How did you come to do Mix Tapes while running Urbanworld Wireless?

Mike Johns: That’s a very good question. It started when; basically…I was always a fan of mixtapes. I thought it was a good promotional tool to sell the artist in music. I flipped it where, each artist who would have ringtones, we would go ahead and have them host a mixtape like where Ice Cube presents Listen & Learn.

For this installment, ‘Niggaz w/Gunz’, why did you come up with that title?

Mike Johns: First of all, Listen & Learn 3, we did ‘When Disaster Strikes’; when we did the research on that, I stumbled across a book by civil rights leader Robert F. Williams who wrote the 1962 published book called Negroes with Guns. I was so moved by that, coming and representing from the streets that the title just captivated me. And I wanted a 2006 twist on it. We’re always referring to each other as niggers.  I knew that was going to be the attention grabber right there.

The use of the N Word is highly controversial. Why take a chance on using it for this mix tape?

Mike Johns: It’s totally opposite of anything negative. With this title ‘Niggaz w/ Gunz’ I know the people from the streets, those that really matter from the bottom, this is the language that we talk regardless of those in media and/or the scholarly saying that we shouldn’t use that word. Unfortunately, this is today’ language and its going to be hard to erase that. So the cover spoke to the kids from Crenshaw, all the way to Flatbush and parts of Chicago and every other hood in the U.S.

When you talk about how this is the language of the youth and it’s hard to erase; do you feel your contributing to that by using the word niggers?

Mike Johns: If I want to reach the victims and those causing the crimes and/or the generations of today, tomorrow or what have you, then I have to speak their language. If I want to listen to HOT97, I got to tune into HOT97 not HOT96. Despite what other people are saying and I can see from their eyes too, but…I hate using this phrase but…’it is what it is’.  This is how they speak. When you’re on the train in New York and you hear high schoolers talk amongst each other and you hear them using this word; it’s taken on a different meaning. It’s no longer the word that the white boys are saying. It’s really a word of many things that the black community has created. Once upon a time bad meant bad. Now bad means good. And now this word has taken on from what was way back when to now a term of endearment. There have been many shows on MTV that have covered this. This is a word that is used in today’ generation.

How did Ice Cube get involved with hosting the next volume of Listen & Learn?

Mike Johns: He started off with a group called NWA. We all know what the ‘N’ stood for. That was controversy in itself back then. He’s a conscious brother who himself, got a chance to read the book by Robert F. Williams and saw where we were going with Listen & Learn, he thought this was something that he would definitely support and be the host of the next installment of Listen & Learn. And at the same time, speak to the youth. You hear how he talks in the mix tape. And also, use this promotional vehicle to help drop my (Ice Cube) upcoming album ‘Laugh Now Cry Later’; so whatever controversy may come with it, if there is controversy, there is a definite message that’s been 100% positive. And the reviews have been great.

What will you hope your mix tape will contribute to the ‘conscious’ and ‘unconscious’ society?

Mike Johns: Well, I had just gotten the other day from Rollin 60s and that’ one of the largest set of Crips out here on the west. They said we need more of this. They know, first of all, who their civil rights leaders was and now I’ve inspired them to pick up the book and read who Robert F. Williams was, how he inspired human beings. And initially, look at the insert of it. We talk about gangsta life and Crenshaw altogether. And going back to what gangs originally set out to do for the black community which was to protect them from the white gangs that use to come in the community and infiltrate. They got the message. And that’s probably one of the best rewards. To see that this provided a spark for them, that was a beautiful thing. On the flipside I’ve had some of my white counterparts who live in beautiful Manhattan Beach California, at first not understand the concept of the mix tape but when they played it, they say this is excellent, the way you’re speaking to the youth. They understood. And it was embraced just as well. I’ve seen nothing but positive results on both sides so those who lived this from those Cornell educated individuals who are like this is a great way to be able to teach the youth.

When you talk about the opinions of the white side and the black side; which side is more important that this point gets across to?

Mike Johns: Well the mix tape was made as apart of Black Music Month, so I’m gonna have to say definitely the black community. When I have the Bloods, to the Gangsta Disciples, to the Rollin 60s supporting the mix tape; in the lifespan that I’m living, I know I’ve made a mark on somebody. One, by letting them know to stop the black on black crime, two, to remember where the gang banging originally came from. And three, to pay tribute to a hero who we never learned in our US history books; we never learned who Robert F. Williams was. I just miraculously came across him and being inspired from him myself just like Huey P. Newton did.   And there is a gap from when Huey P. Newton picked up that book till where we are today. So to see so many other brothers get conscious outside of knowing just the Malcolm X and the Farrakhan, we have this brother that especially for the black men, it’s a remarkable book so, to see their response and to see how they’ve embraced that …is a job well done.

Besides this mix tape, is there anything more that you plan to do to make people aware of the accolades made in black history?

Mike Johns: Absolutely. The Listen and Learn, the name speaks for itself. What we did was compile a lot of songs that convey a positive message and/or with the showcase. At the end of the day it’s a cry for help. For example, in Chicago Mayor Daley comes in and knocks down one of the project buildings; before that brothers used to kill each other for turf. But now when he comes in he knocks down the building, nobody’s popping at him. So what we end up doing is taking out the same frustration as the black man takes out the same frustrations on himself. In the rap game, New York rappers talk heavily about shooting another dude or like down south they talk about having sex with a girl; I mean we try to do whatever it takes to exert some sort of manhood. And that’s the actual status within gangsta music. But we showcase all of this stuff. Through the Listen & Learn series we’ll forever try to keep up with using other hosts and conscious figures or respectable figures within the black community. These mix tapes will also showcase a collabo' of songs and at the same time showcase some new emerging artists.

On the mix tape you have music that’s informative and some fun music as well. Why the option instead of just ‘conscious’ rap?

Mike Johns: Well, one we don’t want to be preached to all the time, so I actually…there’s a 48 year old lady from Manhattan Beach and I like what she said, she said it has subliminal messages within the whole track and the 34 songs, if anything, that’s what’s going on today. That same song can be coupled with another song such as ‘Fuck the Police’ or ‘We don’t need no help’. We will blend in what is going on today along with those positive messages to make the subliminal people put it together themselves.