Mr. Complex is truly a multifaceted emcee who lives up to his name. Not only has he been a solo emcee and part of a group (Polyrhythm Addicts), he is a filmmaker, a scriptwriter, label owner, and even a creator of a hip-hop game show. While working with Shabaam Sahdeeq, Apani B Fly Emcee and DJ Spinna on the Polyrhythm Addicts project, Mr. Complex has been released a myriad of singles on many different underground labels. After all of these years in the underground, Mr. Complex is now seriously putting his career into high gear. He just released “Hold This Down” on his own CoreCords Records and 7 Heads and just put out an EP by his protégé, E Dot. I had a long, in-depth conversation with the very complicated, Mr. Complex.

T.JONES: “How are you doing?”
MR. COMPLEX:  “Good. I’m getting ready for a lot of things. I’m going to Cali on Thursday. I’ve been working on American Idol for a couple of weeks too. I don’t know if you know about all the things I do but I’m going out there to poly some scripts, polly my game show ‘Hip To The Game’.”

T.JONES: “I heard you had a game show. Tell me about it.”
MR. COMPLEX: “It’s a hip-hop game show called ‘Hip To The Game’. The first pilot I did was in 1999. I’ve been talking to a whole lot of people and everybody gets excited over it. It’s real catered to the authentic and classic hip-hop…. Not the commercial stuff that’s going on now. I first did it as an outlet to get a lot of independent artists seen and heard and who didn’t have the budget. I’m wanna be like those old jazz cats in the early 70’s who become old men and still tour the world. It’s hard to really make a lot of money so I’ve been trying to think of other ways to get heard through film and TV. That’s where the game show idea came from. I have a category called ‘I Be The MC’ where I quote lyrics and drop a needle on a record. Another is lyrical trivia. For example, in the song ‘Talk Like Sex’, how much did Kool G Rap weigh? I didn’t want to do regular trivia. I was hosting it because I created it and it’s hard to find someone to do it who knows everything.”

T.JONES: “Your new album is called ‘Hold This Down’. Tell us about it and why is it called that?”
MR. COMPLEX: “I’ve been dropping 12 inches since 1995. In 95 and the early 90’s, everyone was independent, trying to get to that major label level. Nobody wanted to stay independent. Those independent labels ended up blowing up to be majors. You can only have so many major labels going on though. So, people got hip and stopped waiting to be signed. In 95, there was that split to the indie world was a whole different world than that commercial world. It’s a different sound, a different taste in music. So, I still wasn’t thinking that I would always be independent. I was dropping a single on this label, dropping a single on my own label (Corecords), on Rawkus, and on a whole bunch of other little labels. 5 years went by and I didn’t have an album out but I had like 7 singles out and a number of collaborations on other people’s things. I was still sitting on 30 songs. So, I put out ‘The Complex Catalog’ album to familiarize people with the singles and I added a few songs that I did those years ago that were tight but were never released. I got a new album coming called ‘Twisted Mister’ that I want to drop that has real heavy joints. Now, I’m still sitting on a bunch of songs. So, I started to think that this independent way was going to be the way. I wanted to get an album out of the songs that are only a couple of years old that I have been sitting on that were still phat. The ‘Hold This Down’ album means just hold this for now. It’s a pre-requisite album.”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite song on ‘Hold This Down’?
MR. COMPLEX: “I like ‘Everybody Everywhere’ for what I did in that song. That came when we were doing Polyrhythm Addicts. That was done in 2 weeks. We sat down with Spinna and he gave us the sample. He didn’t give us the beat. So, he gave us them to write. While we were writing, we had a beat planned. Apani was in the corner writing and Shabaam Sahdeeq was in the corner writing, and I was writing too. We were practicing our rhymes and there were moments where you heard all of us rhyming at the same time. It was crazy to me. So, I wanted to do a song where I was rhyming and where someone else began rhyming, blending up and down. I like the way it came out.”

T.JONES: “How did you hook up with Polyrhythm Addicts for the ‘Rhyme Related’ project?”
MR. COMPLEX: “When I did my first record, I met DJ Spinna. When I did ‘Visualize’ and ‘Why Don’t Cha?’ in 97, I needed someone to do some ad-libs so I thought of Apani because I would see her all the time. Every time I did a show or a radio show, I would see Shabaam Sahdeeq. So, everyone was real humble and the community was real tight. I wanted to do a posse cut song because I never did one at that time. So, I called Shabaam and Apani and L The Headtucha and FT. L The Headtucha and FT never showed but Apani and Shabaam did. I was on Rawshak, this indie label and I wanted to leave because I saw how badly J-Live was being treated. Search had control of everything like Nas and OC. It was a production deal. So, I left but I wanted this song but I had to use a fake name. So, I came up with Polyrhythm Addicts. We put ‘Not Your Ordinary’ out on a Japanese compilation. Then, when I gave it to Nervous for their compilation, they wanted us to use it as a single and to do another song. We did ‘Rhythm Revolution’, the remix. Nervous Records were like ‘We got the money, wanna do more songs?’. We were like ‘F*ck yeah!’”

T.JONES: “Shabaam Sahdeeq is in jail. Have you heard from him?”
MR. COMPLEX: “I haven’t talked to him but I’d like to.”

T.JONES: “Did you like the outcome of  the Polyrhythm Addicts for the ‘Rhyme Related’ project?
MR. COMPLEX: “Yeah, I was really excited. I wanted to do more but things didn’t work out.”

T.JONES: “What is the relationship like now with the Polyrhythm Addicts? Will there be another LP in the future?”
MR. COMPLEX: “No. I tried it one time before. I have a song with them that is not released. It’s the ‘Bomb Threats (remix)’ with Apani and Shabaam but Spinna did not produce it.”

T.JONES: “What are some cds that are in your cd player right now?” 
MR. COMPLEX: “I don’t get to listen to sh*t. I just got a box of records yesterday. I like the new Large Professor album. As a matter of fact, I was with Large Professor about a month ago. We were in Holland and he played me his album.”

T.JONES: “You and DJ Spinna have been working together along time. How did you meet?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Through Rawshak. Spinna was at his house. He knew I did that song ‘Against The Grain’. He told me that he had beats and we just began recording.”

T.JONES: “What are some emcees or groups would you like to collaborate with in the future?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Dr. Dre. I am not crazy big with those collaborations. If I do it, I’m doing it on an artistic level. If I was making a painting and I needed blue in the painting, I would use it. I would need that person for the blue. I don’t want to do it just to sell records. On my next album, I have Biz Markie on there because the style of the song. I did some singing on it and it reminds me of Biz. I know a lot of emcees because I’ve been doing this music for a very long time and because of the people I run with. I know tons of cats when they were just 18 or 19 years old. I can call up people like Busta but things sometimes don’t work out mainly due to scheduling. I just saw Common the other day and I need him for a song I got called ‘Calm Down’. It’s all about scheduling.”

T.JONES: “What are some producers would you like to collaborate with in the future?”
MR. COMPLEX: “There are a lot of producers. Right now, I have to get my name back on time. There’s so much going on with the indie labels that people don’t pay attention to them as much. I’m suppose to go to Cali and get up with Dilated Peoples. I’m trying to get hooked up with Madlib. Hi-tek too. Every time I see DJ Premier, he’s favorite song is ‘Big Fronter’. I don’t know why. He always says ‘Ah man! That’s it!’. Some of these guys are really huge, as far as being busy. We want to work together even though that they know I don’t have the big money to give up.”

T.JONES: “Do you go into the studio with pre-written rhymes and themes or do you hear the beat first and write then and there?”
MR. COMPLEX: “I have 3 different tactics. First, it’s rare for me to have stuff pre-written nowadays. I could tell you that ‘Motion 2000’ was pre-written. It was written to a different beat and we switched it. Some songs, I free styled it and I wrote the lyrics down later. Lately, I’ve been going to the studio and writing the lyrics right there.”

T.JONES: “In your liner notes, you said that you are a huge fan of Richard Pryor. His voice is even sampled in the song ‘I’ma Killit’. What is your favorite Richard Pryor movie?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Movie? ‘Any Which Way Is Up’. Somebody asked me that and years ago, we were talking about records. People think I knew everything about Richard Pryor but I didn’t. I went on a hunt and found a lot of them. He has 25 records. It took me a few years but now I got em all. I like some just because they are rare. When I went to Germany, someone came to my show and had all of the Richard Pryor records with them since they knew I liked his records. He was like ‘Look! I have them all!’. I like going on the hunt in stores. It’s not fun when you go on the internet and order them all. It’s more fun when you are in South Carolina and you go into a store and find one.”

T.JONES: “What’s your favorite curse word?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Right now my daughter just did something. So, my favorite curse word is ‘Shit’.”

T.JONES: “How did you hook up with Pharoahe Monch with Polyrhythm Addicts and on ‘Divine Intervention’? What was it like working with him as an emcee? As a producer?”
MR. COMPLEX: “We went to the same high school. I met Prince Po first. He was right next to me in class. Prince Po’s personality is a lot different than mine. When I met Pharoahe Monch, I learned that his personality is very similar to mine. We can both rhyme about anything. He liked the things I like and we became cool friends. I learn a lot from him. He’s only a couple of years older but he always talks like he’s somebody’s father. He’s deep on philosophy. When it comes to music and lyrics and philosophy, he’s on some genius sh*t. He doesn’t push his production as much as he should. I had seen him at his house, chopping things up and making beats. A lot of stuff stays in the house and doesn’t get anywhere. He gets forgetful and sometimes lazy with it. On ‘Divine Intervention’, he didn’t even sample anything.”

T.JONES: “What does that woman sing in that song ‘Divine Intervention’?”
MR. COMPLEX: “She’s just crooning.”

T.JONES: “Married? Kids? Has being a husband or father affected your approach to hip-hop?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Yeah. It slowed me down. If I neglect them, they get mad. Now, I haven’t been writing for very long period of times, or going out as much as I want to but I feel I reached another level now. I don’t have time to play around. People say I do too much. But yo, I don’t watch TV. I don’t do a lot of things that I see a lot of people doing. Every time you see me, I’m on the phone or making moves.”

T.JONES: “How did you hook up with Punch and Words and what were they like?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Everybody in New York goes to the same club, goes to the same radio shows. I can’t even remember where or when I first met them.”

T.JONES: “Where did you grow up?”
MR. COMPLEX: “I started out in Queens and then moved to Rhode Island. Then, Ohio and Buffalo. I moved more than 17 times.”

T.JONES: “CoreCords is your own label. How and why did you set that up? What’s in store for the future of CoreCords?”
MR. COMPLEX: “In the early 90’s, I was running around with OC and Organized Konfusion and I had a manger. So, I was around a lot of commercial people. I was always in parties and I knew all of these people at labels. They always said ‘You’re dope but you’re too complex! You need to simplify your sh*t!’ I would always ask ‘What about Organized Konfusion?’ They weren’t selling but they got on a major label. Trying to make people believe that I could sell records was a hard thing. When I got into Unsigned Hype in The Source, my people told me that for one solid month I was going to be very popular. It was true for a month. I was sitting on a demo for a couple of years and doing shows. I hooked up with Rawkus when they were known as Raw Records. I was in their office with someone named Nine. He had a deep voice. After those months went by, I decided to press those demos up and give them to people. I wasn’t thinking of becoming a label. I only pressed 300 vinyl & 300 cassettes. I gave out 150. Someone called me and asked how many I had left. I sold 3,000 that week and sold 7,000. I still wasn’t thinking of doing my own label but used it for when I wanted to get something out. I sold ‘Stabbin You’ to Rawkus and they sat on it for 2 years. I put out ‘I’ma Killit’ because I wanted to put something out right away and Rawkus was sitting on my songs. If I had all of those records released on my own label, I would be so much bigger. Rawkus didn’t get behind my record. They put it out when they put out 5 other records like Mad Skillz, High And Mighty and Talib Kweli. When they sent the records to promotions, they actually sent a letter that told them just to concentrate on those 3 major singles and not mine. I understood why they did that because those artists had signed deals. I was pissed but it still sold 15,000 copies. They were shocked and they wanted more. They didn’t know about my networking overseas. So, I was like f*ck these labels! I’m going to start my own. I have an EP of this new artist called E Dot pressed up now. He was with me on my last tour.”

T.JONES: “You traveled all over the world. What city was the most memorable and why?”
MR. COMPLEX: “There’s a lot. I like London. For one, the people speak English. Also, they get all scientific with the hip-hop over there. I did some production over there for the next album. There are spots I like in Germany. I like it when the crowds wild out. I like seeing the most pit. It’s fun. It happens when I do songs like ‘Motion 2000’ and ‘Stabbin You’ and ‘I’ma Killit’. They go crazy. France is another wild out spot.”

T.JONES: “You have a degree from New York Film Academy? Are you working on any films now?”
MR. COMPLEX: “I have 2 scripts written for feature films. I shot a short film in 98. It’s about 30 minutes. I’m putting together this tour documentary of this tour I did with Non-Phixion in Europe. It’s called ‘Enter The Complex’. It’s like a spoof on ‘Enter The Dragon’. You know when Bruce Lee had to go to the island to fight in the tournament to stop drug activities or whatever? I have to go on an international tour in order to find a guy named Cookie Man who keeps on bootlegging my stuff. Cookie Man is played by El Fudge. That’s going to be crazy because I have all kinds of people in there and it’s mad funny. There’s a story but it’s also a tour documentary.”

T.JONES: “What was the last incident of racism that you experienced?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Well, when I lived in Buffalo I was 12 years old. I never felt racism like I did there ever. Never anywhere else. I don’t hear the N-word too much overseas but when I was young, I would walk down the street with my sister. These white kids playing with hockey sticks and sh*t would say sh*t like ‘Hey n*ggers! Do you want some grits?’ I never heard or felt racism like that before. After that, I can’t really pull any one incident up out of my head.”

T.JONES: “Where were you during the Sept. 11th Terrorist attack? How do you think the terrorist attack will affect the hip-hop nation?”
MR. COMPLEX: “I was in Brooklyn, living there. I was still asleep when it went down. I didn’t wake up until like 11-12 am. I got a call but the TVs weren’t working. One channel did. Afterwards, everyone got all humble. I realized that rap doesn’t really mean anything. You know? The sh*t doesn’t mean anything. People are rapping about killing and all that. They are acting like fools. It’s a business. I understand that but it’s still an art form. I want people to look back at times and feel something from the heart. When I go overseas, they always ask me that question. You know the worst sh*t? When I was in London, in some spot with one of the Beatnuts and Crossfader. In this store, this girl was helping me out. She said, ‘I was laughing when that happened.’ I said, ‘You were laughing? Why?’ She replied, ‘Because I’m Muslim.’ I said, ‘So what the f*ck does that have to do with anything? You don’t think that there were any Muslim people in that building?’ Crossphader, my DJ, his moms works in there. His girlfriend too. They both got out. This girl in London got me so mad that I felt like slapping the sh*t out of her in the store. How the f*ck are you going to say something like that? People died and you laughed!?! People were dying! People’s parents are dead. She said, ‘I wasn’t the only one who laughed.’ I couldn’t believe it. Her and her friends sat around and laughed like it was a good thing just because they were Muslim. I knew people who were in there but got out. If I knew someone personally who died in there, I probably would have broken that girl’s jaw.”

T.JONES: “Favorite alcoholic beverage?”
MR. COMPLEX: “I don’t really drink. If I do, it’ll be some girly drink. I like em cold.”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite drug?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Nah. I don’t even smoke cigarettes.”

T.JONES: “Word association time. I’m going to say the name of an emcee or group and you say the first word that comes to your head. So, if I said ‘Public Enemy’, you may say ‘revolution’. Okay?”
T.JONES: “Gangstarr”
MR. COMPLEX: “Bald head”
T.JONES: “Shabaam Sahdeeq”
MR. COMPLEX: “S Double”
T.JONES: “Pharoahe Monch”
MR. COMPLEX: “My man.”
T.JONES: “Artifacts”
MR. COMPLEX: “El Da Sensai”
T.JONES: “Jay-Z”
MR. COMPLEX: “Big lips.”
T.JONES: “Eminem”
MR. COMPLEX: “Rebel”
T.JONES: “Big L”
MR. COMPLEX: “Rest In Peace”
T.JONES: “Lil Kim”
MR. COMPLEX: “Eartha Kitt”
T.JONES: “Nelly”
MR. COMPLEX: “Who cares?”
T.JONES: “Phife Dawg”
MR. COMPLEX: “Lucky”
T.JONES: “Kool G Rap”
MR. COMPLEX: “Ill”
T.JONES: “Miles Davis”
MR. COMPLEX: “Jazz and smoke”
T.JONES: “Gil Scott Heron”
MR. COMPLEX: “Smoke”

T.JONES: "What advice do you have for up and coming emcees or artists in the music industry?”
MR. COMPLEX: “There are 2 reasons to do this. One is if your love it. Two is if you want to be a business man. You have to be a business man first but be creative. I’ve done a lot of stuff and some people think that I am bigger than what I am. I know people who are bigger that who they are. I think of how they do it. Be organized.”

T.JONES: “What can we expect from Mr. Complex in the future?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Trying to get a few more people on Corecords. I’m trying to get my new album ‘Twisted Mister’ out by February or March. I want people to see that I’m one of the illest on stage. I’m trying to get to that point where I’m doing shows everywhere in the states as much as I do overseas.”

T.JONES: “What do you want on your epitaph (your gravestone)?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Genius.”

T.JONES: “Any final words for the people who will read this?”
MR. COMPLEX: “Somebody help me! Goto mrcomplex.com. Log on the message board. Somebody help me!”

Thanks Mr. Complex!!!

“Hold This Down” is available everywhere on 7 Heads Entertainment: http://www.sevenheads.com

“The Complex Catalog” and his singles (along with “Thirsty” EP” by E-Dot) is available at http://www.mrcomplex.com

* Read my MVremix review of "Hold This Down" by Mr. Complex