If Glasses Malone had it his way, West Coast hip-hop would represent something of a rap utopia. He is one of the most calculated rap artists in the game, brave and talented enough to execute content beholden to gang culture, for the very purpose of educating the masses and those wannabe thugs. Most recently, G Malone hooked up with Ice-T, who turned in arguably the first gangsta rap track in 1986 with “6 N The Mornin’,” thrusting him onto the national stage.
It’s safe to say Ice has enjoyed the fruits of his labor and Malone, one of his artistic offspring, is here to keep that spirit alive with his own rendition of “6 ‘N The Mornin’,” featuring Ice, Snoop Dogg and R&B staple Ty Dolla Sign.
The Watts representative recently sat down with rolling out to discuss the new track and his desire to unite the West Coast on his latest project, Glasshouse 2: Life Ain’t Nothing But … (available this spring), during an exclusive interview.
When you think of the original “6 ‘N The Mornin’,” you just hear that intro, “6 in the morning police at my door…” but that song is over seven minutes long. I never realized he said so much. What was it like hooking up with the O.G.?
It’s crazy, right? … It was dope to tap in with that man and celebrate the origin of where all of his West Coast s— began. And I mean, as far as globally, it was dope to me, he got off. I love it. I felt like he tapped back into his youth. That energy is still with Ice. If you know Ice, he still got that energy. So I was just encouraging him, like, “You need to rap more. I get it that [you got] all these films and … TV shows, but I feel like you owe it to the culture to keep it going to show that you aged gracefully and you were able to turn your life into more.” [He] gives a lot of people hope.
His voice is a lot lighter on the original, and on your track, he has that that hefty, grown man voice. Did you notice?
Right? I was listening to White Lightnin’ that I put out … in 2006. I sound like a pup. Now I listen it’s all heavy [sounding] like f—ing Barry White. But you know, you embrace the journey.
How does your “6 ‘N The Mornin’ ” G-mix parallel the original track? And how’s it different?
It doesn’t parallel at all. What I wanted was a celebration of West Coast and its origins. I wanted a celebration of the gods and the saviors. I wanted to celebrate our history in its essence. That’s f—in’ Mount Vesuvius in general, that song. That’s not what my song was intended to be. “2Pac Must Die” was a lot closer to what I was going for with that. My version of “6 ‘N The Mornin’ ” was just a celebration of Ice and Snoop and [the song] itself. So Ice[‘s] s— was like … the lifestyle — this is how we livin’ on the West. Mine is like, “This is how we celebrate on the West. … This is the energy. We bringin’ all this gangster goodness together.”
Check out the G-mix on the following page.
