Kyle Eustice: You mentioned being back in the studio recording a new album with Blackalicious. How's that going?

Gift Of Gab: Right now, the new album is about 95-96% done. We have a little more work to do. We're probably going to have it done by August or September. We will probably put it out top of 2014

KE: What's the name of the album?

GOG: Emoni, which is Swahili for faith

KE: Why did you call it faith?

GOG: A lot of different reasons. Life is based on faith. Then there have been a lot of things that have been going on for me personally like health and weight. One thing in life is you gotta believe and you gotta have hope. If you don't have faith, life can get dark. Life can get really dark, really quick. You have to know all of this is happening for a reason, or else it's like what's the purpose of living?

KE: Macklemore, who is blowing up right now, and Eligh of The Living Legends are both very vocal about their struggles with addiction. Are you going to be forthcoming about your struggles with alcohol?

GOG: I've always been. I've written songs about it like "40 Ounces for Breakfast" and "Moonshine." There have been several songs about it. I'm definitely in a better place now than I've ever been and it will be songs about it, but more so about faith than anything else and my spiritual growth. Any addict that becomes clean, to a degree, has to become more spiritual. To me, there's not a lot of middle ground. For a person who is truly an addict, in my personal experience, if you're an addict you either find God or you succumb to your drug. I don't know, but it's different for everybody. I say that to say I may not be rhyming about the alcohol directly like I did before. It will be more about how I'm growing as a person. Once you get rid of the substance, you have to deal with why you drank in the first place. You know what I mean? It will be more geared toward that. People might not even pick up what I'm talking about because it's just human experience that everyone can relate to

KE: What have you noticed is different about songwriting since sobering up?

GOG: I'm way more prolific right now. I used to write in spurts. I used to kind of like get backed up, get behind and then I'd just write here and there. Now I find my writing is more consistent all across the board. It's coming together great. I'm excited about the new record

KE: 
Are you going to leak any singles?

GOG: Oh definitely. We have way too many songs for just one album

KE: You're often credited as one of the best underground emcees in the business. Before you began your career, who did you look up to?
GOG: So many artists inspired me from Run-DMC to UTFO, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, KRS-One and Grand Puba. I'm a fan of Hieroglyphics, Freestyle Fellowship and I can't forget about De La Soul. I've always been a style junkie. I want to hear something that takes me in a new direction. When I first heard Criminal Minded, my mind was blown because I didn't know it was possible to rap like that

KE: When did you first realize you had a penchant for rhyming?

GOG: That goes back to how I wrote my first rap. It was written in self-defense. This kid used to battle everyone in my old neighborhood. He wouldn't even battle people. He would just destroy them. His 'victim' would be left crying. One day he chose me. He just went off on me. I was like 11. So I wrote a rap in self-defense. I was like 'fuck that, he's not going to do that to me again.' One of the things that set my confidence off, 7 years later, I came back and I hung out with this dude. They called him Star MC. I realized, 'I'm better than this dude.' And he said that, too! He said, 'dude you got better than me.' My confidence went through the roof. The incident with Star MC was what really made me realize that's what I wanted to do

KE: Quannum Projects recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Did you ever think it would make it this far?

GOG: I don't think you think about "this far." I think that you're in the moment of creating the records. Blackalicious, Latyrx, DJ Shadow and Lyrics Born; we were all just doing our thing. I have this new record coming out and I'm just focused on that. I want to get that out later this year. Every now and then you stop and realize how long you've been doing it. It's something we're all passionate about. I still feel like there is a lot of music to create

KE: On your solo record, The Next Logical Progression, do you think you were able to capture the magic you did on 2002's Blazing Arrow?

GOG: I think I caught a different kind of magic. Some people might say it's better, some might say it's not. This is something artists run into a lot. It would be boring if I recreated the same record. If you're an artist you, want to go somewhere different. I think this is one of my best records. I always want to challenge myself. I'm always going to push myself. It's always a challenge. The day it's not a challenge is the day I fall off. It will never be like, 'oh, I'm Gift of Gab so I don't have to try anymore.'

KE: After being involved in the music industry for so long, what's the biggest lesson you've learned?

GOG: Show up. Show up. It's very simple. That's all you really have to do. The creator gives us lot of gifts every day. Show up right now, all the time. People get too caught up in their heads. It's a universal message. At 41, that's the biggest lesson I've learned

KE: Is there pressure to have a certain type of persona in the hip-hop world?

GOG: There is, but not for me. For certain rappers who have matured, it's not. For some rappers, it's like the first day of high school and you have to put on a certain air. You might be swimming with sharks so you don't want to come off as vulnerable. It's not just in hip-hop. Some of them really are being themselves. If you actually live what you're talking about, then I'm down with it

KE: Do you think a persona is more prevalent in battle rapping?

GOG: How would you battle someone and be polite? There's no way. It's always been about wits. The hard persona is part of it. With the newer cats, it's all about that. But at the end of the day, whoever has the most wits is going to win the battle. It's a battle of wits. To a degree, the aggressive nature is necessary
By Kyle Eustice for HipHopGods.com