Like many members of the hip-hop community, veteran emcee and Detroit native Guilty Simpson has been mourning the sudden loss of fellow emcee Sean Price, who passed away in his sleep on Thursday, August 8, 2015. But for Simpson, it truly hits close to home. Along with Black Milk, the pair was part of the group Random Axe and worked together frequently. Sadly, life must go on without him, but it won't slow Simpson down for too long. The Almighty Dreadnaughtz rapper has a lot on his plate right now. After teaming up with legendary producer J Dilla in 2001, Simpson has been on an upward trajectory. Dilla gave Simpson his first appearance on the track "Strapped" from 2003's Jaylib and soon he was signed to Stones Throw Records. His debut album, Ode to the Ghetto, dropped in 2008 and was followed up with O.J. Simpson, which was produced by Madlib. Currently pushing the release of his latest full length effort, Detroit's Son [Stones Throw], Simpson had a moment to discuss the passing of Sean Price, J Dilla and O.J. Simpson 2 in Part I of the RAPstation interview. In Part II, we'll talk more about Dilla, signing with Stones Throw and Madlib. Check out www.stonesthrow.com to cop the album.
RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): Last week was a sad week for hip-hop with the passing of Sean Price. How are you feeling about this?
Guilty Simpson: I'm feeling terrible actually. I worked with him and Black Milk a lot so we were quite close. My wife and his wife were close. It's kind of rough, but we'll make it through it. He was a one-of-a-kind person so I definitely feel blessed to know him.
You’ve also had to go through this with J Dilla, who you've worked with a lot. Very sad.
Hell yeah.
We're way too young for this.
Most definitely. I feel like he had a lot of years ahead of him, but it wasn't the case.
It's amazing though to see so much outpouring of support.
Oh for sure. He was that kind of person.
Well, in happier news, we can talk about your new album, Detroit's Son, which drops August 21. Why are you Detroit's son?
Because Detroit is such a heavy influence on my music. Me and my friends travel the world, championing Detroit. We take it everywhere we go. When we go onstage and present our music, it's about Detroit. I'm a product of that city and I'm Detroit's son. Being able to experience the ins and outs of the streets of Detroit, you're Detroit's son or daughter. My music is so in your face that anytime I put my voice on a record, a Detroit reference is not going to be far behind.
I've only been to Detroit one time. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska so it seemed kind of rough to me. Do you think people have the wrong idea about Detroit?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, Detroit is always kind of associated with the band things, so to speak. You go anywhere, there's more layers to it. One thing I do know is they don't report when nobody dies in Detroit, but they'll report when 10 people get killed in one day. Paints a bad picture. It's just something you have to take with a grain of salt. I'd like to think listeners or viewers are intelligent people. You have to understand no matter where the place is, there's going to be good and bad. Even in Omaha, Nebraska, I'm sure there's bad people and good people.
Oh people think Omaha is a big cornfield, where everyone rides horses to school [laughs]. But, of course, that's not the case.
Right right. Your perception of what Omaha really is might be totally different. Whenever you're from a particular place, you always have to deal with the stereotypes, regardless of where it is. I think once you get to know people and realize not everyone from Detroit is bad, you get a better understanding.
I met a lot of nice people out there. It definitely busts those stereotypes when you get to know them. In North Omaha and South Omaha, it gets pretty rough [laughs]. It's true. Isn't Detroit getting a big facelift, especially with all of the murals going up? Do you see a lot of those?
Oh yeah, I see them all the time, especially in the area I'm in. I'm kind of close to downtown. Graffiti future is definitely alive and well here. Detroit is getting a huge facelift right now. It's getting a lot more diverse. People are coming out of the suburbs and moving to the city. There's a different look to it, different energy to it and they're building a lot of stuff there. There's a lot of new things happening. I just want to be able to preserve some of the history. When you build stuff, you have to destroy stuff and sometimes when you destroy stuff, sometimes the history gets lost in the mix. We're proud of our city and it's definitely on the up and up.
Are you working on OJ Simpson 2?
I've been talking to Madlib, he has to handle a lot of business we've been touching base. I actually can go on record and say that it is pretty close to starting the creation of it. I've been waiting on music for it. I've been told it's in the process of getting put together. As soon as he says the word, I'll start creating. I've been waiting for some years. I really look forward to getting music from Madlib.
Guilty Simpson: The RAPstation Interview - Part One
Like many members of the hip-hop community, veteran emcee and Detroit native Guilty Simpson has been mourning the sudden loss of fellow emcee Sean Price, who passed away in his sleep on Thursday, August 8, 2015. But for Simpson, it truly hits close to home. Along with Black Milk, the pair was part of the group Random Axe and worked together frequently. Sadly, life must go on without him, but it won't slow Simpson down for too long. The Almighty Dreadnaughtz rapper has a lot on his plate right now. After teaming up with legendary producer J Dilla in 2001, Simpson has been on an upward trajectory. Dilla gave Simpson his first appearance on the track "Strapped" from 2003's Jaylib and soon he was signed to Stones Throw Records. His debut album, Ode to the Ghetto, dropped in 2008 and was followed up with O.J. Simpson, which was produced by Madlib. Currently pushing the release of his latest full length effort, Detroit's Son [Stones Throw], Simpson had a moment to discuss the passing of Sean Price, J Dilla and O.J. Simpson 2 in Part I of the RAPstation interview. In Part II, we'll talk more about Dilla, signing with Stones Throw and Madlib. Check out www.stonesthrow.com to cop the album.
RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): Last week was a sad week for hip-hop with the passing of Sean Price. How are you feeling about this?
Guilty Simpson: I'm feeling terrible actually. I worked with him and Black Milk a lot so we were quite close. My wife and his wife were close. It's kind of rough, but we'll make it through it. He was a one-of-a-kind person so I definitely feel blessed to know him.
You’ve also had to go through this with J Dilla, who you've worked with a lot. Very sad.
Hell yeah.
We're way too young for this.
Most definitely. I feel like he had a lot of years ahead of him, but it wasn't the case.
It's amazing though to see so much outpouring of support.
Oh for sure. He was that kind of person.
Well, in happier news, we can talk about your new album, Detroit's Son, which drops August 21. Why are you Detroit's son?
Because Detroit is such a heavy influence on my music. Me and my friends travel the world, championing Detroit. We take it everywhere we go. When we go onstage and present our music, it's about Detroit. I'm a product of that city and I'm Detroit's son. Being able to experience the ins and outs of the streets of Detroit, you're Detroit's son or daughter. My music is so in your face that anytime I put my voice on a record, a Detroit reference is not going to be far behind.
I've only been to Detroit one time. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska so it seemed kind of rough to me. Do you think people have the wrong idea about Detroit?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, Detroit is always kind of associated with the band things, so to speak. You go anywhere, there's more layers to it. One thing I do know is they don't report when nobody dies in Detroit, but they'll report when 10 people get killed in one day. Paints a bad picture. It's just something you have to take with a grain of salt. I'd like to think listeners or viewers are intelligent people. You have to understand no matter where the place is, there's going to be good and bad. Even in Omaha, Nebraska, I'm sure there's bad people and good people.
Oh people think Omaha is a big cornfield, where everyone rides horses to school [laughs]. But, of course, that's not the case.
Right right. Your perception of what Omaha really is might be totally different. Whenever you're from a particular place, you always have to deal with the stereotypes, regardless of where it is. I think once you get to know people and realize not everyone from Detroit is bad, you get a better understanding.
I met a lot of nice people out there. It definitely busts those stereotypes when you get to know them. In North Omaha and South Omaha, it gets pretty rough [laughs]. It's true. Isn't Detroit getting a big facelift, especially with all of the murals going up? Do you see a lot of those?
Oh yeah, I see them all the time, especially in the area I'm in. I'm kind of close to downtown. Graffiti future is definitely alive and well here. Detroit is getting a huge facelift right now. It's getting a lot more diverse. People are coming out of the suburbs and moving to the city. There's a different look to it, different energy to it and they're building a lot of stuff there. There's a lot of new things happening. I just want to be able to preserve some of the history. When you build stuff, you have to destroy stuff and sometimes when you destroy stuff, sometimes the history gets lost in the mix. We're proud of our city and it's definitely on the up and up.
Are you working on OJ Simpson 2?
I've been talking to Madlib, he has to handle a lot of business we've been touching base. I actually can go on record and say that it is pretty close to starting the creation of it. I've been waiting on music for it. I've been told it's in the process of getting put together. As soon as he says the word, I'll start creating. I've been waiting for some years. I really look forward to getting music from Madlib.
