here an old interview from 2014 where he mention it
Interview conducted by Pattch82 (
pattch82@gmail.com)
Interview Date: November 12th 2014
PATTCH82: What’s up Jack…
SICK JACKEN: Hey how you doing Chris? What’s going on bro?
P82: I’m good thanks and you?
JACK: I’m doing good man, I’m just here running through the day.
P82: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me…
JACK: Ahh man likewise, thanks for taking the time to do the interview bro.
P82: I wanted to focus some of the questions on the album that you did with DJ Muggs, Legend Of The Mask & The Assassin…
JACK: OK, yessir…
P82: So Muggs had worked with GZA/Genius on the first Vs. album. How did you and Muggs come together for the second Vs. album?
JACK: I’ve known Muggs since we first got with B-Real and signed for the first Psycho Realm album. I’ve been around Muggs for a long time, I think it took a minute for us to connect on a music level but it just came natural. He was at one of the shows we did out here called Unity. Something he was putting together with Chace Infinite of Self Scientific, they were putting it together in honour… kinda like in memory of Bigga B. We performed and he saw the impact that the music had on the crowd that night. I think it was a week after that we hit up my manager Tone and we made it happen.
P82: Were you both in the studio together for the recording of the album?
JACK: Yeah we were both in the studio. We worked on the album in Muggs’ studio so I would go over there and he would play me a bunch of beats or samples or ideas and I would kinda pick and choose from there. Cynic was involved in the record a lot as well with the concepts. Before we even started the record we talked about what kinda record we wanted to do, like the direction we wanted to take it. So the whole concept, the artwork, the music, the bibliography in the album and creating the world of the conspiracy theories was something that collectively we came out with; Muggs, Cynic and Myself.
P82: It is a very cohesive album from start to finish, as you said it’s almost like a concept album itself that takes you in to a conspiracy world…
JACK: Yeah we’re all about the album experience you know. We’re not the kind of artists that just do singles and do a bunch of fillers on the album. We like the album experience so we want the audience to be able to press play and enjoy the album from start to finish. Especially with something like this record, creating the world of the conspiracy theory we wanted every song to play off the one before and the one that’s coming after and it just takes you on a little trip. So that was definitely planned.
P82: The conspiracy theories that you rap about, are these things that you actually believe in?
JACK: We played with the conspiracy theories. We played with things that are out there, things that have proven facts, things that are just way out ideas. Then also we talked about being in the street, things that are relevant to what goes on in the street. So we took it all, from aliens to reptilians to the Masons and the Illuminati and then just on a street level like the cop corruption. We just went all out with it. We kinda picked and chose what we wanted, we also speak on death and afterlife and all that stuff. It was meant to be like a trip and kinda pose a question as well, you know. It poses the question ‘what do you believe in?’ you know.
Sick Jacken, Cynic and DJ Muggs
P82: I spoke to Muggs about the album when I interviewed him a while back. He said what he liked the most is that you picked beats that most other MC’s wouldn’t pick. Were you looking for beats that were out of the ordinary?
JACK: I don’t know, I haven’t pinpointed it yet but there’s a certain type of note or certain type of mood that I look for in music when I pick beats. I produce beats myself you know; I produced 90% of the Psycho Realm stuff so there’s a certain sound element that I look for in music. When Muggs is playing certain things my take is a little different to the norm, I’m not going to pick the songs that are going to be… ummm, catchy I would say. I like the stuff that sounds different, sounds cinematic and dramatic, something that invokes emotion and feeling and already starts painting the picture before I even put words to it.
P82: Muggs said the God’s Banker track is a particular example, with the African war drums and the fuzz guitar…
JACK: It was such an aggressive beat, the beat was nasty. The format of that song is just one long story, there was no chorus in it. My writing style has always been like that. With my brother when we did the Psycho Realm stuff we were real tuned in to how we wrote the songs. Not just arranging the music and the songs with the drop outs and certain instruments coming in and out during the chorus but we were also conscious that if we write every song different it’s going to sound different. A lot of rappers tend to do a sixteen bar verse, eight bar chorus, sixteen bar verse, eight bar chorus, you know like the traditional rap format. But we try to break away from that as much as possible. On this record, the kinda beats that Muggs was shooting me allowed me to venture out in to that.
P82: The God’s Banker track, where you are telling the story of Roberto Calvi, inspired me and probably lots of others to do more research on the topic…
JACK: That’s why we put a bibliography in the album so people could take it up on themselves and research what we are talking about. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bibliography in an album liner notes before haha. That was actually Cynic’s idea, he was like
“we should put a bibliography in the liner notes”, and I said that’s excellent lets do that. Because then if people want to know what I’m talking about or who I’m talking about, it’s important for people to research and gather their own opinions on how they feel on certain topics. So this is our take on the story, but here’s a lead to some other information on this story, go check it out for yourselves.
P82: Cynic is featured on almost every track on the album, did that ignite an element of competition between the two of you lyrically?
JACK: There’s always an element of friendly competition when we’re in the studio. I think it keeps us elevating our style and our potential. When you’re in competition mode it elevates everybody to the top of their game, and that keeps us sharp when we’re writing the songs or in the booth doing deliveries. So yeah there’s definitely always the competition but its friendly competition you know, he inspires me and I inspire him. It’s almost like saying I’m going to take the trophy on this song. That’s always the goal, to take the trophy on the song. It helps the overall quality.
P82: Do you have a favourite track on the album?
JACK: I like the whole record, I don’t think I could dissect it and cut one song out. I look at the album as one piece of music. It’s different sections that we composed that make up this whole piece of art that we created. There are things I like about different songs; the beat on
2012 is ridiculous,
Reptilian Renaissance the way the song is written, the track is dope.
Reptilian Renaissance was actually supposed to be on the Muggs & Planet Asia album…
P82: Oh really?
JACK: Yeah but I think I beat Planet Asia to the punch haha.
P82: What are your overall thoughts on the album now?
JACK: I feel the same way about it now that I did back then. When you create something you are kinda engulfed in it, you immerse yourself in the project, you’re writing, you’re listening to the music daily, you’re recording it and listening to the mixes. You are pretty much living in the album for that period of time that you are recording it. When it’s released you start performing it, you’re shooting the videos so you are constantly listening to the songs. Seven years later, you’re not listening to it as much and when I go back and listen to it now there’s another level of appreciation. It’s more of a reflection like going back in to our past, like this is pretty cool. What we created was pretty cool.
P82: Were any other tracks recorded for the album? Were any tracks left unreleased?
JACK: Nah we used everything that we recorded. We usually do. I don’t think there are ever any leftover tracks when we work on records.
P82: Are there any plans for a follow up album with yourself and Muggs?
JACK: I’m sure there’s going to be a follow up record; it’s just a matter of timing. You know Muggs is very experimental when it comes to his music. He doesn’t want to keep doing the same thing and repeating himself so he ventures out in to different things. I’m working on my solo record. So I think once we kinda meet up again we’ll talk about it, I mean we’re always talking about it like we need to do another record. It’s just a matter of timing, the intentions to do a follow up record are there, it’s just a matter of when.
P82: You have also worked on some of Muggs’ other Vs. albums. What was it like working with Planet Asia and Ill Bill?
JACK: Man I respect those guys musically, artistically and just on a personal level. So it was great working with them. Every time I work with Bill, that’s somebody that always challenges me to try to do better because he’s such a great MC, a great writer. Getting a chance to work with them over a Muggs track was amazing. Planet Asia is super dope. To work with people like that it’s more fun than anything you know. You are creating with people that are very creative, it was dope. The
Troubleshooters track with Sean Price and O.C. was to me a classic.
P82: When you hooked up with Bill did that lead to you working with La Coka Nostra on their album?
JACK: We did some stuff with Bill before that, for
Terror Tapes Vol. 1, we did a song called
Ten Wheel Drive. I did some stuff for Bill for a couple of mixtapes that he did and him and Slaine did a song that was out on a mixtape. Every time we come around each other we are working on something. There are a lot of songs out there with me and Bill and I think there’s going to continue to be. I’m on one track for the new La Coka record; I think I’m jumping on like two more. I’m going to be doing some stuff soon that I’m going to need him on. We’re just constantly working, I think me and him just like working with each other for some reason.
P82: There was also the P.C.P. project with you, Muggs and Necro. Did that ever get off the ground?
JACK: That never got off the ground man, I think the scheduling just wasn’t there for it. It was a great idea, I think it would have been a great record I just don’t think the scheduling was there. Muggs was doing a lot of things, I was in the middle of a few things and Necro is always busy so it just kind of evaporated you know…
P82: I read a while back that you were planning on doing a new Psycho Realm album with Duke and B-Real?
JACK: Well it’s difficult for my brother you know, the bullet wound left him a quadriplegic so he’s on a breathing machine so it’s hard for him to talk like me and you talk, let alone rap and be in the vocal booth and all that. He’s still trying; he tries to figure out ways. He’s been talking to a few people to see if he can kinda manifest something and make it happen. Until then I don’t think there’s going to be a Psycho Realm record because it’s not Psycho Realm without Duke you know. What we are working on, there is a bunch of unreleased tracks with me and my brother that never came out so we are getting those together and we’re going to put that out as a full length unreleased album. We’re going to be putting out some animated videos and stuff like that. He’s helping me on my solo record. I’m working on a solo record called Psychodelic right now,
Psycho-delic. He’s co-writing some hooks with me so he’s still involved in a lot of the things that we do, but it’s just more behind the scenes for now
