A street poet, who spit ridiculous during the Bad Boy era, backing B.I.G and his L.O.X cohorts on the "All About The Benjamins" remix, not to mention coining the phrase "jiggy" way before Will Smith used it for a silly comeback, 31-year old Styles P, aka Styles Pinero, aka The Ghost, aka SP, aka Holiday, is set to drop his followup to to 2002's Gold certified A Gangster and a Gentleman. Once the most overlooked third member of the trio is getting his just due shine.
Locked up the following year, for allegedly stabbing someone in the ass, he flipped it into a hit, riding with Akon on "Locked Up." When you talk to Styles, he has that calculated raspy vocal chords that you can tell weathered many cold N.Y. nights on the streets smokin, hustlin and tusslin.
Words By Cameloti Bulgari
TSS: You've been in the game a good decade. How long have you been doing this rap thing?
STYLES P: Oh, you ain't just talking about industry-wise? You mean when I had "it"?
TSS: Yeah. At what point did you know you were really nice?
STYLES P: I would say around 7th grade, probably.
TSS: For real, that early? And this is coming up in Yonkers, right?
STYLES P: Yonkers is a town with a lot of MCs. So, it was like everybody was rapping, you know what I mean? And if your name was popping and good enough to be out there you had to have something, because it was so many people. Before I was in the group, it was just Kiss and Sheek rapping. I was on the other side of town. So, it was them, you had DMX, you had me, then you had a bunch of other Yonkers people. A good 20 to 25 MCs. The older people used to fuck with me and always ask me to rhyme and give me a couple of dollars to rhyme or do whatever. So I knew I had something.
TSS: And you were locked down for a while a few years ago?
STYLES P: 9 months I was down.
TSS: Did you get anything out of that?
STYLES P: Shit yeah, if you don't get something outta that you crazy. You learn. You try to switch your moves, watch what you doin. I try to be more mature, calm my temper down. Jail ain't the place to be. I ain't one of them niggas that's glorifying it. Being locked-up is fucked up. You can't see family. It's like slavery all over.
TSS: What was that like for you, to have such a huge hit with Akon on "Locked Up"?
STYLES P: The truth gotta come out, somebody gotta be the messenger. I'm just the messenger sometimes.
TSS: I had heard that Jay-z was interested in signing a side-project that was just you and JadaKiss.
STYLES P: Nah.
TSS: Just rumors?
STYLES P: Yeah, that'll never happen, bro. We the L.O.X, my nigga.
TSS: Is your new album going to be similar to your first solo jump-off, "A Gangsta and A Gentleman," in terms of aiming towards underground heads?
STYLES P: Nah, I definitely try to branch out, with a wider range of music.
TSS: Who are you working with on this album?
STYLES P: Scott Storch, Havoc, Lil John, Gerald Levert, Jagged Edge, Talib Kweli, Marsha from Floetry, Sizzla.
TSS: Any idea what the lead single off the album is going to be?
STYLES P: "Who Want a Problem," and I'm about to do the remix featuring the L.O.X.
TSS: What's the concept behind your new album?
STYLES P: The title: "Time is Money," man. Just speaking on life---things in life as far as gangsta shit, as far as thinking positive, as far as partying, as far as life in general---from me and my point of view.
TSS: Are you getting political on it?
STYLES P: I'm doing everything, man. I'm a little older, a little more mature, so I'm a show my wide range of thinking. For me, for years, I just wanted to solidify my spot in hardness. My whole thing for years was to just make sure that I was the hardest nigga since Kool G Rap; because niggas go for "King" status, niggas go for this and that--but for me, it was always the "hardest nigga" out, "the most street nigga" out, so if somebody say that, they bring my name up. And I accomplished it, you know what I'm saying? I got around to noticing "yo, you fuckin did it." So, now I'm just going on, making sure that I left my mark with one of the greatest groups in history and being the hardest, now I'm just trying to leave my mark all around, like "he could do anything." First, I just wanted to get my hard shit in, then I started going to the shit like "My Life," and just hitting them with the deep shit. Then I got my heart in deep categories and so I said, "fuck it," let me shoot for everything.
TSS: Yeah, that was a dope track you did with Pharoah Monch, any plans to work with him again?
STYLES P: Nah, I need to though.
TSS: You mentioned gettin older. How old are you now?
STYLES P: I'm 31.
TSS: It seems like Jadakiss caught a good amount of mainstream success with his first solo album. Do you expect to knock that wall down with this one?
STYLES P: I could, but I don't think the marketing and promotion is set up for it. On my behalf, yeah, but I don't think it's going to be marketed and promoted like that, you understand what I'm saying? The business aspect is not in my hands. I try to make the music, as far as that I do my job all the time.
TSS: What's the individual role each member plays within the L.O.X ?
STYLES P: I'd say Sheek is the most energetic out of us. And me, I be the hardest and deepest one.
TSS: Any plans for a new Lox album?
STYLES P: Second quarter, most likely.
TSS: Do you have any guest appearances we should be checkin for?
STYLES P: Nah, I been laying low kinda recently. I got a joint with Eve coming out. I probably do have some shit, but I don't really keep track to tell you the truth, my man.
TSS: You in the studio like that?
STYLES P: Yeah. Every day.
TSS: So you live there.
STYLES P: Yeah, if it ain't one song, it's another, or it's a mixtape.
TSS: Do you have any more mixtapes coming out?
STYLES P: I'm about to put out a DJ Drama Gangsta Grillz and this shit with DJ Clue. So I'm about to do one with Drama for the South.
TSS: You started that already?
STYLES P: I'm still doin it to tell you the truth, just about to put some drops.
TSS: What kind of businesses do you have right now?
STYLES P: We own D-Block. That's our record company distributed by Koch independent. Sheek's an artist on it, Jay Hood's an artist, we got a group Team Arliss, Trav, St. Raw, we got Bucky from Philly, we got a bunch of these new boys---Carolina nigga Dante and T.Y.; niggas working. But D-Blocks our label, that's something we own independently with Koch.
TSS: How do you feel about the rap game in N.Y. is right now?
STYLES P: Word up. I think niggas suck.
TSS: What do you mean by that?
STYLES P: They fuckin suck, there ain't that many good lyricists no more. I mean, before my time I'm listening to Kool G Rap, Rahkim, KRS, Jungle Brothers, Chuck D, Chill Rob G, Ultramagnetic, you know what I'm sayin? And then, I'm used to niggas like Ghost and Rae, Nas, Buck Shot Shorty, Lord Finesse, you know what I'm sayin…Big L, Jeezy, Biggie, ourselves, you know what I'm sayin? And I can't tell you the name of that many lyricists nowadays.
TSS: Nobody floatin your boat right now with their lyrics?
STYLES P: I'm just sayin, it ain't like it used to be.
TSS: But that was the Golden Age of rap, it's hard to get back to that.
STYLES P: Shit, that was two different Golden Ages though, that's two totally different generations from G Rap and them to Buck Shot Shorty and Biggie; that's when niggas was on they game.
TSS: How would you term that mid-to-late 90's era that spawned Biggie and Black Moon?
STYLES P: That shit was crazy. I would name it…that was the Lyricist Era, man. The era of the lyricist.
TSS: What's your drink of choice?
STYLES P: Me? Courvoisier
TSS: You don't really seem like a champagne popping type of cat. Did you participate in Jay-Z's Cristal boycott?
STYLES P: Nah, I ain't even pay attention to it. I never was really drinking Cristal like that. I mean, I drink it if another nigga pass it to me or if I was celebrating or whatever. I was never the type. I ain't that big on champagne and if I really do go get a champagne it'll be a Clicquot.
TSS: Whats sports teams you like? You a Knicks fan?
STYLES P: Yeah.
TSS: You think they gonna make the playoffs this year under Isaiah?
STYLES P: I hope so. My favorite team, though, is Detroit.
TSS: What about football?
STYLES P: I don't really fuck with football that tough, my little man playing it though, so he got me watching it on TV.
TSS: Giants or Jets?
STYLES P: I think I'm going to stick with the Jets.
TSS: You rockin the Madden '07?
STYLES P: My little man got it. I don't really fuck with too many video games. If I do play video games, most likely it'll be NBA Live, or maybe a shooting game or something here and there. I don't really be on that shit like that to tell you the truth. I used to be, but I don't know what happened.
TSS: I heard Jadakiss copped the new BMW M6, what are you pushin?
STYLES P: Me, right now I'm in the pickup for right now, in the Benz truck. I'll try to get me a new car when it get warm again. Yeah, Kiss got the M6, I used to have the M5, I got rid of it when they came out with the new body style. Most likely I'll hop my ass in this Porche turbo.
TSS: What kinda trees you puffin on these days?
STYLES P: I'm fuckin with the Haze, Piff, raw Sour, a little Sour Diesel when I get my hands on it. I was just out in Cali for like two weeks a couple of weeks ago, so I'm really just fuckin with that Kush. But they ain't got it here like they got it over there, so I'm fucked up, but I wish I had that Kush.
TSS: That's where I'm calling you from. I'm in Compton right now, actually.
STYLES P: Oh yeah, I love that Kush. It's got that Haze and the Piff and all that shit beat, by far.TSS: What keeps you hungry in the game? Your family, listening to certain music, what?
STYLES P: My seeds and my family. I definitely wanted to leave my mark, and just the love for what I do.
TSS: You mentioned G Rap. Is there something that you go back to to regain motivation if you hit a slump when recording?
STYLES P: For real, I just try to relax a few days, man. I don't really go to music to get it back, to tell you the truth. I try to crack a book, read something.
TSS: Like what? Because I swear people think niggas don't read. I try to tell people.
STYLES P: [Laughs] Man Child in the Promised Land, Claude Brown; Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison; Mis-education of the Negro, Carter G Woodson; Art of War, Sun Tzu; Old Black Folk Tales from the Underground Railroad; Autopsy of JFK; Marilyn Monroe. All that shit. Anything interesting I ain't read before.
TSS: Thanks for breaking that down. Hey, man, we appreciate the openness. When does the album drop again?
STYLES P: November 14, "Time is Money," cop two copies. The industry is against me.
TSS: Aight, man. Good luck with that.
STYLES P: Cool. One.
For news on Styles, visit www.StylesP.net and www.D-BlockWorld.com
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