There's been much discussion lately on the rise and fall of Rawkus Records, thanks to recent pieces in XXL and the Village Voice (which some found less than satisfying). So I dug up my 2001 interview with Mr. Walt and Evil Dee of the Beatminerz, where they gave an insider's take on what went wrong within the Rawkus empire. Suffice it to say they didn't mince words:
And here's a little bonus from the same interview, where I got Evil Dee to tell the story of his secret meeting with Vanilla Ice (during a discussion of The Source's list of alltime greatest beats):
Evil Dee on how the Boot Camp Clik wound up at Vanilla Ice's house.
(Sidenote: it's trippy for me to listen to this since it was recorded 4 days before 9/11.. crazy to think we were sitting there in the studio which is/was about 5 blocks from the World Trade Center, having no idea what was coming. I wish I had taken a minute to walk by just one more time..)
