Styles: Tell us about yourself. Where did you grow up? Give us the basics on Conflict.

Conflict: I was born in Los Angeles and grew up on 8^th Avenue over there off of Crenshaw and Slauson. Later on I moved to Hawthorne and went to school at Hawthorne High. I started rapping in about 2001. I used to just play around with it in High School and never took it really serious. My first love was Football.

Styles: What position did you play?

Conflict: I played wide-out and cornerback.

Styles: Were you any good?

Conflict: I was real good. I did my thing. What changed all of that was when I tore my ACL playing football. That is a pain that I wouldn’t wish upon anybody. I was running with the ball and I planted with my right leg, and as I planted my foot stayed in the ground – my bodyweight shifted and my knee just snapped.

Styles: Ouch! Was this during a game or practice?

Conflict: It was at practice. I knew I always had a love for music but I was juggling the two. It was like, “Do I want to play Football or do this music?” The injury made my decision for me. It led me to the path where I needed to be.

Styles: So what was your real starting point in the rap game after the injury?

Conflict: I started in a group called The Untouchables. It was me and 4 of my friends. We would bounce around to studios – paying for tracks and studio time. It never was too serious. We eventually broke up and went our separate ways. We are all still friends to this day. When you are in a group, everybody has to be on one accord.

Styles: Was it a bad break up? Or was it a cool mutual parting?

Conflict: It was kind of a mutual thing. It wasn’t really a bad break up. Some just grew out of rapping and some are still pursuing it. One of my closest pals, he was in the group and he still raps – we still do a lot of business together. The other ones from the group still support me also.

Styles: Honestly, how talented were you at that point?

Conflict: At that point I wasn’t ready at all. [Laughs] Not at all! From what others say, they saw potential but of course back then when you are doing it, you feel that you are big stuff. Now that I listen back to some of my old music, I realize that I’ve come a long way. Back then I started to get in to production also because sometimes you can’t pay for tracks. You’ve got to have music in order to record and so I got myself a little computer and taught myself how to make tracks. I had a mentor by the name of Kenny Smith. He is a Grammy Award winner and I would sit in the studio watch how he operated.

Styles: Wow, so you had a good mentor teaching you. How did you hook that up?

Conflict: Honestly, I don’t know.

Styles: You just walked in to a studio and started kickin’ it with him?

Conflict: Yeah. I somehow developed a friendship and he would just let me sit in the studio. I’m like a sponge – If I don’t know something then I will find a way to figure it out. I would just sit back and watch him work on the MPC and mix tracks down. It was amazing to me how powerful his ear was musically, how he would take certain tracks to certain places and direct his client on what they should do vocally. Music became a love for me at that point.

Styles: When did you come across the Blu Division camp?

Conflict: I was out pushing my CD’s and creating a nice little name and one day I came across a website called Clubmix.com or something like that. That’s how I met Pooh [G. Malone’s brother & manager]. I always used to see him online because that’s where people go to see where the parties were at. I met Pooh at a studio not knowing that it was the same Pooh, and that was around the time that Glasses dropped the White Lightening mixtape. He was playing Glasses music and I thought that it was dope. I played my music and Pooh liked it. From then on me and Pooh became close and he introduced me to Glasses at one of his shows. It kind of went from there. It was a slow process because we were all still trying to get to know one another. I started hanging around and became a member of Pooh’s Firing Squad Entertainment. The next thing you know I was introduced in to Blu Division.

Styles: Was there something that you had to do to prove yourself?

Conflict: Yeah. Dealing with Pooh and Glasses, they want to see what your hustle is like first. They are not just going to let anybody walk on in. I had to really show and prove that I was capable of standing alone as an artist within what they were doing as a camp. I believed in Blu Division being a strong movement even before the point that it has gotten to now. It just kind of happened and came together really.

Styles: Let’s talk about the Monsters InK. Your first song “Fly” has an infectious beat going, but as it goes on, it was on you to keep it’s momentum going. A good beat will only get you so far before people decide that the song is only good because of it’s beat – and not the artist. Tell us about the writing of that song.

Conflict: First off, I want to shout out LB Fitted for the track. Honestly when Glasses brought the beat to me, I had wrecked my brain on what I wanted to do with it. I wanted it to be something very creative and different yet not too far off. I decided that I should write a song about being fly.

Styles: You are writing about being fly over a horror sample. I was puzzled about that at first because the theme of the mixtape is sort of dark and here you are rapping about being a fly dude.

Conflict: I just felt that the mixtape needed something like that. A lot of the other songs were real dark. When I first heard the track it was real “bright” to me. I figured that I would put a little spin on it and commercialize it a little bit. When I first started writing the song, I was actually writing about something else but it just kept bothering me. I had the hook already in my head and was kind of iffy about it. I just said “what the hell” and did it because you should always trust your instincts.

Styles: You didn’t like the hook? That hook is one of the strong points of the song.

Conflict: I was real iffy about it to be honest. Usually in my writing process, the things that bother me are the things that I should actually do – and they just stay upon me. It kind of sounded cheesy to me at first until I laid it down in the booth. I got to listen back to it and figured that I might have something here. I knocked it out and played it for Glasses and them and they loved it.

Styles: You did one outstanding song but doing another great track is another story. When I heard the beat I also knew that your writing was going to have to stand on it’s own for this 2^nd song. The beat was cool and his it’s moments but it wasn’t as strong as the Fly instrumental. You were able to deliver everything on that song though from the lyrics to the correct pitching of your voice to match the music.

Conflict: Being in the studio and working behind the mic is so different than just rapping in the street. Some people don’t know how to sound on a record or exactly know how to approach a record. That goes back to my mentor Kenny Smith. He used to always tell me, “You don’t just get a track and start rapping. You have to listen to how the track moves you. You have to trust yourself to how the track moves you and then you need to take it in that direction.” Whatever energy that you bring inside of the recording booth, your audience is going to receive also. Just taking that advice and working on it over the years trying to get my craft right, that has got me to the point to where I know how to approach a record and know how I want to sound.

Styles: Those songs were crafted well and skillfully prepared. That’s another skill in itself. You didn’t have any help writing those two songs?

Conflict: That’s all me. I had the room and space to do what I wanted on the records. I guess it just goes back to studying the greats and trying to learn what makes them great. What is it about each and every artist that people take to? I study the great artists and what makes them successful musically. I notice that with Jay-Z for instance, it’s his delivery. It’s not just what he’s saying but mostly how he delivers. All of the greats, they know where there lane is and they stay there. That’s what I try to do myself.

Styles: What’s next for you after Monsters InK?

Conflict: I have the Crack Kills Mixtape that is hosted by Devi Dev. She came through and did her thing. There are about 30 songs on there with skits. It’s funny and it’s good music, I had a great time doing it. I also have a new mixtape with DJ Raze One coming out called “The Remedy.” There is another one that I did with Stage that is coming out in November which is called “From L.A. To the I.E.” Then after that we have the Blu D Gang Mixtape. That is going to be hosted by DJ Raze One and DJ Nik Bean. Then I will be preparing my “I Am Legend” street album in December. I am also working on some stuff with producer Dae One right now. You can also look out for me on Mykestro’s new mixtape that is coming out. The Gangsters Don’t Dance mixtape is coming soon and I will be on that as well. I’m just busy. There are a lot of things – including the Cash Money mixtape that we are working on too. I’ve been low key for a minute now but I feel that now is the time to actually solidify my spot.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO CONFLICT'S NEW SONG: OUT FOR THE MONEY

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