Dubcnn: I'm with the Realeaest, we're chilin' man what's good? Check out the view it's amazing.
Tha Realest: Westside, is the best side!
Dubcnn: You just released your album, your debut album.
Tha Realest: It's in the streets, it's alive, mothafuckas is givin' me good responses on it, it's really doin' what it's supposed to do. Right now we finnin' ta get this release party done in Arizona with Ray J so it's gonna be a good look.
Dubcnn: Tell us about the process of making this album, it was ten years in the making.
Tha Realest: Honestly it was, but the songs aren't ten years old. It was the process of going through different record labels and me just trying to land a distribution deal and getting the right situation that'll work right for me, it finally did come to life. The caliber of people that made the album it's the same caliber of people who did make the album. I'm thinkin' I might have to do some shit like they do the Carter I, II, and III and they do the Blueprint I, II and III, I might just have to do that, do Witness Tha Realest Vol 2. The caliber of music left over from puttin' this together is still top notch. I haven't touched anything. I never keep a song and just, "Let's try and rework this record." I just didn't mess with it and did something brand new. I think it's a solid record, I actually think it turned out pretty good. It's gon' take off for me, I believe that.
Dubcnn: You're actually here from Texas, a lot of poeple don't know this. Tell us what you were doing out there and how you got out here.
Tha Realest: Oak Cliff, I'm Texas all day. Right now the hottest dude runnin' from Texas, y'all hear the song on the radio Ice Cream Paint Job, support that, that's Texas all day. Dorrough, that's hometown, rep that. Me I'm from that era when it was just straight gutta gangsta. I grew up off the D.O.C.s, Nemesis and all that that was the movement that was going on in Texas back then when I was puttin' in all my work before I got out here to LA. Right now them young'ns they runnin' that and I represent for 'em too, I want to see them get they shine on back in Texas. They never really payed attention to us, not Dallas, they payed attention to Houston because the Gheto Boys was comin' up out that area. As for now Dallas is startin' to get they shine. Dallas and Houston all day, I don't care where you from, Austin, San Antonio, Lufkin, Longview, I went to college in Tyler, Texas. I don't are where you from you represent Texas, you got some hot music, put that shit ot the streets, I'm fuckin' with you. get at me I got a verse for you all day all night.
Dubcnn: Who'd you get to work with on the album?
Tha Realest: The features on the album are the homie WC, a great friend of mine, he came exquisite with his sixteen bars, Yukmouth, my Regime comrade, he came with it, Crooked I, my Long Beach partner, been a friend of mine for ten plus years, EDI Mean, Outlaw Comrade, Sean Paul of the Youngbloodz, Devin the Dude. It was fun working with these guys because they brought something to the project I didn't have, Fat Joe, he brought something to the project I didn't have, C-Bo, I can never say enough about C-Bo 'cause C-Bo brings the best out of me. As all my homeboys always say, my Oakdena boys in the house, they always say the same thing, "Bo brings the best out of you." That's a good look having him on my project also. Who else? Val Young, Ms. To Live and Die in LA, she's on there singin' on That's Just Life, J Valentine. It worked out real good for me I believe. Everybody stepped in, filled the voids, of the shit that I needed taken care of and they just came in and did a real professional good look for me.
Dubcnn: What kind of producers were you working with?
Tha Realest: I didn't have the Scott Storches and all that shit on my project. I just had some hungry people who really wanted to show they grind and they hustle and that's what really made the project. I had some top notch producers on there but those songs didn't really make it, no disrespect to them either. I got Blaqthoven on there, Mark Sparks, 1500 or Nothin', very talented group of individuals, they do they damn thang. They the future of hip-hop in my opinion, they got a really good movement going on right now. I can't even think of all the producers that did all the beats for me, my man Mike Lynn brought producers in for me that did the damn thang for me so it's a good look in my opnion, everything worked out real good.
Dubcnn: You've dealt with a lot of label poltics and all that stuff. What;s your advice to somebody that's starting up in the music game?
Tha Realest: Stay independent. Don't go do the whole 360 deal with all these labels, cause they gon' rape you, they gon' take everything from you. They want some publishing, they want some ringtone money, they want some merchandising money, they wanna own your name, they want some money from your concerts so you really can't win if you sign that deal. Motherfuckers get mad because I tell 'em the game but that's the game. I don't wanna see motherfuckers struggle and go through the same bs that I do. Don't sign that. When I was gettin' deals back in the 90s, ringtones wasn't poppin' so they couldn't take that. Motherfuckers were smart not to give away all their publishing and all their merchandising and the ownership to their name, but now everybody so hungry they like, "Man I just wanna be signed to a major label." You can make the exact same amount of noise being on an independent if you got somebody that can push you the right way. So if you can get that done I would stay independent.
Dubcnn: So what are you doing to push the album that just came out, what do you guys got planned?
Tha Realest: We got parties, finnin' ta jump on these tours. Any city we coming to be ready, we finnin' ta come to your city real fast. Got Get It In, gettin' ready to knock the video out for that and the remix is gettin' done. I'm not gonna tell everybody who's on the remix, it's a big East Coast dude and a big dude from The South, I'll leave it at that, that's gonna be a video we doing. We also gonna get the one knocked out with me and Ray J Peepin' Game, produced by Detail fo Konvict music, good lookin' out bro. Besides that it's just promotional tours, doing this radio tour that we on, just hittin' every hole in the ground we can find make everybody understand what this record is about, it's a top notch quality album in my opinion.
Tha Realest: Y'all go pick up that West Coast Don by my nigga Yukmouth, Regime in the building. Y'all go pick up that Witness Tha Realest album, Team Dime, RBC, support the movement, I promise you you won't be disappointed. All the haters I appreciate you niggas. Y'all niggas some stand up niggas 'cause y'all spit my name around the internet like we havin' sex, so I really do appreciate you motherfuckers. Hey, these niggas talk about me like we fuckin' or something. Keep doin' that, and everything's going good. 'Bout to go jump on this tour, I'm not gonna tell you which one, 'bout to pop up in your city and then you'll see the whole rundown when it's on my website. And I'm outta here, you see what it is, it's what it is.
Tha Realest: Westside, is the best side!
Dubcnn: You just released your album, your debut album.
Tha Realest: It's in the streets, it's alive, mothafuckas is givin' me good responses on it, it's really doin' what it's supposed to do. Right now we finnin' ta get this release party done in Arizona with Ray J so it's gonna be a good look.
Dubcnn: Tell us about the process of making this album, it was ten years in the making.
Tha Realest: Honestly it was, but the songs aren't ten years old. It was the process of going through different record labels and me just trying to land a distribution deal and getting the right situation that'll work right for me, it finally did come to life. The caliber of people that made the album it's the same caliber of people who did make the album. I'm thinkin' I might have to do some shit like they do the Carter I, II, and III and they do the Blueprint I, II and III, I might just have to do that, do Witness Tha Realest Vol 2. The caliber of music left over from puttin' this together is still top notch. I haven't touched anything. I never keep a song and just, "Let's try and rework this record." I just didn't mess with it and did something brand new. I think it's a solid record, I actually think it turned out pretty good. It's gon' take off for me, I believe that.
Dubcnn: You're actually here from Texas, a lot of poeple don't know this. Tell us what you were doing out there and how you got out here.
Tha Realest: Oak Cliff, I'm Texas all day. Right now the hottest dude runnin' from Texas, y'all hear the song on the radio Ice Cream Paint Job, support that, that's Texas all day. Dorrough, that's hometown, rep that. Me I'm from that era when it was just straight gutta gangsta. I grew up off the D.O.C.s, Nemesis and all that that was the movement that was going on in Texas back then when I was puttin' in all my work before I got out here to LA. Right now them young'ns they runnin' that and I represent for 'em too, I want to see them get they shine on back in Texas. They never really payed attention to us, not Dallas, they payed attention to Houston because the Gheto Boys was comin' up out that area. As for now Dallas is startin' to get they shine. Dallas and Houston all day, I don't care where you from, Austin, San Antonio, Lufkin, Longview, I went to college in Tyler, Texas. I don't are where you from you represent Texas, you got some hot music, put that shit ot the streets, I'm fuckin' with you. get at me I got a verse for you all day all night.
Dubcnn: Who'd you get to work with on the album?
Tha Realest: The features on the album are the homie WC, a great friend of mine, he came exquisite with his sixteen bars, Yukmouth, my Regime comrade, he came with it, Crooked I, my Long Beach partner, been a friend of mine for ten plus years, EDI Mean, Outlaw Comrade, Sean Paul of the Youngbloodz, Devin the Dude. It was fun working with these guys because they brought something to the project I didn't have, Fat Joe, he brought something to the project I didn't have, C-Bo, I can never say enough about C-Bo 'cause C-Bo brings the best out of me. As all my homeboys always say, my Oakdena boys in the house, they always say the same thing, "Bo brings the best out of you." That's a good look having him on my project also. Who else? Val Young, Ms. To Live and Die in LA, she's on there singin' on That's Just Life, J Valentine. It worked out real good for me I believe. Everybody stepped in, filled the voids, of the shit that I needed taken care of and they just came in and did a real professional good look for me.
Dubcnn: What kind of producers were you working with?
Tha Realest: I didn't have the Scott Storches and all that shit on my project. I just had some hungry people who really wanted to show they grind and they hustle and that's what really made the project. I had some top notch producers on there but those songs didn't really make it, no disrespect to them either. I got Blaqthoven on there, Mark Sparks, 1500 or Nothin', very talented group of individuals, they do they damn thang. They the future of hip-hop in my opinion, they got a really good movement going on right now. I can't even think of all the producers that did all the beats for me, my man Mike Lynn brought producers in for me that did the damn thang for me so it's a good look in my opnion, everything worked out real good.
Dubcnn: You've dealt with a lot of label poltics and all that stuff. What;s your advice to somebody that's starting up in the music game?
Tha Realest: Stay independent. Don't go do the whole 360 deal with all these labels, cause they gon' rape you, they gon' take everything from you. They want some publishing, they want some ringtone money, they want some merchandising money, they wanna own your name, they want some money from your concerts so you really can't win if you sign that deal. Motherfuckers get mad because I tell 'em the game but that's the game. I don't wanna see motherfuckers struggle and go through the same bs that I do. Don't sign that. When I was gettin' deals back in the 90s, ringtones wasn't poppin' so they couldn't take that. Motherfuckers were smart not to give away all their publishing and all their merchandising and the ownership to their name, but now everybody so hungry they like, "Man I just wanna be signed to a major label." You can make the exact same amount of noise being on an independent if you got somebody that can push you the right way. So if you can get that done I would stay independent.
Dubcnn: So what are you doing to push the album that just came out, what do you guys got planned?
Tha Realest: We got parties, finnin' ta jump on these tours. Any city we coming to be ready, we finnin' ta come to your city real fast. Got Get It In, gettin' ready to knock the video out for that and the remix is gettin' done. I'm not gonna tell everybody who's on the remix, it's a big East Coast dude and a big dude from The South, I'll leave it at that, that's gonna be a video we doing. We also gonna get the one knocked out with me and Ray J Peepin' Game, produced by Detail fo Konvict music, good lookin' out bro. Besides that it's just promotional tours, doing this radio tour that we on, just hittin' every hole in the ground we can find make everybody understand what this record is about, it's a top notch quality album in my opinion.
Tha Realest: Y'all go pick up that West Coast Don by my nigga Yukmouth, Regime in the building. Y'all go pick up that Witness Tha Realest album, Team Dime, RBC, support the movement, I promise you you won't be disappointed. All the haters I appreciate you niggas. Y'all niggas some stand up niggas 'cause y'all spit my name around the internet like we havin' sex, so I really do appreciate you motherfuckers. Hey, these niggas talk about me like we fuckin' or something. Keep doin' that, and everything's going good. 'Bout to go jump on this tour, I'm not gonna tell you which one, 'bout to pop up in your city and then you'll see the whole rundown when it's on my website. And I'm outta here, you see what it is, it's what it is.
