Redman's rise to fame is a hip-hop Cinderella story.
The New York rapper was discovered by Erick Sermon in the late 1980s, and he rhymed with EPMD on "Business As Usual" in '90. Two years later, Red dropped his stoner-friendly debut "Whut? The Album" and was named The Source's Rap Artist of the year in 1993.
As he built his reputation for bravado- and marijuana-fueled hip-hop, Redman made quite the name for himself as a cross-platform artist. He's a member of the Def Squad, and he's collaborated with everyone from 2Pac to Tribe Called Quest, Snoop Dogg to Christina Aguilera. Her CD "Dirrty" was his most successful commercial outing.
He's starred in several "Def Jam" franchised video games, with his homeboy Method Man (of the Wu Tang Clan) as his tag team partner. The two also worked together on the cult classic movie "How High," which featured them as two druggie college kids trying to make it through Harvard, and the short-lived Fox sitcom "Method & Red.
Redman talked to The Post recently about everything from the evolution of hip-hop to his headlining gig on Saturday at the Ogden Theatre.
Q: How is the tour so far?
A: Smooth, but it's had a little rough start. We need more promotion. Besides that, we underground groups are putting it together. The fun part is knowing that everyone is in the same struggle. We wanna keep this hip-hop (expletive) going to where it should be.
Q: A lot has changed since you first started cutting records. In your mind, has it been for the better or worse?
A: Yo, we need to stop complaining about hip-hop and where it's going. Hip-hop is being revolutionized. It's turning around. The whole main talk of hip-hop: "How do we like the new rappers turning the game around?" And the new rappers are down South, and I don't have a problem with that.
Q: A lot has gone down in Atlanta, Louisiana and even Tennessee.
A: Yeah, and you can sit around and complain about it while it's being turned around, evolution, or you can get up and make a difference.
Q: And how do you do that?
A: Hip-hop is South-driven anyway. I'm glad down South is getting their start. West Coast had their reign. East Coast had its time. Who's going to be ready for the war when it comes down? "We don't like the way hip-hop sounds." When it's your turn, prove what hip-hop should sound like. That's what I'm preparing for.
Q: And your new album, "Red Gone Wild," when can we expect that?
A: "Red Gone Wild" is gonna hit March 2007. And I'm already working on "Muddy Waters 2," which'll hopefully be out in November 2007.
Q: And the "Muddy Waters" sequel?
A: The "Muddy Waters 2" is me kinda taking it back to old-sounding beats. I wanna give you some of that Redman flavor you been missing, that old grungy (expletive) for my fans. I'm really doing this for my fans.
Q: What do you think about the people who are just getting into hip-hop?
A: It's OK for them, but I loved the time when I was first introduced to hip-hop. I was a superhero then, and I still am. There are no more superheroes - that stopped in the '90s.
Q: What do you mean by superhero?
A: My superheroes are Meth, Keith Murray, Busta Rhymes, ODB, Xzibit. The superheroes before us were EPMD, Slick Rick, Rakim. Do you hear names like that anymore, names that stand out? No.
Q: I know you've done some extensive work on a couple of video games. Tell me what drew you to that realm.
A: I love video games. Me and Meth are video game addicts. And it's nice because the game world is big. ... And games and hip-hop are great collaborators.
Q: What about hip-hop and the television sitcom?
A: Sitcoms - no more sitcoms for me. The "Red and Meth" show was good, but it wasn't good to me. I just looked at it as an experience and a check. I will not be doing any more sitcoms, unless it's my own or a movie or I'm directing.
Q: What about film? "How High" is considered, in some circles, a classic movie.
A: Oh man, besides me jumping out of a plane skydiving and my kids, that was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a lot from the movie and a lot from being around people.
Q: Why was doing the TV show so different?
A: Talk to Meth, and he'll tell you. He'll say, "Red said, 'I knew that (expletive) was going south before we did the (expletive)."' The air was bad out there in Hollywood.
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_4793470
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