Questions asked by: Lunatic 63 

We’re here with Ludeboi, how you feeling homie?

I’m feeling really inspired, you know what I mean? I feel like the west coast has a lot going on and there is a lot of grinding to do; got a lot of stuff coming out soon with my people’s that I’m really excited about.

No doubt. To start off tell us about how you hooked up with Blu Division?

That’s an easy one; I hooked up with Quiz around 2001 because we went to school together - he is like my buddy outside of music. I met Conflict in 2004 on some music stuff on a mixtape, so I’ve known them both since before they were in Blu Division; so when that situation came about (Blu Division) they hooked it up. I was in a group by the name of “The Home Team” and we broke up and decided to go solo – when that happened everything was ready to fall into place and I was already cool with almost the entire camp; Glasses (Malone) was the only one I wasn’t close with but I have grown close with him over the last few years; this is the camp and these are the people I hang out with so this is my family outside of music.

It’s always important to be close with those in your own camp. Regarding the “Lude Awakening” EP, has a concrete date been decided on for it?

I was going to drop it in March but decided to add a few more tracks to it; it’s just an EP with about 6 songs and I figured I’d make it a fully personal project. With every song, the listener will feel closer to me as a person and more as an artist. “Lude Awakening” may drop around the end of April because it is getting mixed down right now. It’s about 95% done so we might just promote it for about a month and then drop it.

Will the music on it be tagged or will it be left untouched?

We are trying to put it out pure tag free; it’s just six tracks with an intro and make a few skits and outro. So that’s about 6-7 songs I drop with it and I don’t want to make it feel like a mixtape; it’s just my six songs and that’s what you’re going to get with it. I’m also dropping a mixtape by the name of “Inglewood Resident” and that is a project for me to get together with all the artists from Inglewood like 211 and other cats from Inglewood; I am going to make it a solely Inglewood project; that’ll probably be done in mixtape format with a DJ hosting it – for my EP however I just want it to be in album format with not too much going on outside the music.

I feel that. Who is on the mixtape?

Chaz is on it, he is a young dude from the “West Coast Mafia” camp and I’ve known him since he was in diapers (laughs); I met him when he was about three years old. He is one of my best friend’s nephews and when he got of age and started doing his thing it was automatic for us to hook up with him; of course I have Quiz and Conflict on it as well.

Tell us about the Conflict produced record “Betta Know.”

Well Blu Division are my family and friends and I talk to them and see them everyday; we do stuff outside of music like go to the movies and stuff – so they are there when I’m making music and vice versa so of course I am going to do tracks with them. “Betta Know” is actually the last record I did for the EP and I was done with it and wasn’t planning on adding anything else to it. Con (Conflict) wanted to drop something so he came into the studio and made a beat and I had to record over it. I felt like it was different and dope so I had to throw it on there.

Is Conflict the only producer on the EP then?

It’s not all Conflict. I have Sega on there; he did that new Quiz single. Sega did two tracks on the EP; the first being “Ain’t Coming Back.” That is a real personal record I did about stuff I was going through with family and he did that track. He also did what may be the next single entitled “Inglewood Resident.” I also have 20/20 on there who is one of Blu Division’s main engineers; we record at his studio all the time and he’s done a lot of tracks with Quiz. That is all the producers I have on it; it’s all in-camp stuff.

You are also working on a duo project with Conflict, is that correct?

Yes it is.

Tell us about that.

Conflict and Quiz are doing one as well I believe. Conflict is around us all the time so it’s natural for us to do a mixtape together. That project should be out late this year or early next year at the very latest. Before that mixtape we are dropping another one by me, Conflict and Frat House from Long Beach; we are doing a mixtape together and we are trying to drop it this summer. We are mixing the first record for it now which is produced by Meech Wells and is titled “Ride With Me.” It is a pretty hot record that is finished and being mixed down right now.  We will probably premiere that one within the next week; it’s a pretty cool record.

Conflict is also working on a mixtape that should be out around April or May. It is called “Crack Kills” and is hosted by Devi Dev of K-Day radio; she’s on 93.5. She is hosting that and I am featured on that project. That is the next Blu Division project aside from the “Gangsters Don’t Dance” mixtape. Look out for that dropping soon, around April. He doesn’t have a lot of features on it; just me, Glasses Malone, Quiz, and another artist by the name of Trouble. So look for that really soon.

That sound very dope. Are their any other projects worth mentioning at this time?

We are dropping a Blu Division project called “Gangsters Don’t Dance.” It’s pretty much us taking snap music and putting lyricism on them. I don’t want to say that the snap tracks are not “real songs” but we are really rapping over them; we did a record over the “Lean With It, Rock With It” beat and also one on the Mike Jones “Drop And Gimme 50” and also that Lil Mama track. We are taking dance solos and putting rap over it and are really trying to do something new with it.

Do you think that a lack of lyricism is a problem in mainstream Hip-Hop right now?

Yeah I think that is a real issue right now. Hip-Hop is falling into that and I don’t want to say it’s a bad thing altogether. I think it is a genre of Hip-Hop and there are multiple genres surrounding rap; dance music has its place but we are trying to make more of a Hip-Hop feel out of these dance records. I feel like dance rap has taken over Hip-Hop over the last few years and there is less rapping involved. Again, it’s not a bad thing per say but I do feel like lyrics should always have the forefront and then perhaps dance second and so on.

I feel that. Now you have mentioned about 3-4 different projects in this interview alone, how important do you think it is as an artist to constantly keep your name in the ear of the public?

It is really important for me. Everything I do is an introduction to new peers and it’s important for me to do collaborations as well; when you hook up with other artists you gain new fans from they’re fan base; it is really important for me to touch a lot of people and you can’t do that with one project. There is only a certain amount of people who may get to hear one project and a whole different group of people may hear another one; that is why I am trying to flood the game with a lot of music.

I completely agree with that. How do you feel about the current state of the west coast right now?

I feel like it’s on a big rise right now. Glasses Malone is heading us in the right direction and then you have people like Mistah FAB and a bunch of others; there are so many people on the verge or are already out here making big moves – that is why I feel the west coast is going to blow up once again around next year; next year is going to be the year of the west coast. Not to say that it’s already not, but we are coming back in a big way. It’s been about a decade since we were really on top so now to see Problem coming out making moves and a lot of others getting the opportunity right now and I think it is only going to get better.

Why do you think the south gets so much love right now than the west coast?

I think there is a big difference between the south and the west coast right now; the south has some major radio stations and they have a lot more outlets that support them. Here in the west we do have some big radio stations but our stations support the other coasts; they’ll play more south or east coast records. For us to make a bigger impact we have to reach out to our own community and get our own market under control – radio is a big one that we have to start touching first. We are starting to see a change by hearing more west coast artists on the radio such as Glasses Malone, Problem, Jay Rock, Bangloose and so on, so it’s going in the right direction. We just have to continue to let it grow and radio is a big outlet that we have to get back.

I am totally with you on that. Are we going to get to hear you on “The Beach Cruiser” album?

Nope, I am not on “The Beach Cruiser.” I actually don’t think any Blu Division artists appear on the album because people want to hear rappers on it who they are fully familiar with; Malone has more mainstream artists on there because that is what he is focusing on. He has people like Lil Wayne, Mack 10, Mistah FAB and other west coast artists that the mainstream is familiar with. Blu Division has its name out there but we don’t have that nationwide exposure like a Lil Wayne has. I have heard the album and I am very excited for the rest of the world to hear it – it is an automatic classic and I am not just saying that because I know Glasses. If I didn’t know him “Beach Cruiser” would still be a big CD for me because he put in a lot of work into it. It doesn’t have a basic CD format; it has a story to it all and the features came together in a way were it is something to look forward to. It is something the west coast hasn’t done yet and after he does it, you are going to see a lot of people trying to do what “The Beach Cruiser” is going to do.

Now you might be the wrong person to ask, but do you know what the official date for the album is?

I am the wrong person to ask (laughs). I don’t want to say anything about it, but I do know it was suppose to come out in April and got pushed back; now I am hearing a June release date – nothing official, but sometime this summer.

I can’t wait. When you are choosing a beat to rap over, what do you look for exactly?

I look for something that I feel fits me. If I can hear myself on it foremost; before I write anything I imagine myself making the song. I need to able to hear a Ludeboi song out of it before I actually record it. I am out here in Inglewood but I am not a gangster rapper. I don’t rep the bloods or the crips or anything like that. The most hood song I’ve ever done is the “Betta Know” record with Conflict and that song is pretty hood as far as hood songs go (laughs). When you hear this EP, it is not overly hood or anything like that - it is more lyrical and personal. When I hear a beat, it has to have more of a Hip-Hop feel to it.  I am not really into making songs just for the heck of it, so it has to be something I can really see myself making a record over. I have to feel like I can tell a story over the beat because that’s what I do; I tell a story with my lyrics.

You mention not being a gangster rapper; do you think west coast artists too often get stereotyped with the gangster image?

I think so, but I don’t think it’s a bad stereotype. We are the west coast, we invented gangster rap as far as that goes. Before the west coast, there was no such thing as gangster rap. West coast rap is mentioned with gangster rap automatically because it is what we do for the most part. However, everything does change at some point and I think that the new west artists aren’t really focused on making gangsta rap music. I feel like a lot of artists get caught up in that and they don’t do gangster stuff. On the other hand there are a lot of gangster rappers out here that actually gang bang and do the music which is appropriate for them to make. Outside of that, I think that new west artists such as Problem and Mykestro are currently proving that you can be from the west coast and not be a gangster rapper. We are not all gang bangers and that is no longer the only music coming out of the west coast right now; it’s more mixed.

That is the business. Do you have any last words for the fans before I let you go?

Let everyone know that I feel really proud about this EP. The only thing I want the fans to know is that when they hear it I want them to understand it is really me; like that “Ain’t Coming Back” song is about stuff I’ve really been through, on the real. “Inglewood Resident” is about how I feel about me being from Inglewood and not being a gangster rapper and me trying to fit in the west coast while not being a crip or blood. I want people to know about the EP when it drops and for them to see its 100% me and multiple aspects of me at that.

Comments (4)

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written by Chris, April 19, 2008

I come to this site everyday awaiting the next interview and you never dissapoint.

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written by Lunatic 63, April 20, 2008

i can't tell u how much i appreciate that chris! u won't be disappointed anytime soon as i have another 7 interviews completed which are just waiting on time to get up...plus i have another 13-14 already planned at this very moment..props!

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written by HOMEGROWNRADIO.NET || HOSTED BY CHuCK DiZZLE, April 23, 2008

Shouts out to ya LUDE...u makin ya way homie! Keep that good music poppin!

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written by yunwest23, April 27, 2008

checc out my music on myspace

http://www.myspace.com/yunwest23

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