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WC INTERVIEW FROM IGN Magazine
When it comes to West Coast MCs, few have been around the block more times than WC. As the mic wielding half of legendary duo Low Profile, WC flexed the kind of skills that become folklore amongst those who respect the agility of a good rhyme.
From the ashes of Low Pro, WC next formed WC and the MAAD Circle, a raucous posse that kept their ears and eyes to the streets while also dishing out pointed social commentary. They were the thinking man's gangsta rappers.
When MAAD Circle crumbled, WC joined forces with Ice Cube and Mack 10 to form the hugely successful Westside Connection. The group dropped an album in 1996, took a long a$$ break and just released their sophomore effort at the end of 2003. And in-between these projects, WC even found time to drop a couple of solo joints, as well, not to mention stepping up to be part of the Def Jam Vendetta and Def Jam Fight For NY video game franchises.
Spence D. caught up with WC in downtown Los Angeles during the crazy whirlwind of the infamous E3 convention and talked to the venerable SoCal rhymeslayer about his music and his digitized alter-ego.
How did you get roped into being in the Def Jam games?
I don't know man. It's like by me puttin' my album [Ghetto Heisman] out through Def Jam it got to the point where they were sayin' 'Look, we got an opportunity where we can get you in the game, that is if you're with it.' I said 'It depends on how you guys make my character.' And they said 'Well, it's a fighting game.' To which I replied 'Well, I'm in!' I mean I'm real competitive in real life and my life's been a fight, which is a challenge on a whole other level.
It's a good getaway, man. You know what I'm sayin'? You can play this game and you can just imagine that you're takin' your beefs out with muthaf@#ckas you don't like, man. You can just go and have fun. And at the end of the day it's nothin' but a game and you can escape and then you come back to reality afterwards. I don't have a problem with that at all. Actually I pushed for it [to be on the game].
That's cool. Now they just gotta bring the game out to the West Coast, since they've both been focused on New York, you know?
[laughs] I know! It's Fight For New York! It is what it is, man. I'm not really trippin'. I'm here [in the game] reppin'.
How involved were you with your character? You know, coming up with the finishing moves and all of that stuff?
I was real involved with it. It got to the point where I was callin' them every day just to make sure that they had my moves right. I mean sometimes you can give somebody an idea and they can really not understand what you're talkin' about and they can mess it up. The last game that they had, they did a real good job on it.
The guy who designed [this game] came in and made sure everything was straight. He came into the studio and asked 'Show me how you want to do certain moves,' took pictures, and everything came out cool. I haven't seen my character on the new game yet, but I heard that they got me with some cool handles, I can get my hands on muthaf@#kas, you know?
Not to diminish your solo career, but most folks today know you from your involvement with The Westside Connection. And of course we Old School heads remember you from your Low Profile and MAAD Circle days.
To the average head you've always appeared more successful as part of a group than as a solo artist. Does that bother you at all, you know to always be seen as a member of a group rather than an individual?
Yeah, it's been crazy. But you know what? It's all good, though, because we got to do whatever we can to make sure that everybody out there understands the struggle and understands what's goin' on in hip-hop. You know, a lotta cats would have never known about WC if they wouldn't have grabbed the Westside Connection album. So I'm thankful for that. A lotta cats aren't gonna be up on WC until they grab this video game with me in it. So there are different outlets that I gotta take advantage of.
I don't get bitter or get upset with the simple fact that they weren't up on that [Low Profile, MAAD Circle] or that they were sleepin' or whatever they did because you never sleep forever. You don't sleep forever, you know what I'm sayin'? They say even in the afterlife there's gonna be a day when everybody's awake. I just look at it like it's all good.
We had a lot of good records out back in the days and even on my solo [albums] recently, but you gotta remember that I'm in a group with a superstar, as well. Ice Cube, you know what I'm sayin'? A lot of the kids that weren't born back when certain events that I was part of were takin' place in this rap music, they don't know. Hell, they don't even know Cube from a lot of his old solo stuff. They know him from the movies and the recent Westside Connection, so it's all good. We just gotta be tactful in what we do. I've never been an artist who's been bitter about not really gettin' the light I felt I deserved or whatever.
I just love being able to continue to do music, man. And that's what I do. I just love being able to make music. So in regards to answering that question, man, about people not really knowin' me on the solo as much as they do with a group, I understand that, but it doesn't bother me as much because at the end of the day they're startin' to see me more. It's all exposure, man.
Are you working on some new solo material? Or are you still ridin' the new Westside Connection joint Terrorist Threats,?
Yeah, we got that Westside Connection thing out, but I am working on a solo record right now. Yeah, I'm working on my solo album right now.
How has your outlook on life and hip-hop changed now that you're both a dad and you're getting older, you know entering that over-thirty elder statesmen era of rap?
You know what I'm sayin'! [laughs]. Yeah, the thirty-plus club! You gotta look at it like this, though, too: Rap has become so universal now that as long as you're makin' music and the kids are out there checkin' for you and everything, give 'em what they want. Give the people what they want. But as far as my views on rap music and life, they've changed.
I'm more mature right now. I'm a lot more open to trying different types of sounds, trying different types of music. A long time ago I might have come out [with a certain style] because something was in. I might have stepped into that [popular] category and did this and did that. But I've been in the game too long, man, so I can't front. Now I'm not sayin' that back in the days I was frontin', but a lot of times back in the days we were doin' what it took in order to stay hot. But if anybody knows anything about WC from back in the days with the MAAD Circle and Low Profile, I was one of the artists that was always wantin' to get some bread. And I was showin' muthaf@#kas that it was alright to be yourself.
Right now I'm not gonna really switch it up too much. I'm gonna continue to be me. But what I see my position in the game right now, as an artist who is gettin' older, as well as a father and a family man, I'm not scared to let the fans know that I'm a grown man. I'm not scared to let the fans know that there's more to life than just sippin' forty ounces and ridin' in lowriders and goin' to the clubs and doin' this and doin' that. I just try to holler at them through my vision and through my experience and holler at them on a whole other level. I mean we can still party and we can do this and we can do that, but let's get this money, though right now.
At the end of the day it's all about the money. And the only way we can make money on a higher level and on a positive level is by sticking together: unity. A lotta muthaf@#kas don't want to stick together. A lot of muthaf@#kas just want to click off and say it's all about this or all about that. That's the problem right now. There's no unification. There's this camp over here doin' this and that camp over there doin' that. I mean everybody loves beef, but at the end of the day, c'mon, man, we all need each other. You know what I'm sayin'? In order for you to get out here and do what you do, you need to interview [cats like me]. And in order for me to get that light, I need those interviews.
That's why right now in my music I'm doin' what I can do to make sure that a lot of kids out there see that this whole rap music is still a struggle. We've been doin' this sh!t for a long time. I mean nowadays muthaf@#kas are lovin' rap music. But back in the days people said it wouldn't last. You remember that, right? People said that rap wouldn't last at all.
For sure.
They didn't think it was gonna last. Now they got video games, TV shows, movies, all kinds of sh!t, man. Rap music right now is a highlight. Muthaf@#kas love this sh!t. And it's got history, therefore it's not goin' anywhere. And it's got a future. So I'm lovin' it.
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