RL: How was the tour so far?

Complex: Well, you know I have been out here a few times. This is propably the fourth tour I have done in Europe. You know, a lot of spot dates, second time I’m really doing Germany heavy, you know uhm, this time I think it’s a little different, you know I was up with Non Phixion. They got a little bit of a different audience than me, but I’ve still been rippin’ the shows down, they’ve been good.
They haven’t been as packed as last time, I think the difference might be the Euro, the summer time and the soccer, the football game that is going on… so, but yeah otherwise it’s still been good, you know.

RL: Did many people come to the show?And why is the audience different because of Non Phixion,I dont get that?

Complex: Well, I think people were twisted with setting things up, like at first they had Non Phixion, you know, closing, but, you know, I really give it in my shows, so, I don’t wanna be you know, have a big head, but I’m trying to be one of the best performers in this rap world, you know, in this rap game, so I work hard at that, you know, I’m trying to give a lot of energy, so people would feel that show, so somebody trying to go up after me, I’m trying to make it hard for them, you know, nothing bad about any other artist, but some of the shows haven’t been as packed, you know. I don’t know what’s been going on.

RL: Your supporting act right now is E-Dot. What is your connection to him? Is it friendship or did the management say he goes with you?

Complex: No, he is an artist I am putting out on my label Core-Records. So I brought him along to help, you know give him some exposure. He is on my album on one or two songs. Earldot-Com. He is putting out his EP called “Thirsty”.You know, I bring him out just to get some exposure.

RL: So, it’s his first time here in Europe?

Complex: Yep, first time.

RL: Your from Queens, is that right?

Complex: Yeah, Queens. I’m at Brooklyn just right now.

RL: There are a lot of rappers from Queens. How do you explain that? Is it just…. the area and the background or is there another explanation?

Complex: Yeah there are a lot of Mc’s in New York City period, and a lot of successful ones come out of Queens. I think it’s something in the water, you know, Queens always had something to prove. ‘Cause they was always under the underdog burrows. Like Manhattan was the spot where everybody went to, they origininated it in the Bronx and there is more people in Brooklyn. So Queens, there is certain areas that are scattered, so for Queens people, to go all the way to Manhattan, is a longer trip. They always had to go by train, so we always were underdogs. Queens is more residential, more suburban, more houses and stuff. The others’ burrows have more buildings on top of each other and there is trains going everywhere. In queens the trains stop, then you have to take buses, you know what I mean? So, it’s like a longer journey for the queens cats, so we had more to prove.

RL: If there are that many artists, do you cooperate or is it like everybody does his own thing and tries to improve his own style?

Complex: Yeah, you do have certain set cliques, you know certain people run together. But you know, yeah I started with Organized Konfusion, you know, but they had old seales and a lot of mc’s and that, but they just wasn’t as organized as it should have been, so a lot of people just been really going for thereselves, you know it’s just been a lot of selfishness, you know what I mean. So all these people, they ain’t helping you. I remember when Onyx used to cut my hair, you know I seen Q-tip, the Lost Boys lived around the corner, you know, I have seen all these Mc’s and everybody went like “What you doin, what you doin”and nobody trying to help anybody, you know.

RL: Have you ever had a job besides this hiphop thing or is this your full time job?

Complex: It is now. I left post-office september 19 1999. All the nines in there. 9 is the born number. It takes 9 months to conceive a baby, you got 9 holes on your body, you know it is the opposite of 6 which is the death number. So, I felt all those 9′s is the day I had to leave.

RL: So can you live from the money you are getting now?

Complex: Yeah I do. It’s a struggle. In the entertaining world you have to think 3 months ahead. I have to have shows set up, you know at least 2 months in advance, to have proper promotion for them, so you got to think on. I got to have these things set up to get money of. Some money is coming in from record sales. They come, you know, quarterly or whatever, so you always got to be thinking you know. I didn’t wanna be a business man, I wantet to be a rapper, but I turned to be a business man, so I gotta do things like, you know “Complex presents the mixtapes”, once upon a time. I did like three volumes already. You know things like that help me live. Putting out other artist on my label, starting to build my label up more, so I can live of this.

RL: I read on your label’s homepage that you have done a movie called “Nothing Moves”, and that you have been to an artist school or sometime?

Complex: Yeah, I’ve always been an artist. Always been on artist schools. Then I went to film school like 1995 and I shot a lot of shorts and there is one film I just did, maybe about 4 years ago, but I just finished editing, you know recently, called “Nothing Moves”. It’s a short and it is some crazy story I came up with and then shot it. I didn’t plan when I shot it to release it to people, you know it was really a practise,you know just something like, it was the first one I did with dialogue, I shot a lot of stuff with no dialogues, so that was the first one I did with that, but I am working on one right now called “Into The Complex” it’s like a spoof for into the dragon, the Bruce Lee one, but instead of fighting it’s rapping, so I’m shooting it while I’m on tour.

RL: But your not thinking about making film business your main business?

Complex: Yeah, I got 2 scripts already, features that were written. I am speaking with people about those now when I get back. I also got a game show called “Hip To The Game”, then I shot a pilot for last year and a lot of people are working out over it. There are people who wanna invest in those shootings. In august I wanna start shooting it again I’m gonna shoot a lot of series and I am trying to get that, so I can license it to Germany, to England, to France, you know everywhere, Japan, you know, all over. I am trying to get it in the States and in Canada. We are not finalised with that, but that’s gonna be real, uhm, I did it mainly to educate people on this Hip Hop. I didn’t wanna make it like.. MTV is trying to make it real commercial for the MTV audience. I want people to know about rappers like Just Ice and Chill Rob G, you know people like that. A lot of the young cats coming up right now don’t know and especially in the States, all I here is Jay-Z and Jadakiss on the radio and that’s all they know. Some spots people know, but it’s a shame man.

RL: We checked your internetsite these days but it was down. What’s on with that?

Complex: Before I left I supposed to renew. I just gotta do it when I get back, but you know, I am just backed up. I got too many projects and I need more help. I just hired somebody right before I left, like 2 days before, I was trying… plus I was shooting for this film, so my website is down right now, but when I get back, I get it back up and reinvent and make it better.

RL: There has been this Rolyrhythmatics thing, which was quite popular. Will there be another single or maybe an album?

Complex: No. I tried but, you know, Shabbam got locked up. You know, Apani, she’s run a while, doing her own things.

RL: So Shabbam is in jail right now? Why is that?

Complex: I guess times just got hard for him and… he did something he wasn’t supposed to.

RL: He was on Rawkus wasn’t he? And they went bankrupt ?

Complex: No, Rawkus is still around, but : “Fuck Rawkus”.

RL: Ok, but you released “Stabbin you/Gitcha Gitcha Gitcha” on Rawkus.

Complex: Yeah, but before they released it, they had it about 2 years. After I did it, I did “Ima Killit” and “Ima Killit” came out before that, you know, so they are fools over there. I mean they are changing there whole attitude, they are changing their audience, so there is too much politics and, you know, it’s crazy there, I don’t like that situation.

RL: So you now want to stay on 7heads?

Complex: No. I’m not doing it on 7heads either. The real label is Core records. 7heads was just supposed to do promotion, but they made everything twisted to make it seem like 7heads is the label, you know, I didn’t like the way things went down with them, ’cause my album came out, the cd in october and the vinyl didn’t come out ’til 6 months later, you know, in april, and that messed me up with sales and everything and that’s, you know, I’m an artist, I own a label plus I am touring, so I hired people to do certain things and it didn’t get done. And I am sitting up there blaming with my finger on everybody when it’s Mr. Complex’ record, the world don’t care, you know it’s my fault. I just have to rechange structure, everything.

RL: So you are hiring new people or dropping it on your own label then?

Complex: Yeah, it’s gonna be on me. I got new people and I am just gonna try to build things a lot better, you know. Got new management, new everything.

RL: Today labels and the music business denounce napster and stuff like that, the mp3 thing for selling less records than they did for example 3 years ago or something like that. What’s your opinion on that?

Complex: Yeah that’s true. Like when I was dropping my first records in 95,97. I could sell about 20.000 records, you know, way over 10 all the time, but now it’s hard to sell over 4-5 thousand records. It’s because 1. if you don’t have a major label making your record available everywhere it slows down. People downloading it, or getting it elsewhere. If you wanna hear a record and you can’t find it, you go to the record store and it’s not there, you are like “Fuck it! I’m gonna download it” and I think people feel guilty, sometimes when they are run into the artist and they know they downloaded it. They go “I got your album, but… I didn’t pay for it”, you know, but if they really love you, they will go get it eventually but sometimes that turns on that people, that wouldn’t have bought it anyway, you know, they are just downloading all the time and they go “ah this is nice”, but you know, the bad thing about that is: Me, I feel good when I can look at my record collection and pull off records and go “Aaah!”, you know what I mean? Years go by and that becomes very valuable. It’s just a library or shit like that. I don’t think… uuhm, I guess you can download old stuff still, but it’s not the same man, having a bunch of cd’s with no label, no pitches and shit. If you download it, if you come to the show and you know all the lyrics, I excuse you, you know. Buy a shirt or something. Because it’s hard, you know, I am trying to survive of this, ’cause you don’t wanna do music, and after that do a bunch of other things, just to survive, don’t wanna take some time away from your creative time, you know what I mean and I like to spend more time working on the rhymes, than working on the line, or delivering newspapers or something.

RL: Your album “Hold This Down” has got a lot of comedy skit and funny stuff on it. Do you think after september 11th it’s more important for rappers to do more concious lyrics rather than rapping about partying, hoes and stuff like that? Do you think it’s more important to deliver a message or something?

Complex: Not all the time.You know there is different rappers for different things. I really don’t think like this, you got your concious rappers, of course, there still should be a lot more of those, because you know I can’t bring records home anymore and play it at my house you know my wife don’t wanna hear all that crazieness and just suppose I wanted to take a trip with my family you know, go do a family reunion and get my grandmother or something. I like to listen to some hiphop but I can’t if it’s like, you know, “motherfucker shit, motherfucker bitch”, you know. Nobody wants to hear that, but at the same time when you have all those rappers that are unbelieveably talking about killing somebody, and they times is hard and, you know, I live in the projects and you know it’s like too much in New York of gangsta rap and everbody is talking about putting something in your mug and I blast you, you know. I know them when they was young, they ain’t nothing but a average kid, he got a mum, he went to school, he got a job, he goes to the store, he goes to the grocery store, he washes his clothes, just like everybody else. I’d smack the shit out of him, you know what I mean, he is nobody. Why is he trying to scare me on a record. I am not scared, I don’t believe that. They are all people that are sick, they carry guns they don’t be sitting up there writing about what they do. So sometimes I like to take this rap and show people that it’s not that serious. It’s not, you know what I mean, nothing is serious. All this million dollar football players, getting millions of dollars, you look at it it’s just a damn game. It’s nothing, you know what I mean. So when I play around I be funny, I am just having fun, I am just showing you that I am real person. When I make you laugh, it’s just because, I am living a life, I am just a rapper, I am just a person. You know on the back of the “Rhapsody” cover I have a little skit I did, don’t know if you’ve seen it, it’s like a story-board, but it’s a story, and uhm, you know it’s about me, being a tourist in New York City and a little kid is lost. He is pretending he is lost, just to decoy me. He takes me around the corner and then somebody jumps me and sticks me up and stabbs me and they leave me dead on the back. You know when people see this it’s like…, it’s bucked out for them, you know and they are like “I can’t believe a rapper is doing something like this”, most rappers gotta be, looking mean on the cover, and they’re like… let me give an expample… Mystical! You got a lot of songs like “Shake your Ass” but if you see all his pictures he is looking mean like “whooooooho”, you know, why is he so scary looking? I’m like what’s that about.

RL: How important is it for you to collaborate with other people or mc’s from your area? On your last album there weren’t that much, where there complications with labels or something, or did you want to make your own thing?

Complex: Nahh, I am not a big fan of that, you know.When I bought albums back in the days, Rakim albums, Big Daddy Kane albums.. it was them, you know what I mean. People overdo it now. Some people don’t even have any solo songs on their album.It’s all collaborations with other people and a bad thing when you see them perform… they don’t do the whole songs, ’cause they can’t, you know, and you get used to them, hearing them with other people it’s hard to heare certainbody do a whole song, and it takes away from your creativity, and it’s so easy to do that, like when I did the Polyrythmatics I first did that first song as a collaboration, and then it turned out to be a group, you know, instead of Mr. Complex feat. Shabbam and Apani I said, we just make a group and then I made up that name, because of our styles, you know, being different a little bit, you know, intertwining, and I left that be as a project, you know what I mean. Like, you know, Mr. Complex’ album is gonna be 99% Mr. Complex. If I get somebody else, it’s because I’m trying to paint a picture, know it’s like art, it’s like a colour, I need some blue, so I need to get this person for this. That’s why I do it. I don’t do it just to be like: Oh, I did a song with Rakim, I’m the man now. It’s fun, it’s cool sometimes, when you wanna hear those styles, and that became like a whole new sound of people, and business-wise, people do it just to push each other. Like if this person sold a million records, so if he is on my song maybe I’d sell at least a half million, ’cause he already has his fanbase. But that’s cheating, it’s cheating when you think that you need help to succeed, that shows that you ain’t good your damn self, you know what I mean, and that’s what a lot of artist get caught up doing and they think that they’re better. You know, when artists got picky-back going like that they came out with more, you know, status than say, someone like me, if like O.C. was on Fudge Pudge on Organized Konfusion, so when he dropped his stuff everybody knew him already. Me, nobody did that for me.You know, me, I had to drop my first records on my own and build my own thing up myself, then I could do some collaborations later, but for me to come out, you know, on Jay-Z’s Record you know what i mean… Sometimes it’s foolish, because in the long run you don’t wanna be broke, you know what I mean, so you’re like, if that’s what I have to do, to support my family right now, then I might have to do that. The next album I have is already done: “Twisted Mister”. It be done light 2 years. I got so many songs, man you don’t know.

RL: When is it coming out?

Complex: I don’t know, because this one came out messed up, and it messed me up with a lot of the stores and stuff, I might have to redeem myself. So I’m thinking I’m dropping it soon, and as far as producers go, I’m thinking I might have to get, you know, a couple of big producers, just to help me with the stores. Because I think the stores now, are little upset with me, because of the cds coming out and then the vinyl coming out and it messed me up. I didn’t sell a lot, so to get them the trust back in me and putting the records in the stores I might have to be like “produced by Hi-Tek”, “produced by Beatminerz” or something like that you know……”Rockwilder”.

RL: What where the most impressive Hip Hops Songs you have ever heard, or albums…

Complex: L.L. – Jack The Ripper, Rakim – Lyrics Of Fury, Just Ice – Cold Getting Dumb, you know, Kool G Rap – Men At Work, his first album, Pharcyde, all the De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, you know there’s a lot of stuff.

RL: You have a lot of fans in japan. How do you explain your fame over there?

Complex: Well, I dont know. I got a lot of fans in Europe spots and Japan. I think they like the beats. I went to Japan once. I don’t think they understand the lyrics as much.but… they love the beats you know what I mean.And they liked Spinna… DJ Spinna.They liked the combination, me and Spinna.

RL: On the tour, did you make any connections with european crews?

Complex: I did something last time I was here with Nico Suave, he’s had just recorded something and I jumped on the song with a, another guy I forget his name. A producer, he is on rap.de records…. I forgot it.

RL: What are your future plans or just say something about your album.

Complex: This album, “hold this down”, I hope everybody get it, you know, I am sorry that the vinyl took so long. The next single, the single out now is “Desire” with “Bomb Threads” on it. I shot a video for “Desire”, and I shot a video for “Underground Up”, so I’m trying to get them out soon and I, … next thing im gonna start… I don’t know if I should take time out or if I should just come with this next album right away…. But, I think I wanna come with it, man.

RL: So last but not least you wann to give out any shoutouts or something?

Complex: Uhm.. just look out for the E-dot EP “Thirsty”, man, I don’t know. Complex! Be on the lookout! Grab up everything you see in the stores and if you don’t see it on the stores tell them to get it man. I got a lot of singles I’ve done on labels, you know, as licencing deals, so I got a lot of stuff out I didn’t have any control over. Divine Intervention like “Do It Up”, and Unsung Heroes stuff, like everytime I go on the stores I see singles that I have no control over, like that Rawkus singles out there I have no control over, the only ones I have control over is the Core records’, you know like the albums, and “Ima Kill It”, you know.