Interview: Smoke DZA Reveals Rugby Thompson

In a genre as contentious as hip-hop, a little luck goes a long way. Harlem-born rapper Smoke DZA is still waiting on that luck. Sure, he’s toured with the likes of Method Man and Juicy J. He is a part of the JETS movement headed by Curren$y. And, most recently, he’s crafted one of the most compelling projects to emerge from the New York City underground, in Rugby Thompson. However, DZA is still waiting on that extra little push to put him on top of the iTunes charts. At a taut 39 minutes long, and produced entirely by fellow New Yorker Harry Fraud, Rugby Thompson could very well be that push. Then again it might not. So it goes with luck…

With Substance Abuse out on iTunes again, why do you consider Rugby Thompson to be your best work to date?
Substance Abuse was actually my first mixtape that was reintroducing Smoke DZA to the world. I put that mixtape out in 2009. We just re-released it through High Times Records, as a special collector’s edition. But I named Rugby Thompson because Rugby Ralph Lauren is my favorite brand line. Plus, Nucky Thompson from Boardwalk Empire was my influence during recording. So it’s a fusion between Rugby and Nucky.

If we were to watch Boardwalk Empire, would we gain a better understanding of the album?
Not necessarily, because Boardwalk Empire is more about Atlantic City, and there are more tales to the series than just Nucky Thompson. I can’t really say it’s a direct reference to Boardwalk Empire. Just the character of Nucky Thompson is my inspiration.

What attracts you to him?
Because he’s a boss. He plays both sides. He ran Atlantic City, and I feel like I run New York City.

Why’d you decide to work exclusively with Harry Fraud?
It kind of happened organic. Harry and I have mutual friends. They been trying to get us to work together. Once we finally got in the studio the chemistry made sense. It made sense that we would go out and make a whole project. It started with an EP, but we were having too much fun working together and coming up with too many dope records that we didn’t want to cheat ourselves or cheat the people.

Where do you think Harry’s sound is going?
Harry is a great producer. I don’t really just coin him with one sound. He’s a universal producer. I get the same feeling working with him as I do working with Ski Beatz, when we did George Kush Da Button. The synergy we got together in the lab is impeccable. Harry brings the best out of me.

When you guys sat down, was it more like you saying, “I want this type of sound, these kind of sounds,” and then he made it? Or would he do the record and you’d react?
We both had a mutual respect for each other before we started working together. I knew his work. He knew my work. I knew what he was capable of giving me, and what I would sound good over. I didn’t really have to be on defense with what he was giving me, because he was giving me beats that I would sound good in a pocket to.

You mentioned High Times Records. Is that something new?
Yeah, this is my first experience with High Times. The partnership came about mutually. They’ve been calling me for quite a while but I had a different situation where I couldn’t move. Right about now it just made sense for both brands to merge, and try to do something special. I’m their first hip-hop release in years.

Seems like a good fit. Are you still waiting for the right distribution deal though?
I’m not stubborn to any situations that can benefit my family, but at the end of the day I’m doing pretty well without them. If there was a situation on the table – which there are, many – if there was anything lucrative enough for me to stop doing what I’m doing and be a part of that, then of course I would do that in a heartbeat. But it has to be the right situation. I ain’t trying to sell my ass because I like my own brand, moving independently. I don’t really need that. It can help, but I don’t necessarily need it. I’m a touring artist and this is my third album in stores. I’m not really bent on that. Only if it could make my situation better.

“Ashtray” [featuring Domo Genesis & ScHoolboy Q] iss a great song, what was the process behind that one?
That was actually the first song Fraudy and I worked on. That was the only beat that he sent me via email, because he cooked up all the beats just like I cook up the raps on the spot. Everything is created however we feeling that day, or whatever we think we was missing. But “Ashtray” was a record where he sent me a bunch of records, and that was the record that I picked out of the batch that he sent me. I recorded my verse and sent it to him, he loved it. I thought about putting the 2 Chainz sample on the hook, because that one line in the song [“Spend It”] always stuck to me. It wasn’t really the hook, it was just that bar right there. I was always waiting for that to come. When Domo and ScHoolboy came into town, it made sense to collab with them on that record, because I had a record before, on The Hustlers Catalog, called “Loaded”, and I did a remix and had Domo and ScHoolboy on it. I just felt like I wanted to put them on the same record together, because you know, I did “Loaded” separately and they really wasn’t on it together, so I wanted to make a record and put my two Cali homies on it.

Domo goes hard.
Domo’s hard, man. He goes hard on every go-around. That kid’s a beast. Both of them.

Do you think that record set the tone for the rest of the songs on the album?
That’s the only record on the album that’s like a Smoke DZA record, that people that don’t really know my music could be like, “Oh, yeah, that’s a Smoke song, it’s a weed record.” People take it as that, and every other record on the album is setting the bar for something else that has nothing to do with pot. So that’s like the pot anthem for the album.

On the song you have the “Riggggght” and ScHoolboy has his “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Figgsiiiiiiiiiiiiide,” but Domo doesn’t come with any ad-libs. He’s got to step it up.
[laughs] I’m going to tell him you said that. “Right” was a catch-phrase that came to me just goofing. People thought it was dope and that’s how people started greeting me when they saw me on the streets, so I was like, “I guess I got something that sticks, let me ride this one to the ground.” That’s how that came about for me. But everybody can’t have that.

Okay, the next song I was going to ask you about is “New Jack.”
That record is inspired by the legendary wrestler from ECW, New Jack, who actually is in the music video for the song. I’m a huge wrestling fan, and I embrace the whole wrestling culture. The character of New Jack was how I thought I was being portrayed in the hip-hop game, in the league where I’m at right now. It was really just a rugged record going against everything that everybody else thinks is cool.

How do you feel you compare to New Jack?
Well, I think I’m great, as every artist should think. Every artist should think they’re great. Every artist should think they’re talented. But I think I’m very underrated and very under the radar to a lot of shit that people see. I think I get counted out because they try to take me for this weed guy. For New Jack they tried to count him out because he was just the ECW guy who wanted to do hardcore matches all day. I just felt like I was the underdog and I wanted to get something off my chest, because at that time I was going through a lot career-wise that made me feel that way. Every artist has those moments, they feel like they’re under-appreciated, or you’re working mega-hard, and compared to a lot of other shit that’s around you know you’re clearly better, but people are still attracted to it. That’s how I was feeling at that moment.

How did that one fit into the recording process?
That was the second record that I did with Harry. “Ashtray” was one, “New Jack” was two. They’re dark records.

“Rivermonts”, another dark record.
That’s one of my favorite records on the album. I named it after my favorite Polo boots. This past fall I was in Atlanta and I was in the Polo Mansion and I saw these $1000 Polo boots. I tried them on and I’m like, “Oh my God, these are the best boots ever. The highest echelon of Polo boots.” I’m like, “Next time I come back to Atlanta I’m getting these boots.” And I came back on the Smokers Club Tour and I got the boots. I wore them every day with every outfit I had. Those boots are cool. So I’m like, “I’m going to name this song after these fucking boots because I love them so much.” They’re Rivermonts. I’m trying to put people onto the higher echelon of Polo boots, not the Dr Jays joints. I thought I was doing them a favor, you know, being an innovator.

How do the shoes relate to the song then?
Because “I’m kickin up dust in my Polo boots.” In other words, I’m grinding in my Polo boots. At that point when you come home from touring, you’re recording, and doing extra curricular activities that you get into, that’s what I’d get into in my Rivermonts. For me that Mase song- Mase is one of my favorite artists. That song “Player Way,” featuring 8Ball & MJG, that’s where I ripped the sample from.

Was the recording process for the whole album pretty quick, or how long did this thing take to make?
We started working a little after New Year’s and we were done by March. We just kept working after we found a home for it, and features, shit kept coming through, so we kept working until we had a tentative date that it was going to come out. So really it didn’t take us that long to finish the project. The project was done in a month and a half.

Do you have other records with Harry Fraud that you didn’t put on the album?
Yeah, I had one record that I had an insane guest feature that was going to appear on it, but due to the schedule I didn’t get to land it, so I said I’d just save it for the next project.

What’s the next project, man?
I want to put out three more projects before the year is over. I got a lot to say. I’m going to continue to be creative and I’m going to continue to do different shit and work with different producers and different artists. I think the next one I’m going to come with is called George Kush Da Button: The Second Term. That, to the people, was probably one of my most popular projects before Rugby Thompson. I’m going to get back in with Ski and maybe go see my buddy, The Alchemist, go holla at some of my homies and get this right.