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The planet is cooking at a slow simmer.
People in every nation are at odds.
A deadly virus impacts world health, communication, travel, and economics.
We shouldve listened toBusta Rhymes.
I Got You All in Check.What comes through is a lifetime love of the craft.
THIS MOMENT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING AND I CANT THANK YALL ENOUGH.
I CANT SHOW YALL ENOUGH MY APPRECIATION FOR HOW MUCH THIS MOMENT MEANS TO ME.
YOU ALL ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED BEYOND DESCRIPTION!
My kids is with me.
My loved ones is close by.
My mom, dad, cousins, friends that Ive known for 30 years, my whole life.
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
You cant prepare for the worst if you dont consider the possibility of shit actually happening.
We dont believe shit until its too late 99 percent of the time.
Thats exactly our problem now, and its always been our problem.
I always wanted to also offer that same kind of perspective through the music.
I was just paying attention to information that was accessible to everybody.
Thats why when you see the album artwork, Wall Street is up in flames.
You dont see the World Trade.
You see the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.
You see the Hudson River.
You see South Street Seaport on fire.
Three years later, in 2001, we saw exactly what my artwork looked like in real time.
I guess motherfuckers started to act like, Maybe Busta Rhymes aint bugging out so much no more.
I never thought about it that way.
It was the same.
I was showing people that a whole new beginning is going to start.
Now it makes sense why the next one afterGenesiswas 2002sIt Aint Safe No More…Absolutely.
I knew that 2001 was a turning point for life as we knew it.
The Patriot Act got implemented.
Civil liberties started getting taken away.
I wanted to point that out by calling that albumGenesis, that there is a new beginning happening.
This was a fucked upGenesis.
And it felt like it was time to createExtinction Level Event 2.
I think the first time we heard that name mentioned was in 2014.
Six years later, its finally coming out.
Ive never done a sequel album up to this point.
I wasnt a strong believer in that.
When you create these moments, these moments are just for these moments.
And then it took me years to actually complete it.
This album is 11 years in the making.
So are you just sitting on 1,000 songs?About 868 records.
I wanted to make this album start off, sonically, the way the firstExtinction Level Eventalbum ended.
Bringing everything full circle.
Your song with Kendrick Lamar, Look Over Your Shoulder, is incredible.
How did that come together?What did that record make you feel like when you heard it?
Kendrick is a godsend to me, lyrically and creatively.
Hes such a fucking force to be reckoned with.
Theres a great deal of mystique around Kendrick.
You dont see him posting things on the gram.
Very rarely do you find him being caught on camera, being out anywhere.
I really appreciate that about him.
It means people listen when he speaks.Yes!
I come from that.
It was a winter storm in New York.
They declared a national emergency or some citywide shutdown, and put a curfew in New York City.
If you wasnt home, wherever you was at, you pretty much had to sleep there.
I stayed in my studio.
When I heard the beat, I couldnt believe that I was sitting on the shit for six months.
I was bugging the fuck out.
Its got to be one of the craziest beats on the planet.
That shit was such a bone-chilling experience, I ended up crying as I was listening to it.
It was emotional for me, so I ended up keeping a copy of the session.
When I finally got around to recording my verse, I sent it to Kendrick, he loved it.
He got on it and bodied the record.
Now the world got it.
I still got a lot of contributions to make to the culture, to the art.
Ive grown to learn and love and appreciate Gods clock.
When shit is supposed to happen, it usually happens best when it happens on Gods time.
And I attribute that wholeheartedly to my experience at Aftermath with the good Dr. Dre.
Then I left Elektra Records in 2000 and signed to J Records.
In 2001, I put outGenesis;the success of that project lasted two years.
I was able to move and shake on my own accord.
Having to do it differently taught me a lot, not just professionally, but personally as well.
And in a good way.
It taught me how to really be meticulous and micromanage my creative process that much more.
Being with Dre made me a better everything.
I dont regret nothing.
Whatever artist Im supposed to work with, its going to happen when its supposed to happen.
I witnessed that firsthand with this project.
Rick Ross feels like when he madeTeflon Don.
I dont think theres a dull moment.
And me andMariah lightning mightve struck in the bottletwicefor us.
You spend a lot of time cultivating talent.
How do you find the artists you sign?It just happens.
I dont go out there looking for it.
Genasis when I was in the club doing the BET Awards weekend back in 2013.
I was just hanging out, and O.T.
It was so crazy, he couldnt even get through the first verse.
They kept making him start the shit over.
I performed that shit in there four times.
The fifth time, we showed the video in the club.
That shit was one of the craziest nights I ever had in my whole life.
It killed the heart of the city.
It changed the pulse of the city.
And I dont think it ever came back.
It became the city that the generations to come got used to.
They didnt know the experience before that, so they didnt have anything to complain about.
The ones that were complaining, wasnt too much shit that they could do about it either.
Then the tide of the music industry started to change.
People got older, started to get out the way.
The next generation came, not just artists, but new promoters and the new nightlife curators.
All of that shit started to get ushered in in another way.
That comes with time and evolution.
Things can never stay the same, man.
Theres enough talk abouthow well you handled Swizz Beatz productionin the early days.
And I wish you rapped on moreDillajoints.
You two were an underrated duo.Well, youre gonna get more shit from me and Dilla.
Youre going to get a lot more shit from me and Swizz.
So, what youre saying is youre itching to get back in afterELE2and keep the music flowing?Yeah.
Recording music for me, at this point, is my peace of mind.
I go to the studio every day.
Its part of my daily routine.
Its not even about records at this point.
I go into the studio because this is what I have dedicated my life to.
Thirty-something years of dedicating my life to the studio, and Im a 48-year-old man.
That means my whole life has been given to this work and being in the studio and making music.
So, its therapeutic for me.
I love it beyond description.
Im never stopping or taking a break from the studio, my brother.
Especially after 11 years.
I dont even know what Im supposed to do with my day!
Its a never-ending process.
You never can have enough hot shit.
You cant never have enough dope records.
What affect has he had on your life?I love that man.
I love how he represents our people.
I love how he represents the truth.
I love how he represents Islam.
I love how he represents whats right and whats wrong.
Minister Louis Farrakhan addresses everything when it comes to our people, when were not doing the right shit.
There is no singling out one group of people because theres no hatred in that man.
But thats his reputation in the news.
People eithersay hes brilliantor they say hes ahistorical hatemonger, with no ground in between.
How do you address people who say the latter?I actually dont address them.
I dont need to address them.
Theres nothing to address.
The truth speaks for itself, brother.
See, the truth is undisputed.
This man has been on the planet for 86 years.
Minister Louis Farrakhan dont got a traffic ticket.
He aint got a jaywalking summons.
Youve never heard the man curse outside of maybe saying damn in 86 years.
Its more complicated than everyone is making it.
Your name came up.
That brother was full of respect and honor and love when we first linked up.
We exchanged numbers and kept in touch for a little bit.
We definitely had plans on working on some shit because thats a real hip-hop motherfucker.
Mac Miller understood the fundamentals of real hip-hop.
He valued boom bap.
He valued slapping-ass, real filthy, under-the-nail, gritty boom bap.
He just loved good music.
The motherfucker could rap his ass off.
I appreciate him greatly.
I hope hes resting easy.
I almost forgot: Have you heard Barack Obama shout you out?Yeah.
Its crazy, bro.
I got the clip in my phone.
The stars are aligning for me right now.
I cant even front.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
