Excerpt from Noreaga interview

N=Noreaga
S= James Spady



S: How did you get the name Noreaga?

N: Well, I used to read books and I read a book about [Manuél] Noriega and my people used to be joking because I would always have the book in my hand. What happened was one day I dropped the book and the person that picked it up started skimming through it and was asking me questions. At that time I used to be able to answer questions someone asked about Noriega. Not no more.

S: I was going to ask you a couple questions about Noriega.

N: [Laughs] I was. I was. I’m not even going to front.

S: What attracted you about Noriega as a person?

N: Any Black man, any young Black man – especially those that has incarceration problems – knows that it’s not easy to get a job. And to get a successful job at that. Of course, you can come home, go over to Mickey D’s all you want. You can even be the manager in two years but who wants to work at Mickey D’s for two years? So to a young Black man, the drug game is more intriguing than anybody else in this life because it’s fast and it’s now. The reason why people become rappers is because it’s fast money. But, not on the same day. You don’t actually get it like that and they pay you right then and there. But that’s the reason why people sell drugs and take part in a lifestyle like that, because it’s fast. Every two weeks you get a check. That immediately attracted me to rapping because every two weeks you get a check, like how the legal life is. That basically attracted me to not only Noriega, but to Pablo Escobar, people of that nature. People who were dealing big drugs and respected in common society.

N: When are you actually Victor Santiago and when are you Noreaga? When are you Melvin Flynt?

S: I’m like seven different people at a time. Sometime you can actually look at me. I got Dan. Dan Shamone Leak. I got Melvin. I got NORE. I got Noreaga. And good old Pap’. That’s what they call me in my hood. So, it’s just characters I play because I differ. I’m not the same always. If I see people, I’m the same individual, but at the same time I change. I grow. Sometimes I feel minute. Sometimes I feel humongous. Those are different characters or my different feelings.

S: How is Victor different from those other characters.

N: Victor Santiago is not a character. He was just born. He is not really a character or something. He is not something I made up. Everything else is something I made up. If you noticed, I left that name out of characters.

S: While we are exploring these identity issues, I would like to know how the person you were born as differs from the characters/personas you’ve developed and why is there a need for multiple characters?

N: The person I was born as contains all of these characters.

S: Composite character.

N: It’s different moods. When I’m Melvin, Melvin is perfectly honest.

S: How often are you Melvin?

N: I’m Melvin when I get around chicks. When I get around chicks, I’m Melvin. I turn totally honest. Now, when I’m Jose, that’s like the laid-back type of me. It’s almost like I’m doing now. When I’m Dan, I’m just a bit hyper. When I’m Papí, I’m totally in character. [Noreaga shifts to another linguistic mode when his boy leaves the dinner table.] You out? Alright Dogg! No doubt, baby!

S: Nore, how do you manage to keep all of these collaborations going.

N: People love me. And I love people. Like I said, with all my collaborations. People love me even if they don’t even love my music. They love me as an individual. And if they love you as an individual, that is very important. That’s what I’m built on. Giving love and getting it in return because you realize no matter how much people love you it got to be equally balanced with hate. So, I try to overbalance it with the good and the love.

S: When you encounter that hate, how do you deal with it?

N: It’s a part of the game now, so I’m used to it. People are going to hate you for whatever you do. People going to hate you for being the best journalist that you can be. People are going to hate you for being the poorest journalist you can be. People are going to hate you for whatever you do. So you might as well just get used to it. If you are a bicycle rider and you can’t pop a wheelie. The next dude who can’t pop wheelie going to fucking hate you forever… If you got clean shoes or whatever, people are just going to hate on you.

S: You’ve somehow been able to reverse that hate and turn it into love. I think about the “L.A., L.A.” song in response to “New York, New York.” There was some anger when you first came out with that. Then, later on, we see Snoop Dogg and the Dogg Pound and everybody showing that love. What happened?

N: “New York, New York” was filmed by Kurupt, and “L.A., L.A.” was done by us. That was my idea to do “L.A., L.A.” and all this shit. Do you know who’s the closest, the tightest out of L.A. and all this shit? Me and Kurupt.

S: Why is that?

N: I don’t know. We just clicked. We were just supposed to meet. Here is what happened. I had a good record. He had a good record. We never saw each other. I never came to L.A. I never came to L.A. at all. So, I walked up in the station. When I walked up in the radio station in L.A., they like, “Yo, we got my boy N.O.R.E. with me.” One person! They gave an announcement, “Yo, we got Kurupt coming up.” So, I’m like “Kurupt coming up?” I had never met this dude. We both made opposite records.

S: Was Kurupt standoffish at first?

N: Nah. See, they announced him first and when they announced him, he came. And I had never met the dude. And he was the coolest dude in the world. He was trying to show as much love as he could.

S: Did you expect that?

N: Nah, I didn’t. I was nervous and I’m sure he was nervous, too, because we both did those two records. It was cool. It was cool. We got it all straight. And he actually became the closest dude I had out there.

S: How does resolving beef in the Hip Hop community differ from regular beef you have on the streets everyday?

N: As far as Hip Hop goes, everybody knows this shit is stupid, you know what I’m
saying? You got beef with each other then you muthafucking see each other. It’s null. It’s stupid as far as Hip Hop.

S: What is the advantage of having Rap Summits and those kinds of things? How valuable have they been to the Hip Hop Nation?

N: People respect Farrakhan [the organizer and host of the Rap Summit that took place at his home in April, 99, following the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.] So, if Farrakhan is a part of it, rappers are going to listen.

S: It is usually perceived that older guys like Farrakhan would not have rapport with the Hip Hop artists. Why is Farrakhan respected?

N: He don’t tell them to turn the other cheek. Same way they felt Malcolm when they didn’t feel Martin. Martin was saying, “Sit there and take the bullshit.” Malcolm was like, “How the fuck you gonna sit there when you can shoot your brother, but when the police come around you can’t shoot him?” People respect that because it is actuality. That’s reality right there and that’s why people continue to follow Farrakhan.

S: Were you Up North the first time you ever heard a Farrakhan tape?

N: I had heard of Farrakhan in the streets, but the first time I got a chance to really embrace one of his speeches was upstate.

S: Were there any speeches that you heard that really stuck with you? Was it his style of speaking or content that stuck with you?

N: It’s the content. I like the way he speaks. I like the way he says we ain’t gonna take shit. I like that.

S: When it comes to personal identity there is the Puerto Rican part and there’s the African American part.

N: I always say I am a Niggarican.

S: What does it mean to be a Niggarican in the 21st century in the City of New York?

N: I mean, it’s difficult. My father used to say to me, “You got to work twice as hard to get whatever you want.”

S: What did your dad mean by that, man?

N: He used to say to me, “A lot of people are born with one strike. But you’re born with two.”

S: What did he mean by that?

N: He means, Black and Latino in a society that is White right up until now.

S: What enables you to understand it better now?

N: People hate Spanish people and they hate Black people.

S: They wouldn’t even know you were Spanish unless you told them or they heard you speak the language, right?

N: Nah, they don’t know, but if they know my music, I say it often. I say it.

S: Have you performed in Puerto Rico yet?

N: Nah, I ain’t performed in Puerto Rico yet.

S: Would you like to do a show out there?

N: Yeah. I got madd family out there.

S: I remember talking with Big Pun about being a Puerto Rican in this Rap game and he said it was an ever greater challenge because people didn’t expect Puerto Rican rappers to be that strong.

N: Of course. Fat Joe was the first, but Pun took it to another level.

S: In what ways did Pun take it to another level?

N: I don’t know. Pun had fun with his art. You know how you can listen to a rap by N.O.R.E. and you say, “You know what, N.O.R.E. is having fun in that session.” Pun had fun every session. Not that I’m saying I know that because I was there but I know that because listening to the shit you can actually hear him say some out there stuff. Whoever sings that shit is having fun in the booth. That’s a tongue twista where your mouth is having a circus. You understand?
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