DJ Muggs has always been the musical genius behind Cypress Hill with great acclaim from critics and fans alike. But three years ago when he released his solo project, Soul Assassins, he really opened the ears of everyone as to how great of a producer he really is. Now in the year 2000 the streets have been begging Muggs to make a follow up to that classic project and that he has done. Riding high on the outstanding success of Cypress Hill, Muggs is set to drop Soul Assassins 2, and he sat down to tell me all about it.

JC: Do you look at the production you do for Cypress Hill and Soul Assassins as different states of mind?

Muggs: Yeah, it's definitely got to be different. Soul Assassins is a release. Things I really can't touch on with Cypress Hill. That's my Hip-Hop roots. Where I come from. What I do. Cypress, I let Cypress grow into what it needed to grow into naturally. I tried to prevent Cypress from turning into more of a band, a group in just Hip-Hop. But Cypress is bigger than Hip-Hop. Cypress Hill is a group. You know I tried for a while to harness it and hold it, just keep it in Hip-Hop. But I realized one day you gotta let this kid grow man. It's a worldwide phenomenon. Now it is what it is. Which is great. Now I have an understanding of what it is and why it happened to be like that, so now Soul Assassins is just my Hip-Hop shit.

JC: Speaking of Cypress Hill, you know you can almost say it's a Rock group because you guys are on that status, do you feel that you get the same amount of love on the Soul Assassins project? Have you been able to hit that same crowd with this project?

Muggs: I'm not even focusing on that crowd. See my original intentions for Cypress always was not to just be a Hip-Hop band. That's why I always took the visuals and put my visuals like a Led Zeppelin because I always felt Cypress could great like a Led Zeppelin or like the Doors or like the Rolling Stones, and that's always the vision I had for Cypress. So for it to be going in that direction now is great. But this album hits a whole other market than kids that listen to records like that. This album is just hitting the straight Hip-Hop kids. From the Fat Beats market to the Mobb Deep fans. A lot of them kids still love Cypress but a lot of times Cypress went so much further and beyond what them kids want to stay what they consider themselves to stay true to, you know what I'm saying. And whether it's closed minded or whether that's just your flavor, whatever you want to call it. So you gotta let it flow.

JC: So on this album are bringing out more new people like on the last one how you brought out La Tha Darkman and Infamous Mobb?

Muggs: We brought out Infamous Mobb, La Tha Darkman, and we brought out Call O' Da Wild. This album is 50/50. I'm not gonna go just try to fuckin' pay major acts to be on my album. People are like why didn't you get Jay-Z, because I don't know Jay-Z and Jay-Z's going to charge me 75 grand to do a fuckin' song. And plus I don't think my style would work with what Jay-Z is trying to accomplish in his career. So I definitely wanted to bring all new acts out. And even the major acts I touched on were still underground major acts. Like GZA and a Kool G Rap.

JC: So Kool G Rap is on the next album?

Muggs: Kool G Rap is on the album. Xzibit is still underground. You know he's a major act but he's still underground. And a lot of the new acts is like Dilated People's, Infamous Mobb returns, Self Scientific, Ras Kass. I got Kurupt from the Dogg Pound but I took him into a whole other realm and a whole other element. I brung him into my world. We got Hostyle from Screwball. Then we got the other cats I mentioned, the bigger name cats. Cypress, Goodie Mob again.

JC: In this album how did you change the production? How did you go about looking at this one as opposed to the first one?

Muggs: The production is just more updated for what the times are right now. But the production is still smoked out, dark, night time and murky. That's how I like it. I kept it consistent again, a consistent flow on the album of the production style. But this time I let Alchemist produce two songs on it.

JC: So you are still down with Alchemist because you did a project with him a few years back on the Buc Fifty single.

Muggs: Oh yeah that's my brother man, he's family. We kick it all the time. He was just on tour with me for a month and I got him doing a couple songs on this album. That's part of the crew man.

JC: You guys definitely fit well together because your production rides the same line.

Muggs: Yeah we feed off of each other. We inspire and influence each other so it's all good.

JC: As far as sampling goes, I know you pull a lot of really obscure samples that you work well with, what are your feelings on sampling this day in age?

Muggs: I love sampling. I think it's an art from. Even people who sampling hits it's cool. Whatever you choose to do it's all good. The way I try to do it is I choose to make a collage out of samples. You know take a bunch of pieces from a bunch of different things and mix them up and turn them into my own creation. But however you choose to do it, it's all good. I don't care if you take a fuckin' hit record and that's how you want to do it. I just like to keep moving and keep it interesting and bring something to this Rap game and add to the game and keep it creative and keep it moving instead of sucking from it and staling it up, you know what I mean. You gotta dig deeper and add to the game and bring something new to it, keep it flowing.

JC: So what do you use as your influences then when you are digging deeper?

Muggs: When I buy records I buy obscure records. I don't fuck with Jazz, Funk, Soul or nothing. I just look for the weirdest 29 cent records. I'm not even trying to go buy the 300 dollar record. I just buy weird shit.

JC: So how often do you record shop?

Muggs: Lately I've been a lot. This tour me and Al went a good 15 times in 30 days. But sometimes I won't be able to get out to a shop. You know I got enough records to last me a while and go through them. Other times I will just start hitting it a couple days a week.

JC: Do you find it hard to sit down and listen to all these records?

Muggs: It gets boring sometimes. I go through fazes where I just don't want to listen to records no more, so I bring in musicians and I do records live. But you go through fazes man. Especially me, I've been making records for 12 years. There was a time when I didn't go record shopping for a year and a half. I just got bored. But right around the time after the Cypress album I just started going record shopping every day and I just wanted to make beats and that's all I did everyday. That's what came out of this album.

JC: Doing production for 12 years have you found it to become easier or is it still the same challenge every time?

Muggs: I think it's easier. Like now I just go in and make two or three beats a day. Back then I would make like two a week.

JC: When you get with these different artists to they request that I want this certain style beat or do you make up a beat that fits that artist?

Muggs: For this album I knew what I wanted for the album overall, so each artist would come in and a few I had a track in mind that they liked and other ones I had a track in mind that wasn't you know. So I played them three or four tracks and let them pick. But out of the three or four they found something they loved as well as I loved. So it didn't really matter. Because they definitely got to be feeling it 100% to it if I want it to come off they way I want it to come off. I played Xzibit maybe 30 tracks and then he found one. And I was like "are you sure." And it came out banging.

JC: Out of all the artists you have worked with, who has been your favorite?

Muggs: I can't say man. There are so many bad muthafucka's that just add life to your beat. I can't even say, there are too many I like.

JC: Who are the artists that you have wanted to work with but haven't had a chance?

Muggs: Rap wise there hasn't been nobody. I think I've worked with everybody that I really wanted to work with as far as rappers. I more of the type of cat where I like developing acts more so than go try to jump on somebody's platinum album. I would rather fuck with underground new groups and the underdog then just trying to jump on Jay-Z album or DMX album, LL Cool J. The album is still going platinum no matter who the fuck did anything on the record.

JC: I agree, because in my mind you basically brought MC Eiht back from being stagnate.

Muggs: If I would have done MC Eiht's album I would bring MC Eiht back. I would take Alchemist and we would bring MC Eiht and he would have one of the hottest albums out on the street. But he chooses the direction to go and where he chooses to go. If we had time to go do an album. There are few muthafucka's I would love to just take and just say come on man.

JC: So is there anybody right now that you are working with to do a full complete album with?

Muggs: There's a few people that I'm talking with right now but right now I'm just getting this album out there. And Cypress is keeping me really busy and doing a bunch of other side things. Did some stuff with the Goodie Mob. Some stuff with Infamous Mob. Probably fuck with G Rap and I just did some stuff with Snoop. I just did some stuff Kurupt's album.

JC: That's great to see you putting in work for these people after Rap was kind of stale for a while the last few years. It's good to see another Soul Assassins project come out.

Muggs: The word on the streets this is the hottest shit coming out right now. And this ain't me speaking. This is what I'm hearing from people that got there album. You know influential people who their voice would matter in Hip-Hop. I got a good label behind it now. It's an independent label but it's getting the marketing and the promotion that I want. Not where it's just a big label giving me money and they don't know what the fuck to do with it.

JC: So is that why you switched from Columbia to this one?

Muggs: Yeah. Columbia is good for people that are major acts that are going to go straight to radio and are going to be very pop orientated groups whether it be Hip-Hop, Rock or Soul. And I'm up there fucking Wyclef, Lauryn Hill, Maxwell and Jermaine Dupri, my album just don't fit in that category. I need like that grass roots approach to marketing and promotion which I got a commitment from this label. So I took ten times less money just to get a marketing and promotion commitment. Because there is nothing worse then putting your heart into a record and then it's not getting out there the correct way.

JC: Do you feel the last one didn't live up to your expectations as far as the way it was promoted?

Muggs: I wasn't happy with it at all man. I wasn't happy with the marketing and promotion at all. So I ain't fucking with Columbia no more. They wanted to do another one and I was like naw I'm not going to do it.

JC: Now there has been a lot of new technology out via the Internet and online trading of MP3's and Napster is the biggest news about and Cypress Hill is obviously supporting because you are on the free tour Napster is sponsoring. What are feelings on it now after the whole court battle they just went through?

Muggs: The tour for me was to go do shows for fans that have seen Cypress for free. And a chance to let 14 year old kids who don't know who the fuck we was and the impact we made on music they was four or five years old when we came out. They don't know the impact we made on this music game and the Hip-Hop world and how we changed it. So it was a chance for us to go and touch them. I don't give a fuck what Napster does. All I know is that I don't think it's really affecting artists because I'm selling as many records as I ever had, number one. Number two it's brand new technology and it is the Wild West and within a years time there's going to be laws for everything. Just like sampling was brand new and they were worried about VHS and you can record it at home. They were worried when cassettes came out. That ain't hurt nothing. Napster ain't hurting nothing. There is going to be laws for it in a minute. It's brand new technology. There's going to be more things coming up on the Internet and people won't know what to do. You know I'm not tripping. I already heard Napster is about to turn into an MP3 download. So it's going to be a legit business. And Napster's name is so fucking big if you want an MP3 download where are you going to go, Napster. They've been on every fucking magazine in America. So if that was there plan, they had the biggest marketing promotions scheme ever, great.

JC: What are feelings about Hip-Hop in general these days?

Muggs: I love it. I think it's where everybody always wanted it to go from back in the days. To turn it into a worldwide phenomenon and make it the music. It is popular culture now. It is the pop music. At the same time with Hip-Hop getting so big and turning into the pop culture, that opened the doors for it to start over again and bring it back to the essence with all the whole independent scene going on. The independent scene reminds of the days when Hip-Hop was an independent scene with Def Jam, Tommy Boy, First Priority, Wild Pitch Records. And that stemmed from groups getting so big and kids not being able to get signed because they didn't sound like this. They wasn't commercial. They wasn't pop. They just wanted to make music the way they wanted to make it and how they wanted to. So that opened up the underground door. So it's just revolving.

JC: So are you going to go the independent route?

Muggs: Yeah I enjoy it man because you do what the fuck you want and how you want it and put it out there. It's fun man. I will fuck with majors and I'll do my thing on majors but I will always tap into the independent because it's fun. It's just a way to get your records out next week.

JC: Are you ever going to start your own label?

Muggs: There's a lot of talk. I've been thrown about 15 labels in the last 10 years and I just ain't fuck with them. But if the right thing comes across the right way I want it to come across cool. If not I don't need it.

JC: Is there anything in Hip-Hop you would like to see change?

Muggs: It's going to change. It will do what it's fuckin' doing. It ain't Hip-Hop that's fucked up. It's the radio programming and the label people and the video programming that turns Hip-Hop the way Hip-Hop turns because kids think and people at labels think well you gotta do this, this and this to get on the radio and to get your video's played. But that's conforming to what they want which I will never do. That ain't what Hip-Hop's about. Hip-Hop is anti. Hip-Hop is the urban Punk Rock. So I make my records and I don't give a fuck about radio and I don't give a fuck about video shows. I'm still going to be successful.

JC: So is that why Cypress Hill did "Rap Superstar" and "Rock Superstar," in retaliation to all that?

Muggs: We did that because partly yes. And partly because it's time to touch people. And I don't think music should be segregated and separated no more. I think every kind of music is for everybody. Just because it's Rock doesn't mean it's for white kids with long hair. Just because it's Rap doesn't mean it's for black kids in the hood. All music is for everybody. I tapped on both music's because maybe I could bridge the gap a little more and let people now that music is for everybody and stop segregating it.

JC: So was it your concept to come up with two different versions of the song "Rap Superstar" and "Rock Superstar?"

Muggs: Yeah. Originally we wanted to release two separate songs period. But the label really liked "Superstar" so I went and mixed up the Rock version and turned into the live version because we only had the Rap version. And then market them to two totally separate people. Two totally separate audiences that normally wouldn't even hear or know that the other one is out. So I took it like that.

JC: Now just in following the production side of Cypress Hill, what was the change from the second album to the third album?

Muggs: I think Cypress had got big as fuck at that time. Cypress was huge and I don't think we could have topped it at that moment. So the best thing to do was for us to go underground again. Go make the dirtiest, murkiest, grimiest record that we could make at that moment. So that's what we went and did. It was a temple it was a smoked out record again. So we went for that direction and what that enabled us to do was to be able to come back now and peak again as a band. Because if we would have went at that time with "Lights, Camera, Action," it would have been over. So you go back underground and you maintain, you fight and when it's time for you to come bang again and get all that attention again, now's the time again. Kids try to get big and top, top, top and end up playing themselves out and they are burnt out and nobody likes them no more and nobody wants to hear it. So we did just the opposite. And I think there's a lot of people that are trying to get their careers going on again, they are always reaching for the trend and the flavor of the month. When they should just go backwards and go get me RZA and Alchemist or me and Alchemist just do there record. Don't worry about nothing and they will reestablish their careers. Sometimes you gotta go backwards.

JC: If you had everybody in Hip-Hop and music listening to you, what's the one thing you would want to tell them?

Muggs: Buy the muthafuckin' album October 3rd.

SDU