Nine Article from December 1994:
It's the voice. Definitely the voice. Imagine Junior Demus with
pure raw hip-hop vocals. It sounds as if he's been gargling
broken glass and smoking 3 packs of Newports a day. Whatever the
cause, it grabs you. That's the intent. Nine wants to grab you
from the first beat and verse, and keep your attention for the
duration. You can check this original style on his debut single
for Profile, "Wutcha Want" b/w "Redrum", and
his full length album which will be released in early 1995. No
G-Funk or P-Funk. No fads. Just 15 songs of pure hip-hop from the
heart of the Boogie Down Bronx.
Toast: Have you been getting a good response to your record?
Nine: Yeah, I've been getting a lot of love. I went
freestyle with Method Man the other night for 20 minutes on
Kiss-FM. I'm gonna try to talk to him about maybe doing something
on my record. A lot of people remember me from "Six Million
Ways to Die" and they remember the Nine Double M style. So I
changed it up, and when I changed it I dropped the Double M and
just became Nine. I tried to do something people wouldn't expect.
The market is so flooded. I didn't want to come with funk music,
I didn't want to come too hard-core. I wanted to come with
something different, so I just dug in the crates and found some
different sounds that we could work with.
Toast: Now that intro to "Wutcha Want" is
"Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"...
Nine: The whole thing is "Sittin' on the Dock of the
Bay". We played it. Instead of sampling it, we played it.
That's why it has a different feel.
Music is like emotions. You've got to take people from one level
to the next level, bring them down and bring them back up. It's
real hard, there's a lot of competition out here.
Toast: The line in "Wutcha Want" that jumps out at
me is "...I'm not the one to follow, I'm not the role
model..."
Nine: Yeah, because I said "...pop the top on the
40oz bottle, I'm not the one to follow, I'm not the role
model...". I don't want kids to think that you have to drink
beer to be in hip hop. I'm not a role model, I've already been
poisoned by society. So I'm telling people, 'don't follow what I
do, or what I say, don't take everything I say literally.' I'm
not a role model, your parents should be your role models.
Somebody positive. Don't follow me.
Toast: Is there a theme behind "Redrum"?
Nine: Yeah, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody
wants to die. It's just a question that I'm presenting, and I got
that line from a Steven Segal movie (Marked for Death),
"everybody want heaven but them nah want dead". It's
just a question, something to think about.
Toast: On "Me, Myself and My Microphone"...
Nine: That's a demo that I got the deal with. That's not
even on the album. But Profile liked it so much that we just let
them put the demo out, on the record. It's not on the CD or the
cassette.
Toast: The beat's got those crazy screams in there...
Nine: Yeah, the same guy that did "Wutcha Want"
did "Me, Myself and My Microphone". His name is Rob
Lewis, and Tony Stoute did "Redrum". They each did half
the album, because they understand me. They know what I rap to, I
need something mid-tempo.
Toast: Is that Rob's voice on "Me, Myself and My
Microphone"?
Nine: No, that's me. That's my speaking voice when I say
"...I'm rolling dice 4-5-6...". That's me saying that.
That's how I speak.
Toast: Do you have a name for your album yet?
Nine: I had a name, it was going to be called "In the
Flesh", but then I discovered that there is a Pete Rock
& CL Smooth record called "In the Flesh". So I'm up
in the air right now, I'm not really sure what I'm gonna call it.
I've got a while to decide, so I'm gonna take my time.
Toast: Why did you sign with Profile Records?
Nine: I didn't want to be somewhere where there was so
many other people that I'd be at the bottom of the list. I wanted
to be somewhere where I can be a force. It's timing, the music
business is timing. You've got to be somewhere where you're
wanted. When I was with Nervous, they couldn't care less about me
because they had Black Moon, Smif 'n' Wessun, Mad Lion, and they
were all good. They couldn't care less about me. I've got nothing
but love for Funkmaster Flex for what he had done for me, but
when I was with Flex, I was the other guy. I didn't have a name
for myself.
Toast: What was your introduction to the music business?
Nine: I was part of the group Deuces Wild with Chuck
Chillout for about 4 years. He introduced me to the business, and
Funkmaster Flex was the DJ for Deuces Wild.
Toast: How would you describe you voice?
Nine: I would describe it as a Jamaican sound from a
non-Jamaican. I'm not Jamaican, but I listen to reggae and I knew
I could get that sound. It took 6 months for me to get that voice
to the point where I could control it. It took a while. I didn't
really have it down pat when I did "Six Million Ways to
Die". That was the first record I used it on. It's a deep
thing. I can go deep with my voice, and it doesn't even come from
my lungs or my neck, I do it from my head. You just focus on a
note that you want to hit, and you just do it. It took a while
but, when people hear me, they go "That's Nine. No question,
that's Nine." I don't want to have to say my name 50 times
on a record for people to know who I am. Your first single, you
should always say your name so people know who you are, but after
that, I feel that you should just be able to open your mouth and
people say "I know who that is. I know that voice."
Like with Guru, like Rakim.
Toast: Because the market is so diluted...
Nine: Right, you want to have people know you when they
hear you. Like Method Man, and Redman. When they open their
mouths, you know who it is. Like KRS-One. You know who it is. I
wanted to have a sound that people would say was original. I
don't want to steal from hip hop, I want to add to hip hop. No
one else could possibly sound like me and get away with it. All I
want is for people to say that I'm original. Either love me or
hate me, just spell my name right.
(Article written by DJ Toast in December 1994. The article
originally appeared in numerous national music magazines.)
