Dubcnn: Firstly, how was it working with E A Ski & CMT?
Um, man – sh-t man its like uh…basically they are one of the best producers on the westcoast for me, their history speaks for themselves…they underrated you know what I mean but I think all that’s gonna change with the Bay coming back the way it is but working with E A Ski & CMT was tight man, I sat down with them, told them what I wanted to do, they played and made me some tracks, we sat down came up with concepts for the tracks before we started rapping, made sure the hook was tight, I wrote the verses, went in there laid it, in their studio, a lot of artists cant do that, cats can buy beats from them but cant lay it in they studio, E A Ski & CMT mixed all their songs and they laid some of the best songs on the albums – when you work with them its like; number 1 the beats gonna be knocking, its gonna sound gangsta and commercial at the same time and number 3 since E A Ski is a rapper you don’t have to worry about “am I gonna sound right” they know how to drop a beat on the verse to make certain words stand out, know when to drop certain sounds on the beat so you in good hands when you work with them
Dubcnn: What’s your favourite track off the album?
Probably my favourite song on the album is “It is what it is” a song with me and E A Ski would be my favourite but I like them all, one thing I try to do is that to make sure that each song stands on its own, so if you put the CD and go to whatever track I wanted it to have no bullsh-t. I recorded like 40 songs for the album and used only 14, I really only wanted 13 songs but my company an extra song; “Hustler” that people had liked on my mix CD’s I didn’t even want that to be on there, I just wanted 13.
Dubcnn: What was the most important factor for you; units sold or the product itself?
Um, i'm not really tripping off units sold, my thing was…well its my first album so nobody is gonna sell your full potential unless you with Dr. Dre or Eminem or Jay-Z was co-signing, for me I just wanted to make something that stands the test of time. That’s different that what cats are doing in the Bay or the industry, I just wanted to make a good f-cking album, I wanted to bring it back to some rap sh-t, some Hip-Hop westcoast over gangsta beats, I wasn’t in the studio trying to make a single every song like some artists be like “I need to make a single or a girl song or now I need to make a gangsta track” I just went in there and did what I felt the beat needed I took it back to when it was rap; there’s no love songs on the album, there really aint no singing on the album, just two songs one is a dude, one is a girl, 2 out of 14 songs - nowadays you buy and album and like 8 of the 14 songs got singing on, come on man, I wanted to bring it back to some rap sh-t – come up with some clever hooks you don’t need a girl singing on your sh-t.
Dubcnn: Do you feel the album was a success?
I set out to make a good album and I think I achieved that I been getting great reviews in magazines across the nation, people in the Bay are calling it a Bay classic you know it proved a point that I’m here and i'm gonna be making albums and good albums and I’m a factor, you can do mix CD’s all your life but at some point your gonna get judged as an artist “can he rap over his own beats, can he make a song can he make a beat” and I think I proved that and that was a major part for me and as a result the album has sold more than my Mixtapes actually because its an album that is being distributed in places my mixtape haven’t its only been out for two months and I will be promoting it all year so its positive for me cause it shows I can do it, next month i'm going to L.A. to work with some L.A. producers and start working on the new album.
Dubcnn: Whats next for you with the new album in mind?
I’m gonna do a mix CD and call it “Westcoast Mixtape King” the reason is because the last one was called “Bay Area Mixtape King” so now its “Westcoast Mixtape King” - not saying i'm the king of the westcoast in terms of Mixtapes but i'm one of them. This time I’m gonna have some L.A. cats like Glasses Malone, Roccett, Scipio you know cause I been on Scipio’s CD and Roccett so i'm gonna expand and have L.A. cats as well as Bay cats I fool with and i'm gonna prove a point that i'm one of the westcoast mixtape kings.
Dubcnn: Which direction do you hope your career will take?
Cause I dropped the real album I’m getting more shows, paid for shows, paid for features, dropping an album is like now you’re a real artist, a business man – it solidifies it, we have to pay you – its like a card that says “You’re an Artist” I mean mix CD’s is like you’re a prospect but an album makes it solidified that your an artist. So for me the next move really is to drop a hot ass mixtape and do a new album and get another label situation - I signed a one album deal with my distribution company I’m with now so that deal is over so now I’m a free agent again and that’s how I wanted it so that’s the next move to find another company whether he be a major or an indie label.
Dubcnn: Who do you look at as an example as where you are as an artist or business man?
I look at myself as like Chamillionaire was before he got a deal, he a friend of mine or like typically any Bay cats that hustle indie wise, drop a couple of albums and then make a move to a major label situation. Where I’d like to be is like an Ice Cube position, my goal is to be one of the tightest westcoast rappers ever, i'm not concerned with the nation or with the being the best from the Bay, I want to go down as one of the tightest westcoast rappers period when they have a top ten of westcoast MC’s – I really wanna be there and that’s gonna take a few albums I mean you cant put me there now but maybe in three or four albums I may be in that position, definitely my goal to be like Ice Cube drop a few classics, do some acting and doing movies. Ice Cube is pretty much one of the westcoast’s tightest ever.
Dubcnn: You’ve collaborated with Chamillionarie & Frontline and others so whose next as terms as collaborating with new comers?
I did some work with Roccett, he tight, worked on his mixtape and with him on mine, I wanna work with Scipio again…i'm gonna find Sly Boogy tho, I lost contact with him so i'm gonna try and get with him. Glasses Malone…Bishop Lamont, L.A. have some tight cats – I pretty much worked with everyone from the Bay but in L.A I really wanna work with Glasses Malone & Bishop Lamont…also some dude called Mykestro, I heard his sh-t. The funny thing is - i'm a fan of this sh-t first…i'm not a rapper that don’t listen to others…I buy albums…I bought Glasses Malone mixtape in Oakland and I was bumping it for people and it got stolen out my car so I had to buy it again and if I hear hot sh-t I will buy it and I still believe that the best promotion is having a good album.
Dubcnn: Have you ever considered working with Southern Californian producers like Battlecat and Fred Wreck
I would love to, I don’t have a contact for Battlecat or Fred Wreck, I met Fred in Puerto Rico, don’t think he knew who I was but I ran into Bosko he knew who I was and I wanna get down with him next month in L.A. I used to be in contact with DJ Quik, I would love to work with him I mean L.A got some hot ass producers like Dame Taylor who did the beat for “What Up” I spent some time with Dae One who does stuff for Scipio & Roccett, so yea for my next album I wanna get half my beats from L.A. producers and I’m still looking for [Dr] Dre. *laughs*
Dubcnn: Which artists and producers would you wanna work with from elsewhere?
Um…Just Blaze, Kanye is dope, he’s got a dope producer mind, um who else…Scott Storch, Timbaland…as far as artists I like Saigon, of course i'm gonna mention young dudes, we all know the obvious like Jay-Z & Nas who I’d wanna work with, but yea I wanna work with Saigon, I like Jae Millz I met him a few times he’d sound tight over some westcoast sh-t. Of course Jay-Z, Nas….Kool G Rap, my idols and sh-t – Rakim – that’s it really.
Dubcnn: If you broke fully into the mainstream how would you like your career to progress?
I’d like to always remain with the Hip-Hop base…I would like to hope that when people hear me rap or talk that they hear I’m definitely influenced by Hip-Hop I think that it’s a beautiful thing and a lot of people paved the way for it and we have to be respectful to those cats, a lot of people, a lot of people went broke and didn’t make it and I feel like we owe it to Hip-Hop to keep some of the values like MC’ing so to come up with something dope, trying to come up with a line that’s better than the average and to have a good stage show so I do hope that if I do blow that I will remain humble and stay true to hip-hop and not be doing whatever, making money and say whatever and people will buy it
Dubcnn: What you think of the westcoast at the moment as things are coming together as far as unity and with air play?
Um, well with the westcoast its dope on one level you got The Game, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre from L.A., in the Bay you got E-40, Too Short, Rick Rock, E A Ski all these Bay cats with a presence that’s OG’s then you got the new cats in L.A.; Bishop Lamont, Glasses Malone, Eastwood, Roccett, Crooked I and in the Bay you got me, Frontline, Turf Talk. Mistah F.A.B, The Team, San Quinn, Hoodstars and like there’s too movements going on in the westcoast and I don’t think its ever been like this at the same time so for me it’s a beautiful thing and I think that it will definitely, if we all stay focused and make tight music and don’t get caught up in “LA this and the Bay that” and we work together – that’s why i'm back and forth to work in LA, then it can be real powerful, like Pac, he had L.A the Bay and he was powerful and that made him the King of the westcoast and we gotta work together we cant be separate so for me its beautiful thing and we gotta work together and have a dialogue and make sure that like Snoop has new album and I hear that E-40 is on it and that’s big, The Game has a new album so hopefully he gets the Bay on it – and in the same way if I signed to Def Jam and I blow up then I’d wanna get The Game or Glasses Malone on it and that way L.A is represented…You feel me? I feel that’s important to keep the westcoast alive, if L.A. gets hot and the Bay goes cold and then if L.A goes cold then we ain’t sh-t, we need to light matches off each other.
Dubcnn: Did you hear about the “Cali Iz Active” shoot last week?
I heard about it. I heard about it after it was done – you know, that’s the funny thing, I’m not knocking Snoop but I didn’t know about that sh-t.
Dubcnn: Yeah because one of the questions that I was going to ask was “were you invited”, but obviously you weren’t. But there was A LOT of people there – there’s actually a video going up on it on dubcnn soon, so you will be able to watch it.
Yeah, I gotta watch it!
Dubcnn: Definitely. What do you think of the Hyphy movement right now that E-40 is pushing?
I think the hyphy movement is a good thing, I think the hyphy movement has been going on out here, but it is just now starting to transfer because of E-40 and his video for “Tell me when to go”, it’s now trying to transfer outside of here. I think it’s a good thing whatever brings attention here; but at the same time that it’s good, it’s bad to a certain extent where we've just got to make sure that people respect the artistry and not just a dance or serving cars, you know? Don’t just focus on that – lets focus on E-40 and the brilliance and genius of the style and his raps, lets focus on Keek the Sneak and his brilliance and his style, or lets talk about how we ride the beat and how clever we are with the slang and the lyrics, lets talk about the music. One thing i'm scared about is how people care about the side-shows and all that, but I don’t hear no sh-t about the music.
Dubcnn: Yeah
And at some points the music has to stand on its own, and I think it can but we've just got to kind of turn it around you know what I mean? Like when they start asking us questions about the side-shows and all that sh-t, its like yeah yeah, we've got the side shows and everything, but at the same time were hard on our music out here; we make sure that were doing our craft – that’s what i'm worried about.
Dubcnn: Yeah, because I know a lot of people just compare the Hyphy movement with Crunk and stuff like that.
Right – and that ain't cool. What i'm hoping is that the hyphy movement is opening a door which will turn into a bay movement. Its like hyphy brought the attention here, but it’s the artists and the music from different people in the bay, not just hyphy rappers, but all different kinds of artists from RnB to whatever have you to keep the attention here. So hyphy is what got people looking here, but the music is what is going to keep people here, that’s what I really hope – I hope that it turns from a hyphy movement to a bay area music movement.
Dubcnn: Definitely. Where do you actually fit into the whole movement, or are you not part of it?
I mean i'm part of it because I go to these clubs and when I perform people get hyphy off my music, but I don’t sit there and rap about side-shows and scrapers and purple and pills and sh-t like that but I rap my own way, but some of the beats I rap on could be called hyphy; so I be doing shows and the beat comes on, motherfuckers in the crowd be getting hyphy, so i'm with it but I come from a hip-hop background so I tend to try and do something different than what everybody else is doing.
Dubcnn: Aight. Do you have any advice for any new upcoming rappers?
Yeah, it’s a long road and your gunna feel like you want to quit every day, but if you love this sh-t then stay at it and if your having some success with the sh-t and people are constantly asking you when your going to drop and album, or people are saying your tight and you feel like you can do it, do it! If people ain't saying your tight and sh-t aint really working for you and your really questionable about if your really good or not, don’t do it – try something else, maybe try and manage the tightest rapper in your neighbourhood or start a record label or try to make beats; I just feel like one thing is that everybody wants to be a rapper and that ain't necessarily good, what about the producers, what about the managers, what about the video directors, what about the hype man – what about that? Its like Chuck D couldn’t be Flava Flav and Flava Flav couldn’t be Chuck D, but when you put them together you get Public Enemy.
Dubcnn: Yeah, because right now I think hip-hop in general needs more people like yourself who want to keep it at its roots because right now its king of trailing off.
Yeah man, I mean it’s sad – I really don’t buy a lot of sh-t, but when I hear something tight and something that I like I go and buy it, but that’s very rare man.
Dubcnn: What’s the hardest part of being a new artist would you say?
The hardest part of being a new artist is trying to get people to know who you are – that’s the hardest part, I just think it’s a lot of repetition, you just gotta keep doing it, doing it, doing it and just keep spreading your name and you’ve just gotta stay out there man.
Dubcnn: How has the industry shaped you so far as being an artist?
The industry has made me tougher and more determined, I mean the industry really does shape you up to be a monster, not in a negative way but in a mentally strong and tough way, because you hear “no” so many times, especially from A&R’s and people in the industry. People in the industry are not really concerned with talent; they are concerned with how many units you have sold and how much radio play you get – after a while it gets discouraging because you didn’t get any radio play or album sales, your in it for the love or rap like I did, and it seems like nowadays nobody cares about skill, but they make you believe that it ain't about the MC no more, its about the beat and the hook. So as a result it’s frustrating, because you have to deal in that industry, in that game – but it really does make you stronger and more focused.
Dubcnn: Yeah. Alright, what would you say is lacking in Hip Hop at the moment?
More people need to take risks man, from all levels - from the rapper to the producer to the A&R, to the CEO’s of companies, its like I’m about to shoot a video for one of my songs and the first thing I was saying is that I don’t want my video to look nothing like any of the sh-t that’s out right now, and you have to make an honest effort to do that, you may win or you may lose and it may be a longer road but I believe that sh-t like that stands out, but I just wish that people would take a little more chances.
Dubcnn: Do you feel like the mixtape market at the moment is becoming saturated and played out?
Hell yeah *laughs*
Dubcnn: How do you feel about online journalism and promotion, how do you feel that it has benefited you and others?
Its benefited me because it allows me to get my name out there and that’s sometimes that’s all it takes, people would be like, “oh yeah, Balance, I think I heard that”, and then they’ll go and check that sh-t out, or they’d be like “I saw you on dubcnn, let me check that out!” but at the same i'm, all that stuff doesn’t sell CD’s because at the end of the day you still have to go to work. You cant just act like, I did some articles and everything is cool now, I can just go ahead and sit back and relax and they’re going to buy my album based on an article or something they read because that is not going to happen, so the exposure is good, but at the same time don’t get it twisted because you have definitely got to go and hit the streets, you’ve got to go and remind people that you’ve got music that they need to be listening to, but you’ve got to do everything man, you cant skip no corners – that’s one thing that I’ve learned.
Dubcnn: Are you going to go on tour now that your album is out?
Urm yup, I’m actually trying to set something up for a summer tour, I’m gonna try and go the UK this year, I’m trying to go to Japan, I’m trying to go everywhere, so I’ve be in New York and I’ve been back and forth to L.A, doing hella shows in Cali – but I’m definitely doing tours this year, I’m just trying to get it set up right now, I’m trying to find an agency that sets up shows.
Dubcnn: Ok well that’s just about it for the questions, do you have any last words for your fans?
Man, just thank you for supporting me, shout out to Dubcnn – always been holding me down since day one, and basically man, any fans who ain’t got the album, you can go to my myspace page and it’ll show you where you can order it, you can buy it online if its not at your record store, my myspace page is
www.myspace.com/balanceskillz - the album is dope, I put a lot of money and time into everything from the art work, I mean I talked to Glasses Malone the other day and he was like man your art work is fucking ridiculous – I’m just trying to put out quality projects, so if you like quality music go get Balance – “Young and Restless”
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