|
Rhap Session: Devin the Dude
A 15-year career in hip-hop is hard to come by. But longevity is not the only thing that makes Devin the Dude, nee Devin Copelan, a rarity. Instead of tired gangsta clichés and hard posturing, the Houston native is an architect of vivid, humorous, laidback -- and at times self-deprecating -- tales on the joys of drugs, liquor and ladies. He became the breakout member of the Odd Squad, a group he initially signed with on Rap-A-Lot Records in the early '90s, after singing the hook on Scarface’s “Hand of a Dead Body.” Subsequent efforts like The Dude and Just Tryin’ Ta Live were critically acclaimed, but commercially neglected. Yet, he built up a loyal fanbase and finally rose to national attention after appearing on Dr. Dre’s classic, “F*ck You," from Dre 2001. Since, he has maintained his status as an underground favorite thanks to slept-on classics like “What a Job” featuring Snoop and André 3000. Landing Gear is his fifth solo album -- and first since leaving his longtime home at Rap-A-Lot. Rhapsody caught up with him to talk about the Houston rap scene, almost getting kicked off Dr. Dre’s Up in Smoke Tour, and being in the studio with Tupac.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
On leaving Rap-A-Lot Records
The contract was up. I would think [Rap-A-Lot] wanted to keep me. They pretty much wanted to match any other offer, but I didn’t want to be up for bid. I just wanted to promote my own company, Coffee Brothers, and the next situation [with Razor & Tie] gave me more room with the company. [J. Prince and I] personally talked, and I talked to the people at the label, too. He understood the whole situation. He’s a businessman, so he totally understood and he wished me the best in everything.
On the state of Houston hip-hop
Houston is still hot. But any city that’s hot and the focus is on a couple of people, there’s gonna be other people believing that they’re the reason why their city’s hot or they have a better following or music than that person -- so that’s where the beef comes from. It’s more like a family feud to me. It’s just a matter of continuing to work. Hip-hop moves and it’s not going to stay in one place for a long time without another voice being heard in another city. [In terms of people saying Slim wasn’t representing Houston on Already Platinum] there’s no doubt, since Slim’s been out that he’s been representing Houston. You got to show love, but music is for everybody. It’s worldwide and if it sounds good, who cares who did it? I didn’t hear anybody personally say he sold out. It was like, “Oh, you hear that boy, Slim? He’s on the Neptunes, man.”
On Scarface encouraging him to do a solo album
He was the one that told me to do a solo album. I was like, “Nah, I’m cool.” He was like, “Nah, you should do one.” But I liked being in [Odd Squad]. I don’t know [why he wanted me to do a solo album]. Since [I was on “Hand of a Dead Body”] with Ice Cube and him, people would ask about me. When we first signed, he’d kind of take us under his wing when they would do big shows. Our first show was in front of 15,000 people in Chicago. We had to keep going to the front of the stage to turn Blind Rob [Rob Quest, who is actually blind] from the Odd Squad around ‘cause Rob would start rocking and sh*t [and getting close to the edge]. He does the beats and is crazy with the lyrics, too. While we doin’ that, Face would be in the corner dying and laughin’.
On being featured on Dr. Dre’s “F*ck You”
[People around Dre and Snoop] was telling me that during that first Chronic tour, they were listening to Odd Squad before it even came out. [Once I got to the studio] they had 107 instrumentals that were like a minute and a half, two minutes, with just skeletons of songs, on a DAT tape. We went through like 15. But Mel-Man was like, “Go back to number 12. I think he’s feeling number 12.” The West Coast Worm was crazy and the way it had the vibrato on it was crazy. [The hook] was from a [old unreleased] song I actually had. It was a slow breakup song. The melody was fast, and I was like, “I wonder how that would sound.” Dre was there at the time. I was trying to see if it would work and I wrote it down, and he’s saw me writing and he’s like like, “You go something?” I’m like, “Yeah,” but I’m really like, “Oh sh*t. I hope it works.” [Laughs].
I went in there and tried it. The first and second take were shaky. The third track, I was kinda feeling it. The fourth one was cool and then we decided on one track like, “Okay, cool. Let’s double that.” Then right before I left I was like, “Hold up. Let me get one more.” [Laughs]. [Dre] was real down to earth and chillin’. I’m pretty much hard on myself so once I do a take, and if it’s not sounding right, I go back and tell the engineer “one more time." [Laughs]. When I finished the hook, I came back and sat down and they started mixing the hook and playing the beat over and over again. Hitman started writing some stuff with Dre and I grabbed a pen and just started writing some sh*t. I ain’t have sh*t else to do. And Dre saw me writing and was like, “Oh, you got a verse on it?” I went in there and knocked it out ‘cause I was feelin’ good ‘cause we was high as a motherf*ck*r. Dre was like, “Ah man, that’s right! Check it out. Snoop is about to come. He’s gonna lay his sh*t real quick. Watch, it’s gonna be some sh*t.” He was excited. It meant a whole bunch because, during that time, I was like, "What should I do? Why am I in it? How prosperous would it be? How can I profit and have a good time?" I knew I loved to do it, but once you get past 25, 30, and you been rappin’ 10 years, you’ll be like, "Okay, let me really think about this." [Laughs]. So it came at a very important part of my career, too. It kind of gave me the faith that somebody like Dre and Snoop listened to and appreciated me.
On almost getting kicked off Dr. Dre’s Up in Smoke Tour in 2000
There was one show I missed because I was f*ck*d up. I was sick and then still tried to drink in D.C., I think. I had the schedule down. As soon as I walked up to the place, I got like five minutes to chill, boom it’s time to go. But they started 20 minutes earlier this time and I was on the bus. I heard somebody banging on the door like, “What’s up? They’re lookin’ for you. You were supposed to be on stage.” So I’m running towards the stage and people keep looking at me like, "Where you been?" As soon as I went through the liquor store [prop on stage], it was my part [on “F*ck You.”] My laminate was still hanging. Butch Cassidy told me the whole story [later] like, “You should have seen Dre looking at you. He had his face towards the crowd, but was cutting his eyes towards you.” Usually he’s like, “Yo, I got my homeboy Devin. He’s from Houston, Texas. He’s here to sing for you ladies.” That night, he was like, “Yo, Devin. Devin! I guess he don’t wanna f*ck with y’all tonight.” [Laughs.] I don’t know what they was gonna do if I didn’t show up. It was messed up.
After getting off the stage, told everybody on the bus, like D.O.C., “Man, it’s been cool.” I knew everybody was kind of upset and I was going to get kicked off the tour. D.O.C. was like, “It’s okay, Dev. Just go in and talk to him. They good people.” So, I walked through to [Dre’s] dressing room and you know a lot of people was there looking at me like I’m dead. I walked in and Dre was like, “Man, what’s up. I heard you were sick and you weren’t feelin’ well. I understand man.” I was like, “No man, I apologize, I f*ck*d up. I was supposed to be where I was supposed to be. I don’t usually do it like this and I apologize.” He was like, “Man, you know what’s up? I love to have you on the team, man, with that album you got.” I was like, “Oh really?” Because I had gave him Just Tryin’ Ta Live before it came out in pre-production. So I left and I was like, “Ohh sh*t.” I guess a lot of people apparently around got the same feeling too because they started getting on the phone like, “Guess what?” But I guess I was still locked into a deal and they didn’t work it out to make it feasible for everybody. I didn’t have a lawyer at the time. [Laughs.] Me and my manager [handled the negotiations]. I just know that once the CEOs started talking, they got to come up with an agreement before I even see any paperwork to agree to anything and it didn’t make it that far.
On being with in the studio with Tupac
When they did “Smile,” I went out [to Los Angeles] with [Scarface]. We stayed out in Oakwood Apartments [in Burbank] and Pac come in a big *ss black hummer with a big *ss bullhorn to scoop us up to take us to the studio. He was like, “Scarface! Come out with your hands up!” [Laughs.] We were lookin’ out the window and everybody was like, “Sh*t, what the f*ck is that?” We looked real close at the face and we were like, “Man, that’s f*ck*n' Pac.” He started laughing over the loudspeaker.
[At the studio] you had Facemob, the Outlawz, Pac, Face and everybody in one room. The Facemob and Outlawz were about to do a song together. They had a beat for us to do and while we was writing on it, Face turned to Pac and said about his cousin Jamal who had a camera, “Jamal is your favorite, man. He listened to your tape so much that your voice got hoarse on it. Can you just do a little something on the camera?” And [Pac] just ripped a long-*ss freestyle and Jamal recorded everything. It was real raw. We never did record the Outlaw and Face song, but they took that actual footage and put that verse on Scarface’s “Homies & Thuggs.” You hear the music [playing in the studio] in the background, too.
Then, we started recording and Tupac’s real hard about his music. The engineer was f*ck*n’ up a little bit because he was nervous. [Pac was giving directions] like, “Go back, let me go over that” or “Let me punch in right here.” [Then he’d get mad like,] “You recorded over what? Sit your *ss down. Try it again.” And then the engineer was cool and then like 20 minutes later, [Pac would be] like, “Let’s dub that” and [the engineer’s] like, “Oh you wanted to keep that?” And [Pac] stormed out of the studio and they were arguing. He chewed him out and then went back in the booth and I think [the engineer] did one little itty bitty thing. Pac just stormed out the booth, told him to stand up, took his chair, and swung it over there like, “You stand your *ss up for the rest of the session.” About 20 or 30 minutes later, he f*ck*d up again. [Pac] came out and told him, “Come out here in the hall.” He took him out in the hallway man and all you could hear was barkin’. That whole time man, they had like a big ass Ziploc bag full of blunts already rolled and every time one would go out, Pac would just look at somebody, and they’d have to fire another one up and pass it around. He was cool, but Pac was really serious about his work.
|
Anmelden
FAQ
Suche
