Home | Guilty Simpson | Chart Attack Feb 25, 2008

Guilty Simpson would hide in a trunk to play in Canada

Detroit MC Guilty Simpson has risen from hip-hop's underground and has started to attract some mainstream media attention since the 2007 release of his Stone's Throw mixtape, Stray Bullets. That should only increase with the May 25 release of his first legit full-length, Ode To The Ghetto.

"Some of the questions are so repetitive," Simpson recently told ChartAttack after a full day of interviews. "They're always asking me, 'Do you have anything to do with OJ?' All kinds of stuff like that — if the name is a spin-off of him. Of course it's not. Simpson is my last name. Guilty is my rap name.

"Once I heard somebody was trying to say their rap name was Guilty. I just put Simpson on it to make it more authentic. As soon as I did that, people were saying, 'Oh, that's cool the way you did that because of OJ.' It wasn't because of OJ. So one thing I can say is, when people hear the name, they definitely remember it."

Simpson is best known for his work with the late J Dilla, considered by many to be one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time, as well as collaborations with Royce Da 5'9 and D12's Bizarre. His complex lyrical structure and socially conscious, intelligent subject matter have helped his music find fans on the other side of the Atlantic, too.

"They have an appreciation for the hip-hop," Simpson says of his European followers. "The fans show a lot of energy and they're not afraid to display that energy to you.

"That's one of the biggest differences. Sometimes people act too cool to do their thing over here in the States."
Simpson hopes to perform in Canada soon, but isn't legally allowed in the country at the moment due to a previous undisclosed charge in the border city of Windsor, Ont.

"I'm just trying to work out something right now where I could possibly come out that way," he says. "I really, really want to come to Canada because they're showing me mad love.

"I have lots of positive feedback over there, so let people in Canada know I'm not not coming over there on purpose, trust me. It's the law keeping me from coming over there or I would have been over there plenty of times."

When I told him I'd sneak him across the border in the trunk of my Volkswagen, he laughed and replied: "If I know for a fact they won't pull you the fuck over, guess who would be in the trunk? Me. That's how serious I am about getting over there. If you're sure not to get pulled over by customs, boy, I'll be in that trunk for real."

http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2008/02/2506.cfm

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