Palms Out Blog: The Clipse's Malice Speaks Pt. 2
Sunday - May 20, 2007By: PalmsOut.com
Palms Out: You let your son listen to whatever he wants?
Malice: He listens to whatever he wants. The relationship I have with my son and daughter is we talk about everything, especially with my daughter. When we watch the videos on TV and the girls are shaking their ass and all that, I tell 'em everyone loves a hoe but, you don't love 'em for long, you know what I'm saying? That's just real. I try to teach my daughter you see all them hanging on the rapper? That is not who the rapper really wants.
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| The Clipse |
Palms Out: I'll turn on "Cribs" or whatever show, behind the life of your favorite rapper... generally they have a wife and a child, but the perception is that not only you [rappers] don't, but that you shouldn't. Do you think an ideal of family could be further incorporated into hip-hop or is it just not a part of the message?
Malice: I think it could be. It could be a part of the message -- family within hip-hop. Once again, it's just about being real and I think maybe it might even help when you see your favorite rapper with their wife and with their kids. I was just telling someone, I got this big, big gold Re-Up Records chain, diamonds flooded out and everything and they know me and they know [that's not my style]. I would much rather be putting some money up, but it is about the dream. I remember seeing RUN DMC with the big gold chain on and it made me want to have something. It may not have been the chain per se, but it is about having something. Having more than what you had and just trying to better yourself. I wear my chain and it's not about the chain, it's about the dream and having something and aspiring to be something, not that the chain makes you, (laughing) but it gives you a goal. It ain't about having a big gold chain, but it's about having a big gold chain.
Palms Out: The chain is a symbol of something, but does rap narrow what that dream is? Does the video make that kid say "the only thing that dream can be is the chain?"
Malice: Right, I know exactly what you're saying. It's hard to say because some of the rappers are kids themselves. Not everyone gets it at the same time. You might be out here clowning and acted a damn fool now and you might wake up later. You can't pass judgment on anyone. But I know I am going to take some responsibility and just paint these pictures and tell it as real as possible because the truth of the matter is if you sell drugs, you either going to get killed or you're gong to end up in jail. That is just the truth of the matter. You are up against agencies. I wish these kids knew -- FBI, Police, they have millions of dollars and your little black ass is not going to find a way to outdo them. We were lucky to get out of the game unscathed and we have only been lucky thus far.
Palms Out: I'm going to switch gears... If you could see any hip-hop battle between any two emcee's in history, who would it be?
Malice: (long pause) It would be Pusha-T and Jay-Z.
Palms Out: Ok, ok I'd like to see it too.
Malice: I'd like to see that too. (laughing) I'd like to see that too. I would love to see Pusha-T and Jay-Z go at it.
Palms Out: I was thinking we were going to see Pusha-T and Lil Wayne do it this year.
Malice: Naw, I don't even wanna... that's too easy, that really is too easy.
Palms Out: Similar topic. My boy asked this the first time I met him (what it do Kubie? get off that couch). You can take three emcees and make a super group. How about this -- you can have 2 emcees and a producer...
Malice: I would take Dre as the producer, and I would take early Snoop. Snoop is still hot to me, but I'm just saying, and I would take Pac. East Coast, I would probably get Pharrell and Chad producing, put B.I.G in there... B.I.G and Jay-Z, I'd put that together.
Palms Out: I work with kids. I work with young teenagers, 12-15, and they are more interested in rap than in school, so I am always trying to figure out how to get them interested. What class weren't you yawning in?
Malice: English. English was always that class.
Palms Out: How do you think hip-hop can function as a tool in the academic world?
Malice: I think that the curriculum... well, hip-hop is still taboo to a lot of people. It is urban, it is black, it's inner city, it's violence, it's drugs, it's hoes. To some people that is all it is. I just wish they could stop and say, "what is it that makes him say that?" Like "why is he talking about shooting somebody?" or "why is he talking about killing or fornication?" Of course it may not be savory, but it is something that makes that kid say that and it is that "something" that is important. I don't think it is a "something" that should be overlooked. If you look at life and it's so beautiful and you do right and you treat others as you wish to be treated and this that and that is great. But, there is something about that kid that didn't come from that. Maybe if we can tap into that and try to find a way to express to them that we can show them that life can be beautiful and it doesn't have to be hardship all the time. But people really do come from these hardships and really do come from their struggles, that is reality. Maybe we can show that it doesn't have to be like that, researching why they feel like that. I don't know if that answered the question about integrating it into the curriculum, but I'll tell you what, if there is anything I can do, by helping kids, [I'm all for it] because I am always trying to burn off some bad karma, straight up.
Palms Out: It is very clear that the maturity process has meant a lot to you. What places do you go for your own sanity? Have you gotten more spiritual? Is it family? Through these transformations, this maturating process, where are the places you find comfort?
Malice: Man, the place I find comfort is basically my spirituality and my belief in God. I don't know... It is something that is very near and dear to me I don't even know how to share that kind of peace that I get from it with other people... I would love to. Something inside of me I just wish I could share it with everybody. Because we have been through some tough times and I don't know how I would get through it without God. My spirituality is the base.
Palms Out: I am not a particularly religious person, but I always feel a little irked when I see rappers with crosses or symbols of Jesus that are covered in diamonds and excessive jewelry. Do you feel that it offends you or is that something outside of religion itself?
Malice: I'm guilty of that. I got the Jesus piece with the yellow diamonds in it. I was talking to Pharrell, we were having a conversation one time and he said "wow, that's hot... I knew you was going to do something like that." There were so many other things I could have got, but he was like "with that you can never go wrong" and me, that's my sentiments exactly. I hope it doesn't come off as exploitation and maybe to some it does, but I know what it means to me and I feel justified by that. I will have to answer to God. I mean, me, I am going to have to answer to him.
Palms Out: This is kind of a cliché question, but this is fun too. If you could live in any other time period when would it be?
Malice: I don't want to go too far back because I would have been a slave. I would definitely say, even though I probably still would have been a slave, but I would want to go back to the time when Jesus walked the earth. I want to be in on that. When the world was fairly new, before all the poisons, and the smog and everything. I believe we were probably almost super human without all the poisons of the world. We were much more in touch with our intuitive side and more in tune with our bodies back then.
Palms Out: Seems like urban life can really bog you down, take your smile away...
Malice: Even at seven years old coming from New York to Virginia, as a seven year old, I could feel damn near the weight being left in New York and only hearing crickets. And [not to mention], everyone speaks to each other here.
Palms Out: What is one question that a journalist has never asked you that you would like to be asked? And then answer it.
Malice: I think you did ask just about everything, ya'll cover everything. I can't really think of anything I wanted to get off my chest that you didn't ask. I would like to say once again that we don't take our fans lightly at all. Our fans are very much a part of us and we are still fans of hip-hop ourselves and we still listen... Thank you to the fans for riding with us, they kept us relevant and kept us in place when the labels weren't doing nothing.
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