For all the old school hip hop purists and aficionados, when the name Dice Raw is dropped, the mind immediately jumps to the wunderkind rapper who got his start with the Grammy award winning hip hop group The Roots. Astute heads will remember when Dice debuted wrecking the mic on The Roots' beatbox-propelled The Lesson Part 1, from 1994's Do You Want More?!!!??!. He then went on to appear on every Roots Album since, totaling over 19 guest appearances on songs from Adrenaline! to Get Busy to the newly released single, How I Got Over. 

On the other hand, however, when I was asked to do this interview (I being a female from Northern Pennsylvania), I had to ask “What’s a Dice Raw?” I thought it might be a new type of sushi roll. The thing I found most amazing about researching Dice was how far apart the two worlds were, either you didn’t know him, or you love him! When I asked my friends who I knew were fans of old school hip hop and The Roots, they lit up and went on and on telling stories about how incredible Dice’s flow was, and about how his input into the song writing of The Roots helped to shape their amazing catalogue. It was explained to me that Dice’s first solo album release in 2001 (back when no artist was getting the appropriate promotion from their labels) was anticipated in the same way Naz’s first album, Illmatic was. When it didn't live up to the hype, Dice’s fans were heartbroken and a bit angry at Dice for his commercial attempts and not sticking to the core that he built up so well with The Roots. No matter who I talked to that knew Dice’s background, there was always one universal statement followed by a question: “He had so much promise and everyone was expecting so much from him.” “What happened to that guy?” Well, I sat down with Dice to find out exactly that...