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Guilty Simpson-The Raw Deal
Guilty Simpson has got to be one of the rawest hip-hop artists representing Detroit. We caught up with him while he was driving around the city to speak with him a little bit about his career, hip-hop culture, and J Dilla. Just as we imagined he had some interesting things to say. Take it to heart.
La Famiglia- What were your early memories of your introduction to hip-hop culture as an artist?
Guilty- Probably like ’94 man. I was just out of high school and I had some friends that were doing music through the high school years but I didn’t really jump at the opportunity that soon. I was just too busy doing other things. Shit, my friends were active and they started inviting me to the studio. Some of my early memories were just making that transition from writing rhymes and hearing myself on the CD. That was really a life changing transition from fan to an active participant in hip-hop culture.
La Famiglia- You have your own raw sound with a strong hip hop background and influence. Sometimes it seems as if the people have forgotten the roots of hip-hop. What influences your music?
Guilty- Everything influences the music. I like that street element. I think its all hip-hop so I don’t really try to separate it. The people that influenced me are Scarface, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Erik B and Rakim. But at the same time I like that shit from the street. I don’t like to separate, it’s all from the same foundation of hip-hop, and people just took different interpretations and just took the music to their own thing. What I will tell you is that I have a street element to it. I’m honest about what I see outside opposed to making albums that are solely based on metaphors and showing people how witty I am on the mic. I think that honesty lets you bond with the listeners on a whole different level. Metaphors are like appetizers, but shit you can feel, that shit sticks to the bone. I think that goes a lot further than any metaphor could. But when I explain myself, I’m definitely hip-hop because that’s the foundation, I have a street element to my shit, and sometimes it’s brutally honest.
La Famiglia- Do you have any stories from the road for us?
Guilty- A crazy story…shit…we recently went to the Hip-Hop Kemp, that’s in the Czech Republic. After we did the show we went to Prague, I just remember drinking this shit called Absinth, it’s not even legal in the United States. I remember being over their with Rasco from Cali Agents, Hex Murder, and Black Thought from The Roots. I just remember being over their in a studio session getting wasted it made me reflect on the strength of music. Coming up I was a fan of The Roots and admired their music from a distance. Just to think, to start in Detroit and go through the perseverance of all of that, and to be over in the Czech Republic drinking outlawed liquor with my homey Hex, Black Thought, and Rascal. It just kinda made me just reflect. To be somewhere else and have that little piece of history to hold for myself. There’s a lot of time I stay so busy I don’t really have the time to reflect and savor the moments but that was one time that I did. Just to be able to kick it, build relationships with artists that I’ve always admired musically, and see that they are every day people just like me. They like to get fucked up and smoke a blunt just like me. It just brings a realization to me that the only things that holds us apart is they have three or four albums under their belt.
La Famiglia- Did you hallucinate at all?
Guilty- No, I wasn’t really hallucinating. But I was fucked up though. One thing I can tell you is that when you drink that shit, ten minutes later you still feel it in your chest, it slowly goes down. It’s got a wicked kick to it. I don’t know if you’ve ever had it, it’s like a blue motherfucking drink. It’s a straight up shot. When we go to Amsterdam Hex would normally get it, but I had never tried it before. I finally decided to do it and it was bananas. It’s the most vicious drink I’ve ever had and I’ve had some drinks. I took about four or five shots of that I was done for the day.
La Famiglia- What can you think of that might give the people something to think about that would enrich the evolution of hip-hop culture?
Guilty- A few things that comes to mind. The main thing is I want the fan to come about. I think a lot of these whack rappers could have been great fans. I’m not saying don’t do it as a hobby. But sometimes people get so involved with the hip-hop culture that they feel as if they need to take a job with in it. Sometimes it clutters what people are trying to do. I think the real fans need to resurface. Quit cluttering the game. And I don’t mean TRL and 106 & Park fans. I mean like genuine fans that are in their late twenties and early thirties that think that they are ready to out grow it. Ya know what I’m saying? Resurface of the fans!
La Famiglia- Experience to growing up in the D-related to you- going into music
Guilty- Shit man, basically the way Detroit is, you are faced with so many obstacles you don’t really have that many opportunities to change your life or change your situation. So, just that realism of it, me being part of the music, I had to be really be serious about it. If I was to invest my time and my life in it I had to do it to death and not really take many days off. Cause you know, it’s reality especially being in the D, you know that ain’t nothing guaranteed to nobody. You’re definitely not guaranteed a spot when it comes down to success. Detroit kinda trains you for that unpredictability. You see people working at the plant getting laid off and ten years later their strung out on drugs. Just that unpredictability, Detroit kind of trains you for. That’s what really fine-tuned me.
La Famiglia- I know that you had some relations with Dilla before you died.
Guilty- Yeah, most definitely!
La Famiglia- How did you meet dilla and how did he change your life?
Guilty- Shit, I met Dilla through Houseshoes, DJ Houseshoes. I was going to the Lush Lounge. I was rocking at Lush and Dilla happened to be in the house, this had to be 2001. He saw me doing my thing at the open mic and he inquired to Houseshoes about working with me and in the next few days I was in the lab working with him. That was real big for me because Dilla was someone that we practically worshiped anyway. I remember back in the day when people would get a hold of a copy of one of Dilla’s old beat tapes or something. I remember back in the day before I met him, hearing his beats, like damb this motherfuckers from the D. Just dreaming of working with him and it became a reality through the homey Houseshoes.
La Famiglia- Dilla had an extensive production credit-touched a lot of people from around the world from artists to fans. Sometimes it feels like people have shamed his legacy by using his name in vain. What are your thoughts?
Guilty- I actually agree with it to an extent. A lot of people do ride off his coat tails. A lot of people don’t make contact with the people they need to make contact with and take his beats, they do what ever they want to do with his music. They pretend that they worked with him and different stuff like that. That’s why I feel blessed to be an artist that reached out to him while he was around. The tracks that I have had a chance to present to the world were my tracks before he even passed. There a whole lot of people that fake Dilla tributes ya know? I’ll do anything that even though Dilla isn’t around that there is someone that represents Dilla’s side of the business aspect. I agree with it. My thing to the people that are riding on his coat tails, it will eventually catch up to them. You can’t keep doing that and getting away with that forever. My responsibility is just to uphold his name because I am one of the few artists that do have the right to say his name. That was able to do songs with him. That was able to be a person that worked with him even during his time of illness. There were a lot of people that were close to him that were not even seeing him while he was sick. As a person that does have a right to say his name and use certain stuff, I do take offense to that. It pisses me off too. But I would like to think that it will eventually catch up to them. However it will be handled it will be handled. I will go on record that I play a role of an enforcer but ya know my main thing is that the music is bigger than me. It’s even bigger than Dilla. Just through divine intervention it will catch up with them, but I’m not going to risk my freedom for these clowns.
La Famiglia- Is there one thing that you learned from Dilla that you can pass on to the people
Guilty- Yeah, especially artists man. You gotta make sure you stay on top of this creative edge. Sometimes writing a song is like fishing. You’re not guaranteed to catch the big one at the time you may think you need to. The main thing that Dilla told me was not to look at my cell phone or any other unnecessary distractions that might keep me from being creative. Even if I gotta cut it off. That’s why I have a manager. Sometimes even if I’m not necessarily able to do business, people want to do business with me because I stay creative and I make dope music. So the main thing is to remember my purpose. My purpose is to keep coming up with that next shit on a music level. And don’t get too caught up in the politics of it, and not to get too caught up with people hitting up my phone and wanting to hang out. I’d rather be in the studio. So that’s the main thing for me, to just stay creative and keeping it on the move.
La Famiglia- Who would like to thank?
Guilty- I would like to thank Mr. Porter. Even before I was working with Dilla I was working with him. He showed a whole lot of faith in me and I don’t think I say that enough. Definitely Mr. Porter. J Dilla for everything he has done. Even though people always put these two together I would like to thank Proof too. Proof was the type of person that would pull you aside and give you some advice. Proof has given me some valuable advice before. And my Moms, I definitely would like to thank her cause that love is unconditional.
La Famiglia- Any last words?
Guilty- Support Detroit Hip-Hop music. Not just Detroit hip-hop in general, but I’m going to say Detroit because I think that we have the best talent in the world. So the biggest thing is that people need to get together and stop putting themselves above the music. Let’s get this music out and keep this shit pumping. And to anyone who’s rocking Guilty Simpson I would like to say thank you. It’s definitely going to get better because I’m growing every day!
Links
www.myspace.com/guiltysimpson
www.stonesthrow.com/guiltysimpson
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