777
New member
kinda old but it explains his relationship and production credits with 2pac.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Alright, well you been the person behind so much Tupac music, and you've managed to stay relatively out of the public eye, so we're happy to have the opportunity to talk to you. Definitely want to talk about the upcoming album, we'll get to that in a bit (OK), for now, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself and production background.
Johnny J ~ A: Well I've been around for 15 years professionally, my first hit was a song called Knocking Boots by an artist by the name of Candyman, I don't know if anybody remembers but uh, it was a sic, sic song, it was a smash, that was back in 90-91, and from that song on down it's been uh, a hell of a ride for me, a roller coaster ride, but it's been a heck of a ride for me. So, I been doing that you know man, and when I hit Tupac, it was unbelievable you know what I'm saying? So, I've been working with everybody man, from Pac to Jon B to you name it man, Mark Wahlberg, I mean the list goes on and on.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Yeah, you worked with Nate and Kci and JoJo as well right?
Johnny J ~ A: Kci and Jojo, uh, pretty much everybody at Deathrow, and when Pac ended up going over to Deathrow I basically worked with everybody, Snoop all of them, I mean the whole thing, the whole nine, a lotta songs are not out yet, you know, there's a lot of unreleased stuff, that I'm sure you guys will run into anyway, but there's a load of material coming out.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Where were you born?
Johnny J ~ A: I was born in Waters, Mexico, raised in South Central Los Angeles. That's where I come from, a lot of people were like, man, are you Italian or what? But I was like, no I'm Mexican, everybody thought I was from New York or something, they thought I was Puerto Rican, Italian, they just called me everything so, I'm originally born in Mexico.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: You did some rapping as well yourself didn't you?
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah, yeah, I gave it a shot. I was like, well I had done so much music man, being around all the rappers and all the singers I had worked with I was like, well let me go ahead and try something for a little bit. It was a fun thing to do, I had a ball doing it you know.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: You released a couple albums in '94/95 right?
Johnny J ~ A: Um, well I only released one album which was, um, um, it was a solo album I did called I gotta be me.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: The second one was a single right wasn't it?
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah, right, the single was called "Digging Em Out." (Yeah that's it) Yeah, which was like a Miami cut, you know which was you know the booty shaking music. So all my songs were like on the sexual tip and you know, a bunch of fun, it was just about having a good time that's all I dealt with was just good times in my music.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: There's a rumor that you did a Tupac tribute song as well.
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah I did, I did a tribute man and that's soon to be coming out, there's just so much stuff that's been in the can, ready to be born man, you know what I'm saying, so there's a lot of stuff but it's a beautiful tribute man, that you guys will love. You'll fall in love with it, when you know, it comes your way.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: And what's the name of that?
Johnny J ~ Q: That one is, as a matter of fact I have a couple of them, but um, there's another one, I don't want to tell you yet, but it's kinda scary, you'll think it's Tupac doing his own tribute. So, I don't know, I just wanna keep that one as a surprise, when I played it to people, they thought Tupac did his own tribute. (Really?). So, kinda eerie you know, but when you hear it, it'll kinda scare you a little bit, and I wasn't looking for a Tupac replica or a sound-a-like, it just so happened that the guy just sound like him. So I was like, well, let me try this and see how this works.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Well you getting people interested in that now. (Exactly). Any idea when we can expect that?
Johnny J ~ A: Uh, what the tribute? (Yeah, definitely). Oh man, you know, me and QD were just talking about that just a couple days ago, and I have no idea what day or what month it's going to be released, but it'll be out this year. (OK). Before the end of this year it'll be coming your way.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: So how did you hook up with Pac?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, we hooked up at a time, he was filming Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson, and I was working on some other stuff with a guy by the name of Big Syke from Thuglife. Pac was putting together a group called Thuglife, but Syke was working on a solo album, an independant album that I was producing, and it just so happened that Syke and Pac talked or something and Pac was like oh man I'd love to meet the guy who did your beat. And Syke was like, that's Johnny J, and the next thing I know he made the connection, I ended up meeting up with Pac at Echo Sounds, which is near Glendale and um, man we hit it off ever since and we started the new Thuglife album. And I did like 7 cuts in like 3 days. So we just started dumping them, that's where Pour Out a Little Liquor came from, Death around the Corner. Originally those songs were supposed to be on Thuglife, but then they were going on Poetic Justice but we ended up swinging that stuff to Above the Rim. Pour Out a Little Liquor became the first cut that me and Pac did, that was like you know, the debut of our relationship getting started.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What was your relationship with Tupac like?
Johnny J ~ A: Ahh man, it was like, it was unbelievable man it's hard to explain, if you wanna call it like the LA and Babyface vibe or whatever man, he was the lyrical aspect I was the musical side. You know, it was like my music needed his lyrics, his lyrics needed my music, and it was like, a marriage man that was needed, it was like I'd heard stuff before that people did on him before, I wasn't too impressed with the music, I mean, I'll give credit where credit is due but a lot of it was garbage to me. I didn't like the music, you know what I mean, but as he and I carried on and worked and kept going it was like man, the songs were coming out better, I mean to me, the material was much better man. I mean, it shows on the albums, I mean I'm sure you heard them before, and you know I'm just saying you know, we hit it off man, it was on. When he got locked up, you know, after, you know before Death Row, we hooked up man as soon as he got out of jail man, after that crap he dealt with that rape case, man it was just on man, we just dumped songs one after another man. About 5-6 songs a day. You know what I mean, and we kept going. That's when All Eyez on Me got started, and all that stuff man, even when he was locked up, Death Around the Corner was on Me Against the World, I mean songs were just coming man, and it was cool. I was pretty happy and pleased man, that when he got out of jail it was the first thing, what he did was call me, and that felt good you know, he said, Johnny J, I'm over at Deathrow, c'mon man, we got a album to do. And, believe it or not, the first cut to that track, was the title song All Eyez On Me, and that was the very first song I recorded, which became the title of the album. So that was kind of a strange thing to so, it worked out man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Was your relationship more professional, friendship, or both? How would you describe it?
Johnny J ~ A: To me man, we kept it professional, you know what I mean, we didn't, we you know all the partying and hanging out and going to clubs, and all that, that wasn't me and his thing, me and his thing was like man we're going to do our thing in the studio. So it was like, that was our home dude, that's where me and him lived, we turned into mad scientists, it was like nobody could mess with us man, you know you couldn't .... with me and Pac when we were in the studio. We could have 50-60 people looking at us working man, we were like, they were blocked out, we'd just be doing what we had to do. It was a professional relationship to be honest with you man, totally professional.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What was a regular day in the studio with you and Tupac like?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, a regular day man was like hey meet up, we're going to eat, that's the first thing we'd do you know, is get our grub on, and um I'd walk in there with ready to go beats man, and ready to go songs and start dumping them and he'd go right into the notes. Right on the spot, a lot of people thought he pre-wrote lyrics and he had all this stuff set, planned. Nothing was planned man, it was just spontaneous you know what I'm saying, so that's a real deal thing. He was right there ready to go, as soon as I dropped the beat he was writing the lyrics.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: As far as the production of the song and that sort of thing, how was Tupac as a producer or a co-producer?
Johnny J ~ A: Well you know, I'm the producer, and, ? co-produce with me, just like I said, he was the lyrical side so, it was unbelievable man, like I said me and him were just tight dope arrangers. He knew how to arrange lyrics, I know how to arrange music, so, like I said, when I dropped the beats he knew exactly what to drop on the words. And that's something I can say that, made me happy, I didn't feel like I was wasting my music on the wack ass lyrics or whatever, and he came with subjects that made sense, you know what I mean. I mean he mixed a whole bunch of subjects into one song. Cause Pac wouldn't stay with one thing sometimes he would talk about sex, gangs this that, thugs, whatever, the streets, what's going on, all in one cut. It's like if you listen to how do you want it he doesn't stay on one thing, he talks about a whole bunch of things. (Right). So, that's one thing that was dope about him man, you never knew what would come out that man's mouth man. And that's what was tight, so. Like I said, we put it down together.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Is there something that you can tell us about Tupac, or something that he told you, that most Tupac fans don't know.
Johnny J ~ A: Ah man, oh my God, there's so much dude. For one thing dude a lot of people may not know that it shows on the song How Do U Want It, it says produced by Johnny J and you see produced by Johnny J and Tupac for NonStop Productions when we did the song HitEmUp. But one thing that a lot of people didn't know is that me and him were going to form our own production company, which was me and him. And we were going to do our thing from R&B, to Pop music, to you name it man, we were even looking forward to getting down with Alanis Morrisette, definitely trying to get down with Mary J. Blidge, and there was a whole bunch of stuff about to go down. And this is not long before he died, I mean there was artists that we were trying to go with, to lock up with that you just wouldn't even believe. Even if it was country, we were going to go for it, we were going to do it all. One thing that a lot of people didn't know is that we were getting ready to form our own production company, which was called NonStop Productions. That's a name that I came up with, cause Pac was like Johnny, c'mon man, come up with a production name and lets just form our own thing. I was like, alright, and that was the name of it, NonStop Productions. So if you check the credits for some of the songs, you'll see produced by Johnny J and Tupac for NonStop Productions. So that'll show you the proof right there. That's something a lot of people didn't know.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Do you know anything about Tupac's plans to possibly leave Deathrow?
Johnny J ~ A: No, none of that man, cause we were on just a nice consistent flow of just knocking out songs man so, he never discussed things like around me, we just never talked about things like that, our thing was just constantly creating, knocking out cuts, making hit records, none of that stuff was even discussed with me and him so, I didn't know nothing about it so, I don't know what was jumping off with that. And that was about it on that one man, cause .. I don't really know, we never really got involved in talking about that stuff. He was excited, and we were just, like I said, knocking out albums man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Why do you think Tupac was so motivated in the studio?
Johnny J ~ A: I would say man, just a lot of stuff to release, man, I mean there was a lot on his chest you know, and I felt, and that's one thing me and dude had in common is that I had a lot of stuff on my chest, a lot of things on my mind, a lot of things on his mind, we kinda like, I don't know man, we just we kind of understood each other, we were on the same page, and the man had a whole lot of .... to get off his mind man and it felt good for me to release and set it off musically and even though I didn't go in there and do the lyrics or whatever but I felt like he was speaking for me and him so, that's one thing I can say, it felt good. We had a lot in common, I'll put it to you that way. And I found out that I was adopted when I was working on All Eyez on Me, and I was like, you know, in my twenties, I'm 32 now, finding out some last minute .... that I was adopted, you know I didn't trip on it it wasn't nothing like that drove me ....ing wild, I told Tupac, I took him to the side and I said dude I just found out that I'm adopted, I didn't even know that. And Pac was like, man don't even trip on it you know, he was like dude, .... it man, lets just move on it's just, .... he was even telling me like man, I don't even really no my pops man, or whatever, he was like dude, lets just not even let that .... .... with us, lets just concentrate on this album and finish up. So that kept me strong you know what I mean, to find out some news about being adopted you know, we had that conversation. But it didn't trip me out, you know, like I said, stay strong and the music kept me going, and I'm above all that .... anyway, it was irrelevant, I feel like I served a purpose on this planet, so if I'm adopted or whatever, wherever I came from, I know I served a purpose in this music industry. (Alright). And Tupac and me were an unbelievable duo, Batman and Robin, so, that was us.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: The music that Tupac left behind, do you think he intended it to be released, or, was some of it studio scraps?
Johnny J ~ A: Na man, of course that stuff was intended to be released. Even though I seen things like that in magazines, that it was just stuff thrown together and messing around, man that stuff was definitely meant to be released. If we went in there and jotted a few ideas down, one thing about me and him we would go back in and retouch up things, and he'd leave the studio and I'd finish doing the last minute touch ups, or whatever, if we wanted to get some guest artists, you know, we'd find whatever we needed, any guest rappers, singers, you know, we didn't have, during that time period the Outlawz were just getting their thing going you know, he had just started the Outlawz (Yeah). So, we had all kinds of .... in the works man, a whole lot going, I mean Thuglife, there was a bunch of .... ready to come back out, so, it was like one big family reunion dude, but it just felt good when we were doing our music. But there was not .... like, we just through it together, it was just scraps, no, why the .... would get put it on tape, Pac was known to put .... on tape because he had to get it off his chest. You know, we didn't go into the studio and say, we just want to go in here and play, just to play around, and if you hear any of that ...., that's bull...., so I wouldn't believe that, not when I was working with him, I know I didn't bull.... with him and he didn't bull.... with me, so, if he did that with other producers, maybe that's something I'll say, but I know when me and him did music, we didn't play around, so I'll put it to you that way. I can't speak for anybody else, so, but I can speak for me and him, so if you wanna write that down and quote that, you can quote that. If somebody did scraps with him, maybe that's scraps to them, but not scraps with me and him, put it to you like that. That makes more sense.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: How would you describe Tupac in the studio in the last couple days?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, it was just, party atmosphere, you know, excited and happy, we were already pumped about debuting at #1 with All Eyez on Me, I mean we're on this motivational high, we were on a natural high 24/7. There were times when me and him would work until the sun came up, both, he'd be sleeping on the sofa or something, we'd pass out and go to sleep and the music would still be playing man. I mean that's how we were man, we were just on this natural high man, like he couldn't take us down. And it was like dude, here we go, we're getting ready to kick the industries ass! And getting ready to show exactly what it's about, to make hit records. I mean there were songs that we put out that we didn't even finalize, we didn't even mix, they came out not even mixed and blew up as hits, just like the song called Never had a Friend like me from the movie Gridlock'd soundtrack. That was an unfinished, non-mixed song, the lyrics were finished and the music was finished, but the mix wasn't finalized. So that's a lot of .... that people don't know, so I mean that's a trip that that song came out the way it did, and became you know, a hell of a hit on there. Soundtrack went gold, so it blew up man. So that was it.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What was the last track you produced with Tupac?
Johnny J ~ A: You know what, towards the end dude we were finishing up tracks like Unconditional Luv, I'm sure you remember that one. (Definitely). Which is on the Greatest Hits. And uh, we were doing that, ahh there was a cut that Jon B had that was called Are You Still Down, which is a Jon B song featuring Tupac, which went platinum, it was a platinum single for Jon B. That was originally a song for Tupac, but we ended up making it happen where it became a Jon B record. Cause I ended up meeting Jon B at the How Do U Want It video shoot. Uh, Jon B was like who did your beats man, who produced that, and Pac was like pointing at me like, that's the man right there, and we ended up hooking up man, and that song became a platinum single called Are U Still Down.
HitEmUp.com : Yeah it's coming out, his Greatest Hits is actually named after that title song, it's coming out later this month.
Johnny J ~: Right, right. Oh man, there was a load of stuff coming, as far as me knowing any other, I mean I know titles in my brain of just so many songs I worked on dude it would be a long list of songs man. And we, we ended up going out of town, knocking songs out, I mean we did all kinds of records. So get ready for this stuff, it's got a load of stuff on there, I mean it is hits, hit after hit. It's not thrown together, it's not like oh what the hell is this, you know what I mean, it doesn't sound rushed or anything like that, so it's like we really took our time on this ...., and it sounds good, your going to like it.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: When did you last speak with Tupac?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, that was like, I don't even have the date man, it was just so crazy because, I ended up doing those last couple cuts that I mentioned to you, I was taking care of some other business, and not long after that was when I get the ....ing craziest news that you know he gets shot, he was shot in Las Vegas. You know, I'm at my wife's class reunion, I'm over in ....ing Pasadena, and I get a call from Big Syke man, did you know that Pac got shot. I'm like, what? .... just came out of no where man, it was wild. The crazy thing was like, I probably would have left and went out there, me and my wife we would have went out there and had a good time with him, I guess it just wasn't meant for me to go, know what I mean? And our last conversation was like, we were going to go into the studio, but we ended up going into the studio and not long after that, that's when that .... happened man, he was in Vegas and he got shot. Just, out of the ....ing blue. And I couldn't believe it man. And I ended up going out there man, which was the 13th, which was the day he died, oh man, I was right there dude, I was like at the hospital, I didn't go inside the actual room or nothing like that, but when I arrived, 15-20 minutes later dude, next thing I heard on the radio, just after talking to his mom, and she said, he's going to be ok baby, he's going to be ok, and I was like, I know he is, he always, we, we know he's a survivor. Man, we jumped in the car to get a ....ing burger or something, man, and they're like, Tupac is dead, he's gone. Pulling out of the hospital driveway, and it was just the craziest ...., I couldn't believe it. And that just blew my whole ....ing mind away.
HitEmUp.com ~: I couldn't believe it either, I was just expecting him to have more stuff to talk about in his music you know.
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah, we were finishing up all these songs, and we had been, All Eyez on Me was already kicking ass, and we were already working on another album, because as soon as All Eyez on Me was released, Pac, we had about a 3 day intermission dude. We took a break, so I was thinking we were going to take about a week, 2 weeks off, we're just going to party maybe have a good time. Man he called me about 3 days later, 2 days later, after finishing All Eyez on Me, said we're going back into the studio, I was like what the .... are we doing now? Man, we're going to work on some more ..... I'm like well .... it, lets go. When we started, we just kept dumping man, that's why all those songs are done man. We were still working after All Eyez on Me was released. People thought we took, you know an intermission, a break, we didn't take no breaks, there was never a break, you know he didn't believe in breaks, we both didn't man, he called me Captain Kirk, that was like my nickname, and then he called me Heiny Hay, all kinds of, Tito Quentez, man, he called me all kinds of stuff man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What about the Cuban Militant?
Johnny J ~ Q: Man, he, he had all these crazy nicknames for me, cause I was this Mexican guy with all this soul, and stuff, and he was like, you are a Mexican who has a hell of a lot of soul man, I was like thanks man, that was like my upbringing, where I come from, since you asked me that question earlier about where I came from, I was born in Mexico, raised in South Central, and went to Washington Highschool, that's where like a whole bunch of us went man, there's a lot of people that came out of that school. Yo yo went there, you know, ?, Cube used to come up there hanging out, all kinds of people used to be around that school man, I was raised on them oldies man, I was raised on so much good music you just wouldn't believe man, and I love every aspect of music, it's not just Soul, Funk, R&B, I love that .... but, there was something about Country, certain Country songs, certain alternative songs, rock, I was into it all. And that's one thing you need to say about Pac man, was that his ear was wide open for all that kinds of stuff, cause me and him were getting into all those kinds of artists, and he was going to write the lyrics and I was going to produce the music. It wasn't just going to be rap, I'll tell you that. That was going to blow everybody's mind, everybody was going to be like, wait a minute, what is Pac doing, and we were going that route man, we were still going to do the rap ...., but we were going to work on every aspect of music. You name it, we were going to do it. Believe that. You know what I mean, no Devil worship music, but some good music.
HitEmUp.com ~ : Alright, well we gotta get into the new album here. (Ok). First off, is there a release date?
Johnny J ~ : There is no release date, I have no release date, because for one thing I can tell you about the music business, don't ever go by anything someone tells you about when something is going to be released, because it's usually not the truth. You may see it in a magazine, and that may be right but, don't go by word of mouth cause, there is no release date yet.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Any idea when?
Johnny J ~ A: Not really dude, it was originally an early this year release date, like it was really, honestly last year November, 2001, like November release, then they put that on hold, then it was going to be the beginning of this year, so we're still going into what April now, March is about over with, so, we're still dude, it's hard to say man. There is no release date yet, cause there's all this stuff that's going on right now, there's documentaries, there's so much stuff going on with Tupac and you know there kind of putting things on hold and, making sure everything is game planned right.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Is there a confirmed name for the album?
Johnny J ~ A: No, not yet dude, when I was working on it, no confirmed name, everybody was still up in the air as far as the title of the album.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What were some of the titles they were throwing around?
Johnny J ~ A: Well, really, to be honest with you there really was none thrown around, I didn't get asked the question like, what is this album going to be called. So, Afeni didn't even really have a name, nobody really had a name dude, we're looking at each other, listening to certain cuts like, is it going to be this song, is it going to be titled after this record, but I don't even think they were going to title it after any song. I think it was going to be some totally different title that had nothing to do with any songs on the album. But man, no titles yet, none that hit my way yet. You know, I can keep you posted on one thing, I can update you on a song I did with him and Ronald Isley, so get ready for that one. Ronald Isley is Mr. Big from the Isley Brothers.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What about a tracklisting?
Johnny J ~A : No, I don't, you mean do I have anything like that? (Yeah). No, no I don't.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Ok, what songs can you tell us that will be on it?
Johnny J ~ A: You know what man, I want to keep that as far as on a secret level, because I want you guys to be blown away when that stuff hits you man.
HitEmUp.com ~ : Your not giving us anything on the album, c'mon give us something.
Johnny J ~ : I can't, just being real with you man. I'm being real with you. I'll put it to you this way, there's a song called Better Days coming, look out for that one.
HitEmUp.com ~ : And Mama's Just a Little Girl.
Johnny J ~ : Well you know, you know pretty much some of the titles I mean you know some of the history.
HitEmUp.com ~ : I know some of the titles, I wanna know all of the titles.
Johnny J ~ : That stuff is coming, I don't have the titles in front of me but your definitely going to be hearing that coming.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Ok, what about They Don't Give a .... About Us.
Johnny J ~ A: Uh, that one is definitely coming.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Is it going to be remixed or?
Johnny J ~ A: That one, I can tell you one thing. You know that's my record that I produced. Be ready for a surprise because, there's some stuff that I ended up doing to it that's going to be nice, that your going to dig, you know what I'm saying, so it's not screwed up or ruined or anything like that, it's raw and ready to go man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : What about Soon as I Get Home?
Johnny J ~ A : Um, you know what, on that one, I couldn't answer your question about that one.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : It's going to be on the album then though?
Johnny J ~ A : I'm not sure, that's the one I really don't know. Hard to say on that one.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : What about, Play Your Cards Right?
Johnny J ~ A : That one, I know, that one I think is going to be held back, Play Your Cards right, that may be one that doesn't come out just yet. See that's what I'm saying, it's so mixed up dude that it's hard to say what's going, you know what's coming and what's not coming, because you gotta be ready for all this, there's greatest, there's more greatest hits coming, and then you got, almost like anthology albums, we got all kinds of stuff coming on Tupac, box sets, I mean there's a load of stuff coming man. Piles and piles of material. Unreleased stuff, bonus stuff, I mean just a gang of .... man. You know, featuring some hot mother....as, some hot artists, all kinds of stuff. A lot of Tupac and not, so many of the you know featured guests so. Get ready for the majority of it to be a Tupac thing, not just all these people on it. (That's good). You'll get some of these guest, but don't, I don't want you thinking ahh ...., ....'s just going to be a little Pac and a lot of these new ass mother....as that had nothing to do with Tupac, nothing like that. And that's one thing I wanted to say that I was excited about this album coming, that it's not a lot of that crap.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Who is going to make guest appearances?
Johnny J ~ A : Yeah, it's ok to have a few of them but we don't need everybody in the God damn music industry on Tupac. You know, not like that.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Who is going to make guest appearances?
Johnny J ~ A : Well look forward to hearing the Outlawz which is Pac's camp, but the other people, there's no, no known singers or anything like that yet, cause honestly with the way I was working, I was trying to keep it from being that celebrity thing you know what I'm saying. The thing with that Ronald Isley that I did, that was something that was meant to be, so when you hear that record man, that came together cause that was meant to happen. You know with Mr. Big on the song that I did with Tupac, that was a meant to be thing. But there's really no known people I mean, just people I would say, hey I like your voice, come on in, and sing for me, I like the way you do this, you know, come on and do this part for me, that's pretty much how it works man, to be honest with you.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : The song Street Life, what are the chances of it being released.
Johnny J ~ A : Street Life, I don't know about that one either man. That one's up in the air. See you naming songs that are still up in the air right now.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Ok, what song's aren't up in the air right now?
Johnny J ~ A : See I uh, I can't, I don't have a list my friend. You gotta remember that.
HitEmUp.com ~: Heh heh, alright.
Johnny J ~: See what Johnny J does, I do my thing and then I jump on the plane and I leave, I head home. I see that stuff when it comes out man. You know, you just make sure, you know, one thing I don't like is people getting these records and what they were doing was bootlegging the hell out of them, man. Oh I hated that. We got something for they ass though, cause we got some raw, raw .... coming that nobody has on bootlegs, so get ready for that.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Are the songs going to be highly remixed?
Johnny J ~ A : No, not as much as they did on Until The End of Time, hell no, you know, there's about 16 cuts on that album that's mine, a lot of it was remixed by whoever, this and that, it's like, if you really listen thoroughly to the album you can hear the Johnny J production, of of, me you know doing my thing on Tupac compared to someone ....ing the record up doing a ....ty ass remix, so, I'll put it to you like that. I have no problem saying that because, some mother....ers know how to .... a record up, so, the best, my best advice is sometimes leave .... alone, if it ain't broke don't fix it, that's my attitude, but every time you hear something produced by Johnny J, if you listen to it, thoroughly you can tell the fans, they know, when it's a Johnny J sound, they like, this is Johnny J. Compared to somebody remixing. (Definitely). I don't, to me I kept this .... sounding so raw, so Tupac you know, every time somebody come out with something it's me and Pac, no one's touched it, nobody's remixed it to me man the records work better, the chemistry is there, it's just like Dre and Snoop. You know, if you .... with that chemistry, you can see how that worked in the past, so it's like, you do that .... to Tupac you can see exactly what happenes to his record. People can appreciate his lyrics but they'll be like the music is ....ed up. They don't like the .... that someone did to it. And if they heard the original off the bootleg or some ...., and then they listen to this raggedy ass remix, they'll be like ...., the bootlegs sound better. You know, so like I said, a lot of this stuff that I just worked on this album, that I did is the real deal .... that you need to be hearing, with Tupac, the way it's supposed to be sounding.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Alright, well you been the person behind so much Tupac music, and you've managed to stay relatively out of the public eye, so we're happy to have the opportunity to talk to you. Definitely want to talk about the upcoming album, we'll get to that in a bit (OK), for now, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself and production background.
Johnny J ~ A: Well I've been around for 15 years professionally, my first hit was a song called Knocking Boots by an artist by the name of Candyman, I don't know if anybody remembers but uh, it was a sic, sic song, it was a smash, that was back in 90-91, and from that song on down it's been uh, a hell of a ride for me, a roller coaster ride, but it's been a heck of a ride for me. So, I been doing that you know man, and when I hit Tupac, it was unbelievable you know what I'm saying? So, I've been working with everybody man, from Pac to Jon B to you name it man, Mark Wahlberg, I mean the list goes on and on.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Yeah, you worked with Nate and Kci and JoJo as well right?
Johnny J ~ A: Kci and Jojo, uh, pretty much everybody at Deathrow, and when Pac ended up going over to Deathrow I basically worked with everybody, Snoop all of them, I mean the whole thing, the whole nine, a lotta songs are not out yet, you know, there's a lot of unreleased stuff, that I'm sure you guys will run into anyway, but there's a load of material coming out.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Where were you born?
Johnny J ~ A: I was born in Waters, Mexico, raised in South Central Los Angeles. That's where I come from, a lot of people were like, man, are you Italian or what? But I was like, no I'm Mexican, everybody thought I was from New York or something, they thought I was Puerto Rican, Italian, they just called me everything so, I'm originally born in Mexico.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: You did some rapping as well yourself didn't you?
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah, yeah, I gave it a shot. I was like, well I had done so much music man, being around all the rappers and all the singers I had worked with I was like, well let me go ahead and try something for a little bit. It was a fun thing to do, I had a ball doing it you know.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: You released a couple albums in '94/95 right?
Johnny J ~ A: Um, well I only released one album which was, um, um, it was a solo album I did called I gotta be me.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: The second one was a single right wasn't it?
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah, right, the single was called "Digging Em Out." (Yeah that's it) Yeah, which was like a Miami cut, you know which was you know the booty shaking music. So all my songs were like on the sexual tip and you know, a bunch of fun, it was just about having a good time that's all I dealt with was just good times in my music.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: There's a rumor that you did a Tupac tribute song as well.
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah I did, I did a tribute man and that's soon to be coming out, there's just so much stuff that's been in the can, ready to be born man, you know what I'm saying, so there's a lot of stuff but it's a beautiful tribute man, that you guys will love. You'll fall in love with it, when you know, it comes your way.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: And what's the name of that?
Johnny J ~ Q: That one is, as a matter of fact I have a couple of them, but um, there's another one, I don't want to tell you yet, but it's kinda scary, you'll think it's Tupac doing his own tribute. So, I don't know, I just wanna keep that one as a surprise, when I played it to people, they thought Tupac did his own tribute. (Really?). So, kinda eerie you know, but when you hear it, it'll kinda scare you a little bit, and I wasn't looking for a Tupac replica or a sound-a-like, it just so happened that the guy just sound like him. So I was like, well, let me try this and see how this works.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Well you getting people interested in that now. (Exactly). Any idea when we can expect that?
Johnny J ~ A: Uh, what the tribute? (Yeah, definitely). Oh man, you know, me and QD were just talking about that just a couple days ago, and I have no idea what day or what month it's going to be released, but it'll be out this year. (OK). Before the end of this year it'll be coming your way.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: So how did you hook up with Pac?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, we hooked up at a time, he was filming Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson, and I was working on some other stuff with a guy by the name of Big Syke from Thuglife. Pac was putting together a group called Thuglife, but Syke was working on a solo album, an independant album that I was producing, and it just so happened that Syke and Pac talked or something and Pac was like oh man I'd love to meet the guy who did your beat. And Syke was like, that's Johnny J, and the next thing I know he made the connection, I ended up meeting up with Pac at Echo Sounds, which is near Glendale and um, man we hit it off ever since and we started the new Thuglife album. And I did like 7 cuts in like 3 days. So we just started dumping them, that's where Pour Out a Little Liquor came from, Death around the Corner. Originally those songs were supposed to be on Thuglife, but then they were going on Poetic Justice but we ended up swinging that stuff to Above the Rim. Pour Out a Little Liquor became the first cut that me and Pac did, that was like you know, the debut of our relationship getting started.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What was your relationship with Tupac like?
Johnny J ~ A: Ahh man, it was like, it was unbelievable man it's hard to explain, if you wanna call it like the LA and Babyface vibe or whatever man, he was the lyrical aspect I was the musical side. You know, it was like my music needed his lyrics, his lyrics needed my music, and it was like, a marriage man that was needed, it was like I'd heard stuff before that people did on him before, I wasn't too impressed with the music, I mean, I'll give credit where credit is due but a lot of it was garbage to me. I didn't like the music, you know what I mean, but as he and I carried on and worked and kept going it was like man, the songs were coming out better, I mean to me, the material was much better man. I mean, it shows on the albums, I mean I'm sure you heard them before, and you know I'm just saying you know, we hit it off man, it was on. When he got locked up, you know, after, you know before Death Row, we hooked up man as soon as he got out of jail man, after that crap he dealt with that rape case, man it was just on man, we just dumped songs one after another man. About 5-6 songs a day. You know what I mean, and we kept going. That's when All Eyez on Me got started, and all that stuff man, even when he was locked up, Death Around the Corner was on Me Against the World, I mean songs were just coming man, and it was cool. I was pretty happy and pleased man, that when he got out of jail it was the first thing, what he did was call me, and that felt good you know, he said, Johnny J, I'm over at Deathrow, c'mon man, we got a album to do. And, believe it or not, the first cut to that track, was the title song All Eyez On Me, and that was the very first song I recorded, which became the title of the album. So that was kind of a strange thing to so, it worked out man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Was your relationship more professional, friendship, or both? How would you describe it?
Johnny J ~ A: To me man, we kept it professional, you know what I mean, we didn't, we you know all the partying and hanging out and going to clubs, and all that, that wasn't me and his thing, me and his thing was like man we're going to do our thing in the studio. So it was like, that was our home dude, that's where me and him lived, we turned into mad scientists, it was like nobody could mess with us man, you know you couldn't .... with me and Pac when we were in the studio. We could have 50-60 people looking at us working man, we were like, they were blocked out, we'd just be doing what we had to do. It was a professional relationship to be honest with you man, totally professional.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What was a regular day in the studio with you and Tupac like?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, a regular day man was like hey meet up, we're going to eat, that's the first thing we'd do you know, is get our grub on, and um I'd walk in there with ready to go beats man, and ready to go songs and start dumping them and he'd go right into the notes. Right on the spot, a lot of people thought he pre-wrote lyrics and he had all this stuff set, planned. Nothing was planned man, it was just spontaneous you know what I'm saying, so that's a real deal thing. He was right there ready to go, as soon as I dropped the beat he was writing the lyrics.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: As far as the production of the song and that sort of thing, how was Tupac as a producer or a co-producer?
Johnny J ~ A: Well you know, I'm the producer, and, ? co-produce with me, just like I said, he was the lyrical side so, it was unbelievable man, like I said me and him were just tight dope arrangers. He knew how to arrange lyrics, I know how to arrange music, so, like I said, when I dropped the beats he knew exactly what to drop on the words. And that's something I can say that, made me happy, I didn't feel like I was wasting my music on the wack ass lyrics or whatever, and he came with subjects that made sense, you know what I mean. I mean he mixed a whole bunch of subjects into one song. Cause Pac wouldn't stay with one thing sometimes he would talk about sex, gangs this that, thugs, whatever, the streets, what's going on, all in one cut. It's like if you listen to how do you want it he doesn't stay on one thing, he talks about a whole bunch of things. (Right). So, that's one thing that was dope about him man, you never knew what would come out that man's mouth man. And that's what was tight, so. Like I said, we put it down together.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Is there something that you can tell us about Tupac, or something that he told you, that most Tupac fans don't know.
Johnny J ~ A: Ah man, oh my God, there's so much dude. For one thing dude a lot of people may not know that it shows on the song How Do U Want It, it says produced by Johnny J and you see produced by Johnny J and Tupac for NonStop Productions when we did the song HitEmUp. But one thing that a lot of people didn't know is that me and him were going to form our own production company, which was me and him. And we were going to do our thing from R&B, to Pop music, to you name it man, we were even looking forward to getting down with Alanis Morrisette, definitely trying to get down with Mary J. Blidge, and there was a whole bunch of stuff about to go down. And this is not long before he died, I mean there was artists that we were trying to go with, to lock up with that you just wouldn't even believe. Even if it was country, we were going to go for it, we were going to do it all. One thing that a lot of people didn't know is that we were getting ready to form our own production company, which was called NonStop Productions. That's a name that I came up with, cause Pac was like Johnny, c'mon man, come up with a production name and lets just form our own thing. I was like, alright, and that was the name of it, NonStop Productions. So if you check the credits for some of the songs, you'll see produced by Johnny J and Tupac for NonStop Productions. So that'll show you the proof right there. That's something a lot of people didn't know.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Do you know anything about Tupac's plans to possibly leave Deathrow?
Johnny J ~ A: No, none of that man, cause we were on just a nice consistent flow of just knocking out songs man so, he never discussed things like around me, we just never talked about things like that, our thing was just constantly creating, knocking out cuts, making hit records, none of that stuff was even discussed with me and him so, I didn't know nothing about it so, I don't know what was jumping off with that. And that was about it on that one man, cause .. I don't really know, we never really got involved in talking about that stuff. He was excited, and we were just, like I said, knocking out albums man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Why do you think Tupac was so motivated in the studio?
Johnny J ~ A: I would say man, just a lot of stuff to release, man, I mean there was a lot on his chest you know, and I felt, and that's one thing me and dude had in common is that I had a lot of stuff on my chest, a lot of things on my mind, a lot of things on his mind, we kinda like, I don't know man, we just we kind of understood each other, we were on the same page, and the man had a whole lot of .... to get off his mind man and it felt good for me to release and set it off musically and even though I didn't go in there and do the lyrics or whatever but I felt like he was speaking for me and him so, that's one thing I can say, it felt good. We had a lot in common, I'll put it to you that way. And I found out that I was adopted when I was working on All Eyez on Me, and I was like, you know, in my twenties, I'm 32 now, finding out some last minute .... that I was adopted, you know I didn't trip on it it wasn't nothing like that drove me ....ing wild, I told Tupac, I took him to the side and I said dude I just found out that I'm adopted, I didn't even know that. And Pac was like, man don't even trip on it you know, he was like dude, .... it man, lets just move on it's just, .... he was even telling me like man, I don't even really no my pops man, or whatever, he was like dude, lets just not even let that .... .... with us, lets just concentrate on this album and finish up. So that kept me strong you know what I mean, to find out some news about being adopted you know, we had that conversation. But it didn't trip me out, you know, like I said, stay strong and the music kept me going, and I'm above all that .... anyway, it was irrelevant, I feel like I served a purpose on this planet, so if I'm adopted or whatever, wherever I came from, I know I served a purpose in this music industry. (Alright). And Tupac and me were an unbelievable duo, Batman and Robin, so, that was us.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: The music that Tupac left behind, do you think he intended it to be released, or, was some of it studio scraps?
Johnny J ~ A: Na man, of course that stuff was intended to be released. Even though I seen things like that in magazines, that it was just stuff thrown together and messing around, man that stuff was definitely meant to be released. If we went in there and jotted a few ideas down, one thing about me and him we would go back in and retouch up things, and he'd leave the studio and I'd finish doing the last minute touch ups, or whatever, if we wanted to get some guest artists, you know, we'd find whatever we needed, any guest rappers, singers, you know, we didn't have, during that time period the Outlawz were just getting their thing going you know, he had just started the Outlawz (Yeah). So, we had all kinds of .... in the works man, a whole lot going, I mean Thuglife, there was a bunch of .... ready to come back out, so, it was like one big family reunion dude, but it just felt good when we were doing our music. But there was not .... like, we just through it together, it was just scraps, no, why the .... would get put it on tape, Pac was known to put .... on tape because he had to get it off his chest. You know, we didn't go into the studio and say, we just want to go in here and play, just to play around, and if you hear any of that ...., that's bull...., so I wouldn't believe that, not when I was working with him, I know I didn't bull.... with him and he didn't bull.... with me, so, if he did that with other producers, maybe that's something I'll say, but I know when me and him did music, we didn't play around, so I'll put it to you that way. I can't speak for anybody else, so, but I can speak for me and him, so if you wanna write that down and quote that, you can quote that. If somebody did scraps with him, maybe that's scraps to them, but not scraps with me and him, put it to you like that. That makes more sense.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: How would you describe Tupac in the studio in the last couple days?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, it was just, party atmosphere, you know, excited and happy, we were already pumped about debuting at #1 with All Eyez on Me, I mean we're on this motivational high, we were on a natural high 24/7. There were times when me and him would work until the sun came up, both, he'd be sleeping on the sofa or something, we'd pass out and go to sleep and the music would still be playing man. I mean that's how we were man, we were just on this natural high man, like he couldn't take us down. And it was like dude, here we go, we're getting ready to kick the industries ass! And getting ready to show exactly what it's about, to make hit records. I mean there were songs that we put out that we didn't even finalize, we didn't even mix, they came out not even mixed and blew up as hits, just like the song called Never had a Friend like me from the movie Gridlock'd soundtrack. That was an unfinished, non-mixed song, the lyrics were finished and the music was finished, but the mix wasn't finalized. So that's a lot of .... that people don't know, so I mean that's a trip that that song came out the way it did, and became you know, a hell of a hit on there. Soundtrack went gold, so it blew up man. So that was it.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What was the last track you produced with Tupac?
Johnny J ~ A: You know what, towards the end dude we were finishing up tracks like Unconditional Luv, I'm sure you remember that one. (Definitely). Which is on the Greatest Hits. And uh, we were doing that, ahh there was a cut that Jon B had that was called Are You Still Down, which is a Jon B song featuring Tupac, which went platinum, it was a platinum single for Jon B. That was originally a song for Tupac, but we ended up making it happen where it became a Jon B record. Cause I ended up meeting Jon B at the How Do U Want It video shoot. Uh, Jon B was like who did your beats man, who produced that, and Pac was like pointing at me like, that's the man right there, and we ended up hooking up man, and that song became a platinum single called Are U Still Down.
HitEmUp.com : Yeah it's coming out, his Greatest Hits is actually named after that title song, it's coming out later this month.
Johnny J ~: Right, right. Oh man, there was a load of stuff coming, as far as me knowing any other, I mean I know titles in my brain of just so many songs I worked on dude it would be a long list of songs man. And we, we ended up going out of town, knocking songs out, I mean we did all kinds of records. So get ready for this stuff, it's got a load of stuff on there, I mean it is hits, hit after hit. It's not thrown together, it's not like oh what the hell is this, you know what I mean, it doesn't sound rushed or anything like that, so it's like we really took our time on this ...., and it sounds good, your going to like it.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: When did you last speak with Tupac?
Johnny J ~ A: Oh man, that was like, I don't even have the date man, it was just so crazy because, I ended up doing those last couple cuts that I mentioned to you, I was taking care of some other business, and not long after that was when I get the ....ing craziest news that you know he gets shot, he was shot in Las Vegas. You know, I'm at my wife's class reunion, I'm over in ....ing Pasadena, and I get a call from Big Syke man, did you know that Pac got shot. I'm like, what? .... just came out of no where man, it was wild. The crazy thing was like, I probably would have left and went out there, me and my wife we would have went out there and had a good time with him, I guess it just wasn't meant for me to go, know what I mean? And our last conversation was like, we were going to go into the studio, but we ended up going into the studio and not long after that, that's when that .... happened man, he was in Vegas and he got shot. Just, out of the ....ing blue. And I couldn't believe it man. And I ended up going out there man, which was the 13th, which was the day he died, oh man, I was right there dude, I was like at the hospital, I didn't go inside the actual room or nothing like that, but when I arrived, 15-20 minutes later dude, next thing I heard on the radio, just after talking to his mom, and she said, he's going to be ok baby, he's going to be ok, and I was like, I know he is, he always, we, we know he's a survivor. Man, we jumped in the car to get a ....ing burger or something, man, and they're like, Tupac is dead, he's gone. Pulling out of the hospital driveway, and it was just the craziest ...., I couldn't believe it. And that just blew my whole ....ing mind away.
HitEmUp.com ~: I couldn't believe it either, I was just expecting him to have more stuff to talk about in his music you know.
Johnny J ~ A: Yeah, we were finishing up all these songs, and we had been, All Eyez on Me was already kicking ass, and we were already working on another album, because as soon as All Eyez on Me was released, Pac, we had about a 3 day intermission dude. We took a break, so I was thinking we were going to take about a week, 2 weeks off, we're just going to party maybe have a good time. Man he called me about 3 days later, 2 days later, after finishing All Eyez on Me, said we're going back into the studio, I was like what the .... are we doing now? Man, we're going to work on some more ..... I'm like well .... it, lets go. When we started, we just kept dumping man, that's why all those songs are done man. We were still working after All Eyez on Me was released. People thought we took, you know an intermission, a break, we didn't take no breaks, there was never a break, you know he didn't believe in breaks, we both didn't man, he called me Captain Kirk, that was like my nickname, and then he called me Heiny Hay, all kinds of, Tito Quentez, man, he called me all kinds of stuff man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What about the Cuban Militant?
Johnny J ~ Q: Man, he, he had all these crazy nicknames for me, cause I was this Mexican guy with all this soul, and stuff, and he was like, you are a Mexican who has a hell of a lot of soul man, I was like thanks man, that was like my upbringing, where I come from, since you asked me that question earlier about where I came from, I was born in Mexico, raised in South Central, and went to Washington Highschool, that's where like a whole bunch of us went man, there's a lot of people that came out of that school. Yo yo went there, you know, ?, Cube used to come up there hanging out, all kinds of people used to be around that school man, I was raised on them oldies man, I was raised on so much good music you just wouldn't believe man, and I love every aspect of music, it's not just Soul, Funk, R&B, I love that .... but, there was something about Country, certain Country songs, certain alternative songs, rock, I was into it all. And that's one thing you need to say about Pac man, was that his ear was wide open for all that kinds of stuff, cause me and him were getting into all those kinds of artists, and he was going to write the lyrics and I was going to produce the music. It wasn't just going to be rap, I'll tell you that. That was going to blow everybody's mind, everybody was going to be like, wait a minute, what is Pac doing, and we were going that route man, we were still going to do the rap ...., but we were going to work on every aspect of music. You name it, we were going to do it. Believe that. You know what I mean, no Devil worship music, but some good music.
HitEmUp.com ~ : Alright, well we gotta get into the new album here. (Ok). First off, is there a release date?
Johnny J ~ : There is no release date, I have no release date, because for one thing I can tell you about the music business, don't ever go by anything someone tells you about when something is going to be released, because it's usually not the truth. You may see it in a magazine, and that may be right but, don't go by word of mouth cause, there is no release date yet.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Any idea when?
Johnny J ~ A: Not really dude, it was originally an early this year release date, like it was really, honestly last year November, 2001, like November release, then they put that on hold, then it was going to be the beginning of this year, so we're still going into what April now, March is about over with, so, we're still dude, it's hard to say man. There is no release date yet, cause there's all this stuff that's going on right now, there's documentaries, there's so much stuff going on with Tupac and you know there kind of putting things on hold and, making sure everything is game planned right.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Is there a confirmed name for the album?
Johnny J ~ A: No, not yet dude, when I was working on it, no confirmed name, everybody was still up in the air as far as the title of the album.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What were some of the titles they were throwing around?
Johnny J ~ A: Well, really, to be honest with you there really was none thrown around, I didn't get asked the question like, what is this album going to be called. So, Afeni didn't even really have a name, nobody really had a name dude, we're looking at each other, listening to certain cuts like, is it going to be this song, is it going to be titled after this record, but I don't even think they were going to title it after any song. I think it was going to be some totally different title that had nothing to do with any songs on the album. But man, no titles yet, none that hit my way yet. You know, I can keep you posted on one thing, I can update you on a song I did with him and Ronald Isley, so get ready for that one. Ronald Isley is Mr. Big from the Isley Brothers.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: What about a tracklisting?
Johnny J ~A : No, I don't, you mean do I have anything like that? (Yeah). No, no I don't.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Ok, what songs can you tell us that will be on it?
Johnny J ~ A: You know what man, I want to keep that as far as on a secret level, because I want you guys to be blown away when that stuff hits you man.
HitEmUp.com ~ : Your not giving us anything on the album, c'mon give us something.
Johnny J ~ : I can't, just being real with you man. I'm being real with you. I'll put it to you this way, there's a song called Better Days coming, look out for that one.
HitEmUp.com ~ : And Mama's Just a Little Girl.
Johnny J ~ : Well you know, you know pretty much some of the titles I mean you know some of the history.
HitEmUp.com ~ : I know some of the titles, I wanna know all of the titles.
Johnny J ~ : That stuff is coming, I don't have the titles in front of me but your definitely going to be hearing that coming.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q: Ok, what about They Don't Give a .... About Us.
Johnny J ~ A: Uh, that one is definitely coming.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Is it going to be remixed or?
Johnny J ~ A: That one, I can tell you one thing. You know that's my record that I produced. Be ready for a surprise because, there's some stuff that I ended up doing to it that's going to be nice, that your going to dig, you know what I'm saying, so it's not screwed up or ruined or anything like that, it's raw and ready to go man.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : What about Soon as I Get Home?
Johnny J ~ A : Um, you know what, on that one, I couldn't answer your question about that one.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : It's going to be on the album then though?
Johnny J ~ A : I'm not sure, that's the one I really don't know. Hard to say on that one.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : What about, Play Your Cards Right?
Johnny J ~ A : That one, I know, that one I think is going to be held back, Play Your Cards right, that may be one that doesn't come out just yet. See that's what I'm saying, it's so mixed up dude that it's hard to say what's going, you know what's coming and what's not coming, because you gotta be ready for all this, there's greatest, there's more greatest hits coming, and then you got, almost like anthology albums, we got all kinds of stuff coming on Tupac, box sets, I mean there's a load of stuff coming man. Piles and piles of material. Unreleased stuff, bonus stuff, I mean just a gang of .... man. You know, featuring some hot mother....as, some hot artists, all kinds of stuff. A lot of Tupac and not, so many of the you know featured guests so. Get ready for the majority of it to be a Tupac thing, not just all these people on it. (That's good). You'll get some of these guest, but don't, I don't want you thinking ahh ...., ....'s just going to be a little Pac and a lot of these new ass mother....as that had nothing to do with Tupac, nothing like that. And that's one thing I wanted to say that I was excited about this album coming, that it's not a lot of that crap.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Who is going to make guest appearances?
Johnny J ~ A : Yeah, it's ok to have a few of them but we don't need everybody in the God damn music industry on Tupac. You know, not like that.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Who is going to make guest appearances?
Johnny J ~ A : Well look forward to hearing the Outlawz which is Pac's camp, but the other people, there's no, no known singers or anything like that yet, cause honestly with the way I was working, I was trying to keep it from being that celebrity thing you know what I'm saying. The thing with that Ronald Isley that I did, that was something that was meant to be, so when you hear that record man, that came together cause that was meant to happen. You know with Mr. Big on the song that I did with Tupac, that was a meant to be thing. But there's really no known people I mean, just people I would say, hey I like your voice, come on in, and sing for me, I like the way you do this, you know, come on and do this part for me, that's pretty much how it works man, to be honest with you.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : The song Street Life, what are the chances of it being released.
Johnny J ~ A : Street Life, I don't know about that one either man. That one's up in the air. See you naming songs that are still up in the air right now.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Ok, what song's aren't up in the air right now?
Johnny J ~ A : See I uh, I can't, I don't have a list my friend. You gotta remember that.
HitEmUp.com ~: Heh heh, alright.
Johnny J ~: See what Johnny J does, I do my thing and then I jump on the plane and I leave, I head home. I see that stuff when it comes out man. You know, you just make sure, you know, one thing I don't like is people getting these records and what they were doing was bootlegging the hell out of them, man. Oh I hated that. We got something for they ass though, cause we got some raw, raw .... coming that nobody has on bootlegs, so get ready for that.
HitEmUp.com ~ Q : Are the songs going to be highly remixed?
Johnny J ~ A : No, not as much as they did on Until The End of Time, hell no, you know, there's about 16 cuts on that album that's mine, a lot of it was remixed by whoever, this and that, it's like, if you really listen thoroughly to the album you can hear the Johnny J production, of of, me you know doing my thing on Tupac compared to someone ....ing the record up doing a ....ty ass remix, so, I'll put it to you like that. I have no problem saying that because, some mother....ers know how to .... a record up, so, the best, my best advice is sometimes leave .... alone, if it ain't broke don't fix it, that's my attitude, but every time you hear something produced by Johnny J, if you listen to it, thoroughly you can tell the fans, they know, when it's a Johnny J sound, they like, this is Johnny J. Compared to somebody remixing. (Definitely). I don't, to me I kept this .... sounding so raw, so Tupac you know, every time somebody come out with something it's me and Pac, no one's touched it, nobody's remixed it to me man the records work better, the chemistry is there, it's just like Dre and Snoop. You know, if you .... with that chemistry, you can see how that worked in the past, so it's like, you do that .... to Tupac you can see exactly what happenes to his record. People can appreciate his lyrics but they'll be like the music is ....ed up. They don't like the .... that someone did to it. And if they heard the original off the bootleg or some ...., and then they listen to this raggedy ass remix, they'll be like ...., the bootlegs sound better. You know, so like I said, a lot of this stuff that I just worked on this album, that I did is the real deal .... that you need to be hearing, with Tupac, the way it's supposed to be sounding.
