Conventional wisdom says that an emcee trying to make it in the game shouldn’t come out of the gate with a single declaring war on the music industry. However, NY Oil isn’t a conventional emcee. His breakout single, “Y’all Should All Get Lynched” served as the unofficial manifesto for every Hip Hop fan that was mad as hell, and wasn’t going to take it anymore.

After releasing Hood Treason: The Warm Up Album with limited distribution, NY Oil has re-upped with Babygrande Records for a re-release of the controversial album that drops July 8. Make no mistake about it: Oil is on a mission to change the paradigm of the game by changing the hearts and minds of his listeners.

HipHopDX caught up with the father, activist, and emcee to get his thoughts about life, clarification on his issue with Nas, and how a mack inspired his controversial first single. It’s still bigger than Hip Hop.

HipHopDX: You came into the game in a major way and are probably one of the only artists to have a video banned from YouTube. How did the concept for “Y’all Should All Get Lynched” come about?
NY Oil: It was less of a concept and more of a manifestation of my anger at what was going on around me

DX: Was there one incident in particular that made everything bubble over, or was it a culmination of events?
NO: I’ll tell you something I don’t think I’ve ever really revealed this [about the song] in any of the interviews I’ve done. I got hip to this dude Tariq Nasheed…

DX: From the Mack Lessons Radio Show?
NO: Mack Lessons Radio Show. I was listening to it for a kick. Made me laugh. I got all kinds of standards, it’s not like I listen to Bob Marley and Public Enemy all day. I’m listening to this Tariq Nasheed joint and he was talking about coonin’ ass niggas. That was the subject matter. He was talking about Flavor Flav and Flavor of Love. He was like, "Look at this dude," and he was talking about how the girl shit on the floor. I have not seen that. Watching Flavor of Love is a train wreck. I can’t watch a person embarrass themselves; I’m not comfortable with that. But I had seen that and he was like, “That’s why niggas float for a week on the streets of New Orleans.” That type of shit. And I had felt the same way and that resonated with me. When he said that, that’s what may have sparked the actual song. It was him saying that. I can’t quite remember… that’s the funny thing about inspiration, I remember that cause there’s a line in my song, “People floated for a week on New Orleans Streets…”

DX and NO: "And only Kanye West wasn’t scared to speak."
NO: That was verbatim what this dude said. I know that that was an influence for me writing this song. But in terms of the catalyst, I’m not quite sure what it was.

DX: Were you worried at all about any backlash from the industry? In the song you don’t mention anybody by name, but the video features images of a lot of rappers that are popular in the game.
NO: Look, some of these dudes run with these entourages and it’s like, how many asses am I going to kick? When you believe in something enough and when you have a good source telling you that whatever you’re doing is bigger than you, it’s hard to be scared. I’m not the Hulk, so I can’t shrug off bullets and knives just curl up if people try to stab me. I’m human, I have family, and I have things to lose. Because I have things to lose, my urgency is different. I’m determined to win. When you’ve got something to lose and you find yourself thrust in a position where you may have to defend yourself, you act differently. I truly feel like I’m walking with God, a sheep amongst wolves.

If it’s a problem, I’m praying that in my afterlife I’ll see heaven and be at peace. And if not, I’ll know that I did what was true to me. Fuck it. These brothers are running around talking the shit they talk about. I get a feeling that they don’t mean it. And when they come up against somebody that mean it, it’s a different ballgame. If I was in that world, I’d be fearful, but it’s not a game. Whatever go down, they better be ready 'cause it ain’t over till it’s over. It’s too many people that want a real man to stand up and speak to these accursed bastards. Brothers all over the world screaming, “NY Oil boombyeyay!” You know what that means?

DX: Nah.
NO: Remember when [Muhammad] Ali went to go fight [George] Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle and the fans were like, “Ali boombyeyay, Ali boombyeyay?” They say, “NY Oil boombyeyay.” Kill them. I mean literally, I get letters from Africa saying “NY Oil, kill them. Stop them from infecting our children with this filth." You get something like that; you can’t be scared of no rapper. Continued on page 2 »