WorldwideConnected.com: The first question is pretty obvious... How are you holding up in there?
I’m keeping my head up and I’m trying to make it day by day. It's always something, but what are you gonna do? That’s really what it is, and I figure you just gotta keep moving.
WorldwideConnected.com: I have been listening to you since about 7th grade man. Do you feel that you get your props being that you are one of the coldest on The Mic?
Thank you man! I’m gonna keep smashing! I feel like I already got my props in a bunch of ways because my finger prints have been left in a lot of big places. It makes it easier to tolerate because of that when people don’t say my name in the category that it belongs in. If they say certain people’s names in certain categories then it is cool because they are talking about people that have my finger prints in one way or another, so I could live with that homie.
WorldwideConnected.com: What do you think about the rap game right now?
It's really garbage man! I got this dude named Spontaneous that we are about to put out right now and he is vicious.
WorldwideConnected.com: What is the title of the album?
It is going to be called “X-Raided Spontaneous Combustion Volume One.” It aint no “X-Raided Presents”, or it aint none of that!
WorldwideConnected.com: When will that drop?
I am coming with that probably in May or June. We are going to be on it as quick as possible. The sooner I can get on it the better, but I’m hoping to have it out in May or June. In ’08 you will hear a lot of Raided!
WorldwideConnected.com: Are you doing any recording right now?
For awhile I was a little bit opposed to it because there was a lot of stuff that we were going thru, and I was caught up on wanting my stuff to sound a certain way that wasn’t available for me to accomplish. People would keep saying to “Do it this way, do it that way”, and it just became a real burden for me. Now it is getting to the point where it is becoming real fun for me again.
WorldwideConnected.com: You are good at what you do!
They say it is lonely to be a genius and I feel when it comes to rhyme writing and lyrics that cant nobody beat me, and after awhile it got a little bit boring for me. To get that competitive challenge going it became hard and I ended up having to compete with myself. We got to the point right now to where I am having fun and I want to be able to share that again. I want people to hear my point and we are going to get it to them by what ever avenues we can. I gave it to them grimy on “Exorcist” and they loved so I feel I can give it to them grimy again if we got to.
WorldwideConnected.com: That’s a classic album right there!
If you listen to a lot of people’s flows before that record came out they were flowing a certain way, but if you listen to them after that record came out they was flowing like that.
WorldwideConnected.com: Are there a lot of talented cats in there right now?
Actually my boy Spawn is with me right now and he is coming home on the 5th. Usually I will run into rappers not that often. Usually if I run into rappers who thought that they could rhyme anywhere near me I would be in their face spitting a sixteen. It got boring after awhile because dudes would say “I’mma kill Raided when I see him”, and they would get at me rappin’ like Mase or something. Shit like that would never be good enough to see me. I stopped biting on it but I was in a circle with these cats who was rappin’ and a kid walked up and started spitting who was real talented and I was loving it. For the most part it is king of the hill for Raided! I only met a few people who were good spitters!
WorldwideConnected.com: How long have you been locked up homie?
I have been locked up since 1996. Right before Pac died I hit prison and it was damn near to the day. It was right there when Pac died!
WorldwideConnected.com: When is your projected release date?
August 14th 2014. The goal is to make it happen quicker but it's just a matter of money. It has always been a matter of money. From the perspective of we have to keep paying these lawyers and they are asking for a certain amount of money and you have to provide that, but at the same time you have to make sure that your family is straight. It is just a matter of making difficult decisions and that is what I have been doing. We know what we gotta to do to get what we need and that is what I am doing.
WorldwideConnected.com: I recently talked with C-Murder, and his situation is looking lovely right now!
His situation is real good, and I was glad to hear about that. It is about honoring somebody who came out of a negative situation with a positive outcome. It is easy to get caught up, but it is hard to get out of it man. It was very good to see “C” come out of that with a positive man! Not just him but Pimp C, Cassidy, and Beanie Segal! All of them dues came out of what could have been tragic situations. It is good to see that because it's inspiring!
WorldwideConnected.com: Do you read a lot of law books?
Yeah I am aware of what I need to be aware of but I’m not one of them dudes to where I will let it become something that could ruin my life. There are extremes that you could go thru. You could let it go to the extreme. You could go to the extreme of being overly thinking about what you got to do, and then you could go to the extreme of being to complacent of what you are dealing with and the balance is in the middle. They got niggas running around with their hair down and face all puffed up because they are stressed with that. I respect it because you could be aware of what you do and handle your business, but at the same time you have to maintain as a man and that is where I’m coming from. I got a life in here and I’m living the fullest extent of my experience while handling my business at the same time like my boy Mac Dre did. I got a letter from Mac Dre around the time he was about to get out himself and he told me to keep my head up. I always remembered how dude stayed on the grind while he handled his situation and then he came out of that and it was beautiful to see him achieve different things, but it was so tragic to lose him.
WorldwideConnected.com: He was an Icon!
Yeah! I remembered rolling around listening to Dre before I ever hit the studio. It was one of them things to where you felt that it was somebody that belonged to you in a way. Everybody felt that loss!
WorldwideConnected.com: Will you drop another solo album in the future?
What I’m looking at right now is if I can do it the way that I could be satisfied with then I am willing to do it. We got a couple different avenues and I am willing to do it, but I really don’t know right now. I want to, but come June everybody will hear a lot of Raided! There is going to be a lot of Raided this Summer.
WorldwideConnected.com: What is going to be one of the first things that you do when you do touch down?
Man, I’m gonna snatch my Wife and bounce! I’m gonna be barricaded somewhere trying to break my back, haha! Naw, I’m just gonna be with my Wife and Family and go somewhere nice and enjoy everything. It is going to be a real critical situation because honest to god I am coming to take everything. Everybody needs to mark my words because lyrically I can do it. I will get down and make it happen!
WorldwideConnected.com: I’m sure you have been keeping current with what is going on in the world right now and shit is really fucked up! Where do you think we as a whole is headed in the next five to ten years?
Ah man that is a good question! It is fucked up but honestly I think the world has been fucked up and it aint nothing new. I think really what we are dealing with is that we got more media out there. I think we got more ways for people to become aware of fucked up situations. We just talk about it more which is a good thing because solutions come out of conversations. It is good for people to discuss everything but we were fucked from the start. When Adam and Eve got it crackin’ it was all bad after that! I think we just have to persevere. A negative situation is an opportunity to show how strong the human spirit is. Since shit ios so fucked up right now I think we are headed to a beautiful place with in the next five to ten years. It is an opportunity for someone to step up and show everyone what the human spirit is all about. That is what Martin, and Malcom did in the 60’s. People probably didn’t see a clearer day coming because they were hanging black folks and it was all bad. Women couldn’t vote and the next thing you know you got Malcom, Martin, Kennedy and all these people who stoodf up and said “Fuck that!” dead. They stood up for us and now women can vote and blacks aint under the same kind of persecution they were under back then. The new years of ‘08m is the “National Fuck That Day.”
WorldwideConnected.com: Real talk!
Hey homie I’m real short on time and have to go.
WorldwideConnected.com: Is there anything you want to say to end it bro?
I want to say much love and respect for all the support thru out the years. Be on the look out for Spontaneous Combustion Volume One.
I’m keeping my head up and I’m trying to make it day by day. It's always something, but what are you gonna do? That’s really what it is, and I figure you just gotta keep moving.
WorldwideConnected.com: I have been listening to you since about 7th grade man. Do you feel that you get your props being that you are one of the coldest on The Mic?
Thank you man! I’m gonna keep smashing! I feel like I already got my props in a bunch of ways because my finger prints have been left in a lot of big places. It makes it easier to tolerate because of that when people don’t say my name in the category that it belongs in. If they say certain people’s names in certain categories then it is cool because they are talking about people that have my finger prints in one way or another, so I could live with that homie.
WorldwideConnected.com: What do you think about the rap game right now?
It's really garbage man! I got this dude named Spontaneous that we are about to put out right now and he is vicious.
WorldwideConnected.com: What is the title of the album?
It is going to be called “X-Raided Spontaneous Combustion Volume One.” It aint no “X-Raided Presents”, or it aint none of that!
WorldwideConnected.com: When will that drop?
I am coming with that probably in May or June. We are going to be on it as quick as possible. The sooner I can get on it the better, but I’m hoping to have it out in May or June. In ’08 you will hear a lot of Raided!
WorldwideConnected.com: Are you doing any recording right now?
For awhile I was a little bit opposed to it because there was a lot of stuff that we were going thru, and I was caught up on wanting my stuff to sound a certain way that wasn’t available for me to accomplish. People would keep saying to “Do it this way, do it that way”, and it just became a real burden for me. Now it is getting to the point where it is becoming real fun for me again.
WorldwideConnected.com: You are good at what you do!
They say it is lonely to be a genius and I feel when it comes to rhyme writing and lyrics that cant nobody beat me, and after awhile it got a little bit boring for me. To get that competitive challenge going it became hard and I ended up having to compete with myself. We got to the point right now to where I am having fun and I want to be able to share that again. I want people to hear my point and we are going to get it to them by what ever avenues we can. I gave it to them grimy on “Exorcist” and they loved so I feel I can give it to them grimy again if we got to.
WorldwideConnected.com: That’s a classic album right there!
If you listen to a lot of people’s flows before that record came out they were flowing a certain way, but if you listen to them after that record came out they was flowing like that.
WorldwideConnected.com: Are there a lot of talented cats in there right now?
Actually my boy Spawn is with me right now and he is coming home on the 5th. Usually I will run into rappers not that often. Usually if I run into rappers who thought that they could rhyme anywhere near me I would be in their face spitting a sixteen. It got boring after awhile because dudes would say “I’mma kill Raided when I see him”, and they would get at me rappin’ like Mase or something. Shit like that would never be good enough to see me. I stopped biting on it but I was in a circle with these cats who was rappin’ and a kid walked up and started spitting who was real talented and I was loving it. For the most part it is king of the hill for Raided! I only met a few people who were good spitters!
WorldwideConnected.com: How long have you been locked up homie?
I have been locked up since 1996. Right before Pac died I hit prison and it was damn near to the day. It was right there when Pac died!
WorldwideConnected.com: When is your projected release date?
August 14th 2014. The goal is to make it happen quicker but it's just a matter of money. It has always been a matter of money. From the perspective of we have to keep paying these lawyers and they are asking for a certain amount of money and you have to provide that, but at the same time you have to make sure that your family is straight. It is just a matter of making difficult decisions and that is what I have been doing. We know what we gotta to do to get what we need and that is what I am doing.
WorldwideConnected.com: I recently talked with C-Murder, and his situation is looking lovely right now!
His situation is real good, and I was glad to hear about that. It is about honoring somebody who came out of a negative situation with a positive outcome. It is easy to get caught up, but it is hard to get out of it man. It was very good to see “C” come out of that with a positive man! Not just him but Pimp C, Cassidy, and Beanie Segal! All of them dues came out of what could have been tragic situations. It is good to see that because it's inspiring!
WorldwideConnected.com: Do you read a lot of law books?
Yeah I am aware of what I need to be aware of but I’m not one of them dudes to where I will let it become something that could ruin my life. There are extremes that you could go thru. You could let it go to the extreme. You could go to the extreme of being overly thinking about what you got to do, and then you could go to the extreme of being to complacent of what you are dealing with and the balance is in the middle. They got niggas running around with their hair down and face all puffed up because they are stressed with that. I respect it because you could be aware of what you do and handle your business, but at the same time you have to maintain as a man and that is where I’m coming from. I got a life in here and I’m living the fullest extent of my experience while handling my business at the same time like my boy Mac Dre did. I got a letter from Mac Dre around the time he was about to get out himself and he told me to keep my head up. I always remembered how dude stayed on the grind while he handled his situation and then he came out of that and it was beautiful to see him achieve different things, but it was so tragic to lose him.
WorldwideConnected.com: He was an Icon!
Yeah! I remembered rolling around listening to Dre before I ever hit the studio. It was one of them things to where you felt that it was somebody that belonged to you in a way. Everybody felt that loss!
WorldwideConnected.com: Will you drop another solo album in the future?
What I’m looking at right now is if I can do it the way that I could be satisfied with then I am willing to do it. We got a couple different avenues and I am willing to do it, but I really don’t know right now. I want to, but come June everybody will hear a lot of Raided! There is going to be a lot of Raided this Summer.
WorldwideConnected.com: What is going to be one of the first things that you do when you do touch down?
Man, I’m gonna snatch my Wife and bounce! I’m gonna be barricaded somewhere trying to break my back, haha! Naw, I’m just gonna be with my Wife and Family and go somewhere nice and enjoy everything. It is going to be a real critical situation because honest to god I am coming to take everything. Everybody needs to mark my words because lyrically I can do it. I will get down and make it happen!
WorldwideConnected.com: I’m sure you have been keeping current with what is going on in the world right now and shit is really fucked up! Where do you think we as a whole is headed in the next five to ten years?
Ah man that is a good question! It is fucked up but honestly I think the world has been fucked up and it aint nothing new. I think really what we are dealing with is that we got more media out there. I think we got more ways for people to become aware of fucked up situations. We just talk about it more which is a good thing because solutions come out of conversations. It is good for people to discuss everything but we were fucked from the start. When Adam and Eve got it crackin’ it was all bad after that! I think we just have to persevere. A negative situation is an opportunity to show how strong the human spirit is. Since shit ios so fucked up right now I think we are headed to a beautiful place with in the next five to ten years. It is an opportunity for someone to step up and show everyone what the human spirit is all about. That is what Martin, and Malcom did in the 60’s. People probably didn’t see a clearer day coming because they were hanging black folks and it was all bad. Women couldn’t vote and the next thing you know you got Malcom, Martin, Kennedy and all these people who stoodf up and said “Fuck that!” dead. They stood up for us and now women can vote and blacks aint under the same kind of persecution they were under back then. The new years of ‘08m is the “National Fuck That Day.”
WorldwideConnected.com: Real talk!
Hey homie I’m real short on time and have to go.
WorldwideConnected.com: Is there anything you want to say to end it bro?
I want to say much love and respect for all the support thru out the years. Be on the look out for Spontaneous Combustion Volume One.