UG Digital Mag: It’s really awesome to connect with you today.
LEGENDARY is a column that I personally take great pride in.
I’ve followed music for so long, and even have relatives you are
successful in music, so it’s something that’s been in my blood
forever, although I’m not an artist. I’ve followed and admired so
many artists in my near-40 years of life, and Fu-Schnickens was
always one of them. I remember I was in high school at the time
when Ring the Alarm dropped. What feelings do you have when
you think back to that time of your careers?
Chip Fu: I think when the whole situation with Ring the Alarm
dropped, I actually wrote Ring the Alarm in college. I was in
college at the time. I had to do one of two things, it was either
complete college, or take music seriously. I wrote the song , and
ultimately the record companies got in touch with me. That’s
when it really took off. I knew it was serious then.
UG Digital Mag: Did you really expect that buzz?
Chip Fu: I figured it would be different, but not that huge. I mean,
to get to a point where there’s a bidding war between Def Jam,
Elektra, and Jive, it was totally different in those times. To have
those companies even eating to meet with someone from East
Flatbush, Brooklyn, that’s when I knew I had something totally
different.
UG Digital Mag: What does it mean for you to have been here for
25 years? Was that something you envisioned back in ‘91?
Chip Fu: Well, I envisioned that at some point or another, when
it was all said and done, the new emcees would use that album
as a template when it comes to creating new songs, or different
flows and ways of expressing themselves when it came to music,
instead of using the same cookie-cater music. Right now, you
don’t know who is who. Seeing the new crop of underground
emcees, and I’m getting shouts left and right for being some that
inspired them, I think that’s more inspiration for me. I have to tap
myself on the shoulder and say thank God, and job well done
that it stood the test of time, and I’m still able to put out music to
inspire people.
UG Digital Mag: Together, you all stood strong for unity in hip
hop, among other things. Talk a little bit about the other things
that the group stood for?
Chip Fu: We stood for the whole unity thing, and we said we
would be one of the only groups to never break up. We stood for
helming other people. Other groups that were coming up underneath us, we would take them in the studio and let them use
time, and teach them things about the industry so they would at
least have a fair shot.
UG Digital Mag: You had a really strong relationship with Phife
Dawg. Of course, you guys did La Schmoove together. That had
to hurt you tremendously with his recent passing. What was the
relationship like at this point in life and career?
Chip Fu: The kinship we developed is crazy. Being the only two
artists who stated they represented Trinidad, the kinship was different. His mother, and my other partner in the group, they grew
up as kids. When I was introduced, it was more like family. We
sound ourselves on the same records over the past couple years.
People would always say if you want a hot record, you need to
get either Phife or Chip, for both of them. We ended up doing like
9 different records. One day, we sat down and laughed, saying
we’re from two different groups and people call us to put us on
records. From that point, we decided to do tours overseas on our
own. It was phenomenal knowing people respected us, although
we were from different groups. To be able to tour for two months
great, packed house to capacity, and promoters having to turn
people away outside was crazy. We were going to start a group
called BQE (Brooklyn Expressway), but we released one song
called Rumors, which was to be the anchor, but after that we got
caught up in our families. It’s a hurtful situation, and I’m glad he’s
at peace, and I’m glad that his family is at peace. It was a lot of
suffering that he went through on a personal level, but one thing
I have to say about my brother is he was phenomenal in what he
did. He brought a lot to A Tribe Called Quest. There was a time
we performed in Canada, and he was too weak to finish his set.
What he did was got a chair and sat on stage and drank a glass
of orange juice to get his blood sugar right, and he continued
that show. That showed more courage than anything else. He
was about making sure people got what they came to see. At the
end, he promised, look, book me in two months, and I will do the
show again for free.
UG Digital Mag: So many people will surely miss him, but he left
a strong legacy that can’t be matched.
Chip Fu: Right.
UG Digital Mag: In terms of Fu-Schnickens, it’s clearly been a
while since you’ve been together as a group. What has gone on
over the years?
Chip Fu: From ’96 until now, we obviously disbanded. When it
came to certain songs, Jive wanted their hands in too much, and
I was uncomfortable with that. We did not want to be the tongue
in cheek group. We didn’t want to become Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh
Prince. Yes, there were internal problems within, so we decided
to disband. From that point, I decided to step out of the industry.
I went to school and studied Physical Therapy sciences. I came
back into the industry and signed under Ali Shaheed’s entertainment label. I helped him put out his album, then I decided
to launch my own company, Blaq-Ink Records and Video. From
there, we put out a couple records on the reggae side. They did
tremendous overseas, and I was selling out stadiums by myself.
When they realized who I was, it was crazy. I started doing workshops in Paris, which were called MAATH, which is an acronym
for Music, Appreciation, Art, Time and Healing. We’re teaching
full curriculums in schools in Brooklyn. We’re waiting to make
sure its fresh. With music and that balancing out my life, I’ve been
incredibly blessed and busy and blessed to have the right people in my life to make sure that ev erything is balanced around
me.
Leg
UG Digital Mag: It’s such a good thing man. I mean, I look at what
you do, and what other musicians are doing. MC Lyte is doing so
much in music for youth, and you have Diddy doing the school
with Dr Perry. It’s good to see people really giving back this way.
Chip Fu: I think that it’s a beautiful thing. Our generation was the
last to get a lot of information on how to treat people and what to
expect from individuals. It’s no disrespect to the generation coming up, but I think there’s a lot of things that they missed out on.
UG Digital Mag: I agree with that.
Chip Fu: There were a lot of laws, and certain ways we were
brought up on tat are no longer around. Certain people in positions as far as artists were around for that, and brought up
that way. They are the right people to be in the school systems