Last Thursday, HipHopDX.com spoke with Griffin, Georgia-born rapper Jody Breeze. Even before he achieved fame with the Bad Boy-signed collective Boyz N Da Hood, Breeze inked a deal with Jazze Pha’s [click to read] Sho Nuff imprint in 2003. After leaving the label last year, the award-winning emcee discussed how his previous experiences in the industry have prepared him for his future career.
“I can’t even put it into words [how they’ve prepared me],” noted Breeze. “If you’re in the industry, you can really just think everything’s a-OK, because there’s a case to everything. When I first started, I was only 19 years old. I didn’t really know anything about the industry…when I came into the game, it was like coming out of high school [and] into the pros, like some LeBron James shit. By me coming where I come from and immeadiately be in the lime light, it showed me a lot because there’s more to the industry than just rapping a making songs, as far as the paper work and the business side.”
Later, he added, “[Before I signed my deal with Sho Nuff,] I had never been in the studio. I never really knew anything about the industry…to get me a solo deal, I could’ve went anywhere, but they told me to do a label deal [instead] and that really fucked me up. Instead of signing me to the label, they signed Sho Nuff as a label deal, so that way, if I wanted to do anything or get something done, they had to go through Sho Nuff instead of me being signed directly to the label. That kind of fucked me up, too. Block [Russell Spencer, Block Ent. CEO] went through the same thing with Boyz N Da Hood[click to read]. Instead of signing directly to Bad Boy, he started his own label and got a kick off of that…I was the centerpiece for a lot of peoples’ success, but being that I was humble and I was young and I didn’t really understand the game, I put my career on hold for these niggas.”
Breeze also discussed the issue of age in the modern Hip-Hop industry. Having first began his career at the age of only 19, Breeze feels that age is irrelevant if a certain artist has a song able to set the charts on fire. While this may be good for the individual artist, Breeze sees it as sometimes detrimental to Hip-Hop.
AD LOADING...
“I think the game has turned into whoever has this one song [will make it],” said the Georgia rapper. “It doesn’t really matter how old you are. If [the industry heads] feel like they can make money off of a situation, it doesn’t matter how old you are…Hip-Hop used to be like where you had to [have gone] through something for people to even listen to you. Today, it’s like you don’t even have to have done [anything] in your life to just come up with a song [and] all of a sudden you’re somebody.”
Yet this isn’t the only trend in Hip-Hop that has disturbed Jody Breeze. From the numerous dance crazes to songs about sneezing, the current state of Hip-Hop has Breeze questioning the industry’s business tactics and the artistic inclinations of the consumers.
“Music, period, is not something that you play with,” he explained. “It’s an art. This is shit that people live and die for. I feel like it’s sort of depressing a little bit, because when you mention some of the people who people are stars today, it’s like you motherfuckers [aren’t] fucking star because you niggas get your record on the radio [with] somebody paying to play it. That fucked up the game. Now deejays feel like they’ve got to get paid to play what’s hot. Hot music is hot music, period. They’re just fucking up the whole train of music. Like who the fuck cares about all these stupid-ass, dumb-ass dances? I feel like the consumers are starting to be weird to me on shit some, like who in the fuck is buying this shit? I heard a song called “Hachoo” [“Grind Flu (Hachoo)” by Yung Joc], like sneezing. Where in the hell do they do that at? That shit is disrespectful to me.”
Yet Breeze assures that his as-of-yet untitled solo album, due out at the top of next year, will provide only real music. Inspired by his struggles with the industry and the law, Breeze says the album will have fans unable to hit the ‘skip’ button even once.
AD LOADING...
“It’s back to the basics,” described Breeze. “It’s something that you can really sit down and go from track one to the end of the CD instead of skipping around trying to find a good record. I’m going to put it in an order where all you have to do is just sit down and just listen, but you’re really going to have to listen to this album because I’m going to be telling people about my situation and my legal problems…I had to go and do a couple months [in jail] here, a couple months there. I’ve been going through a whole lot and it’s not just from rap…I’ve been having to deal with all of my situations [and] all the consequences I went through to get to where I’m at now.”
