Time Travelin' with the Genius
posted on Sep 20, 2005
"We would travel to Brownsville, travel all over looking for the dopest MC to battle."
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Any other known MCs that you battled back then?
Captain G Whiz from the Mighty Mic Masters had this strong voice like Grandmaster Caz. I was looking for him for a while. I battled him, actually on his corner in front of like fifty of his cats, and I was just with one other person. He didn’t want to admit to defeat – I damn sure enough wasn’t saying he got me. His crew that was with him, they were on his side but they weren’t openly [saying to me], “Yeah, you can’t hang with him.” Because they even saw it with their own eyes. He was definitely a skillful brother – he had some joints.
One name that comes to mind that you have a loose association with through a common person, Melquan, is Sir Ibu of Divine Force. Since you both were around at that time did you ever work together at all?
That’s my brother right there, I’ve known him for years. Ibu was part of a group – Divine Force – that Melquan was managing. After me and RZA hooked up with Melquan we clicked. We never did any tracks together, but he’s one of the brothers – I respect his talent. “Holy War” was laying it down. I wish the brother could have had a little more success in this game but he definitely had the skills.
One of the first times I saw your name was in The Source and it was listed as a competitor for an upcoming NMS (New Music Seminar) MC battle. This was in the ‘89 seminar I think. Whatever happened with that?
I never entered. I don’t know what happened at that time.
I just remember seeing that lineup of who was supposed to battle.
Wasn’t Lord Finesse supposed to be in that?
Yeah, it was supposed to be, like, you, Finesse, Craig G, Master Ace – all kinds of names that were big around the time or starting to get big.
That’s crazy. I think I had the lyrics that would have done it ‘cause I saw what won. Do you know who won in that year?
Freshco.
Freshco! I would have definitely been victorious in that. Trust me. Not to take from all the artists ‘cause I think some of them even got jerked. I don’t actually remember it to the fullest. I wanted to get up in there, but at the same time I had those butterflies too. I had that for a while growing up. I was always lyrically dope, but I always had this thing in me where I was just nervous to get on the mic – freeze up in front of the crowd. That stuck with me for while so I was always – I’m still in the back, but I was more in the back then. But I was writing dope rhymes for MCs.
I had a brother named Scotty Watt. His name is Jackpot, but his name was Scotty Watt then. Actually, we started rhyming at the same time out in Shaolin – we were in the 6th grade. I taught him, he always gives me credit for that. When I moved from Shaolin in like ‘80, ‘81, ’82, his name was all over that borough. This was before Meth and Rae and them started – Rae and Deck lived there all those years also. They went to the same elementary school I went to. They were just a couple of years younger, but they’ll speak about Jackpot, Scotty Watt. (*Editors Note:* Finally that RZA lyric from the first Gravediggaz album makes sense! “When Jackpot Watt was hot, I was not” Also, Ghostface on Supreme Clientele makes the reference “watch me dolly dick it / Scotty Watty cop it to me”) I wish that brother could have had some of this success also. He used to say some of my lyrics. One of his most famous rhymes in Shaolin was my rhyme. I was always in the back like that. Always at the front of the ropes at the block parties watching everybody else rock, but don’t want to get on. Then at one point I didn’t like my voice. I didn’t mature young as far as my voice and going through puberty so when me and Scotty Watt used to make tapes I ain’t never like my voice. His voice was coming through sounding right so I had a little complex and I played the back until it was time for me to step up.
Speaking of stepping up, you made your debut to the world with “Words From A Genius” in ‘91. How did that deal with Cold Chillin’ come about and what happened after that album?
Flash back to Melquan. I ran into Melquan and somehow he became our manager. He put some money up. He put us in the studio – put his money where his mouth was at. Through him I met Easy Moe Bee (producer), who is a brother I’m still cool with this to this day. He’s a good brother and he did a majority of the [“Words From a Genius”] album. Melquan also had some sort of affiliation with Fly Ty (Juice Crew manager/Cold Chillin’ exec). We hit the party scene – stopped paying to get in and all types of things of that nature. We did some demos and he took it to Fly Ty and he wanted to sign it automatically and I was in on Cold Chillin’.
I didn’t know what was really about to happen. I felt good for being there, being with that Juice Crew. I wasn’t a Juice Crew member, but I was on the label and it was a blessing to me. I was just stepping into the game and I didn’t know anything about the industry, the corporate side of it. I knew I had the talent and it wasn’t being exploited right. I was just another artist on a label with a whole bunch of other artists and there was really no room for me there. At the same time I appreciate the fact that I was able to get a deal. I was grateful for all that. A few people heard me – cats in the industry. There’s a few brothers out there who used to listen to me ‘cause lyrically I was still laying it down for that time. One time I ran into Erick and Parish [of EPMD] and this is when they were just doing it and they were like, “You’re the Genius?” and they were respecting my skills so much that I couldn’t believe it. Not saying they were sweating me, they were just quoting lines from the album. But I wasn’t selling a damn thing.
Things didn’t work out and I just became stressed on that label. They were talking about doing another album. Melquan and me started to have differences over where we were going with this. I wasn’t pleased with Cold Chillin’ and I was like, “I don’t care about a deal. I’ll get off this joint.” It was that simple. I went in there one day ‘cause I was fed up. I went in there with this crew that was acting as my management and one of them was like 400 pounds. I was like, “I want my papers.” Ty hesitated – he wasn’t threatened or anything. I’m not saying I went up there and put pressure like that. It was more the fact that he probably saw it in my eyes that…
That you really wanted it to happen.
Yeah. Plus at that time I had a sudden tragedy take place in my family so it was the last straw. They were going to get those papers out, trust me. I just came in with the fire in my eyes like, “You know what? Give me those papers.” They gave ‘em up. Didn’t take no more than ten minutes. Why hold a brother like that? But I went out on the road. I went on the Cold Chillin’ tour and I was grateful for all that. We were getting a $35 dollar per diem and that was adding up. $35 dollars, seven days! It only goes to show you that you can never get too big for something. I remember doing a Wu-Tang show for $200 and that money was good to have – just the fact that we did a show and it was appreciated. I was on the Cold Chillin’ tour and I was getting $35, spending it moderately, and we were performing every night. That was a lot of pressure on me ‘cause I was the first to go out all the time.
