Interview by A. S. Cobb
February 2006--Hayward,CA

Scipio, Last of the Greats

Q: What's up? I finally pinned you down. . .

A: Whaddup man? What's happening wit it?

Q: What you doing up here in the Bay?

A: I came up here to break bread with my folks, man. I'm in cahoots with a few people up here. One bein' the homie Balance (Balance Skillz)-- another being my home-girl, Nessa.

Q: Making progress out here?

A: Yeah man, it's always a good time when I come fuck with my peoples that's movin' in the same direction I am.

Q: Tell us about where you are from.

A: I'm from Altadena. It's like the outskirts of Los Angeles, right before you move into another county.

Q: How did you get started? I mean, was music a part of your up-bringing?

A: I believe that it's a part of us all. It's in our blood. Like back in the day when our people when everybody was in Africa. They kicked it with the drums, dancing, half naked women. Still doin' it now. As far as how I got started in the Hip Hop game, I just started playing with lyrics, then with beats, then meeting new people into the same thing and it became a part of my life and I found myself in this whole new culture.

Q: So did you do talent shows in high school and junior high?

A: Nah, but something crazy happened. My parents tried to make me music oriented. They had me taking music lessons and shit.

Q: What, did you play the cello?

A: Man, I actually did . I played the cello when I was in the third grade, third or fourth. Somethin' crazy like that. I played in one concert and they kicked me out because I was playing all the wrong notes. I really didn't care about it. I didn't cry or get mad or nothin'. Fuck that. Know what I'm sayin'?

Q: What was it like in the beginning for you, as far as getting into the game?

A: It was hard to get kats to listen to you, but over time, my skills shined through and people started paying attention. I just tried to keep fresh and new shit and kept tryin'a get put on. People like Felli Fel at Power 106 have really been a catalyst for my music. So, keep grindin'. If you out there and you believe in what you do, keep grindin' man. Ain't nobody gonna do it for you. Also, man, I worked with some kats who really showed me what time it was. I learned to build a network and nurture relationships with people. It don't pay to be an asshole or fuck nobody over.

Q: So you've been fucked over in the game?

A: Man, who hasn't? But you live and learn, right? I've met some real cool kats though.

Q: You've had some good experiences touring, haven't you?

A: Yeah, I've toured and performed with kats like Xzibit, Game, Rodney O and Joe Cooley.

Q: Rodney O and Joe Cooley stopped in to bless your track "Still the Hood," right?

A: Yup yup. Still in the hood is a rendition of their funk classic "Everlasting Bass."

Q: What better way to do a rendition than with the originals. That says a lot about your integrity and skill.

A: Thanks man. There are a lot of haters out there, but yeah that is a badge of honor that I wear proudly.

Q: You've been known to lend your writing skills to others, I hear. What might we not know that you've done?

A: I co-wrote Trina's 2005 single "Here We Go" featuring Kelly Rowland with Teedra Moses.

Q: What would you say is the biggest lesson you learned in your life?

A: The greatest lesson I've learned is that whatever you want that's worth working for, you gotta work hard and grind to get it. I mean you can't sit around and wait for somebody else to do somethin' for you. I know it might sound so cliché, but it's the truth.

Q: Is that something that was instilled in you or something you learned by being out there grinding?

A: It was instilled, but it's what I learned by grinding as well. I was spoiled a little bit, ya know. I'm the only boy. It's just me and my sister.

Q: What's your family like? Did you have anybody else in your family that was into music to push you?

A: My sister has a Masters degree. My mother worked for the fire department for thirty something years. My father worked for the department of water and power for thirty something years. It's cool. I could always do what I want and make my own decisions. It's what my family always instilled in me. They always said "Follow your heart." Things are falling into place now. I refuse to do something I don't love. Life is too short.

Q: Where would you say you are in life in terms of happiness?

A: Well, I do not feel unfulfilled in any aspect because I have always lived my life exactly how I wanted to. I went to college. I figured college wasn't for me so I dropped out. Nobody told me what to do. Nobody made me do anything. All my life, I've been doing what I wanted to do. I only had a job for about two weeks.

Q: In life?

A: In my entire life

Q: WHAT?

A: So I mean go figure. Come on. I ain't slavin' on a job. I been doing what I want and what I love and that's music.

Q: Talk about your regrets. . .

A: I've learned to live with regrets because you make mistakes. Each mistake is a learning experience and makes you stronger. The old adage goes "That which does not kill you, only makes you stronger"

Q: And you can't turn back the hands of time.

A: You cannot turn back the hands of time.

Q: Right on. Man, you have earned quite a reputation and people refer to you with different names. I want to touch on some of them and have you talk about their meanings. The first one is Last of the Greats.

A: Last of the Greats. That actually came from when I was with my old management in Jersey. They were really good friends with Pharrell. I had the opportunity to speak with him over the phone. He let me know that he had been checking out my music and said I was one of the greats. Last of the Greats. He gave me some helpful hints on what to do and how to how to get my grind on because it's all about having a street buzz. So, after he gave me that name, I kinda stole it...held on to it. Anytime somebody of that magnitude in the game that I'm tryn'a succeed in, gives you that high of a compliment, you kinda wanna take something from that conversation without sayin' (Both fists in the air) Pharrell told me I'm dope! Hence, the Last of the Greats.

Q: That's a big weight to carry, don't you think?

A: Yes. It bears with it the burden of proof.

Q: Is that on purpose that you carry that with you...to keep you on your toes? Or like they used to say in Hip Hop "Show and prove."

A: Psychologically, it is a constant reminder that when people start to relate that name to my name Scipio, I gotta be that or I look like an ass. I don't strive to be that. It is what I am. The music that I make...man I'm always on some different shit. My content and my strategy have always been a bit ahead of other mutha fuckas like Franchise Boys, or Game. Yeah. I'm don't adhere to a formula like Game and them kats.

Q: You callin' roll on kats now, or what?

A: Nah, I feel like I should be able to speak my mind. I hold my tongue for no one.

Q: Okay, back to your many titles. One I think is dope is the Lost Angel.

A: Basically, I feel that as human beings, we are all lost angels. We are all sinners. Those people that believe in God are trying to walk in His footsteps and tryina do right. I feel like we are all angels to some degree. But we keep fuckin' up, no matter how much we know and understand that it's wrong and God doesn't like it.

Q: Spoken like a true deacon.

A: Hey, I'm a complex kat and I'm bein' real; speakin' from the heart.

Q: Some say there is a spiritual war going on in and around Hip Hop. Would you agree?

A: Definitely. Hip Hop has a soul and it needs to be nurtured and revitalized to its true essence

Q: How do you feel your music plays into both the spiritual warfare and revitalization as it pertains to Hip Hop?

A: I feel like my music ultimately is the complete package for any listener of the Hip Hop genre. You can find anything from...basically what I've been through my whole life. I've been fucking bitches and I've been in church asking for forgiveness, praying to God to help fight these demons and praying to God that president makes shit better for the people in New Orleans. Man, just all kinda shit that I've encountered in my life. It's real. People can relate to it.

Q: Like your track "County Jail"?

A: Like "County Jail". It's a true story.

Q: I see a lot of people being able to relate to your story about the County Jail. It transcends cultural barriers, but the stigma is, of course on Blacks and Latinos. One line in that song says that you were "handcuffed to a nigga that was in for robbin' banks..."

A: That's a true story.

Q: And, a reality check. What lesson did you learn from that experience, other than you don't wanna go back?

A: Yeah I don't wanna go back there. It's messed up man. As a young kid, I always looked at the county jail as a bad place...a horrible place to be. But psychologically, it was always like a challenge to me. Everybody's always talking about this place...this hell. I'm such a spiritually grounded individual that I'm like "I don't think the County Jail can break me." That's in the back of my mind. Then I go and I come out of it fine. It was kind of a step for me as a young boy coming into manhood that I had to deal with. I never vocalized it. It happened and I made it through. Thank God. I see so many lost souls are in there. Some actually find themselves when they are in there.

Q: You kinda have to. You don't have your folks or your girl...nobody naggin' at you.

A: Right. You just have one thing that you're worried about and that is gettin' the hell up out that muthafucka.

Q: That's real. Man, so many of us go through there and no, we don't vocalize it, but as a black man, it's a stop that you know you gotta make, right?

A: It's in the back of every single black man's mind who challenges himself, society and life. So many people are talkin' about this county jail. You start having friends that go. You might have a friend who is not as hard as you or a busta goes and makes it out and you're like...you kinda wanna see what it's like.

Q: Right. Because we believe we gotta go?

A: Oh, fo sho' and what do we do?

Q: We start thinking of our "County Plan?"

A: Yup, yup. Everybody has a "County Plan." It's fucked up, but true.

Q: What landed yo ass in County?

A: It's over now, but it was assault with a deadly weapon.

Q: I'll stay on your good side and move to a different subject. With the Hip Hop industry as it is now, what would you change, if anything?

A: Whatever was in my power to change and make better. I'd strive to bring more meaning back to Hip Hop. Now, I'm nowhere near Common ...that kinda of rap. Common would never talk about going to the county jail, how many gang members he knows, what he's done and why he's been stabbed in the head twice with a screwdriver. I talk about whatever. It's conscious shit. I would bring more meaning back to the words. I don't know if you know, but in this position of power we call Hip Hop, we are trend setters. They listen to us. They wear what we wear. They drink what we drink. I'm speakin' in terms of the little kids and the grown ups. You gotta get in the door at some point. You gotta play towards all the shit out there. I mean, I do have sex with women and shit and I talk about it. But once I am in the door, so to speak, I'd do kinda what Pac did. He got in the door and then blew the hinges off of it with his messages and kept heads bobbin'. All that to say, we have a responsibility and if I could, I'd make sure we all upheld ours. Too many people came before us for us to fuck it up.

Q: Interesting that you mention that, because you have a track called "Black Heroes" on the Angel Dust mixtape you are dropping in March. It gave me chills and my heart was pounding listening to it. Tell us the story behind that.

A: Whenever I do a song like that, I feel like the Hip Hop leaders, with all the power they have, need to do more. We're sprinkled with Angel Dust man and I mean the Angel Dust that Harriet Tubman sprinkles on you when you are perplexed and wondering if you should step out on faith or not; the type of dust that MLK sprinkles on you when you are presented with an obstacle that challenges your patience and your beliefs. We have to be able to summon up these spirits...these soldiers, and fight the good fight homie.

Q: So after all this, now the people know why your album is called Angel Dust .

A: Yup. I say listen to and feel the music. Then it's open to your interpretation.