July 26, 2006 @ 2:44 pm

Jae Millz: Bringing Hip Hop Back

Mark Lelinwalla

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Harlem, New York’s Jae Millz has been patiently waiting for his time to shine. Despite hitting New York City’s streets hard in 2003 with his hit single “No No No,” Millz was forced to wait his turn. Well, the waiting is about to end. Millz is currently gaining ground with two scorching singles – “Bring It Back,” featuring Jadakiss and the Scott Storch-produced “My Swag” – off his highly anticipated, Back To Tha Future album, which is due for a late August, early September release. Here, Millz chops it up with Vibe.com about the state of hip hop in NYC and bringing the genre and city back to the days of its Golden Era. You’re an Uptown, Harlem cat. How do you feel about people saying New York City hip hop is low right now? left Millz: A couple of months ago it was ugly and that’s real. Everybody from New York gotta rep New York. It’s no problem jumping on a South record, but you gotta rep New York and your hood. You need a movement. Like when B.I.G. came out, it wasn’t just B.I.G. It was Bad Boy, Puff and Brooklyn. When Jay-Z came out, it was him, Damon Dash, Biggs, the Roc and Marcy. Even, Cam’ron and the Dips. That’s a movement. I love Busta Rhymes, “New York Sh*t.” I commend him, DJ Scratch and Swizz Beatz for what they did on that record for New York. That was motivation, like a punch in the ribs saying, ‘Wake up, ni**a.’ How is your Back To Tha Future album coming along? Millz: Right now, I got production from DJ Khaled, Cool & Dre, Swizz Beatz and of course Ron Browz, from Harlem, who did the record, “Who.” He also did, “Bring It Back” and “Ether.” Do you think that you possibly missed your chance to pop when you had the “No No No” track in 2003 tearing up the radio? Millz: I felt like I was going to pop then and I think if we would have dropped the album with “No, No, No,” I could have really sold a lot of records. Warner Brothers, though, didn’t really get behind the record. They really didn’t get behind the remix either, where I had Cam’ron and T.I. on the record, early. We just kept getting pushed back and we started getting frustrated. At the same token, I don’t feel I was ready. Everything happened for a reason. The time is now, though. That’s my new slogan. The time is now. Why did you decide to name your album Back To Tha Future? Millz: I’m trying to take it back to when everybody was cool, when it was about getting money, it was about being nice, being fresh and that’s it. That’s really what hip-hop was about. It was about being fresh, talking your talk, being nice and repping your hood. That’s it. You don’t have to talk me to death. Like, if you’re a pretty boy, your raps need to be about bagging chicks and the type of chicks you like. You have a history in battling. Any plans to take part in any battles soon? Millz: I mean I left it alone for a while. I was one of the only dudes really battling when I had a deal. That was something I used to do on the block, but now I have to get my priorities straight man. That’s not saying I’m never going to battle in my life, though. How do you feel about receiving praise from Fat Joe? Millz: I love that he respects my work. I’m a fan of his. I saw Joe at Nas’s birthday party and I was like, “Joe I’m twisted.” He was like, “Jae you’re good. You’re on one of the biggest records in the country (Chamillionaire’s remix to “Ridin’”). Come on man, you looking into it, too deep man. You ain’t never drop an album. You’re still fresh.” Nas says Hip Hop Is Dead. Is Jae Millz going to bring hip hop back? Millz: I’m trying to bring hip-hop back. I just want to go back to 1995, ’94, ‘93. Like, Mobb Deep with The Infamous. B.I.G.’s Ready To Die, Wu Tang’s first album and Raekwon’s first album. I want it to go back to that. The time is now. Read more vibe.com online exclusives.

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