Shiest Bubz is the Dipset-affiliated head of Purple City Records, practically as known for his marijuana exploits as for his music. He recently released his solo debut The International Bud Dealer (The I.B.D), and spoke to Supreme about lavender bud, changes at Purple City, how he became an emcee.
First question: Is the best weed always purple?
No. It’s the funnest to look at, though. If your intentions were to make purple weed, then I guess it’s a good thing.
It must be hard to accidentally make purple weed, though.
Not really. It’s a temperature thing, it’s scientific, you know? It’s more like genetics and lights and shock treatment. That’s a High Times issue right there.
You pride yourself on being true to what you rap about. Do you think there is any truth to Rick Ross’s claims?
He’s trying to portray a coke lord, being that he’s from Miami and that’s what they’re known for. So he’s no threat to what I’m doing. But Rick Ross is not on the top of my list of favorite rappers, I’ll tell you that.
You come from an atypical rap background, in that your dad is from Trinidad and your parents are still together. How do you think that has influenced your music?
It gives my music structure. When I do albums, there’s a start, a middle, and an end. It’s like a relationship. My dad taught me to always have my own, to work hard for it, and that I could achieve anything I wanted to. That’s the whole premise of me doing music, to prove that I could do something that I learned. I wasn’t born into the music game, I evolved into the music game.
You never thought rapping was your strong suit.
I’ve been listening to hip hop since it started, and in high school I came to the conclusion that I just wasn’t good at rapping. I figured I wasn’t going to get into the music industry. I figured that wasn’t going to be my ticket. But what happened was, I was like, “If I can’t be a rapper, then I’m just going to live the lifestyle of a rapper, or even a drug dealer.” Living the lifestyle, it attracted entertainers to me — everyone from the NBA to the rap world. They said, “You have to be a part of this.” Sometimes it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Do you ever feel like that lifestyle is empty and phony? That it’s not all it’s cracked up to be?
I do feel like that a lot of the time. What people don’t understand is that the jewelry and the expensive clothes they’re chasing, a lot comes from that. People that have nothing, they’re chasing that lifestyle, people are dying for that type of stuff every day. And now that the recession is here, if you’re living in New York City you can’t really front like you have ten cars. Because, if that’s really the case, the wolves are going to come get you, man. In hip hop, I’d rather see more realistic rapping, more realistic looks, and not just Cristal popping and bitches. Because, though that’s going on, it’s not going on to the extent that it’s portrayed.
Since you never though you were going to be a rapper, was it hard to gain the confidence to actually do it?
Even before I entered the music game, I was like, “I’m going to learn how to do this.” I’d observed people that I thought were less qualified, and since they were doing it, I thought I could. There’s maybe a million rappers in New York – if there’s nine million people, there’s got to be a million rappers. So, with that being said, I knew I had to do homework, I had to learn to like my voice, I had to learn a bunch of things. And over time I just felt like I evolved into that. I feel like I’m on the right track.
Are you satisfied with your album?
I’m going to keep it 100 [percent real]; I feel like this new album is the most underrated album of the year, but also the hottest. It’s hotter than the Jim Jones album, it’s hotter than Rick Ross’s album. I’m a hot dude. I’m never going to do anything wack. All of my albums have always been hot. This one is even hotter because it’s all me, and you get to hear the story. It’s a story about a guy doing his thing, selling bud. He’s the number one bud man. He’ll smoke anyone out. You can relate to it; that’s what makes it relevant to what’s going on.
I know you’re a big proponent of the independent hustle. Do you think Jim Jones should have stayed with Koch?
I said that in an interview one time, but now I think it was better for him to go to a major. There’s more money. Even though I had personal issues with Jim Jones at one point that I never really brought to the surface, I always wanted him to win. And I still want him to win. I felt like he was winning more on Koch, but he had to go to the next level and get his feet wet. So, no, he shouldn’t have stayed on Koch.
Tell me about the changes on the Purple City label, and what sparked them.
Purple City was built as a stepping stone for artists to come out and get a look, and that’s continuing. The new roster consists of artists under 25, which include Smoke Dza, Streets Da Block – who’s a 106 & Park champ six times – and Den 10. Also Harlem veteran Broadway Slim. He’s over 25, but it is what it is.
Un Kasa and Agallah were kind of in denial of the positions and roles that they played in Purple City. They wanted to play different roles. It was a conflict of interests. When you make a couple dollars for the first time, there’s a saying, “You got a little money and you don’t know how to act.” That was kind of the problem. They saw some money and they felt like they should be a boss. The word “boss” in Harlem is a big word that everyone likes to use, but it’s a hard shoe to fill. So, I was like, “If that’s the case, go ahead. Control your own destiny.” No one artist makes Purple City anyway, because it’s a finance thing.
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