In Part 2 of the Young Zee interview, we talk Eminem, what stopped Young Zee’s career from going further, lessons learned, and future plans including an unreleased albim with the late, great Tame One

Planet Ill: So how did Eminem link with you all?
Young Zee: We linked up with Em…well, I was on tour with the Fugees. That’s when I met them. And then Pace flew out there doing a couple songs with them. (Eminem and Bizarre) Then they came back and stayed at my crib. And yeah, we started recording. I hooked them up with Paul Rosenberg. And then we started rocking from there. We started touring. We took off from there, pyeeeewnnnnn!

Planet Ill: You kind of had that glow like Bruce Leroy for a while. What happened? Because you had all this positive momentum. I remember Commercial Break on D12 World and as short as it is, it’s easily the best joint on there.

Then, what assisted in putting you on people’s radar even more, was That’s My Nigga Fo’ Real off the 8 Mile  soundtrack. I’m curious as to what may have happened. Why didn’t Young Zee get bigger?

Young Zee: A lot of politics. A lot of music politics and me being stupid and you know, drugs. And then I end up doing four years in jail. It slowed down my momentum and it just threw me off my game. But jail kinda like snapped me back. It made me hit the reset button and realize what I was put on this earth to do.

Planet Ill: So you were doing a lot of writing and rapping with that free time while you were incarcerated.

Young Zee: A lot of people working out, lifting weights and stuff, I was working on my brain, because the brain is a muscle too. So I was writing books, writing movies, and writing music, my whole four years. And that’s why I’m rocking right now. That’s why I’m not fucking playing.

Planet Ill: Are any of those movies or books gonna see the light of day you think?

Young Zee: Yes they are, they’re gonna see the light of day. Did you ever see the two new videos I dropped?

Planet Ill: Yeah I seen the one where you’re in the Scarecrow mask and you’re in the street with a bunch of lights, and there’s a white girl…

Young Zee: You like that video?

Planet Ill: It was dope, I liked it a lot.

Young Zee: I’m dropping a video the first of every month, so I dropped one February 1st, too. I dropped one January 1st, and there’s ones coming March 1st, April 1st, May 1st. I’m not playing.

Planet Ill: If I recall correctly, you have a song on the Scumbag EP with Flu that came out in ’22 about slavery. That was a big surprise. What was your motivation in making that?

Young Zee: Um, I just felt like doing something for Black History Month. Yeah. You know what I mean? I felt like making something a song that will always be around. And they can always play that in Black History Month. Sorta like a Will Smith “Summertime,” they play that every summer.

Planet Ill: In regard to the project called The Album I Had When I Was Supposed To Sign With Shady, I heard it and well…Eminem did all of the beats right?

Young Zee: Nah, Eminem didn’t make all the beats, Denaun (Mr. Porter) did most of the beats. Em made one or two beats.

Planet Ill: Do you feel like if you had had more creative control, it would have been better? Because I feel like the production is really not good enough for your rhymes. I felt like the beats were kinda mid, bro, to be honest. I’m wondering if you were allowed more creative control at that time, who would you have worked with as far as the beats go?

Young Zee: Man, I would have worked with different people, but I didn’t really have a choice. I was signed through a production deal to them. I had to just, you know what I mean? Pick from all the beats that they had. I was actually signed to Denaun. I liked those beats though. I liked those beats at the time, those beats were for the time for me. I’ma put that album out on my label too. I’m putting all my old music up available on my record label.

Planet Ill: That’s good man, that’s good. Another question I have as far as the whole Eminem situation. Some people feel that he may have sharked y’all’s style. Initially he was more a Nas/AZ clone stylistically. Eventually he goes out to Newark, he’s in the Outhouse and after that his style starts to change. A lot. And it’s at that point in time he begins to get more notoriety. So you have somebody you kinda took under your wing and helped grow as an artist and then he kinda blew up doing what y’all did. What are your thoughts on that?

Young Zee: No, I mean I put a lot of people on who blew up more than I did. Basically everybody I put on; Digga, Pace, Em-them the three people I helped get record deals. That’s the good thing for me because they all helped me in return.

Planet Ill: How’d they help you?

Young Zee: Well, you know, Digga’s still doing her thing. I still tour with Digga and to this day, like, make music with Digga and Pace. And Em, I made millions of dollars off the 8 Mile soundtrack. So by me helpng him, I got millions of dollars in return. That’s how I still have property and all that other stuff right now. 8 Mile is how I have property right now. Oh yeah. It worked out. It worked out good for me. If you ever get a chance, you’d put your boys on too.

Planet Ill: Just out of curiosity is there a particular reason the Outsidaz parted ways? And outside of that do you see a reunion happening?

Young Zee: Yes, I see a possible reunion happening. I’ve got to just establish myself as an artist first. As a good artist that’s putting out music, that can get my name back out there before I put on a whole bunch of people like last time…what messed up last time is when there’s too many opinions, this person not getting up for the morning show, this person not coming to rehearsal, you know what I mean? A lot of people to deal with and I just got too much to do to deal with that right now. If I ever have time to deal with it again.

Planet Ill: What do you mean by that?

Young Zee: Yeah, my agenda is getting tighter and tighter as I go along, which is expected. And so, in order for me to do an album, to do anything that consists of a whole lot of opinions and a whole lot of haggling, then I’d rather just not do it. Because I don’t have to haggle myself when it’s time to do my own music. I don’t have to argue with myself to be on time. I don’t have to argue with myself to take forever writing a verse. I don’t have to do none of that.

Planet Ill: Do you have any regrets as far as your career? And if so, what are the biggest?

Young Zee: No, I don’t have any regrets. I love my career. I’ve achieved every dream I ever dreamed of as a small child. So yeah, I love my career and it’s not even over. It’s really just the beginning of a new era of being the owner of a record label for me. So now I’ve got to go hard the same way I did when I was on other people’s record labels. I gotta go harder because it’s my own record label now. You can find all my music on YoungZeeMusic.com.

Planet Ill: Where are your favorite places to tour?

Young Zee: Well, in March, I got a tour. It’s like 10 days, five days out on the East Coast, five days out on the West Coast. And, you know, like Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Arizona, California, you know, Pennsylvania. Yeah, but I like everywhere, basically. I like overseas better; the Hip-hop scene overseas is better. Less violent, more Hip-Hop-y, if you ask me.

Planet IlI: Who are your top five producers?

Young Zee: Top five? I mean, I got producers that I liked from back in the day and I got new producers that I like too. But I mean, I would go with like Timbaland, Pharrell, you know, I really love Quelle Chris. He’s one of my favorite producers. It’s a lot of producers out there. It’s hard when it comes to producers. There’s so many hard ass producers, new ones and old ones. Nottz.

Planet Ill: One thing I wanna know is, on the intro to The Bricks there’s this beat that’s hard as hell, and I’m wondering why y’all didn’t rhyme over it. It’s kinda like on the intro to Illmatic and there’s Grand Wizard Theodore’s “Subway Theme”, it’s something that’s just begging to be rhymed over.

Young Zee: Oh yeah I remember that beat. We just planned on using that as the intro.

Planet Ill: Who are your top five rappers?

Young Zee: Um, I’m going to go with like right now, I’m going to go with, um, Conway, Benny, Roc Marci, 38 Special and Cyhi The Prynce.

Planet Ill: Who’s your dream collaboration, what rapper would you like to work with?

Young Zee: I already did all my dream collaborations, all the collaborations that I worked on.

Planet Ill: In terms of the battle scene, at some point in the 2000s it shifted from cats spitting over instrumentals to a capellas. No music, it just kind of turned into Glock Poetry Jam. Just minutes and minutes and minutes of writtens. It’s just not the same. Would you rather battle acapella or over beats?

Young Zee: I’d rather rhyme a capella in a battle, if you ask me. That’s what they do now. I started that, though.

Planet Ill: You started that?

Young Zee: Mhm. I started that in a Blaze Battle. If you look back at the Blaze Battles, KRS-One was the judge, I told him cut the beat off when I was battling Shellz. Yup. I did all that battle scene back in the day. That’s what I am. I’m a battle MC. But I just make songs, dope songs.

Planet Ill: Right. How come so many luminaries or the most known dudes in the battle scene haven’t really made an impact as far as albums and whatnot go?

Young Zee: I don’t know, they say battle MCs can’t make dope songs. I mean, I don’t believe that. That’s just what they say. What you think?

Planet Ill: I really don’t…I don’t know man. It feels like everybody who can rhyme isn’t necessarily good at making songs.

Young Zee: This is true. There’s nothing wrong with that cuz everybody who can make songs ain’t good at battle rapping. It really don’t matter as long as you’re doing the battle scene and you making noise and you make money off the battle scene. That might be your calling. Your calling might not be a stage MC, a radio MC. We need battle emcees.

Planet Ill: Is it possible to make a living battling?

Young Zee: Arsonal makes a living battling. A good living. He be getting like 30 thousand a battle, or more. Some of them rappers be getting 10, 15, 20. Yeah.

Planet Ill: When Canibus battled Dizaster and he ended up pulling out his notebook in the middle of the battle, what were your thoughts at the time?

Young Zee: I thought it was horrible. That’s not a place you pull out your notebook. You’re supposed to pull that notebook out a bunch of days before that, practicing.

Planet Ill: Do you recall when Keith Murray was supposed to battle Fredro Starr? Is there any truth to the rumor he showed up messed up on something.

Young Zee: He was fucked up and you could see he was fucked up. That’s his fault. When I battled Shells I was fucked up. Because they told me to be there, like, five o’clock. So I’m drinking getting fucked up on the way there thinking at five o’clock I battle. I ain’t battle til’ like nine o’clock. I was sleep in the back that’s how drunk I was. They woke me up and it was like’ yo you on next.’ From sleep to ‘you on next.’

Planet Ill: That’s wild, man. You feel like they set you up?

Young Zee: Nah. I just showed up drunk and fell asleep, like hours, in the backroom. Soon after I got there, I fell asleep.

Planet Ill: Speaking of drinking, what are your top 5 brands of liquor?

Young Zee: Um, well, I only drink white liquor. Right now I don’t drink no more, but I don’t drink like every day no more. Like maybe once in a while I drink, but I like vodka. I like, um, tequila, Patron. I like, um, Remy. I like basically everything and then I like beer. I like Heineken, I like Heineken and Yuengling. I just smoke weed now.

Planet Ill: Do you feel better when you’re sober? Or since you cut down?

Young Zee: Yeah. I would say physically I feel better and mentally I feel better. I can see things a little clearer because I was drinking from morning to night. Wake up in the morning, drink up. I don’t miss drinking. I just don’t want to do it every day. Like I was waking up drinking till I fall asleep. Then wake up again, drink again till I fall asleep. And so, yeah. And I got shit to do so…

Planet Ill: In terms of Hip-Hop things kind of go in cycles. You had mumble rap, this, that, and the third prevail for a while but it seems like lyrics are making a comeback. What are your thoughts?

Young Zee: Well, I think it’s headed for a better place than it’s been. It’s been the trap mumble bullshit that grown folks don’t even really want to hear music. Girl-folks don’t wanna hear killing in every verse. We don’t wanna hear how many bitches you fuck, how many cars you drive. Take me somewhere I never been, or I’ma play something else. Basically, I don’t want to hear the shit I’ve been doing all my life.

Planet Ill: I feel some type of way in that the Hip-Hop from older generations is not even in the same universe as say a Lil Yachty. Our stuff is not for his audience and vice versa. You know how they have adult contemporary rock stations? I feel like we need more of that for Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop is the only culture where people try to age you out of it. Like, you never hear a rock and roll guitarist from a new band disrespecting the Rolling Stones or…Eric Clapton or U2 or whatever, right? Whereas in our culture it’s like, well, if it’s old, then it’s not worthy, and get the hell out of here and so on and so forth. I realize it’s always been youth driven. But we are the first generation to actually age into middle age with Hip-Hop, right? So, what do you think of that dichotomy between different generations?

Young Zee: Well, I think like in any other walk of life, there’s hierarchy. So, I feel like no matter how much money that Hip-Hop has evolved to make the younger generation, I still feel like they’re not lyrically as good. Not all of them. Some of them are really lyrically good, but their content is driven by young minds. So with that being said, I feel like if you’re an older MC like me, I’m a fan of music too. So I’m not just an MC, I’m a fan of it. And I know what’s good and what’s bad.

So, when I start making bad stuff, maybe it’s time for me to retire. And if everybody, if every artist see that, then they’ll retire. Now, their good music would live on forever. Right now, if I start making bad music, my legacy is gonna end badly. So I would realize that and stop making music. When people don’t realize that and just start putting out bullshit now…they criticize people that make bullshit music. So, I mean, all I can say is they got something to contribute to the culture, rap until the day you die. If you making good music, rap until the day you die. Don’t force it.

Planet Ill: Right, right. That’s definitely a fair point because there are older groups, the 90s Hip-Hop I grew up on…Masta Ace is 50 something years old, he’s still making good albums, so is Ghostface and a whole lot of other legacy acts out there still making really good music. I think the older stuff will stand the test of time better. Because back then you had to actually go out and buy an album. You had to get on the bus, go to the store, look for it, cop it, bring it home or put it in your Discman or Walkman, and finally listen to it.

Whereas now they are trying to change the definition of sales, going platinum and gold and whatever because people can just sit there on their phone and play a song and the stream counts as something somehow. I feel like because so much of it has been made for the lowest common denominator, like McDonald’s food, it is made for a quick buck and doesn’t really have any staying power, right? If I think about who was hot in the mainstream three years ago, I have no idea. Just because so much of it is just a flash in the pan.

Young Zee: Fascinating.

Planet Ill: Back in the day there were politics and so forth, but there was actually a barrier for entry. You had to be at least decent or nice, right? But now anybody with a computer and a microphone could put something on SoundCloud and they’re a rapper all of a sudden.

Young Zee: Overnight. That’s what I said. Where I’m from, nigga, we had to hop the train, go to New York. And if it was a P. Diddy party, a Biggie, a Wu Tang, we had to stand outside. We stood outside and battled MCs that’s going in. And radio station hosts see us and that’s how we get on radio stations and that yeah, we couldn’t just sit here and DM a DJ and be like,’ yo, I’m paying $500 if you play this.’ No, we couldn’t do none of that. I told somebody. You don’t even have to rap today. Tomorrow you can go buy a computer, a microphone, the whole hookup, record yourself, go buy a video camera, video yourself, put your video out on YouTube, and tomorrow get a million views.

Planet Ill: Anyways, here’s my last question: What’s next for Young Zee?

Young Zee: Well, I’ve got YoungZeeMusic.com right now where I’m releasing all my music. I’m going to stream it after a while, after my record sales go up and stuff. I’m going to start streaming, but I’ve got Da Bros album coming next, which is a collective of MCs that I know and met along my travels. I’m putting out my bro’s, his name Brand New, joint and I’m putting out a bunch of albums. Putting out me and Tame One album. All that’s on YoungZeeMusic.com so just stay tuned on that. I got some more fun videos coming out. I got a lot of surprises on my website coming. I’m working all the time you know what I mean?

Planet Ill: Ok, this is the last question. For real this time. There’s this mythical Slang Ton mixtape, supposedly floating around out there, and I can’t find it for shit. Is there more Slang Ton music out in the ether and will it be released?

Young Zee: So I got a few Slang verses, so just stay tuned to Young Zee Music, that’s all I could tell you. That’s for everything Outsidaz.

Planet Ill: I heard one of these rare projects that’s floating around and I thought to myself how dope it would be if it was remastered to better quality. Is that something that’s on the horizon?

Young Zee: Yeah, that’s on the horizon for me. Everything is getting mixed and mastered.

Planet Ill: Well, look, man, thank you for the opportunity. This was definitely a bucket list accomplishment for me. This means a lot, keep up the good work.

Young Zee: Thank you. Thank you, my brother.