Sean Price burst onto the rap scene with Boot Camp Clik (BCC) as a part of his famous group Heltah Skeltah (where he went under the name of Ruck). He released two albums with Heltah Skeltah in the mid-90's, and dropped his solo album entitled Monkey Barz in 2005. Monkey Barz received rave reviews and helped him gain credentials as a solo artist. He has recently worked with BCC and dropped an album with his old crew members, which was entitled The Last Stand. He is preparing to release his sophomore LP, Jesus Price Supastar, and continues to work with Heltah Skeltah.
In this exclusive interview, Sean P reveals the story behind the name Jesus Price, and reacts to the death of one of his concertgoers. Price also makes it clear that he's not on the whole "bring New York back" movement, but just trying to lay down a blue print for MCs everywhere to follow. Price claims that there might be something to Nas' statement that "Hip-Hop is Dead," but is hoping that with the release of his second LP, he can show what real hip-hop is all about.
SoundSlam: Alright. So let's get down to business. So you got an album coming up, Jesus Price Supastar, and it's slated to drop January 30th. Tell us about it, what can we expect from you as an MC?
Sean Price: Yo, if you like Monkey Barz, you are gonna love Jesus Price Supastar. You know what I mean; I'm coming back with the same stuff except new and improved.
SoundSlam: What artists and producers did you work with on the album?
Sean Price: It's gonna be real just like the last album. You know, I got Ninth Wonder, Khrysis and a bunch of them. But basically I kept the same producers as Monkey Barz.
SoundSlam: Speaking of Monkey Barz, what's the difference from this album and where you were coming from with Monkey Barz?
Sean Price: It's like, Monkey Barz was like Barry Bonds when he was on the Pirates, and this one is the BALCO steroid era. (Laughs)
SoundSlam: Yea, a lot of people were feeling that album and you kind of established yourself as an MC. But I recently heard this saying that goes, "you spend your whole life writing your first album, which is why it's so difficult to follow up with a good sophomore LP." What's been the process of writing this album?
Sean Price: There was no pressure at all, man. There was no pressure. The thing was that y'all loved the stuff I did the first time; I just did it again, but on a whole different scale. That's all. It was actually pretty simple. There's more pressure with the Heltah Skeltah album then there was doing Jesus Price.
Soundslam: Yea, that's pretty epic, you working with Rock again and everybody is talking about that. But everyone seems to be talking about Jesus Price too. I mean, the word on the street is that this album could possibly be one of the best albums in the past five years, and you have recently been receiving a lot of publicity. How does the "brokest rapper alive" react to all of this recent publicity?
Sean Price: Oh man, I don't take it for granted. I appreciate all this. From going from the projects and being broke to not being broke anymore, it's just a process you got to go through. And I'm not the brokest rapper you know anymore. I had a good year man. I went from nothing to having a good six-figure year, man. Yea, I had a good year. Some dude ran up on me and was like, "Hey Price, I'm the brokest rapper now!" And I was like, "You know what, you sure are!" You know, I don't want that title. That wasn't no gimmick either, that was real talk, man. So you know, if you want that, you can have that, but I ain't trying to keep that title.
SoundSlam: Anything behind the title Jesus Price Supastar?
Sean Price: Just like I've said before that in the Bible Jesus went around spreading the word and the word was God.. Jesus Price is going through town and spreading the word, and the word is Hip-Hop. That's what it's all about, that's what's behind the name.
SoundSlam: So is that the goal or message of this album? What are you hoping to accomplish with this release?
Sean Price: I just want people to hear it. Everybody hears a lot of bull**** rap. And even the so-called "hardcore rappers," their stuff isn't even really that tight. I just want to give people a lesson. This is how you do a hip-hop album. This is a hardcore artist. This is how it's supposed to sound. I'm giving these people the blue print.
SoundSlam: Yea, so you mentioned the Heltah Skeltah project. How is that working out?
Sean Price: Me and Rock have had a little problem with it because there's so much pressure. But we know what we got to do. It's real rough, you know, it's rough.
SoundSlam: What about with Boot Camp Clik? How did that work out?
Sean Price: That was good. I got busy on that album. I love that s***. That was good. Released that and made some money. It was a good thing, man. We had a triple threat. We had Monkey Barz, Chemistry, Re-Loaded, and I'm closing it out with my new album.
SoundSlam: Is it tough coming back to previous projects? You know, trying to recreate that chemistry with like Rock and the whole Boot Camp Clik thing?
Sean Price: Oh no, man. Because we even did a few shows without Rock. There wasn't a difficulty with gelling. Everyone was in the fold, we was just missing Rock.
SoundSlam: So, I gotta ask you, it's like the main question in a lot of interviews now. With all of this Nas controversy with people saying Hip-Hop is dead, some people have taken offense and some have backed him up. What do you think about the state of Hip-Hop?
Sean Price: Oh man...When Nas said it, it was cool. He was just sick of all this s*** on the radio. That's why he wanted to murder the DJ because they keep playing all of this bull****. They play that crap all day. I can understand why he said that. I'm not mad at him. The current state is gonna be good though because I'm here. There's a good chance my album is going to be major, and if it is, then the world is in trouble, man.
SoundSlam: A lot of people are saying that New York isn't where it should be with Hip-Hop. It wasn't until recently that Nas, Ghostface, and Jay-Z came out and gave New York something to be proud of. What other New York stuff are you feeling right now?
Sean Price: You know, um, none of them. None of them. Except, I'm waiting on that Saigon album. That's gonna be a good album; I want to hear that. I like Uncle Murda, he's awesome. Papoose, he's pretty good. But for the most part, the rest of these guys are garbage. I'm probably missing a name or two, but for the most part the dudes is garbage.
SoundSlam: Speaking of Papoose, you're coming from New York where a lot of stuff recently went down with that whole "50 Shots" thing, where those guys were leaving a club and were shot up by the police when they ran into an undercover vehicle. A lot of artists like Papoose and Nas responded in the media. What did you think of that whole situation and how it was handled?
Sean Price: I think f*** the police. I thought that way before that, and that just made me feel that way times ten. They ain't helping us. They ain't stopping the problem.
SoundSlam: So, coming from New York, you're looking to make a statement with this album? What are you looking to bring?
Sean Price: I'm not on all of that, "trying to bring New York back" bull****. I'm not with that. Don't get me caught up with that. I just make my music and hopefully you like it. I ain't caught up in all that.
SoundSlam: Yea, it seems a lot of artists are getting caught up in that. Method Man being one of the most recent.
Sean Price: Yea I'm not with that. I'm trying to bring real hip-hop back on a whole. The state ain't the problem. It was never a state problem; it's a whack MC problem. Whack MCs all over. I'm doing my own thing. I got my own style and my own formula. Maybe they need to copy this and hip-hop would be a little better on the whole.
SoundSlam: Well I got to ask you, you're no stranger to witnessing violence in the public. You recently had someone murdered at one of your concerts. Which is horrible, seeing as how it's getting dangerous to even go out to a concert. What do you think about the whole situation with what happened at your concert? Any reaction to that?
Sean Price: It was an unfortunate situation. My condolences to the kid who got killed, the family, and all of that. It was real unfortunate, and that's all I can really say. I don't wish death on nobody. It was just crazy. The two guys who got stabbed were actually two dudes who got kicked out the club for being a**holes. So, those were my connections. I was the one who ordered they be kicked out. I mean, even though they were acting stupid, and they got kicked out, you know, I didn't wish death on them. That was just crazy.
SoundSlam: It seems like that's happening a lot right now. There was recently an incident in the bay area where some guy got hurt at a concert. It reflects negatively on hip-hop, you know. It's a bad vibe.
Sean Price: I know, man. That's just crazy. I saw my thing on MSNBC, and I was like, "I didn't even know MSNBC knew who I was!" So it's just crazy.
SoundSlam: So you're coming with Jesus Price Supastar, you got the Heltah Skeltah thing, and you're doing it big in 2007. What's up with touring?
Sean Price: Yea, I'm gonna be touring and stuff. Looking forward to that. Got Heltah Skeltah full time and we're just trying to put it down.
