“I like the lyrical content of the cats back in the day, when a song was about something, when you could relate it to,” explains Devin from his Texas digs. He continues to reveal his raw rhyme inspiration, “I used to sneak off and listen to Richard Pryor, Rudy Ray Moore, Dolemite and Blowfly behind my mother’s back. There is no secret,” he assures with his laid back Southern twang. “Devin is one side and The Dude is the other one. That’s the Gemini in me. I like getting along with people and having a good vibe. I just try to be cool. Your heart is a big thing and sometimes it costs a lot to put it out on the line. But it’s worth it if you put it out there and receive some love back.” Word. Devin’s love boomerang theory-give and you shall receive-has worked for him. He appeared on Dre’s “F**k You” with Snoop, De La Soul’s “Baby Phat,” and the Baby Boy and Oz soundtracks. “‘Can’t Wait’ [from the Oz soundtrack] was a dedication to my brother, Dexter. We grew up together poppin’ and breakin’ and unfortunately, he got incarcerated. He’ll be out in a couple of years. The song was called ‘My Brother,’ but they heard ‘Can’t Wait’ at beginning of every hook. That track not only goes out to my brother, but for all brothers out there and for everyone who has a brother or someone close to them like a brother being caught up like that.”
Now it’s Devin’s turn to receive. Dr. Dre produced the first single, “It’s A Shame” and “Yo Ho” on “Just Tryin’ To Live.” Plus, Nas and Xzibit appear on “Some Of ‘Em,” a track also featured on Tony Touch’s Still Blazing mix tape. “Nas and I met and started talking. We admired each other’s music and said we could trade off a song for a song. I wanted to do something kind of spiritual called ‘Thankful.’ When I started working on my album, T-Mixx did some tracks. Nas liked another track. He spit like fire. It was a done deal. A couple of weeks later I ran into Xzibit. We was real cool during the Up N’ Smoke Tour. Every time we meet, we drink and smoke, do what we do. It’s a road thing. I was in L.A. doing the album and he came to the studio. It was a blessing that it came together like that, like a puzzle that happened.”
“My album, ‘Just Tryin’ To Live’ is about just tryin’ to live actually,” says Devin matter-of-factly. “It’s about young men and women in this music thing right now trying to live in a society where they think it’s all about something else. It’s not really about raising our family and getting food on the table. The music is kind of mellow, groovin’ with fun, positive type stuff. I’m trippin’ a little bit, smokin’ and drinkin’, talking about relationships. I’ve matured since my first album. I don’t think I said p***y or b**ch that many times or f**k *ss n**a. The fact of growing up, having kids and teaching them by example. My responsibilities weren’t that great back when I first started. We were just wildin’. There’s still some of that in me but I tend to watch myself now that I have kids and responsibilities.” In addition to being a liquored-up, smoked-out, sexed-down rhyme specialist, Devin is also a first-rate family man who is quick to give a diploma daps and who attended the Art Institute of Houston briefly while trying to launch his music career.
Houston has made its mark on hardcore hip-hop. Think Scarface, who Devin’s on tour with now and DJ Screw, who was The Dude’s first DJ before he was called Screw. And Rap-A-Lot has been at the fore, kicking in the front door. “I got a deal with Rap-A-Lot in ’94 as the Odd Squad with my homeboy Jugg and Rob. That’s what we was down for. [Rap-A-Lot] were pioneers of the Houston rap market. They were a rap label that wasn’t ashamed to say what they wanted to say or make moves the way they wanted to make moves. Whatever you want to do, it’s not really a watch your mouth thing. You can pretty much say whatever.” On his latest, Devin continues to let his tongue wag freely. “In most people’s eyes, it seems like [hip-hop] is being watered down, commercialized. But from the start it opened up a lot of avenues for different people. Hip-hop is almost my life. Growing up, getting a little bit here and a little bit there, making a little bit of something out of nothing. Make that something out of nothing before you can obtain any other thing.”
