Guilty Simpson

Photography by Eric Coleman

What separates Detroit’s husky emcee Guilty Simpson from many other emcees that depict dark images of urban landscapes is the fact that he like Senator Obama is believable, unlike so many “Clintonesque” rappers who say what people want to hear because it may bring the popularity and followers. When it comes to the musical tradition that Detroit has started and progresses forward from Motown, Slum Village to Eminem; Simpson with his unique voice and consistent lyricism is only keeping alive the standard that has been built, and at his own pace Guilty is spreading the legacy that is Detroit music and culture.

Scheme: We’ve gotten many stories from various artists on Detroit, what was your experience growing up in the Motor City?
Guilty Simpson: I’ve been rapping for about twelve years, but coming up in Detroit I had a visual of a whole lot of things. I saw the hustlers, the gangsters and the violence and I saw the Black people with money. The after affects of that fast life have made it kind of like a ghost town. So seeing those different things led to a whole lot of inspiration for writing different things.

Scheme: You have a track you did over a J Dilla beat called a Man’s World where you talk about the relationship between you and your father. Has it changed any from the lyrics that you wrote in that record?
Guilty Simpson: Most definitely, my father and me are closer than ever. The reason I did that song was because we had a bad past but we communicate and get a long just fine and I think that song is kind of therapeutic for me to just deal with it and get it behind me.

Scheme: Explain your involvement with the Almighty Dreadnaughtz and how that came about?
Guilty Simpson: I went to high school with a couple of the members and they kind of introduced me to it and they started inviting me to the studio with them and I just started writing my thoughts down and putting it to a record and once that happened I became real addicted to it. I still work with the Drednots to this day.

Scheme: When did you acknowledge that this is something you could do that could pay the bills?
Guilty Simpson: Once I started branching out to the open mics and being amongst other people that I wasn’t normally around and kind of test myself to see lyrically where I was at and that’s where I started flourishing and advancing. Sometimes when you do stuff yourself or amongst your crew you kind of get a jaded kind of view of how the world is because you haven’t been around other people and that was around the late nineties.

Scheme: How did you and Jay Dee cross paths?
Guilty Simpson: There was an open mic called Lush Lounge and my homie HouseShoes (DJ) always wanted me and Dilla to work together. Lush Lounge was the best place to perform and Dilla came through and I was spittin’ at the time and when I was finished. Shoes told me Jay wanted to talk with me and then he called me and said he wanted to work with me.

Scheme: On your album Ode to the Ghetto, you seemed to have gone for a diverse yet specific style. With producers like Madlib, Mr. Porter, Oh-No and Black Milk what is the commonality that you like about those individuals?
Guilty Simpson: I think they all bring their own thing individually to the table but I think sonically all of them have that hip-hop foundation and it’s just that sound. So I can appreciate Madlib and Mr. Porter being great producers but for two different reasons. Madlib is more left field and kind of stimulates your other side that real creative… not that he’s more creative than Mr. Porter but Mr. Porter is more straight down the middle. I think all of them are crazy producers and my biggest problem was picking beats but in the end it has that raw Detroit flavor to it and in the end that’s what balances it all out.

Scheme: What do you hope people take from Ode to the Ghetto?
Guilty Simpson: I want it to be something you can listen to further down the line. You may not like it when you first hear but I want you to be able to listen to it three or four years from now and like it more than you did when you first got it even if you loved it when you first got it. I just wanted something that wasn’t really dated. I wanted to make sure it was something I wanted to put out as opposed to what the people wanted me to put out. I didn’t want to be put in that corner if my project didn’t do what I wanted it to do and I committed to what people wanted me to do I would always second guess myself. This is just an introduction to what I’m doing I don’t want to downplay this album but at the same time I’m ready to make my mark and be established in the game for a while.

“There’s nothing wrong with people that can do it and I’m not hating on it, but I don’t think that should be the concept of foundation that those individuals should stand on. I just think that’s making dated stuff even though some great songs were done but I want to take my craft much more seriously than that I want to sit down and write it.”

Scheme: There’s so many artist that sound the same all the way down to their voice. I think about Q-Tip, Ghostface and people like you that have a distinct delivery when did you realize that was an asset to your repertoire and began to master that?
Guilty Simpson: It was like trial and error because I when back when I first started rhyming I would get so excited and I sounded different on a record. A long time ago I had a home-girl that I went to school with and I told I was rhyming and she told me she always thought I had the voice for it and I didn’t really think about it, but the more and more I thought about it being a grown ass man now my voice eventually turned into this. I’ve had people stop while walking down the street and if they hear me voice their like are you Guilty Simpson? I never knew who you looked like but I got the Shining at the crib and you sound like him. It’s definitely God given I can’t take any credit for it… well maybe blunts and cigarettes might have played a hand in it (laughs).

Scheme: What was the formula behind creating this album were the producers sending you beats or were you in the studio with them?
Guilty Simpson: I Must Love You I did while Dilla was alive but actually I recorded the original vocals of that while Dilla was working with it but we cut it after he had passed but that song was initially done while he was still alive. Basically what I did the album in spells. I did a piece of it while I was in Detroit through my man Mike Chav (Chavarria) and my homie Tommy Guns and then I went to California for a while and got away from Detroit and I recorded a big portion of it out there and that’s when I did Ode to the Ghetto and a lot of the Madlib stuff when I went out west.

Scheme: What’s the difference for you when you’re recording in California to when you record in Detroit. Also for a lot of Detroit artists their next stop is usually California?
Guilty Simpson: (Laughs) I think it’s getting away from the cold weather and you want to go somewhere that’s rich and beautiful with connections and I now you got that in Miami but there’s just a good chemistry with Detroit. I’m not afraid to connect with whomever that’s why I’m doing a project with Sean P. and he’s from Brownsville, NY. The biggest difference from recording in Detroit from LA is that when I’m in LA I can just focus on that lab and go in and stay in the lab. I can do it here too (Detroit) but there are so many things that pull you away.

Scheme: The album you have coming out with Sean P, you’re doing that in conjunction with Black Milk. What’s that experience been like working with Sean?
Guilty Simpson: It’s been crazy man. Back in the day he was with Heltah Skeltah and Boot Camp Clik and I was a fan of their music. I approached him about doing a song and he proposed an album. I’m happy to be able to work with him he’s crazy and funny as shit and we crack jokes and keep it real laid back in the studio. That’s one of the biggest things with him, I haven’t known him that long personally but he so mothaf*ckin’ cool there’s no awkward moments when were in the studio working together.

“Peanut Butter Wolf is an excellent label head he gives the artists their freedom to be who they are so I’m thankful to be over there. So many labels want to control the music, it seems like they want to be the artist in general. How he should look, how he should sound, whom he should work with different stuff like that.”

Scheme: The phenomenon of having the ability to go into the studio and just make an album off the top of the head has given some emcees the label of great or genius. What is your opinion on writing a verse verses free-styling a verse.
Guilty Simpson: First of all I think that’s a terrible analogy, second of all I can do that too. It’s kind of like that person(s) is making synthetic rhymes and not even giving the full effort. There’s nothing wrong with people that can do it and I’m not hating on it but I don’t think that should be the concept of foundation that those individuals should stand on. I just think that’s making dated stuff even though some great songs were done but I want to take my craft much more seriously than that I want to sit down and write it. I think that’s an at form in itself, the creation and the structuring.

“Some people try and alienate themselves and don’t want to help other people out just because financially they’re not on the same level, and I think that’s one of the biggest downfalls with the structure with Black people. That’s what being a man is, providing for your family and strengthening your brother so ya’ll can move forward.”

Scheme: With that said talk about the inspiration behind a couple of these records like Footwork and American Dream?
Guilty Simpson: Footwork was just the hood, and I wanted to paint the picture of the way the neighborhood worked. Basically that was really a visual of what’s popping at the crib. You might be walking down the block and some little n*ggas might ride up on you on a ten-speed for real. I don’t want to limit it to Detroit I’m sure that goes down anywhere that poverty exists. Basically I’m your tour guide letting you know what to do and what not to do in the hood.

American Dream was the first thing I wanted people to hear on Ode to the Ghetto because I wanted to state the reason behind what people are about to hear so it touches on slavery and the way America glorifies drug dealers who deal drugs themselves but then crucifies the people in the inner city that sell them. People are going to hear talk about comrades of mine that I’m cool with that chose to pick an alternative lifestyle but there’s reasoning behind all of it and if we really do our investigating sometimes the reason is justified.

Scheme: How did your deal with Stones Throw come about?
Guilty Simpson: It’s a good situation Peanut Butter Wolf is an excellent label head he gives the artists their freedom to be who they are so I’m thankful to be over there. So many labels want to control the music, it seems like they want to be the artist in general. How he should look, how he should sound, whom he should work with different stuff like that. So just having that freedom and the freedom they have given artists in the past that have taken risks with Madvillainy and records like that made it an easy decision for me to make.

Scheme: Bringing the conversation back to the record A Man’s World and the relationship with your father, what’s Guilty’s definition of being a man and handling your business?
Guilty Simpson: Basically being able to provide for your family, and to strengthen the unit around you and build a foundation and grow from that. Some people try and alienate themselves and don’t want to help other people out just because financially they’re not on the same level, and I think that’s one of the biggest downfalls with the structure with Black people. That’s what being a man is, providing for your family and strengthening your brother so ya’ll can move forward.