"My favorite sport is boxing hands down, you know what I mean? I like it over basketball, football, baseball and any other sport. But anyway man, my number one fighter living is Bernard Hopkins. Then you know I love Mayweather, I love Pacquiao, and the list goes on. There are a lot of boxers I love, man. And rest in peace to all of the ones that's gone, man; all of the good hardhead dudes, Vernon Forrest and people like Arturo Gatti. And the list goes on with that too. But hell yeah I love MMA too. I love the UFC. I watch that all the time, man. I'm not as much of a fan as I am with boxing, but I like MMA for real," stated Houston rap artist J Dawg, who shared his thoughts on boxing, mixed martial arts, his rise in the rap game, and much more. Check it out!
PC: J Dawg, what's good my man?
JD: God and my family...real good.
PC: We obviously are a website based around the fight game, but we branch out from time to time because when I see what you've been through in your life, you are a fighter. You overcame a lot my man. Tell us about it?
JD: Ah yeah, man, my struggle's like everybody else's struggle, man: single mother, problem child, if you wanna call it that, but basically man, I came up like everybody else, man. I was a have-not, so I felt like an outcast. My big brother was on lock; my momma was going through her addiction, man. She was a good mother anyway, but I was just like all of the other kids, man. I came up raw way, you know what I'm saying? But God used the bad for the good, man, in his name because that's what you dealing with now. This is the effect of what the bricks caused and what these streets caused, so God's good.
PC: Through your music, you always let people know not to give up on their dreams. You never saw yourself in this position years back. What do you feel was your break?
JD: Well, I don't know about the break part. I don't feel like I got my big break yet, however, I'm very grateful, man. I feel like the minute that I got on stage and people were in the crowd rapping word for word, that's when I felt like, "Wow, I done accomplished something." I felt like it was really major for me to see that, you know what I mean? And that was success to me. As far as my big break, I'm still waiting on it, so holla at me. Anybody who interested and want a work hogg, man, they want a dude that's real about what they are rapping about, you know what I mean, holla at me. I gotta mean work ethic, man, and plus, this is my life; I need it.
PC: When you look at the music landscape in the south, and I'm in Louisiana and at one time, we had the momentum, then Memphis, then Atlanta, and of course Houston, but who do you feel has the momentum right now in the southern music rap game?
JD: I don't know. I don't really follow it a lot, you know what I mean? But I'm hoping and I'm praying that the whole South still got it, you know what I mean? But I got a lot of love for the West Coast and the East Coast, so I don't know. That ain't a good question for me because I want to see all the real niggaz and all of the G'S get paid, you know what I mean? I'm rooting for...it don't even matter where you from, you know what I mean? The South, the East Coast, the West Coast or the Midwest. I don't care. I'm just down for all the real G's, man. Keep providing good music, keep going hard, and keep making a way for the homies next up, you know what I mean?
PC: For sure. Is there any artist from any region that you would like to work with that you haven't had the opportunity to work with yet?
JD: All of 'em. I wanna work out with all of the gangstas, man; all of 'em, for real. I'm talkin bout if I go to naming names of the artists that I want to work with, I'll be naming names all day; and it ain't even about trying to find a hit, man, that would just be another accomplishment for my life. I'm from the Bricks, mayne. I come from nothing. And that's no disrespect at all to my hood. I love my hood, you know what I mean? And plus, all I ever wanted to be was a gangsta anyway, you know what I mean? So I love my hood; I rep my hood. All of the artists that I see from every region and everywhere, man, and all of the gangstas, I would love to work with them, mayne, for real. I wish I coulda done some things with Soulja Slim. That's one of my #1 cats; I got him in my studio. I got a portrait of him drew on my wall in my studio. Him, along with Pimp C, [DJ] Screw and Pac, you know what I mean? But the list goes on. I want to work with all the G's, man.
PC: You really made some noise with this "Behind Tint" series you have been doing. Do you have an official date for "Behind Tint III" or should everyone just be on the lookout?
JD: I'm trying to get it out there by the beginning of 2013.
PC: You also got that "Life of a Yung Hogg" coming in December. You're staying real busy, man. Are you doing a lot of shows as well as putting in the work in the studio?
JD: Yeah. I'm pretty much booked every weekend and I get hit up for features just bout every day. With those features and my projects, I'm in the studio for most of my free time.
PC: Before I let you go, I gotta ask if you are a fight fan. Do you watch any boxing or mixed martial arts at all, and if so, who do you like out there?
JD: Hell yeah! My favorite sport is boxing hands down, you know what I mean? I like it over basketball, football, baseball and any other sport. But anyway man, my number one fighter living is Bernard Hopkins. Then you know I love Mayweather, I love Pacquiao, and the list goes on. There are a lot of boxers I love, man. And rest in peace to all of the ones that's gone, man; all of the good hardhead dudes, Vernon Forrest and people like Arturo Gatti. And the list goes on with that too. But hell yeah I love MMA too. I love the UFC. I watch that all the time, man. I'm not as much of a fan as I am with boxing, but I like MMA for real. One day, I want to do that shit. I wanna whoop me a nigga's ass in the cage and kick him across his shit, you know what I mean? That shit will feel funny, but I wanna do it. I'm used to knocking these bitch ass niggaz out though.
PC: I think being real is a lost art form in the music game right now and in life in general. You always keep it 100 my man. Feel free to come promote your work on FightHype anytime. You would be surprised at the crossover appeal from the fight game to the music game. Is there anything else you want to say in closing, man; any shout outs before I let you go?
JD: Yeah man, I want to shout out all of the G's man, all of the gangsta girls, all of the big homies, man, that paved the way for us, you know? Shout out to all of the homies on the block searching for a way out. All of my G's man, who feel hopeless out there, man, I hope that me, along with a bunch of other real dudes in the game, I hope our music will inspire y'all to keep living and keep striving. Shout out to everybody messin' with the Yung Hogg, man; my whole team, Boss Hogg, Stomp Down and my whole team, man. My H-Town Squad, my Louisiana plug; shout out to all my niggaz, mayne. Rest in peace Soulja Slim, Pimp C, Screw, Pat, you know what I mean? The list goes on. Rest in Peace to the homie Pac, man. J Dawg the Yung Hogg, keep your ears open. I'm on the way, man.
[WRITER'S NOTE: Be sure to follow J Dawg on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/JDawgYungHogg and for all requests or appearances, be sure to contact Lavish at 337.230.5500]
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]