Spyder-D Interview, part 2: Malpractice

...continued from part 1:

So you started doing stuff at West End Records as a producer because you were tied up contractually as an artist?

Right, due to disputes between Telstar and Vaugn, I couldn't record as an artist. If I had been able to follow "Smerphies" up right away, there's no tellin' what that would have been. But at the same time, I honed my craft as a producer which I'm grateful for.

But B+ was you, right? As an alias?

Yeah, that was me under a different name. I'm trying to think of why I came up with B+; there was some reason that it was chosen… Again, I kind of blocked that period out, and we were so getting weeded up at that time. I remember, it was something because we were talking about the record being called Vitamin C, so I said ok, I'll call myself B+. That was the thinking there. (Laughs)

I couldn't come out as Spyder-D. And so I couldn't put my vocals on there, so I said, ok, I'll put the vocoder on there, and that way they won't be able to say it's me. You know, you caught me in a good mood to reminisce… I'm remembering more than I normally do. Because I had a mental block on a lot of this stuff, man, because financially, a lot of it didn't really turn out right. A couple dollars up front, and then never seeing royalties later on, which is the case with all of these records, man! These record companies would sign you and you'd have to pry some front money out of their hand; and then they got the nerve to turn around and tell you they're not paying you another time afterward.

As a matter of fact, Ed Kushins, Mel's partner at West End Records, told me straight up one day - and I'll always respect him for this - you negro guys are dumb screw-ups. We're never going to pay you a dime for these records. And his reasoning was: you guys go out and do shows; we don't get any of that money. You couldn't do shows if we didn't put the record out. So y'all are not sharin' any of the show money… so almost like: you keep the money off the shows, we'll keep the money off the record. And my reply to him was: you know what? When I was writing that record, I don't remember you sittin' there with a pen in your hand. His whole thing was, if we're paying you any money up front, we're buying the master. And in his mind, you shouldn't receive another dime afterward, because we're gonna go out and market this record so you can do shows. And he was dead serious about that, too. But I always respected the fact that he looked me in the face and told me that. As opposed to stabbing me in the back and keeping the money, he told me: if you don't see no statements from us, this is why.

When I told Mel Cheren this a few years back, when we finally reconnected with each other, he told me he never realized that was Ed's attitude. Because Mel was more or less the guy that vibed with the artists and bought the record. Ed took over after that. He found out later on that Ed had kept different sets of books and everything. He was robbing him like he was robbing us.

So that's what marred early careers. Profile was probably the best at actually paying royalties. You could call Profile every week and ask them how many records you sold that week, and they would tell you. Sure they were hiding a few records here and there, but it was better than waiting six months to find out, "oh, you only sold ten thousand records," when you really sold a hundred thousand. That's one thing Vaugn Mason taught me: get as much as you can up front, because you don't know much you're gonna get later on, if anything. Those were the 12" days. And it's a shame, because a lot of them guys are doing bad. They're doing bad and their records are still being sold! They're classics now, and they're still not seeing a dime. It's not right.

I guess that was a similar situation with Tuff City for you, then? Where they put out that compilation by you?

Yeah, I had to threaten to come and burn the building down for them to give me a $600 check. So these guys - and I say Aaron Fuchs is one of them, and I told him to his face - they still have the mentality that "we don't have to pay you for these records. You make the record, we make the money, and we might give you dribs and drabs." I'm like, Aaron, if this is all the money that this record has accrued, then what was the point of even doing the record? I said I know for a fact that you have done licensing deals and have been paid up front for them. But this is the game that these people still play.

And the thing is now - this is the hypocrisy - the RIAA will send a college student to jail for downloading a few records, but the record companies get away with robbing the artists who actually should be getting paid royalties. And they get away with it, scott free. Is that not the most crazy shit you ever heard? And I gotta read about some college kid going to jail. You know what? I'm happy he downloaded "Smerphies Dance." I wasn't getting paid any damn way! So he may as well spread the move about it. It's crazy, man.

And when they get licensing deals, like when "Smerphies Dance" came out on Thump Records…

I did that! I made that happen. I cut that deal myself. When I got older, I said to myself, this is my music, I gotta cut these deals. I gotta catch up with Profile now, because Profile sold their whole catalog to Arista/BMG, and I ain't seen a dime!

And they've certainly used your records, too. They've put out compilations with "Can't Wait" and stuff like that on them.

Oh, no question! But actually, "I Can't Wait," I forfeited the rights on that record. I actually got so pissed at Profile that I told them I wanted a release from my contract, and that was a condition of my release, to relinquish my royalties for that record. And like a dumb ass, I said, "whatever." I lost at least a hundred thousand dollars on that to cut myself loose… only to come back to the label anyway!

Right, I was gonna say, you had one more record with Profile after that.

Yeah… and they let Kool Moe Dee beat me on that one. After I left Profile, I went and cut "How You Like Me Now" with DJ Doc at PowerPlay, and my tried and true formula was to go see my buddies at either radio station, Kiss and Red Alert, or Marley Marl & Mr. Magic at WBLS. And once again, they played the record. But now the record is getting played and it don't have a deal. So Cory [Robbins of Profile Records] hears the record and he's like yo, we want that record; we want you to come back. I said I'll go back under one condition. Since I don't have an album with them yet, they gotta give me a picture cover for this 12". They agree, and that ended up being the death knoll for that record. It took them three months to get that picture cover artwork done. By that time, Moe Dee had went and cut his own version, and made a video and an album!

I remember thinking at the time that yours was an answer record to Moe Dee.

Nah, my record came first. My record was played on the radio three months before Kool Moe Dee ever did his record. Profile took so long to put the record in the stores. They could've put the record out in their regular 12" sleeves while the picture cover was being worked on. They absolutely killed me on that. I had to think, somebody had it in for me; something is not right here. Because when the record was played, the city went nuts over it. That record was cut based on my fascination with Prince's production at that time. And by the time Cory put the record out, everybody had moved on to James Brown and every other record was a James Brown sample. And Teddy Riley, who usually never sampled, sampled a bit of James Brown for Kool Moe Dee's "How You Like Me Now."

Now, "How Ya Like Me Now" blew up on the charts as soon as the record started playing. But Jive Records, being a bigger company, started calling all of the radio stations and telling them, "no, you guys are confused. The record everybody's calling in about and that should be on the charts is our guys' record." And Profile never did anything to combat it.

So that's clearly what inspired "Try To Bite Me Now."

Oh, that pissed me off! People in the streets… I saw T-La Rock. No, I saw T-La Rock's brother, Special K. I was bringing Ray Daniels and them "How Ya Like Me Now" with the picture cover - I had ten copies under my arm - didn't know nothing about Moe Dee's record yet, because it hadn't been played yet. And I gave K a copy and he said, yo, we just shot the video for this yesterday. I said, video for what? He said, Moe Dee just did "How You Like Me Now," too; and I literally stopped dead in my tracks. I said, you gotta be kidding!

And then T-La Rock really got under my nerves when he came to the studio one night. "Yo, don't think that was an accident. Yo. Moe Dee heard your record and since it wasn't out yet, he said he was gonna do one." Oh, that got me so heated! And Profile didn't do anything. I was so mad, I left the label. That and I wasn't getting royalties on the Nu Shooz record. I said, you know what? I quit again! Y'all wimped out on me, instead of getting behind me and having my back. Y'all just let it drop down the charts as this man releases a video. Can I do a video?

So I said, ok, I had started Fly Spy Records before. And I knew someone who would put this out immediately, and that was B-Boy Records. But Jive told him, do not answer me. They wanted him to keep going against LL, because that kept the records selling; but that was a mistake, because LL was a career killer. And that's actually what kept L's career going, because all it would take was somebody like Canibus to start beefing and then L got his street cred back.

But B-Boy were going through their own things… the two owners, the one saying he was stealing from the other one. Jack Allen accused Bill Kamarra of embezzling the company funds. I'm like, yo, this is crazy! I'm just gonna produce and engineer for a while, and back off this stuff as an artist. I was burnt out; there was more pain than pleasure by this time. You know, I had started doing Sparky's records, and I was getting paid more for Sparky's records than my own.

Well, staying in the B-Boy period for another minute, you put out one 12" as The Spydo Music Band?

Yeah, that was all me. Everything on there was me except for the scratch mixing. I played every instrument and I sang the lead vocals and the background vocals. That was an ahead of its time record. It was an R&B cut, and probably the first of its kind. The first R&B ballad using hip-hop scratching elements. The record was so impressive, that Clive Davis of Arista was about to sign it through Arista when he found out that it was me. And he knew I was a rapper, so he was like, I can't sign a rapper that's singing! If I had two or three more R&B cuts already in the can, he would've went ahead and signed. But when he found out it was me, a rapper, he thought maybe it was a one-shot deal and maybe I had gotten lucky in the studio. And when Clive Davis gets behind you, he really gets behind you. So they weren't gonna spend that kind of money on a rapper that they happened to like. And that kind of thinking is exactly why I used that name; because saying it was Spyder-D was gonna pre-prejudice people about it, and I wanted people to keep an open mind when they listened to it.

So the record did make it into regular rotation on WBLS, albeit the late night Quiet Storm rotation. But still, that was quite a feat for a rapper to be added to The Quiet Storm. I actually shot a little low-budget video for it, but B-Boy folded before we were able to distribute that. Another one of those near misses. I'm still very proud of that record.

Also there were two pressings of "Try To Bite Me Now." And one of them has a song called "What's Up Doc" on the label, but it's not actually on the vinyl.

Ah, ok, "What's Up Doc." Well, I did a deal with B-Boy Records for two albums: one on me, one on Sparky. We got Sparky's album done. I never was able to finish my album before B-Boy Records folded amidst all of the embezzlement, scandal and everything else that was going on there. And "What's Up Doc" was meant to be part of my album for B-Boy.

And once again, B-Boy Records falsified documents, and they told ASCAP that I signed over the rights to every one of my records. All the publishing and all the writers' royalties. And I'm about to sue ASCAP and B-Boy, because ASCAP actually allowed them to do that. How I found out about it was because I did the liner notes for Throwdown and the Fat Beats and Bra-Straps albums for Rhino. So, when they sent me the cover, I'm looking at the thing, it says, "writer: Ira Allen." What? I called up Rhino like, what the Hell is this? They said, "well, they told me that." Oh, OK. Well, then, I wrote "Billie Jean. I'm telling you now that I wrote "Billie Jean." Is it that fucking simple? They told you that I turned over the rights and that they own 100% publishing rights on my song - which ain't even really my song, because it's Boz Skaggs' song. I said, that should've been your clue right there, geniuses! Without precedents having been set for sampling back then, out of respect, I put on there, "Boz Skaggs," 'cause I didn't write this music; it was Boz Skaggs' music.

So, when I found out, I was actually in Virginia at the time. If I was in New York, I probably would've drove to New York and shot the man. That's how heated I was. I actually called him and told him I was gonna shoot him. And Krs had warned me. I was like ok, here's a label that understands creativity and just allowing an artist to do his fucking thing. Krs was leaving B-Boy to go to Jive, and they needed a flagship artist. I said me and Sparky are gonna go over there and we are gonna be huge. We'll have carte blanche to do whatever we want to do over there as the flagship artists.

They were gonna build me a studio; I was gonna be the king. Bill did show me a check one day, he said, here's the check right here. DJ Doc was gonna build the studio from the ground up; he can do that. He built a couple of peoples' studios. Ok, but I never saw that check. I said, is that my signature on that check? I don't know who cashed that check. Why would I be recording in PowerPlay Studios if I was gonna build a studio?

And this was after having the Aleem twins tell me they couldn't pay me royalties on Sparky's records, because Sunshine Distributors had filed bankruptcy and couldn't pay them what they owed them on the couple hundred thousands of 12"s we sold over there of "Sparky's Turn," "The Battle" and "He's My DJ." They were paying us, but we never even had an agreement. The Aleem twins were paying me for the Sparky records on a handshake. Every couple of weeks, they would hand me cash money. So, I was cool with that; we had a great relationship. But when it came down to doing Sparky's album and signing a contract, their lawyer was trying to rip me off. So I didn't sign the contract. And then Sunshine pops up with this bankruptcy, which means that everybody that they were distributing - which was basically every 12" label in New York - they weren't going to pay. And that got passed on to the artist.

I tell you, man, I wouldn't recommend this business to anybody. You know, Left Eye of TLC broke it down. She said, we had the number one album in the country, the best selling female group of all time… in history. And we come home off tour, my lights are off. That says it all, man.

So now how did you wind up coming out on Macola Records, which was basically the main 80's West coast label?

Ok, so Sparky's "Throwdown" is a hit. She's now pregnant with my daughter. I'm like, you can't do these shows and be pregnant; you're gonna lose the kid. What do you want to do? Do you want to have an abortion? I just resurrected your career. She said, no, I want to have this baby. Ok! But you know as a producer you've got a hit record when you're being called to perform it everywhere. So I knew it when I wrote it for myself for Profile that it was going to be a hit. That was back when I couldn't record, so Sparky did it and to her credit she did a great job on interpreting it basically the way I would've done the lyrics.

So, Bill Kamarro who was on his way out the door, just as he was leaving, told me, you've got up to 175,000 12"s sold. Of course I never saw that statement. My contract called for fifty cents a record. So that's over $80,000 that I don't got… that Sparky would've had $40,000 of. So by this time, I said I've gotta get the Hell out of New York, because I'm gonna kill somebody.

So my man Greg Mack from K-DAY, the first all hip-hop station in the world just cut a deal with Motown for a compilation album, and were gonna give him a full-fledged label deal. One, because he was on the radio, and he had access to all this talent, so it just seemed like a natural fit. So I told Sparky we gotta get up outta New York because somebody's gonna get killed… and it might be me. So we leave to go to California, and Greg Mack is gonna sign us to his Motown deal.

So we get out there, everything's lovely, and Motown's appropriating funds for our deal. And the number one single for Greg Mack at the time was MC Trouble's. She was the lead who was gonna get the first album in the deal. And we were getting real close, her and Sparky were really good friends. And she just, out of nowhere, up and died. And Motown just deaded the whole deal when she died. I said, ok! Let me just me a poppa for my newborn daughter and get outta this business, because you can't even write this stuff. A Hollywood scriptwriter could not write this!

But I'm the kind of person who'll get discouraged for a minute, but it just makes me more determined. So I started a little label out there and did a distribution deal with Macola. Now, I was already told: you know, if you do a deal with Macola, you ain't getting paid, right? I was like, shit, I ain't BEEN getting paid! So I did the deal, and of course I've never seen one statement from Macola. If they're gonna rob you… they can't even give you a statement saying you sold no records! Because then, that's a paper trail. So now I see my stuff on all kinds of compilations… Dr Dre's Drugstore! What? They took one of my records and said it was me featuring The 2 Live Crew. No, The 2 Live Crew featuring ME! On my own record! Where do these people get the nerve? What it is, there ain't been enough bullets spread in the right place. Rappers run around shooting each other, as opposed to shooting the record company executives that's robbing.

So also for Gangsta Wages, there's the overseas version on ZYX Records…

Yeah, I cut that deal.

But they've got a song on their version that's not on the US album called "Suzy."

Oh yeah, "Suzy!" Another Profile record, dude! That was a record I did and they said no. I did "Suzy" before Stetsasonic did… didn't they do a record called "Suzy?"

Yeah, "Talking About a Girl Named Suzy."

Yeah! That was way before they did that, and Profile wouldn't let me put it out. Unbelievable. "I remember Suzy was a floozy. Boy, was she a doozey. When it came to choosin' something-something, she wasn't really choosey." Oh my god, you just bugged me out when you brought that up! I forgot all about that. I'm gonna have to put out a greatest hits joint: Greatest Almost Hits. Bambaataa told me to do that. He said I just started putting out my own records, and I dare somebody to come say something about it, because then they'll have to give me a statement! They scared of Bambaataa, 'cause they know Bambaataa'll just snap his fingers and have the whole Zulu Nation rolling on somebody.

That's what Cozmo D is doing, too. He was telling me in his interview how he was putting out his records that he wasn't getting paid for.

Oh, did he think he was gonna get paid from a Morris Levy company? (Laughs)

His son, Adam Levy, is like the nicest dude. He knows what his name his and who his father was, though. He could have you killed at the drop of a dime. But he's quiet… the nicest dude. But obviously traditions get carried on. They'll put your record out, but don't expect to see no money. And I'm sure they sold well over a million of those records.

Well, So You Wanna Be a Rapper? That's the name of the book. Just lettin' you know, that it ain't all that it's cracked up to be. You gonna get robbed. But that's why I'm kinda excited about what's going on now… even though I'm still getting robbed. But you got your own label, you're doing things digitally.

Well, before we get into that, tell me about the 2000 album True Dat.

Oh, long story. Well, before the album, I had met some investors who ended up becoming very good friends of mine: Jewish attorneys in New York. And I did a business plan and proposal, and they decided to invest in the label, but I was not the primary artist; I had an executive role as a co-president of the company. But I ended up throwing one or two of my songs on our compilation of other artists as we shopped for distribution. And we actually signed with Private Eye Records, which was Joe Isgro, a very powerful figure in the music business.

I kept trying to remember where I knew Isgro's name from, and we went out to Ventura Blvd to meet with him. And we were talking and exchanging Teddy Riley stories, and it hit me where I had heard of him. I remember reading in Billboard they were trying to indict him for Payola and they were saying he was a mobster and this and that. And I said, that's where I know you from! I didn't meant it blurt it out. And I went into the story about reading in Billboard, and my partner was looking at me like I was crazy. Like, are you nuts?

But still we cut this deal… and now Private Eye was distributed by Universal. So that was great for us. But what had impressed him on the compilation was my single, and I had Peter Gunz - who I had produced when he was a kid, and who was blazing hot at the time - do a guest appearance on my record. And that was gonna be the single. We'd done the CD cover and everything, it was all set to go. Universal had given us release dates and everything. And TWISM, which is of course owned by Shaq, had Peter Gunz as an artist. And they wanted to play hardball. They said, we know you and Peter are friends and we don't mind him being featured on your album, but it can't be the lead single.

So everything got pushed back and everybody got pissed off. This was like late '98. And there was a lot of internal squabbles with me and my people, because they wanted me to be an executive but they still wanted an album on me. I couldn't be in the office and produce an album. So there was squabbles with me and my partner Tony White, who I had met through Davey DMX - we had become partners in Fly Spy Records. So there was just a whole lot of confusion and it ended up becoming two years. I finally get the album done, but it's no longer coming out on Universal/Private Eye because, through the grapevine, Joe Isgro was being indicted for racketeering and extortion. He got caught on tape about breaking somebody's legs; you can google it. They even got a transcript of what was taped.

But to me, Joe was one of the best music promotion men in the business. And if it had come out the way it was supposed to, it would've been a successful album, a successful single featuring Peter Gunz. But they had scratched the Private Eye imprint. And me and my partner had actually split up from Fly Spy, because he and the investors had a disagreement. And they said we'd put it out on Mecca, and the investors and I put together Propane Records. So it came out as Mecca, distributed by Propane Records, who was distributed by K-Tel. By the time all of this happened, and the album was mastered in March of 2000, K-Tel was about to file bankruptcy. So here we go again!

We shot the video for "Yes, Yes Y'all," but never distributed that, because that's when the hammer dropped about K-Tel. And then the investors decided they weren't gonna put another dime into the project. So everything just stopped dead.

But I think the birth of my daughter in 1988 put some of this in perspective to me. Her mother, Sparky, when we moved out to California, started hanging with the wrong crowd, got strung out on drugs and I had to take my daughter. I became a single parent by 1990, right about the time we released the Gangsta Wages album. So between 1990 and 2000, I went back and forth between being a single parent and managing PowerPlay Studios.

And between 2000 and what you're doing now?

Well, I kept producing beats and stuff, but just being a parent was overwhelming, because I had two kids by myself, and I actually took in Dominque, who was Sparky's son that she had after we split up in LA. It was just a lot! And I started doing security because royalties were coming slow - people talk about running around with guns and this and that, but mine are legal! I can walk out on the street with five nine millimeters strapped to me. (Laughs) And I'll still do that part time. The IRS had a lean on my royalties at one point, so even when they were being accrued, they were going to the IRS. So I got married in '94, that didn't last for two seconds, although we remained married. But basically just being a responsible parent took over.

And, you know, I was engineering in between. Patrick Adams encouraged me to start doing that when I was managing PowerPlay Studios. So, when I first moved to Atlanta, I was freelancing in Dallas Austin studio and Bobby Brown's studio. I brought in some of my North Eastern clientele. I didn't want to do engineering full time, because it kinda makes you see you're not gonna do your own thing for yourself, because you're too tired to work on your own album after being in the studio for 10, 12 hours doing someone else's music. You start getting hooked on that money, but it didn't feel right… like I was giving up on my music career.

So, working at the CDC, I met my fiance - my current fiance - and we have a three year-old son. And I want to leave something for him. So I'm gonna revise my label and do one last album, something that's accruing royalties. So, if I die, there'll be something over the years that my son can bank on. So that's part of the purpose of my last album, to leave my son an inheritance. But if the album flops, he won't be inheriting much! So I gotta get some hits off of this album. And one thing: I'm in control this time. Of course, I'm a David going up against Goliath, but in this global digital world, I have a fighting chance 'cause of viral marketing. And then I'll concentrate on running my label and producing other artists or remixing already hit artists, however it breaks down.

And where is Sparky D now? I think I read you're still promoting shows with her?

Well, Sparky's now an evangelist. She's trying to do holy hip-hop, but she's torn because part of her still wants to be Sparky D. She just did "My Green Eyes," which is something she thought about 20 years ago when "My Addidas" was out and we were touring with Run DMC. She took "My Addidas" and flipped it to "My Green Eyes." So she just recorded that, and I'm like, why are you recording "My Green Eyes" and trying to be holy hip-hop? You've gotta be one or the other. So I'm trying to manage her and guide her through that.

And your brother, Spyder-C?

My brother came up with LL and Mikey D. They were in the same age group and used to run around at house parties rapping in Queens. You're probably familiar with the beef that was happening for a while between LL and Mikey D, and LL did kinda take some of Mikey's stuff back then. Because I heard Mikey rapping, and then I was surprised to hear some of that same stuff on LL's hit records. But Mikey and L are good friends now, and my brother ran around with that crew. I listen to the record I did with them, "PBC In the Place," and I said to myself, these kids were using metaphors like way ahead of their time!

But my brother got turned off by the industry, the lack of getting paid, and he just went through a self confidence thing. He's always worried about what somebody else is gonna say. So he has a permanent case of writers' block, because he's gonna second-guess anything that he writes. So that's why I very rarely listen to the radio when I'm recording. I'll listen to maybe just an hour here or there a week. All I gotta do is listen to one hour, anyway, because after that it's gonna be the same songs played again!

A lot of the artists that I produced that were relatively unknown, they never would've even done it if it weren't for me. Diamond "D" was a football player that I went to college with. I just said to him, "you're gonna be a rapper." I was like the leader of those artists back then, they would never have been in the studio if I didn't take them. And afterward, they never went back to the studio on their own. I was the one that had the heart. I got it from playing basketball; I was not afraid of taking the last shot of the game. I want the ball in my hand in the fourth quarter. I'm not afraid of taking chances. I read I was credited for that record I did with DJ Divine for starting porno rap. That was never the intention! But reading those things, the peoples' reviews, the comments on Youtube… those things are rewarding to me. And it lets me know that records sold! But the accolades, and people reminiscing and calling you a legend. There's no telling how much money I've been ripped off of in my career, but I'm not worrying about that anymore. I'm still gonna try to track down as much as I can, but I'm just doing my label and what I gotta do with this album, Legendary, and my new artists, including the son I adopted from Sparky. He's on one remix I've done and I'm getting ready to do an album on him.

And another thing I've got coming out, I can tell you about now, is Spyder-D University.

What's that?

It's gonna be a hip-hop college. Crazy, dude. People are gonna actually be able to enroll and take courses in hip-hop online, like in a virtual world. It's been a secret, but I can tell you now. Engineering, writing rhymes, battling, everything that involves hip-hop and the hip-hop culture. Design, clothing, image, all of that stuff. It's gonna be a University. We're getting it together and it's all coming in line with the album. I'm not afraid to push the envelope. I'm excited about it, and we're gonna start making announcements about it and publicizing it right now, in case there's any Kool Moe Dees out there planning to bit it.

So, it's gonna be quite refreshing to get those and the book out. One of the reasons I wrote about Twitter is it's so mind-boggling to me, but also I wanted to write about a topic that was socially relevant. And that's out of the pages of Vaugn Mason. I can hear Vaugn saying, "yo, you should do a song about Twitter!" And I'm just realizing that was his influence on me. That's Vaugn; somewhere in the back of my head I heard Vaugn saying, "you should do a song about Twitter;" just like, "you should do a song about the Smurf dance." I tried to keep my motif, but updating my motif.

I've got some profound songs on the album that'll open a few ears and raise a few eyebrows. On the next song, I'm coming hardcore. I'm coming really street hardcore and grimy on the level of anything that anybody's doing right now. It might shock a few people, because I'm gonna name names. It may start some controversy, but so what? I'm fifty, I Stay strapped, and I'm legal. (Laughs)

I mean, I don't really anticipate that kind of fireworks, but I'm gonna definitely let a few things be known. As a matter of fact, I'll tell it! You can print it. They listed "Smerphies Dance," when they did "This Is How We Do." They actually came to my publisher and asked to use "Smerphies Dance," and when Sony, my publishing company, asked for 50% publishing, they said, nah, that's alright, we ain't gonna use it. And then they went and used it anyway! So now I got a lot of money tied up again.

So Fifty was cool and said yeah, we used the record. And The Game was actually the first to come out and say, yeah, we used your record. He relinquished because they only gave him 10% writers' credit on his own song. That's part of the beef with him and Fifty. So now the last hold out is Dre. So now, I had a lot of respect for Dre, but I lost a lot of respect for Dre. The next record I come out with, behind the Twitter song, is gonna be aimed directly at Dr. Dre, called "Malpractice."

I'm not gonna say anything that isn't true; it's gonna mainly be about, you're such a super producer? Then how come you gotta steal beats? And it ain't the first time! Quietly, under the table, he's been settling suits out of court on a lot of other peoples' stuff that he lifted. He covers it up and dresses it up; he's very talented at that. Like what he did with me, he added a new melody to it, over it. Very clever. But if you snatch away the beat, that record is nothing. And he wouldn't've even come up with the melody, because the beat triggered the melody. But there hasn't been a precedent set up in court. Previously, you couldn't even claim a beat. But why not? You can actually write down drum notes just like any other instrument, so why isn't it copyrightable? So I'm getting ready to set a new precedent, because Dre's refusing to relinquish a portion of the money. And Universal even wound up holding up The Game's album - and they had to cut a new deal with him - simply until this is settled, because of that one song. Because it was his lead single.

So I would be disrespecting myself to let him house my song like that and at least let me get my share of the money. Gotta talk about it. I was told not to talk about it, but since it isn't settled I gotta go ahead and get it off my chest, just like I did "Try To Bite Me Now." I'ma let it be known and how he takes it is how he takes it. You're taking food out of my kids' mouths right now. And when I look at it right now, I get angry. If it had been the other way around, and I sampled something off of The Chronic, they'd've had my ass in court before the record came out!

So, yeah man, that's what's gonna be next. People think I'm a nice guy all the time, but I get tired of being the nice guy. I wanna be the hell-raiser for once. I'm definitely going out with a bang!

You can already check out Spyder-D's Twitter song, "Who You Follow?" on spydomusic.com. He's also got newtroitrecords.com, which is where he'll be putting up stuff on his new artists and the University project, so definitely check that out as well. And, yes, you really can follow Spyder on Twitter at twitter.com/SpyderD!