If Vinnie Paz doesn’t go down with
Apathy & Celph Titled as the most deliciously
arrogant rapper in the Universe then he will
definitely go down as the one that dropped ‘Daddy’
and ‘Faggot’ the most on an LP.
A Philadelphia local, Paz met his producer Stoupe
in the golden ages of the early 90’s through
a mutual friend and it was boom from the beginning,
Jedi Mind Tricks was born.
Paz later met Jus Allah through a DJ in New
Jersey and recruited him for the debut record
The Psycho Social Chemical Biological and Electromagnetic
Manipulation of Human Consciousness in 1997,
‘we listened to the same shit and we were
both trying to make boom-bap shit, so we brought
him into the group’. Whilst Psycho Social
and the subsequent Violent By Design (2000)
were hugely successful in the underground Jus
Allah wanted out of the group and Paz and Stoupe
released him amicably, yet in true hip hop tradition
it didn’t stay that way for long.
‘I talked to him on the phone and he
was like, "yo man, I don't know if I wanna
do this anymore," and I was like "well
listen dog, this is my life and I'm gonna continue
on with or without you, if you can't do it anymore
I respect that and I respect you as a man."
That was our conversation. It was peaceful,
and when the conversation was over we both said
peace and like a week later some bullshit interview
came out with him makin' up all this crazy shit
and to this day I still don't know if it was
him that said it or if it was cats at his label
that put him up to it. I ain't talked to the
brother since then.’
There were mixed reports when it came to the
post Allah Visions of Gandhi LP in 2003, many
said JMT had lost its punch without him, others
argued that Paz never had it to begin with,
but it went on to produce underground classics
Nada Cambia, The Rage of Angels and The Wolf
and featured a who’s who of US Underground
hip hop in the form of Percee P, Kool G Rap,
Canabis, Ras Kass and members of Non Phixon.
Whatever the fan’s opinions Paz and Stoupe
remained calm about the whole affair, choosing
to get on with their music rather than add fuel
to any fires.
‘We just kept it movin. People have to
understand that Stoupe and I were always the
driving creative force in this group. We’ve
always worked with different rappers and DJ’s
and shit, but from a creative aspect…concepts,
beats, artwork, tours…it’s always
been Vinnie Paz and Stoupe. We just made the
record we wanted to make, same as always’
In 2004 Jedi Mind Tricks released their 4th
Studio album entitled Legacy of Blood and once
again the fans stood divided, whilst it was
lacking in the raw and gritty elements that
plagued The Psycho Social and Violent By Design,
Stoupe had excelled himself again in production
and emerged as one of hip hop’s finest
producers to date. Paz also showed a much more
personal side of his music with the suicide
letter to his mother on Before The Great Collapse,
he also featured GZA on the On The Eve of War
cut and talked openly about the misconceptions
associated with the Islamic religion since the
events of 9/11. They also reunited with the
estranged Jus Allah and planned to have him
feature on the cut, sadly his vocal chords reunited
with his ass for some shit speak and all bets
were off.
‘We talked and shit. It was cool, at
least I thought it was, but dude has started
sayin sideways shit again. I was willing to
dead shit, cause I’m a grown ass man,
but I guess he needs to talk shit to try to
get a buzz going or whatever. Regardless, he’s
a talented rapper, so I wish him the best. Cats
just need to stay out of my way. But I love
Legacy of Blood, we did in like 6 weeks, so
in retrospect, it’s some shit we would
have done differently if we had more time, but
that’s just a part of the creative process.
It did really well for us and we’ve been
touring off of it for the better part of the
last 2 years.’
But after a hiatus since 1998, Paz has finally
gotten together his original crew Army of The
Pharaohs for their debut LP The Torture Papers.
Featuring Apathy, Celph Titled, 7L, Esoteric,
Chief Kamanchi, Crypt the Warchild, Planetary,
King Size, Reef The Lost Cauze, Faez One, Des
Devious and various other rappers that can’t
differentiate between ‘s’ and ‘z’,
it is a 13 track banger built in the traditions
of raw posse cuts, heated verses and a ‘fuck
the hook’ attitude like no other.
‘We recorded a 12” in 98 and we
were basically just trying to create a group
of mufuckas who were on some grimy shit. It
was just all the cats that I’d met on
the east coast through the mid-nineties. We’d
stayed in touch and planned to make a record.
Everyone’s solo shit popped off, so it
took awhile for it to come to fruition. It was
just people who I felt were doing that EPMD/HIT
SQUAD raw shit, anyone trying to keep the east
alive. Some of the album we did together and
some of it was recorded by sending each other
bits and pieces. We’ve all known each
other for years, so we knew what we wanted to
get out of this record. We all helped pick the
beats, and we all had a say in what was used
on the record. It can be difficult going from
working with Stoupe to working with a large
group but that’s part of the challenge.
That’s what a real artist does: challenges
himself.’
A highlight of the album is the beats, highly
reminiscent of the heavy boom bap days AOTP
take us on a raw old school journey with a contemporary
clandestine twist. The fresh meat on the boards
may have something to do with it, relative newcomers
Shuko and Maylay Sparks were added to established
heads 7L and Apathy and the result is highly
original and diverse. ‘Shuko is a brotha
who had worked with us on the Outerspace LP.
He’s family, so he just blessed us with
the heat. My man Maylay Sparks from philly had
moved to Europe, and he told me about White
Shadow. We hollad at him and he blessed us with
the beat. 7L and Apathy? That was always in
the plans, they’re just dope, so it was
just natural for them to produce some tracks.
Stoupe has been working on a solo record for
awhile now, so I just let him do his thing on
his own.’
But never fear JMT fans as their new LP is
almost wrapped and we can expect a single featuring
Ill Bill (Psychological Records) this coming
July as well as the full LP Servants In Heaven,
Kings In Hell sometime around August. Whilst
Paz remains tight lipped about the upcoming
LP he is open about the inspirations for some
of his most intense lyricism from Visions of
Gandhi and Legacy of Blood.
‘Rage of Angels is about my homeboy who’s
doing 15-30 years in prison. He’s like
my brother, so it fucked with my head when he
got knocked. I speak to him as often as I can
and I wrote that shit to let him know that I
didn’t forget about him. I’m out
here doing this music shit for him and my fam
and when he gets out he’s gonna be on
tour with me. He’s up for parole in like
5 years, so hopefully all goes well. Before
the Great Collapse is some shit I came up with
like 10 years ago but I never really knew how
I was gonna execute it. It’s just a suicide
note to my moms. All of the people in there
are real and shit, and I’m basically just
discussing some of the emotional shit that I’ve
been going through since my father passed away.’
So on that note what is his all time favourite
Jedi Mind Tricks track? ‘See that’s
a crazy question because there are a lot of
reasons for loving different songs. Our most
recognisable joint is probably Heavenly Divine,
so that’s a blessing to have so many people
know one of your songs, ya know? Personally,
my favourite shit is probably Animal Rap, because
I got to work with the greatest rapper alive.’
But whilst Paz can show a sensitive and profound
side to his rapping self we must not forget
we are talking to the man who wrote the following
in Nada Cambia from Visions of Gandhi,
‘You ain't a thug money, you all maggots,
You like to chill and hold hands with faggots
You like to conduct yourself like a savage,
You like the smell of males on your mattress
Cause that's established, I fuckin hate you,
I hate your mother and father, because they
made you
I hate the universe, because it create you,
I hate everyone and anything that embrace you
Who fuckin raised you? You a fuckin disgrace!,
And if you come around my way you get bucked
in the face
Get snuffed in the face, then I wack you, With
razors, knives, guns and what have you’
So when Kayne West recently defended his homosexual
cousin and expressed to the world for the need
to rid hip hop of homophobia, naturally the
first rappers I thought of were Eminem and Vinnie
Paz. Eminem was busy getting divorced and was
therefore unavailable for comment but naturally
Vinnie was outspoken on the matter.
‘I mean, to me, that shit sounds like
Kanye is gay to me. Whatever. That shit is suspect.
Rap music has always been homophobic. I’m
not saying it’s right or anything, that’s
just how it is. The core of this music has always
been some hardcore shit. Nowadays, dudes is
rockin pink, talking about incense, doin songs
about granola bars? C’mon man, that shit
is crazy to me. Me personally, I think anyone
supporting the gay culture is most likely gay
themselves. I don’t know any gay people,
and I never had any gay people in my cipher,
so I’m not really the best person to comment
on the subject.’
When Eminem became globally successful he was
immediately targeted by gay lobbyists and feminists,
so with albums that don’t go more than
one track without defaming gays can Vinnie expect
to be vindicated at the very least by the press?
‘I’ve had reviews talk about the
fact that I’m homophobic and shit. Whatever.
Listen to the message in the music, don’t
worry about whether I say “faggot”
or not. I’m talking about the President,
Mumia, the Government, and things of that nature.
They just use that shit as a scapegoat to call
me a hatemonger. Fans? Nah man, fans just show
us love. They’re smart enough to differentiate
between me saying some ignorant shit and me
really talking about some important shit. They
listen to the message not the cussin’.
If an artist doesn’t want to be involved
with politics, I understand that. We just choose
to use our situation to shed some light on some
things that we feel passionately about. I think
it’s important for everyone to be politically
aware, not just artists. I felt that since 9/11,
the Islamic community was under attack. Unjustly.
So I just felt some sort of responsibility to
speak on that. I have to do what I do. If it
upsets people, I can respect that, but I can’t
change who I am.’
And with the 5th Jedi Mind Tricks release on
it’s way as well as the brilliant Army
of the Pharaohs debut under his belt I sure
as hell don’t want him to change. Jedi
Mind Tricks are one of the few crews content
with being underground and sticking to their
style, despite their success Vinnie is quick
to realise they will never have the recognition
of the Jay-Z’s or 50 Cent’s but
he goes on ungrudgingly. ‘Now it’s
big business. Most of these kids didn’t
grow up on the fly shit, they copped their first
rap record in 99 and it’s hard to have
the best intentions as an artist when you were
raised on bullshit. But to be honest, I like
G-Unit, I think Young Buck is nasty, and I respect
their business acumen. But we’re on an
independent label, so we don’t have the
pressure to go platinum. We can sell 75,000
units and everyone can still eat and be happy.
Everyone needs to make money. I can’t
judge the next man.’
With any luck one of the ten million rumours
that Jedi Mind Tricks are touring Australia
might finally come true this year but in the
meantime Vinnie would like to give props to
us Aussies who’ve supported him over the
years. ‘Thanks for the opportunity to
speak my mind. To all of our Australian fans,
thanks for all of the years of support, we’ll
see y’all soon on our next tour. Peace.’
The Army of The Pharaohs debut LP The Torture
Papers is out now through Shougn Distribution.
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