THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN THE ART OF STORYTELLING MAGAZINE ISSUE #1.

I found a video of you doing a live set with Morcheeba from England. That bugged me out. It got me so amped up because I would never have expected seeing that combo. A lot of times artists stick to what they know and are too scared to do collaborations with artists outside their genre. To see a rapper from Newark, NJ doing a collaboration with a lounge band from England was refreshing to see. You seem to link up with a lot of unexpected people.

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You know what I’m into Big Joe? I’m pursuing entertainment. PERIOD. So any big entertainment figure I see, I introduce myself, I introduce Green and from that comes a lot of, “What you doin? Why don’t you rap on something?” In the case of Morcheeba, they actually sought me out because of the Fugees album. They said they liked the Fugees album and they are kind of like the Fugees over there. So they contacted my manager in England and we did it. I did a whole UK tour with them. We did Italy, Portugal, the whole thing.

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If I could go back in time I would try not to have met Eminem. I wouldn’t have met him and been his friend……Not this time, just straight business.

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You, Animal BMX, and Skavanger BMX also seem to have some strong ties. You rock their gear in your videos and they use a lot of your tracks and Mr. Green’s tracks in their videos. How did that come about?

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We had a mutual friend. My dude Slop was on my first album called ONE, the joint I did with Kurupt. He is the one who raps first. Slop introduced me to Shane Rossi from Animal Bikes and Shane was like, “Yo, I’d like you to wear some of our stuff.” You can come get whatever you want. Went in there, took Green in there, Cymarshall Law, my little brother Jenz Cypher, Rival – we all just got some stuff, you know. Redman came through. It’s nothing but love with the Animal and Skavenger dudes.

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You recently spent some time in Europe. Europeans seem much more open minded when it comes to music, art, politics, fashion, etc. It’s like things that are considered underground in the states are mainstream or at least more popular over there. Did you get that vibe? Does your music get a better response in Europe?

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I mean certain spots really rock. I mean London really rocks, Paris really rocks, Holland, Germany, but you got places over here that really rock. I did a show with Kay Solo and Canibus in San Diego. They really rocked. Maybe the response is slightly better in Europe, but for the most part it’s 50/50.

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I feel like in the States people want what is consumable. They are content with the same old “I got mad money, I got mad hoes” routine. To me that is boring. You are more on the old school tip, coming out as a rapper/DJ combo with you and Mr. Green, and your lyrics have much more substance. Has success been harder to attain as a result of not following the formula of making “consumable” hip hop?

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I don’t know because I haven’t really made a real pop joint so I don’t know how that success comes, but I maintain what I do. I don’t know that it’s made success harder for me but maybe slowed things down a bit. It could have been faster.

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So you have no plans on doing anything other than what you normally do?

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Well that’s not true. I would like to branch out into pop or some progressive hip hop. Maybe some Gnarles Barkley sounding thing, or maybe some Redman and Def Squad sounding thing. That sounds good to me and its real good with the people, you know?

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You have an impressive track record. You were on the Fugees album on the Desperados track, your collaboration with Morcheeba, you were in the Outsidaz, you were down with Eminem since his early days, appeared in multiple Redman videos, and the list goes on and on. That is a lot of heavy hitters to be involved with. These are people that played monumental roles in hip hop and you were right there in the mix. Are you still down with all these people or has their fame separated you from them?

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Well I just saw Redman the other day. Me and Green went to UCON to check out Red and Meth rock it with Flo-Rida and T-Pain. So my friendship with Redman is AOK. I love Red, you know what I mean. I am on his album Malpractice. Eminem after he blew up was harder to get in touch with, but I could him if I wanted to. He’s not an absolute asshole but he is an asshole. You got the Fugees. I haven’t seen Lauren Hill in a real long time but the thing with them is that they put me on The Score. I still get the check. That check is keeping me alive. I love them. They are up on the mantle. They gave me a 16 album plaque. I can’t say nothing about them. Sure it’s harder to get in touch with them because they are all busy, but I could definitely get at them.

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What is the reason you have been bouncing around the underground for so long?

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I always had the same goal in my career. Bring the underground to the pop level. Busta Rhymes I feel did it before with “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See.” It’s not complex. It is basically a loop with some drums and the talent of the rapper. That’s what I want to do. I want to bring that to the forefront of pop music, you know? Show them that a song that came out of the basement can rock the entire world. It’s only underground until I sell 500,000 records, then it’s not underground anymore. Outkast was underground, Lords of the Underground, Naughty by Nature, EPMD. You do it correctly and I do believe you can achieve pop success.

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Jersey is right smack in the middle of two major cities – New York and Philly. A lot of Jersey history gets overlooked as a result. Bring us back to the early 90’s Jersey hip hop scene. What was going on at that time?

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In the 90s there were a lot of clubs out here in Jersey. We had Sensations. That’s where Redman met EPMD. That was good for us. The New York acts would come over. They would wine and dine with us, you know what I mean, and if they liked you, they would put you on.

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How about the industry in the 90s?

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The industry was a little different. They had A&R’s. When you signed to Ruff House Records they would develop the act. They would put them on tour, shoot videos, until you were ready. You had people to tell you how to be politically correct. Now it’s not like that. You already have to have your own machine going. You need a big machine in order to have a label pick you up.

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Looking back on your career, is there anything you would do differently?

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If I could go back in time I would try not to have met Eminem. I wouldn’t have met him and been his friend. If I didn’t meet him back then, and met him while I was rapping, and he didn’t know me and I just presented my album to his label, he may have signed me because he doesn’t have anything against me or there is no competition level there, whatever it is. Not this time, just straight business.

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Give us one of the craziest things you have ever seen go down in the Brick City?

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Well my friend got killed right in front of me when I was about 17. We were at a house party and some beef jumped off and a kid started firing a gun in the air to scare us back. My boy Shahid Beasley grabbed him. The dude broke loose and shot him at point blank range right in the chest and he died. That was crazy, it still haunts me till this day.

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Pace, I was going to ask you about Kim Kardashian, but your lady is sitting right over there, I don’t want to cause no trouble.

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It’s all good, I love Kim Kardashian. My girl already knows I got it bad for Kim Kardashian and she’s cool with it. She’s not like that, we talked about it last night. That’s my girl right there. OOH! She’s hot man. Tell you the truth, after the joint with Ray J I liked her even more. That was pretty nice there Kim.

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Any last words?

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Let the evolution of hip hop continue.