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interview Bo Roc (May 2010) | Interview By: Chad Kiser

   From his first debut in 1995 on Def Jam with Warren G and the Long Beach G-Funk trio the Dove Shack, Bo Roc has made his distinctive soulful voice known around the world with such hits as "Summertime In The LBC" and "Things Will Never Change" with E-40. His new album titled “MY MUSIC MY SOUL” is 100% Bo Roc showcasing his passion for music, life, love and soul. This album is an absolute remarkable solo presentation for an artist who has traveled many roads to piece together this arrangement of heart felt songs. With features from his native Long Beach homeboys Snoop Dogg & Bad Azz on such soon to be classics songs "ON FIRE" & "EVERYDAY" this album is most definitely G-Funk at it's finest.

Dubcnn was given the great pleasure to sit-down and chop it up with Bo Roc about the new album “My Music, My Soul”, his RocHouse Muzic company, working with Snoop Dogg, possibly re-uniting the Dove Shack in the near future and much more!

As ever, be sure to leave your feedback in our forums or email them to Chad Kiser.

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Interview was done in May 2010

Questions Asked By: Chad Kiser
 
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Dubcnn Exclusive – Bo Roc (of the Dove Shack)
By: Chad Kiser
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Dubcnn: Bo, tell us about your new album, “My Music, My Soul”. What can long-time Dove Shack fans expect of you on this one?

That classic west coast g-funk style of R&G, I just updated the sound and my skills so I can compete in today’s market of what they’re calling music.


Dubcnn: Why did you decide to name the album “My Music, My Soul”?

Because that’s exactly what it is, music from heart and soul.


Dubcnn: What are some of the highlights we can look forward to?

Well, for one, it’s some real-deal singing going on. No studio tricks or programs at all, just 100% vocals. In fact, almost all of the singing vocals are my own with the exception of maybe 2 songs, where I have a female doing some backgrounds. Basically, I did the Ray Charles thing and just did all my leads and background vocals myself, from the lows to the highs it’s all me and it’s all natural.


Dubcnn: How long did it take you to complete the project, from start to finish?

Well, that’s hard to say because I took a couple of pauses during the creation process to deal with some personal shit and to keep my bread up, so it took a few years. Keep in mind though that I completely did this project myself creation-wise and financial-wise, and it’s not cheap to record an R&B album that features a lot of live instruments and vocals. I wrote and arranged the entire album myself, so a lot went into this.


Dubcnn: What’s the first single coming from “My Music, My Soul”?

It’s a toss up right now because the whole album can be a single! It’s just knocking like that, you dig? But on the real though, I initially was going to go with a song called “On Fire”, which features Snoop Dogg. At the same time, however, didn’t want my comeback project to be based on the back of the homie, I want people to respect my skills for what they are; I want to reach success with this album based on me, not for who’s on it. So right now, I’ve been leaning towards the songs “Oh Daddy” or “Boulevard Nights”, with one being more so for the ladies, and the other one is for my niggas and their whips, riders and buckets!


Dubcnn: What keeps you motivated and inspired to keep the grind going?

Money! (laughs) On the real though, I love this shit and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love to rap, sing, make beats, do shows, do interviews…do models (laughs)! Music is my passion and it just so happens that it allows me to financially live how I like and take care of the family.


Dubcnn: Coming from Long Beach, who were some of your influences?

Believe it or not, my early musical influences came from going to church as a kid and listening to my mom sing, and Brandy and Ray J’s pops Willie Ray Norwood. That nigga can “sang”, which is a whole different level from being able to sing. Outside of them though, I was a typical west coast hip-hop head listening to NWA, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Geto Boys, Too Short, Spice-1, Above The Law, Compton’s Most Wanted, etc. I was heavy off into gangsta rap, not so much the cross-colors and gumby cuts. Keep in mind though that Long Beach had it’s own little underground music scene with crews like 213, Perfection, The Dove Shack, Kinfolks and the homie Radio who was really the first nigga out of Long Beach close to making it into the game way back when.


Dubcnn: Do you have any stand-out memories from some the artists and producers you’ve worked with over years, like Warren G, Montell Jordan and others?

Well, if you’re from the west and know my background, then I’m quite sure you’ve heard a couple of incidents where I had to touch up a few of these so-called “gangsta rappers” and one of my old Def Jam label mates from the east. Good thing though is that we’re all cool now. Now, as far as who I’ve worked with, I only really need to mention two names that should let you know where I’ve been with this shit: 2Pac & Jam Master Jay. The Dove Shack even recorded right in the same Queens, New York studio he was killed in!

Don’t let me forget about the freestyle session at the Hit Factory in New York with myself, my other niggas from the Shack, Kurupt and Biggie. In fact, it was the night that Puffy was recording Total’s “Can’t You See” over that James Brown beat, and towards the end Kurupt went so hard on it, that Biggie admitted that he couldn’t get down like that on the freestyle tip, but I’ll be damned if that nigga didn’t roll a whole big back-in-the-day cigar box of White Owls and smoke us all out until one of my niggas from the Shack threw up!


Dubcnn: Damn, that’s crazy! Is there a favorite song in your catalog that you’re particularly fond of?

“Just Surrender” off my new album. It’s a song that was done with so much raw emotion that I did it in one take with tears in my eyes. At the time that I recorded it, I had just heard the track for the first time at my boy Casino Tha G’s studio. My dude Co-T, who produced it, said that he had made it and didn’t think that he would ever come across someone that could actually use it in today’s industry. But, being the artist that I am, and having the passion I do for what it is that I do, something just moved me in a way to where the words just came instantly to me, and the vocals just came naturally; plus, it’s an ode to Marvin Gaye, who outside of Donny Hathaway and Rick James, just so happens to be one of my favorites.


Dubcnn: With “My Music, My Soul”, you’re bringing that out through your own label, RocHouse Muzic. Why did you elect to go the independent route?

I actually first started doing the independent thing back in 1998, after being signed to Def Jam for a couple of years, when myself and my big homie Big C-Style from Tha Dogg Pound inked a label deal with Navarre for 19th Street Records. Shortly after that, I went back to prison for 5 years and once I got out in 2003 the game had completely changed, especially for the west coast. So naturally, I went back to what was financially working best for me before I got locked up..


Dubcnn: With the digital takeover in the industry, will there be physical copies of the album for fans to go out and purchase for their collections?

Yes, indeed! At the moment, you can only pick up a physical CD in Long Beach at the world-famous V.I.P. Records. At first, I did have physical copies available through my website www.rochousemuzic.com, but due to the high number of orders and the fact that early pressed copies of the cd had a manufacturer’s defect, I had to shut the physical orders down for now. The good thing for the fans, though, is if you order the downloaded version from my website, you also get my “Greatest Hooks” album for free. That has all of my classic work with Warren G, E-40, Foesum, Crooked I, Tha Dogg Pound, and of course the Dove Shack.


Dubcnn: Speaking of the digital world, does it make it easier or harder for independent artists to attain the successes that were afforded to guys like yourself before the prevalence of digital downloading?

That depends on what you measure as success. For me, success in today’s market means just being able to actually eat and live off of what it is you do because 80-90% of people claiming to be in the music business don’t actually eat off of it. Instead, they work 9 to 5 jobs or they’re hustling in the streets. Now on the flip-side of that, I think one of the biggest misconceptions in the business is that people think that because an artist may have a video on tv, or may be on the radio doesn’t mean that he or she is actually successful, that is if you’re measuring success by getting money. The more you see or hear them on the majors, means the more that’s been spent; and the more money spent means the more money you owe. The only way you get to pay them back and still have money is if the fans are buying the record when they do see or hear it, which in most cases these days is no-go because of all the downloading. So, you can be successful going either route. Independent equals more money and less pussy & fame, and with the majors comes the pussy & fame and with the majors comes the pussy & fame, and a greater chance of the poor house


Dubcnn: I hear that. So, with “My Music, My Soul”, who are some of the guest features we’ll see on here?

Snoop Dogg, Bad Azz, and an artist that I work with out of San Diego named Mr. Milky.


Dubcnn: Earlier you said that you wrote and arranged everything on the project. I know a lot of the Dubcnn readers will want to know if you connected with Warren G.

Production is all in-house from my main producer Prophit, out in San Diego, and other than that it’s my LBC homeboy Co-T. As far as Warren G goes, we tried to make it happen, but scheduling prevented it from happening, which was also the case with a couple of my other producer homies like Tha Chill (of Compton’s Most Wanted) and Blaqthoven.


Dubcnn: What’s the status of the Dove Shack crew? Do you guys still communicate and are there any talks of reunion?

My niggas is good! We all got individual projects that we’re dropping, and indeed we are in the lab as we speak working on our new album “Parties and Hard Times”, which will be out later this year.


Dubcnn: How did Snoop get involved for the track “On Fire”? And what was it like working with him?

I just called his phone and asked. I mean he’s my homeboy from the hood so it’s the same as it’s always been, all love.


Dubcnn: What’s next up for Bo Roc and RocHouse Muzic?

Well, I’m finishing up my second solo project called “Club-O-Matic”, which is some totally off the wall other shit that’s part of my musical alter ego, that I don’t have a name for yet. I also have a dvd movie about to drop this summer called “Bo Roc TV” which is basically behind the scenes in the game with me, and there’s the RocHouse Muzic family all dropping this year consisting of Boss Man Hogg, Mr. Milky, Tha Young Shack and my little brother’s crew HighLife. Outside of that, we’re releasing the next Dove Shack album and we’re in conjunction with 19ST Records to release the new LBC Crew album through Universal. We’re real active over here!


Dubcnn: That all sounds great, and we’re looking forward to hearing the new music! Do you have any closing thoughts for Dubcnn readers?

Just make sure that you check out my website, www.rochousemuzic.com, and stay tuned to what I, RocHouse Muzic and the Dove Shack family are up to. Plus, there are beats dvd’s and clothes for sale on there as well. For all you rap artists in need of one of my famous hooks, then holla at me through the website, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, all of which I’m on and not hard to find. Just Google “Bo Roc” and you can find me, and you can check my file for all you hater-ass niggas with the wrong ideas!


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