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MESSIAH
Beyond Good and Evil
SWELL
rticulate, truthful and wise, Paris is a
rapper who knows what time it is.
He's not afraid to speak his mind or
use vivid images to convey his feel-
ings. His imagination ran away
with him on songs like "Bush Killa"
about presidential assassination, and "Coffee,
Donuts and Death" about giving cops the
what-for. Encountering resistance from major
labels fearing political and economic ramifica-
tions, the release of his album Sleeping With
The Enemy was delayed while he took matters
into his own hands and started his own com-
pany called Scarface Records.
Listening to all the talk about black
power, there's a lot of talk about white
devils. It makes you wonder, do these
guys hate all white people?
First of all, about that whole devil issue, it's
black devils too. I take people on
lion dollars in stock as a result of that whole
scenario. That's no chump piece of change,
that's real money. More money than Ice-T will
ever generate for Warner Music Group. That
being the case, we are liabilities now, which is
why any kind of hip-hop other than the bubble
gum commercial mainstream bullshit that you
hear on the radio is going to end up where it
started, and that's on independent labels. I
don't really see Ice-T being able to come out
the way he came out before. I mean who even
wants to be in that position where you have to
watch what you have to say? Fuck that, I
mean what good is a major if they don't back
you? The whole idea of major backing is that
they have the capital and the muscle to be
able to do what you want to do when you want
to do it. And if they restrict that then what is
their affiliation worth?
Let's talk about some topics on the
It's the end
result of the
fictional
an individual level. When I was
in the Nation of Islam, I believed
that for a long time, because a
lot of the ills that afflict the
black community are a direct
result of white oppression. But
by the same token, now that peo-
ple are aware of the past, what
are we going to do to change the
present? And the future? You
can't harp on that shit forever.
And your average white person
that I know is not responsible for
the shit that goes on in the black
community. When you're at the
stage of blaming people con-
stantly, you remain in limbo. I'm
cool with you as long as you do not hamper my
efforts to do for myself.
album. Do you think it's time
for a revolution?
It's time for a mental revolu
tion. This record is basically the
end result of a lot of frustration.
It's the end result of the fictional
assassination of the president. I
mean that's the result of many
frustrations, an expression of
anger of the past twelve years of
assassination republican neglect, of basically
of the
president.
I set my own record label up so I can put out
what I want to put out. It's not going to be a
situation where I censor the negative on this
label, but by the same token I'm not going to
put out records that talk about stab holes in
women and shit like that, like your boys
Cannibal Corpse. Leave that shit to Warner
Music, they seem to feel comfortable putting
that out. The whole thing right now is that
hip-hop is under siege. Anybody with any-
thing that can be deemed controversial or
incendiary by the masses is being frowned
upon by major labels. They're scared to get
behind it and they're scared of repercussions
from the religious right. They're scared of
repercussions from police organizations. I
spoke with Ice-T four days ago for a good hour
and he said Warner Music Group lost 53 mil-
all peoples, but specifically of
blacks. First of all, I don't want
this to be pigeon-holed as a one-
dimensional record because peo-
ple seem to like to harp on that
"Bush Killa." It reduces it to
one-dimension by you consider
ing me some kind of mindless thug who's
just trying to make some money off a
record that doesn't make any money any
way. I should be Hammer or sotme shit
if I want to make money. Basically the
content of the record is calling for a
restructuring of the social order in
this country and for a restructur
ing of the way people interact
with each other, within the
black community and black
with other communities.
And for a restructuring of
the value system because
our morals are fucked up
and our priorities are
fucked up in this country.
When you look at the entire
Bush regime, one percent
of his entire first budget
PARTS
Interview by Brian Brannon Photo by Jesse Fischer
.
was for the environment, for his drug pro-
grams, it was for the homeless. And it was for
education. One percent of that entire budget.
That lets you know where the priorities are.
Where is that other ninety-nine percent
going? Or what super-power threatened us to
justify that shit? The USSR is no more.
They're swinging on our nuts for help. We
have all this money, we're supposed to be the
most prosperous nation on the planet, but.
we're fourteenth out of fifteen, ranking in for-
mal education. That's an F by my standards.
You come in and you get one out of fifteen,
that's pretty bad shape.
Do you think as young people become
more educated today that there's more
hope for the future?
I think young people are more receptive to
change. We're not set in our ways, we're still
learning. I think what most people need to do
is be willing to look beyond stereotypes and be
more willing to interact with other people
because by buying into stereotypes you just
help to continue to perpetrate racism, sexism,
and everything else that's negative. You might
see me walking down the street and be like
Look at this nigger, this thug,' but you would
never know that I'm not like that if you didn't
talk to me. I'm rational. Just by taking things
at face value, you lose out on life to a large
extent. I think young
people should not
be content with
their continued
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