Hip-Hop, Rap Interviews : Yukmouth

Since exploding onto the scene in 1995 as one half of the Luniz, the Oakland duo responsible for the never-faded international weed smoking anthem I Got 5 On It, Yukmouth has continued to grind and build, maintaining his status in 2006 as one of the most enduring as well as controversial figures in West Coast Hip-Hop. Recently putting to rest a beef with The Game, Yuk continues to be embroiled in the midst of a bitter feud with 50 Cent and G-Unit, a rivalry markedly addressed on the Bay Area stalwart's new Regime crew mixtape All Out War Volume 2. With his new solo LP Million Dollar Mouthpiece on the way and a new Luniz project on the horizon, Yukmouth talks to us about his music, his beefs and what it means to be from Oakland.

RIOTSOUND.COM: Right now you got the All Out War Volume 2 mixtape out now with your crew The Regime; how did The Regime come together, you got members from all different cities around the US?

YUKMOUTH: Basically The Regime came about from me traveling around the world and going to different cities and getting the underground people that run they whole cities and that's the illest motherfuckas and forming a clique. We Mid-West, we East Coast, Down South and we West Coast, so that represents everywhere. If it's not me, it's one of my homeboys representing where they from. So that's what makes our clique different. A lot of cliques is from the same hood, same city and they all rap alike. All our niggas got different styles, nobody in our clique rap alike, so that's what makes us special.

We ain't just representing one style or one coast. We represent every coast and everybody and that's what make our shit hot and that's what the mixtape consists of. Different styles and hard shit, us ridin' on niggas, it ain't no peaceful tracks on there [laughs]. Us going to war with motherfuckas, that's the formula.

RIOTSOUND.COM: What situations in particular are you addressing on All Out War 2?

YUKMOUTH: We in the situation with G-Unit, bumping heads with them niggas. All types of shit and casualties on both sides, it's all good though. I was also beefing with Game on this mixtape; me and him finally squashed it. It's still beef with 50 and them though, definitely. I mean, basically as far as the outlook on the whole shit, until they come to the table with some right shit, its still war.

RIOTSOUND.COM: How did the situation with Game finally get resolved?

YUKMOUTH: He signed one of my homeboys that I fuck with, Eastwood. That's one of my homeboys from L.A. that I fuck with real tough. Him, Game, Techneic and a couple of other motherfuckas formed a group called the M.O.B. So as soon as Eastwood got in the group he got Game's ear and was like - yo, Yuk's my nig, ya'll need to squash that shit. And [Game] was like - you're right, I've been trying to squash it and this is the perfect time. So they called me up on the three-way and we squashed it. It was all for nothing anyway. Basically it was just us ridin' for [our] labels. He was ridin' for 50 and I was ridin' for Rap-A-Lot and Irv Gotti and them. So that was the business on that.

RIOTSOUND.COM: You've been in the rap game for over a decade and during that time the worldwide influence of Hip-Hop music and culture has grown tremendously; what are some of the things that you've seen come to light in the past ten years that you've been surprised by?

YUKMOUTH: Well, I didn't expect motherfuckas to go diamond [and sell ten million records], since Hammer did it, definitely. That's some real shit. Pac did it, Biggie did it, Eminem, 50 did it, Outcast did it. Everybody now is going diamond. That shit used to be like impossible and now it's normal, that's a surprise. Another surprise is how Hip-Hop now is part of everything. Whether its toy commercials, burger commercials, shoe commercials, clothing commercials; they all got Hip-Hop in it, whether it's just the music in the background or somebody rapping about [the product]. I mean, we just took over the nation. Hip-Hop is damn near the number one music, outdoing everything.

We on MTV full rotation, that's surprising. That wouldn't have happened back in the day. It's just all types of shit that's poppin'. We get full rotation on the radio and all the Clear Channel stations, before that wasn't happening. It used to be that you'd get a spin when you're there but once you leave the station that shit ain't playing no more. Now Hip-Hop is in rotation with the R&B songs and Rock songs, so that's a change. And the money, the money is way better right now. Niggas get more money, it's a million dollar game right now. That's why I'm coming out with the Million Dollar Mouthpiece, that's my new album on Rap-A-Lot / Asylum. It's a million dollar game, back in the day it used to be you could get in the game with $100,000 and do well. You gotta be a millionaire to do well nowadays and they ain't giving out millions.

RIOTSOUND.COM: As far as Million Dollar Mouthpiece, what should the fans be expecting; how is this record going to be different from your previous work and also what artists can we expect to see you collaborating with?

YUKMOUTH: Well, I'm sort of keeping a lid on the other artists that's going to be on there because [as of now] not everything is confirmed and official. But you can definitely expect to see my family on it, Rap-A-Lot Mafia, niggas like Bun-B, Juvenile, Scarface, Devin The Dude, the family is gonna be on there definitely. Then I got Lil Flip, Screwed Up Clique, I'ma have E-40, Dru Down, C-Bo, also The Regime. And then we gonna branch out to get some other people but we keeping a lid on that until everything's confirmed.

But as far as what's going to be the difference is I'ma take it back to square one. I'm taking it back to Thugged Out: The Albulation days when I was just doing my stories and talking the gangsta shit about the streets. That's what the fans wanna hear. They wanna hear the story telling about my life and what I've been through. I've been through so much shit I could write twenty movies, I'm on part twenty right now [laughs]. I've been through so much that I got a lot to write about and I'ma expose it to the world and give it to them to dwell on and that's going to be the difference.

With these last couple of albums I've just been rocking styles and basically rocking with situation raps. I need to rock reality raps. Situation raps is like party raps, baller raps - but reality raps is shit that touch a nigga heart. Shit that'll have somebody crying or shit that'll make someone say, damn man, I just did that, or I'm going through that. [Rhymes like that] is what I'm known for, that's what made me famous besides the I Got 5 On It shit, my reality raps. The songs about my parents dying, the songs about my kids, the songs about the hood, that's what niggas liked before. So now I'm taking it back to that and that's basically the whole shit, Million Dollar Mouthpiece, I'ma show them I can do it all. I'ma have songs on there that's situation songs where you partying, where you pimpin', where you ballin', but I'ma definitely also have a lot of songs about reality, about what I'm going through and what I've been through.

RIOTSOUND.COM: At the present time what's the situation like between yourself and Numskull, was there a point where the two of you stopped recording together?

YUKMOUTH: Nah, we never stopped recording together. When I got my solo deal I started focusing more on that and at the same time we fell out with Virgin Records as far as our Luniz deal. So after we fell out with them, we really didn't try to get another deal. I was doing my thing and Num was doing his solo thing. So we finally came back to get another deal like damn near four years after that. We dropped something on Rap-A-Lot and we didn't like how the record was pushed. So we just chillin' until we find the right label but we never stopped recording. The labels ain't been doing us right, that's why we left Virgin and Rap-A-Lot didn't do the shit right either. But we still Luniz for life, we just got to get the right situation.

RIOTSOUND.COM: Is there a possibility that we may see another Luniz album in the near future?

YUKMOUTH: Yea, probably right after Million Dollar Mouthpiece. I already got the title for the album and everything. It's going to be called Operation Scrillion. Definitely if not by the end of '06, beginning of '07 it's coming.

RIOTSOUND.COM: A lot of times when people talk about West Coast Hip-Hop they tend to speak about the whole West Coast like it's one city or one single spot. Since you're from Oakland, what would you say are some of the things that define and separate your city from everywhere else?

YUKMOUTH: Shit, we the mecca of all the game. Niggas come and get they lingos and logos from us. They come get it from [Oakland] and take it down to L.A. or the Midwest or Down South or the East Coast but all the lingo come from right here. Like East Coast say they the mecca of rap, well we the mecca of pimpin' and mackin' and that lingo. We got our own shit going down in the Bay. We are like nobody on the planet, period. We don't gangbang, we don't do none of that shit. None of that shit is allowed. We pimps, playas, hustlers and ballers, straight up, that's what consists of the Bay.

We very fuckin' different, we on our own height. Right now there's a hifee thing going down. Hifee is like, Down South they call it crunk, we call it hifee man. That means niggas is just going wild, going stupid in the clubs, niggas is swinging they cars. Swinging your car means spinning donuts and shit, doing figure eights in your car and doing all types of wild shit; high speed chases, dancing on top of the car while it's rolling in neutral. I mean just crazy shit they doing right now; rolling with all four doors open, they just wild in Oakland right now. They don't do that shit in L.A. and they don't do that shit in Fresno. They don't do that shit nowhere but Oakland, the Bay Area. That's what separates us from the rest of California and the whole West Coast. Seattle don't do it, Portland don't do it, and if they do do it then they got it from us. We the mecca of that shit, straight up.

RIOTSOUND.COM: You got the All Out War Volume 2 mixtape out now and you also got the Million Dollar Mouthpiece album dropping in early 2006, what else should fans be looking out for?

YUKMOUTH: Right now what just came out is the Million Dollar Mixtape. That's my solo mixtape, it's a double CD and it got some of the songs that's going to be on the Million Dollar Mouthpiece album. The shit is off the hook. You got Young Jeezy, Kanye West, Lil Kim, Eastwood, C-Bo, The Regime, Lil Flip, Juelz Santana, Mac Dre, Screwed Up Clique, Shawn Harris the comedian, and it's hosted by Linno The Wino of course [laughs]. I basically just took it to the head, I made it a double CD and I got my Regime dudes on there. I wanted to give the fans something to prepare for the album, give them a little something so they can wait. It's the holidays now and Million Dollar Mouthpiece don't drop till March 28th, so they need something to ride to. So the Million Dollar Mixtape is the one, it's off the motherfuckin' richter.

For all news and info on Yukmouth stay tuned to www.SmokeALotRecords.com