WorldWideConnected.com: If you just started listening to rap and didn’t know any better you would really think that Mac Dre was still alive. Ya’ll rep him so hard! He is just as relevant now as he was back in the day when he was droppin’ shit and ya’ll need to be commended for that!
Thank you! Everything we do is in the name of him. He left this label for us to branch off of and it is only right that we give back and keep his name alive and spirit if nothing else. Everywhere I go I keep him on my chest every day of my life.
WorldWideConnected.com: How hard is it to run a label like Thizz?
It is definitely a challenge especially being on this level. Everybody these days wants to be in the music game and have a label out and what we got right now is I’m in a position to put albums out whenever I want to. I have creative control and that is something a lot of artists do not have. I’m able to put out projects when I want to and how I want to. Then you have artists in the streets too! Every independent artist that is trying to get on will come up to us but we can only do so much. We made stars from almost every city within the Bay area. We have put a lot of people under the label. Now we are branching into different states. Our first project will be Thizz Nation Phoenix Arizona. I understand that there is a lot of independent artists in the game that can’t get their music out and their music might be out but it only opens up to a small pipeline and as soon as our pipeline opens up a little bit more that is one of the things that we are going to do. We are going to reach into some of these states that we haven’t even been in and give some of these artists a chance a shine. We are not a selfish label. We don’t mind showcasing another talent as long as you sound good.
WorldWideConnected.com: I have noticed your consistency! Thizz has been the first label since No Limit as far as supplying product to the fans. What drives you and Thizz to be so consistant?
Really it is just about keeping it alive as far as what Dre started for us. We were already a struggling independent label prior to Dre going down and the whole thing about it was everybody wanted to see what would happen after we lost him. People didn’t expect us to stand up because they didn’t know what kind of talent we were working with and what kind of artists we had over here. Once we did lose Dre it was up to us. Me, and my lil’ cousin Kilo fore-fronted the label and it was time for us to take it to another level. We never got side tracked and we knew we had to keep pushing and keep doing just like if Dre was here. Whatever it took to put out another project, or another DVD we just stayed motivated and kept our nose to the grind.
WorldWideConnected.com: Tell me about the upcoming Romper Room films?
The first DVD was released by DJ Vlad and Image Entertainment called “Ghost Ride the Whip” which was about us. It is the story of the “Hyphy Movement” but then it goes into my crew the Romper Room Crew. Also BET just came and filmed us for American Gangster and that will be on TV this November.
WorldWideConnected.com: I love that show! Tell me about BET’s American Gangster, what was that like?
They just came in and got an in depth look at me and my crew with the struggle of the label and everything we went thru from going to jail and coming back. Everything we have been doing has been a chain reaction!
WorldWideConnected.com: Who started the Romper Room?
Actually it was started by my close homeboy “EB” who they called “The Daddy of the Hood.” He was the original guy who started our crew and this back back in ’88-’87.
WorldWideConnected.com: How many people were in the Romper Room Crew?
They had so many articles around saying that there was 50 something members but in all fairness the Romper Room Crew has never been more than about thirteen members. If you listen to the newspapers and the FBI they would say we had over fifty members and all kinds of different stories.
WorldWideConnected.com: How much time did you serve behind the bank robberies?
I did ten years of federal prison straight, my little cousin who is also a CEO of Thizz named Kilo did eight years, and Mac Dre did five years. We are all co-defendants and were all on the same case.
WorldWideConnected.com: It is pretty much in the books then right? You can’t incriminate yourself by talking about can you?
No actually my time has been served and my statute of limitations is pretty much up and I am free to tell my story. That is why we got the movie deals and the book deals coming at us right now. There are other members of my crew that is still fighting cases who can’t be spoke on, but as far as my story and Mac Dre’s story I can pretty much talk about whatever I want to.
WorldWideConnected.com: When you were actively robbin’ banks did you ever think that you would get caught?
No because nobody thinks that they are going to get caught. I thought that I was pretty good at what I did and I thought I was one of the number one bank robbers in northern California. I felt that I had my game tight! You are never thinking you are going to be caught while you are going through the situation and in all fairness to myself it was not because of anything that I did that got myself in trouble. The papers and the magazines said that my crew was pretty good at what we did.
WorldWideConnected.com: How did you get caught?
We had an informant that wore wirings
WorldWideConnected.com: That is usually how it happens too!
Yeah, that’s all it takes for you to get caught up.
WorldWideConnected.com: Everyone who has struggled in life has thought about pulling a big heist or robbing a bank, but not too many actually go through with it. What was going through your mind while you were up in the banks?
All I was thinking about was getting as much as possible.
WorldWideConnected.com: Were the robberies planned out or just sporadic?
Me myself I pretty much planned everything out. I was in control of my whole situation and my whole focus was to get in and get what I needed and get out. I had to make sure my group and whoever was with was on top of their game. It wasn’t no wild bandit shit where we would go in there all crazy. I was pretty sophisticated with everything that I did. We had our shit together and we didn’t go in there playing!
WorldWideConnected.com: What’s amazing is that you were still just a kid! How old were you?
I was 19 years old. I was in the streets just taking the chances. The funny thing is when I finally did get incarcerated I was the suspect in 23 take over bank robberies, but I was never found guilty for none.
WorldWideConnected.com: What were you found guilty of?
I was found guilty of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery. That was me, Dre, and Kilo’s case in 1992. That was the case I was sentenced ten years for.
WorldWideConnected.com: It has to feel so good to have done your time and put that part of your life in the past!
Oh yeah that is the best feeling in the world! For anyone to have done ten years of their life locked up and then to be free is a blessing! Serving ten years and being back on the streets is one thing, but then getting back on the streets and being able to have everything you want in life is another thing. I have been pretty fortunate because I wasn’t expected to get out after ten years and regain control of my life. I’m the president of one of the top record labels in the country and I have a lot going on and this is a good situation for me. I cannot complain at all!
WorldWideConnected.com: It was like a re-birth! This is truly a second chance at life! This is positive because by this label being what it is it is feeding a lot of people!
I have been through it all! It was all a process that I had to go through!
WorldWideConnected.com: When you were serving your time how did it make you feel to see the Bay blow up on the music scene?
It was real good! I laid in there and I watched dude’s who I grew up with like the E-40’s and the Spice-1’s stay on their grind. For ten years I read about all these dudes and watched their videos and that was some of my motivation. My lil homie Mac Mall, and Dubbe and all them were starting their careers while we had to sit back and think “What are we going to do when we get a second chance?” Because a lot of people do not get a second chance especially with a music career! I was fortunate enough to get a second chance but it was just a matter of what I was going to do with it when I got it.
WorldWideConnected.com: After only a year or a few years you become institutionalized, and you served ten straight. When you got out how long did it take for you to get used to the free world again?
It didn’t really take too long because I went through the halfway house situation for a couple of months. While I was in the halfway house all of my family and friends like Kilo, Mac Dre and them was coming to get me and pick me up and take me out and about. It didn’t take me too long to get back into my swag because when you got it you keep it. It is just about getting out and moving around! I was already working on my first album before I was out the halfway house. I already knew what I wanted to do before I returned. I knew I wanted to put out albums and make records and nothing was going to stop me from doing that. That is where my head was at. Immediately upon release I was going to put out records and that is what I did. As soon as I came home I jumped in the studio and got with my crew and I mashed. I also got a video camera and I went around the country and now I’m putting out DVDs too.
WorldWideConnected.com: What do you like making more the film or the music?
Music is definitely my passion but now after being in the DVD game and understanding where it is going it is pretty much taking over because now days the fans want to get more in depth with the music they are listening to. They want to see what you are about and who you are. One of the things we did by creating Treal TV was, give the fans a chance to get inside our lives. They see the cars we drive, the houses we live in, the clubs we hang out at, and who we hang out with. They get a chance to see how we move as individuals instead of just our music. Now they can say “Okay, these dudes really are who they say they are!” That was one of the things that, blossomed our whole label. Right now as we speak I am editing Treal TV 3 which will be out early next year.
WorldWideConnected.com: Do you have any other DVDs coming out?
I got a DVD coming out in November called “All-Star Weekend: Las Vegas” where I took the whole nation out to the all-star game.
WorldWideConnected.com: Was that pretty wild?
Oh yeah it was crazy! Then I got Trill TV 3 droppin in the first quarter of next year. I’m also in negotiation for a book and a movie deal right now to tell the whole story.
WorldWideConnected.com: I also got a DVD called “J-Diggs Presents The Bars Awards.” In the Bay we got our own music awards. This is a DVD with all of the awards show. It is kind of like a Source awards but it was all the Bay Area. I got that coming out also this year. I also got the “Ghost Ridin 101” too. I don’t know if you know or not but I am the first person that jumped on top of a car. I’m the first person that ever did that.
Do you still do that shit man?
WorldWideConnected.com: I haven’t did that in a while but my DVD got me jumping out all by the bridge and shit. I done did all that shit to show you where it came from.
That is like Jackass because that is a stunt! I imagine it is pretty dangerous!
WorldWideConnected.com: It is very dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing.
You are wrong about starting the whole ghost riding thing. Don’t you remember Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf on top of the van?
WorldWideConnected.com: Haha! Yeah! You are right! He was on top of the car riding!
I had to get you on that homie! That was just Hollywood.
WorldWideConnected.com: Are you shopping your story to the major film companies?
Yeah that is where we are at right now!
WorldWideConnected.com: This story is worth a theatrical release because what you have done whether legal or illegal is truly amazing!
It was a hell of a trip but we went through it. It definitely is a story worth reading. A lot of people don’t even know who Mac Dre is, or know who J-Diggs is but they might have heard of us somewhere. I go all over the country and people stop me and ask for pictures and tell me they seen me in a magazine and when I look back to a few years ago when I was sitting in a cell about the size of a bathroom I was fighting to get my life back. To come from that and go through that I can’t even lie because it is a good feeling and a good thing but I have been to the bottom a lot. My home for ten years was actually a bathroom because the head of my bed laid right next to the toilet that I pissed in.
WorldWideConnected.com: It is only right that you are now able to enjoy some of the finer things in life!
Oh yeah! People see me and I got a lot of shit going on. You can youtube me and I got over a hundred videos of some sort on youtube right now. This is a big movement right now and we are not stopping! The mash is not stopping. You can expect to see something real big from Thizz Entertainment in ’09. This year we are really going to make a move!
WorldWideConnected.com: Do you have a solo in the works?
Definitely! My album “J-Diggs.com” is dropping in November. This is a big album for me and right behind that I am going to break a record in the Guiness Book of World Records. I am going to release three full length solo albums on one day.
WorldWideConnected.com: Damn!
This will be in February of ’09 in which I will drop “The Good”, “The Bad” and “The Ugly” all on the same day.
WorldWideConnected.com: That’s some big shit! Thizz keeps raising the bar!
I’m just trying to show these majors that we are on an independent level and we have been doing all of this with independent money so when the majors come to me they gotta come not playin. They can’t come to me saying “Hey, we wanna give you five million.” No! This label has been here and we worked hard and did the ground work and we are worth them double figure millions that is coming our way. Our DVD game, our CD game, our tours! We got bobble heads, Thizz Water, clothing lines! This is all our own ideas! We don’t have no ties with major companies this is just the same dudes that was robbing banks in the 80’s, but we are just doing something else this year.
WorldWideConnected.com: Is there anything else you want to say?
Free the Romper Room Crew! I have been there so I know what they are going through. Keep your heads up because I am living proof that when you get out you can have a second chance at this!
Source: http://www.worldwideconnected.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=711
Thank you! Everything we do is in the name of him. He left this label for us to branch off of and it is only right that we give back and keep his name alive and spirit if nothing else. Everywhere I go I keep him on my chest every day of my life.
WorldWideConnected.com: How hard is it to run a label like Thizz?
It is definitely a challenge especially being on this level. Everybody these days wants to be in the music game and have a label out and what we got right now is I’m in a position to put albums out whenever I want to. I have creative control and that is something a lot of artists do not have. I’m able to put out projects when I want to and how I want to. Then you have artists in the streets too! Every independent artist that is trying to get on will come up to us but we can only do so much. We made stars from almost every city within the Bay area. We have put a lot of people under the label. Now we are branching into different states. Our first project will be Thizz Nation Phoenix Arizona. I understand that there is a lot of independent artists in the game that can’t get their music out and their music might be out but it only opens up to a small pipeline and as soon as our pipeline opens up a little bit more that is one of the things that we are going to do. We are going to reach into some of these states that we haven’t even been in and give some of these artists a chance a shine. We are not a selfish label. We don’t mind showcasing another talent as long as you sound good.
WorldWideConnected.com: I have noticed your consistency! Thizz has been the first label since No Limit as far as supplying product to the fans. What drives you and Thizz to be so consistant?
Really it is just about keeping it alive as far as what Dre started for us. We were already a struggling independent label prior to Dre going down and the whole thing about it was everybody wanted to see what would happen after we lost him. People didn’t expect us to stand up because they didn’t know what kind of talent we were working with and what kind of artists we had over here. Once we did lose Dre it was up to us. Me, and my lil’ cousin Kilo fore-fronted the label and it was time for us to take it to another level. We never got side tracked and we knew we had to keep pushing and keep doing just like if Dre was here. Whatever it took to put out another project, or another DVD we just stayed motivated and kept our nose to the grind.
WorldWideConnected.com: Tell me about the upcoming Romper Room films?
The first DVD was released by DJ Vlad and Image Entertainment called “Ghost Ride the Whip” which was about us. It is the story of the “Hyphy Movement” but then it goes into my crew the Romper Room Crew. Also BET just came and filmed us for American Gangster and that will be on TV this November.
WorldWideConnected.com: I love that show! Tell me about BET’s American Gangster, what was that like?
They just came in and got an in depth look at me and my crew with the struggle of the label and everything we went thru from going to jail and coming back. Everything we have been doing has been a chain reaction!
WorldWideConnected.com: Who started the Romper Room?
Actually it was started by my close homeboy “EB” who they called “The Daddy of the Hood.” He was the original guy who started our crew and this back back in ’88-’87.
WorldWideConnected.com: How many people were in the Romper Room Crew?
They had so many articles around saying that there was 50 something members but in all fairness the Romper Room Crew has never been more than about thirteen members. If you listen to the newspapers and the FBI they would say we had over fifty members and all kinds of different stories.
WorldWideConnected.com: How much time did you serve behind the bank robberies?
I did ten years of federal prison straight, my little cousin who is also a CEO of Thizz named Kilo did eight years, and Mac Dre did five years. We are all co-defendants and were all on the same case.
WorldWideConnected.com: It is pretty much in the books then right? You can’t incriminate yourself by talking about can you?
No actually my time has been served and my statute of limitations is pretty much up and I am free to tell my story. That is why we got the movie deals and the book deals coming at us right now. There are other members of my crew that is still fighting cases who can’t be spoke on, but as far as my story and Mac Dre’s story I can pretty much talk about whatever I want to.
WorldWideConnected.com: When you were actively robbin’ banks did you ever think that you would get caught?
No because nobody thinks that they are going to get caught. I thought that I was pretty good at what I did and I thought I was one of the number one bank robbers in northern California. I felt that I had my game tight! You are never thinking you are going to be caught while you are going through the situation and in all fairness to myself it was not because of anything that I did that got myself in trouble. The papers and the magazines said that my crew was pretty good at what we did.
WorldWideConnected.com: How did you get caught?
We had an informant that wore wirings
WorldWideConnected.com: That is usually how it happens too!
Yeah, that’s all it takes for you to get caught up.
WorldWideConnected.com: Everyone who has struggled in life has thought about pulling a big heist or robbing a bank, but not too many actually go through with it. What was going through your mind while you were up in the banks?
All I was thinking about was getting as much as possible.
WorldWideConnected.com: Were the robberies planned out or just sporadic?
Me myself I pretty much planned everything out. I was in control of my whole situation and my whole focus was to get in and get what I needed and get out. I had to make sure my group and whoever was with was on top of their game. It wasn’t no wild bandit shit where we would go in there all crazy. I was pretty sophisticated with everything that I did. We had our shit together and we didn’t go in there playing!
WorldWideConnected.com: What’s amazing is that you were still just a kid! How old were you?
I was 19 years old. I was in the streets just taking the chances. The funny thing is when I finally did get incarcerated I was the suspect in 23 take over bank robberies, but I was never found guilty for none.
WorldWideConnected.com: What were you found guilty of?
I was found guilty of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery. That was me, Dre, and Kilo’s case in 1992. That was the case I was sentenced ten years for.
WorldWideConnected.com: It has to feel so good to have done your time and put that part of your life in the past!
Oh yeah that is the best feeling in the world! For anyone to have done ten years of their life locked up and then to be free is a blessing! Serving ten years and being back on the streets is one thing, but then getting back on the streets and being able to have everything you want in life is another thing. I have been pretty fortunate because I wasn’t expected to get out after ten years and regain control of my life. I’m the president of one of the top record labels in the country and I have a lot going on and this is a good situation for me. I cannot complain at all!
WorldWideConnected.com: It was like a re-birth! This is truly a second chance at life! This is positive because by this label being what it is it is feeding a lot of people!
I have been through it all! It was all a process that I had to go through!
WorldWideConnected.com: When you were serving your time how did it make you feel to see the Bay blow up on the music scene?
It was real good! I laid in there and I watched dude’s who I grew up with like the E-40’s and the Spice-1’s stay on their grind. For ten years I read about all these dudes and watched their videos and that was some of my motivation. My lil homie Mac Mall, and Dubbe and all them were starting their careers while we had to sit back and think “What are we going to do when we get a second chance?” Because a lot of people do not get a second chance especially with a music career! I was fortunate enough to get a second chance but it was just a matter of what I was going to do with it when I got it.
WorldWideConnected.com: After only a year or a few years you become institutionalized, and you served ten straight. When you got out how long did it take for you to get used to the free world again?
It didn’t really take too long because I went through the halfway house situation for a couple of months. While I was in the halfway house all of my family and friends like Kilo, Mac Dre and them was coming to get me and pick me up and take me out and about. It didn’t take me too long to get back into my swag because when you got it you keep it. It is just about getting out and moving around! I was already working on my first album before I was out the halfway house. I already knew what I wanted to do before I returned. I knew I wanted to put out albums and make records and nothing was going to stop me from doing that. That is where my head was at. Immediately upon release I was going to put out records and that is what I did. As soon as I came home I jumped in the studio and got with my crew and I mashed. I also got a video camera and I went around the country and now I’m putting out DVDs too.
WorldWideConnected.com: What do you like making more the film or the music?
Music is definitely my passion but now after being in the DVD game and understanding where it is going it is pretty much taking over because now days the fans want to get more in depth with the music they are listening to. They want to see what you are about and who you are. One of the things we did by creating Treal TV was, give the fans a chance to get inside our lives. They see the cars we drive, the houses we live in, the clubs we hang out at, and who we hang out with. They get a chance to see how we move as individuals instead of just our music. Now they can say “Okay, these dudes really are who they say they are!” That was one of the things that, blossomed our whole label. Right now as we speak I am editing Treal TV 3 which will be out early next year.
WorldWideConnected.com: Do you have any other DVDs coming out?
I got a DVD coming out in November called “All-Star Weekend: Las Vegas” where I took the whole nation out to the all-star game.
WorldWideConnected.com: Was that pretty wild?
Oh yeah it was crazy! Then I got Trill TV 3 droppin in the first quarter of next year. I’m also in negotiation for a book and a movie deal right now to tell the whole story.
WorldWideConnected.com: I also got a DVD called “J-Diggs Presents The Bars Awards.” In the Bay we got our own music awards. This is a DVD with all of the awards show. It is kind of like a Source awards but it was all the Bay Area. I got that coming out also this year. I also got the “Ghost Ridin 101” too. I don’t know if you know or not but I am the first person that jumped on top of a car. I’m the first person that ever did that.
Do you still do that shit man?
WorldWideConnected.com: I haven’t did that in a while but my DVD got me jumping out all by the bridge and shit. I done did all that shit to show you where it came from.
That is like Jackass because that is a stunt! I imagine it is pretty dangerous!
WorldWideConnected.com: It is very dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing.
You are wrong about starting the whole ghost riding thing. Don’t you remember Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf on top of the van?
WorldWideConnected.com: Haha! Yeah! You are right! He was on top of the car riding!
I had to get you on that homie! That was just Hollywood.
WorldWideConnected.com: Are you shopping your story to the major film companies?
Yeah that is where we are at right now!
WorldWideConnected.com: This story is worth a theatrical release because what you have done whether legal or illegal is truly amazing!
It was a hell of a trip but we went through it. It definitely is a story worth reading. A lot of people don’t even know who Mac Dre is, or know who J-Diggs is but they might have heard of us somewhere. I go all over the country and people stop me and ask for pictures and tell me they seen me in a magazine and when I look back to a few years ago when I was sitting in a cell about the size of a bathroom I was fighting to get my life back. To come from that and go through that I can’t even lie because it is a good feeling and a good thing but I have been to the bottom a lot. My home for ten years was actually a bathroom because the head of my bed laid right next to the toilet that I pissed in.
WorldWideConnected.com: It is only right that you are now able to enjoy some of the finer things in life!
Oh yeah! People see me and I got a lot of shit going on. You can youtube me and I got over a hundred videos of some sort on youtube right now. This is a big movement right now and we are not stopping! The mash is not stopping. You can expect to see something real big from Thizz Entertainment in ’09. This year we are really going to make a move!
WorldWideConnected.com: Do you have a solo in the works?
Definitely! My album “J-Diggs.com” is dropping in November. This is a big album for me and right behind that I am going to break a record in the Guiness Book of World Records. I am going to release three full length solo albums on one day.
WorldWideConnected.com: Damn!
This will be in February of ’09 in which I will drop “The Good”, “The Bad” and “The Ugly” all on the same day.
WorldWideConnected.com: That’s some big shit! Thizz keeps raising the bar!
I’m just trying to show these majors that we are on an independent level and we have been doing all of this with independent money so when the majors come to me they gotta come not playin. They can’t come to me saying “Hey, we wanna give you five million.” No! This label has been here and we worked hard and did the ground work and we are worth them double figure millions that is coming our way. Our DVD game, our CD game, our tours! We got bobble heads, Thizz Water, clothing lines! This is all our own ideas! We don’t have no ties with major companies this is just the same dudes that was robbing banks in the 80’s, but we are just doing something else this year.
WorldWideConnected.com: Is there anything else you want to say?
Free the Romper Room Crew! I have been there so I know what they are going through. Keep your heads up because I am living proof that when you get out you can have a second chance at this!
Source: http://www.worldwideconnected.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=711
