"The best we can do is try to find the truth and come up"
-Paris, "Lay Low"
BANNED OF BROTHERS
(Paris)
My relationship with Paris' music began during college. It was the early 90's and I was working on a paper for English
class about Tipper Gore's censorship hungry Parents' Music Resource Center (PMRC). Although, Al & Tipper called
themselves 'Deadheads' and heralded Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisted and the Beatles' Rubber Soul as being among
their favorite records, they seemed very keen on labeling much of America's music as being obscene and they pushed really
hard for the now famous Parental Advisory stickers. John Denver, Frank Zappa, and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fought
bravely against what they thought to be Nazi-esque plans to saddle certain artists with a 'scarlet letter' in the form of a
'warning sticker.' Zappa went so far as to compare the sticker to making Jews wear pink triangles.
During this time, Paris was dropped from his label for getting a little too political. His Public Enemy inspired commentaries
were too hot. He says that the whole record, Sleeping with the Enemy, was the cause, but one song in particular caused
quite a bit of controversy. The song in question gave a fictional account of what its speaker was willing to do to get a
President named Bush out of The White House. Now that there is another Bush in The White House fighting with the same
dictator, Paris is there, unafraid to speak his mind. His new record, Sonic Jihad, is not only brilliant social satire, it's calls
out strong for a return to politically charged hip hop. In a perfect world George Clinton's lyrics like "Free your mind and
your ass will follow" and "Everybody's got a little light under the sun" would be enough for us all to sing along to and get
down together, but since the powers that be are trying to put more and more over on us, Paris takes that P-Funk thing and
makes it G-Funk, as in Guerilla Funk. Despite continued mainstream censorship of his work, the internet is working for
Paris. In addition to the success of Sonic Jihad taking him on tour to Europe shortly, he will also be issuing remastered and
remixed versions of his 1st three records. With plenty of music on the horizon, that doesn't stop him from keeping the people
informed about the stuff the status quo doesn't want us to know. His Guerilla News Network is a huge source of authority
questioning information. His call for more "Hard Truth Soliders" can be met @ www.guerillafunk.com.
In the era where empty sensationalism and spin reign supreme, every fan is the publicity department and the old fashioned
'check this out' mentality is essential to spreading the word. It's painful to think of honest, passionate artists like Johnny Cash
and Joe Strummer as GONE. Those that have the guts to say it and play it like it is should be heralded as heroes before they
leave this planet. Paris may not get a clear channel thru Clear Channel, but nobody in hip hop can beat him in the categories
of passion and sincerity. Paris was kind enough to take some time out of his recording schedule for this interview (12-4-03):
Improv: How are things going with getting the record in the stores, are any of the majors outlets taking it?
Paris: Sonic Jihad? Best Buy is coming in with their order this week. Everybody has it but Wal-Mart and Target.
Improv: Yeah, I was wondering if I would see it at Target because sometimes they do surprise me and carry stuff with
warning labels, unlike Wal-Mart. Like I was surprised, they even had Gang Starr. It was kind of a pleasant surprise.
Paris: Those two chains account for 55 percent of the market.
Improv: I've lived in the city for a long time, so I feel sorry for people who live out in the middle of nowhere where Wal-
Mart is their only outlet for music except for mail order.
Paris: Exactly. And that's why Guerilla Funk was put together and, you know, the website that's why it's as cohesive as it is
and all the merchandising and everything is available through there.
Improv: Yeah, it is the way.
Paris: Yeah, that's absolutely the way.
Improv: Did you watch the Peer to Peer hearings (Senate hearings on downloading)?
Paris: Nah, I don't really give a shit about filesharing. I feel like that any constriction that's put into place, people are going to
get by it. At this point, you know, people feel a false sense of entitlement regarding it and you just get on the outs with the
listening audience by protesting.
Improv: One thing I think was overlooked is that people like Kazaa are talking about the ability for people to get their
information out in the world, you know, the internet is obviously an outlet for people.
Paris: Through Kazaa?
Improv: Well through Kazaa, but through internet technology in general.
Paris: Well, yeah, but as far as Kazaa goes you have to be searching for some unknown shit to find it, you know what I'm
sayin' (laughs). So that's like a pretty lame argument for them to say that 'we provide independent artists a voice.' That's
bullshit. They provide artists that are signed…they provide the audience, the listeners, filesharers, an ability to share well
known shit. Nobody's getting on Kazaa to look for…
Improv: For local artists? That is true. Well, certainly with the internet, obviously I'm not hearing your songs on the radio,
so I find out you've got a record comin' out so I go to your site, hear a song and like it and there you go, the album is
purchased.
Paris: There you go.
Improv: There's no advertisers. There's not a zillion middle men between you and me.
Paris: Right. But, the unique situation with Guerilla Funk too is that, you know, I really take the extra step to make it a value
added entity and jam pack it with information and jam pack it with material and sources that you don't get elsewhere that,
you know, should spark thoughts and dialogues and things outside of entertainment. Really just make it a cohesive package
and present people the ability to join up and be down with the Guerilla Funk brand and be a Hard Truth Soldier and resist
this corporate rap climate and this entertainment we get, you know? And all you gotta do is enter your email address, with
your email address you end up being a subscriber and getting news and updates and newsletters and being part of a
community that is blatantly rejecting what's going on.
Improv: I really like the Guerilla News Network and find a lot of information on there that is really valuable. It is a good
depot for thoughtful information. And it definitely goes against the grain of what is out there.
Paris: And that what we intended it, you know, to be the antidote for Fox.
Improv: I get emails and somebody sent me the Clear Channel inter-office memorandum about the war, you know, the UN
process is theoretically still going on at that time and they're already talking about how they are going to promote war.
Before war is even declared by the President.
Paris: Right.
Improv: You know, when you say in a song that peace is looked at as being un-American, that's how I feel. I'm a pacifist,
and you know, it's like a joke. It's not even a consideration. The idea of talking about something…
Paris: Yeah.
Improv: And then you have Dennis Kuchinich, who is running for president, talking about a Department of Peace and people
look at him like its some sort of 'Kum Ba Yah' kind of novelty.
Paris: Yeah, right.
Improv: Are these people parents who told their kids to 'count to ten' or is this something that disappears after you get to be
a certain age?
Paris: Well, you know, any time that money is involved, you know, the climate changes for a whole lot of people. I mean
right now, especially with this economy…and don't let this good taste fool you with the recent reports, this economy is
fucked up. All these recent reports about a rebound and all that is a ploy to get people to vote for this killer. But any time
the economy gets bad the intolerance level rises, you know. And it would be a much harder sell for going to war and this 'rah
rah America first' bullshit if everybody's belly was full and everybody was employed and doing cool, you know? A lot of
people seemed to be doing better before Bush got in. In say, like '97, '98, when economic times were risin' high.
Improv: It is fascinating to me that someone can squander a huge budget surplus and someone can say 'he's doing a good
job.'
Paris: Yeah, but look it this not in terms of him being, to you know, do what they can do to get re-elected. You have to
look at this more from a smash and grab point of view. That's the way I look at it. Who gives a fuck if you are re-elected if
you are pillaging to the tune of billions?
Improv: I would certainly admire someone who is willing to lose. (By fixing things, not cashing in)
Paris: I think that's what it is. Now there's this half-handed attempt to say the economy is coming back. What people see
on the news they are going to believe anyway. Jessica Lynch. Whatever they want to tell you on TV as being the truth. If
Sean Hannity says it's true, then goddamit, it must be true.
Improv: Have you read Al Franken's new book?
Paris: Nah, I haven't. I've read about it.
Improv: It's really amazing. I mean not only is it funny like all of his books are, but it is truthful. I mean, Sean Hannity, I
don't watch TV so I've never seen the guy, but he spent a lot of amount of time talkin' about him. And it is amazing, I mean,
I'm not on TV but I feel a certain obligation like in real time and real space to say what I ethically believe. And this person he
will go on TV and blatantly say things that aren't true, and he does it on tape so that's it's there for all time.
Paris: Sean Hannity?
Improv: Yeah.
Paris: The thing with all conservative talking heads is you have to be intelligent to be in the positions that they're in. Right?
You're not going to be a fucking dumb bunny being on Fox News talkin' about politics, social programs, and the intricacies
of, you know, international policy. You're not going to be on TV talkin' about that and not know what you're talkin' about.
There put in place to be able to booby and to specifically serve the interests of the corporate elite. And when you take that
in mind and you really begin to look at them as being the sellouts that they are because you have to know better to be in that
position in the first place. You have to have access to all types of information. And you know, it's a situation basically where
they chose the dark side. They chose the wrong side of the coin. That's a choice that they did, that's not something where,
like, what is it, 86 percent of the population is duped into believe propaganda because that's presented to them. You know,
most people in America get their news from Fox, but he (Sean Hannity) is Fox. Shit (laughs). So you know, you have to
realize he has all this information available and he just chose the wrong side that's all.
You know it's like a lot of people like Ann Coulter, even though I think she's dumb as two left feet, who are out there
who, you know, know better. If you look at a show like Hannity & Colmes, just fuckin' overpowers Alan Colmes, who's
supposed to be the liberal.
Improv: In Al Franken's book when he put Hannity & Colmes, he put Colmes in a much smaller font every time to illustrated
that the 'Fair & Balanced' isn't so balanced, or fair.
Paris: I did an interview with Alan Colmes. Of course with me he wants to be ultra-aggressive.
Improv: Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. When I saw the cover of your record (Sonic Jihad) and I'm looking at
your website I thought, this is great, because you can articulate a counter point in a philosophical and clear way, so I thought
you would obviously spark controversy and get on the major outlets. Has that happened?
Paris: I did two. I did MSNBC with Lester Holt, which was right before the State of the Union Address. It was a pretty
constrictive time slot, you know. So that was like no more than five minutes. And we mixed it up just a little bit. And a Fox
News interview. The trap that so many of these people who look to find fault in something that's good fall into is that: a) that
haven't heard the material and b) they already have this type of a knee jerk response without having really done their
homework. A lot of times, especially with hip hop man, it's like shooting fish in a barrel if you want to complain about
negativity. Overall hip hop is bullshit right now and if everybody comes about talking about 'pimp juice' and pimpin' and you
know shootin' and drugs and all that then fuck man, it's easy. It's easy to find fault in hip hop, but it's easier for me to find
fault in the corporations that endorse this shit than it is the artists individually.
Improv: Yeah, it just didn't magically appear.
Paris: Yeah, there are plenty of people who are out there who are like me who would say what I'm saying if afforded the
ability, you know. So it's not like I'm a lone voice in the middle of sanity, I'm one of many voices in the middle of the
madness. And what that interview did was…of course he came to the plate ill equipped to deal with what I wanted to talk
about. It's one thing to say, 'oh god, you're capitalizing on tragedy. How could you you heartless son of a bitch? You
know, say the Bush Administration is responsible for 9-11' and all this so you know. Come at it with that angle and then turn
around and get countered and say look: first of all this is a selective morality that you're imposing because you don't bitch,
you know, about the 99 percent of the other hip hop that comes out that's negative for our community, that impacts all
cultures. They don't talk about that. They're at ease with black on black crime and violence and drug use. They're at ease
with that, with the images on BET and MTV, you know. Everybody seems to sit on their hands when it comes to that, but
when it comes to someone who is taking a direct shot at the powers that be and the people who mold public perception and
perpetrate the propaganda, then it's problem. And so I said, man, are you going to be more upset about this album cover
which is obviously fictitious or are you going to be mad about these illegal and unjust wars? Are you going to be mad about
the condition of the economy? Are you going to be mad about racial intolerance? Police brutality, or something, that's
ongoing, which was sadly reinforced by recent events in Cincinnati. It's a trip now because we're at the stage now that
everything's become so politicized in America that now people decided what they want to believe, you know what I mean?
It's not being faced with right and wrong and then doing the human nature thing and gravitating towards right.
Improv: If you offer somebody some information that confounds what they've been saying they just blow it off, and then it
sort of goes back to whatever the, sort of, default setting is. 'I work hard to get into this tunnel vision, and I'm not going out.'
Paris: Well man too, you've got to understand, we're going upstream against a very effective propaganda machine sloppy as
it is, you know, with Weapons of Mass Destruction and uranium and all that shit. And as sloppy as it is, and as many times
as their skirt gets pulled up, it's something that's constant. It's constant… it's constant…it's constant. Well they say, first of
all, when truth is shown in the middle…that contradicts and they ridicule it and secondly they violently oppose it and then
thirdly they accept it as being self-evident. Well, I think we're in the third stage now. Everything was fun and games and shit
two years ago, then there was this huge battle for the minds of America and now there are a lot of people who are to the
point of realizing, okay, you know what, we're playing musical chairs here and I'm standing up.
Improv: Yeah.
Paris: There are a lot of people who are starting to realize that, and okay 'I'm fucking jobless, I've done everything they said
to do to keep America rolling, I bought a new car, zero percent down, zero percent financing, you know. We financed my
mortgage two or there times to get the lowest rate, you know. I borrowed money against my house at these inflated real
estate prices.' Man, especially on the West Coast, there are a lot of people that are going to get caught with their pants down.
Improv: I was just up there in the Bay Area with my wife in July and we were up there with a friend who's 60 years old who
lived in San Francisco for most of his life. He hadn't been there in a little while and we were blown away by how much
everybody's clearing out. There only people are left there are The Carlyle Group and George Schultz and people like that.
Paris: You know, people who can afford to live here. But if you are a homeowner here you should sell by all means and
take advantage of this. They have two bedroom one bath houses going in the 7's, in Frisco.
Improv: Yeah, we went to the Mission Cultural Center and La Pena up in Berkeley and they were literally, projects that they
were working on, stopped in their tracks because there was no money. And my wife volunteers in the last school that has an
art program in this area. If they want to make the argument that during wartime that art is frivolous and blah blah blah, that's
fine although I happen to disagree with. But what about math?
Paris: Education period has been frivolous to them. When you look at it from the standpoint of want to keep people dumb,
wanting to keep them blind to what's going on, subservient and not analytical thinkers and really nothing more than a working
class it makes perfect sense to them to continuously underfund and undermine, it makes perfect sense to them. That makes
absolute perfect sense for the corporate elite to do that. They wanna maintain the status quo. None of this shit happens by
chance. Everybody's been pissing and moaning about 'there's no money' and 150 billion falls out of the sky, literally falls out
of the sky. All the fat cats, all the Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Halliburton, Carlyle, and all these entities that are Bush
cronies, these defense contractors they eat so lovely right now.
Improv: I still find so many people that will tell me they're doing it for us. Two dollars a gallon for gasoline Halliburton is
charging in Iraq, they're doing it for us.
Paris: Three dollars a gallon here, shit. I mean, Iraq, first there was the imminent threat, then of course, no weapons are
found. And even the missiles Saddam had only go 400 miles. There was never no threat at all. And they were harboring Al
Qaeda. Saddam and Al Qaeda, their regimes have traditionally hated each other.
Improv: Yeah, that information was readily available and I would hope the people in The White House are more informed
than me.
Paris: And then we come with this falsified evidence, this plagiarized shit from a ten year old college thesis Powell
showed…I go deep with this shit. I mean obviously I'm not going to make a record indicting these motherfuckers without
knowing.
Improv: See that's what I'm saying, you feel compelled to be able to back up what you're called on. Whether they call you
on it or not.
Paris: Really showing you, in a really blatant way, the in-effectiveness of the media and the complicity with the Bush agenda
that they have. I mean that right there in and of itself should have caused all kinds of red flags. OK, lied repeatedly. No
uranium purchase from Africa. Plagiarized evidence of weapons. The lack of weapons. Everything. And of course all the
inconsistencies of 9-11, the refusal to cooperate with an independent investigation.
Improv: You wake up to the nightmare that George Bush is President, again. My immediate thought is of Sam Neill's face
on the cover of the Omen III poster, from my childhood.
Paris: Do you have a copy of the inside cover of the album?
Improv: Yeah, exactly, when I bought the album and opened it up and saw the picture I laughed. A sad laugh. (The image
of Omen III in Sonic Jihad replaces Sam Neill's face with the face of George W. Bush) I mean, obviously, I don't want to
think of a real person as the devil, but then I see the arrogance of something like 'the Western White House' and a guy who's
on vacation while real information about real threats sit on his desk and he doesn't care.
Paris: And when there are so many people who have political power who traditionally are opposed to what's goin' on,
Greens and even Democrats, who are fucking scared to death. You know, and understandably so in a lot of instances. And
a lot of people have a lot to lose, but you can't just sit by and watch and see people pillage the planet.
Improv: When you see the Patriot Act go through and people who traditionally stood up to Bush or anybody the disagreed
with and they are being told, OK, you can't read a really complicated thing that's a hundred pages long in like two hours and
really think about it and philosophically analyze it. And they're basically told 'the blood is on your hands, my friend.' There
are times where you can hold everybody responsible, but…certainly now.
Paris: Now people can look at it objectively. We're not looking at it through rose colored glasses anymore. Now you've
had the opportunity to dissect the Patriot Act, version one and the proposed version two that was leaked on Guerilla Funk,
you know, pretty clearly. People don't realize that their Amendments have been violated in the Bill of Rights. And the fact
that that act renders some many of those Rights ineffective. The best thing right now that you can do is utilize information and
spread it. I look at Kucinich and to a less extent, Dean. I mean there is a lot of anger in the general public that these people
reflect. And what we really have to do is stop acting like 'Republican lite.' All the people considering themselves liberal and
progressive act like Republicans.
Improv: I was watching the first round of debates, the one from Phoenix and they (the Democrats) are all acting like the
underdog. They won the last three elections and the person who stole the last election squandered a huge budget surplus and
pretty much ignored what the Democrats traditionally value in terms of health care and so on…education…just the idea that
maybe we are all in this together.
Paris: You would think that they can feel it. Honestly the most important thing that they can do is right now that Greens and
Democrats in some aspect should have some type of a solidarity.
Improv: I agree. Actually, I voted for Ralph Nader in the last election and so did my wife in the last election, and people
would tell us that we squandered our vote. I mean, as an individual, how can you say I squandered my vote, when I voted
for someone who I wanted to be president. I mean, I know when I vote for Ralph Nader that there is a chance that
someone I really don't want to be president might become president, but that doesn't change the fact that if I vote for Al Gore
I'm voting for someone who has promoted in the past things that I disagree with.
Paris: I think a lot of people now are adopting a prevent the worst case scenario approach. (Laughs)
Improv: Yeah, I won't be voting for him this time. I will be voting for Dean or Gephardt or Kerry or Clark or whoever gets
the nomination. Although, it starts to scare me when you get someone like Clark, I mean he's not even really a Democrat.
Paris: I'd be scary with Kerry too, you know. He's a Bonesman.
Improv: Tell me about that.
Paris: Skull & Bones, it's a society at Yale. Bush was a part of that.
Improv: And so Kerry's a part of this too? You know there was this discussion on the Enemy Board (the Public Enemy
message board) about the election and someone mentioned that.
Paris: You post on the Enemy Board?
Improv: Yeah, I post under 'Improv.' I've seen you post on there.
Paris: I look at you man, ah shit. That's family. (Laughs) It's all good. Give everybody a shout.
I think that anyone who would call themselves as being in opposition to this, to what's going on, needs to galvanize and
find a celebrity like Martin Sheen to get to run for president because it seems like the only thing people respect is celebrity.
Improv: I mean obviously Schwarzenegger winning hands down…
Paris: I live in an area that's a testament to that because I'm in Cali. But I mean, Martin Sheen is somebody who's been
opposed to a whole lot of shit. Susan Sarandon. Tim Robbins. And Sean Penn to a lesser extent.
Improv: I really feel with somebody like Martin Sheen he isn't afraid to wait for the tide to change for him to come out
against something.
Paris: Already independently wealthy. Already viewed as the President in hella peoples' eyes.
Improv: That's a good idea.
Paris: (laughs) Fuck these lukewarm people like Kerry and Gephardt. Get somebody like Martin Sheen who's already
been in the trenches as best he could. You know, he's been arrested hella times. Get him on board and let him be the
spokesperson. Hella people look at him as being Presidential anyway, just cuz of the West Wing. That's one thing that
needs to happen and the second thing that needs to happen is we need to bring back hip hop boxing.
Improv: Hip hop boxing?
Paris: Those are my two value added ideas right now. I think that if you wanted to get somebody out of office you've got to
import celebrity. You've got to get somebody like Martin Sheen, not to say…I don't know what he believes in to the fullest,
but somebody like that would be perfect going against this machine. And hip hop boxing, to take it a step further, would
eliminate a whole lot of grandstanding and posturing and false bullshit that goes on with these feuds. It would eliminate all
that.
Improv: As a pacifist and somebody interested in philosophy, you know, lyrics to go with good music, when people get into
feuding I just can't even hear it. It's one thing if it's a philosophical feud that they are the symbol of. Let's say as 'Joe Rapper'
I'm the spokesperson of an ideology that this other person opposes mean is the symbol of that…I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about just a guy against a guy. What does that have to do with me?
Paris: I say put up a million bucks. That's the bounty. Do an HBO special or something with Don King and some shit and
have hip hop boxing night. We have a two or three a night. Have Jay-Z and fuckin' Nas, that's one. We have J.D and Dre.
And fuckin' Nelly and KRS. Let all three of the motherfuckers…three different title bouts. And whoever gets their ass beat
gotta shut the fuck up. And that'll settle it. And that will effectively curb a lot of that ego bullshit. Comin' out 'hey what you
gonna do to me?' and 'You fucked my wife' and all that bullshit man. That would shut all of that down and that would bring a
whole lot of honest back in the game. I don't know. Just a thought.
Improv: Talkin' can definitely go on forever, but a fight is usually short and it isn't necessarily as dramatic as They Live (the
John Carpenter movie).
Paris: I mean that's potentially career ending. You get your ass beat like that and there's a whole lot of people that aren't
fuckin' with you. So many people's perceptions of these artists are based on the imagination of Def Jam or Interscope or
whatever the publicity machine is. That'll shut it down.
Improv: Davey D (www.daveyd.com) had an article and he had a quote from you at the top about Eminem. I totally thought
what you were saying is the truth. People can get distracted about Eminem or whatever the thing is at this given time or two
months from now whatever it is, but it really is just pop culture distractions from the real issue.
Paris: Right. Exactly. You know, in hip hop, damn near the entire industry at least the corporate level is guilty of negative
imagery and depicting women in an unfair light. Negativity affects the community adversely.
Improv: I don’t watch TV, but if I'm staying at a friend's place or a hotel or something I might see…
Paris: BET or MTV?
Improv: Yeah. My friend has teenage daughters and he tells me how he can't let them watch BET because of what's on
there. So I'm staying at a friend's place and I turn on BET. I see this video and it's so outrageous that it must be a Chris
Rock satire or something, but it's not.
Paris: CB4?
Improv: Yeah, exactly, it's like CB4.
Paris: You get to talkin' about 'pimp juice' and having women on leashes and shit like that, you know, and they're taking it
too far.
Improv: What I saw was money being thrown in the air and women in thongs having their asses spanked.
And in the middle of the day.
Paris: And the other thing…I'm not trying to change anybody, but there is a time and a place for everything. Getting women
in thongs and their asses spanked, there's a time for that, but I don't want to see it 24-7.
Improv: Yeah, I'll show up and support their right to make it.
Paris: It's just got to be balanced and on a major scale it's not balanced right now and that's where I have a problem. That's
why Guerilla Funk is as jam packed as it is. That's why Sonic Jihad is as uncompromising as it is. It's a bitter pill to swallow
for a lot of people. Some people can't even get the pill down their throat. They can't get passed the imagery.
Improv: Yeah, I get the record and it says "The Return of the real Hip Hop" and I wish other things delivered on their
promise as much as that because honestly something like It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the benchmark
for me and even though I love a lot of hip hop records, very few records even compare.
Paris: I feel the same way. I said it on Guerilla Funk, without PE there would've been no me. I'm definitely beholden to
them forever. I supposed to be doing…here's something for the Enemy Board. I talked to Chuck about doing this PE album
to be released on Guerilla Funk.
Improv: No kidding? Oh great. He posted talking about a tour with you next year.
Paris: Actually I'm getting ready, my first tour date is on the 17th in Frisco. We're doing Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, LA.
Then we're going overseas because this record is doing real well in Germany, the UK, and Holland. So then we'll go over
there and smash on them for a while and then come back and do Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, then we wrap up the rest of the
States. I can have all these street teams in effect, all these Hard Truth Soldiers who want to work on the streets putting up all
the promo shit. It really is kind of a community based effort as far as, you know, being on a grassroots level through word of
mouth and through Guerilla Funk and being on email lists and so on. It's rewarding because the people who are down with
are people who feel very adamantly about what I'm saying and who want to be down. It's not something that's a result of
being played six times a day on a Clear Channel station. People know my music not because they've been exposed to it by
default. They know it because they want to know it and they want to be a part of it and that shit is hella rewarding. And
that's why it might take me a minute to respond to all these emails, but I get back to everybody who hits me up. So I tell
people reach out anytime.
Improv: I've seen people who get really popular like Pearl Jam talk about how they wish they could roll it back to like 10
percent of what it becomes so that it was just the people who really feel something about it that show up, And that is one
thing that you have the luxury of is that you know people aren't there because it was the thing at the time and something else
will come along and that will be that.
Paris: Right. Well that's true, and also I have so much more interaction with people that I wouldn't otherwise have
interaction with which is kind of unique.
Improv: That is one thing the mainstream music business is good at is trying to put a bunch of people between you and them
and act like a necessity when now with email and things like that why are they needed?
Paris: Well that, and if when you look at the effect the mainstreaming of hip hop has had on hip hop, you know, it's
completely nutless. It's nuts have been snipped. It's worthless to me right now. Hip hop to me is at its best when it's
aggressive and at its best when it's uncompromising. You know, fans of PE and where hip hop came from.
Improv: I have a lot more older hip hop cds than newer ones that's for sure.
Paris: Just lament the direction that it's taken right now. I mean pour some liquor out right now for hip hop. This shit is
done. Stick a fork in this bitch, as it's presented in a corporate environment. I mean I could go and shoot $100,000 video
and attempt to get it played, but it would probably 100 Gs lost. It would be such a roll of the dice and wouldn't be prudent
financially. It makes more sense for me to focus on forthcoming projects and continue to build out with Guerilla Funk and
that community. A feature I'm going to offer soon is something that will allow people to have their own customizable Guerilla
Funk homepage. Kinda like Yahoo, my yahoo.
Improv: Have you thought about somebody doing videos? (Like Tori Amos used her website to have a fan video contest)
Paris: I'm going these videos with GNN, but it's pretty much going to focus on issues that need to be covered right now,
allocating resources. The videos talking about for instance, Sierra Leone diamond trade, police brutality and that kind of
thing. I wanna be sure that those get the light of day first. The music is always gonna be here as long as I keep putting it
down the way people expect me to. As far as the future of it, I wanna put DVDs out. I'm gonna start Guerilla Funk Film
Works that will enable me to shoot direct digital full length feature films and distribute them traditionally. I can actually
distribute them traditionally. For instance, any place you might see Ice-T in it, shit, he seems to be in every fuckin'
independent release. (Laughs)
Improv: It seems like it, that's for sure.
Paris: Yeah. Something like that, but to be able to control the content, you know, I can do the music and I can present the
artists they way I think they need to be presented. I think that there is a lot of waste. When all is said and done, I don't
really give a fuck about what your video looks like. Unless you have a DVD and it's a movie I don't really give a shit about
what your song video looks like. That too me is just…
Improv: Yeah, you know, I grew up with MTV, but I don't care about videos either. I mean I love to go to the movies and
you know, a thoughtful complete thing.
Paris: You know, I'm not bumpin' your video in the car. Music has to be number one. I'm really making an effort to make
sure quality product is consistent coming out of my camp. That's really why I want to grab hold of the reigns of a PE project,
man. I really love that concept and I think that logo is one of a kind. I think there are hella supporters out there who would
embrace a top notch PE project, not saying what they've done hasn't been top notch, but coming from someone who is really
as anal as I am in the studio, you know. And to get down and really get the best out of everybody that I can. No disrespect
to anybody else. And I think they've been doing really phenomenal for a long time, but I would just love to be able to put my
two cents in.
Improv: Chuck's idea about the practicalities of recycling make sense because people who are say, 16 years old, that don't
have a history with Public Enemy, to have a live version of Fight the Power to go along with the new songs, really give
people a sense, you know, that…they're not a fad.
Paris: Nah. Far from a fad. I mean they've gone through different incarnations, different distributors...like I have. I've gone
through a whole lotta shit in my career. I've been down with hella different labels. This to me is where I've always wanted to
be. And like I was saying, with videos back in the day, videos really were people's introduction to the artist. They didn't
really have anything else other than the record, and often times had to wait a year until the next record was out before finding
out what was going on with that artist, unless they saw 'em live. And the internet allows me to interact with people in real
time, damn near. I can put information that I think is relevant out. I can hit people with shit.
Improv: I love that about the web. That immediate gratification, things going on in mass media and things going on in the
world happen so fast that by you get something out there it's old news. Or it's too late.
That's something that's a nice equalizer about the real time phenomenon of the internet.
Paris: It's good, whoever you can be on board with. Like I said, I got hella supporters on the Enemy Board and the feeling
is mutual believe me.
Improv: So people still constantly tell me that the media has a liberal spin to it so when I saw the Reagan mini-series within a
week of people calling out saying 'it's unacceptable' or 'it paints a bad legacy of Reagan' all of the sudden they drop it, within
a week. So I would consider that to be evidence.
Paris: But still show that Jessica Lynch lie. So that let's you know right there. Exactly. There are no liberal or left leaning
talking heads. There are none. The closest you get is Geraldo.
Improv: Yeah, I was telling my wife that to me the evidence that they liberals don't control the media is that if they did, I
wouldn't have to see Rush Limbaugh's face. Or Bill O'Reilly.
Paris: Sean Hannity. Ann Coulter. Or the Beltway Boys.
Improv: They would be nowhere to be seen.
Paris: Or Dennis Miller's sellout ass. I think Dennis Miller's gonna run for office.
Improv: Yikes.
Paris: No shit.
Improv: That is strange.
Paris: There's an example of somebody who has profited from this shit to the fullest. I hear people talking about how I'm
capitalizing on tragedy with Sonic Jihad. They can eat a fuckin' dick man. Sonic Jihad is a hard sell through traditional
channels, even though hella people feel how I feel. Unlike Toby Keith.
Improv: To me, with him, that's what it boils down to exactly. The Dixie Chicks say something they believe in, informed, not
informed, whatever the situation is, right? And because they disagree with him he tells them they should stick to being
entertainers, but everything he does is so political.
Paris: You know a lot of people will tell you 'I don't want to be involved in politics' and 'I'm not political,' but that in and of
itself is political. You saying you don't want to be involved in politics are saying you don't want to be involved in it is to me
saying you condone the way things are and that you don’t have a problem with the way things are. I mean that's a very
political statement in and of itself.
Improv: My argument would be that you are involved whether you realize it or not.
Paris: Everything is politicized. You don't have any choice but to have a political opinion about something, when you are
confronted with 25 hours a day of terror footage, 'all terror all the time,' Fox, NBC and CNN.
Improv: Do you think being from the Bay Area that proportionate feeling?
Paris: Hell yeah, because there is so much diversity.
Improv: Well also there is a legacy of questioning the status quo.
Paris: Well not so much to me, because they're a legacy of questioning the status quo no matter where you're from, but the
fact that there are so many people coming from so many walks of life out here. Being able to break bread with people from
all races and…different opinions and people who are involved in different things. And plus I’m really well traveled and I've
been in a lot of places globally that have afforded me the opportunity to make rational observations about the things, the way
they are.
Improv: I really enjoy reading Chuck D's when he posts when Public Enemy is on tour, I enjoy reading his reports about
what's going on in the rest of the world because I know that it's truthful and it definitely reflects what I would like to know
from the rest of the world. Because the thing is, even from the selfish point of view of what's in it for America, people don't
seem to realize that if we alienated the whole rest of the world that's not good for us aside from what it does for those
people.
Paris: Right, well and there it is. And you see kind of with what the climate is, over there. The fucking world hats us.
Everybody but Israel hates us.
Improv: And by counterpoint when you travel the world you find like minded people that wanna accompany you, and say
'what's going on?'
Paris: And you also find people saying 'if you hate America so much why don't you lump it or leave it?' I hear that shit all the
time. Without completely missing the point that a) no matter where you are people are going to be opposed to oppression
and b) if you go somewhere else chances are you are going to feel American oppression worse. It don't make no sense to
go anywhere else. It's blatantly un-American not to question the system.
Improv: If somebody says to me, 'if you don't like it you should go somewhere else,' it's like thanks to you I can't.
Paris: It's more American to question the system than it is not to.
Improv: Tell me about the production of the new record, I know with a lot of solo artists, they seem to be unable to put out
a whole record without a lot of guests and with your record there is not a lot of guests and I can sit through the whole record.
Paris: Thank you. I know with a lot of artists…I hate compilation sounding records. I can't stand it and it's like a gumbo.
All of those records are interchangeable with other records. Hip hop is personal to me. (Laughs). If you haven't figured that
out, hip hop is personal. I've been doing the production, and it's trial and error. I'm at the point now where I feel as
confident as any of the top producers in the business about getting down and making it cohesive and that's how it supposed
to be. When I grew up listening to music, you know P-Funk and Cameo, Rick James and the Bar-Kays, you know, all the
music that was unforgiving. You had to have talent to get down. You had to shit or get of the pot. You didn't have all these
ghost writers, who control an entire industry. A handful of people controlling an entire industry, where tracks are
interchangeable like R&B tracks. Mariah and Whitney and Celine Dion. All those people in between all sound the same.
There was a Diane Warren special on TV the other night. She's a really famous ballad writer. Hella prolific. Dial her in.
(She's @ www.realsongs.com) She wrote for Cher. There's someone who has a career that a lot of people could envy. It's
an example of what's wrong with people in music right now. You can't have three or four camps controlling an entire
industry, with everybody trying to get like that. For me to do it personally, to make musical beds that are crafted specifically
to compliment my voice and taking all these things into consideration to make the project better. That's why when I get into
the mindset of doing the PE record I'm going to approach that shit as though I were in the Bomb Squad. Bomb Squad
2004. And really put the sizzle to that shit and have it knockin' and have it be a sonic assault. Sonic Jihad part two.
Check out Paris' music and newsworthy counterpoints @:
www.guerillafunk.com