UnKut just put out a new interview with R.A. The Rugged Man. It came out today along with his new album Legends Never Die. They cover everything from his past to his future. Some things brought up it this interview are the well-worn ground of his expulsion from Jive Records ,working with Biggie Smalls , Lyor Cohen and  Jive Records wanting to avoid using his image on any single or album art.

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Robbie: What made you start rapping?

R.A. Rugged The Man: I met my boy Bub, who was a neighborhood beat boxer – Human Beatbox Bub. He was like fifteen, sixteen and I was like eleven. He was in a shopping center and I seen this kid blowing-up a shopping center window with an M-80. He was like, “C’mere kid, watch this!”. He blew off the window and we were friends ever since. He’d say, “Yo, check out this tape! It’s Whodini ‘Escape’, it’s the best album ever!” Then there’d be firehouse dances and he’d start beatboxing and those bitches would be on his dick, and I’d be like, “Yo, I can rap and you beatbox!” I was terrible, but by the time I was thirteen, I got really good and started battling a lotta kids in the neighborhood.

Did you have another rap name when you started?

My name was R.A. because my daddy called me R.A., ‘cos it was middle name. I tried to fancy it up a little bit so I called myself “A.R.E.A”, which was corny and shit, ‘cos when you had to put book covers on your books, so I’d write it on my little book cover and people would go, “What’s ‘area’ mean?” I’m like, “Nah, that’s R.A., that’s my rap name”. The I had the worst name I ever had – it was Master Money Are-A, like “Master Money Area” by accident, ‘cos none knew it was really “R.A”. That was my rap name when I was fifteen. When I wasn’t looking, somebody wrote “U” and “Asshole” at the end, so it said “U Are-A Asshole” on my book. “Who the fuck wrote on my book?!” I never found out.

You can Check out the rest of the interview by clicking the link below.

R.A. The Rugged Man – The Unkut Interview

Contributors:

• punkrockjuggalo

Websites:

• Unkut.com
• R.A. The Rugged Man