Interview: Billy Danze of M.O.P.

Steven Ortiz recently covered the M.O.P. concert at Southpaw on April 7, recapping performances by Top $ Raz, Sleepwalkas, Skotch Davis and The Upperclass Men. Before the concert, Ortiz spoke with Billy Danze of M.O.P. regarding M.O.P.’s history, current label situation, and future.

What’s going on with M.O.P. today?

We still working. We working really hard. Working on the next album. Working on the project, M.O.P. Meets the Snowgoons. A great production crew out of Germany. We also doing solo albums, my album Behind Gates, Fame’s solo album, Fame & the Glory. Constantly touring. I’ve been home for almost two weeks now.

You guys are well received overseas?

Yeah, ridiculous, It’s ridiculous dog! We’ve been everywhere except for China and Africa.

What label are you guys on? You guys are independent?

We doing it independent. We worked for our independence anyway. We deserve it. We got a lot of fans worldwide that support the group. I really don’t see a need for a label unless a label really has something to bring to the table.

How has the music evolved since when you first came out?

I see something new, but hip hop is still the same. Hip hop is basically what we do. Pharoahe Monch just dropped an album, that’s hip hop. DJ Premier still running, that’s hip hop. M.O.P. still touring, still putting records out, that’s hip hop.

What have you learned about the business that maybe you didn’t know before that’s keeping you more focused going forward?

All it was for us to learn was the business because we knew how to do everything else. We knew how to perform, we knew how to spit.  So we needed to learn the business. There was a lot going on. I credit dudes like Damon Dash, Tony Draper, J. Prince, Diddy, Baby, a few other guys for actually showing artists that we really don’t need a record label. That this is more about us than the label. You know what I’m saying… That’s what I learned business-wise, you gotta keep pushing, you gotta keep going . That’s the only way for people to accept you. People will never accept you or people will never want to be a fan of yours, if you not constantly giving them what they need.

I read that “How About Some Hardcore” was one of your first big breaks when it was featured on the House Party 3 soundtrack?

It’s a weird story, how we actually got what we call a “big break,” was getting us off the block and giving us a check and putting us in the studio. We were just regular kids in the street and that “How About Some Hardcore,” that first verse that I spit, I actually wrote it while I was sitting in a prison cell.  So, that’s why it was actually long as hell, because I didn’t know when to stop. I didn’t know how to count the bars, but I continued to write the record in that cell and I had this passion that I wanted  to spit it and when I first came home, Fame was like “I need you to do a record with me” for his album which was going to be a solo album. We went to the studio. I did the first verse and half of the second verse and we got a deal just with that. It was weird because he stopped me from actually robbing somebody to come with him to the studio. I’m looking, with this big ass gun in my hand, and I’m looking around the corner and I’m going like “Wait, wait, wait..” and he’s like, “I need you to come now!” And I’m like “Wait, wait, wait.” So I look at the oil truck, because they was C.O.D. at the time and he might have had a few thousand dollars on him and I turned to look at Fame and Fame just had this look on his face like “You gotta come with!”… So, I went with him and I did one verse and half of the second verse and we got a deal – $125,000 deal the next week.

How does it feel to be celebrating Lil’ Fame’s birthday?

We’re always happy to celebrate Fame’s birthday. Fame is like my brother, we know each other so long, that we don’t even remember how we met. Long time.

How does it feel to be performing in Brooklyn, your hometown?

I love it, I love it. This is the backyard. This is our house. So, we’re comfortable here.

The name, Mash Out Posse, how did that come about?

It’s funny, because we were just like your average kids from the street, so we would actually stomp people and beat them with bats for no reason. It’s not funny, but it’s the truth. There was some dude, we chased him and stomped the hell out of him. A girl from my block just started saying, “Y’all mashed em out. Why y’all mash em out?” Then it went from “mash em out” to “mash out posse” to M.O.P.

What keeps you motivated to keep doing this?

I got super, big expensive kids, that’s the main thing. Second, I want to hear music done a certain way and nobody can do it like we do it. I don’t want to be stroking myself and sound cocky or whatever, but I like the way M.O.P. makes music.

How has the internet helped in distributing your music? When you first came out it was a lot of vinyl, CDs…

…Cassettes! It’s easier because you can actually get your music to the kids in Egypt with no problem. In a split second. The label actually had to do the shipping and have the connection and if they don’t have the connection, whatever… Now it’s a little better. I’m not mad at the internet.  The labels want the artist to think, “Hey, I’m gonna give you this little bit of money because the sales are down, CDs don’t sell, but the downloads still sell, so it’s still the same money. I’m not mad at it at all. As long as people can get it, I’m happy.

Where can we hit up M.O.P?

Make sure you check out the website, and for unsigned artists too, we got something really big going on, really great. It’s called webuildhits.com. We got platinum, Grammy winning producers up there giving unsigned artists tracks, building a record, actually mixing and mastering it and then we actually sending it to 23 countries. You can work with Pete Rock, DR Period, Heatmakers, Doc Ish, Easy Mo Bee, 9^th Wonder, DJ Scratch, and my man, Lil’ Fame. And there’s more, we got like 25 different producers.