By Odeisel

A picture is worth a thousand words, but Gene Thornton’s words are aimed at a Higher Power. No longer content to infuse religious themes into his rhymes, Thornton has become a published author. His book Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked speaks to the affliction of man and stands as his revelation to the masses that God has a place in the world of gangsters. We speak to the conviction of Malice in his role as author and whether his street tales reconcile with his religious bent. We also ask if there is any residual beef with Sandman’s departure from the Re-Up Gang and more.

We caught up with Malice on his book signing tour, this stop at Books In The Hood on Weschester Ave in the South Bronx. What began in the store went grass roots immediately and we set up shop outside on a beautiful spring day with passersby buying books and snapping photos. One dude even got a book signed, went home and returned with a copy of the critically-acclaimed Clipse album Hell Hath No Fury for Malice to sign. The Bronx born (bet you didn’t know that) Thornton was at home in the hood with even legends like AJ Fresh (Kurtis Blow’s DJ) showing love and support. Sit back and peep Gene Thornton’s revelation.

Planet Ill: Wretched, Pitiful, Poor Blind and Naked. That’s Revelations, isn’t it?

Malice: Yes it is, 3:17.

Planet Ill: What has been revealed to you in the process of writing this book?

Malice: Many things. Many things have been revealed to me before writing this book and during the process of writing this book. But one of the main things I would like the reader to walk away with is just the…my transformation is evident; very very obvious. It’s not fly by night or something that happened overnight for Malice from the Clipse. It’s been going on for a minute. I think I’m at a place right now where it’s not just me and I want to share my experiences and reach out to others and let them see what I saw.

Planet Ill: Well your first album was Lord Willing, so definitely this is a process…

Malice: Yes, definitely. We can take it back before Lord Willing to Exclusive Audio Footage, which is an album that never came out, but you can get it off the internet. We got a song up there called “Watch Over Me,” where we were rapping and speaking to the Lord. We got an interlude called “The Prayer.” So this isn’t something  that’s new and I think all Clipse fans know that I have always made a reference to my father. And it just kept getting bigger and bigger to where I’ve come to now.

Planet Ill: Some people say  there’s a conflict matter with rappers that have the subject matter that you do, who praise God, but even in the tale of the Prodigal Son, it is he who strays that comes back. How do you personally feel about reconciling your lyrics with your faith?

Malice: Well, yeah, I think they do need to be reconciled. Everything that the Clipse has ever gave you has never been a lie. These are things that we know about, we’ve been a part of;our life has definitely been an open book. You can do the research, our fans know what the Clipse is about.

So we told you about that, and this is just another side of it, and that’s where I‘m going with it now. A lot of our fans tell me all the time that ‘Til The Casket Drops, they heard a change in my lyrics and you know, I’m going more and more in that direction.

Planet Ill: What happened to the Sandman in the Re-Up?

Malice: Everything is cool with Sandman. Sandman is a boss, you know what I’m saying? He’s one of those guys that…he’s going to make his way; he’s going to get out there and he’s going to do is thing and he’s going to do it the way he wants to do it.

When you work as a group you have to compromise and you gotta take each other into consideration. Sandman’s more of a person who…he’s definitely a leader so he wanted to pursue his own thing so much respect to him for that.

Planet Ill: Like the Fantastic Four, you have earth, wind, fire, water. What element is the Gang missing without him? Not that you can’t compensate but what did he bring that’ you’d have to make up for?

Malice: It’s nothing that we have to make up for. All four of us are lyric driven emcees. It’s definitely nothing that we have to make up for. Re-Up Gang will never go lacking. Ever. We do what we gotta do. It’s the three of us, Ab-Liva, Pusha T, myself. It’s all love we all family. We stick by each other, it is what it is. No hard feelings; Sandman felt eh had to do what he had to do and he gets a lot of respect for that.

Planet Ill: You guys have never gone this route but you have a lot of rappers saying they’re hustlers and not rappers. What does that do to the art when someone can get up on stage and say something like that?

Malice: If that’s how they feel, you know everybody has a point to prove; everybody want sot be the one that say they sold the most dope, slung the most crack, you know what I’m saying? But those guys that are out there, and doing what they do or whatever, you can tell; you can see it. And they don’t have to make a big production out of it. And if they’re fortunate enough to still be out here on the street then you can count it a blessing, as opposed to being dead or in jail. Shout out to Jeezy [Not Young Jeezy], shout out to Rat King, shout out to Jay Mat; shout out to Squilly. Shout out to Little Larry, shout out to all my people.

Planet Ill: Any last words that you want the people about Malice, about your book, about your conversion. About anything?

Malice: I’d just like to say thank you for supporting me, thank you for supporting the book Wretched Pitiful Poor Blind and Naked. Thank you for just checking out the website and just all the comments that ya’ll be leaving man. It’s really giving me a lot of strength to know that I’m definitely doing the right thing and when I hear so many people say this is what they needed, this is what they want to hear or this has changed my life and it’s inspirational, it just lets me know that I’m doing what’s right and I’m very much fulfilled by it. So shout out to all the fans.

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