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Juice – Two Sides to Every Story
Interview By: Melanie J Cornish
 If the Gods were to select a rapper to work against, you would think Chicago’s own Juice had been offered on a silver platter. The predicaments he faces are not seen as a hindrance to him per say but to many or most they would be enough to push you into the depths of despair.
Famed as a battle rapper who went 202-2, beating even Emimen, Juice is trying to dodge the generic curse of battle rappers attempting to break into the mainstream in some form or fashion. The curse that equates to majority being left hanging to their dreams of a major label deal as if nothing but a figment of imagination.
 But what people may not know is that beyond Juice the freestyle King, there are two other personalities trying to garner nationwide attention. There is Juice the rapper who we had the pleasure in speaking to and then there is Juice the front man who Juice talked to nobodysmiling.com confidently and sincerely about his place in Hip-Hop is supported by an eclectic selection of musicians known as The Machine.
So with all these identities going on and hailing from one of the most competitive markets in Hip-Hop, one where Payola reigns and difficulty is second nature to Hip-Hop purveyors, Juice talked to nobodysmiling.com confidently and sincerely about his place in Hip-Hop. BDS and mistaken identity are all topics covered in this exclusive interview; and Juice gives an insight to just what resilience is truly about.
Nobodysmiling.com : There are two components to you. There is obviously you, Juice the rapper and then we have the band which is the Machine. Talk to me about you the rapper first of all.
Juice : I am, well Juice comes from Chicago, raised in Los Angeles and got his rap styled from New York. Juice is a multi cultural, diversely influenced artist with a whole bunch of different sides and only one of the many have been seen so far and that is Juice in the nutshell.
Nobodysmiling.com : Now talk to me about The Machine? As this another part of your persona I believe?
Juice : Yeah the band is more an embodiment of Juice’s other sides and that is the improvisational free style side, the live performance side and that is that way to express that side of Juice and it is also a way of paying homage to Hip-Hop, its roots and taking it to the next level.
Nobodysmiling.com : How did you link up with The Machine?
Juice : A friend of mine was having a birthday party, he always has this elaborate party each year and this year he decided to have live entertainment, his name is Eric and he is heavily involved with the band. He said he had a consortium of musicians and asked if I would be interested in playing with a live band at the party. So we did it and recorded the performance and realized that there was this energy there and we started from there. I saw how everyone was picking up music so fast and it became The Machine as they were picking up music like a machine.
Nobodysmiling.com : Are you musically inclined?
Juice : No I am not and it felt like it was a shortcoming for me dealing with these world class musicians. I didn’t know how to speak music language to them, but they were able to understand what it was that I was trying to say and put it into music. This was one of the things about me being successful with them.
Nobodysmiling.com : Win-win situation then?
Juice : Yeah it is as I get a chance to play in front of people who wouldn’t ordinarily listen to Hip-hop. I get a chance to silence critics that think it is not credible, that it is not legitimate. We have the ability to improve; even if you don’t like Hip-Hop, the music itself appeals. It is a win-win situation but the only way I could lose is if my identity as Juice gets caught up in the band and the bad is all that I encompass. SO I am very adamant about separating the two.
Nobodysmiling.com : How do you keep all aspects to your persona separate then?
Juice : It is a very tedious job. I mean I did a Hip-Hop show last week where it was just me and my hype man and then the night before the band opened for MC Lyte at a Miller Genuine Draft show, so I just have to constantly put in peoples faces that you might see Juice with the band or you might not. You just shouldn’t define him by the band as he does have separate meanings.
Nobodysmiling.com : Being that you are situated in Chicago, do you feel that your city moves as a unit, which a times it appears to do?
Juice : You would think that this place was a melting pot and you would think that because it is in the center of the country that it would set trends in terms of breaking music; but I think it is as archaic as somewhere like Idaho as even though we have 8 million people here if it is necessarily that melting pot. I think it is a place that very few people get opportunities so it looks like there isn’t a lot of talent and people end up moving elsewhere which is more beneficial to them. Its not like Atlanta, we have the talent that Atlanta has but we don’t have the infrastructure and until we start really working together it won’t be that city that it should be when there are 8 million people here.
Nobodysmiling.com : How hard a struggle is it then when there is quite an abundance of real talent in Chicago?
Juice : It is impossible almost. I am a person who is the life of the party, who brings energy but there are times when I sometimes need a lift as I sometimes wonder ‘what am I making all this music for?’ There are issues you go back and forth with daily in Chicago, I can’t run down to Bad Boy and get a deal with Sean Combs. I can’t risk my life and get a deal with Suge Knight; I can’t crunk it out and get a deal with Jermaine Dupri. There is no way I can get a deal unless I leave and then when you leave the people think that you are not original and you don’t care about Chicago. But they don’t understand that in order to make Chicago famous you have to travel. It is a huge struggle every day and it is something me and my team are trying to overcome and it is very hard.
Nobodysmiling.com : Getting BDS in Chicago is damn near impossible unless you are a major label artist. Is this something you have found?
Juice : Well there are major companies that control the radio here. There have been crack downs, I won’t mention any names as I still need these companies, they control the market and they won’t stop controlling the market, but they won’t play anything unless you are paying them. If you don’t sell 20 kilos of coke a week you cant afford the 20,000 to do the campaign and if you do the campaign and the label think you are getting played in the region but you really paid for it and they sign you then when you are signed and then you aren’t selling they are like ‘why aren’t you selling when you were all on the radio?’ You then have to say you paid for it and that is how you got the deal and that is pretty much the deal in Chicago. People pay to get a deal and they don’t have the fan base like I have. It is all payola and there is nothing you can do to fix it unless you have money. It is a shame, I am not complaining about it as I understand the industry so it is not like I am a disgruntled rapper who cant get on, it is just I know how the industry is here and I live here so in some ways I must be accepting of it.
Nobodysmiling.com : That being said, there are numerous ways of getting into the game. You were a famed battle rapper.
Juice : Yeah some people will say I was one of the best that ever did it and I went undefeated for years and at the very end I lost two battles, but I was 202-2 and I don’t think there has been a streak like that. I have every trophy besides a Grammy right now for battling. If there was a Grammy for battling I would have it. It just didn’t make people accept me as an artist.
Nobodysmiling.com : There is a real stigmatism surrounding battle rappers that you can never cross over into the mainstream. Is this something that you think may have hindered you?
Juice : I think it definitely hindered me. If you look at me and then look at someone like TI, the fact that we both have lyrics, but the fact that TI doesn’t come from a battle background, when it comes time to make a single he doesn’t have to be true to any particular fan base. Me, I can’t make a single like TI, even though me and him come from the same place in the streets, I got known for battling and if I don’t make a song that has seven syllable rhymes and 24 bars then I am not real and I am selling out in some way. It is the hardest struggle I have ever had to try and create a separate identity. But song after song, lyric after lyric, hook after hook, record after record people are starting to see that I can actually write. If I can write and freestyle I just wonder where my place will be when all is said and done.
Nobodysmiling.com : Do you sometimes wish you had changed formula earlier?
Juice : That is probably the best question that I have ever been asked. If I had the chance to go to a major label situation where no one would know I could freestyle or battle until I got on Rap City on BET and I murdered everyone, and people went on to say I was good at free styling I would have went on and got a deal first, I would have done what Biggie did, what Jay Z did and after I had got the deal, once I got on radio shows I would have shown that I could freestyle. I would have been perceived as something completely different, I would have been seen as an abnormality that no one has ever seen. But now I am seen as a battle rap guy who is trying to get on. There are other rappers that have the name Juice and when you ask them about the name they will say ‘the other guy is a battle rapper, he isn’t trying to get a deal, so I will use it,’
Nobodysmiling.com : There are a lot of battle rappers that shouldn’t try to cross over as they are just good for battling and the same goes for a main stream artist trying to battle. You do exude versatility and I can respect that.
Juice : The key is I have hundreds of songs written and recorded that a label would see that I had been working and the people like the songs because when we do get BDS we do get a lot of it. It is just the change in perception being a contestant on BET’s Freestyle Friday and being a judge is a whole different issue. People don’t see Atmosphere or Idea the same way they see Russell Simmons. They are basically like Juice, you know you started as a little battle rapper and you are telling us you are going to be Russell Simmons, they don’t believe you. So it is my job to show you that I am here to do it.
Nobodysmiling.com : How thick skinned do you have to be?
Juice : You have to be personable as people have to like you, but you have to understand that there are politics that dominate and you are not really in control, there is always someone else in control and you have to be really thick skinned. People who are anything less than dedicated give up. I mean I know over the years hundreds of Chicago groups who got on and had this local buzz and it didn’t pan out and I see these guys working at Wendy’s or driving a bus now. To not do that and not break out and not stick to your guns to me you have to be ridiculously thick skinned, it is harder being broke than it is right now. I am not the richest guy in the world but I am trying to make rap support me and it is not easy. An office job means money coming up, but I am just trying to make this rap thing into something.
Nobodysmiling.com : It is hard when raw talent isn’t recognized.
Juice : It hurts, when you have the talent and people like it, you know it is seven degrees below zero and people have come out to see you. It doesn’t make sense, as they have the record; they are feeling what I am doing.
Nobodysmiling.com : What is your situation label wise?
Juice : We are just looking; we want someone to see the vision of Juice. Juice is an artist, he is a live performer, and he is a writer. You know sign Juice and the machine comes with him to perform and later do a Juice and the Machine album; we have the vision. If I have to go elsewhere to get heard, if I have to go to Greece I will, I need to be heard. That is more important than making money as when I am heard I will know if I am supposed to have a load of money or not as people will support it. That is all I really want.
Nobodysmiling.com : Doesn’t that separate those in it for the music or the money?
Juice : Well you know what, the passion is there for so long that at some point you have to look at the fact that you have a son or a daughter and I have been passionate that now I need to be paid for it otherwise I am going to quit.
Nobodysmiling.com : The passion comes first though doesn’t it? To some rapping is a career, it isn’t about the love of the music.
Juice : That is the difference between rap and Hip-Hop. When it is corporate, it is Rap, but the very essence that all that business was derived from is Hip-Hop and when you are into that you don’t really care about that, you are going to create regardless. When somebody recognizes it you get a blessing, like Mos Def. Imagine Mos Def and Talib Kweli not being known, it wouldn’t make sense. There would be a missing place; you know I feel that because I am not signed there is a missing voice that people do not know. I am just trying to fill it.
Nobodysmiling.com : There was a bit of conflict about you being signed to Game and Black Wall Street. What was that about?
Juice : There is another artist whose name was Rugby like the sport and he changed his name to Juice and they are talking about going forward with his project and I am like ‘well I am the original Juice,’ no disrespect but me and my people will let everyone know who the real Juice is and he is not going to do anything lyrically so it wont really matter. He is never going to be able to approach where I am at lyrically and say anything about the name so we just feel like he is doing me a favor by knowing who the real Juice is. Its promotion in a way.
Nobodysmiling.com : How important is a name?
Juice : To me it is not as important as it is to my people. My people see what I have done and all of us are rappers from the street and they have been behind me all my life, they look at it that I built that name into what it is. They feel that he is trying to bandwagon off the name I have made but I think my fans are smarter than that; they know how to figure it out. They are not trying to hear it though; they think I should fight for it. The name is not that important, what you bring to it is ridiculous important and I know what I bring to the name. It is the respect that I have as a lyricist that no one else is going to bring, yet if they do it means they are good enough to challenge me and that would be a great thing for Hip-Hop to see if I was really great or not but that isn’t going to happen in this situation.
Nobodysmiling.com : What is the future for you right now?
Juice : Just to get the product right for the band as we have a huge concert promotion company that really wants to book the band to have us open up for Usher or a Kanye. So we are doing our shows and people are asking us to do these tours but I don’t think we are ready yet. So we are fine tuning the band so we have three or four sets to play, marketing Juice and trying to keep everything separate but of course moving forward and at some point cracking the surface. It is not about securing a record deal; it is about creating a buzz as they will come. The record business doesn’t want me to sell a million records by myself but if no one is trying to offer a situation I will do it and then I will be a huge success story so they better snatch us while we are cheap. You know in some instances labels are designed to blow people up but then in other cases they are designed to tear down competition and then they give you small stretch compared to what you could make on your own and then you are signed to them for four albums and they have eliminated your ability for free enterprise while blowing up the other artists who are their priority, making it a triple edged sword, it is crazy.
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