Word from the bucket of profanity himself, we speak to J-Zone as he gets ready to drop his new album, “A Job Aint Nuthin But Work”. Called him up on my new cell phone with a camera that sponsors my upskirt fetish. You wouldn’t believe how many of those red line things for spelling and grammar came up on this interview, pure ignorance and dope rap bravado…

So What’s been up in the life of the Zone?

The usual. Still livin at home with Grandma, eatin collard greens, parkin my car on the grass, talking trash, makin beats and lookin for a female with a job and all her teeth.

If you look at your last release and the current state of music, did you feel like you had to do something different with on your new album or do you just do what comes naturally?

I just do what I feel at the time. I have no regard for anything going on music. I hardly pay attention or keep up anymore. I just make what I want to please myself and hopefully some people like it.

Some people think you’re ignorant, some people think you’re funny, but what does your Family think? Songs like “$teady Hoggin” tend to bring out mixed reactions in people.

My family knows me well, so they all think I’m funny. And they’re all pretty liberal, so they know it’s just entertainment, no more no less. My Grandma thinks I cuss too much and talk bad about women, but she knows I ain’t a bad person. My dad loves my music. He’s been a big rap fan for years. He still listens to Tim Dog, Son Of Bazerk, Eazy-E, A Tribe Called Quest, etc. He loves my content. This is all in fun for me, I don’t give a f**k what people think about me.

What got you into writing in the first case? Your stuff on Hip-Hop magazines are too funny, did you ever write for Big Daddy?( but you really look assed out in some of those pictures. how old are those pics?)

I’ve always been a good writer. Ever since junior high school, my teachers would always pressure me to become a writer. They all said I had potential, but I was only into music and sports. I eventually began to focus a lil more on writing. Fatlace Magazine and HHC Magazine asked me to write a guest column here and there, but I became a regular after the response was good. Never wrote for Big Daddy though. Haha, yeah, any picture of me in a baseball hat is old as hell. I haven’t worn a baseball hat since 2000, so you know they’re old pics.

Juggling producing, rapping and writing columns for magazines is a lot of work, when do you chill and what do you do when you aren’t working?

I never do any work past 3PM. I work from 6:30 AM to 3PM everyday. Get all my work done. The beats, rhymes, columns, errands, etc. The only work I do after 3PM is shows. I just get lazy in the evening. I go play some basketball or go running at the local track. I’m into sports. I go to high school basketball games in the winter time when I can’t do shit outside. High school basketball is a popular subculture in New York City. I wanna coach high school ball one day, so I go to games to learn and pick up on things. I’ll call up a girl and harass her or watch Law and Order on TV, then go to sleep.

What kind of reactions have you got from the track “A Friendly Game of Basketball” I know its getting good airplay but have any basket ball players given you death threats yet?

Everybody seems to like it. No negative feedback yet, although negative feedback is good too. I’ve gotten challenges from folks who know me, but nobody I mentioned in the song has gotten at me yet. They’re all welcome to challenge me!

How was the warped tour like? Girls? Drinking? Tom Foolery? Tell us all about it. Tell us especially about Amsterdam, any raunchy shit?

Warped Tour was pretty tame. Rap is the low man on the totem pole there, so we didn’t get much props. It was tough, but I went with Dick $tallion and Contakt and they’re my best friends, so it was like hangin out. We got real drunk a few times, but nothing much else. Amsterdam was crazy!  That Space Candy had me high as a kite and I was pretty drunk. Girls? Yes! A wonderful 24 hours in that city. Sex, drugs, alcohol and rap. Every person I met there was real cool and I wanna say what’s up to all the people out in Amsterdam…y’all cool as a muthafucka!

Break down your new album “A Job Aint Nuthin But Work“. What should we anticipate?

Rhymewise? More Tom Foolery, humor and ignorant behavior. Plenty of cursing and bad manners. The subject matter is a little more diverse than last time, but it’s in the same vein. Beatwise, it’s funkier, even a little more rock influenced. The beats are much grimier and bass heavy. It’s funky. Only 4 guests on this album, I did most of the rhyming myself. I feel it’s my best effort yet. I know every artist says that, but I really feel that confident in the album.

You’ve released 4 albums (I think), how do you think you’ve changed as a person and as a musician with all you’ve been through and learnt in that period of time?

This new one will be my fifth album. In some ways I’ve changed drastically since my first album. In some ways I’m still the same. A lot of people claim I’ve regressed since my early stuff, but I’ve just given up on complaining about the state of hip hop and I got tired of getting pigeonholed for “accordion beats” and having a million soundbites in a song. But I still have a unique sound and I still have a sense humor, albeit much raunchier sense of humor! I’ve gotten more politically incorrect, cause most hip hop bores me. I just wanna shake shit up and I don’t care what people think. I’m just doing what it takes for me to continue to have fun making the music. If I was still doing exactly what I did on my first album, I’d be miserable.

Most rappers right now can be classified into various groups, (battle, horrorcore, sci -fi nerd, poetic, gay etc).  How would you classify yourself?  Cause I’ve noticed there aren’t many rappers who approach rap the way you do, do you think your sound is elitist or could it the first wave of a new sound, similar to how Company Flow came up?

Hahaha, horrorcore, sci-fi nerd, gay…. That’s hilarious. Man, I just make what I wanna hear. I don’t care how you classify it. I think that’s the main reason I haven’t blown up yet. Because you can’t put me in a category and nowadays anything that can’t be labeled gets ignored. I’m just gonna keep doing what I like and hopefully I won’t need a label, they’ll just know me as J-Zone, in my own category. I don’t think anybody sounds like me but nowadays that’s punished, not rewarded.

You’ve Got Devin the Dude on your album! How did you hook that up? Who’s next? Manny Fresh? Cause then that would be history.

Man, Devin is a legend. I’m honored to have him aboard on this one. Matt Sonzala, a writer for Murder Dog magazine, interviewed me last year. He asked me who I’d like to work with and I said Devin. Matt is from Houston and knows Devin real well, so he gave me Devin’s info. I got at him and we made it happen in a month. I suggest everybody buy all three of his albums and the Odd Squad album if you can find it. He’s criminally underrated. I’d love to work with Manny Fresh! He’s the only rapping producer that I think is better than me at this time! He’s incredible! I’d like to work with him, Baby the Birdman, Suga Free, ODB, E-40, Slick Rick, Milk D and Project Pat. That’s my wish list right now!

Have you ever drank a beer while taking a shower?

Naah, I don’t f**k with beer. Never liked the taste. I’ll try a tequila shot in the shower and let you know how it goes.

On the scale of one to ten, what would you give the ugliest girl you’ve ever got with?

7 up until a few moths ago. I recently found a 6 and handled it.

Pretty girl you’ve got with?

9 (liar)

Do you know what a donkey Punch is? Or Dirty Sanchez? An Abraham Lincoln ?

Donkey punching is f**kin a b***h from the back and punchin the back of her head when you nut right? I think Dirty Sanchez is a shit moustache. I don’t know the Abraham Lincoln. You know about Rusty Trombone, Jamaican Bobsledding or Jelly Donut? Rusty Trombone is too nasty to explain, Jamaican Bobsledding is f**kin down a flight of stairs and a Jelly Donut is hittin from the back, pullin out, nuttin on the girls back and when she turns around to slap you, punch her in the nose. Don’t get mad, I didn’t make this shit up!

I’ve read a lot of your interviews and you talk a lot about getting into acting, what kind of movies do you like to watch? Are you the next Rudy Ray Moore? Or Ghetto Michael Moore?

I wanna play a low class character. Like a tacky superhero, Dolemite-type dude. I like Blaxploitation flicks, anything related to basketball and low budget comedies. My favorite movies ever are Hollywood Shuffle, Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon and Soul in the Hole. Actually, I’d like to be the first Black man to live through an entire horror movie. Wait, LL did that in Deep Blue Sea, never mind.

This is your chance to hype up the album and give shout outs! I really have to take a shit now.

A Job Ain’t Nuthin But Work, in stores September 28! Entirely self-produced and featuring Devin the Dude, Celph Titled, Al-Shid and Dick $tallion (aka Black Je$u$). You’ll love it! Big up to my homie Space Vein for the interview and all J-Zone fans and haters. Thanx for the inspiration. Album #5, bitch!

Thanks for taking the time to chill with SpaceVein and entertaining all the folks out there! Stay fresh and healthy peace! Lets all get rich!

Interview by Spacevein

note:  Also check out the interview with Dick Stallion here and an older J-Zone interview here.

Submitted by: admin