RBX

On their careers after The Chronic:

RBX: I can’t speak for Rage, but I was just disenchanted with everything to the point where I didn’t even want to rap no more. When I just sat back and thought about all the 50 people I know, including Tupac, including Biggie, they’re all just gone for what? I sometimes cant even put my finger on what the beef was. I was disenchanted and didn’t want to do music. When people were approaching me [with business opportunities], I was like, “Nah.” I was just trying to find my place in this world, because I’m losing a lot of loved ones, there was a lot of death around all this. “Is this what I want? Is this what I was striving for?” I had to make that decision. And I came to the decision that I love doing my music, but I don’t love the drama. And sometimes the music and the drama go hand in hand. I’m not so much into the Hollywood scene. I’m not trying to go to an event ’cause I know TMZ is there. I never wanted to be that guy. That put me on the underground tip ’cause I didn’t want to be in front of those cameras. That broke my career down a little bit. People don’t understand that if there’s some weirdo that was mad at Suge and he sees me and he knows I’m at an event, then I have to deal with that. So I wasn’t into letting people know where I was. If there’s people with guns, and they might be trying to shoot me, and they got my name on a flyer for an event, then they know where I’m going to be at.

Rage: I was bitter at first ’cause when I got there the plan was Dre was gonna come out first, Snoop was gonna come out next, then I was gonna come out next . That was the format. The way I came in on the introduction on Snoop’s album [Doggystyle], that was gonna be the way we let people know I was next. Like on my album, Dogg Pound was probably gonna be on the intro, because they were gonna be next. I don’t know why mine was pushed back, but I know when I did start working on it that’s when the empire was crumbling. That’s when Dre left, Snoop was unhappy, Suge was incarcerated, Tupac had got killed. And in the midst of that it was like, “OK we’re gonna do your album.” So the same formula as before, I didn’t have that. I didn’t have all the input that everyone else had, I didn’t have that structure or foundation. So it was already being built on shaky ground. Hey, that’s just how it happened. It was bitter at first, but I just looked at it as it wasn’t meant to be. But I also looked at it as people already know my capabilities. People already know that I’m nice. When I got into it, it wasn’t about selling a million records believe it or not, I just wanted people to know how nice I am. Acting is actually what I wanted to do. I was using rap as a vehicle to get to act. Rap was just a hobby; I knew I could do that. I love to do it, and it’s done well for me, but it’s not something that I really, really wanted to do. It was a means to an end, to get to what I really love. But I’m not unhappy. People know my name. People know what I can do. I have a legacy, I’m on The Chronic, I was on Death Row. I will be talked about for years to come. I succeeded in what I wanted to do.

On their relationship with The Chronic crew today:

Rage: We all are cool. I have no bad relationships with anyone to my knowledge. I haven’t seen Dre since last year, at a BMI presentation for Snoop. I still work with a lot of them—Snoop, Daz, Kurupt, RBX. Our relationship is good. I haven’t seen Suge in quite some time, but I don’t think were in bad standings.

RBX: People always ask me, and I’ma tell you straight up: I ain’t never had no problem with Dr. Dre. And I still don’t. That’s fluff from haters, and a lack of communication between Dre and myself. ’Cause those haters, they don’t want Dre and RBX to get together to make a project. Dre is a no-nonsense dude, and if he thinks I’m stuck on my 1995 thing, running around gangbanging, that means we’re probably not gonna get together and work. But that’s not where I’m at. We don’t have no problems. And if we ever do an album, it’s game over. The N’Matez, we got songs, we just gotta figure out the business route. Daz wants to go the independent channel, but me and Rage think it could be way bigger than that. We want to go with a major situation. I don’t have a problem with Sugarbear, that’s my alumni brother. We went to college together. We were both in the same football team at UNLV. That’s the gridiron; that’s really blood, sweat and tears, literally. We’re gonna always be brothers. But just ’cause we are doesn’t mean I have to kowtow or agree with his bullshit. Now when he ain’t on the bullshit, I’m 100 percent with him, like, “Hey Sugar Bear, what’s good?” But when he’s on that bullshit, I ain’t got time for that. We’re not 18 trying to prove nothing to nobody. We’re businessmen, CEOS running corporations. We’ve got people that depend on us. I don’t have no time to go out squabbling.

On what they’re up to now:

RBX: January 1 I’m supposed to drop Shake the Dead, my mixtape with DJ Paul from Australia. The mixtape is gonna let people know, “Oh, he ain’t went nowhere as far as skills”. We’re gonna drop that, and I got a rock album. ’Cause I was on the road with Korn and Papa Roach and Metallica. I got a little rock EP going on. It’s called Liquid Metal. I don’t wanna talk about it too much ’cause we’re calling meetings, trying to go a major route with it. And then I got my album, my masterpiece, called Equinox. I think it’s gonna drop in March. I’m also on Xzibit’s new album, Napalm.

Rage: I’m a full-time mother. But I still do dates with Snoop, I still do my own dates, I’m pursuing my acting career. I’m working with [activist] Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. were working on a project, “The Life of Chairman Fred Hampton.” I’m also working with MC Lyte, YoYo, Lil Mama, Monie Love, MC Smooth—we’re doing a project about what’s going on in our lives, and coming together as a sisterhood in rap. And N’Matez is still happening—myself, Daz, Kurupt, RBX. I think we have about two more songs to do. We’re going to go in the studio next week and just bang it out, polish them up. I like working with them, it’s just a familiarity. We feed off each other; we know our quirks and what buttons to push and not to push. It’s like home.