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Consequence is a legend.

Just look at his history: at 19, he became an integral part of Native Tongues when he joined A Tribe Called Quest (of which Q-Tip is his cousin) on Beats, Rhymes and Life. The following era, he returned as a major piece to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music Imprint, creating dope jams like ‘Grammy Family’ and (our personal favorite) ‘Disperse’. Post-G.O.O.D.? Still killing ’em with his Movies On Demand and Curb Certified mixtape series. After that, he reinvented his brand on a more personal level with a role on VH1’s reality show Love & Hip-Hop.

The point is, the emcee/producer/actor has maintained a strong relevancy in an industry when a lot of artists we remember disappear, or worse, become jokes or shells of their former selves when the audience is able to see their highs and lows. Not Cons.

In 2014, the Queens veteran is poised to continue his career with new songs, new mixtapes, new albums and even a new TV series, which shows that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon….even when other emcees fall victim under the pressure.

JUKEBOX:DOPECONTENT got to chat with Consequence on specifically what he’s been up to, what the fans can expect and much more. Check it out below.

JBDC: You recently released your new single ‘Bottle Girls‘, and we saw on Instagram that you revealed the women that were inspirational to the song. The next thing we were hoping for was an upcoming video featuring the girls…are you gonna be dropping a video for that single soon?

Consequence: Your hope and my hormones are on the same page (laughs). Yea, I’m in the process of selecting a director and coming up with a treatment but yea, I’m looking to shoot a visual for it.

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I’ve been in a lot of videos that had featured beautiful women…like, I was in ‘Selfish’, my ‘Calling Me’ video has some real stock in it, you know, we had some stock in ‘Grammy Family‘. This one is gonna be a challenge because…each girl is very individual with their beauty, and I really want to make sure that I capture it correctly. I want to get it done, but I want to get it done right too, cause I feel like all these girls do have a substantial following and I don’t wanna just do something that cliché so to speak, I really want to make a dope art piece that still keeps sexy at the forefont. That’s where I’m am at with it.

Another freestyle you dropped was on De La Soul’s ‘Vocabulary Spills‘, which was incredible by the way…

Thank you.

…being that it all stems from the whole Native Tongues thing — at least that’s what we saw when we heard the song — is there gonna be more like that that we’ll be seeing from you in the future?

‘Vocabulary Spills’ to me was like a bucket list item, just to be honest, because…I’ve known [Posdnuos] and Dave and [Maseo] since I was a kid for obvious reasons, and we’ve never done anything together, so I mean at this point, where things are logistically with the Native Tongues movement, I just took it upon myself to do it because…I don’t wanna keep moving forward with my career [saying] that me and De La never did anything together, so let me do this and that was the inspiration for me to really —

First and foremost, that beat is crazy. When I heard the beat, I was like….and the whole thing making sense, you know….I one of the first people to even rhyme on Dilla’s beat, via ‘Word Play’, via Beats, Rhymes and Life. I should mention is…when Q-Tip first encoutered Jay Dee and got his beat tape, the first person who he played the beats for was me…but I was coming in as Tribe. He encountered Jay Dee on tour or whatever, and came home with his tape, and [was like], “cuz, what do you think of this dude?” and I was like “he hot!”

Back then, for you to put a stamp on something, you had to make sure [you heard at least] 10 [beats] straight [that made you feel like] “whew! shit’s fire!”

(laughs)

…I’ve always had a love for Jay Dee [and] Jay Dee’s production. It’s rooted in what the Tribe’s sound was, and it developed into its own thing of course…

[As far as] the verse for me, Jay Dee’s production always made it easy for me to think of lines anyway, so that’s why I know a lot of people really like that rap, a lot of people felt “that shit was fire”, so it was a pleasure for me to jump on that shit.

I remember a little while ago you did an interview with Montreality where you said you had an album called Start Your Own Business, are we gonna see that or anything new from you like that this year?

Yea, I’m definitely going to, it’s definitely going to be a couple bodies of work, I’m in the process of deciding whether that’s the working title or not, but as far as bodies of work, definitely, absolutely. That’s the reason why I’m back doing interviews and so forth, and putting music out. New mixtapes, new album, definitely.

I just wanted to get warmed up really, you know I took a little time off just to be a dad, I got a two-year old going into three, everybody saw when, you know, I was on television when I had him, so I just really took a little bit of time to just spend time with him and be a father. But now I’m back being an…you know… (laughs)

(laughs)

Don’t know what to call it…being Consequence. I’m back to being Consequence.

Is it possible that one of those upcoming mixtapes might be another installment of Movies On Demand?

Absolutely, if I’ma do it, absolutely. It’ll have everything that people love from the Movies On Demand series, the dope ass features, etc. etc.

Is there anything that we might be able to expect from Q-Tip, being that he’s Native Tongues and that’s fam?

Nah. I don’t even really do Q-Tip questions, just to keep it real.

That’s cool.

When you’re dealing with something historical, when you’re talking about Jay Dee, Jay Dee passed away, it’s cool, but, you know, Tip is doing what he’s doing and I’m doing what I’m doing.

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Respect. Post-Love & Hip-Hop, how has that exposure changed your life and career, and can we expect any series like that in the future that’s based on just you and doing your thing?

Yea, I got some things in the works, I’m actually talking to a major network not about some new TV endeavors, which would include my extended family, and something that’s just of me and Jen The Pen, so, yea, definitely.

It’s cool, you know, for some people, it’s their introduction of who Consequence is, for other people, they were already up on things, you know what I’m saying? It’s just an extension of the brand, and it definitely put me in a lot more homes because of the vehicle of television….it’s great, just another notch on the belt, that’s all, I know [for] a lot of people, it was was a lot of quotables (laughs)

(laughs)

As a rapper…they’re just like verses or they’re just like singles, you know what I’m saying? Your goal as an emcee is to make sure the whole world hears what you gotta say. So, you know, that served it’s purpose.

Being that you’ve been in the game for so long, I feel like you’ve been on the top of both sides as far as Hip-Hop, whether it be underground or commercial. What advice would you have for up and coming emcees looking to try to make it in this industry?

Take it day by day, that’s all. Do what you love and take it day by day. That’s the only thing you really can do, honestly. From either side, whether you’re poppin’, or you’re in the struggle, you gotta take it day by day, because it can go either way for you. When you’re on either side. If you got into this because you love it, then cool. If you got into for a lick, that’s cool too, but just always keep it in perspective what you got into it for.

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Fair enough. Anything else that we can expect from Consequence? Maybe another freestyle or track dropping?

Yea, you can look forward to getting that work this whole Summer. (laughs)

(laughs)

You’re gonna get that work this whole year, B. Straight like that. God willing. We got a remix of ‘Bottle Girls’ coming, and that shit is crazy.

Wow.

I gotta big dog on that joint, and I might get one more big dog on that joint…depending on how that comes out, that might actually end up being the video version, but we’ll see. I really like the original, but this is business, and we gotta take care of business accordingly, so….there may be two video versions, there may be the original and…there may be a remix version.

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