Halifax, NS - Jay Bizzy has returned to the music scene with a follow up to his 2002 ECMA nominated Indie album "Hard Rhymes In The Maritimes". His new album entitled The Ghost Of Jacob Marley hit stores January 24 and the lead single "East Coast Warriors" features Classified and is tearing up the East Coast mixshows as I speak. I recently had the opportunity to holla at Jay Bizzy about his new album, the East Coast music scene and everything in between. So sit back and enjoy the Interview below and don't forget to enter the contest to win an autograph brand new album from Jay Bizzy.

HHC: First of all thanks for the interview Bizzy, it is due time that you got some shine on HipHopCanada. You were born in Nova Scotia and grew up in Shelburne, NS. Have you always lived in the East Coast ?
What up, what up. Yeah, thanks for having me… Yeah, I've lived on the East Coast all my life and I'm proud of it too… born in Halifax but grew up in the small town of Shelburne (pop. 2000), and now I find my self back in Hali, my home base for the past five years.

HHC: Do you think living in the East Coast makes it harder for you than an emcee coming out of the Dot?
Yeah, and no… Yes it's harder, because there are so many good contacts to be made in Toronto. And to a lot of people, staying in the East means that you're selling yourself short, or not taking your music career seriously yet. But I don't think that way. I think East Coast artists moving to Toronto to pursue musical careers is like high school kids who graduate and feel like they have to rush off to university in order to be successful; it's a good way to do it, but not the only way. It's easier to get a rep coming out of the East though, because it's a smaller pond with fewer fish stinking up the place. We're finally starting to get a little more recognition these days too… so it's a good time to come out of the East. It's about time we get our shine.

HHC: How do you feel the hip hop music scene has improved and changed since you started rhyming in 1993 to today in general?
So much has changed since 93. Every year somebody raises the bar a little bit higher. That's the thing about hip-hop… it is constantly growing. It really lives, man [laughs]. But as far as things being different…Well I think ever since it was common to have (or know somebody who has) a high-speed Internet connection and a CD burner, things have changed… a lot easier to get your music out there, but harder to get paid for it. Major change! Plus thanks to the Internet now everybody and their imaginary friend is a rapper or a producer. There's so much garbage to sift through, that it makes a lot more of a challenge to find the good shit. It's out there, but you have to dig so hard to find it. Hip-hop has expanded so much. Back in '93 I could probably name every rapper or group that was signed to a major... but today, you can only stay on top of so much. But I also think that the mainstream hip-hop music today is getting so much better. Before, mainstream was almost synonymous with whack. But today you have artists like Kanye West who are making great hip-hop music that is also doing well on the charts and in sales. In '93 you'd be selling out, but today you're just going for yours. Everybody's a hustler. But I don't think there's anything wrong with making mainstream music, as long as you do it right. You know, I want to make those jams that you can bump in the car, or hear at the club, but still hit you with the raw lyrics and clever concepts and wordplay... you know what I'm saying? You have to be even hungrier these days to get noticed.

HHC: In commercial hip-hop the Dirty South has had a lock on production and artists the last few years. Growing up listening to the changes in hip-hop did you ever think the sound of commercial hip-hop would shift as it has?
Really, no… I didn't see that coming. It's weird watching BET and rarely ever seeing any videos by New York artists any more. Then again, that's probably why I hardly watch BET at all these days. It's all good though. The mainstream media doesn't have that much control on the music I listen to anyway. But you do really have to give it up to some of these artists coming out of the south. There is a lot of talent down there. It's a different sound and besides, New York can't get all the shine all the time. It'll come back around at some point again though. It always does.

HHC: And how do you feel about the current hip-hop music scene in the Maritimes?
I think right now, it's as strong as it's ever been. There's more shows going down and more quality emcees dropping more quality material. Don't get me wrong… there's even more awful cats out here that dare to call themselves emcees, but if you know what's up, it's not too hard to find the real talent. I feel that in the past Buck 65 has had too much influence on a large part of the scene. Too many rappers were trying too hard to sound different. Now that Buck is officially not hip-hop anymore, you see his influence is starting to fade. Bates creating Halifamous (http://www.halifamous.com) was also a good thing for the scene. People are networking, and that's good. But the scene out here is still too divided. I feel the local press and venues favor the more "artsy" rappers and in turn that creates some tension. It's not even the "artsy" or "backpacker's" (whatever you want to call it) fault really. It's just how it is and always has been over here. It's fucked up. Tell me, why hasn't Classified ever made the cover of The Coast ? Nationally, Classified definitely gets the most shine from out here. Some people in Halifax are mad about that, but I think he deserves all of it. Class is really on top of his game right now. People around here can only front for so long. He's not the only one though, and Halifax isn't the only city supplying the talent for the Maritimes these days either. You have Phakt out of New Brunswick, Johnny Hardcore out of Newfoundland, Cape Breton's got Bush. We also have some of the best producers in the country. Y'all ain't even heard of Dexter Doolittle yet. I really think 2006 is going to be a great year for Maritime hip-hop.

HHC: Aren't you an ECMA Award winner for your debut album Hard Rhymes in the Maritimes… from 2002? What have you been up to the last few years? And when did start recording your new album" The Ghost of Jacob Marley"?
Well, that's not true... I was just nominated, I didn't win. In fact a real rapper has never won an EMCA yet. I'm pretty sure that's going to change this year though. It's about time we had an award for best rap recording Big up Troy Neilson… he works hard on improving the scene over here. But the nomination did boost my career a little bit. I officially became a "legit" rapper in the eyes of many local promoters. It was a lot easier to get shows, get my foot in the door even more. This album is long over due though. 2003 I basically wrote off, I had a lot going on in my personal life. When times are tough you need to be there for your family. That's what I had to do. I think I only recorded two songs that year. I felt like I had played Halifax too many times with the same material. I was almost ready to give up… well, pursuing it as a career anyway. I was broke as ever, couldn't afford any beats, all the money from my CD sales went to putting food on my table. I was left with nothing. I met Dexter Doolittle, and Dave "The Beatmason", in 2004. This is when the project really started to come together. Dave pretty much recorded the whole thing, and Dex pretty much produced the whole thing. I have to give the two of them a HUGE shout out! They believed in me, and in turn I believed in myself even more. 2004 was also the year of the Backburner mixtape. We released it on the Internet as a free download and that really caught on. I got to flex my skills on that, and a lot of people started to take notice of me. But yeah, I'm getting off topic… We started recording this album early 2005. There were some setbacks, but that's to be expected if you want to put out a quality CD on a next to nothing budget. Everything is all good now, no more delays… the album is finished, and trust me, it's worth the wait. This is my best work to date.

HHC: On the new album you have cuts from Jorun and DJ IV. Jorun also has some production on the album. How was it working with those guys? Seems there was a lot of local artists working together to create some good music. Both IV and Jorun are well known and respected in the East Coast hip-hop scene.
Jorun is the grand daddy of our hip-hop scene. Jorun has been here since the beginning. He's helped so many people "get on," and he's seen it all. He gets the ultimate respect around here from the heads (and that's probably not even enough). It was an honor working with Jo; he really came through for me. I basically sent him all the songs I wanted him to do cuts for (like half the album) and he took them in and figured out what records he wanted to use. A month or two later he was ready, came down to Dex's and we recorded everything in that one session. It was great. I just sat in the back and relaxed as my album was finally starting to come together. IV really came through for me too... We're bringing that true school sound back with this album. Not enough hip-hop coming out these days with the DJ cutting and scratching on the song. I really miss that.

HHC: You also have a track with Classified "East Coast Warriors" that he produced. How was working with Class again for your new album. You and Classified have been friends and go way back in the day... am I right? When did you first start working together?
I first met Class in 2000. He was producing/recording Bru's first CD, Tell Me What You Like. I was featured on like four songs off that. Class was always very down to earth and straight up... he's good people. I really respect him; he's a close friend of mine too. He ended up producing three songs off this one, and yeah, like you said, he rhymes on one of them too.

HHC: Working with Classified is nothing new to you though you were also on the track "Problemz" off Boy-Cott In The Industry. Who else did you collaborate with on your new album?
Well, the thing about this album is, I didn't really want to have too many collaborations.. I felt like it's been too long since I dropped the last album, so this CD had to be mostly me. I mean, I think artists these days over do the "guest appearance" thing anyway... so it works out nice. I do have my boy out of St John's, Johnny Hardcore featured on two tracks... and Rocky Ninja, from Jamaica/Toronto, came through the studio one day and is featured on two tracks as well.. Other than those two and Class, the rest is all me. My boys got my back, but they know I can stand on my own as well.

HHC: Production has such a major role in hip-hop nowadays. The DJ/producer element of hip-hop is stronger than ever. If you could work with any producer or production crew from yesterday or today. Who are some of those producers you would love a track from? And why?
From back in the day, well…I was always a huge fan of the Beatnuts production. That's a tough question though, because then there's Premier, and The RZA. Oh man, Pete Rock, Diamond D, Erick Sermon, Dr. Dre, DJ Quik... Let's just say, I couldn't narrow it down to one. Today, I'm feeling some 9th Wonder.. I really like the joints he did for Sean P... tomorrow it could be somebody different, but today I'm saying him. As for as local producers that I haven't worked with already… that's a toss up between Gordski and Trobiz. I'd really like to work with either one of those guys at some point as well. But I can't answer a question about production without bigging up the production team from Backburner… Dex, Mason, Fresh Kils, Fester and Jesse. Definitely bringing the heat this year, I'm serious. Jorun is another one of my favorite producers from the East Coast . You can also find me on his latest CD, Jorun's Way, which just came out last month.

HHC: Your new single and video are out and in rotation now. The Track is called "East Coast Warriors" and it also features Classified and Johnny Hardcore. How did you come up with concept for the track?
Well, when I started writing this track, I had intended on making it the East Coast 's version of Northern Touch. That's why I started my verse the way I did ("We notorious...") But once I started to try and pick out the all star team, I realized that this was going to be a challenge. It would involve me having to approach people that I didn't really know to begin with and to try and convince them to get down on the track. That's not really my style; I'd rather let my music speak for itself. And at that moment in time you didn't have that much to judge me on anyway... It turns out I wrote a 24 bar verse, and I liked it so much I didn't want to shorten it up at all. Which meant, there was only room for two other guest spots…so of course I gave the number one and two spots to my boys. They're the ones who were down with me, so it made perfect sense.

HHC: Your new album, what's the meaning to the title The Ghost of Jacob Marley?
That's my creative voice... He's my ghostwriter in a sense. The title suits me on so many different levels, that it's perfect… I'm haunting emcees, you know. I get in to their heads. I also put my soul into this rap shit and the music lives forever… even after Jay Bizzy dies and is no longer around, The ghost of Jacob Marley will still exist.

HHC: So what's next for Jay Bizzy? Are you going to be touring the East Coast to support the new record?
Yeah, that's the plan. Hit up the East Coast first. Then there's talk of touring out West in March or April... but we're still trying to confirm the dates, so I'll let you know when it's official.

HHC: You have shared the stage with some of the hottest artists in the hip-hop like The Game, Busta and Kardinal… What's you favorite part about performing live and touring?
My favorite part of performing is the crowd response, and the high that you get when you're on stage with the mic in your hand and actually "controlling the crowd." That's an amazing feeling. It's also cool to tour because you get to go out and see the country... and in style too (well most of the time anyway) Before last summer I hadn't been any further West than Toronto. But I toured with Class and Bru a lot since then; and now I've played from Victoria to Halifax, and almost every major city in between. It's a lot of fun on the road. You know, I get paid to go out and party and do what I enjoy most in life... what's better then that?

HHC: Do you have any future collaborations coming out on anyone else projects.
Man, I've been working hard this year. I'm featured on the new Fax 4 CD, Inklined… that just dropped this week. I recorded another banger with Johnny Hardcore over a Suave beat set to be released on his upcoming project, Trashy Activity. And just the other night I recorded this track over this Hotbox beat. I wish I could tell you more about this track… but I don't want to let the secret out yet. Let me just say we have big plans for this song. He's another up and coming producer... both him and Suave hold it down nice for Newfoundland.

HHC: Do you know what your second single is going to be off the new album? And if so why did you pick it?
Well, you know, that is a tough decision. Some of the best songs on the album are just not suited to have videos for... at least not videos that would be fine to play on MuchMusic. I mean, there's no way we could do a video for "Smoke Cheeba" that Much would play... no matter how much we edited it. I'd also love to do a video for the "Dirt Dessert", but same thing… at this point; I'd say the next single is going to be "Here We Are" because the chorus stays in your head. It's 2006, and the East Coast is stepping it up, and here we are to show and prove.

HHC: Will you be doing another video in support of the album?
I would love to… it would be great to get another videoFACT. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. I've been talking to different directors about filming a low budget video for "Smoke Something" strictly for the Internet because like I said earlier, I know Much wouldn't play it because of the content of the song. So I don't know for sure yet, but I'm definitely trying to do another.

HHC: Thanks again Bizzy… Any last words? Shout outs anything we as a hip-hop community should be looking out for before you go?
Shouts out to all my Backburner fam and all my Halflife fam and affiliates. Shout out to Urbnet. Peace to Alpha Flight, Joe Buck, and DJ Lap One. Peace to all of HipHopCanada, and especially all my Maritime people, good looking... Be on the look out for my new CD, The Ghost of Jacob Marley hitting stores on January 24th. Cop that shit!

Editor's note: To win an autographed copy of Jay Bizzy's new album "The Ghost Of Jacob Marley", Send an e-mail to djmaz@hiphopcanada.com with the answer to the following question. Contest ends March 17th, 2006

Question: Who produced the lead single off the new album entitled "East Coast Warriors"?

Listen here:
Jay Bizzy f. Classified & Johnny Hardcore - East Coast Warriors [mp3]