[Interview] Sheek - Exclusive Q&A with Rhapsody.com [Responds to Prodigys comments]

Exclusive: Sheek Louch Q&A

One of music’s greatest triumphs is when an artist comes out with a totally left-field song that actually works. Sheek Louch, who’s always been known as the enforcer of legendary Yonkers crew The Lox, achieved exactly this, celebrating life’s simple pleasures over a nostalgic Betty Wright sample on the unexpected, upbeat single "Good Love." Long-time fans fret not. Louch’s third solo album, Silverback Guerilla, featuring collaborations with Jim Jones, Bun B, The Game and Fat Joe, packs plenty of his signature jailhouse anthems. Rhapsody caught up with Louch to talk about the concept and video behind "Good Love," working with The Notorious B.I.G., getting publishing rights back from Diddy, and being mentioned in Prodigy’s infamous blog.

Rhapsody: Did producer Red Spyda bring you the beat for "Good Love" and present the concept, or did you go to him with a something in mind already?
Sheek Louch: Red Spyda is a genius. He told me that 50 Cent’s "U Not Like Me," he made for me. He just couldn’t get in touch with me at the time. Spyda brought me "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" and "2 Turntables & a Mic." [For "Good Love"] he was like, "Check this out. It’s different. It’s not hardcore." Then he played it and I was like, "That’s some O.G. sh*t. I’m familiar with the original Betty Wright song." Spyda was like, "Yo, you gotta let it breathe. When she says, ’Good Love.’ You gotta let her say it. Don’t talk over it." I did it monstrous. Top 10 record right now. I ain’t shoot no one on the record, and it’s working. I’m out here in Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. They love the song. I’m just thinking the chicks are gonna go crazy. What!? N*gg*s are like, "That’s my sh*t." I got a remix coming with Keyshia Cole and LL Cool J. Keyshia is going to sing the sample and everything Betty Wright was saying. Me and LL are gonna flip the lyrics.

Was the video for "Good Love" inspired by the commercials Wes Anderson’s directed for AT&T?
It wasn’t inspired off of that. I gotta ask [director] Todd [Angkasuwan]. You know what I didn’t wanna do? The average ice-grill-in-front-of-a-project-building. Even with Omar from The Wire [who is in the video], he was ice grilling me and it wasn’t nothing. It just felt good.

So, the director came up with the treatment and everything?
Everything. That’s all his credit. I just okayed it. It was all green [screen]. Everything was some old technology sh*t. With a video like that, to make it look like I just left here and left here, you just gotta play with it a little and really show that it’s digital. It was at this sh*t in Long Island, at this damn near warehouse. It was big. It wasn’t like one little green screen right there. It was like here’s the hotel set-up over here. Then the stewardess sh*t is gonna be over here.

Was that one continuous shot?
Yeah, that was the other catch about the sh*t. I couldn’t stop. It was one continuous shot. I’m drinking Courvoisier. I’m like, "Let me pick it up from the outside part." [Todd’s] like, "Nah, you gotta keep going. Now we gotta go back to the beginning." I was getting heavy nice. I was getting wired. So, eventually, I got it together. It was an all-day shoot.

You had said that Ice Cube would be on "Think We Got a Problem." However, on your album it ended up being Game. What happened?
Yeah, I tried for Ice Cube but he was working on Are We There Yet? He was like, "Yeah, Sheek, I’ll get on anything else for you down the road, but I’m caught up." But he himself reached out about getting on that. And I was like, "Hell yeah. Please lay something to that." I guess Koch played it for him. But later on when I was seeing if he did it or not, it was to the point of, "I had all intentions of doing it but …" And it was like, "Come on, Cube. I’ll catch you on another favor. Just put me in a movie." [Laughs.]

So, Jay-Z was really was serious about signing The Lox to Def Jam?
Yeah, he tried hard to get that. But he couldn’t because of Interscope and Ruff Ryders.

Diddy approached you around that time as well?
Diddy trying to re-sign the Lox a little before all that. This was back in ’05. We took a meeting with him.

So, were you seriously considering re-signing with Bad Boy?
Nah, but as a businessman, you’re going to go chop it up. He’s a powerful dude. You’re going to go see what he’s talking about. At the time it wasn’t no beef. It wasn’t no problems. So we met. He told us bygones is bygones and this is how much money I have [for the project].

Was he offering a lot of money?
Yeah, but no long-term money like that. It was more, "So, here’s an advance. Let’s make this record." We were more like, "Let’s work this different."

After that, you guys had conflict because he still owned your publishing. Was he literally getting all your publishing?
He gave everything back. 100 percent. We saw very little [before that]. I mean, come on, [we wrote] songs such as ["It’s All About the Benjamins"]. Motherf*ck*rs should have been rich. We good. But these songs was retarded still to this day. Let me get this straight. When he’s on the radio saying he didn’t have 100 percent, he’s right. But [he had] enough to where it was like, "Dog, aright enough is enough. You had our sh*t for too long." We know what we signed, but Diddy look, we made a mistake. We were too young for that sh*t.

Did he give you anything retroactively?
Nah, he didn’t give us a refund check. But now, for the most part, it’s like everything can flow smooth through the pipes. Like he has nothing more to do with that. That’s our money. After this next Lox project, everything is back 100 percent.

So, he’s still getting the same percentage he’s been getting from the next Lox project?
Hell no. All that’s worked out. But we just gotta deliver that record. And then everything is back. Those numbers are not the same. After that’s it’s a go. But even on this Lox project, we’re straight. Way straighter than we were.

So your recent solos … ?
[Diddy] has nothing to do with it. I delivered After Taxes. So everybody is pretty much in the clear. But we do gotta deliver this Lox project. And even that is on some O.G. sh*t. It doesn’t have to do with no young-boy stipulations. Diddy expressed how he didn’t like how [Jadakiss and Styles P] put him on the spot [calling him out on Hot 97]. That was the reason he called up.

When you guys were beefing with Beanie Sigel (in 2001), did that ever affect your relationship with Jay?
I think at the time, Hov wouldn’t have f*ck*d with us. Hov probably wouldn’t have given us the time of day. But really, me checking Jay out and knowing him, I think he really thinks it’s hip-hop. He’s really looking at everything like, "That ain’t nothing. We rapping. It’s healthy." I don’t think he ever took it to heart. That man had later asked us to come do "Reservoir Dogs" at concerts, like sh*t never happened. He don’t give a f*ck. He called us for the Nas-Jay reunion concert like it was nothing.

What was the session for Jay-Z’s "Reservoir Dogs" (1998) like?
Everybody was in there. It’s so funny because Sauce [Money] called me this morning. He said "Good Love" is his sh*t. Straight up. We recorded "Reservoir Dogs" somewhere in Manhattan. We went in and we writing to the beat. It was an all-night session. I think Hov laid his [verse] way after us. When we finally heard the song again, Hov’s verse was on it. He was there [that night], but he didn’t lay his verse down. But he was there even when I was in the booth like, "Do it from this point." And give me more swagger.

What was the session like for Biggie’s "Last Day" (1997)?
I had Bacardi Limon and some orange juice. Heavy drinking. Big buggin’ out with Cease and all them n*gg*s. It was just crazy. Big was in the same chair all night bullsh*tt*ng and telling mad jokes. Not on some comedian sh*t, but he’s a funny dude. It was like that all night. We were more ecstatic than they was. They was just doing them. We were like, "Damn, this n*gga asked us to get on his upcoming album?"

So, you guys were close to him?
Yeah, that was our man as far he would check on us and see if n*gg*s was hungry. Whoever he came to the studio with, you name the rapper all the way down to his homeboys like D-Roc and Gutter, he’d bring them in the room where we was at for us to spit to them like, "Listen to these n*gg*s. You gotta hear these three n*gg*s we got." It was like that.

What’s a favorite Biggie memory of yours that you haven’t told anyone before?
One was me and him downtown [Manhattan] getting twisted. And I’m bugging out, and he’s like, "Yo, Sheek, you gotta get in the video." They was shooting [Lil’ Kim’s] "Crush on You." He just threw me in that sh*t immediately because of how I was flirting with everybody and bullsh*tt*ng. He was like, "Come on, you gotta throw all that in the video." That was just my homeboy. He told [Lance "Un" Rivera], "Yo, stop the video. Put him at that table right there and have him bug out with that chick." Even if it was a quick shot.

Have you had a chance to read Prodigy’s blog? He called you one of the worst rappers ever.
Yeah, talking about all the rappers he don’t like and they garbage. I don’t know. I’m hotter than him. He’s bugged out. I did make comments before when I said on a verse, "Ya’ll was way more hotter before you got with 50." It was during the beginning of the diss records with 50. I did throw a dart back then myself. But it wasn’t nothing bad. I felt the music was hot. I just liked the old Mobb Deep shit before. I didn’t like it when they started singing and all that shit. The new music they got with 50, I just didn’t like that. I’mma keep it all the way funky. When I see them, I f*cks with Havoc. That’s my n*gga. We’ll chop it up. He’ll hit me up and all that sh*t. I never really f*ck*d with Prodigy. I just never got the little n*gg*’s swag. I know he’s doing his time right now, right? Go ahead, do that. I ain’t thinking about homey like that.

Were you surprised he brought your name up?
Nah, not at all. He’s a clown. Dudes like them, you let them go. I noticed Nas and none of them never answered nothing about homey. Sometimes they’ll say whatever back. But for the most part, [Prodigy’s] harmless. He’s a f*ck*ng puppy. Any rapper that’s running their mouth, I think a lot of them are straight p*ss**s. Not their homeboys. Not their crew. The actual rapper. I’m not talking about nobody in particular. As far as the tough talk, the actual rapper that gets in the booth, he p*ssy. Come on, dawg. I know your man and the work he put in. But you yourself, n*gg*s will frog you up. Give you noogies and sh*t.

LMAO, Sheek is that dude!

See what the folks over at SOHH forum had to say HERE.