Numskull Interview

• Artist: Numskull
• Label: Ball or Fall Records
• Be on the lookout for: Numworld
• Artist Website: Numskull

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As Barry Bonds popularity among baseball fans declines, Bay Area rapper Numskull (one half of the duo The Luniz) continues to make waves on the west coast, but for the right reasons.  Looking to separate himself from his recording partner Yukmouth and fellow Oakland artists, Numskull is going solo with Numworld, off of the independent Ball or Fall Records.  Known for the popular 90’s hit I Got 5 On It, Numskull is anxious to unleash the newest hit from his upcoming album, See-Saw.  DJBooth.net’s Nathan S. spoke with Numskull about the difference between his work as a solo artist and a member of a duo, what his current relationship is with Yukmouth and how if only crack came back like it was 1985, than more Bay Area artists could unite.

DJ Booth:  What’s up everyone, this is Nathan from DJBooth.net and with me today is infamous Oakland rapper, Numskull.  How you doin?

Numskull:  I’m alright man, how you doin?

DJ Booth:  I’m doin fine, thanks for asking.  Now, you’re one half of the instrumental group Luniz with Yukmouth, what’s the difference between your upcoming solo album Numsworld and working on the Luniz’s albums?

Numskull:  Nothin really, I just took everything that I was from the Luniz and kept it within myself.  Basically I’m doin the same thing I was doin in the Luniz.  I’m only talking about what I’m goin through right now and what I see.  Just what I live right now, that’s it.

DJ Booth:  So you would describe your personal style as what you go through everyday?

Numskull:  Exactly.  I hate to call it reality rap because everybody can say that now.  I don’t even know how to describe it.  I can only say I’m bein’ me and that’s all.

DJ Booth:  I know you wrote a lot of the album, did you produce it as well?

Numskull:  No, I got a couple of producers who did the beats and things like that.  Basically everything on the album, all the concepts, that’s all from me.  The music comes from the producers, they give me something and…I don’t go and actually pick my music.  They bring a beat in and if I want to rap on it, that’s what I do.

DJ Booth:  It sounds like Numsworld is really just Numskull pure and true.

Numskull:  It really is.  No bullshit, it really is just Num’s world.

DJ Booth:  You’re famous for I Got Five On It.  Is there a track on this album that has the potential to blow up like Five On It did?

Numskull:  Yes there is, it’s called Seesaw.  It goes ‘seesaw seesaw, my paper keeps going up and down.’ When we made I Got Five On It, it sold so much because it related to everybody, and what I’m sayin on Seesaw, ‘my paper keeps goin up and down,’ that relates to everyone too because sometimes you got money and sometimes you don’t.  I think it can be a potential hit, like 5 On It was.

DJ Booth:  Do you ever feel like being associated so closely with I Got Five On It is a hindrance?  Is it more of a blessing or a curse?

Numskull:  It’s definitely a blessing.  I can’t say that I Got Five On It was a curse ever because that made me who I am in this industry today.  I’m still able to get money, I’m still able to do the things I do, and I’m still able to talk to people.  I’m able to get on the radio, get on TV, because of I Got Five On It.

DJ Booth:  Good to hear.  If you could give someone who’s never heard you before one track off of Numsworld, which track would that be?

Numskull:  Seesaw.

DJ Booth:  So that’s the joint that everyone should look out for then...

Numskull:  I’m sayin that because when I did it, I did it the same way I did I Got Five On It.  When I came up with the beat to I Got Five On It, I knew that was gonna be a single, that it was gonna be a hit.  I feel the same way about this one.

DJ Booth:  You definitely rep Oakland all the time, how has the hyphy movement’s increased attention affected you?

Numskull:  Oh man, the hyphy movement is great for the town.  Anything the town do, I’m with it.  I don’t give a damn if it’s some rock n’roll @*#$!, I don’t care.  If the town do it, I’m with it.  That’s how it is, I’m with the town forever, that’s just me.

DJ Booth:  Do you feel like all the Bay Area rappers support you?  I know on the track Things Have Changed you mention that maybe you aren’t getting the support you feel you need.

Numskull:  It was even that.  It wasn’t even sayin they aren’t giving me the attention or nothing like that.  It’s just that we Oakland cats, and this is what people gotta realize about Oakland.  Man we hustlers, and if nobody helping us, then we ain’t gonna help nobody else.  That’s just how it is, unless we close family.  Rappers we ain’t close family like that, and rappers we on some different stuff.  Some of us know each other, some of us get down with each other a couple of times.  Like when E-40 got on the I Got Five On It remix with Richy Rich, things like that.  But nobody is really sticking together out here, and that’s what I feel like.  Everybody try to act like they do but they don’t.  That’s why I said that.

DJ Booth:  A lot of people don’t really know Oakland, know what it’s really like.  What’s unique about Oakland and the Bay?

Numskull:  We not like nobody else, that’s what’s unique about us.  We ain’t like nobody else in the world.  No other state in the United States, no other country, we ain’t like nobody else.  We set trends, and that’s what’s good about us.  If only we could stick together, but we never have.  We ain’t did that since ’85 when crack came out.

DJ Booth:  That’s what united everybody?

Numskull:  Yes sir.  Yes it did.

DJ Booth:  What’s the relationship between you and Yukmouth right now?

Numskull:  Me and Yuk had our problems and everything, but we brothers.  Whatever we went through before, it don’t matter, we still brothers.  Everybody really need to just get out of our business.  That’s between me and Yuk.  What he do is what he do, what I do is what I do.  If me and him got problems then let us handle that between us.  Everybody need to stay out of our business.

DJ Booth:  Well, getting into your business just a little bit, is there a new Luniz’s album on the horizon?

Numskull:  Yes there is, comin out on Ball or Fall Records, the company I’m dropping my album on right now.

DJ Booth:  You’ve been in the game for a while, you’re a real veteran, do you feel like hip-hop has changed at all and how?

Numskull:  When I was sayin things on Things Have Changed I was talking bout in the Bay, and I was really saying that I’m tryin to come back now, and people not thinking I got the skills to do that.  Everybody always thought Yuk was the rawest rapper in the Luniz.  So I do think things have changed.  We used to stick together when crack was out, like I said, but now everybody thinks that your last hit, that’s who you are.  You know what I mean?  And that last hit, everybody thought Yuk was the best.  I’m like ok, listen to your boy.  I ain’t never lied in my life, I don’t lie, so listen to your boy.  And yeah, I kinda hated a little bit, but you know what, I’m gonna just shine on my own, and I’m gonna let everybody know.

DJ Booth:  Well it’s good to hear you shinin.  When is Numsworld set to drop?

Numskull:  We gonna drop in June cause we wanna ride for the summer.

DJ Booth:  Now why don’t you tell everybody where they can find out more about you and your music.

Numskull:  Y’all can go to myspace.com/sirdrankalot.  Y’all can see my new video I just put on there, I just did it a couple of weeks ago, just for Myspace and Youtube, just something to let everybody know I’m back.  Watch the video, listen to the song, and you’ll see what Num about.

DJ Booth:  Thanks for takin the time, and it’s good to see someone representing the real Bay.

Numskull:  No problem man, anytime.