V.I.C. Responds to T-Ray

Way back in August, 2007 I published a three part interview with T-Ray, which included numerous references to V.I.C., a number of which weren’t exactly flattering. So when I finally got the chance to speak with Vic it was only right that allow him the opportunity to respond. Here are the highlights:

Robbie: What was your reaction when you read what Todd said about you in the interview I did with him?

V.I.C: He did say a lotta crazy stuff in that interview…stuff that I found very bizarre.

So I have to ask – did he actually hand you half a million dollars to record the Ghetto Pros album?

I was hoping that anyone that read that would have enough sense to say, ‘OK, who gives out half a million dollars for an independent project?’ For a compilation, none the less! Who gives that out? So that was all bullcrap. The whole recording budget was probably 250, 200 [thousand]. You’re talking about everything – you’re talking about side artists, you’re talking about studio time. Especially in 2000, 2001. Right now, if you had a budget like that where everyone had Protools in their house, that’s fine. But you’re talking about a budget that’s gonna go in the blink of an eye…especially if you have someone like Nate Dogg on the project, that take like $32,000 to do that song. [laughs]

What about T-Ray’s claim that he “gave you the loops, gave you the musicians and gave you the concepts” for the Ghetto Pros records?

No. When I got to his house, I had just bought an Akai S-6000 sampler and he was looking at me like, ‘Wow! This is great!’ He was amazed that I could detach the face of it and chop samples on the couch, almost like I was playing a video game. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know how long between times that he didn’t make any music, because the guy was just observing the way that I was making beats. Like if I was listening to a record without hitting the button the on the 1200 turntable – I’m just spinning it with my finger and just listening to it really slow, and he’s just looking at me like, ‘Oh, wow!’ And I see in this interview it’s like, ‘Yeah, and I showed him how to…’ No! You never showed me anything! If I was to make beats the way he was makin’ ‘em – I mean, no disrespect – but there were sessions I walked in and he has a thousand drum loops playing on top of each other. I’m like, ‘This is insane!’ All the drums are flanging and canceling out each other! For him to actually come out and say he that was teaching me to make beats is insane…or ‘gave me my style’, is that what he said? I don’t know when he started chopping up Spanish records – seriously. People that know me, and people that know my music…have we ever had the same sound? I don’t think so.

What about his claim that you and Mike only finished one song after a year? And lost him his record deal in the process?

If you losing your record deal was over my one record then you never really had a deal to begin with. If you lose your deal over one record being turned in a little later than it was supposed to, then your company never had much to stand on. I’ll tell you why he lost his record deal. To me, if someone’s giving me a deal, right, then I’m not gonna sit in my house in Malibu and smoke weed all day. I’m not gonna sit there, smoking weed and thinking I’m making this fabulous music…this guy’s so delusional. I would be in front of these people’s faces! I would be in the offices in LA, showing these people, ‘Hey, you know what? I want to make this happen! We have something that people are going to take a liking to’. It’s ridiculous for you to want to hire an A&R staff…almost when the record’s done, he hires a few people. The people don’t know what’s going on – I’ve been A&Ring my own record from day one! Come on – you had a record deal, what would you do? You’d be up in those offices, showing them, ‘I’m gonna make this happen! I have an army and this is what we’re gonna do! This is our plan! These are our goals!’ This guy is sitting up in his house in Malibu! And then he’s trying to hire a few people to run around, and not even properly pay them! I’m sure Puff never ran Bad Boy like that. He was with the artists, he was running around! He was everywhere! This guy didn’t have that drive.

He also said that he wanted to put Alchemist in Ghetto Pro’s but you said, ‘Fuck Al!’ Did you want to clear that up?

Bullcrap. I wanted Alchemist to be down. I kinda approached Alchemist but he was doin’ his own thing. So when he kept pressing the issue, ‘Let’s get this person, let’s get that person!’ I was like, ‘Forget it, man! People are doin’ their own thing!’ So he’s switching it around like I’m hating on them. Come on, man! I was one of the first people to buy beats when he first came to New York! I was giving him cash for beats when I was A&R for an independent label, working with Willie Stubbz. Al was the first guy I went to!

Finally, Todd said that you only had a crate of records at the crib when he met you. He basically said he taught you how to dig.

When he first came to my house I just started really collecting records – I had maybe four or five crates – but I was already digging with Juju! It wasn’t like he was putting me up on records! I met him through a convention, and he even tried to stir-up shit back then. I used to go to Brooklyn to pick him up – he didn’t have a car! This is how foul the dude used to get when we used to go digging – if I’m in a record store with you, and I know the record and I ask you if it’s the record with the beat on it, and you say, ‘No’, and two days later you’re trying to sell me the record or get four or five records from me for that same record? I’m like, ‘Hey, wait a minute – I showed you that record when we was in the record shop!’ And he’d say, ‘No, no. That’s not the record’. And a couple of days later he wants to trade for five records? When I could have bought that for $10 a couple of days ago? You kidding me? I did have some good digging trips with the guy, I’m not gonna lie. We’re rolling up to places, the cars still moving and he’s jumping out the car!