CEITEDMOFO
Banned
On the promo run for his new album, What Goes Around, Statik Selektah sat down with the UK's ill Will for an interview. Besides discussing the LP and his favourite MC, the acclaimed DJ/producer also talked about his strong opinions on Rick Ross' Correctional Officer past, being compared to DJ Khaled, being called the DJ Premier of the new generation as well as discussing the late stages of Guru's life and how if he sees Solar he's going to smack him in the face with a baseball bat.
Also he shares an interesting story where Kanye West told him that jazz was dead, which in turn inspired his latest effort.
Read the full interview here. See below for snippets of the interview:
On Rick Ross:
“He lied about it,” says Statik. “If he never lied about it, like if he said, ‘Yo, I was a CO and I met my drug connects in prison and I decided to get out of the game to sell drugs,’ [that would be understandable]. But that’s not his story. His story is that he was never a CO and then he got caught and he couldn’t explain why he lied about it. That’s my problem. You’re calling yourself the biggest boss. Every day you’re a hustler but you were just searching a grown man’s as*hole for drugs. So which is it?”
Explaining that a Correctional Officer is the guy responsible for making you feel less than human, the one that makes you spread your ass cheeks in prison, for Statik the CO is the lowest “mother fu*ker” on the totem pole as far as respect goes:
“It’s just crazy to me that people let him get away with that sh*t. Hip Hop forgets about it. Jay Z keeps working with him. I could flip it and say, ‘Yo, Rick Ross is a dope MC man. I think he picks some of the best beats. I think the way he words his rhymes is dope and all that.’ But you can’t come down on Hip Hop the way you do and let him slide.”
On Gang Starr and Solar:
“I was in the middle of the Gang Starr sh*t,” he shares. “I’ve seen some of the illest Hip Hop beefs of all time man and it’s not about selfishness really. It’s really not. Especially with Guru and Premier. That was really sad how that went down. That sh*t had nothing to do with selfishness, it’s just people in people’s ears man. Premier was always like, ‘Yo, Gang Starr is 50/50.’ That’s it.”
I bring up the name Solar, the man many claim to have been the downfall of Gang Starr, and when I do I see a switch in Statik’s demeanour. “Solar was the cancer to Gang Starr. Definitely. Like Solar is the only person on earth that if I see right now I’ll hit him with a baseball bat in the fu*king face. He’s the only person on earth that I truly hate. I could never forgive him. I hate him because I was there during it. I was the guy going to bat for Guru. I was there when Solar was putting poison in his ear. He was controlling his life.”
On DJ Khaled:
“This dude asked, ‘Is it a stretch to say that Statik Selektah is the DJ Khaled of the underground,?’ and I said yes because I produce all my own sh*t.” Not throwing shade on Khaled, he continues. “I’ve known Khaled for a long time. Khaled’s a friend of mine but I’m not Khaled bro. You know? I mix, master and produce everything I do so just don’t really compare that. Khaled’s produced some records in his time man. He did some Fat Joe records before he was even known. He was The Beat Novacane and he was producing a lot of Fat Joe’s sh*t. I’m not taking anything away from Khaled. I’m just saying that as far as what I do don’t compare that to Khaled. You know what I mean?”
On Kanye West:
“I was in the studio with Kanye West, March 22nd, 2010. I played him a beat I made for Nas. After Nas left the room Kanye looked me in my eye like he wanted to tell me the secret of the world but instead he said, ‘Jazz is fu*king dead.’ And I’ll never forget that moment. It actually inspired this album. After Extended Play, an album I got a lot of props for, a lot of [the beats on it featured] gospel samples, I wanted to do something different with this new album. And I’ll never forget Kanye looking me in my eye and saying, ‘Yo, I like this beat but jazz is dead.’ And when he said that it was like I got hit by a fu*king truck. I didn’t say anything. I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll play another beat.’ And I played him another beat but [what he said] resonated in my brain for a long time. And I’m thinking, ‘How is jazz dead?’ – and by the way, Herbie Hancock won Album of the Year at the Grammys the next fu*king year. I’m not talking about Jazz Album of the Year. He won Album of the fu*king Year. A jazz album won Album of the Year at the Grammys the next year.