The Complex 7: Dead Prez & DJ Green Lantern

Can revolution ever get televised? Neither stic.man nor M-1 seems to care at this point. Dead Prez’s ongoing rants against the political system will always be reflected in its music. And this time, DJ Green Lantern is lending a hand on Pulse Of The People: Turn Off The Radio Vol. 3, set for release tomorrow (June 23). Unlike the previous Turn off the Radio mixtapes, the joint project is an actual full-length LP with all-original Green Lantern production. After building a tight-knit relationship during last summer’s Rock The Bells tour, the two parties agreed to hit the studio. “The whole cohesive thought came together in like three days,” DJ Green Lantern recalls. “[Dead Prez] know what they’re talking about.”

We’re giving Pulse Of The People—whose highlights includes “Don’t Hate My Grind” with Bun B and the uptempo, dancehall-influenced “Gangster, Gangster” featuring Styles P—a definite Complex cosign. And that’s even before the two emcees and one DJ visited our office and had us laughing out of our seats with their hilarious anecdotes. Read on for the Complex 7 as Dead Prez and DJ Green Lantern recall their most embarrassing outfits, the most gutter hoods they’ve ever been to, and the night stic.man got robbed for food stamps. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this…

Interview By Jaeki Cho

#1: WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER ONE DEAL-BREAKER FOR A POTENTIAL GIRLFRIEND?

M-1 says: Open-mindedness is a turn-on. A turn-off would be not willing to stop smoking. You could be a cigarette smoker and I could like you, but you got to be willing to stop smoking. But weed? Well, she has to put up with me constantly smoking weed. [Laughs.]

stic.man says: For me I would say, a turn-on is healthiness. I like women who are actively healthy. A martial artist, chef, a vegetarian…somebody who’s going to keep me inspired. A turn off would be a police uniform. [Laughs.] Shout out to Lil Wayne with that “Ms. Officer” bullshit.

DJ Green Latern says: [Laughs.] I would say a turn-off would be signs that you are going to be all up in my business. Neediness? I can’t rock with it. My wife and I’ve been together for 14 years and it’s effortlessly intriguing.

#2: WHAT’S THE WORST WAY YOU BROKE UP WITH SOMEONE?

stic.man says: I’ve never had a break-up because my relationships are non-traditional. A turn-off for me is a woman who’s looking for the traditional things—ring on the finger, and expecting people to be other than themselves for selfish reasons. I believe a man is like the sun, and a woman is like the earth. There are nine planets and there’s one earth. But there are eight other planets that play a role in the universe. If you are going to say, “It’s only one woman in my life.” I think that’s opposite of your nature as a man. In the West it’s all about being politically correct and conforming with the church in contrast to who we are as real people.

DJ Green Lantern says: Well, for me it was a long-distance relationship. She went away to school and she started being obsessed. She was an art major, and she would send in cards that were made out of handmade paper. Like out of papyrus and shit! But that wasn’t it. It was just the intensity of the letters and how she emphasized that we needed to be together forever. She was just crazy.

M-1 says: Oh, man! When I was in Tallahassee, Florida I joined a movement called African People’s Socialist Party. As a result, I moved to Chicago in 1991 to work as an underground revolutionary. So my girlfriend at the time was from Atlanta and we met in Florida. I was trying to figure my shit out so I go off to Chicago, which ended up in this long-distance relationship. And basically I guess it ended when she just got with the next n*gga.

All: [Laughs.]

M-1 says: I called her and she told me she got with the next n*gga. I was really salty behind it. And it was probably in the worst way it could have happened because she was very casual at informing me about it.

#3: IF YOU HAD A WEEK HOLIDAY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

stic.man says: Beach or traveling. I want to go to Asia, India…never been to Australia.

M-1 says: I’ll go right back to East Africa. Somewhere between Kenya and Tanzania. Drink a whole bunch of Safaris and Kilimanjaro beers. I’ll go to Zanzibar, which is right off the coast of East Africa right there. And Dar es Salaam and chill out.

DJ Green Lantern says: Probably just take the family on a vacation and go to Dominican Republic real quick. That’s probably one of the only places I’ve never been besides Antartica and the South Pole.

#4: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SNEAKER OF ALL TIME?

M-1 says: Sneaker? Hands down Reebok Pump.

DJ Green Lantern says: Jordan III, elephant print.

stic.man says: adidas Decade Hi-Top Black Leather.

#5: WHAT HAS TO BE IN YOUR FRIDGE AT ALL TIMES?

M-1 says: Rice milk. That’s always got to be there. I have children and they love it. They drink it like hell. [Laughs.]

stic.man says: My fridge got to have avocado that’s almost ripe. You got to have some olives and some herbs too like cilantros.

DJ Green Lantern says: I’m just going to revert and go to hot sauce. Somehow it ends up in the fridge.

#6: WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

stic.man says: Man, that’s a good question.

M-1 says: Last time I cried? Man, ya’ll going to bug out. I was on a plane coming back from Dubai and I saw The Secret Life of Bees and I cried. And I couldn’t believe it because I don’t cry over any sad movies. But you see I’ll be crying over wack movies. One time I cried watching Batman.

All: [Laughs.]

M-1 says: I’ll show you the sensitive side for the first time! When Batman’s parents got murdered in the alley it was like the first time I cried over a movie like two years ago. I don’t know if it was because I was on a plane. The altitude was high, and the emotions just came through. Now you have my dearest, tender moments in ya’ll hands now.

DJ Green Lantern says: Probably when my dad died? It was about seven years ago.

stic.man says: I’m pretty sure it was in Brownsville. It was sometime around ‘96 or ‘97. I have an older brother who’s been addicted to cocaine for like 17 years. It doesn’t matter what we try to do, same shit. I remember I was in the bathroom looking in the mirror after I got off the phone with my mom about the latest fiasco. I just broke down. I remember looking at myself in the mirror like this ain’t going to change it. So I just decided to get that out of the box and not waste my energy. He is still struggling with it, man.

#7: WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING PIECE OF CLOTHING YOU’VE EVER WORN?

M-1 says: It was at a sixth-grade dance. I wanted to look Michael Jackson cool, but I couldn’t afford Michael Jackson stuff. So my mama got me damn near the closest I could get. At the time they had these pants with the little piping down the side and mine had this yellow piping. I threw on a white shirt, my hair was already out, but I threw some curl juice stuff in there and I brushed it back on the side and made a little [picks out a piece of hair] thoing! And then I threw my collars up. I thought I was doing it! [Laughs.] Everybody at the dance was laughing at me hard, but I danced with her though. So it worked.

stic.man says: It was at a university in Florida. I wasn’t a student, never been to college, but I would be at the college. Eat free food, taking classes, and all types of shit. So there was a contest with people from New York, Philly who felt like they had a monopoly on hip-hop. So I was performing there. At this time Kwame was popular, so I got this blazer from my father’s closet, which was green or yellow or some shit. Had a pair of Hammer pants, and some patent-leather shoes. I was so confident that day! [Laughs.] I was rapping over Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison.” Man, as soon as I got on the fucking stage with my outfit? Mu’fuckas were just like, “Boo!” And then the beat came on, I tried to rap like two bars and then…“Boo! Get out of here!” I got totally booed off the place.

DJ Green Lantern: I had a red and green Wu-Wear leather jacket. It was fly as shit. I loved it. But I wore it a little too long though. It was a year too late to wear the Wu-Wear. So I walked pass a bunch of shorties in the mall and I hear snickering and laughing. And as I get about 20 to 30 feet away I just hear, “Wu-Wear! Hahahahaha.” It brought me down a notch like, “Damn, I’m taking this fucking coat off.”

BONUS QUESTIONS:

Complex: Tell us about your craziest tour experience.

M-1: Does it have to relate to the fact that we were actually performing? Because when we go to Brazil we’ll just do two shows but we’ll be out there for ten days. [Laughs.] I guess that’s a tour.

stic.man: You reminded me. We met this dude Carthur at a music function and he was like, “Let’s go see the city.” He took us to the top of this mountain with only one way up. So we get to top right? We back up, turn the lights off, and then it quiets down. All of a sudden all these dudes with rifles come out pointing at our car! Then my man Carthur looked back at us and started laughing like, “Ah! I got you!” And when we get out, he’s like the general of this army. Now this place had little dudes with MK-45s, heroin packets on the floor, dudes with AKs on the lookout. And when they took us in, they started playing Miami bass music. It was crazy.

M-1: Police is not a factor there. People who run the particular favelas are the people who are most armed. So everybody has guns. Women were dancing with 9 mm handguns in their bikini straps. The area that we went to was controlled by Comando Vermelho [Brazilian criminal organization]. That’s why the area is called C.V.

Complex: Then what’s the most gutter hood you’ve been to?

M-1: Well, places like Alexandria in South Africa was a township that was created out of nothing. And they are still living in the dirt. I’m talking about people’s houses [stands two books next to each other] with no tops, but just two sides. Like a lot of them are built that way, but there’s like a million people that stay in these. So if you can imagine that kind of poverty spread that far wide…

stic.man: Imagine this. I think it was Soweto? First of all, it was like millions of tires burning so you can’t even fucking breathe. It is total poverty. Katrina or even worse. People there were like, “Come to my house. We’re going to make ya’ll dinner.” I got my hair braided, got some cornrows. You couldn’t tell how fucked up it was from people’s vibe. Everybody was sharing, giving you shit, even though it was the hood. People didn’t lose the community spirit.

M-1: Like Korogocho in Nairobi. These people don’t even have cribs. They live on sofas.

stic.man: Now mind you, we’ve been through all this shit right? War-torn impoverished shit. But I got robbed in Minnesota. [Laughs.]

Complex: You got robbed?

stic.man: Yea, like Boyz N The Hood. Real talk, I was rolling a blunt in the car and I dropped the inside of the shit all over the floor. So my girl’s sister who was driving pulled over and went to get another blunt. My head was down picking the shit up and then something told me like, “Hey, look up.” And when I looked up I see a gun in the driver side and they had it pulled up right next to me. I was just thinking like, “N*gga, might be trying to get a rep.” I had some food stamps. These n**ggas wanted my food stamps. They snatched that shit. And it was a shotgun so I thought, “Buckshots going to spread. If they bust? I’m fucked up.” And when I hunched down to make an attempt to get out the car, they drove off.