R.A.

the Rugged Man Talks Inconsistency In Hip Hop Censorship

by Omar Burgess posted May 04, 2013 10:00:00 AM CDT Exclusive: After writing a Rick Ross-related editorial for DX, R.A. the Rugged Man further explains his stance and tells why he'd never apologize for any of his rhymes. There was once a time when R.A. the Rugged man was banned from entering the offices of at least one major record label. That wasnt a ban in the hyperbolic, Banned From TV sense, but a literal, standing order not to be within a specified distance of the labels headquarters. Luckily, things have changed. And, you know, I was young, crazy and had issues in my mind back then, R.A. explains almost wistfully. So they were scared of me. You get a little older, you calm down, and now everybody says, Oh, R.A.s the nice guy. We like him. Let him in the house, and let him have dinner with the kids. Theres no standing dinner date. But on a typically sunny day, R.A. does appear at HipHopDXs Hollywood office with a friend for an interview. Theres playful banter back and forth, and a hilarious story about performing in the boonies of East Tennessee with Cappadonna (who somehow ended up doing The Twist)none of which should lull you into believing R.A. isnt still intensely passionate about his craft. Hes still liable to get kicked off of a commercial flight for wearing a shirt emblazoned with the phrase Every Record Label Sucks Dick. These days a faux pas by this particular site or an inconsistent review of his new album is laughed off, but not before he calls bullshit. At a time when rappers are prescreening interview questions as if theyre vetting a potential political candidate, his candor is becoming increasingly rare. You can just let the cameras roll and ask be a bunch of random shit, he offered. Naturally, we obliged. HipHopDX: The Kool Herc reference at the end of Still Diggin Wit Buck probably made a lot of people unfamiliar with your work think you werent in tune with newer artists. It was surprising to see Hopsin on Underground Hits...were you familiar with Hopsins earlier stuff before you two collaborated? R.A. the Rugged Man: No. You know what? I didnt know Hopsins hustle, but I started hearing kids talking about Hopsin. They said, Yo, this kid Hopsinyou should do a record with him. And people were posting things on my site saying I should work with Hopsin. And Im like, Who the fuck is Hopsin? I didnt really pay attention, and then Dame from Funk Volume hit me up saying, Hey, were trying to get all the credible, underground cats together. You, Hopsinwe should all talk.

So Funk Volume reached out to me a couple years back. Thats when I took notice of Hopsin, like, Oh, let me check the kid out. He had that record Pans In The Kitcken, and the video had him in the special ed class and with the fat, white girl. It was a lot of stuff from the Crustified Dibbs era where I saw a lot of similarities between us and our lyricism. A lot of kids dont see the connection I can have with a brother like that, but the Pans In The Kitcken one was the first one that got me. I said, Wow. Thats some real interesting shit hes doing. I liked it.

R.A. the Rugged Man On Media Coverage Of Hip Hop

DX: Another track from Legends Never Die, Learned Truth hits pretty close to home in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. You obviously had no knowledge that would happen when you and Kweli recorded the song. But what are your thoughts on TMZ and other outlets highlighting the fact that one of the suspects was listening to Hip Hop? R.A. the Rugged Man: Im pretty confident that the Boston kids fuckin know who I am and all that shit, because they had the Heavy Metal Kings in their iPod. I was in the Heavy Metal Kings video, and theyre fans of Vinnie Paz. Im like, Goddamn, that shit is crazy! Of course the fucking bombers listen to Raptheyre young kids, with the mentality of, Oh yeah, I listen to Hip Hop. But that never has nothing to do with shit. Im sure Timothy McVeigh liked Goodfellas by [Martin] Scorsese. Adolf Hitler was a fan of John Ford westerns. That doesnt have shit to do with, Oh, you know what? I listened to Vinnie Paz, now Im gonna go bomb the fucking marathon. So they can try to put it on Hip Hop, but thats a weak argument. DX: Why does the media always do thateven if its not Hip Hop? R.A. the Rugged Man: The media likes to sensationalize anything. It doesnt matter what the fuck it is, and theyll always look for the negative. If anybodys listening to a Rap song, they wont say, Oh, this persons trying to help the kids. Theyll say, Wait, this guy talked about selling crack. Thats what they do. And its not just Rap. Look at religions. If its one bad thing that a Muslim did, theyll blame the Muslim religion. If one person in the Catholic Church did something offensive, then its, Oh the whole Catholic religion and the Pope is the devil! They take the negativity and sensationalize it no matter what the subject is. And theyll never show you the real facts; theyll just make it for like first graders. Its all black and white with either this extreme of goodness or this extreme of badness. Theyll say, Obamas a godhes a savior! Meanwhile, come on. Or theyll say, This guys the devil. Hes the worst. Its no human beings with reality and a happy medium. DX: On both of your albums, theres an element of controlling your own narrative, whether youre talking about A Star Is Born, Lessons, or The Peoples Champ. Why is that so important?

R.A. the Rugged Man: I think its an important thing as an artist where when you listen to their music you can kind of feel who the person is through the music. When you put out material and it sounds like a generic ass song, you dont have a long shelf life if youre that artist. Thats why even today, you can relate to someone like Marvin Gaye or Bob Marley. People know the personality of the person by just listening to the music. Listen to Wise Intelligent from the Poor Righteous Teachers. You know who he is just by listening to the music. Look at Drake. Im not a Drake fan; I dont like his lyrics. But hes that sensitive, girlie type of dude. I understand who he is, and thats why he has his fans. Even though my people aint his fans, he gets his fans because you understand who this fuckin Drake guy is by listening to his music. He might not be a person who we relate to, but the little sensitive people might relate to that.

The Evolution Of R.A. the Rugged Man

DX: With any artistnot just rappersyou have to decide how much of your personal life youre gonna put into your work. How did you get to that point where youre telling us about yourself, your dad, your siblings, your nepheweverybody? R.A. the Rugged Man: [Laughs] Yeah, if youre in my circle, youre fucked up. Youre getting called outeven my goddamn niece, my dead nephew, my father. My rhyme book is almost like a diary. I dont know why the fuck Im giving it to you guys, butI dont know. Im very personal with my lyricism. I try to spill it all, and I give it to the world. I dont know why I do that, but if you listen to my music, you basically know my life. Sometimes, it aint personal. I get fun and Ill smack you in the face with my dickits two sides to R.A. DX: Have you always been like that? R.A. the Rugged Man: No, its funny. When I was a teenager, it was, Im the best. Im the best. Im the best. But I still do that today. I still got the braggadocious, Hip Hop ya dont stop, I could rock the mic better than you, style. But even at 15, I wrote a song called, Everybodys A Critic, and it was talking about criticisms. In the 80s there was that whole Glam Rock shit, so I wrote a song called, Rock Died Out. It was like, You aint a mister / You look more like my sister, just talking about all the Glam Rock, fag-looking Rock stars. I didnt experience a lot when I was 15, so that was the stuff I experiencedlike, How can they criticize me? Fuck these gay looking rock guys! They look like girls and they wear lipstick. So even as a kid, I would go at whatever the fuck pissed me off. I was dirty even as a 15-year-old. I did a talent show, and on the night of the rehersal I did my clean rhyme. But then, on the night of the show, I came out with a big ass Flavor Flav clock on. People were like, What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Then I came out on stage, and I was saying raps like, Yo your bitch is getting wetter cause of me! I pissed off everybody at school, and I got in trouble. But even back then, I was saying, Im not gonna censor myself. Even as a teenager I was doing that dumb shit.

DX: So anyone at Jive that had the privilege of seeing that shouldve seen the handwriting on the wall R.A. the Rugged Man: Oh, Jive knew what they were signing. But thats what happens though. If corporations see a bunch of other people interested, they think, Oh, well make so much money off of it. The controversy will work for us. But then, when they had the fuckin young, rugged demon in the office, it was, Oh, were scared of him. Hes a scary guywe cant go in elevators with him. And, you know, I was young, crazy and had issues in my mind back then. So they were scared of me. You get a little older, you calm down, and now everybody says, Oh, R.A.s the nice guy. We like him. Let him in the house, and let him have dinner with the kids. But it took me 20 years to come in peoples houses and have them not be scared.

R.A. the Rugged Man Talks Inconsistency In Hip Hop Censorship

DX: It feels like weve been desensitized to a lot of stuff in those 20 years. A lot of things that were once taboo seem kind of pass R.A. the Rugged Man: Oh, I think its opposite now. I think in the early 90s, we were allowed to say a lot more shit. Maybe the white rappers werent. When I was at Jive, I asked them, How are you gonna have a problem with my lyrics when you have Too Short talking about Nancy Reagan sucking dick like corn on the cob? Theyd say, You mean what you say. Too Short doesnt. Hes a nice guy. Are you fucking kidding me? Thats the shit I got. So they saw the crazy, uncontrollable white guy that hates women. But Too Short could say it, and Redman could say, Im down with O.P.P. / Best part about it, I got AIDS bitch! [on Rated R]. On Def Jam, Onyx was talkin about the Black Vagina Finder. Snoop Dogg was on a big pop record saying, Bitches aint shit but hoes and tricks. So I think you were allowed to be a little bit more offensive in that era. I think today, if you say the wrong thing youre going to be told you need to make an apology. Theres all these publicists making all their artists apologize for everything. I would never, ever, ever apologize for nothin I ever say on a record, because I said it on the fuckin record. I meant it when I said it, and Im not gonna apologize. But they force the artists to go, Oh Im sorry I said that; I didnt mean it. And then they lie and say people took the lyric wrong. Nobody took the lyric wrong, you said it motherfucker. Dont apologize for the shit you said. But thats the game right now. Tyler the Creator gets away with the rape stuff. Odd Future gets away with a lot of stuff, and nobody gives them a problem. Good for them. Theyre like, Fuck it. I think that kid Earl [Sweatshirt] is interesting lyrically. After Eminem said those homophobic lyrics, hes holding hands with Elton John. Thats what they do so you can comfort these different fan bases. Its smart because theyre business people. Dont cut off a whole community or cut off a whole fan base. So I understand why theyre doing it. Im not even saying theyre wrong for doing it. Thats just not me. I cant go, Oh, let me

go hold hands with Elton John. Rick Ross said, Oh, Reebok it was great working with you. I would have been like, Suck my dick, Reebok. Thats the difference. That might be why Im underground for life, because Im not gonna take nothin back. Ever. DX: Going back to your Too Short example, that seems like something thats still playing out. Someone basically says, If Tyler or Eminem rape someone in a song its just fiction. But Ross really meant it R.A. the Rugged Man: Thats what I heard someone say as an argument! Theyll say, Oh it was realistic the way that Rick Ross said it. What the fuck does that mean? Youre the critic whos gonna how real it is or how unreal it is? Eminem could rape a woman in the pussy with an umbrella, Jay-Z could rape and pillage kids, and Biggie could have his boy fuck kids in the ass and throw them off a bridge. But Ricks is really real? Its not that his is really real, its that you dont like Rick. You dont like his music; you dont think hes a real artist. So the mentality is, Fuck that guy. We hate him, so hes the bad guy. Meanwhile, all your rappers said the same bullshit. The funny thing is, people came at me like, How dare you defend him. Im not even a fan of Rick Ross music; its not even like that. What it is, is Im a fan of freedom of speech. Im a fan of not being a hypocrite and crucifying one artist when youre not crucifying the other artist for the exact same shit.

The 20 Year Span Of Crustified Dibbs & R.A. the Rugged Man
DX: This is a little off from my line of questions, but what the hell is a Crustified Dibbs? R.A. the Rugged Man: [Laughs] Crustified Dibbs is a bad idea. In the 90s, the name R.A. the Rugged Man just sounded so 90s. There were groups coming up making noise with names like Cypress Hillthey had cool names. Crustified Dibbs wasnt a cool name, but I was 18 and I said, I dont wanna be R.A. the Rugged Man; I wanna be Crustified Dibbs. I was dirty, crusty and nastyit just sounded like some shit. I was hanging out and said, Crustified Dibbs. It dont really have no meaning. I like the fact that Crustified Dibbs exists, and Im proud of it now. They begged me to be R.A. the Rugged Man. And it just didnt feel big like so-and-sos group. I was young18-years old and you always try to think of something fresh at that age. Sometimes you over-think things, and theyre not always the move. DX: True. We were kind of talking about it earlier off camera. But how has your fan base changed in the 20 years since you started? R.A. the Rugged Man: Whats crazy is that my fan base is beautiful, because a lot of people from my era only have fan bases of 35 and over. Only the old folks go out to their shows. For some reason, if you go to my Facebook, theres all these 15-18-year olds and 20-to-24-year-oldsits all the young kids. I always had the 35 and older set, but every year I get brand new fans. All my idols like Rakim and Chuck D say how good I am at what I do, and that feels good. But then, on the flip side, it feels good when a little 15year-old is singing, Every Record Label Sucks Dick when Ive been doing it

for this long. DX: So whats the entry point to your catalogue for a 15-year-old? R.A. the Rugged Man: I have a long, illustrious career. So you kind of know the age of my fans by the songs they say. You know its an old head if they go, Yo, I liked when you said, Every record label sucks dick or when you did that Bloody Axe joint. I figure they must be 40. If someone is talking about Soundbombing on Rawkus, they must be about 32. Whereas if someone talking about me and Jedi Mind Tricks, Ill say, Oh, you must be about 26. When youre around that long, certain age groups make certain parts of your career the classic moment of your career. I got a lot of sections of my career, kind of like Bernard Hopkins. You can go back t his middleweight reign, and people will say, Oh remember when he defended the title 20 times? Theres so many parts of his career that you can break down to understand why this dude had longevity. I hope people can look at my career the same way as B-Hop. DX: One of your biggest assets is being a hustler, and not in the corny sense. But youve created all these revenue streams from writing, film and owning your material where youre not dependent on a label check. Where does that come from? R.A. the Rugged Man: Im a German. My mothers work ethicshes a German lady. My father was Scottish, Sicilianhes from America; hes from Hells Kitchen. He was the street dude. But my mothers this non-stop working ass, German lady. Shes 66 now, and shes still working non-stop. She works for Lancome cosmetics, and she travels and everything. I definitely got my hustle from my mother. Writing for magazines, stealing money out of Jive, hustling money out of Capitol, getting money out of Rawkus and non-stop working and touring, directing videosthe non-stop movement comes from my mother. The personality and the humorif you think Im funnythat comes from my daddy. A lot of my character comes from my daddy. But the work ethic comes from mommy.