this article was featured in the Newest Xplosive magazine....Interview conducted by C-4, interview took place in Las Vegas Navada.........Soldier Hard OUT!
Baby Bash-
He is one of the first artists from the Bay Area, other than Too $hort, to reach Gold sales status in the last few years. Baby Bash aka Baby Beesh has been doing big things as one of the premiere attractions on Universal Records. For nationwide listeners that may not know, Bash has been in the music game for a long time, as a group member of Potna Deuce and Latino Velvet. Tell me about coming up during the 90’s and now being on Universal and enjoying nationwide success. “It’s crazy. When I was with Potna Deuce in the 95-96 era, I was saying all that ‘playa playa’ sh*t before them East Coast cats got it. The Bay Area, we’ve always been ahead of our time, as far as the lingo, the slang. Now it’s about the beats. See the Bay Area sometimes sits on the beats. To me a lot of them kept the 96 era mentality of beats.” A lot of them still do. “That’s what I’m saying, and that hurts, we’re trying to advance. To me the rap game is f**ked up, I don’t even listen to rap, I listen to nothing but Young D Boyz, Mac Dre & E-40.”
Bash said the change that made him successful was when South Park Mexican brought him to Texas and he was able to see how different it was, lower cost of living, fans showing love, less of a gang influence, and a less cluttered music scene. When he signed with Dope House Records, he moved to Texas. “When I went to Texas, I heard their sound, I mixed it with Bay lingo and Bay sound, created my own little flavor, my own little fly sh*t.” He says the label wanted him to do radio songs, which lead to the huge crossover hit “Suga Suga.” “Happy Perez gave me the beat, I smoked a fat ass joint, I wrote that in 15 minutes. It blew up on the radio in Texas, and that’s when Universal started calling. I sold 700,000 units in the United States and 400,000 in Europe so now they’re like my best friends, but now these muthaf**kas want me to do all radio sh*t. That’s what blew me up, I can’t front and say ‘no I’m gonna do all old school Vallejo dope dealer sh*t,’ times change, you gotta move with the times.”
“My new album ‘Supa Saucy’ is gonna be half radio and half some of my music.” The guest list on Bash’s new album which is due out in March reads like a who’s who in the music industry from the Bay to beyond he’s got Nate Dogg, Avant, Akon, Butch Cassidy, Suga Free, Richie Rich, Pitbull, Tony Sunshine, E-40, Mac Dre, Franky J, A-Wax, Mr. Kee, Don Cisco, Jay Tee, Bosko, Paul Wall, Rasheed, Lucky Luciano and Grim. The album is produced by Akon, Happy Perez and Fredwreck. Don’t think that Baby Bash has in anyway forgot about his Bay Area roots though, as he put it, “the Bay Area is the mac mecca. Everywhere I go, New York, Chicago, wherever, I spit that Bay sh*t, they love it. My advice to Bay Area artists is venture out, the world is a lot bigger than the Bay.” At this point in his career Bash describes his style as: ‘super-ultra-magnetic-super- natural-fly-hustlerism-marijuana / groovy-situation-type-mobb-slang-oriented-V- Town-get-back-get-right-cognac-lounge-game.’
While talking, the subject of radio came up, to which Bash said “radio is nothing but a big payola thing now dogg, it’s not about talent anymore.” What about you, you’re one of the main artists on radio right now? “They get paid to play, I ain’t gone lie. I’m not gonna run from no money, they gave me a fat check, I signed it and said do whatever the f**k you want to do with that song.” How do you feel about people saying you sold out? “First of all it’s not called selling out its called buying in. I gotta lace they boots, there’s a lot of bitter muthaf**kas out there. The selling out days are over, that went out with MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. I f**k with real gorillas, like 40 who tells me all the time ‘I’m proud of you.’ If you think I’m a little cream puff ‘suga suga’ cat, come holla at me one on one. People get me confused for doing that little lovey dovey sh*t, but if you stopped being so bitter and worrying if your b*tch likes me, you would hear what I’m saying. Believe it, I come from Vallejo, I was raised with savages.”
Baby Bash-
He is one of the first artists from the Bay Area, other than Too $hort, to reach Gold sales status in the last few years. Baby Bash aka Baby Beesh has been doing big things as one of the premiere attractions on Universal Records. For nationwide listeners that may not know, Bash has been in the music game for a long time, as a group member of Potna Deuce and Latino Velvet. Tell me about coming up during the 90’s and now being on Universal and enjoying nationwide success. “It’s crazy. When I was with Potna Deuce in the 95-96 era, I was saying all that ‘playa playa’ sh*t before them East Coast cats got it. The Bay Area, we’ve always been ahead of our time, as far as the lingo, the slang. Now it’s about the beats. See the Bay Area sometimes sits on the beats. To me a lot of them kept the 96 era mentality of beats.” A lot of them still do. “That’s what I’m saying, and that hurts, we’re trying to advance. To me the rap game is f**ked up, I don’t even listen to rap, I listen to nothing but Young D Boyz, Mac Dre & E-40.”
Bash said the change that made him successful was when South Park Mexican brought him to Texas and he was able to see how different it was, lower cost of living, fans showing love, less of a gang influence, and a less cluttered music scene. When he signed with Dope House Records, he moved to Texas. “When I went to Texas, I heard their sound, I mixed it with Bay lingo and Bay sound, created my own little flavor, my own little fly sh*t.” He says the label wanted him to do radio songs, which lead to the huge crossover hit “Suga Suga.” “Happy Perez gave me the beat, I smoked a fat ass joint, I wrote that in 15 minutes. It blew up on the radio in Texas, and that’s when Universal started calling. I sold 700,000 units in the United States and 400,000 in Europe so now they’re like my best friends, but now these muthaf**kas want me to do all radio sh*t. That’s what blew me up, I can’t front and say ‘no I’m gonna do all old school Vallejo dope dealer sh*t,’ times change, you gotta move with the times.”
“My new album ‘Supa Saucy’ is gonna be half radio and half some of my music.” The guest list on Bash’s new album which is due out in March reads like a who’s who in the music industry from the Bay to beyond he’s got Nate Dogg, Avant, Akon, Butch Cassidy, Suga Free, Richie Rich, Pitbull, Tony Sunshine, E-40, Mac Dre, Franky J, A-Wax, Mr. Kee, Don Cisco, Jay Tee, Bosko, Paul Wall, Rasheed, Lucky Luciano and Grim. The album is produced by Akon, Happy Perez and Fredwreck. Don’t think that Baby Bash has in anyway forgot about his Bay Area roots though, as he put it, “the Bay Area is the mac mecca. Everywhere I go, New York, Chicago, wherever, I spit that Bay sh*t, they love it. My advice to Bay Area artists is venture out, the world is a lot bigger than the Bay.” At this point in his career Bash describes his style as: ‘super-ultra-magnetic-super- natural-fly-hustlerism-marijuana / groovy-situation-type-mobb-slang-oriented-V- Town-get-back-get-right-cognac-lounge-game.’
While talking, the subject of radio came up, to which Bash said “radio is nothing but a big payola thing now dogg, it’s not about talent anymore.” What about you, you’re one of the main artists on radio right now? “They get paid to play, I ain’t gone lie. I’m not gonna run from no money, they gave me a fat check, I signed it and said do whatever the f**k you want to do with that song.” How do you feel about people saying you sold out? “First of all it’s not called selling out its called buying in. I gotta lace they boots, there’s a lot of bitter muthaf**kas out there. The selling out days are over, that went out with MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. I f**k with real gorillas, like 40 who tells me all the time ‘I’m proud of you.’ If you think I’m a little cream puff ‘suga suga’ cat, come holla at me one on one. People get me confused for doing that little lovey dovey sh*t, but if you stopped being so bitter and worrying if your b*tch likes me, you would hear what I’m saying. Believe it, I come from Vallejo, I was raised with savages.”
