Oakland lyricist, Saafir, recently sat down with Vibe.com to explain the birth of the Golden State Warrios trio of himself, Xzibit and Ras Kass [click to read] and why their album, which was to be produced by Jellyroll, Rockwilder, and Dr. Dre, never came to fruition.
“The group began with us just doing shows,”Saafir explained. “We would do shows out of mutual respect for each other. Ras Kass would have a show and I would be there and vice versa. We would go to Xzibit’s shows and I also did some work with Xzibit.”
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The Bay area emcee explained how the group just clicked musically, saying, “I was approached by Xzibit and Ras Kass… like, ‘Look man, we tryin’ to do this group. We really want you to be a part of this.’ So I was like okay, these dudes got flavor. Ras can rhyme his ass off. Xzibit got dope charisma. And I have a little bit of both. So I felt it was a good look.”
Saafir, who roomed with Tupac back in his Digital Underground days, said that although there was mutual respect, a lack of trust led to the group’s demise.
“There really wasn’t any communication between us as far as the business was concerned. In my opinion, the trust factor wasn’t really there because of how business was being handled. Whenever something is put together in that sense, it’s usually broken up by greed, faulty business practices, or the trust factor.”
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When Ras Kass got locked up the group’s effort were shelved indefinitely, Saafir said.
“Ras Kass got into some legal trouble. He got caught up on a warrant if I remember correctly. He got caught up in Vegas and the Vegas police snatched him up. And he ended up getting convicted and did a little time. So while he was down, me and Xzibit was trying to keep what we could together and keep it going until he got out. But Xzibit had to pay his bills and keep it moving and I had to do the same…”
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With all three of the emcee’s doing their own things these days, Saafir still left the collabo album open to possibility.
“In my mind, I think there still is a possibility. I don’t necessarily think it depends on the business of it or whether we’re dope. I don’t think it’s a question of that. I think it’s a question of dudes’ egos.”
