Flatline: You were involved in the creation of "Straight Outta Compton", one of the greatest hiphop albums ever. What are some of your memories putting together that project?
MC Ren: Well, memories that I have of it is, like, all of us together, goin' to the studio, putting the album together, you know what I mean?...not knowing how that shit was gonna blow up like that.
Flatline: ...right right....did you even have a concept going into it of what you guys wanted to put down on wax?
MC Ren: Yeah, we had a basic concept..."Fuck The Police" and "Straight Outta Compton", you know what I'm sayin'? Those were the main two, that we just said this is it...and all the other songs, if you listen to them muthafuckaz, they're just filler. (laughs) They were tight but the two main ones was "Fuck The Police" and "Straight Outta Compton". That's the mentality we went in there with.
Flatline: How does it feel to be a pioneer? You really, you know, made it possible for a lot of these rappers to say what they're saying today.
MC Ren: It feel real good, you know, to be a pioneer. You feel good to be in a category with brothers that look at you as a pioneer, they look at you as a legend. It feel good...cause back in them days I didn't even know it would be like this.
Flatline: Do you get a lot of respect from some of these younger cats?
MC Ren: Yeah...all the time...just like I show respect for people that came before me.
Flatline: You broke out and did an ep "Kizz My Black Azz" in 92 and followed it up with three solo albums after that. Are you in the lab crafting album #4?
MC Ren: Definitely...put my records out on my website www.mcrensofficialsite.com. People can go there and it's like, fuck all the industry bullshit, the radio...all that shit to me is obsolete, it's dead. The companies and the radio fucked up the game so much...have muthafuckaz working for them that don't have nothin' to do with the music. So I'm like, fuck it, I'll put my shit out worldwide on my site. The industry got it so messed up, everybody out and they gotta go runnin' for all these producers. I'm going back, working with one or two producers, how we used to do it in the old days where you could just get a feel for a producer and the producer got a feel for you and have the music sounding good! Just like we did with Dre, you know what I mean?
Flatline: ...yeah yeah...
MC Ren: ...and if we would have had different producers on the NWA records, there wouldn't even be no NWA. I'm sayin', just like when Chuck and them had The Bomb Squad. All the good records back in the day had the same producer doin' damn near the whole record.
Flatline: Are there still plans for an NWA reunion album?
MC Ren: That shit ain't gonna happen...but it's probably better it don't happen because, you know, it probably wouldn't even come out the same...I don't know. Maybe it's just better the legacy of that shit stay how it is.
Flatline: Who do you think represents hiphop today? Any favorites that are out right now?
MC Ren: (pause) That's a hard one...because my mind state of hiphop, to me, ain't nobody representin' what my mind state is thinking right now. I don't see nobody representin' that shit...creativity, makin' some influential shit...naw, I don't even see that shit. I see everyone stuck...everyone tryin' to be 'Pac. I mean, back in the day, muthafuckaz would try and be different, everyone was on different shit. Now, don't nobody wanna be different.
Flatline: How long have you been rhymin'?
MC Ren: Since 83...ninth grade....
Flatline: You still down with the Nation of Islam?
MC Ren: Naw, I left the Nation of Islam in 95...
Flatline: Any particular reason why?
MC Ren: I just felt like it was time for me to move on, you know? There's a lot of people that join the Nation and they move on. I'm still a Muslim but I just moved on, you know what I mean?
Flatline: Any thoughts on Bush and his quote, unquote war on terror?
MC Ren: Man, he came in and messed up everything...
Flatline: ...even worse than his father...
MC Ren: ...his father started it off! What he doin' now is all because of his father. It's like everything is personal cause they tried to kill his daddy. He ain't forgot that, you know? He went in there, rushed in there...the U.N. told him, hold on, wait on us...nah, nah we goin' in there. He was so pumped up from Afghanistan his dick was hard! They talk about sending over 87 billion dollars over there and there's muthafuckaz over here STARVING.
Flatline: I know you got some kids...any little MC Ren's in the making?
MC Ren: Man, I got four little MC Ren's in the making! (laughs)
Flatline: Do they rap at all?
MC Ren: Nah...but the five year old and six year old, they just be walkin' around, makin' up little rhymes...they not raps, they just rhymin'. I just look at that, their little ass be rhymin'...wonder where they got that from? (laughs) They just see shit and make up a little rhyme about it.
Flatline: That's so cool...
MC Ren: ....you know what I mean? And one of them looks just like me. So when my kids get big, muthafuckaz gonna be seein' little clones of me!
Flatline: Where do you think hiphop is heading?
MC Ren: I see the shit goin' right back to how it was. So, how it was in the beginning, that's how it's gonna be in the end. Like in the beginning, that shit was straight underground, straight street...and it's gonna go back to that because muthafuckaz is fed up. Like me, Daz, Ice-T...muthafuckaz be sellin' their shit on the internet now. It's like everything is starting back on a grassroots level. Muthafuckaz in the public now is starting to reject that shit on the radio...the videos...muthafuckaz is tired of that shit. Times change and now muthafuckaz can go get what they want, all day. It's like, fuck y'all, we go do it on the internet...
Flatline: ...damn right...
MC Ren: ...and if they can have muthafuckin' R.Kelly's shit on the internet, I know we can sell our shit FOREVER on the internet.
- Flatline for rapstation.com
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