Schooly D article from February 1994:

Cheese-steaks, Smokin' Joe Frazier, Julius Erving, and the Liberty Bell. All of these are synonymous with Philadelphia.
In rap music, Philadelphia is known for DJ's with money in their name (Tat Money, Cash Money, and Code Money). Even though they have great DJ skills, Tat lost all credibility for his stint with Kwame, and Cash for his current stint with PM Dawn.
DJ Code Money may not be even close to his neighbors on the skills level, but he has been a consistent sidekick for the one who set it all off for Philadelphia back in 1984, MC Schooly D.
Schooly D has been credited by many as the originator of 'gangster rap'. But Schooly's image is that he has no image. He wasn't no gangster, he just rapped about what was going on around him, without that 'hip hop hippitty to the hippity hip hop' shit that was going on at the time. Schooly D gives most of the 'originator' credit to Melle Mel. So if Schooly wasn't the originator, he was definitely a major pioneer of what was a new style of rapping back in the days
On his latest album Welcome to America on Ruffhouse/Columbia, Schooly D does what he has always done, rap about the reality of his surroundings, another chapter in his life. What makes this album different from his other attempts at repeating his original popularity, is the reunion with former manager and now CEO of Ruffhouse Records, Chris Schwartz, and the addition of live musicians for the music to rap over.
Welcome to America doesn't compare to Schooly D's first records (but then again, what can), but it takes a good shot at it.
DJ Toast: You've got a new album out, Coming to America. What can we expect from Schooly D this time around?
Schooly D: The music approach I took was a little different. I used maybe one sample, which I'm gonna take out. The whole album is done by live musicians. I figured out the way to do it. I've used musicians before and it sounded too live, too clean, too polished. So what I did was I got with some older guys who knew how to do it the way James Brown used to do it.
DJ Toast: Who's doing the production on the album?
Schooly D: Me and this guy Mike Tyler.
DJ Toast: How about Joe the Butcher?
Schooly D: No, he just mixed it.
DJ Toast: Any guest appearances on the album?
Schooly D: Nobody as of known yet, but I got this young guy who has been on a couple of my albums. His name is Cheese.
DJ Toast: The first single and video for the album is "Another Sign"?
Schooly D: Yeah, we shot the video in July in Philly. We based the video off of the movie Taxi Driver. We told a story with it. It's very dark. I think its the best video out there.
DJ Toast: With the live band, what happened with DJ Code Money?
Schooly D: He's still around, we still work together. What we had to do was use more imagination. We've been in the business since 1984.
DJ Toast: How is it being reunited with Chris Schwartz down at Ruffhouse Records?
Schooly D: It's crazy man. It brings back a few old memories.
DJ Toast: On the back of an old album, it says Chris 'don't worry we'll get paid' Schwartz.
Schooly D: That was his line. He was the one who helped me catapult myself into an alternative base, and hooking me up in these wild, out of the way clubs. He was always like, 'Don't worry, you're gonna get paid. If you're thinking about a career, you've got to think about the future. The future is not only black people buying rap records. So you've got to build your base now, so you don't have to worry about the future.'
DJ Toast: I've got the "PSK & Gucci Time" single with the spaceship drawings and all that. How did that come about?
Schooly D: I put that out myself, fronted the money for it and did a little pressing of it. It went alright. It went gold, but I didn't get paid for it. I had a thing with the pressing plant, because once it became a hit, it got out of hand. It was like a snowball effect. The distributors weren't sending back the money quick enough for me to press more records up. So I made a deal with the pressing plant, and little did I know it was like 'one for Schooly, two for me, one for Schooly, three for me'.
DJ Toast: Since you were the first to really bust out of Philly, what made you want to start rapping in the first place?
Schooly D: It was the whole hip-hop scene in the early 80's that was making young brothers stand up. It was like basketball or football. I mean it was something that we could do. It was a different kind of hustle. Everybody had their hustle, mine was rapping.
DJ Toast: Were there any artists you looked up to?
Schooly D: It was the early days. It was one live recording of Melle Mel in 1982 or '83 that made me want to do street rap. My first record was "Gangsta Boogie w/ Maniac" on Schooly D Records. If anybody got that "Gangsta Boogie", they got a collectors' item.
DJ Toast: Do you have the publishing rights to all your songs, because people are starting to sample your stuff now?
Schooly D: Yeah, finally. I bought out my so-called partners.
DJ Toast: When you had your cuts on Schooly D Records, you had some distribution through Warlock, right?
Schooly D: It wasn't no distribution. They stole the record. Somebody stole the plates.
DJ Toast: So I got a bootleg copy?
Schooly D: Yeah, its a bootleg. They stole the plates and pressed their own copies. But all the brothers that did that are in jail.
DJ Toast: How was it working with KRS-One on "Original Gangster"?
Schooly D: I rather not talk about it.
DJ Toast: Did you catch much grief for the cut "Pussy Ain't Nothing"?
Schooly D: Yeah I did, but I don't care. One time I was in San Francisco doing a gig, that was the first and last time I did it live. Women were crying and shit.

(Article written by DJ Toast in February 1994. The article originally appeared in numerous national music magazines.)