It’s a rare rapper who would dare say out loud such an un-politically correct collection of words as, “Like retards gettin’ pussy, I dumb in the cut / You wake up in jail cells, with a thumb in your butt.” But anyone familiar with C-Rayz Walz knows the Bronx native isn’t your ordinary emcee…or even your ordinary human being for that matter.
To the unfamiliar, the former Def Jux artist can only be described as an amalgamation of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, a punchline-packing battle rapper and twelve Xanax bars.
And now, after a couple year absence from the scene spent enjoying a state funded vacation in Indiana, the simultaneously hilarious and confounding veteran (with over a dozen albums in his decade-long discography) is back…in all black. As on June 27th Walz will reintroduce himself to the masses via All Black Everything. Presented by Dub MD, A.B.E. is the first in a planned series of free digital releases (that is, if at least a thousand people show support to Walz to fund each successive project.)
Speaking to HipHopDX recently from Indianapolis, C-Rayz explained why he wants to “be a good guy” and give away his music. A high school classmate of Mobb Deep, (who years later interviewed the then incarcerated half of the Mobb for DX) punctuated his quick Q&A by recalling the Super Soakers and St. Ides-fueled event from Prodigy’s past that Walz says should have made it to P’s recently released memoir.
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HipHopDX: Are you really crazy, or just crazy like a fox? [Laughs]
C-Rayz Walz: Nah, I’m definitely crazy, man. But, I think I’ve learned how to borderline control it. A few times Killah Priest has told me, “Yo, C-Rayz, you remind me of [Ol’ Dirty Bastard], with the swordsman concentration.” Whatever that means.
DX: [Laughs] That “Destroy” video was fuckin’ crazy. [Laughs]
C-Rayz Walz: Yeah, that was crazy. That’s just like a whole metaphor that, Yo, nature’s gonna pay us back, man.
DX: I’m not sure whether it’s crazy smart or just plain crazy to start giving away a bunch of full albums for free. Why are you doing this?
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C-Rayz Walz: Because, man, there’s so much bullshit in the planet right now that I’d rather just…be a good guy. I wanna be one of the good guys. I never liked Lex Luthor. But I never liked Superman neither. I was always into Clark Kent and Peter Pan – or rather say Peter Parker. But Peter Pan was cool too. Fuck it, I like that green shit. And I’d smash Tinker Bell in a minute. I’m an ass man.
DX: [Laughs] So you think it’s being a good guy to give this shit away…?
C-Rayz Walz: Yeah, man, and I’m not gonna give all of ‘em away for free, but…. I wanna sell like a thousand copies on UndergroundHipHop.com – shout out to Adam [Walder]. A thousand copies on UndergroundHipHop, then just flood it, just bomb that shit everywhere, free. If I get like a thousand people that really ride with me on every album, that’s a monogamous Hip Hop relationship for me.
DX: All Black Everything, why that title?
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C-Rayz Walz: Murdering the game. Murdering myself. Murdering my old habits of not taking care of my business right. Murdering the negative mind-state that I adopted being trapped in Indiana for a minute after going to jail here for a nice little stretch, getting married and divorced, having a child here, and losing my whole fuckin’ Marvel Universe collection to a psychotic, crazed ex-wife. Fuck it, all black everything. It’s a mourning.
DX: You said you’re murdering yourself. You’re not gonna “stay crazy, blaze daily, save babies, raise ladies?” [Laughs]
C-Rayz Walz: I’ma be “Buck 80” ‘til infinity! But, I really got too serious dealing with this Indiana shit, man. It really fucked me up for a minute. I almost went back to my 15-year-old days, just loving crime and criminal activity. ‘Cause I was received so well in jail. The inmates loved me. They liked me rhyming there. I was just comfortable there. There was no problem. In jail you don’t really have a problem unless you not good at being yourself. And I’m the best at being C-Rayz.
DX: I’ve always personally wanted to know more about your days way back in high school…defending Mobb Deep. Is there a particularly memorable moment from that time you can share…?
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C-Rayz Walz: It’s one of my most classic school memories ever: We was kind of on some…not really racist shit, but we was like, “Damn, white people got all the money.” And Art and Design High School was on 57th Street and Second Avenue, like right [in Manhattan]. There’s a lot of business going on down there. So one day … We robbed some kids in the lunchroom – And I’m mad Prodigy ain’t put this in his book, ‘cause this is one of his favorite [memories] too. We drunk about three six-packs of St. Ides. We was fucked up. We had about four cans left. And we had four Super Soakers. And we filled the Super Soakers up with St. Ides. And white businessmen, black businessmen, Indian businessmen, we didn’t give a fuck, as you walked past we just sprayed you in your fuckin’ face with St. Ides. And these dudes didn’t do shit. We were terrorizing and shit. And we were so fuckin’ twisted. And then Havoc was like, “Yo, I’m fuckin’ hungry, man. I want something to fuckin’ eat, man.” So he started making this growling voice, and he picks up a handful of rocks and he puts the rocks in his mouth and starts chewing the rocks. And we all dying, crying. On the floor, crying. He chewed the rocks for about 40 seconds. He’s really trying to eat rocks. Then he’s like, “Aw, these shits is nasty,” and he spit ‘em out. And he started rubbing his black, smoldering, crusty, rocks filled mouth. And that was one of the epic moments of Mobb Deep, outside of all the violence we committed in that school.
