, we get busy over here too.  As far as it taking off and it being that kind of album, I’m very appreciative of that because that was something that I put my all into. I was new in the game and I had just come off the streets from selling drugs and running from the police and all that shit and I had put that in my music and I guess a lot of people from all over, from ghettoes or wherever, they could really relate to that shit and they felt that a nigga was speaking from his heart. That’s what the people got from me from my music. That’s what made me feel like I was in a class by myself at the time because this was something that I picked up in the street.  See, you listen to a lot of rappers now these days, they talk that shit but half of them haven’t lived it enough to make you really say, “I could believe him.” You know what I mean? When you listen to my shit, you know it’s hands-on on what I’m telling you because I’m a product of what I talk about. That’s why you see me. I love to make stories. Cuban Linx was one big storybook anyway. It was about a drug dealer trying to get the fuck out the ‘hood and talk about all the shit that go on or whatever, whatever with this album. That’s the kind of album that it was and I think that people just respected it because they said, “Yo, I could believe this kid. He lived the life. You could tell he lived it.”  I always respected that you didn’t recklessly glorify your history in the streets. How do you feel when you see fans gravitating towards and supporting rappers like a Rick Ross, where there’s evidence that the music was not only reckless but not 100% real?  Well, I think automatically, I can’t place judgment on Rick Ross’ situation. I think Rick Ross has been around the life. I think that at the end of the day, he shoulda just came clean and said, “Yeah, that’s me. I had a job back in ’95. So what? That was my job.” You know what I mean? But I guess the people blew it up because it was about keeping it 100. “We really respect your music, just keep it 100.”  My whole thing is I can’t place judgment on whatever a nigga’s going through or whatever because I like Rick Ross. I think he’s a cool cat. I think he’s a cool artist and I think he’s just being an entertainer. But anything else for me to say, it would be something fucked up to say because I don’t know Ross like that. I just know of him. But for me, for a nigga to have a job back then and be a C.O. or whatever, whatever, it’s like, if I was a C.O. back then, I woulda just told niggas I was a C.O. I had a job! When he was a C.O. then, I probably was working Summer Youth trying to sell some fucking weed or some shit. Anything. But at the end of the day, he is who he is and I am who I am, so I don’t place judgment on no nigga or whatever he do. That’s his business.  What’s the crown jewel, in your opinion, of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx?  I think the fact that it just being an introduction to me stepping into the rap game as a soloist, being a solo artist. I come from the Clan. I come from Wu-Tang and that was always like having a family behind you. When I had to go out there, the pressures of having to make an album on my own, that was kind of spooky to me because I was like, ‘Damn, I ain’t never have that much pressure on me to do a solo album and really run around and do this shit for dolo.” So when that shit came up for being like that, I was like, ‘Wow, this is something that I wasn’t prepared for’ because I’m usually the cat that goes in with the crew. So I would say that that’s something that was pretty interesting to me, to go out there and start your own pipeline. That was kind of ill right there.  You’re part of an upcoming J Dilla tribute album Jay Stay Paid. What does J Dilla’s music mean to you today?   What it means to me today is that I have a passion for hip-hop music. This is something that I grew into loving and it’s a part of my legacy forever. I’m going to go to my death loving hip-hop because it did so much for my life. It was another form of English. It was another form of me understanding who I am. When I think about it, it’s like I could recall being 15 years-old and listening to Run-DMC and saying, “I want a pair of Adidas, Ma. This is all I want to wear right now. Adidas.” And then I transformed to wearing Air Force 1’s.  At the end of the day, this shit is really instilled in me and now it will be instilled in my children and basically they will understand how important it is to have something that you love and that nobody could ever take away from you. It ain’t like having a job or having a sport. It’s a lifestyle that I feel that is so important that us, as being kids from the inner cities and shit, the urban cities and shit, it helps us, man. It could help you. It could make you or it could break you. If you take the shit too serious and you know, you start living out and you’re a tough gangster rapper or whatever, that shit will brush off on you and it could hurt you too.  But my thing is I come from it from the MC side. I love to be influenced by good music. Talented, creative artists is a drive and that shows me that I can find some kind of talent in myself and I think that’s what it was, was that I found talent at the time when I needed it because I was so much headed downhill from all the shit I was subjected to in the ghetto that I had that little piece of talent and I took it to the next level because I believe that dreams can come true if you believe, man. You just gotta believe.  You’re dropping a mixtape, Blood on Chef’s Apron, in May. How did you put that together?   That mixtape right there is basically a compilation with me and my homies getting it in. That’s going to be something that people is really going to respect. They’re going to love that shit. They’re going to be like, ‘Wow, that nigga got mad good MCs on his album. Good MCs on there doing their thing.’ That’s a bonus to whatever else you’re going to get. I want you to go enjoy that and get prepped up for Cuban Linx 2 because that’s just an appetizer. I didn’t throw my entrée on the table yet so anything that y’all hear out there, know for a fact that y’all ain’t get the main course meal yet. Y’all didn’t get it yet.  What would you consider to be the biggest regret today?  (pause) I would say the biggest regret is probably the not to be as much consistent as I should have. I should have been more consistent with coming with more albums but I don’t regret it because at the end of the day, I guess everything happens for a reason. I don’t really think I got too many regrets, man, for real. I think life is just what it is and that’s what it is. I ain’t got no regrets, man.  What do you want your legacy to be when you stop recording?  I just want them to know that yo, at the end of the day, I didn’t play no games. I made good music. I made classic music and at the end of the day, I want to be able to see other kids be influenced by the same things that I was influencing and basically, when it’s all over with, that they know that the kid was one of them Marvin Gaye babies. He’s one of those dudes who really put his heart, his mind, body and soul into his music and it came out to really help other kids live out they goals and all of that types of shit. That’s what I want to be known for, so my kids can grow up and say, “Yo, my dad was part of that trend that helped a lot of us today be a part of the same shit that he was.”  You’re known as the Chef and 2009 has a lot of rappers getting healthy and eating right. What would the 2009 Chef recommend for fans?  I would say drink a lot of water, man, and exercise, man. Take time and exercise, man, and drink that water, man, because the body cleans itself. That’s what it’s all about, man. Drink water, man. Good water.

By Brian Kayser

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