Devin the Dude is a wanted man. After making commercial waves on Dr. Dre’s Chronic 2001 album favorite, “Fuck You,” the laid-back rapper’s drunken singing style has become a much-sought-after ingredient in the music industry.
Devin commented “I talked to DJ Premier the other day on the phone. He said he would love to work on this album with me, and I would love to have him here.” The Rap-A-Lot artist is in a Los Angeles recording studio gearing up for the summer release of his second album, Just Trying to Live.
“Just having people say they want to work with me and that they enjoy the music is cool,” Devin added. “I’m trying to have an album with at least seven nice songs on it, man. If people say seven of ’em are cool, then I’m cool with it. Once we finish here, it’s in the hands of the fans and the man above.”
Certainly, the exposure Devin received on the highly successful Chronic 2001 will help sales dor Just Trying to Live. He has already finished up a track produced by Dr. Dre, entitled “Yo-Ho,” a cut that Devin is openly excited about. “We went by the studio and we got a new Dre track together,” he said. “We did some vocals over it and it was cool. We just need to fix it up. I was just blessed to be able to do it. I never really said, ‘Well, let’s shoot for this or shoot for that.’ I just wanted an album to prove that I could do a solo release. The response that the first album (The Dude) got was cool. But the vibe on the new album feels good.”
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Just Trying to Live will also feature a reunion of sorts. Devin has just finished recording the album’s title track with the Odd Squad, the group he made his debut with on 1994’s vastly slept on Fadanuf Fa Erybody. “We started working on that album in ’92. We were just drinking and smoking partners back in ’89 and ’90,” Devin laughed of his days with rhyming partners Rob and Jug. “We would go to the crib, just making beats, just chilling and freestylin’, but it was like, ‘Say, man, we got all these little songs, let’s put them together. We might need a name.’ So, my older brother mentioned the name Odd Squad which kind of reminded me of what we did for fun.”
