DetroitHipHop.net hooked up with Phat Kat for an interview just days before his Carte Blanche album was to be released in stores. In a candid talk Phat Kat talks about how “Cold Steel” reflects his city, Detroit producers, as well as some hometown sports.
DetroitHipHop.net: Who am I talking to, Phat Kat or Ronnie Cash?
Phat Kat: You talking to Phat Kat right now.
DHH: Who gave you the name Phat Kat? How did that come up?
PK: That name started like way back, when I was in high school. Man, I used to have this little yellow little hoopty man. The cat who used to fix the car gave me that name.
DHH: Your current album is being released and promoted by Look Records out of San Francisco. Was there anything specific that prevented you or discouraged you from continuing an agreement with Barak Records in Detroit?
PK: Yeah, I mean I wasn’t really a priority. I wasn’t looked at as a priority, you know, it just wasn’t really a good machine for what I was tryin’ to accomplish with my music.
DHH: Was it a personality thing or was it that musically you weren’t seeing eye to eye?
PK: I mean we really wasn’t seeing eye to eye musically. You know, we just really didn’t see things when it came to making music man. When you create music you gotta have full reign when you creatin’ it and I didn’t have that, so, you know, that’s where the clash came up and other things came into play.
DHH: You’ve talked about having more creative control on this album. Did you find yourself gearing your music towards a specific audience, or did you feel that an audience would gravitate towards Phat Kat as long as you did you?
PK: Exactly. Can’t nobody be better at being me than me, so as long as I did me my fans is gon’ stay behind what I’m doing and hopefully what I’m doing will be heard on a wider level and that will create more fans – a bigger fan base. The snowball effect.
DHH: Take me through the process of coming up with ideas for the Cold Steel video (which has been getting a lot of good feedback).
PK: Yeah, I’ve been getting crazy feedback from that video. The concept was… it was all Anthony Garth. It was all the director you know. Like I said man, I mean, everybody gotta play they position and like Anthony said, “That’s just art”. So if you give him a song, he just paints a picture with the song. That’s what he saw when he made the video – he heard the song.
DHH: A lot of the extended Phat Kat family came through didn’t they?
PK: Oh yeah, Marvwon, Black Milk, the Cardiboys, I mean, you know, cats that I fuck wit. It was a lot of people who didn’t make it neither like Guilt wasn’t there, T3 was in the Bahamas or something. All the people who came out… it was a good thing.
DHH: At the end of the video, there’s a caption that says “Guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people.” Why did you choose to write that message?
PK: Because you know the whole concept of the video was, we just wanted to talk about and show the effects of guns, you know, the effect that people with guns, you know what I’m sayin’, have on our city as a whole. We showed the everyday life and how grimy it was in Detroit and I just wanted the world to see what we see everyday.
DHH: You definitely didn’t sugar coat any of the imagery of Detroit.
PK: I couldn’t. I couldn’t. I mean there’s over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation, you know what I mean? So that’s like, (laughs) 1 firearm for eleven people or something. I don’t know how it break down, but that’s a lot a damn guns man!
DHH: What do you think it is about Detroit that makes its’ rappers use guns as metaphor as much as they do?
PK: I guess you can relate that to emcees talking about how they kill other rappers on the mic, so they try to use that as a metaphor like their rhymes are like guns, you know what I mean, stuff like that, but I don’t know man. That’s a good question.
DHH: Had you heard Royce Da 5′9″ spitting over “Cold Steel” for some mixtape?
PK: Yeah, that was dope man! I wish I coulda had Royce on that joint. Maybe I’ll get him on the remix if I could catch up with him.
DHH: What is it about you, Dilla, Slum Village and other Detroit artists that fans in Europe and across the world really, find appealing?
PK: Just real hip hop. People just respect and gravitate towards good music over there. Over in the states it’s more so, watered down with all the dance songs, singy-type music and over there it’s still the golden-era of hip hop. That’s why we’re received more over there.
DHH: On “Survival Kit” you’re schooling heads on the rules of the game. Do the newer cats ask you for advice?
PK: I try to kick it with a lot of up and coming guys. I talk to a lot of cats. I just hope they listen. You know, I just want them to learn… Really I just try to lead by example. I just want to show cats what not to do, to learn, just look at my career and learn from it.
DHH: Having Dilla production on Carte Blanche was a foregone conclusion, but tell me about the new generation: Young RJ, Nick Speed and Black Milk. What’s your typical reaction when you pop in one of their beat cds.
PK: I’ve been dealing with Young RJ, Black Milk and Nick Speed when they first started making beats, so I’ve been hearing their progression. I’ve been dealing with them from day one so it’s a beautiful thing,
DHH: What’s your production game like?
PK: Actually it’s funny that you asked that ‘cause I’m going to be producing two joints on the next album. I’ma shock a lot of people man - on the production. I’m gonna kill ‘em with some of these Kat beats.
DHH: There’s quite a bit of discontent of hip hop that’s out now. Do you think that plays in favor of an artist like you?
PK: Yeah man, it’s a beautiful thing because with all the garbage that’s out here right now this album is like a breath of fresh air to the people. The reason people are not buying albums is because it’s not a lot of good albums being put out. I mean artists need to make good music and people would buy it. So I feel good about how the game is looking right now and I just wanna bring some balance back. Challenge people to create real albums again instead of 3 songs and you know the rest tape fillers
DHH: What will you do after hip hop?
PK: I’ll probably… I’ll always be involved with the process of creating music but probably get me a little league football team and coach some football for the kids or something.
DHH: One or the other:
What do you like better, tours or making music?
PK: Wow (pause). Making music. Because if I’m not making the music I can’t do the tour. (laughs)
DHH: What has a better chance of occuring this year: America electing Obama or finding Osama?
PK: Electing Obama. They already know where Osama is.
DHH: ‘89-’90 Pistons or the ‘03-’04 Pistons?
PK: Ooh, I’ma say the ‘89-90. Its close but it just seem like the chemistry was… It’s all about chemistry and the ’89-90 Pistons, the chemistry was there. They had all the components to be a championship team. The Pistons do now but I don’t think that the chemistry is there and it might not be the players, it might be the coach. ‘03-04 was a good look. That was, but I still gotta go with ’89-90.
They had Vinnie, Joe Dumars, Isiah, John Salley, and Rodman… Buddah. That was a good team man.
DHH: Which job would you rather take (if you had to right now): Mayor of Detroit or President of the Detroit Lions
PK: Wow… (laughs) Wow! I think I’d have to go with president of the Lions. That’s something I’d prefer since the Lion’s have been losing since ’90, you know what I mean? I think that I could change that around.
DHH: Anybody would probably do a better job than Matt Millen.
PK: Oh my goodness! He needs to be on the first thing smokin’ outta here (laughing).
DHH: Anything you’d like to add that we haven’t covered?
PK: Just support the album man. It’s from Detroit. By Detroit. So let’s show the world how the city supports it own.
Much thanks to Phat Kat. Carte Blanche is in stores tomorrow (May 8th).
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pat deegan | 08-May-07 at 5:23 pm | Permalink
thats a dope ass interview fam!!!