Big Scoob

When Big Scoob looked at the chaos in his life, he realized he always had one thing to rely on, one thing that gave him solace from the streets and from the stress of his personal life. That was his music, which is why the Strange Music stalwart named his new album H.O.G., an acronym for “Hand Of God.” “I go to speak at boys homes – child penitentiaries is what I call ‘em – I speak to young cats and schools and everybody wants to be a rapper,” Big Scoob explains. “I try to tell them that there’s more to life. When Strange Music CEO, Travis O’Guin, asked me to come back and do this album, I figured it had to be the hand of God. Like, maybe this is something I need to do so I can get more popular with these youngsters to where they’ll listen to me more and I can get my message to ‘em and let them know there’s more to life than the streets and rap.” Big Scoob explores his wide-ranging thoughts about life, spirituality and politics on the introspective “Walk The Line.” Produced by and featuring Strange Music labelmate Wrekonize, the song showcases Big Scoob wishing he could live life without a care. “I feel like I take care of everybody and I’m trying to be everybody’s mentor, everybody’s father,” the Kansas City rapper says. “But when my stuff goes bad, I don’t really have anybody to lean on, to talk to. I’m watching the news and seeing the police killings. This is nothing new to me. Where we’ve been from, I’ve been telling people the police come through here and mess us up and everybody tells us, ‘Ah, man. That’s because you’re doing stuff to where you probably deserved it.’ Now, there’s phones everywhere. There’s video so the media and society gets to see the stuff we’ve been talking about for years. Now it’s a big deal. All that is weighing on my head. My children are weighing on my head. It has me thinking, ‘What’s my next move, man?’” One of Big Scoob’s next moves was teaming with Killer Mike and Bumpy Knuckles on “A.B.N.” This searing selection finds the trio exploring America’s Biggest Nightmare, a black man with an education. “As long as we’re killing, selling drugs, going to the penitentiary and it’s no big deal, it’s like that’s the normal and it’s OK. But as soon as a black man stands up and says, ‘Hey. I’m tired of this nonsense. I’m smart enough to see that there’s nonsense going on,’ then it becomes a problem. Now I’m not against America. But the way the story was told to me, we’re all Americans. We’ve got the same right to the same piece of pie. Everybody’s chasing the same American Dream whether you want to admit it or not. My America might not look like your America, but I’m still an American. This is still my America and that’s the point I was trying to get across.” Big Scoob keeps the serious vibe going on the soulful “Do Better,” with Paul Wall and Boogieman, before shifting gears on the celebratory “Soul Musik.” Here, he shouts out some of his favorite artists, from Boosty Collins and Public Enemy to UGK and Tha Dogg Pound. He got the idea for “Soul Musik” while playing his favorite music on the Fourth of July. “I found myself getting away from everybody,” he explains. “I sat in a lawn chair in front of my house, turned my playlist on and went and smoked a cigar. By the end of the night, my whole family ended up being where I’m at, half of the neighborhood ended up being where I’m at. We’re sitting out in front of my house just listening to my playlist. I’ve got kids from 10 years old to adults 65-70 years old and everybody’s grooving to my playlist. I don’t have to skip a song. I have everything, from jazz to 2Pac to Beyonce to Switch. There’s so much music that I listen to. I thought I’d make a song to let people know that I’m more than just what you think I am. I listen to many different genres of music. I’m well-rounded when it comes to music.” Two of Big Scoob’s other favorite acts, E-40 and B-Legit, collaborated with him on the thunderous “Bi**h Please” (the clean version is “Trick Please”). Big Scoob then revisits a classic formula on “Intoxicated.” The high-energy party cut features Tech N9ne, Txx Will and Bakarii. In 1998, they collaborated for “Let’s Get Fucked Up,” a classic Kansas City cut featured on the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains’ It’s On Now LP. Big Scoob felt it was time to recapture that energy. “It was only fitting that me and my Rogue Dog Villains did another drinking song,” he explains. “That’s what we’re known for. It’s how we get down, so we had to give ‘em a new one.” Since he emerged in the 1990s, Big Scoob has been a staple in the Missouri rap scene. Along with his work with 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains, he helped Strange Music solidify its presence in the streets with 2009’s Monsterifik album, which featured the hits “Big Fella” and “Salue” with Tech N9ne. Two years later, he followed that project up with his Damn Fool album and No Filter EP. As his music career was taking off, Big Scoob took time to focus on other things. “We all have problems from time to time,” he says. “That’s what the street life is. It’s ups and downs. But that’s where you figure out how strong you are. When you’re constantly getting problems, a weak man is going to lay down and cry about it. A real man gets up, does what he needs to do and keeps pushing until it gets better.” Now, with H.O.G., Big Scoob has made a triumphant return to music. “I’ve been blessed to make it through the nonsense,” he explains. “I’ve lost a lot of close friends to the penitentiary, to homicide. So I feel like the fact that I’m still here, I have something I need to say. Even if I’m not in a point in my life right now where I’m giving all positive messages — you could hear me one day and I’ll be on nonsense and you hear me another day and I’ll be telling you something you need to hear, to remember forever – I’m a work in progress. Nobody is perfect, but I believe it’s a good thing that music is always there for me. I can come back and vent, come back and get my point of view across, come back and there’s still people that want to hear me. That’s a blessing.” And the Hand Of God is getting Big Scoob where he wants to be. H.O.G. out now on iTunes! http://flyt.it/HOG_iTunes​