Rapper-Turned-Writer
INTERVIEW: J-Zone
By Chris Faraone
Originally published in the Boston Phoenix (April 2012)
J-Zone retired from hip-hop somewhere south of the middle. Neither a scrub nor a top-tier talent, for years the Queens-bred MC-producer straddled the space between notoriety and not paying bills. Harsh realities of rap life aside, Zone is a majorly respected beatmaker and character, and as a result of the latter he qualifies for at least one superlative: he’s hysterical, perhaps the most strikingly satirical cat in hip-hop history. On that note, despite quitting the game years ago — and emphasizing his exit with a Gnarls Barkley-backed encore at CBGB — Zone picked up his ruminations on everything from rap poverty to trend-mongering in his new memoir, Root for the Villain: Rap, Bullshit, and a Celebration of Failure. In preparation for his Boston release bash at the Good Life with Mister Jason, we asked the rapper-turned-SUNY music biz professor about switching from hooks to books.
I THOUGHT THAT YOU STOPPED DOING SHOWS. WHAT’S THIS PARTY ALL ABOUT?
This is just to come out, play some good music, and increase awareness about the book. A lot of people in rap don’t read, so I need to let them know what’s up. Some old fans have bought it [Root for the Villain], and have been telling me how much they love it, and that it’s the only book they’ve read in the past five years. That’s good — they won’t see the punctuation errors — but there are still a lot of people who just don’t know what I’ve been up to.
HOW IS LIFE DIFFERENT FOR J-ZONE THE AUTHOR THAN IT WAS FOR J-ZONE THE RAPPER?
Not much really. I’m saying the same shit that I did as an artist, but with the book it’s more personal and a bit more eloquent. It’s still profane though, and I’m still a curmudgeon. In rap, when your time is up, it’s up. You have to diversify your talents — who the hell can keep up with rap music, at my age trying to make a mixtape with Auto-Tune every two weeks while you’re going bald? It just looks unnatural — especially when you’re used to putting out an album every two years. When it’s over, you get a reality show if you’re lucky. The book’s not a downer. It’s just a reality check.
DO YOU STILL FEEL COMFORTABLE WEARING RIDICULOUS OUTFITS IN PUBLIC?
I retired the fur coat because it had asbestos. All the PETA types were also getting upset — them and the people who want to save whales were showing up 10 or 15 deep. I couldn’t deal with it anymore.
WHAT’S MORE DEMORALIZING — BEING AN UNDERGROUND RAPPER, OR BEING A SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHOR?
They’re both thankless jobs, but there’s much more of a stigma attached to rap because people who don’t know better just think, “He’s like Lil Wayne — only he’s broke.” Older people especially don’t realize that there’s rapper A-type, rapper B-type, and rapper C-type. I’m a rapper from Queens, so I’m automatically 50 Cent with no money — the rap squeegee man in front of the store trying to sell you my CD for $10. On the other hand, there’s a huge stigma attached to self-published books. In hip-hop, by the mid-’90s it was popular to go indie. But with books, there’s still a real snobbery. For me, I’m just attacking subject matter that’s not mainstream, so this is how I did it. I came from the school of independent hip-hop, and that attitude is embedded in my DNA.
A LOT OF YOUR BOOK RINGS NOSTALGIC FOR A BYGONE TIME OF RECORD STORES, VINYL, AND THINGS OF THE OLD-SCHOOL VARIETY. DO YOU SEE ANYTHING HOPEFUL IN THE CURRENT EMBRACE OF THAT ERA?
Everything will come back once or twice, but the problem with cycles is that people embrace them in the confines of the present. You see people wearing T-shirts with a Keith Haring mural, but instead of “Crack Is Wack” it says “Crack Is Back.” They don’t get what crack did to that era, and why someone would think that shirt is corny. Everybody wants to carry a boom box, but they put an iPod dock in it. Everybody wants to be retro, but when an artist from that era beefs with Soulja Boy, everybody says they’re washed up. I don’t have time for it.
THANKS TO FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES LIKE QUESTLOVE AND JUST BLAZE, YOU’VE GOTTEN A GOOD PUSH ON THE BOOK. WHAT’S IT LIKE TO KNOW THAT SO MANY FAMOUS AND SUCCESSFUL RAP ARTISTS ARE FANS OF YOURS? Things just work that way. Even if you take someone with the biggest hit on the charts, they’re all musicians just like anyone else. I always talk to Just Blaze — we’re the same age, we like the same things — who’s produced millions of hits, while I haven’t. Cee Lo or Danger Mouse might have a knack for making records that are catchier than mine, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not all of the same ilk. It doesn’t make sense — just because they have 5 million fans and are fans of mine doesn’t mean I’ll have 5 million fans. Nothing in the music business makes sense though.
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE SAID 10 YEARS AGO IF I TOLD YOU THAT YOU’D BE HAVING A BOOK RELEASE PARTY? I never would have believed you. I thought I was going to be the next Timbaland.
