Kokane Talks Ice Cube, "Detox" & "Gimme All Mine"
Kokane, a.k.a. Mr. Kane, is still gettin it in the Rap game two decades since launching his career on Eazy-Es Ruthless Records. Backed by the funky sounds provided by his cousin, Big Hutch, a.k.a. Cold187um, of Above The Law, Kane unleashed 1991s Addictive Hip Hop Muzick and 1994s Funk Upon A Rhyme during his Ruthless tenure. And while the spitter/singer from Pomona, California would go on to release several more projects via a variety of different labels, his dolo output would be dwarfed by his astounding amount of feature appearances (reportedly over 1,800 total) on other artists offerings, (see: Above The Laws Kalifornia, Tha Eastsidaz I Luv It, Dr. Dres Some L.A. Niggaz, and Ras Kass Back It Up just to name a few.)
But now the hookman-for-hire is once again gettin it for himself with the aptly-titled Gimme All Mine, (due in stores tomorrow, June 1st). Speaking to HipHopDX recently from his homebase in Seattle, Kokane broke down the meaning behind some of the songs from his latest long-player. Additionally in his thought-provoking discussion with DX, the west coast O.G. chimed in on the old vs. new west debate, explained why Ice Cubes jheri curled past provides him the right to declare himself the west, and maybe most notably, Mr. Kane let it slip that Mr. Noble might be joining him for Dr. Dres grand finale.
HipHopDX: You were telling me before I started recording that you just got off the plane from [Los Angeles to Seattle after] working with Dr. Dre. Can you give me any information about what you were doing, or is that cloaked in secrecy?
Kokane: Thats kinda [cloaked] in secrecy. [Laughs] I wont let the cat out the bag.
DX: [Laughs] Can you give me an idea if you were camped out with him for a week or you were just there - -
Kokane: I was camped out for a couple days with him and [Aftermath Entertainment in-house producers] Chocolate and [DJ] Silk. Theyre working on the record, the Detox. And I just submitted a couple of songs that - So its looking real good, and shxts gonna be awesome All I can say, watch what that dude do. Man, its whew!
DX: Lets get to the questions I have specifically about what you got going on. First off, why do you think some cats on the west have wandered into the Twilight Zone ?
Kokane: The south kinda picked up from the west coastand had that unity. So I think it was more or less how the unity disbanded [on the west coast] And then you had the new cats come in which is a good thing, because we needed some type of presence on the west coast. But now that that void is being filled [with new artists], all the O.G.s are starting to hook-up. Its just like, I put out a mixtape, [in April called On The Backstreets], with [DJ] Crazy Toones, featuring Ice Cube, Snoop [Dogg], [WC] and Above The Law. And I was [at the same time] out mixing it up with Aftermath Redman was in the studio with us last night too [So] all the O.G.s is hooking up to go ahead and tell everybody, this is not neither new west[or] old west, this is just the west coast. You dont go to [the] east coast and say this is the new east coast or the old east coast So, its a good thing that the O.G.s are all coming back together like Above The Law just shot a video with them. And its gonna be a good thing. This year, and next year on, you gonna see some big stuff to come out [from the west coast O.G.s.]
DX: One of the O.G.s that is back on the scene[is] Tha Chill, and he gave you some heat for that Twilight Zone track.
Kokane: Aww yeah man! Thats Comptons Most Wanted, and you know what classic cuts they had And I just [was] like, hands-down I wanna put this information on [the track]. And I wanna go ahead and really speak from the ghetto pulpit, how I feel and my outlook on it. I can say [those things in the song] because I was a part of that pioneer movement, an intricate puzzle piece [in] putting the west coast together with my G-Funk sound. So I wanted to go ahead and give that testimony, and talk about Dr. Dreand talk about the homie Snooppaying homage to them, and saying to these new cats, you can learn like they did, its no difference. The importance of Cubes, and your Dres, and Snoops and myself, its not how we can put you on, its how you can learn how we did it... Why go give somebody a hamburger when you can learn to get a whole franchise?
DX: How are these cats on the west specifically fuckin up Eazy legacy, as you say on the song?
Kokane: Wellits many things thats out there. Its just like if you look at radio, they play a bunch of Techno stuff on there. Its not really the west coast like it used to be. If you go to - -
DX: [Interrupts] The D.O.C. had a Techno remix of [Portrait Of A Master Piece in 1989.]
Kokane: Yeah, well he had a Techno mix, but wholeheartedly the sound of the west coast is The Chronic. The sound of the west coast is Too Short. Eighty-five-percent of that sound is our sound, soits just that we gotta get back to the unity that we once had When you look at D.O.C., thats one Techno record [where] he probably had mixed it up for the world, international [audience], but 95% of D.O.C. stuff was west coast.
DX: Yeah, the greatest lyricist in west coast history is from Dallas, Texas.
Kokane: Yeah, exactly. And I dont like to put my ass up on my shoulders, but one of the chief architects of G-Funk is Kokane and I was born in [the] South Bronx, 1969.
DX: So when you say theyre fuckin up Eazy legacy, youre not saying we need to go back to Jheri curls and Raiders caps?
Kokane: Hell nah! We moved forward [Look at] the contribution that Ice Cube had [though], not only from a standpoint of west coast gangsta music which back then we didnt even call it gangsta music, it was [a writer] from the L.A. Weekly [who coined the term Gangsta Rap], we called it "Reality Rap." Eazy and them called it Reality Rap, [but] the media tagged it Gangsta Rap so everybody ran with it. But, the true essence of what you call Gangsta Rap is that sound, with that bottom-bass, that George Clinton feel.
DX: Is there space for U-N-I, Pac Division, the modern day Pharcydes?
Kokane: Right, right. So the good thing about it between the new cats and the older cats, or the O.G.s as you would put it, is that now were starting to perpetuate unity, because anger begot anger. And Ima say this for the record, gangbangin dont have nothing to do with selling records. So [by] the time all these walls come down, it [wont] allow the west coast to have boundaries. And thats what I was saying from [the] standpoint [of] its fuckin up Eazy legacy, because Eazy was the type Therell never be no Eazy! From his tree, from his loins, we are the fruits. Because if it wasnt no Eazy, it wouldnt be no Cubewouldnt be no 50 [Cent], wouldnt be no Dre, wouldnt be no Eminem! So he allowed us to take his blueprint, and principle, and our sound that we have of course with Dr. Dre being the chief architect [of that] to go ahead and push it out there again. So I guess it was a good thing that we went through that void for a little bit, but now we all realize that look, strength come in numbers [Now] you got cats thats mixing it up in the studio [again]: Cube is mixing it up with Dre, Im mixing it back up with Snoop and Dre And its a beautiful thing, because you gotta realize, wasnt nobody ridin Six-Fos like they was in the south like they doing now Its the whole culture, [and] its the whole respect for [it.] And when I was choppin it up with my boy Mac Boney andKiller Mike at Grand Hustle [Records]its not so much that south and east coast was hatin on [the] west, [it was] west coast artists hatin on [the] west, and west coast radio hatin on the west.
DX: Now, I seen you sportin the We Da West hoodie in the Twilight Zone video, and you shout-out Ice Cube on the track for always keepin it gangsta, so I wanted to get your thoughts on Cube declaring that he is the west for his upcoming album title.
Kokane: Him and Dre can say that He had the Jheri curl in 88/87, [so] he can say that. Him, Dre, or Eazy can say that. Even Too Short can say that.
DX: Ice-T.
Kokane: You see what Im sayin? Because theyre the pioneers See, the thing thats so kinda like bland to me is thathow come people say when you get a certain age yall should give it up, throw in the hat? Rappers be doing that, but then when you look at George Clinton, or you look at Ron Isley, they still gettin it, and they 70-years-old! So good music is good music, regardless if you been coming out 1987 on up.
DX: When Cube announced that his new album would be called I Am The West, he wrote that the west lost our way and was trying to cater to the south and Midwest. And on Twilight Zone you too note that, Its like the south came in and snatched the west heart. But Im just gonna be direct and ask you why then did you make tracks like Jelly Jar and Rollin Up On Hoez for your new album that sound like the pandering to the south that you and Cube are currently denouncing?
Kokane: Its not totally denouncing nothing Its not dissing; its telling the truth And at the same time, its a lot of real players out in the south, so therefore Do we wanna be that small-minded enough to close out the south? No. But do we wanna speak the truth? Yes, we do When I say its like the south came in and snatched the west heart [I] played that in front of all my folks, from T.I., to Mac Boney, to Tomcat, to [Gorilla] Zoe, and they said I feel you on that. Because they dont get the [feeling] of that Im dissing the south or denouncing the south They wondering whats going on with the west [like], Why yall cant hook-up? Why when we come out herewe dont hardly hear no west coast records unless you Snoop Dogg or E-40, or [an artist] waiting on Dre.
DX: You still take it back to the clap, mixed with the Zapp for most of Gimme All Mine, with a healthy supply of your signature George Clinton-esque crooning sprinkled around a lot more spittin than I think most cats know you for. Or as French Dude wrote in the comments to the Twilight Zone video post on DX: What? Kokane can rap? [Thought] he was just a singer. Nice song. [Laughs]
Kokane: [Laughs] Well see, people dont know really the contribution I had to add. And its a whole nother generation Sometimes when these kids, and the next generation, know that I was on [Bad Azz and Snoops] Wrong Idea, and know that I was with [Diddy] [on Lonely from The Saga Continues] too, or Busta [Rhymes on Ass On Your Shoulders from Genesis], or whatever song [I] had [back in the day], its just an enlightenment situation, because they didnt know.
I originally checked in the game as a B-boy. I started singing because I seen Parliament come down in the mothership in Oakland Coliseumway back then in the 80s. So [the singing] kinda like bloomed into something. And people gotta knowyou got your Drakesbut Kokane was really one of the first [emcees] to introduce singing and rapping on records.
DX: [And] shout-out to Nate Dogg.
Kokane: Oh much big-ups to Nate Dogg, man! Its two hook masters in this game, thats Nate Dogg and Kokane. As far as the most featured artist in the world, its Kokane. As far as the most featured artist on hot singles, its Nate Dogg. Thats the real.
DX: But you felt like for [your new] album you needed to get the rhymin out a little bit more?
Kokane: Yeah, man! Thats that New York B-boy style [from my birthplace], chillin in my B-boy stance. So I had to go ahead and go back there, to let everybody know And its crazy, brother, because a lot of people be like, Well, he decided to pick up and rap, but I been rappin My pitfall [as a solo emcee] was when Eazy died [and] that kinda stopped my own individual success, because he was the tree for us, man.
DX: Switching gears here, I gotta admit that I was genuinely surprised by your positive-without-being-preachy jewels you drop throughout a lot of the album, [like on Killing Fields], [and] maybe most notably on Made A Difference when you say, We need more leaders than bangers / We need more doctors than slangas / We need more teachers than sangas / More unity amongst the people instead of them flame aimin.
Kokane: I was always touching on it [in my music]. And it gotta be in ya and not on ya. I just felt like [I] gotta say something, because I love X-Clan, but I love N.W.A. I love D.O.C., but I love Public Enemy too. Soeven though you can shake ya ass, talk about something. Because its a problem when these kids out here are continuing to be raised by us and were not perpetuating some type of positivity.
DX: You punctuate the song by speaking to anyone who might be giving you flak about these topicswhen you say, Even if these niggas hate what I say, God knows I made a difference in the hood today. I noticed there are a few shout-outs to the Lord on the album, most notably on the smooth, self-explanatory Can A Thug Get To Heaven. Is Kokane making that transition to Gospel rapper?
Kokane: Oh, yeah. Everything in life is a process So the thing thats relevant for you to do in your walk with the Lord, and your personal relationship, is let God break the yolk He allowed me to be a work in progress. Because if you look at all those people from The Bible or The Quran, those people went through some horrific things to get transformed around I was in quicksand[and] when you struggle in quicksand you only sink more So [by] the time Iput God first, and put my family first, and [stopped] any guilt trip that I ever [had about anything that I did in the past], or anything that was hindering my purposeI got tired of struggling in quicksand. So that is the significance of me saying gimme all mine. Gimme all mine devil. Gimme all mine right back to the industry. Gimme all mine right back what you took from my family. Gimme my sanctity back. Gimme my mind back. Gimme my freedom back And I aint gonna say Im all perfect. Im gonna say Im a work in progress. Yeah, I still roll up O.G. kush. Yeah, I still got a couple songs on there talking about that life and what cloth I was cut from. But 85% of this album is talking about something [meaningful.]
DX: A perfect title for this album mightve been "Contradictions," cause youre clearly working through that duality of man on here. And [so] I gotta ask you about that linefrom Made A Difference: Twenty-thousand-and-ten bangin is played out / How you gon let a color interfere with ya paper route? But then on your joint with Above The Law, Lay You Down, you note that, My name is Jeremy Long, a.k.a. Kokane/Crip gang. And youre also C-Walkin in the Twilight Zone video, so is - -
Kokane: [Interrupts] Yeah because the thing of that is, is that you cant be a hypocrite, you gotta be honest And the reason why I move like this is just like the principles of Jesus. Jesus Christ never ministered to nobody unless he met a need of love. So therefore if I gotta go tell that youngster [like], Whats up, cuz? Whats crackin? Come here, man, I got his attention. Then I can say, Look what God did for you and me. Because its a balance.