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Property of iFLOW Magazine:  Archived Story Originally Published in June 2006

Is He Really Doing It All (Lords of the Underground Interview)

Jewelz, iFLOW Web Magazine's chief editor, had an extensive conversation with Do It All Dupre from the pioneering group Lords of the Underground (L.O.T.U.G.).  There was so much to be said during their chat that iFLOW decided to split the session between issues.  The following discussion is part one.

JEWELZ (iFLOW):   Alright-  Here We Go.

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):    Yea

JEWELZ (iFLOW): We are going to start from the history and then we are going to bring you to now.

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   Alright

 JEWELZ (iFLOW): We all know that you are a portion of Lords of the Underground. For those that are new to the hip hop world please explain how Lords of the Underground developed

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):    First all, this is your boy (your homey); the Lord Gang General- “Do It All Dupre”.  I am 1/3 of the group Lords of the Underground. The pioneers of what they call the “Golden Era of Hip Hop man; the early 1990’s who bought you Chief Rocker, Funky Child Psycho; Here Come the Lords~ which was all Billboard # 1’s.

 The members of L.O.T.U.G consists of my man  Mr. Funk Man the Machine (what up Funk), DJ Lord Jazz from Cleveland, Ohio, and myself.  Mr. Funk and I are from Newark, New Jersey (Brick City).  You know hot it goes down man.

JEWELZ (iFLOW): Uh Huh

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):    I thought I was going to be an actor slash baseball New York Yankee but uhh~ you know this is something that I love man. Lords of the Underground got together at Shaw University (North Carolina);  I did go to college (big up to my Alpha Phi Alpha brothers; the black and gold). We met in North Carolina I should say; and before that Red Man was my DJ

JEWELZ (iFLOW): That’s my dude right there (talking about Red Man)

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):  Big Up to the Funk Doc man

JEWELZ (iFLOW):  Yea!

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   We DJ Lord Jazz was on the radio station and he linked us up with a brother named Derreck “LA” Jackson, who manages Scott Scorch and Coolio. Derreck is Marly Marl’s (of the Juice Crew) cousin. He introduced us to the Juice Crew and he came down and saw us perform at a club called Feva’s.

 Now, Funky Man and myself were solo artists; but we wrote a song together called Psycho and we rhymed it to Black Sheep’s beat “Engine Engine Number Nine,”  and that is how we got out deal.

 JEWELZ (iFLOW):  You talking about the Black Sheep’s song “ The Choice is Yours”

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   Yea, but you know I call it (as he sings it) “Engine Engine Number 9. Marley heard it and he went crazy and he bought us to the house of hits. The first time we went to the house of hits, LL COOL J was recording “Mama Said Knock You Out.” LL is one of my idols and I was like damn we finally made it.

 You know We wasn’t even called Lords of the Underground at first, we was called NJ Funk. That’s some crazy shit…NJ Funk!~ I don’t know what the hell we was thinking about.  We got our name (Lords of the Underground) from Tragedy Kaddafi during a freestyle he did in Washington, DC. It’s been what I have dreamed of.

JEWELZ (iFLOW):   Wow!

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   DJ Lord Jazz and myself currently live in Paris (France), but we are moving back to the United States by January (2007)

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):  All I want to see, man, is people expanding the hip hop culture and helping the culture grow.  Many are yelling that Hip Hop is dead; they are only saying that it is dead because they don’t feel the life coming from it anymore. The originality~ you know the truth~

JEWELZ (iFLOW): Yea

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):  Anytime there is truth man, there is life.  They aren’t feeling the truth from it because Hip Hop has become a billion dollar industry.. It is so corporate now that its getting kind of crowded and lost. But, hip hop is still alive man; you just got to search for it and believe that it is within you.

 It has been so much fun with Lords of the Underground over the years. We probably have another album in us and I have a solo album and Funk might do a solo project. We are just grinding like a slow dance.

 Its been great man, we’ve done a lot of television shows. We’ve done a lot of things.

 JEWELZ (iFLOW): I know that through all of the experiences that you have since the time that you started; seeing you tonight just a host on the stage how your confidence shines out without you asking for it ; you demand your attention in your voice alone.  Everybody has their eyes on you……What did it take for you to get to that point?

 Ummmm.. I think what happens is like…….. First, as an individual, you have to feel that you believe it one thousand percent. If you believe that you are the shit; then you will be the shit! It starts with belief; but sometimes we believe something and then we let doubt creep in. When we let doubt creep in, it weakens the belief. So you have to belief that you are what your actions show that you are.

 Wowwww!!!!  Now, you mentioned that you have current project going on. You guys are transitioning to the US from Paris right now (I don’t know why the hell you would come back but that’s a different story)…Laughing….  That is too close to London and a whole new life

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   Laughing….. The Euro is definitely on the dollar!

JEWELZ (iFLOW):  What is it like being a super star over seas as a comparison to being  a super star in the United states? Is it a major difference?

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   There is a difference.  I would say that over seas is about 5 to 10 years behind America. I say that because there are not as fickle. America is saturated with rappers, producers and people of the hip hop culture.  When you are over-saturated with something you lose the value of it. In hip hop’s case we lose the fans; we lose the true lovers of the music. They call our era the golden era of hip hop between 1991 and 1995; You have a lot of fans who love what you do. I heard that Jay-Z told CamRon and Dipset one time, “What are you doing to these people out here? You are making them not want to be their self!”  I didn’t understand that before, but now I understand it.  In the early 1990’s, in hip hop, people were allowed to be their self.

 JEWELZ (iFLOW):   Right! MC Lyte was able to make records without having to have a nice hair do.

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   Exactly! And you accepted it! Overseas allows you to be yourself. If they love you; they love you forever. Over here (in America) they love you for your hit record.

 JEWELZ (iFLOW): Right!

 DO IT ALL  If you are not hot they (America) don’t love you anymore. Overseas, they love you because of that hit record and they give you a chance to make another.  They know that if you did it once, you can do it again. That builds confidence. Overseas accepts it when you get on that stage and perform that hit that they love from you.  In America, it might be Chief Rocker today; then it will be Dipset tomorrow.  It’s just that way.

 Program Directors are what they say they are.  They “program” you to like what they push.  And we kind of get brain washed. Our culture, the “popular” culture are brainwashed to believe that if a song is played one thousand times; it must be hot. You should like what you want to like and that will give artists the opportunity to be who they really are instead of trying to be like anyone else.

 JEWELZ (iFLOW): do agree with that because I see a lot of people…..See Fifty (50 Cent) rapped about what he lived.  See the man faced death….

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):  :  There is nothing wrong with that

JEWELZ (iFLOW)::  But, there are people who will say, “If he is eating off of that, I am going to rhyme about it even though I have never experienced it.

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   That’s when it becomes wrong

JEWELZ (iFLOW): You got people that are Harvard Student rhyming about killing somebody and they have never even touched a gun in their life. But in your case, you guys are known for your songs to be club jumpers~ you guys invented shit that had people wanted to bounce around.  I am from your era where no one in those days ever bit off anybody

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   Yea… All my God

 JEWELZ (iFLOW):   You got people making millions and millions of dollars off of artists from the 1990’s albums by remaking them and claiming them as their own. Now you guys are coming to the United States and dropping another album. How can we expect that to be different/similar as your original projects?

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):   I that with time ~ experience become growth. I heard that Lionel Ritchie is coming out with another album. I feel that I can learn something from him. When we were hip hopping we were just having fun. We was wishing and hoping for thing, but now we’ve experienced it. Its more grounded now.

 JEWELZ (iFLOW): Did you have to deprogram yourself ( from living in the hood) to adjust to difference living arrangements or was it something that helped you along the way? You know money pays for a better life.. Did you find it easier or did other bullshit caused you to revert back to what you learned from the hood to survive?

 DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.): For me, I am from the same place you are from… I was still living in the hood when I got my deal. When we first got signed it was 1991 but we did not get popular until 1993; and 1994 is when I moved out (of Newark, NJ). So between 1991 to 1994 limos was coming through the hood. But because I was gone so much I was out the hood even though I still lived there. I was so busy that I wasn’t into the streets like I used to be. Now, I actually got out of the hood I didn’t recognize it (because I was so busy).  It wasn’t until one day that I got with one of my friends and I just bought my first expensive car (a BMW). I rode through the block and I said, “Damn, it got more fucked up around here!”  I said, “What’s going on around here?”   My man brought me back to reality.  He was like, “What the fuck you talking about dude?  This shit was like this when you were here!”

JEWELZ (iFLOW):  Wow

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.): I was like damn!  It made me realize that because I was in this shit I couldn’t recognize it. But when I got out and started living other shit and I came back it made me realize the shit I was in. Sometimes I know, that the people out there on the streets don’t realize the obstacles or the vices they face because they are still stuck in it.

JEWELZ (iFLOW):  Is Lord of the Underground taking a hiatus or are you guys working on individual projects right now?

DO IT ALL (L.O.T.U.G.):  Lord of the Underground have never broken up. We have never dismantled the group. I decided that I wanted to focus on television and film, DJ Lord Jazz moved to Paris, and Funk Man took a hiatus (he decided not to do it for a while). 

 You may have seen me on such films as Law and Order, New York Under Cover, Dirty Game, Oz, Somewhere In The City, Crossing the Line with Tay Diggs.  I kept myself grinding.

 Lords of the Underground is recording an album with Das EFX call the Underground Effects. Every one thought we were beefing back in the day.

 Contact Black Sun at 973.627.3595 
to speak with Lords of the Underground