Q&A: The Knux

Rhapsody: How did it work in terms of your recording budget since you guys produced this whole album by yourself?
Krispy Kream: [Interscope Records] still got to give you a budget. It’s like when you’re recording a rock band. They still got to give you a budget to record in the studio. Say you want to hire like a violinist or somebody to play bass. Being that we executive produced it, too, we had to control our own budget. We wanted to be able to produce it just like Metallica produced the Black Album. Over the last few years, hip-hop almost developed its own way of handling recording budgets. It’s actually pretty pricey and out of control for the level of musicianship that go on these albums. A lot of times, you get these producers that ain’t worth what you paying. We wanted to have a real produced album that could be respected by other producers, not just other beat makers.

Although you guys are signed to Interscope, it seemed like the roll-out for this album was similar to if you guys were signed to an independent label. There was no huge blockbuster feel.
Krispy Kream: Yeah. They want to have an organic, slow build, like a rock album. We got cross-marketing at Interscope because you have the hip-hop and the rock dudes working together. We have seven singles. So, you’ll hear probably like five more. When we finally get to the seventh single, the second album will be dropping.

Rah Almillio: The Fugees’ The Score didn’t take off until “Killing Me Softly” came out. I loved that album; it was one of the best hip-hop albums ever. I say in my top five because I feel like it’s one of the albums that really made our genre respected. A lot of musicians don’t respect hip-hop.  When you put an album out like The Score, it’s like, “F*ck y’all. We can do this sh*t for real.” We got some catchy-*ss songs. We could easily do the f*ck*ng MC Hammer and just peak and drop. It’s not really the song that makes people one-hit wonders. It’s how they’re marketed. If they’re not marketed the right way, if they’re oversaturated, it can be a bad thing if that person wants a long career. Also, you know how these guys do MySpace and request friends? We didn’t do that so we knew how many people really knew about us. We went from 13,000 friends to over 30,000 friends in like the last two and a half weeks. That shows how much our popularity has grown. [Other artists] all think they’re doing something better by requesting friends on MySpace, but they’re actually hindering themselves because they don’t actually know how many fans they really have.

Krispy Kream: MySpace fans don’t matter. Most of it’s for show. MySpace fans are no different from getting a big *ss platinum chain. It’s mostly just supports certain people’s character a little bit like, “Oh yeah, they got to be doing it because they got this and that.”

What was the New Orleans rap scene like when you guys were trying to get on?
Rah Almillio: Cash Money had New Orleans on lock. When Master P left and went to California, he went to the Bay and kind of lost New Orleans for a second because he had a lot of California influences and Pac sounding stuff [on the earlier albums]. Cash Money was New Orleans to the fullest. From the way them n*gg*s talked, it showed exactly how New Orleans was to a T without any other influences. We supported No Limit, too. Master P did so much for New Orleans. But as far as listening, everybody was on Cash Money.

Were you running into Cash Money artists a lot?
Rah Almillio: [New Orleans] is big in the sense of it’s one of the most known cities in America, but it's small in the sense of you seeing these motherf*ck*rs every day. You can’t pull that Hollywood sh*t in New Orleans because everybody knows and grew up with each other. N*gg*s call you by your real name like, “Man, what the f*ck you doing?” They call you by your old ‘hood name. No one calls him Lil’ Wayne out there. They call him like ‘Toon. N*ggas would call Juvenile To Nut. Krispy went to school with them Sqad Up n*gg*s. Everybody knows each other, so nobody really trip. When we were down in New Orleans, n*gg*s was showing love because we know how much of a trap that f*ck*ng city is. We just be glad to see another n*gg* out there doing the same thing. 

Krispy Kream: A lot people didn’t like Lil Wayne and Sqad-Up. They got hated on a lot.  But I went to high school and played ball with them dudes. We grew up on the same block and repped the same ‘hood. I’m just glad there’s someone else from my hood who made it out of that sh*t.

Speaking of New Orleans artists, you guys have mentioned collaborating with Jay Electronica on your second album.
Rah Almillio: Whether he knows it or not, he’s going to be on our second album. [Laughs.] I really like that dude. I don’t know all of his songs, but I know what he’s about. The main thing I respect about this guy is the same exact reason he probably respects our sh*t. Because where we come from and what that n*gg*’s doing. This n*gg* is from the Magnolia Projects. I read a comment [on the Internet] and some dudes are talking like, “He probably eats Whole Foods and this and that.” Dog, you want him eating Whole Foods and being peaceful. You don’t want him acting like he’s from the Magnolia Projects ‘cause he will f*ck you up. I commend that dude for bending minds and wanting to elevate people’s minds being where he comes from. I don’t know who got him out of the trap that New Orleans can put you in, but he broke free and is enlightening motherf*ck*rs. Everything he spit about is how I live on a daily. I’m a very spiritual person and very connected. I meditate and make sure my chakras are flaring. It hit real close to home because like damn, I didn’t know all them ‘hood n*gg*s is on that sh*t. Nas did “Fried Chicken” with Busta. A lot of people were like, “Why’s he talking about fried chicken?” Because that’s hip-hop. Busta Rhymes not doing those damn club songs, but a concept song. And that sh*t was dope.

Lil Wayne has been ridiculed for playing a guitar on stage because a lot of people say he can’t play the guitar. Being musicians who can play the guitar, how do you feel about that?
Rah Almillio: I’m going to tell you as a guitarist, you got to have a lot of f*ck*ng courage to go up there and have one mic blasting on an amp and n*gg*s could hear everything. I’ve been guilty of f*ck*ng revving up, because I play punk style and I’ll get crazy and when you revving like that, sometimes you can hit other strings. Because I come from an actual instrument background, I used to solo and that sh*t is petrifying. You on blast, basically. I mean, we know that he really can’t play the damn thing. It ain’t like a big secret. But as long as every day he taking it and practicing and he really taking it serious, I can’t really knock him for wanting to do that.

[I did a solo at] the Roots concert in Salt Lake City and they loved it. But we talking about no music. I did that shit straight amp and electric guitar for 10,000 people. I had no drugs at all.  A lot of these rock guys say, “F*ck it, I’m going to get high as f*ck so it don’t phase me.” The reason I did it is because if I don’t conquer this right now, I’m never going to be able to do it. I just revved that motherf*ck*r and you can see the crowds loving it. It also gave them a healthy respect for the Knux being real musicians. My thing is about Lil Wayne is he definitely loves and has a passion for it. At first I just thought he was just trying to look fly with a guitar. That’s a big secret. A lot of hip-hop people want to just wear it. I’ve noticed that. I don’t think I would have had the confidence to come out on that level because playing how I played a couple of years ago and presenting it like that, I don’t think I could have had that kind of confidence. I kind of commend him for the level of playing where he at, just going out there in front of thousands of people. But if you’re losing people at the show [because you can’t play], I don’t think it’s worth it.  It all depends on how strategic it is.

Krispy Kream: Me and Al are mad critical of ourselves and to a lot of people [playing a guitar] look cool in the hip-hop way, but we know other musicians going to be laughing at us, so we don’t do it.

In one of your previous interviews, Krispy referred to a car accident that almost severed Al’s arm What was that about?
Rah Almillio: It was like three in the morning. I was in L.A. going to this girl’s house. I was coming from a studio session and I had to be in New York in two days. [I was in] a Jaguar that wasn’t mine. [Laughs.] So I was going deep in the valley on the Route 118. The next thing you know, I fell asleep behind the wheel and I see trees and then the motherf*ck*r flips and somersaults like six or seven times. I looked down and I’m laying upside down. The middle shift that you use to park and reverse went through my elbow and penetrated that motherf*ck*r. [My elbow was] punctured with a big f*ck*ng golf-ball sized hole. It’s pools of blood everywhere. I thought it was a water leak. I’m thinking I’m missing a limb. I tried to open the door. I couldn’t so I kicked the back window out and crawled out. I’m getting kind of delirious so I call up my girl and my peoples and I’m like, “I’m about to pass out so like call an ambulance.” Then I hung the phone up. I took my t-shirt off and wrapped it around my arm to stop the blood because we talking a water fountain shooting. I could see the whole inside of my arm exposed and I’m just like, “Damn.” [Laughs.]  When I went to the hospital they were like, “If you hadn’t wrapped that T-shirt around your arm, you would have been dead in 10 minutes.” That’s how much blood I was losing. They had to take two sides of my flesh and put it together like a curtain. They fused the flesh and let it kind of grow back. I got 35 stitches and morphine and walked out. It took like maybe two months [to heal].  It’s good now, because before I couldn’t turn it a certain way because the bone was twisted. Nothing was broken, just punctured like a big f*ck*ng golf-ball sized hole. [It happened] a few days before a show at the Red Bull space [in New York this past August]. I had the f*ck*ng sling on my arm, but I did the show just rocking it out. That’s hip-hop. [Laughs.]