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The Relativez to release new third album
Thanks to a steady grind that started in thier native Inglewood, California and has spread throughout the Western United States, The Relativez have become one of hip-hop's hottest underground acts. Real-life cousins Dogg and Big Wy built a sizable following with 2000's Dirty Money, a bone-crushing collection that won over fans with its realistic portrayal of life in Killa Cali.
With 2002's well-received The Takeover, which featured such California rhyme icons as Snoop Dogg and WC and sold more than 15,000 copies independently, The Relativez staked their claim as one of California's best rap groups. Now on its third album, the magnificent Money Respect Money, The Relativez have put themselves in position to become superstars.
The album's title reflects one of life's truisms. "Anything of its kind respects each other," Dogg says. "A broke person respects a broke person more than he respects somebody with money and a person with money respects somebody with money more than he respects a broke person. That's why gangsters only hang with gangsters, cowards only hang with cowards, hoes hang with hoes and pimps hang with pimps."
Even as their notoriety increases, The Relativez remain rooted in the streets that raised them. Case in point: "The Ghetto," an inspirational, feel-good celebration of life in the 'hood that features a choir of children in the chorus. "That song, I didn’t even have to write that rap down," Dogg explains. "I could have gone in there and just freestyled that one. Everything that's on there, that's how we lived it. If you're in the ghetto, you already know. Ice cream trucks only come to the ghetto. In the ghetto, we made our own games that we could play on the street."
That type of optimism extends to "Fly'n High," where Dogg and Big Wy expound upon their hood tactics over the type of live instrumentation that gives you the feel of The Relativez "Unplugged." On "Summertime," The Relativez are joined by Butch Cassidy for a tribute to a lifestyle that extols pool parties in the middle of January.
While each of these cuts showcases Dogg and Big Wy's upbeat sides, other parts of Money Respect Money are more gruff. "Pimpin'," which features Too Short, breaks down the world's second oldest profession over a beat seemingly pulled from a Blacksploitation film, while "Like We Do" contains the type of West Coast funk that made The Relativez one of California’s most promising acts.
In fact, Big Wy says that even though "Like We Do" has a decided California sound, it will connect with fans around the world. "We've got a core base of fans that’s here at home and you've always got to give your people first what they want to hear," he says. "That will be a song where it will start off at home but it will end up somewhere else because you will be able to relate to a lot of things that we're saying in the song. Everybody wants to shake haters off them and do their own thing."
The Relativez then explore how people react to your success on "Niggaz Only Love U" and examine how people change on "Every Nigga," which features Krayzie Bone. Dogg and Big Wy turn their attention to the ladies on "Would U Still Luv Me?" where they ask their ladies a variety of questions to test their loyalty, and on "What Would U Do?" they put themselves in the position of having to choose between two women.
Ironically, it was two women who laid the foundation for The Relativez. Dogg and Big Wy's grandmothers are sisters who lived around the corner from each another in Inglewood. Although they hung out with a group of cousins, Dogg and Big Wy gravitated toward one another. Dogg, a Run-DMC devotee, was a seasoned freestyler, while Wy, who favored EPMD, recorded his first song when he was just 12.
But the group of cousins put their musical dreams on hold once a family tragedy struck. One of their cousins was killed and the desire to make music faded. After taking some time off, Dogg and Big Wy reconnected and in 1998 decided to become a duo. They decided to call themselves The Relativez.
The group earned a reputation in Inglewood and had enough buzz to land appearances on a number of landmark albums, appearing on the double platinum Murder Was The Case soundtrack, the Too Gangsta For Radio and Bangin' On Wax compilations and Snoop Dogg's Dead Man Walking.
Their high-octane verses earned them a number of fans, but the pair knew that they needed to step up in order to capitalize on their newfound fame. "Rapping in the hood don't get you paid," Dogg explains. "It just gives you lots of fans. Everybody used to tell us, 'Ya'll hard. You need to make an album.'"
So, in 2000, Dogg and Big Wy took their fans' advice, found an investor in friend Tata and released Dirty Money. The album sold 4,000 copies locally and, after a lay off, they returned with their brutal second album. "We were mad on The Takeover," Big Wy says. "We had shit to prove and I had just gotten out of jail. People thought we were going to fall off after Dirty Money."
That didn't happen. In fact, Money Respect Money demonstrates that The Relativez only get better with time, as this is their best, most impressive release to date.
"The Relativez are trying to run long, not run fast," Dogg says. "You see a lot of groups out here, they made one hit album with a different sound and everybody is on their bandwagon. Then, all of a sudden, they're like a balloon with a hole in it: They're falling straight to the floor. The Relativez are trying to run long. We ain't trying to do 40 meters. We're trying to do the marathon with this rap game."
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