Dividing his credits as both Big Hutch and Cold187um, Gregory Hutchinson, Jr. knows music. He was the son of a Motown songwriter and nephew to Willie Hutch, who penned the UGK-reconsidered "I Choose You." Since 1990, when Hutch, the producer and frontman for Above The Law learned the boards beside Dr. Dre, he would go on to help pioneer G-Funk, and uphold Ruthless Records for the early and mid '90s, before helming Death Row after Daz Dillinger left the label in 1999.

Just as Hip Hop has always been more than kicks and snares to Hutch, his words, whether sociopolitical or hustler's anthems were dripping in non-fiction. This poet tells it as only he knows it. After returning from a felony drug trafficking conviction, Hutch, in his upper-thirties, admits that he's still evolving as a musician as well as a man. And in a rap culture obsessed with street credibility and testifying on records, Cold187um says that his rap sheet garners attention for his raps.

Fans can get the wisdom of a rapper returning from prison, as so many in today's headlines seem to either be going, or avoiding it at last minute. Big Hutch's Fresh Out The Pen isn't a gangsta pounding himself on the chest, but a direct-speaking man who admits he loves making music today just as much as he did when the records were going gold. This living, working, and jewel-dropping icon offers speaks about Above The Law's place in the game, being the first to bring Tupac Shakur to Los Angeles, and how he feels about Crooked I's development to the mainstream.

Royal Crown, Hazmatic.

HipHopDX: “Fresh Out” is more musical than many people are used to in 2008 Hip Hop songs. First off, for you as a musician, tell me about the kind of experimentation that a track like that allows you…
Big Hutch: It’s influenced by Blues. Me being a producer and an artist at the same time, as well as coming up in the Hip Hop era and being a musician, I’m influenced by more than just a boom, a bap and a rap. I think the drums apply in Hip Hop; I think you do need those elements in there, but I don’t think you have to limit yourself. It’s all music at the end of the day. A lot of the Hip Hop I’m influenced by is early, mid and late ‘80s – ‘cause I started making records in ’90, so for me, I’m influenced by that diversity in Hip Hop. Music now in Hip Hop is very formulated, almost like Pop music. When I was coming up, you had cats rappin’ to Jazz, to Funk, to Rock & Roll, and cats rappin’ to straight foot-snares and hi-hats. That’s why I tend to think outside of the box, because of the era I came up in.

DX: 2Pac came out of jail and recorded All Eyez On Me in two weeks. Given your own circumstances with incarceration, the lyrics and delivery on this song doesn’t sound angry, but it does sound pent up. So much to say, and just three minutes to say it…
Big Hutch: Exactly. That song is not written; that’s just me off the dome.

DX: Really?
Big Hutch: Really. Yeah. When I cut the beat to “Fresh Out,” I actually did the lyrics. A lot of it is me on the spot, just bustin’ what’s in my heart. I didn’t write anything down. There’s no hook, it’s just rhymes. It took three minutes just to say where I came from, where I’m at, and where I’m trying to go. [Laughs] Sometimes you’ll have cats who are incarcerated, they’ll get out, and there’s a lot of [songs] that are premeditated. If you listen to “Fresh Out,” it’s me, just raw in the studio, just flowin’. I don’t write a lot. It’s written in my head, ya dig? I’m from the era where you write records. I studied under Dr. Dre and N.W.A., accustomed to writing records, but I don’t typically write anything; it’s all off of memory.

DX: As somebody making music for 18 years, when you went in, was it wild for you to connect with Above The Law fans that were still on that music from the early ‘90s, babies who went in and grew up behind bars…
Big Hutch: When all you have is get up, get counted, go eat, go sit down, that’s kinda the life you start living. Other than that, you’re accustomed to the life you were livin’ the day you went into the penitentiary. How you look at life 15 years ago is primarily how you look at life when you come. I wouldn’t say they’re stuck, ‘cause there’s a lot of brilliant guys in there, but in it, their ways are still how it used to be. To me, their mindset was still on keeping it real, ‘cause if you look back 15 years ago, there was a lot of real shit going on. [Laughs]

DX: You are a pioneer of G-Funk. Even flowing into the Blues-inspiration you mentioned, do you think that G-Funk is relevant in Hip Hop in 2008?
Big Hutch. I think it is because Hip Hop has to have more diversity. For instance, a lot of stuff is 808-based and kicks, snares and hi-hats now. It ain’t music no more. Yeah, I think it’s relevant because I think it’s something that broadened Hip Hop. A lot of those basic synth lines you hear today are G-Funk instruments basically. [Hums Usher’s “Yeah”] That synth that Lil Jon used is kinda like G-Funk, it’s just not a G-Funk melody. It’s not like [Hums Eazy-E’s “Real Muthaphuckkin’ G’s”]. It’s not a sweeping keyboard line, it’s more like breaks and hits. When you look at sonically, yeah! I got a record “Preach,” it’s a real funky record, it’s that authentic, funky, livey, real melodic, goonie-sounding, roots, G'ish, funky…I trip off of it because people tell me it’s what’s missing in the game. They don’t say, “Aw, that’s that old shit!” Nah, it’s like a breath of fresh air.

DX: My favorite record in your whole catalog is “Black Superman” [click to read]. I adore that record. Years later, 15 of them, do you believe that Barack Obama has the potential to be a Black Superman?
Big Hutch: Oh yes! You know what my fear in that is? People get against me in this, but my fear is us supporting what he has to do when he becomes that. It’s time for a spirit like him to be in power. I just hope we can support the bullshit that he has to fix, ‘cause it’s not gonna be an overnight thing. I just hope we have enough patience. I think he can do it. Continued on page 2 »