Al Profit Interview (2007)

Wir trafen den sympathischen Hoodstock Sänger vor einigen Wochen in New York und setzten unser nettes Interview vom Sommer 2006 fort. Es ist zwar seit dem recht ruhig um Hoodstock geworden, da einige Mitglieder Umgezogen sind und nun kaum noch für Aufnahmen bereit stehen.

Trotzdem konnte Al Profit (ALP) einiges erzählen, neben Filmprojekten arbeitet er hart an seiner Firma InDaStreez.

Wir danken Al für das Interview und widmen es Al's Stiefsohn Ricky Williams (R.I.P.)

 

MIO: Whats the current situation with your album 'Hard N'B' are you in the process of finishing it up or is complete ?

ALP: Its nearly finished, actually its about finished a few skits to do thats it.

MIO: Just the small pieces left, polishing it off ?

ALP: I got allot of songs I'm going to narrow it down to about nine songs, I have allot of songs, if somethings not right like Maze(MIO had a small conversation with Hoodstocks Amazen Grace before the interview commenced) was saying some of them I got too confident about everybody likes songs I don't like you know ? It always turns out that way they love the song I just like I don't like the way I sound on it the more i hear it everybody loves it, but i got you know most of the things done, later on we can listen to it.

MIO: When can we expect a release will it be later this year final quarter or the first quarter next year ?

ALP: We haven't even set a date yet but it has to be as soon as possible, thing about is we run a business also so that also sets back dates its independent right here were using our own money we hustling out there we run a graphic design business Reg(Reggie McKenzie CEO InDaStreez Entertainment/Hoodstock Records) we got a studio in the back so thats how we make money to put back into the music you understand what I'm saying ? It's just a grind we don't have the big money behind us I mean we affiliated with The Inc but we not signed at all Black(Blackchild, Murder Inc recording artist and President of InDaStreetz Entertainment/Hoodstock Records) is the only one signed 720(Sekou 720 Hoodstock recording artist and producer) into a producing contract and thats about it everybody else is straight independent... but I like being independent actually I do you got a little buzz.

MIO: Nobody telling you what to do ?

ALP: Nobody's telling me what to do I can create my own artwork my own music my own everything......its just frustrating when you don't have the money when I hear songs by artists out there that i believe that are doing the same type of music I'm doing and I'm doing it better you know what I'm saying ?

MIO: Do you prefair recording solo or with another person like with another member of Hoodstock ?

ALP: I like when I got hip hop on my tracks, most of my songs your going to hear I probably got somebody spitting.....if I go solo its got to be special got to be something special in me...anything else like that when its something regular I love when I have people especially MC's on my track because I just love hip hop i don't want it to be just RnB thats why my shit is called Hard N'B its hard with a little bit of RnB.

MIO: So theres going to be allot of hip hop on it ? A soulful hip hop feel to it ?

ALP: I got allot of stuff with Black, 720, I got a song on my Cd we(Al Profit and Sekou 720) got like four or five songs thats my man right there thats my cousin real talk thats my cousin right there and we got allot of songs together some stuff thats fire I got some songs with my man Ruler Devinne he produces for Cheeks (Lost Boys Mr Cheeks) we got like four songs the production is crazy, platinum sound like always he did all the Onyx songs he did the first Onyx album hes fire my man Ruler Divine and then I got some local cats like my man 'Hot Blocks'.... got some more fire on my album I got allot of Cats that you never heard of on my album but most of all I got Slugz, 720, of course The Hoodstock and I got Indi 191 on some of my songs Shan Da Hoodlum, Black, Shadow all the Hood is there....

MIO: How did you hook up with Blackchild and come apart of Hoodstock ?

ALP: Like I said I used to date this girl named Stacy and matter of fact her son is the one that just got killed hes my step son he just got killed on Sunday Rest In Peace to Ricky Williams man you know what I mean we all love you, you up in heaven right now thats my man Ricky Williams Rest In Peace. I got down with Black from Stacy they grew up in the same building as Ja in Woodhall and that was my girl and then you know we just the rest is history.....

MIO: Who do you have most chemistry with while recording, who do you work best with in the studio ?

ALP: I dunno man everybody I like everybody man, (goes off topic for a minute for a minute while sitting at his desk) oh wow y'all site is up here just popped up Maze was on it, alright yea but everybody man everybody gives a good vibe when we do a Hoodstock joint you can feel the vibe its a little different everybody on Hoodstock we just got a different vibe or anybody it doesn't matter we just get on it I don't have anybody particular nobody is my favorite....

MIO: Do you expect to see yourself on any upcoming Murder Inc releases such as Ja's upcoming album Caddy's or Merc's ?

ALP: Me and Merc thats my man we were suppose to mad songs together many times we just never did it... of course Merc thats my man and my man Lil D aka  D.Gift thats my man, we were on tour together Lil D had the connections when we were on tour but D.Gift is hot and Caddy I got songs with Caddy me and Caddy got like four songs together me Caddy and Ja got a song together called “Duck” I dunno if y'all heard that from a couple of years ago.

MIO: That(Duck) was suppose to be on Caddy's album was it ?

ALP: I don't even think it was on that album but yea we had that song 'Duck' together, me and Caddy got a nice chemistry. Merc me and Merc actually wrote two songs together we just never recorded them, me and Black always do songs together thats nothing....what I really want is a song with Ashanti, Gotti wont let me have a song with Ashanti(says jokingly).

MIO: Whats the situation with Hoodstock at the moment ? Your albums in the works Blacks working on his....

ALP: We got Blacks album my album we got songs by Shan Da Hoodlum and basically thats it 7 Dub.....I don't know where 7 Dub is he got locked up and never came home..... he hollered at me on the myspace at one time but thats about it, thats my man me and 7 thats my man I don't got no beef with 7 I don't know whats going on, theres two different Hoodstocks they got themselves something called 'Hoodstock America' him and I don't know who else a couple of cats I don't know. Its all love just people had different views its all love I got no beef with nobody 7 Dub is my man.

MIO: So we wont be seeing another Hoodstock compilation mix tape anytime soon ?

ALP: I don't know about that we may we got so many songs right now we could just put something out, we got mad songs.

MIO Everybody's waiting for something new from Hoodstock its been along time since CB4 was released.

ALP: Yea man theres been allot of transitions my man Snailz..... Snailz is on the run, thats my man and you know 7 Dub got arrested he was allot of energy Dub brought allot of energy to Hoodstock, Shadow moved to Carolina so we lost Shadow and Shadow brought allot of energy to the group to. Indi's a lady she got her lady problems she got to take of family so thats how that goes but you know theres still soldiers standing we got Maze we got me we got Black we here hard all the time making songs and shit. Still contact with everybody tough everybody's been in contact with each other its like the Wu Tang its like Wu they going on their own everybody's doing what they want to do everybody got still love.

Al Profit then breaks into the song '16' after asking if he can smoke with us. He then turns to Maze(Amazen Grace). ALP: You never heard that one Maze huh ?

MIO: Young people like Maze do they bring more energy to you young people like Maze being around you all the time ?

ALP: Yea, yea you know I'm a natural performer so you know if peoples just in room I'll perform, Black that guy has got allot of energy when Black's here he got his energy bouncing off the walls so you have no choice but to indulge in the energy you know what I'm saying.

MIO: On your album is there any song that stands out, you think people would really feel or thats you favorite on the album ?

ALP: (Shouts in to the group of people in the other room) What's y'all favorite song on my album ? 16 ? The smoke one ? Y'all like this one ? Ill bring it back for my man Dermo and everyone at MurderIncOnline. A kids voice starts talking on the track. ALP: This is my son, my youngest son. Al Profit gets asked questions from his son including “Did you ever meet your Father?” and “Do you have any cousins ?” Al answers his sons questions asks him one of his own and then breaks into the song which is called '16'. The song opens with the line“When I was only 16 my mama was crack phine and she still was a black Queen....”

MIO: This is a song from your heart ?

ALP: Most of my solo songs are also songs from the heart.

ALP: Y'all feeling this right here ? You think this sounds like a classic Al Profit song or what ?

MIO: Very much so.

MIO: The Animal Soundtrack how come that was never pushed or made available on a wider scale ?

ALP: I believe because it was an Independent film, this is my understanding Ving(Ving Rhymes) had gotten some financial backing and he had the opportunity to make a certain amount of films he basically juggled his budget the best way he could you know Ving always treated us well you what I'm saying ? He payed us well whatever we did I just don't think he had the money to push a soundtrack like that tough and he gave us the opportunity to do the soundtrack I don't know what happened with the follow through but you know he definitely gave us the opportunity to do the soundtrack, Ving has always Loved us he has always treated us well Ving is a friend of Hoodstock and Hoodstock is a friend of Ving definitely.

MIO: In our previous interview you mentioned you were doing a few movie scripts and a few tv projects has that situation advanced since then ?

ALP: I did the independent film called 'Sunset' with Super Inc Films I played a Power Broker it was like a Romantic Comedy set in New York around Central Park, I don't know why they gave me the roll but I had this heavy monolog. I also was an interrupter I did some extras roles anything to get the money just trying to get the hustle. Thats all I did just those small couple rolls. Im really working on some documentary stuff at the moment like i got something right here that my man Algernon Hannah done. We got a film company also my man Al Bones(Algernon) wrote his thesis and we going to do a documentary on it basically comparing the original Jews from Israel in Biblical Times to Jewish people now in America and in Israel so its like a comparison and with Black people as far as African's are concerned also so its an interesting study and we just going to do a small documentary ask some questions to some people and work it out from there. Very intelligently written.

MIO: Algernon is a relation to you is he ?

ALP: No hes a young brother from law school very interesting and he got an interesting mind so we in Hoodstock like interesting minds and we also support the youth I'm 36 years old hes 24 to me thats amazing that he thinks like that, we just going to do a study we going to do some Micheal More shit. Take the world by storm buying up every business on the block.

MIO: 'Summertime' one of your classics with Black were there any plans to release that as a single ?

ALP: That was suppose to be a single for the summer but you know allot of things happened you had the whole beef with 50 and everybody's stuff being pushed back all of a sudden this shit isnt important anymore but we understand I understand this is a classic right here(as 'Summertime' starts playing in the background).

MIO: This single should of helped Blacks album to be released.

ALP: I don't think Gotti liked this song man, he didn't like this song I don't know why I think this song is fire. “Summertime is crazy” thats Merc right there. This is one of my favorite joints right here we did this in the Crack House. We got Tee Moore a the end you know Tee Moore is ? She spit too thats her talking at the end, you got 720 you got Gift and you got Caddy. The streets was definitely calling for Blackchild its just he got Ja before him he got Ashanti in front of him then Lloyd comes you know what im saying ? Black is a loyal dude and Gotti definitely takes care of us so...you cant be mad everybody's eating ain't nobody really hungry out here. Everybody's just eating on a different type of level you see you go to the Crack House its totally different then our shit upstairs downstairs big ass island kitchen big ass Tv's theres a difference they got more money(laughs).

As music begins to play in the background Alprofit tells us 'This is a joint called 'Aaliyah'..

MIO: This was up on your myspace awhile back.

ALP: I did ? I put this on the myspace.

ALP: Let's talk some more about the documentary. (Calls Algernon into the room). This is my man Algernon Hannah hes the one that wrote 'A Letter To A Lost Nation'. ALP to Algernon : Tell the people whats its about

ALG: It's basically about the Bible and whats in the Bible talking about how basically like the Bible and what i did was i did a research on like the Biblical Hebrews and like a perialism between their struggles and what they went trough during ancient times and everything and the prophecies about what happened to them and what was going to happen to them and basically the conditions of Black people now as far as like a poverty level, educational level, everything a social level how they deal with each other and with other nationalities and basically an analysis of perialism comparison basically of whats going on and how i intertwined it and broke it down to an ancestry of who's who and breaking down the geology and geography of everything that goes on in the Scriptures and modern Blacks of this day. So i gave it to Al see what he thought and he loved and said lets turn it into a documentary, thats what we are doing right now we are in the process of turning it into a script.

ALP: We hustle thats our business its what we do marketing and promotion, we do the artwork we got graphic artists so basically this is how we get money how we support our music rent out studio time we do promotions sell songs sell beats. Anybody out there looking for a beat we got some Hoodstock beats my man 7 Dub beats, we got Slug beats we got beats gallour, “rhymes rhymes rhymes rhymes beats gallour beats that you never even heard before”.

MIO: Whats the future looking like for Hoodstock once both yours and Black's album drop will we see more releases after that?

ALP: What we really need is a Koch to sign Al Profit or Maze cause we independent we don't have money to push marketing or promotion we cant sell units without money to promote its all about marketing and prmotions and if you don't have the money to promote you don't have that in the budget its almost like a waste of time, unless your down south they shit sell out the trunk I don't know how nah i like some of those them south cats thats my boys i like all the down south dudes, T.I., my man T Pain I love that dude “I met the bar tender” I like that dude.

MIO: Would T Pain be the type of music your listening to at the moment ?

ALP: Nah I'm not going lie I'm listening to Musiq Soulchild to your boy Ne Yo i got them back to back on Cd i just let it rock they the hottest two cats in the game right now.

ALP: Urbantraffik@yahoo.com thats my website you want fliers, marketing promotion I got a street team that can cover anything for you as far as restraunts small business's I got a car wash, law firm a couple of my clients in Imigration Law, we specialize in the imigrant communities in New York City. Thats the name of my marketing and promotions firm I run it with my soon to be wife. Im in the City right next to Bryan Park you got that summer concert series coming up with GMA everyday. We entrepreneurs we both(Alprofit and Reggie) hold down full time jobs I'm a youth councler for the Queens Library I talk to the youth everyday you know I got programs its all about the youth we teach the youth everyday, I run a sports program called RosedaleJets Football Organisation for the youth ages 7-14 we give back to the community I'm the Vice President of the program go see me at www.rosedalejets.com thats my teams website ages 7-14 girls and boys cheerleaders champions thats what we do Rosedale Jets, put money back in the hood man raise the youth thing. We(Hoodstock/Indastreets) got studio sessions thats how we pay the rent. We on the grind everybody do music all the time.

MIO: Reg was pushing a young RnB singer last year Gina Re Womack what happened to her?

ALP: I dunno thats Reg's business as far as i know he had her signed thats as far as i know.

Amazen Grace comes over to sort out Al P's Mac Laptop which leads Al P to talk on
ALP: Everybody here has got jobs we got trades Maze is a  computer technician by trade, aint nobody out here robbing or dealing this is not the fictional hip hop.

As Reg walks in Al asks him about Gina.

ALP: Yo they just asked me bout Gina Re Womack.

Reg: She on a different ball game right now.

Alprofit opens up a portfolio of artwork that In Da Streets has produced including the artwork to 'A Warriors Words' and 'A Warriors Words Part 2 The Art Of War' which leads to a discussion on the mix tapes.

ALP: 'Art of War' we did the artwork for that we been independent we been doing what we do we do everything ourselves Indi 191, Blackchild, Chico;s Son Sekou 720, Ronnie Bumps, Shan Da Hoodlum, check the metaphor CB4, suppose to be 50 he stole somebody's name a real gangsta's name just like CB4 stole somebody's name. Peep the metaphor y'all didn't even catch onto that did y'all ?? Everything he(50) did is like CB4 like the movie took his job.....

Speaking on Blackchild's  'A Warriors Words' Mixtape. We did that we did the artwork to that. It was my idea I read a book called 'A Warriors Words' its a great speech book with allot of journals from ancient times you got Alexander The Great, Winston Churchill, Naploien all these generals.... you got allot of generals and their quotes before battles, it was like allot of speech's they gave for fear it was listed chronologically and it was called 'A Warriors Words' I felt that it would be a perfect name for a Blackchild mixtape because you know Black is a warrior you know what I'm saying hes a general. Blackchild presents 'A Warriors Words' and then we did 'A Warriors Words Pt.2' Gotti told us to get ourselves hot he was like 'yo y'all gotta get yourselves hot' thats what we tried to do we tried to get ourselves hot, we did 'The Art Of War'.

MIO: How did it come about that Micheal Blackson hosted CB4 ?

ALP: Everybody loves Black man so what happened is Black connects with allot of cats so we got Micheal Blackson Black was somewhere he ran into Micheal Blackson and thats how we got him, he killed it allot people wasn't even up on this shit right here ('Art Of War').

MIO: How many copies have the mix tapes sold ?

ALP: I think it was about I'm not going to lie around 10,000.

MIO: All three mix tapes combined about 10,000 ?

ALP: Yea yea about 10,000.

MIO: How was the decision made in relation to Chico's Son dropping a solo mixtape out of all the artists ?

ALP: Everybody's hungry Chico put out his own mixtape, Chico was hungry man.

Amazen Grace: Which one y'all talking about ?

MIO: The Chico V Lloyd Banks tape.

Amazen Grace: He been had that for awhile and he had worked with Sekou I did a joint on there with him that was from his first mixtape with King Smiq he did the DJ'ing on it.

MIO: What was his first mixtape called ?

Maze: The first one was Chico's Son aka Jamel Jones.

ALP: Yea that was a hot mixtape, that tape was crazy used to listen to that shit all the time.

MIO: Anybody you want to shoutout before we finish up ?

ALP: Id like to shoutout to my little man Rest In Peace my man Little Ricky Willaims took 8 shots to the chest on Sunday at a birthday party God Bless his soul, I also want to shoutout my man Blackchild my man Gill aka The Solider aka B-Boy aka Blizzy aka Black Boy, give a shoutout to my my man Reg right here. Shout out to Gotti IG, to The I.N.C. Rule hold ya head you just caught a charge aint nothing you got the best lawyers in the world its nothing, shoutout to everybody on the Inc my man Dex, Lil D aka D.Gift, Chris Gotti Chris is my man, Caddy Merc Montana Young life Mulwalkee Buck, Chink Santana, everybody on The Inc Preme, Supreme Team, Southside Jamaca Queens, Prince hold ya head everybody thats behind bars hold ya head, everybody on Woodhall, Little Stan everybody on 191 Saint D, Algernon Hannah, Al Bones shoutout everybody at MurderInc-Online.com #1 source for Hoodstock information Hoodstock and Murder Inc information shoutout to the Princess Ashanti always beautiful Ashanti, Lloyd we see you, shoutout to Lil Wayne the hottest piece crap on the block right now Lil Weezy. O1 cant forget bout O1, peace out to Snailz were ever you at nothing but love, snot noise nobody knows where your at, 720 Smig Slug shoutout to everybody nigga's in Hoodstock Maze......