Inspectah Deck of the Wu-Tang Clan Interview
While releasing 4 Wu-Tang Clan albums and contributing to almost every single solo Wu-Tang album, it took many years to finally get his solo album out from Loud Records. “Uncontrolled Substance” was a thick album filled with guest spots from Killa Sin, U-God and Street Life and production by Pete Rock, Rza, and others. Out of many of the Wu-Tang solo albums, “Uncontrolled Substance” was one of the most respected LPs.
Now, times have changed. It has almost been 6 years since “Uncontrolled Substance” has been released and Loud Records has dissolved. Inspectah Deck has returned with a new album on a new label. “The Movement” is coming out on his own record label (INS Productions) and Koch Entertainment. With only a couple of guest appearances (Kool G Rap, Street Life and Killa Sin), “The Movement” is filled with thick, old-school soul samples and thick, electronic pounding drum beats. In the past, Deck used to do much of his own production along with Rza and other Wu-Tang producers.
On “The Movement”, a majority of the production is handled by Hassan (aka Phantom Of The Beats) and Ayatollah. Times sure have changed since the days of “36 Chambers”. These days, the state of the Wu-Tang Clan is in question. Ol Dirty Bastard just signed to Roc-A-Fella Records. Loud Records is gone. Every core Wu-Tang member is doing their own thing in different parts of the world. It’s time for the rebel to come back and reclaim the mic. While he does have a braggadocio flow, Deck wants to move his people and his community. He wants his music to move you spiritually, physically, emotionally and creatively. Inspectah Deck lives up to his name “The Rebel INS”. He is not making albums with tons of guest appearances, radio friendly tracks, or Casio-sounding party/dance songs. Deck’s tracks are soulful and have themes, which range from tales of ghetto life, city living, police, prejudice, and racism. The song “Vendetta” is a vivid tale of gritty street life and the song “Framed” is a wild tale of being falsely accused of a crime. The blaxploitation-esque sound of “Stereotype” that deals with living up to images emcees portray.
Other incredible tracks include the motivating “Get Right” and the sad “Cradle To The Grave” about losing loved ones. Deck’s new album “The Movement” proves to fans that The Wu-Tang Clan is far from dead. While they may be doing their own thing, The Wu flows through their veins for life. On Sunday afternoon in June, I had a deep conversation with Inspectah Deck about his new album, racism, music, and the current state of the Wu-Tang Clan. If you love hip-hop and love The Wu-Tang Clan, you better get with the movement.
MVRemix: What goes on?
Inspectah Deck: Yeah, yeah. I just woke up and sh*t. I was out. You know, I’m out here working on this album, man. I’m trying to get it out. It drops June 10th. It’s called ‘The Movement’. I ain’t trying to bring it back to the streets, I’m trying to bring the streets forward. ‘Back To The Future’ style.
MVRemix: Your new album is called ‘The Movement”. What’s the meaning behind that title?
Inspectah Deck: Basically, what I’m talking about is that there are a lot of big corporations running us, telling us what to make, what type of songs to make, how to make it, when to make it. I realized that everybody out there is making money has an urban market they cater to. Us, being the ghetto youth, we create the trend. If we buy a Prada hat, we’re boosting Prada’s sales for 18%. We don’t invest that time and energy in ourselves. My whole thing is like: support your local bakery. You know. You have a store in the hood? Support that store!
MVRemix: How is ‘The Movement’ different from ‘Uncontrolled Substance’?
Inspectah Deck: The album ‘Uncontrolled Substance’ was just me, trying to be satisfied with doing an album. Being in the game, you want your own personal album so you can shine. That LP was a joint for me to get my lyrics off and to let everybody know ‘He’s an ill dude with it!’. This album, ‘The Movement’ is more of me taking a stand for something. ‘Uncontrolled Substance’ was more of a personal braggadocio thing. With ‘The Movement’, I’m looking past myself. I’m looking for the ones who are coming behind me. I’m still rhyming and kicking it on the album. It’s not like an anti-establishment thing. Still, the establishment is controlling everything we do in hip-hop. They see that it is lucrative.
MVRemix: Do you have a favorite song on ‘The Movement’?
Inspectah Deck: Right now, I feel ‘Cradle To The Grave’. It’s the last song on the album. It’s dedicated to my 2 peoples who past away. It’s a little personal edge.”
MVRemix: Can you explain the name Inspectah Deck?
Inspectah Deck: Deck has always been my name and I used to write graffiti for years. I was real hazardous with it, doing it at the train stations. I was doing all the hazardous ‘Beat Street’ styles. The name Inspectah came from when I was in jail. I’ve been to jail and when you’re in jail, it’s different than the streets. You have to settle down and understand your surroundings. You always have to be aware. You always have to have one eye open. That’s basically where that name came from. When I came home from jail, I was a much more calm person. I took my time and analyzed things. I thought about what I had to deal with before I dealt with it. Inspectah is the description and Deck is just a name.
MVRemix: As an emcee, who were some of your major influences?
Inspectah Deck: Early on, the cats who made me want to rhyme were Rakim, Biz Markie, and Kool G Rap. Yeah, Kool G Rap is on the album.
MVRemix: What guests are on the album ‘The Movement’?
Inspectah Deck: Kool G Rap definitely came through and gave me a hot verse. There are not a lot of guest stars on my album. Killa Sin from Killarmy, that’s my boy! Street Life is on it. He’s been down with Wu-Tang since day one, catching war over Method Man’s projects. Vinia Mojica, she sung on my first album on a song called ‘Trouble Man’. I met her through Pete Rock, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def and them.
MVRemix: On ‘The Movement’, there are many samples and loops from old soul records. It also has a more soulful sound. Why did you go this route?
Inspectah Deck: Everybody else sounds Casio right now. I just wanted to be something different. I didn’t want to be a follower. That’s what ‘The Movement’ is… it’s about leading yourself. Don’t do what you see me doing. But, if it works for you, follow the path.”
MVRemix: On your last album and many other Wu-related releases, you produced many tracks. Why didn’t you produce tracks for ‘The Movement’?”
Inspectah Deck: On ‘The Movement’, I was more into my pen. I was trying to figure out the direction that I wanted to come at people. Inspectah Deck is a lyrical emcee. On this album, I had to reach out for the soul. I had to reach deeper into the people. I had to make different types of songs.”
MVRemix: There aren’t any core Wu-Tang Clan members on this LP. Was that done intentionally? Why?
Inspectah Deck: Nah, that wasn’t done intentionally. That was just because of the state of affairs right now. Raekwon was in Miami with Ghostface. Rza was overseas. Method Man was on the Def Jam Vendetta Tour. Even before that, Meth was busy making the movies and things like that. It was hard to get with everybody at every given time. I have songs that I had Wu-Tang Clan members on that never made it to the board like that. I may release those on the website. Check my site out at www.inspectahdeck.net. I may release those as brand new, exclusive and un-heard tracks.”
MVRemix: There also isn’t any production by Rza or 4th Disciple or True Master. Why?
Inspectah Deck: You know how it is, man. You live at home until you’re a grown man and then, you have to venture out and get your own apartment.
MVRemix: Why did you hook up with Phantom Of The Beats (aka Hassan) and Ayatollah for a majority of this LP?
Inspectah Deck: Phantom Of The Beats is also Hass D or Hassan, who was with UMC’s. I grew up with him. We worked summer jobs together. It’s like that. We have always talked about this. Ayatollah always had that sound to me. My name used to be Ayatollah. That was one of my code names. I used to ask around, ‘Who is this other Ayatollah dude?’ People told me that he was a producer and one day, I checked out his little resume. He worked with Black Rob, Styles P, Cormega, and more. He did a lot of work but never got recognized for it. I checked his sound and between him, Hass D, and myself, we all have that same type of sound. I knew that all of us could come together and make a nice little mixture right there.
MVRemix: What is the current state of The Wu-Tang Clan? Will there be another Wu-Tang Clan album?
Inspectah Deck: The current state of The Wu-Tang Clan is a little rough. Everybody is out there. The game ain’t the same for the Clan to come back and drop a full Wu-Tang Clan album. The state of hip-hop is not ready for Wu-Tang. Before Wu-Tang dropped the last album, they weren’t ready for it. Everybody wanted to party and dance and be candy-coated. They wanted to take the music away from having the drama, and real life of growing up broke in the ghetto. That’s where it comes from. Everything else is just added on. I can’t even place my finger on it. For Wu-Tang Clan to drop an album right now, we have to make sure that the people’s mind states are ready for what we have to say. Right now, there aren’t many original people out there. There aren’t many people setting trends and being originators and creators. Everything Wu-Tang tries to do, we try to be original and creative. We always want to bring out something that nobody else was doing. ‘Iron Flag’ reminded me of ‘36 Chambers’. On ‘36 Chambers’, Rza left the mistakes and everything on the album. It was to let everybody know that we are real. We’re not robots. You hear a mistake or two and it lets you know that it’s live and not Memorex.
MVRemix: What do you think of Ol Dirty Bastard signing to Roc-A-Fella?
Inspectah Deck: At first, I didn’t understand it. I was like ‘How could you? How dare you?’ because I’m Wu-Tang for life. But at the same time, we’re grown men. He may have gotten a $10 Million deal out of that. I don’t know the ballistics between what he and Damon Dash worked out but we are all grown men now. That’s one reason that there aren’t a lot of Wu-Tang members on the albums. Everybody is out there trying to peruse their next level. We’re not trying to be rhyming on the mic forever. Right now, I have INS Productions. I have a label called Urban Icons. I’m working on young dudes coming up, the new talent, the next wave of this.”
MVRemix: How did you originally get involved with Wu-Tang Clan?
Inspectah Deck: I’ve been Wu-Tang since day one… before we thought of the name or anything. Rza was on. Rza dropped an album on Tommy Boy as Prince Rakim. Gza dropped an album on Cold Chillin. Through their knowledge and the little money they had, they formulated a studio and things like that. We used to do our thing everyday. Rza came to me and Meth one day and was like ‘Yo! Are you willing to do this for real?’ We had to look at our options. We were hustling and I had 2 felonies. I was like ‘Alright!’. But Wu-Tang has always been together. The name came later from the karate flicks. They were the rebels that rebelled against the temple.”
MVRemix: What were the 2 felonies?
Inspectah Deck: Me? Just life. We can’t get all into that. You know felonies are serious. I ain’t proud of it but I ain’t ashamed of it either. Jail actually helped the kid.”
MVRemix: You have a gift for storytelling tracks (i.e. ‘Word Of The Street’ and ‘Vendetta’). What do you like about these kind of songs?
Inspectah Deck: I wanted to be the rap Langston Hughes or Isaac Hayes. I’m a 70’s child. I’m from the Blaxploitation era. I try to keep that cornbread and collard greens from that era but I don’t try to get all Camp Lo with it. You won’t see me with the sideburns and the bellbottoms. I just take the aspects and the feelings of how it used to be back then.”
MVRemix: Do you go into the studio with pre-written rhymes and themes or do you hear the beat first and write then and there?
Inspectah Deck: It depends. I may think of something first and may need a beat to support it. 9 times out of 10, I do hear a beat and let the beat create what I need to be thinking.”
MVRemix: Your delivery and flow is extremely rhythmic. It is always on beat.”
Inspectah Deck: Yeah, on this album, especially, I wrote the songs to the beat. I didn’t come in with a song I had already. On the song ‘You Wanna Be’, the chorus goes with the beat. On ‘Vendetta’, the chorus sinks right in there. ‘Bumpin And Grindin’ is the same. Everything I make, I try to have it be one with the beat. Regardless of what I’m saying, it is going to sound like it belongs there.”
MVRemix: Kool G Rap is on an incredible song called ‘Framed’. How did you hook up with him and what was it like working with him?
Inspectah Deck: Right now, I give many points and much respect to Kool G Rap because he was one of the cats that was willing to help me and put a verse on there and I didn’t even have to pay him at the time. He was doing it out of the strength that he wanted to work with Wu-Tang and I wanted to work with him. Until then, we never had a chance to link up. He did me a favor. That’s why I put him as one of the only guest stars on there. Other dudes were coming out me like ‘I need $50 Grand’ or ‘I need $60 Grand’. I’m like ‘Why should I give y’all $50 Grand a track?’ If I give a producer $60 Grand, to get another emcee on it, the emcee will want $20 Grand. If I make it a single, to get them in the video, the label will hit me with another $30 Grand. I’m spending $100 Grand on a side-artist! I’m not trying to pay 100 G’s for somebody to be on a song with me.
MVRemix: What emcee/group would you like to collaborate with in the future?
Inspectah Deck: Right now, I’m just feeling the underground dudes. I like the dudes who have been striving to get paid, to get their sound out there, and have been overlooked by the corporations. M.O.P. and Talib Kweli. Boot Camp Clik! I can go and take it to the West Coast. I would like to do something with the Golden State Warriors Squad. I’d work with Eminem and them. There’s a lot of people out there that I would work with but I’m not into trying to have a big name on my sh*t to try and blow me up. It usually works the other way. Some guest artists want $50 Grand just to show their face in the video. I executive produced this one. ‘Uncontrolled Substance’ sold ghetto-gold 400,000 plus. This one has the same potential. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. Still, you can say artistically, creatively, Inspectah Deck did his own thing.
MVRemix: Since you are executive producer for ‘The Movement’, how much more responsibility do you have?
Inspectah Deck: It gives me a lot of responsibility for me to get out there and push this record. There’s dollars on the back end. Being executive producer, it takes some kind of ease off of you because you don’t have a whole bunch of people who want everything that is yours. You have to pay the label back and they put the money up. By the time you’re done, if you made $1 Million, you are only left with $100,000. That’s the difference.
MVRemix: What was the last incident of racism that you encountered?
Inspectah Deck: I don’t know. One thing I know now is that racism is not as blatant as it was. It’s really swept under the table but it is there. It’s like an unseen force. I think the airport was the last incident of racism I experienced. When I fly, I think my name is in the computer for them to f*ck with me and search me. I get searched at least 5 or 6 times each way. No bullsh*t! I went to a small airport out in Long Beach and never went there in my life! I go there for the first time and get searched like 4 to 5 times! Sneakers off and everything…more than once. Is it me? My bags come back marked different. They put it on the plane with a tag and by the time I get it, there’s another tag or two on there that lets me know that they opened the bag and searched it. Then, it lets me know that it’s clear. They are supposed to tell you that they are doing that. That is something I go through every single time, everywhere, when I fly. I don’t know if that is racism but I am definitely being profiled. I never had an incident in the airport but I want to bring a secret camera in the airport somehow. You can’t even get the camera in there. Somehow, I wanted to call Channel 2 News, Arnold Diaz. He’s on a spot called ‘Shame On You’. I want to get him and have somebody record this. Rappers are getting profiled like crazy. With police, I get pulled over. I don’t even tell them that I am Wu-Tang. I’d rather just pretend that I’m a normal dude. Wu-Tang must be in the computer because it rings my name up and it’s going to tell them that I am one of them and they should check me. It’s not one of the most powerful forms of racism but that is discrimination.
MVRemix: Death Penalty - for or against?
Inspectah Deck: I mean, I don’t see what gives anybody the right to take another person’s life. If I killed somebody, I don’t have the right to take that man’s life. So, what gives y’all the right to take my life for taking his? They’ll lock me up forever but taking my life is doing the same sh*t I did. It’s the same murder.
MVRemix: Where were you on Sept. 11th, 2002? How did you deal with it? How do you think it has affected or will affect hip-hop?
Inspectah Deck: It’s affected me now. My city ain’t the same anymore. New York has definitely done a 360 since that bombing. There’s 4,000 more cops on the street and 2,000 more surveillance cameras. There’s so much going on now and they are putting so much money into so-called security. They’re taking money from schools and jobs. They are firing teachers and union workers. People are striking. The lowest level of people are striking. Pastry shop owners are striking. We have a billionaire mayor who doesn’t understand the struggle of a city that has so much unemployment and a minority crisis.
MVRemix: What do you think hip-hop needs these days?
Inspectah Deck: Hip-hop needs to start speaking about sh*t because everybody using hip-hop to do what they need to do. Car companies are using hip-hop to sell cars. Shampoo companies are using hip-hop to sell shampoo. Right now, hip-hop needs to use itself to sell the message that we are trying to bring. This is a culture and a way of life for us. Hip-hop is becoming a marketing tool.
MVRemix: What is your all time favorite collaboration so far?
Inspectah Deck: I have a lot of them. One of the real influential ones I did was with me, U-God, Mobb Deep, and Blondie. It was on Blondie’s last album. We ended up performing it on American Music Awards a week later. They flew us out to Cali and we went out there and pounded that song out. Damn, we just recorded it. We just did it and we were live on TV with Blondie. That was influential to me. Blondie, she’s been there. That song made history.
MVRemix: What classic hip-hop song would you like to remake? How would you approach it?
Inspectah Deck: The Ultra Magnetic MC’s ‘MC Ultra’. I’m about to do that with Tony Touch. That’s crazy because that was when hip-hop was hip-hop. That was when the thugged out, cock-diesel, killer dude would still get out there and do a dance move. It’s not all about who you are thugging and who you are bugging.
MVRemix: Hassan used the same beat on Pop The Brown Hornet’s ‘Wants & Needs’ that he did on your song ‘Big City’. What do you think of Pop’s song?
Inspectah Deck: Actually, Hass wasn’t feeling the original song so he told me ‘Don’t worry about that’. Actually, my boy, Fess Taylor, was on there. He’s another artist that I’m working with. Personally, I love the beat but I don’t want somebody else’s song. He basically said, ‘You know what? It’s your song.’ And, I wrote ‘Big City’ to it. Even the dude who used to have the song, Pop Da Brown Hornet, there were no bad feelings or remorse about it. Pop Da Brown Hornet is my man. I have no grudges or personal things with anybody about anything so, if they had one with me, I would hope that they would have voiced it by now.
MVRemix: On the song ‘Show And Prove’ from ‘Uncontrolled Substance’, the hook says ‘The power of God’s in you.’ Can you explain that more?
Inspectah Deck: That was a song that talked to my people, the Black people. Stop blaming everybody for your sh*t. Stop blaming the white man. Stop blaming your moms or whoever it is. Stop blaming your girl. Get off of your ass and do something. The power is inside you to change what is going on with you. You know, I put that song out when everybody wanted to do the Bank Head Bounce and the Harlem Shake, so the point went unnoticed. The video is alright. It didn’t get no burn but it was a song that tried to uplift the people. The big corporations and the powers that be, they were like ‘Ah, another radical. Let’s shut him down instantaneous. Let’s demoralize him’.
MVRemix: Can you explain the song ‘Stereotype’ for us?
Inspectah Deck: The song ‘Stereotype’ is basically everything I’m talking about. They look at rappers and say, ‘They ain’t sh*t. They smoke weed. It’s not real work.’ You know what I mean? They think it’s a luxury to be a rapper. It’s more work than you would ever think. The song ‘Stereotype’ is like, you look at me and you may see something or somebody but I’m so much more than that. But, at the same time, I am that stereotype. I am that n*gga. I will get wild. I will do all of that sh*t that you’re thinking. I am civilized also. So, don’t look at me just for face value. Don’t look at a person and think, ‘Okay, he looks Spanish so he must be Spanish.’
MVRemix: As a solo artist, how has your live shows evolved?
Inspectah Deck: My live show is just my live show. I come there and I talk to the people. I’m not just a rapper. I speak and I let people know what is really going on, what’s really good. It’s not all about ‘All my ladies say Hoe! All my n*ggas say yeah!’ You know? It’s like ‘How y’all been? I ain’t seen y’all in a minute. What’s good out here? Who’s in here?’ See, I talk to the people. Live, the beats come rumbling through the speakers. I made the album for live shows. I didn’t figure that the radio would play my sh*t. I’m not a Jay-Z. I’m not making these female records. Everybody is making these female records where they are singing and they have their shirt off. The companies are making these dudes do that. The dudes don’t even be those type of cats but the companies make them into that type of dude. They say, ‘Ok, he’s not selling records the underground way, let’s take his shirt off an cater to the women.’ Now, he’s a sex symbol and he’s moving a little records but now, he has to be a sex symbol all the time. You can’t be the original person you were. With me, I’m good in the game. I’m still me. I never switched. I have always been the verbal assassin. That’s how I am. Whatever else I am, you cannot label me because I am only displaying to you one thing. Ok, they think that I’m talented and creative and they know that I can come in at any shape or form. I refuse to come other than myself.
MVRemix: Many of last LPS you and the Wu have put out have been recorded in California. Why? Do you think not recording in New York changes the vibe or approach to the music?
Inspectah Deck: Right, those were albums by Wu-Tang Clan or affiliated Wu-Tang projects that were probably handled by Rza. To me? Yeah. In New York, the stress keeps you on your toes. The stress of New York keeps you to a point where you have to stay focused, stay moving, and there’s no time to be slacking or falling asleep. The studios cost more in New York than they do in California. In California, you can take your time and be in a drop top, cruising down Sunset Blvd. In New York, you can’t even get through the traffic to get to the studio. It’s a whole different state of mind. I’m low-key in New York.
MVRemix: You worked with Gangstarr on the amazing track ‘Above The Clouds’. How did you hook up with them? What was it like working with Premier and Guru?
Inspectah Deck: Premo has always been one of my dogs. I was trying to reach out and get some joints from him for ‘Uncontrolled Substance’ but before that came about, I would always meet Guru in the low-key spots. I would be going downtown Manhattan, in a low-key little bar that may be popping off with only 50 people in it. It wouldn’t be too crowded, it wouldn’t be too gangsta. I would catch him in there, listening to jazz. I’m the type who is out and about. I may be in the big, wild club today but I may in the little pub tomorrow. I used to run into Guru, Sadat X, and Brand Nubian. There’s mad people out in the town. One day, I ran into Guru and he told me that he was recording a new album (‘The Moment Of Truth’). He said that he had the beat and the track, and he wanted to get down. I came through D&D Studios the next day and we took care of that. Premo, being the scientist he is, he didn’t even want me to just rhyme to any beat. Once he knew that I was there and I wanted to do it, he went home and concocted a whole new beat that same day. When I heard it again, that was the finished product. Premo is a genius with it. I look at Rza and him in the same boat.
MVRemix: Word association time. I’m going to say a name of a group/emcee and you say the first word that pops in your head. So, if I say ‘Chuck D’, you may say ‘Revolution’. Okay?
Inspectah Deck: For Chuck D, I would say ‘The other rebel’.
MVRemix: Pharoahe Monch
Inspectah Deck: Organized Konfusion.
MVRemix: Jay-Z
Inspectah Deck: Slick with it.
MVRemix: Eminem
Inspectah Deck: Ill white boy, straight up. The illest one I have ever heard.
MVRemix: Freddie Foxxx
Inspectah Deck: Authentic 80’s. That’s classic hip-hop. That’s Union Square.
MVRemix: Starang Wondah
Inspectah Deck: That’s hood. Boot Camp is hood. I love Boot Camp. They stay on the grind, Buckshot and them.
MVRemix: Curtis Mayfield
Inspectah Deck: That’s my father from another father. I’m his illegitimate son.
MVRemix: Gil-Scott Heron
Inspectah Deck: He’s my illegitimate uncle. I’m related to them somehow. I always said that if I was here before or back then, I would be one of those type of people.
MVRemix: What happened to Loud Records?
Inspectah Deck: Loud fell apart because they were like The Clippers. They had all the #1 draft picks but couldn’t put a win together. I guess Steve Rifkind took his money and jetted off.
MVRemix: Why did you choose Koch Entertainment for this release?
Inspectah Deck: We just chose an independent vessel to move this album that didn’t have any ties with the majority of The Wu-Tang Clan. You can’t mix the two. I was signed to Loud Records as a solo artist and a group artist. That sh*t right there is something that I would never do again. You can’t be signed twice to the same label.
MVRemix: How did being signed twice to Loud Records, as a solo artist and a group artist, cause problems for you?
Inspectah Deck: Simple and plain, Wu-Tang is the engine while Inspectah Deck is the individual. So, when Inspectah Deck is trying to make something happen, in the course of Wu-Tang, my solo stuff always gets overshadowed. That was the big picture. I had Raekwon on the label too. There was also Mobb Deep, Big Pun, Fat Joe and others. They had the draft picks but they didn’t know how to win. Like a Portland thing, they didn’t know how to ration out the playing time.
MVRemix: You and Kurupt collaborated on the classic track ‘True Master’ from Pete Rock’s ‘Soul Survivor’ LP. How did that collaboration come to fruition? Were you and Kurupt there at the same time or did you record your parts at different times?
Inspectah Deck: Nah, we did all of that in the same spot. Love to Pete Rock! That’s another one of my dogs who we’ve been working with for the longest time. We did ‘Trouble Man’ together on ‘Uncontrolled Substance’ LP. I just try to keep it with the cats who I identify with. I did a freestyle off of Freeway’s joint with Talib Kweli, when I hooked up with him. I met Talib for the first time. Certain cats, you just vibe with because they are on the same path as you.
MVRemix: There are 2 songs on the promo copy that were left off ‘The Movement’. They were called ‘Action Man’ and ‘He’s A Rebel’. Why were they left off?
Inspectah Deck: The song ‘He’s A Rebel’ had problems with Phil Spector. He tried to make a big scene and act like we sampled his record and it actually wasn’t his record! So, the people that we told him who it was, they made a big fiasco. They got in touch with those people. They got nervous and they wanted us not to use that song at the last second. So, we went and did a new version of ‘He’s A Rebel’ without the sample that may be out on the next shipment of album. We may put a whole new add out and let people know that. That was some bullsh*t right there. You may have to guy 2 copies man. I’m sorry about that sh*t but you may have to buy 2 copies. I’ll put that on my website also.
MVRemix: What Wu-Tang collaborations and other collaborations are you going to be on in the future?
Inspectah Deck: Right now, you don’t hear anyone on my album but you’ll hear me on their album. I’m the dude who makes my way. I’m in the working ant stage. I don’t let anything fly past me right now. I did some sh*t for Sweden. I did some sh*t for London. It may migrate back over here. I’m not discriminating. If I could do a song with Japan and Germany, I will. I want it to migrate back out here. I have at least 20 freestyles on the plate that I’m working with right now. You can go to inspectahdeck.net on the website and all of those songs that you’re talking about like ‘True Master’ and ‘Above The Clouds’ and ‘Tres Leches’ are on the mix tape that are on my website. The mix tape is called ‘The Best Of Inspectah Deck’.
MVRemix: What is the biggest mistake you made in your career?
Inspectah Deck: Signing to Loud. It stagnated me. My album got pushed back for a couple of years. I got caught up. When BMG dropped them, they got picked up by Sony. Then, they did the merger with Relativity Record and Columbia. All of that was a 3-4 year process that got me caught up in the shuffle. After I dropped an album, there was a lack of promotion, a lack of everything. I still ended up pulling off 400,000 plus. Even after that, I still had a hiatus of 2-3 years of trying to get out of those contracts.
MVRemix: What can we expect from Inspectah Deck in the future?
Inspectah Deck: I got the Urban Icons Records popping off. INS Productions is already in effect. That’s what this album is out on along with Koch. We’ve got the DVD popping off called ‘A Day In The Life’ that’s just showing cats what it is really like to be me and the sh*t I go through. It ranges from traveling to checking into hotels, to being in the parties, to radio stations. You can see what a rapper really goes through. I also have the website inspectahdeck.net . I got the mix tape popping off on the website. It’s called ‘The Best Of Inspectah Deck’. You can order the album. You got the discount price on the website. You can find out about tour dates and everything. Whatever I’m getting into, you can find it out on my website: inspectahdeck.net”
MVRemix: Any final words for the people who will be reading this?
Inspectah Deck: Yeah! ‘The Movement’ comes out June 10th! Support the reality of the situation. Corporations are puppeting us. Just call them Gepetto and we’re Pinocchio right now. We need to become real. We need to cut the strings! That’s what Pinocchio wanted. Cut the strings because the corporations are puppeting us. Aim your dollars! The urban market is the #1 market for any company right now. Anybody that has dealt with the urban market in the last year has increased their sales by at leas 10%. The urban dollar is the most powerful weapon right now. They know if they can get us to buy something, we go out an buy it in abundance. Sometimes, we don’t even know what we’re doing. They capitalize on us not knowing. It was a good interview. I like the questions you asked. You don’t ask the same old questions. I’m interviewing from my bed, man! Thank you! I’m trying to get some tour dates for y’all. Come down and check out my live joint. Like I was saying, my stage show is not all pyrotechnics and half-naked women but it’s just me out there following my goals. Peace
Inspectah Deck of the Wu-Tang Clan Interview
