Huge thanks to Adisa Banjoko for allowing us to publish this unreleased interview he conducted way back in 1992!! Questions Asked By : Adisa Banjoko A few weeks ago I found some old tapes with some vintage interviews on it. One of them is with Ray Luv, and pioneer rapper in the game. This interview covers how he got down with the legendary Young Black Brotha Records, how he met Mac Dre and Pac and why the Bay Area rap scene is so rich. This interview was conducted at the Young Black Brotha Offices in Vallejo California. Read this and you can start to see how the OG’s layed it down so that the west could be won. - Adisa Banjoko





dubcnn.com: How is it that you got down with Young Black Brotha Records? And how did this whole scene in Vallejo start?



About the Vallejo scene starting- I’m not sure. I came in on the late freight. I was fuckin’ with Mac Dre. Acutally I knew his cousin Los. Los brought me into this. He seen me in Santa Rosa. I went to high school with Los. I had been doing some work with Digital Underground and TNT. I had just broke from the label. He told me “Why don’t you come out here, and see what we doin’ out here”. I had always admired Khayrees Music. ‘Cause he was VICIOUS…So, I wanted him to produce a track for me, ANYWAY. But I came out here.

The ironic thing was that they day I came out here was the day of The Mac’s funeral. He was one of the first artists they had on Strictly Business Records. He kicked shit off and paved the way, really, for all the shit we doin’ now…





dubcnn.com: How did he die? What were the circumstances behind that?



Mistaken identity. They was looking for somebody else. It was some bullshit though. So, I came out here and I rapped for Khayree. Matter of fact, we at was Crest Park.





dubcnn.com: Los plugged you with Khayree?



Los plugged me with Dre [Mac Dre]. We was in Crest park rappin’ and kickin’ it and freestylin’. Mac Dre was like “Yo, I’ma take you to Khayree and let Khayree check you out. So, I came to Khayree and the rest is history.





dubcnn.com: So how did you hook up with Mac Mall?



He was like, my young potnah…When we kicked it when I was out on the road with the “Get Ya Money On” thing in 1992. He was young and he was vicious but he had his head on straight. First and foremost he had a good moms. She let him go do his thing, as long as he graduated. He’s about to graduate. So it all worked out.





dubcnn.com: Now, you and Tupac been cool for a while right?



We had a group, with Diz [DJ DIZE] called Strictly Dope. That was back in 89. We just went our own separate ways. We had some problems with TNT. Shock from Digital Underground scooped him up…Took him on the road, and I came to Vallejo. But everything worked out.





dubcnn.com: So now, you are getting ready to come out with your own album right?



Yup, “Don’t Nothin’ Move But the Money”. Prolly 14 on the CD, 12 on the album. I don’t wanna put too many cuts on the album. Because I know how that can be. You can put too many on there and then it never really gets absorbed. So, I came through with the underground hustle.





dubcnn.com: I talked to a lot of MC’s and DJ’s back east and everybody says the indie hustle exists here in the Bay, like nowhere else. How is it that so many artists are able to come out and everybody is making money?



It’s like this. Nigga go out and they buy a ten sack, or a twenty sack of weed…they roll it up…They go out, they smoke and they get high…They get them a tape and do the same thang!!! Nobody is crossing over into anybody else because everybody gotta have ALL OF IT… If I hear “Yeah they got this kid Young Lay- he VICIOUS”- I’m gonna get it. I don’t care if I got 100 tapes at home- I gotta have it.





dubcnn.com: So how long you been in this game?



12 years the end of this summer. I think Run DMC brought me in this, and everything else solidified it. But the one who made me wanna get in this and get my money- Short [TOO SHORT]. I seen him doin’ it. He a regular nigga like us. He talk like us, dress like us…Like all them niggas out there was doing the same thing- but he getting’ his money. So I respect that. What E-40 and the Click is doin’ over there….To be independent and was like # 14 on the Billboards? You gotta respect that. You gotta watch it, and see how you can change your game plan. It ain’t about being jealous of muthafuckas. It’s too late in the game for that.





dubcnn.com: How old are you?



22





dubcnn.com: Whats Ray Luv gonan be doin’ in 5 years?



Still doin’ music. Still in the streets. Still trying to make this happen. Trying to bring more and more of us in this. How I look at it….what I do, is hustle the music. When I met people that was like fans of “Get Ya Money On” and they say “that made us wanna get our money”….I don’t want that to stop with the album. Because for us as Black people, that’s the only way we gonna get around this…You can’t fight the police with ya guns…YOU CAN, but only to an extent. You gotta get your fetti…When you talk, people listen. If you say “Man this is some bullshit over here” this and that- you get air time….People will hear and they feel you and they pay attention…That’s what I’m gonna be doing in 5 years….More than I’m doing now…

Right now I’m caught up in the in between stages of making my money, getting the product and helping my folks get by. But after I get my people straight I wanna do a bunch of different things. I might try to do movies- if the opportunity jumps. We go to the schools, and teach the kids, not preachin- but teaching. I wanna keep doing that. The next 2-3 years, I’m gonna have kids, so I wanna teach the youth the right way.





dubcnn.com: Any other products?



Master P called me this morning. WE gonna do a compilation. I gotta song with Dangerous Dame on it. RBL on it, everybody from Frisco…the East Bay all that…When you think about it, the Chronic tape is the best of they [LA’s] stuff….Now we wanna get down and show what we got.





dubcnn.com: What is that you think keeps everybody from set trippin’…



I think brothas is coming to a level….for JT The Bigga Figga, myself, Ant D.O.G.- we had went to Los Angeles. I was talking to Ice T about whats going on with the whole LA scene….And really, it depends on us. If you say you representing, then you are a spokesperson for YOUR SET.If you can get two whole areas like Frisco and Vallejo to come together…Like JT and Mall did for a record [GAME RECOGNIZE GAME] that’s a big accomplishment. I guess we seen each other from performing. Everybody sat down and talked. You see all the killin’ and the bullshit that’s going on…You know just by something you say on a record y’all could change some shit?!? Why NOT!?

I’m about to go do a track with JT. They neighborhood, Filmore [IN SAN FRANCISCO] Nigga when I was younger, shit, I had problems from people from Filmore. But we workin’ that out. It’s important, before the problem gets outta hand. And ti will get outta hand [IF BROTHERS DON’T STOP KILLING ONE ANOTHER OVER PETTY ISSUES]. Niggas startin’ to realize it’s getting outta hand when they can’t even walk in THEIR OWN neighborhoods. Things are coming together. You just can’t continue to set trip. I can’t continue to be in the same bullshit that kept me down for 12 years!! That’s half my life. I can;’t let the same old dumb shit keep me back. I’m not trying to rip and run so much, I’m trying to get things done right.







Adisa Banjoko is author of the new book that’s kickin’ pure knowledge to the streets “Lyrical Swords Vol. 1: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix”. Buy one today at www.lyricalswords.com or www.amazon.com !!





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