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Interview
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Last week we started the Watchmen series with the
BlackMask interview where we addressed a lot of the
business side of things, amongst other the current
situation with Wu-Tang management . Moving on to
round two of the series we got in touch with 7th
7ign. With last year’s solo album “The 7th Hour”
under his belt, this is one of the better known
members of the Watchmen if you have been following
them. Having ties
with Cappadonna and Iron Sheik, 7th 7ign been slowly
but steadily building his rep as a skilled newcomer
in the Wuniverse. With the release of the
Watchmen double album, 7th 7ign showed he isn’t
afraid to try to be as creative behind the boards as
behind the mic. Wu-International sat down with the
man to talk about the double album, the soon to be
released POWER album, his past and future solo work,
producing, … Enjoy!
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I like to say thanks first and foremost for
taking the time to answer these questions, highly
appreciated, and will also point out that nothing will be
altered, edited or changed when this is published online.
Wu-International: Peace 7th 7ign, how are you ?
7th 7ign:
I'm good, feeling real
good right now, what's the deal?
Wu-International: You call yourself 7th 7ign, what is
behind the name?
7th 7ign: 7
represent God as a black man, and I’m the sign of supremacy
on the M.I.C.
Wu-International: 7 is a number associated to god
within NGE, are you a 5%er?
7th 7ign: No, I’m not , however, I respect the
Nation, and Honor (Iron Shiek) gave me some jewels to live
by about the Nation. I also visited the ALLAH School, so
from that alone I try to live my life as righteous as
possible.
Wu-International: What other aliases do you go by if
any?
7th 7ign: I also go by -KINDRED or 5thHORSEMAN
Wu-International: The album is out now. How are
you feeling about it?
7th 7ign: Yeah, it’s finally out...I’m feeling
real good right now, it was a long hard struggle to get to
this point...but now we can show the world what we all
about, and better yet, we are giving y’all 2-discs of pure
listening cocaine for your ears to snort, word up.
Wu-International: What have been the reactions from
fans and critics?
7th 7ign: They all loving it, not everyone
drops a double album, so for us to drop a double on y’all,
its our way of showing the world that we got something to
say...and y’all will enjoy listening to it, but the
reception has been great, no complaints from me .
Wu-International: Soon “Power” will get released too,
almost immediately after the double album. What would you
say to convince the fans to cop this second one too so soon
after the double album?
7th 7ign:
If you a true fan of the Watchmen, then this is like a
collector’s edition. The Power album is an album we did back
in 2006. That album is the foundation, that is what made us
what we are today, so if you want to hear some early
watchmen material, it’s all there.
Wu-International: On the
double album you produced two tracks, did you produce on
“Power” too? If so, how many tracks ?
7th 7ign:
Nah, at that time I was concentrating completely on being an
artist.
Wu-International:
You chose to use Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me
Down)” for the “3rd Eye” track . Were you aware Falling Down
also used this for a track for Dom Pachino’s “Power Rulez”
album in 2008 ? Or does your track date back from before
2008 ?
7th 7ign: Nah I had no idea P.R-Terrorist had a joint
with the same sample, it just goes to show that one sample
can be flipped a thousand times, a thousand different ways.
Wu-International: I found it interesting to compare
both and to see how two artists work with the same material
but get a different result . Your song sounds not as dark
and aggressive as Dom P’s. Would you agree ?
7th 7ign: Well I have to go back and listen to his
version to make that decision, let me get back to you on
that.
Wu-International: A question we ask the others too:
What’s your favourite track on this album and why?
7th 7ign: WOW, soo many to choose from, but
my favourite has got to be Everything(feat.Timbo King). The
reason for this is that on that track we all held it down
even next to a veteran spitter like Timbo, plus the whole
feeling of that joint is on point.
Wu-International: Are there any special moments
during the recording that you’ll cherish?
7th 7ign: All the moments are special to me,
it’s what I breath and live for, fam. It goes to show that
hard work and determination pays off dearly in the end, ya
know? So the whole time we spent in the studio creating this
whole album was special to me
Wu-International: On “Assassins” you worked with
Cappadonna (who you had toured with in the past) to a great
result as he sounded almost revitalized. Was he immediately
interested in working with the Watchmen ?
7th 7ign:
Well at first I spoke to
him and told him about the idea, and the whole concept, and
he was down for it. Me personally, I never had a problem
with Cappa, any projects I worked on he was always willing
to lend a helping hand.
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Wu-International: Was it recorded in the studio?
7th 7ign:
At the time he was on
tour so he mailed the vocals in. It would have been great
for my team to have chilled with him, it probably would have
sparked other kinds of projects, but in time we will catch
up with him. |
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Wu-International: We are aware you met Cappadonna via
Iron Shiek (Ice Grillz) aka Honour, who was also your
manager. It doesn’t seem like things ended well between both
of you. Can you please shed some light to this as to what
happened and what your current relationship is with Honour?
7th 7ign:
O.K...let me set this straight right now. Me and Honor
never had beef with each other, people make it sound like we
was ready to clap each other up or something. Truth be told,
Honor was the one who introduced me to Cappadonna. Without
him, I would of never been in the position I’m in now. What
happened is that, during that time, I was going through a
family situation and I distanced myself from him for about a
year and a half to get everything back in perspective. But
it’s all love ya know... we all go through things and it
affects us in different ways. I personally called Honor and
apologized to him so we all good now. I’m always humble and
I will always pay homage to him for putting me on, peace to
Honor aka IRON SHIEK.
Wu-International:
Did this situation
between you and Shiek affect your relationship with Cappa?
7th 7ign:
Not at all. Me and Cappa still talk every now and again, but
with both of our busy schedules we hardly have time for
anything besides work, ya know.
Wu-International:
You toured with Cappadonna, and was seen in the Wu Tang Saga
DVD, have you both ever worked on a song together in a
studio at all? and is there any unreleased material of the
two of you together ?
7th 7ign: Yeah me and Cappa did a track in Califoria,
that had me, Cappadonna, and Prodigal Sun on it, but I doubt
it will ever be released though...shit was ill as fuck.
Wu-International: Who else within the Clan or Killa
Beez have you also worked with or close to other than the
ones we know already?
7th 7ign: Just Cappadonna. For me that was good
enough, what’s better than working with a general from
WU-TANG CLAN....nothing that’s what.
Wu-International: On your solo album “the 7th Hour”
we can already hear a lot of Wu-influences in styles,
topics, samples ... would you say your connection with
Cappadonna sparked this?
7th 7ign: NO. Before I met Cappa, I was spittin’
rhymes that way, you gotta remember, I grew up listening to
hip hop when it was hip hop, so for me, that was the only
way I knew how to deliver it; over grimey beats and ill
samples.
Wu-International: On that album you carried most of
the weight behind the mic, only Prox and the Cipher added
verse to it. Hadn’t the others yet joined you or were things
too hectic with the Watchmen recordings ?
7th 7ign: At the time, they were the only ones
available to feature on my solo project, everybody else was
busy doing their own projects.
Wu-International: A remarkable track on that album
was “7 Elements” as it is carried by an opera sample. I
would never have believed it upfront but it works remarkably
well . Who came up with the idea?
7ign: Actually that
was the last track recorded. Pro did the beat, and to be
quite honest we just went in on that shit to finish the
album off with a bang, and that's just what we did.
Wu-International: Thanks, which opera got sampled for
this track?
7th 7ign: That was the opera from the movie The 5th
Element.
Wu-International: The Wu-influence was continued on
the Watchmen albums. Were these recorded in the same time
span as your solo album, afterwards or before?
7th 7ign: After
Wu-International: Your second solo album “The Killing
Fieldz” was announced for this summer. What's good with the
album?
7th 7ign: I’m still finishing it...the thing is, the
Watchmen album is so massive that it took up almost all our
time in recording it, but I assure you The Killing Fieldz is
still coming.
Wu-International: Can we expect something
similar as your first solo album or are there significant
evolutions on this one ?
7th 7ign: Very similar, if anything a little more
darker toned, the title of the album says it all – The
Killing Fieldz
Wu-International: Do you have some of your own
productions on there too or did you chose to focus on
rhyming only ?
7th 7ign:
This time I chose to focus on rhyming only. I got a ton of
ill producers, and I’m gonna give them their time to shine
on this one.
Wu-International:
Can you give us some more info as in release date,
producers, features, ... ?
7th 7ign:
Well right now, probably in April, as far as
production...(Weirdo, Pro, Beats of Fire, and a few others)
as far as features go I will leave that as a surprise.
Wu-International:
Lets go back a little, BlackMask already told us how the
team came to be, but what sparked this group's formation?
7th 7ign:
What sparked it all was,
we all believed in real true hip hop, and as a whole we can
defeat almost anything, truth be told. We have solo projects
that we could have put out first, but nothing is stronger
than when you come in as a team, we form an iron fist, and
when we strike it cannot be blocked.
Wu-International:
Apparently the next Watchmen album is scheduled for next
year. Have you guys already started working on it ?
7th 7ign:
As far as production, yes, but we’re just concentrating on
this album for now.
Wu-International:
Would you like to be producing on that one too?
7th 7ign:
Maybe, we will see.
Wu-International:
Ok, thanks.. a reoccurring question we asked all the members
is which Wu album and general influenced you most ?
7th 7ign: Well for me Cappadonna and Masta Killah, as
far as album wise goes it has to be Liquid Swords.
Wu-International:
The group's affiliation to Wu is in question, can you
speak on or tell us what is going on with the group, Wu-Tang
management and Watchmen’s position with Wu family tree?
7th 7ign:
Well, that’s something I can’t speak on... You’d have to ask
BlackMask about that.
Wu-International:
The Legion of Kaos was set up this month, what could be
your role in this movement ?
7th 7ign:
My role is a general, the
Watchmen are the creators of L.O.K.
Wu-International:
Are there any features, projects, collabos that you are
working on at the moment which you might want to share with
the fans?
7th 7ign:
Real talk, I’ve got
tons of features I’m working on. Once they are finished, I
will notify my fans.
Wu-International:
Anything else you would like to share with the fans that
have not been covered already ? Shout outs ?
7th 7ign:
Yeah, shouts out to everyone that supported the Watchmen,
and all my fans out there. We do this for
y’all...Peace................7th 7ign.
Keep up to date
with 7th 7ign
www.myspace.com/thewatchmenspace
Related Interviews: Watchmen Series
#1
[BlackMask] -
Behind The (Black)Mask Interview
[20th Oct 2010]
#2 [7th 7ign] - Untold Scriptures Interview [26th Oct
2010]
#3 [Pro] - The Need To Rebel [02nd Nov 2010]
#4 [Prox] - The
Watch Man [09th Nov 2010]
#5 [The Cipher] - Past, Present & Future [16th Nov 2010]
#6 [Ecylpse] - Femnomenon [23rd Nov 2010]
<Read Other Interviews> |
