Illuminati 2G

I2G kicked it with K.A.R. Records CEO Pistol Pete for a exclusive interview. We discuss the compilation album, K.A.R., which came out a couple months ago on Koch and the roster of artists that participated on the project from the label. We also talk about Fat Joe's role on the album and the future plans of the label and much more so check it out.

Illuminati 2G is here with Pistol Pete how's it going?

Everything is good brother I am blessed. Grinding, album K.A.R. in stores now. Basically that is what is going down.

Tell me a little bit about how you got the whole K.A.R. label together.

Well basically I had this vision. I always wanted to do something that would represent the struggle, so that is how it all came down. I basically came home from the Feds, and I had this Kill All Rats that I was representing in jail. I wanted to do something that would rep the struggle, something for the guys that I had lefted behind. After I got out, I started the company, Kill All Rats Entertainment, and then I started doing films and documentaries. I did a film called Hip Hop Police and I also did one called Death Before Dishonor.

That was real successful, and I sold over 170,000 copies. Those were the projects I started doing, and they did well. At the same time I had the brothers in the hood telling me damn Pete you need to get some artists and get into the music game or something. You strong in the industry and alot of people respect you. I kind of ignored it for 2 years, but I ignored it because I was on the road all the time with Fat Joe. Finally I decided after 2 years to give it a shot, but also at the same time I was giving interviews and people wanted to holla at me and shout out K.A.R., Kill All Rats. By the time I was ready to do the music thing, people already knew what K.A.R. was. So I said fuck it, let me find some artists and put this together.

I had a good relationship with Alan at E1/Koch and I told him that I was trying to put this album together, what you think about it? He said well you know if that is want to do. I said well let me figure something out and I am going to come back at you right. I went back and started putting somethings together, went to Joe and told him look I need you to be the executive producer on the album with me. Came back to Alan and told him listen, Fat Joe is going to be the executive producer on the album. He was like yeah and I said yeah. He said alright P I am going to give you a deal and it took off from that point. I could have actually did what others have done like Khaled for example. I could have done the album like Terror Squad and Pistol Pete Presents K.A.R. and make the album full of big name artists like Joe, Cam'ron, Jadakiss and still use these other guys and just get some beats for it.

I chose not to do that. I decided to get 3 local guys, go to Harlem, the Bronx, and snatched up these kids. Actually I did not even have to look for them, they came to me. I already had a studio and I had these people coming to me saying hey Pete I know these dudes, and they brought me Rob Cash. He was Kay Slay's artists for a bit before he went to jail for 3 years and once he got out, people were saying to need to fuck with this kid. He is nice on the mic, so I said ok bring him through. He came through and I loved him. I loved his whole swag, and you could see it in him that he was hungry. Same thing happened with Onez, he is another guy from Washington Projects in Harlem. The last one that came along was Leader and he is from the Bronx and Tony Sunshine was the one that brought him to me.

We were at the same studio that D-Block works out of and Leader went in the booth and just started to go off. I was like wow this kid is impressive, he was like 18 years old at the time. I liked him, especially since Tony Sunshine brought him to me. I was his manager at one time also. So I just put them all together, I had built a studio in Jersey and we started working. They did not know each other before all this, I got a producer from Harlem, in house producer named Butta Beatz. I started reaching out to Scram Jones, Streetrunner, Cool & Dre, they did some joints as well and they are on the album. Everyone just started to reach out, I also reached to Jadakiss and told him that I need him for this joint. We doing a K.A.R. album and they already knew about us because we were doing mixtapes. Rat ID, Monster, K.A.R., and the last one that we did was Gay Unit.

We had a buzz out here so once I reached out to all these guys, like D-Block, Dipset and I told them that I needed them to contribute, they was like bet, they wanted to be a part of it. It worked out pretty good, it was also a struggle because it is not always easy. I got Sean Kingston on the album, Layzie Bone, and we got alot of suprises on there. Alot of good producers too, other than just Cool & Dre, we also have Scott Storch on the album so it is alot of good stuff.

Tell me a little bit about the single, Oh Baby, that is currently out from the compilation.

Well the single is Rob Cash and Onez, featuring Fat Joe and it is called Oh Baby. It was a song produced by LV, who produced most of Jay-Z's album, American Gangster. It is a good joint, we dropped the video and we also have a second single as well with Ace Hood, which is Girl Wanna Have Fun. It is a good party joint, some shit you can rock in the car.

What do you feel the K.A.R. movement will bring to the table that other crews are not doing at the moment?

I just feel like we are bringing creativity to the game. Alot of these guys are young, and it shows that what we are bringing to the industry is that we are bringing local guys from the hood, coming together and bringing a symbol of loyalty. This industry is selfish and it just keeps putting out the same artists over and over again. It does not breathe and it does not bring new artists. Everyone is out for self or people are just in the game for 10 years, 5 years and you don't really hear them bringing out new artists or reaching out to the hood or other artists to come through and be able to make a living with this music. There is alot of talent in the hood and alot of A&R's don't even go out to the hood. They sit up in these offices and they don't even do shit. They don't come to the hood and look for talent.

The same guys, Jeezy, Jay-Z, the same guys come out 1st through 4th quarter of the year. We need that new blood and new hunger and people want to hear new stuff.

What does it mean to you to have Fat Joe helping you oversee the project and what is the best word of advice that he has given you about the industry that you take heed about?

He tell me straight up..., I know myself already that it is a tough game and a tough industry. It is a selfish business, so Joe basically just guides me and tell me yo Pete be patient. In this game you have to come into it humble, and coming into the game flipping and spazzing out it will not work like that. You just got to be able to humble yourself and know not everything is going to be great. He gives me the talk and guides me through it and I have to give him credit for helping me with this project. I put his name on the project and to be honest you don't see alot of artists doing things like that.

They are not reaching out and people are repeatedly coming out like I told you before 1st through 4th quarter. I am glad he is a part of it, it is a blessing and it is a good look. We have doing alot of shows, around Conneticut, Philly and we did a show out in BB Kings in New York. It was with Funkmaster Flex and it was a good look and people were accepting us. People love the whole vibe and it is a great feeling ya know.

So with this compilation are you going to use it as a springboard and see what the fans reaction is as to where to go next? Do you already have the next project in place?

Yeah out of all the guys we got..., we are going to definitely do another compilation and we already got the name and everything. The album of the album will be The Extermination Continues.

Laughs

We definitely are concentrating on one of the artists, mainly Rob Cash. His slogan is that he is the landlord of the block. We are definitely concentrating on him.

When it is all set and done, what impact do you believe or would you like to see K.A.R. have on the industry as a label?

At the end of the day we are from the bottom. We represent the hood and the struggle. Not only out here but in jail, with the families of the people in jail as well. We are for the people and we are for the hood and we rep that.

What is your myspace or website information for people looking to check out your music and see what you got going on?

http://www.myspace.com/officialpistolpetetskar. Any contacts as far as beats or drops or hosting or anything like that, pistolpetekar@gmail.com. Also the myspace for K.A.R. is http://www.myspace.com/killallrats. You can listen to all the music on there.

Ok well that is all the questions that I have for you, appreciate the interview. This there any last words or shoutouts you want to get out there to the people?

Yeah I wanted to give a shoutout to my dude, Steve Labelle. He has been in the game for a long time and he is the one that actually got me involved and pushed me to be in the game. I definitely give him a shoutout and as far as the whole TS, you already know. It is K.A.R. but it is Terror Squad for life. I am part of the squad and definitely shouts to Koch/E1 for allowing us this opportunity and all the DJs that support us across the country.

Well good luck with everything and I appreciate the time.

Absolutely.