TSS Presents Fifteen Minutes With Big Shug

TSS: Yo!

Shug: What’s happening?

TSS: So, you got Street Life coming out…

Shug: What you say? Did you say Street Life?

TSS: I’m sorry, I got the title wrong?

Shug: Yeah, man. It’s Streetchamp.

TSS: Repeat that?

Shug: Streetchamp!

TSS: Okay, Streetchamp. Sorry I had that wrong.

Shug: It’s aiight, man.

TSS: You don’t ever get confused with the other Suge?

Shug: Of course you got them cornballs that go, “You mean, like Suge Knight?” People relate a lot of things, we both played football, we both was doing some gang shit. I had to do a stretch, I don’t know if he did a stretch as long as me…a lot of things are similar. But it ain’t a bad thing. I ran into him a couple of times and it was always peace with me, Premier and him.

TSS: Talkin about your album, this being your second solo joint, what were you trying to accomplish this go around?

Shug: Basically, this album is probably the one that’s most me. Because it enabled me to touch on a lot of different topics. It’s probably a more lyrical album than in the past. As an MC you always have growth. It’s that true Big Shug. There’s a singing joint on there and there’s some hooks where I sing on it. It’s the Big Shug Show, so to speak.

TSS: The album is kind of hard, but it looked like you only had Premo on a couple of tracks there. Was there a reason you didn’t just use all DJ Premier beats?

Shug: Premier is usually a pretty busy dude, number one. Number two, you gotta be able to stand in other venues, you know what I mean? You gotta be able to find other beats and be able to grow. Because what it is is really a Big Shug project, not like a Premo project, because we’ll be doing some things in the future. Moss produced “We Gangsta” and “Militant Soldiers” on the last album, so we had a pretty good relationship. And then when I listened to some beats that he had they were able to musically take me in different directions. Because Premiere has his sound, which is good, you know, you can’t ever be mad at that. But in order to expand in different directions sometimes you have to tap on some other things.

TSS: You originally from Boston?

Shug: Yeah.

TSS: Can you break down the whole Gang Starr thing and how it pertains to Boston?

Shug: Basically, Guru is from Boston. And me and Guru started Gangst…,well, I started it really, years ago. He’s a bit older, but I was in the game from that way. So, in the younger years I taught him how to rhyme. Not showed him or growed with him, I taught him how. So therefore we were able to form the group Gang Starr, which consisted of him, myself and my younger brother Suave D, who used to deejay for us. And you know I was hustling, doing my thing. So I got caught up in the street situations…had to pay my debt to society; and he moved on to New York and that’s how he got together with Premier–hence the second stage of the Gangstarr situation. Once I was free, you know, got myself back in order just to deal with being free and being in society, we hooked up a couple years later at a show. And I’ve been with the movement since then.

TSS: Where you from Dorchester? Mattapan?

Shug: I’m from Mattapan, which is also “Murdapan.” A few years back, we used to have a little hood clique called the Murdapan Connection, you know…sorta like M.O.P, where we always held it down for Mattapan as the years went on.

TSS: Was that a known group at the time, like Benzino’s Almighty RSO?

Shug: We came up around the same time. Once hip-hop hit, we was doing our things. This was just about a little bit afterwards, but as far as hip-hop, as individuals, I was rappin’. When I met Guru, he wasn’t rappin’ yet. I put him on to rappin.’ I was doing it for a long time.

TSS: It could just be internet chatter, but are you and Guru not on the best of terms right now?

Shug: Basically, Guru, man…he stepped off to do his own thing about three years ago. So me and Premier continue to represent for Gang Starr Foundation, what have you, and everything that sprouts from it. Like, Premiere has year-round records at Headquarters studio and I have Team Shug and some other various projects. We haven’t spoken to Guru in about three years, but that’s by his choice and he’s doing his new thing with his new producer. His name is like Sun…Sun, Solar or something.

TSS: So officially, Gang Starr doesn’t consist of Guru anymore?

Shug: I mean, it’s not functioning right now. Gang Starr will always be known as Guru and Premier, but they not together right now. I don’t know if they’ll ever be together again, but you can never rule things out. He’s just out there doing his new project with his producer named Clown Solar or something. I don’t know. He doing some clown shit.

TSS: You directing any lyrics at Guru on the new album.

Shug: It depends. On “Just Don’t Stop” I’m more or less talking about where cats is at with the music and how they sound better with Premier. At the end I talk about Nas and Jay-Z and it ain’t even a diss, it’s more or less….Nas was supposed to do an album totally produced by Premier and we don’t know what happened, so I addressed that. And Jay-Z, he’s doing his thing, but he was supposed to do some things with Premiere and we don’t know what’s up with that. We all know that those dudes sound fly on Premier’s shit.

TSS: Yeah, Christina Aguilera, too.

TSS: So, where do you rest now? You still in Bean?

Shug: Yeah, I’m in Boston because we got Smoke City studios out here, but every week I’m out in New York, finishing the album; and I do a radio show on Sirius Satellite with Premier every Friday night.

TSS: What time is that?

Shug: 12 a.m. to 2 a.m. every Friday night. We play unbroken joints, man. Kick it with the fans and talk about some topics.

TSS: Other than that what keeps you in the game?

Shug: The thing for me is that everywhere I go people always talking about how they love this song and that song. From like, “Militia” being played on “Pimp My Ride” and “Making the Band.” This album here was the first album I was really able to do me. Because on the last album some of the joints were old, like we just put them on the album because that was there moment. They had to come out. So, right now I’m still peakin’. It’s like if you would go back and listen to that last album or anything I’ve done previously you would hear the difference in the album I’m doing today. As long as I’m in the game I continue to grow and expand in my shit. If you listen you can hear the hunger in the shit I spit.

TSS: Your flows seem a little slicker. How did you approach this album lyrically?

Shug: It was growth and then a lot of joints on the last album was old. It was really my time to be Shug. I just touched on shit. I did collaborations with people on some other shit that’s coming out after my album that a lot of people are going to get caught off-guard. I was a little bit behind on certain shit because I was in jail, I got out, even in the game politically placed it wasn’t correct, so once I got into my right position, which the greatest position is right now, I’m able to really expand on my music and just get deep with it…lyrically and everything.

TSS: What’s Boston’s mark on hiphop?

Shug: It’s a little tough because cats come outta Boston sounding like someone else. At the end of the day, it’s so close, so it’s almost like a hybrid of New York.

TSS: What’s Big Shugs top 5 emcees of all time?

Shug: Rakim was one of ‘em, Biggie was one of ‘em, Big Daddy Kane at his height, Nas…there’s so many dudes.

TSS: One more.

Shug: I would probably have to Jay-Z because his wordplay is crazy. And I would have to give an honorable mention to Busta Rhymes and Redman.

For more info on Shug & his upcoming release, visit www.crackspace.com/bigshug and
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