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PASTOR TROY interview by Dirty Angel
June 15, 2007 | Interviews
PASTOR TROY DELIVERS A BRAND NEW SERMON
By Khalid Strickland a.k.a. Dirty Angel
Welcome to the ministry of crunk…
I remember one wild night, back in the summer of ’99, when I was at Club Jaguar in Atlanta, Georgia. The party was off-the-chain; the deejay was exemplary and there were plenty of red-hot Georgia peaches in tight shorts, anxious to dance. Just when I thought I’d reached nirvana, the deejay dropped the needle on a gritty record that drove the crowd beyond fever pitch. It was my first time hearing this energetic, cinderblock hard joint, but for the partygoers it was a wildly popular anthem. The record in question is “No Mo Play In GA” by one of the Dirty South’s best rap artists, Pastor Troy. After experiencing that song in the club, I copped Troy’s debut album, “We Ready: I Declare War”, the very next day. From start to finish the CD was solid, and I thoroughly enjoyed it even though a few verses harbored what I perceived as anti-New York sentiment. But I also understood that if Atlanta were a country, Pastor Troy would be its foremost nationalist. And the music, regardless of where it was from, was exactly how I like my rap: honest, tough-as-nails verses meshed with brass-knuckled beats. P. Troy is without a doubt one of the originators and innovators of crunk music.
Much like Brooklyn’s own M.O.P., Pastor Troy has a dedicated, rabid fan-base that craves his hardcore style of music. After dropping “We Ready”, Pastor Troy stayed on his grind heavy, releasing seven more solo albums and two mixtapes. That’s not to mention the two albums P. Troy released with his crew, D.S.G.B. (Down South Georgia Boys). Ludacris recognized the good pastor’s expanding flock and featured him on the song “Get Off Me” from Luda’s debut LP, “Back for the First Time”. Troy’s also collaborated on songs with Young Jeezy, Chamillionaire and his former friend Lil’ Jon. Though most of his releases have been proudly independent, Pastor Troy has dropped albums with Universal Records as well. Troy’s highly-publicized beef with Master P, who reigned with No Limit Records at the time, is the stuff of legend. Never one to bite his tongue, The Pastor is currently embroiled in a few conflicts, most notably with Lil’ Scrappy and the aforementioned Lil’ Jon. Most recently, however, he unwittingly gained a formidable enemy: The Charlotte, NC Police Department. Earlier this year, a mentally disturbed man shot two police officers dead after a night of drinking and smoking. Court documents state that the gunman also listened to Pastor Troy’s song “Murda Man” before the shootings, implying the cop-killer was under the influence of the music. Although the accusations are bogus on the part of the justice system, they still managed to drag Pastor Troy’s name through the mud. Thank God Cho Seung-Hui, the deceased Virginia Tech shooter, didn’t have any rap songs in his thoroughly examined I-Pod. The rock and industrial music Cho listened to isn’t popular (or ghetto) enough for the haters to persecute right now.
Pastor Troy is set to release his latest album, “Tool Muziq”, on July 3rd 2007 via SMC Recordings. True to form, Pastor Troy caused controversy when he originally titled his upcoming LP “Saddam Hussein”. The major record retail chains refused to carry the album with its original title, Troy decided to make a change. But P.Troy’s latest offering is more than satisfactory. With production from Shawty Red (Young Jeezy’s hitmaker), Drumma Boy and DJ Squeeky, the beats on “Tool Muziq” are top-choice bangers. Former Three-Six Mafioso Gangsta Boo, another one of my personal favorites, is featured on “Wanting You”. Fabo of D4L and Georgia rap legend Hitman Sammy Sam (with whom Troy once feuded) also make guest appearances.
The good pastor was cool enough to answer a few questions for me during a break in his hectic promotion schedule.
Dirty Angel: What’s good with the alias “Saddam Hussein”? Why’d you choose that?
Pastor Troy: Aw man… ‘cause I’m going to war with these fools, man. I’m bombin’ on ‘em. And they don’t like me too hot, kinda like Saddam (laughs). But it’s all good, man, we bombin’ on ‘em.
Angel: Did the label give you any flack about that title? I heard that you had to change that, man.
Troy: Naw, man. S**t, the label was actually for it. It was actually some of them media markets and stuff like that… that we were trying to sell to. A lot of people just didn’t want to be caught up in anything they ain’t understand or couldn’t explain. You feel me?
Angel: What’s this new joint gonna add to the Pastor Troy catalog?
Troy: Aw man… this joint here, man… I love this album, man; because it’s so much what I really wanted to do… you know what I mean? I’m talkin’ about… the album still has the whole “Saddam” (feel), the way we was makin’ it, man. It was still “Saddam”, you feel me? It’s kind of hard to separate the two. We had to do the name change, but everybody’s gonna really feel where I’m comin’ from, man. Just a lot of energy, a lot of hard beats… we bombin’.
Angel: What do you hope to accomplish with this new joint?
Troy: Just making my fan base happy, man. It ain’t that hard, you know? We catering to a couple of thousand people, man. You know… fifty, seventy-five thousand, I’m a happy man.
Angel: How do you feel you’ve influenced crunk music in Atlanta and beyond?
Troy: I really did my thing with this whole thing, man. I listened to my first CD today, man. I was like, “God d**n, this s**t tight!” (laughs) Know what I mean? I was glad it was me, you know? It just put a real… it put a cap on Atlanta, you know what I mean? We were looking for the crunk music, we were looking for a whole (new) music (style)… for a face. And man, my CD just came at a good time to be one of the founders of that style of music. That’s cool.
Angel: I’ve been following your career for a long time. Your career is very solid. Do you feel that you have anything left to prove?
Troy: I really don’t, man. You know, I say that on the Rich Boy album, man. I really ain’t got nothing to prove. This stuff now, I’m just doing it for fun, know what I mean? It’s cool, man.
Angel: You’re very outspoken and you just say what’s on your mind. How do you feel your outspokenness and your fearlessness have affected your career?
Troy: It has its pros and its cons, you know what I mean? But at the same time I feel that as a man (I believe in) saying what I mean and sticking to my guns about god d**n what I say. So it’s cool, I wasn’t going to be handling it any other way whether it’s from management not doing right, from labels not doing right or none of that stuff, man. At the end of the day, I got to be satisfied with what goes on. S**t, I am for the most part.
Angel: A lot of southern rappers are claiming the title “king of the south”. That title’s getting kicked around a lot. Do feel that title is necessary? And how do you feel when you hear that title being thrown around by all kinds of people?
Troy: Man, I hear it and I shake my head at it and I wonder where they judging it from. You know? What is the basis of… you know… what are the qualifications for it? That’s what I’m trying to see (laughs), you know? It’s all good, man, they can pass all the king crowns around that they want, I’m the champ.
Angel: No doubt. Did you ever think you’d see a day when a group like Three-Six Mafia would win an Oscar?
Troy: Man, you know what? That joint… it really didn’t surprise me, man. All that we needed was the light, cameras and action in the south. We was gonna handle the rest, you know what I mean? All we needed was the opportunity.
Angel: Now I’m from New York, man. And I got to say when I was in Atlanta and I heard that “No Play In GA”, I went out and bought the album the next day. I love that album, but I got a hint that you wasn’t really feeling New York that much, man. Why was that and do you still fell that way?
Troy: That was ’98, ’99 … but New York had it just so prevalent. They really didn’t let us in like that, man. They really didn’t want to accept that s**t. But now, man… hell… it feels so good where I’m the guy that really broke the New York boys in to the south music. I was the first one that they said, “I’mma f**k with this cat, I’m f****n’ with Troy”. So, it’s all love with me. I appreciate that. Now, they down. I heard that the summer fest in New York might as well be a birthday bash in Atlanta.
Angel: My favorite joint of yours is “Vice Versa” (from Troy’s first album on Universal Records, “Face Off”). I had that s**t on my MySpace page and the whole nine. What inspired you to write that?
Troy: Man, I wrote that joint… just leaving Atlanta going to Augusta (Georgia) and the whole college experience, man. You know, we had been out here… I had been doing my thing and stuff all through high school and everything. So when I got to college it really wasn’t overwhelming for me; the drinking, the partying and all that stuff. But I thought it was ‘bout to be something different. But when I got to school and saw how it really went down, I was like, “man this s**t is really vice versa”. Everybody, from the girls… from the girls who parents thought they had little virgins at home and s**t like that. It was just so much that I encountered. I was like, “Man, everything’s vice versa”. And I just grind the whole joint from there, man. I wrote that joint while I was in school and I never had a beat for it. Man, I finally heard the beat… the track… I went to the studio and ripped that joint, man. I’m talking about that was one take; the whole song, no hook. Forty-something bars of straight rhyming.
Angel: Did you produce a lot of tracks for this new jump-off, man? I know you nice with the beats too.
Troy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. These boys who I grabbed for this album though, man… these dudes so god d**n crazy they just ran all past my little tracks (laughs). It’s all cool, man. It ain’t nothing like grabbin’ some tight beats. You know, my whole thing with the production is I produce when they can’t give me what I want. And I really didn’t have that problem with this album. So I really didn’t have to pursue it like that.
Angel: As far as current events, there’s been all these protests and hip-hop’s been getting a bad rap. People have been talking about banning the words “n***a”, “b***h” and “hoe” from rap music. What do you think about a ban on all those words?
Troy: Man… I’m down here, dog, and I’m just looking at the white people down here that support the music… it’s just as many white n****s as there is black n****s, you know what I mean? And they accept it and they know it. They know it. I’m like, man… s**t. I really don’t get into that game, you know what I mean? As long as it’s b*****s and hoes in society… that s**t real, why not talk about it? You know? It’s cool, man. I’m talking ‘bout music got so much bigger than race. I’m talking ‘bout… it just got big, man. These white boys… it’s not even like that, man; how it was years and years ago. I think that s**t’s totally on something different right now.
For music and information on Pastor Troy, visit www.myspace.com/pastortroy.
For more stories and work by Dirty Angel visit www.myspace.com/blackpacino and www.supremearsenal.com.
Comments
4 Comments so far
Great Interview!
Reaaal TAlk Troy!!!
Imma white boy from across the ocean and i love yo music man, i gotta lot of yo ish. Keep doin yo thing! Much luv from the Dutch
I like how you guys talked about how NY has changed in reference to our love now for that dirty south sound! And I know you a hardcore NY fan as well as myself!!!
Keep writing!!! Keep our brothers on black and white for posterity son!!!
Holla!!!
Chf
pastor troy u is my best rapper people at scholl ask me why i like u so much an i tell them b/c he is a hardcore rapper im trying to get abeard like you and dreads