Cuban
Link: Man of Business
(Audio
Feature/April, 2005)
INTERVIEW
CONDUCTED BY: Big
Will Z & Cuban Link
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ISSUE
# 7 FEATURES |
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Felix
Delgado, also known as Cuban Link, needs no introductions.
From an ignited dream in 1974 in Cuba, Cuban Link has trekked
a long and enduring path towards success. In New York City,
after a migration from Cuba, Cuban had a new habitat to conquer.
At an early age Cuban was saturated with Hip Hop and joined
forces with Triple Seis and Big Punisher, and things started
progressing forward. Under the name of Terror Squad with Fat
Joe, Big Pun took care of Cuban Link as they performed at
local areas. The sparks flew and they began drawing attention
and respect from other Hip-Hop superstars.
Together they
had sworn they’d be the first Caribbean rappers to achieve
platinum status. His flavor and style, not to mention a cunning
lyrical base, set him up with Atlantic Records. Since then
he’s been featured on Big Pun’s Capital Punishment,
Fat Joe’s Don Cartagena, and the Terror Squad LP. Pun’s
passage to the afterlife in February 7, 2000 was no breeze.
Cuban’s single, “Flowers for the Dead,”
captured a fraction
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of the grief that encircled him. Without Pun, the situation
seemed to become conflicting, and eventually he set out to pursue
a solo career with independent MOB records. The debut, Chain
Reaction, was back on track for release and nothing would stop
him from fulfilling his promise. With aspirations to capture
hearts of the public, the versatile debut intrigued gents and
ladies alike, and reached heights in the media. Cuban’s
music amps parties fanatically and that’s what causes
him to be held in high esteems by all that know him. Although
Pun is no longer there physically, his apparition floats around
watching his friend embrace the promise created back when they
were young. |
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>>FEATURED
AUDIO: Cuban Link
>> SOURCE: WWS Magazine
>>INTERVIEW FORMAT: Windows AUDIO
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Interview
includes the song "Sugar Daddy" by Cuban
Link Fea. Mya
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CUBAN
LINK |
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WWS
MAG: Cuban, can you tell us how you made your way into the
United States from Cuba? |
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It
was when Jimmy Carter struck a deal to open up the gateway to
whoever wanted to leave Cuba was welcome in the United States.
He told everyone in Cuba who wanted to leave, to leave. And
that was how my father and mother were able to slide through.
But, my father was locked up at the time. The dudes that were
locked up had more privileges than those who weren’t.
I was a part of that. Then we hit Miami. We landed in Miami.
We had to stay there in the camp. It was a concentrated camp.
We had to stay there for three months. Then there was my aunt
in Miami trying to vouch for us. Then we got our papers from
there. |
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Was
it hard for you to adapt to the English language when you first
came? |
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I
went to Puerto Rico after Miami. I was still speaking Spanish
back and forth in the house. Puerto Rico is primarily Spanish
too. They put me in school in a bi-lingual class, but it was
pretty easy. Plus, hanging in the streets and all that, even
though I didn’t know English too much, I was hanging with
my people from the streets. I learned from them. |
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Tell
me about your relationship with Big Pun (Big Punisher), and
how did you feel after he passed away? |
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That
was my dog right there, before the rapping. That was my brother.
From the streets, we met each other, playing ball in the streets,
and then from there it was a friendship, a genuine friendship
without the money and business involved. We got into it together;
this hip-hop game, and we were like each others crutches. Me,
Triple Seis and him, we came in the game like that, and from
there it was history. He made history. He took the mic and he
repped for Latinos, for everybody. He impacted the world of
hip-hop. He gave a fresh breath to hip-hop when he came through.
He is the reason why I’m still rapping. He is the one
who believed in me. He was the one. When I wanted to slide off
and do other things, he kept me going. He kept saying “naw
dog, you gotta keep doin’ your thing” as a brother.
So, when he passed away, that broke my heart. I didn’t
feel like it was his time to go, but things happen. He told
me that he was feeling weaker and weaker. But he couldn’t
give that up. It was the only thing he couldn’t give up,
which was eating. It became more like a drug. He was a family
man. He was around his family more than anything. But, you know,
that is my brother. His legacy will always continue with me.
I’ll always rep him. This next album that I’ve got,
I’ve got a song for him called Letter To The Better. Throughout
all my albums, I’m always going to have a song for him.
He is the reason why I’m here. |
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When
did Fat Joe come into the picture with The Terror Squad? |
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That
was in 1993. Me, Pun and Triple Seis were a crew called Full
Eclipse. Me and Seis was never in the same block were Joe was
raised. We just knew each other from street fame. The crew TS
was originally from the same block where I was, and we used
to hang out, and I knew everybody from TS before I knew him.
We were being sponsored and backed up by an investor named D,
we call him Uncle D. He was backing us up and hooking us up
with shows, but he could only take us that far. So D and Fat
Joe sat down one day and said “yo, I want you to help
my crew out, bring them out and do your thing.” It was
business. Then Joe just fell in love with Pun’s flow,
his image and all of that. He knew he could make something out
of Pun. From the get go, he wanted to get rid of me and Seis
and just wrap up Pun. It was understood, we were rookies, “of
course, do your thing. Hell yeah, I know you ain’t going
to forget.” But Pun said naw, it was a package deal, Joe
had to take me and Seis. That’s how he kept it. Then from
there on, we got to know each other. Everybody got to know each
other as far as their crew that was rolling. They (TS members)
used to tell him (Fat Joe) to sign us, from the streets. So,
we got a chance to really connect through the years. We became
a close family tie. |
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Can
you tell me how and why you separated yourself from the Terror
Squad? |
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A
lot of business, things was rolling, Pun had made it, he went
platinum, and money was in the picture. I waited patiently,
seven years, to drop an album. I was on Pun’s first big
song. That was Pun’s first song that really got broken
out. It was by the Beatnuts. The Beatnuts put us on. That was
the first view. I was part of the video; I did the song, even
though I only got my eight bars, people recognized, “who
was the other kid?” Pun’s album was going to drop
next; it was a great thing for the squad. I was a part of that
and people recognized “oh Cuban.” It was getting
loved too. That would have been a great setup for my album after
Pun dropped. You know what I’m saying, but it didn’t.
It didn’t. Joe dropped his album. He dropped the Terror
Squad album. But between the time periods, I was still getting
known. The name Cuban Link was sticking to peoples heads. I
was doing things with DJ Honda and a lot of people. Again, I
was wondering “damn, it’s my turn again, and why
drop a Terror Squad album when we can capitalize off me!”
It was business mind thinking. So it was like “okay, there
is more competition for me, and now I’ve got to go against
my own crew, and I have to demand my shine and that’s
how you sell records at the end of the day.” I still didn’t
get a video done with me alone or nothing. I didn’t get
any love to where I see my album to drop. In a business mind,
I was like “I know I can do better than this.” In
my personal side I was like “damn, this is like my family
right now. I’m too deep with these dudes.” So I
waited and I waited. Then in 1999 when I was supposed to drop
my album, they were pushing my joint back, the 24K album. 2000
came and they’re still pushing it back. They just kept
pushing it back. 2001 came and Pun passed away. Pun passed away
in 2000 and I’m still keeping my feelings revealed on
the business side. My mind was on unity. We’ve got to
get together. We’re from the same hood, we’re Latinos,
we’re known for sticking together, and that’s where
my mind went. The other people’s mind just wasn’t
on the same frame. They started separating themselves from each
other and started doing their own thing. Joe started thinking
on his own plan. When 2001 came, they never dropped my album.
Then I was like “you know what man? Let me check this
dude. He is in charge of my future; he is in charge of my career
right now.” So I had to check him (Fat Joe). We went to
the lawyer’s office and all of that. My lawyer was like
the Terror Squad lawyer, so my lawyer had a lot of animosity
built up already. He came up in there and he said “Cuban
wants out the label.” And I’m looking at my lawyer
like “what?” He said it though. Even though he knew
that was how I felt, I didn’t want it to come out like
that. But he came out like that anyways. I just sat back and
listened. He said Joe had a lot of things to say, a lot of negative
things to say like “Cuban, you’re wack, the only
reason why I got you is because Pun left you in my charge,”
and I’m like “wow, that’s what you thought
man? Damn man, get my releases man.” You know? I left
it like that, but deep in my mind, I was more deeply hurt about
how he felt like that through all these years. I could have
been doing my thing somewhere else and you tell me that now?
Then the big thing happened, the real incident that made me
separate myself from that business to the point where we became
enemies. A situation happened where he (Fat Joe) swung on me.
He raised his hand to me and punched me. I got up and I punched
him back, and then I got sliced in my face. That was the end
right there between Cuban Link and Terror Squad. That really
put a punctuation mark on our relationship. |
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Who
slashed you on the face? Did Joe do that? |
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Naw,
Joe didn’t do that. The whole setup was just him coming
up “I’ll fight you,” and once he takes it
away, some sneaky little n**** comes from the back and slices
you. You know? That’s what it was, that’s all it
was. But, he had a plot with that, and I blame him to that extent.
He didn’t actually do it. He didn’t have the guts
to actually do that. |
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Cuban,
can you tell me a little about M.O.B. Records and your album
Chain Reaction? |
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No
doubt man, M.O.B. Records, I met them in 2003. They’re
some cats from Connecticut, some investors that wanted to get
into the industry. They had no knowledge about the industry;
they were just some great business men, very successful businessmen.
They had the materials and the tools to make it happen. They
knew my situation, the beef, they knew everything about Cuban.
They heard what Cuban was doing in the streets. We had mutual
friends that e-mailed them. They said they were definitely interested.
It’s my new home. They are a part of my family now, so
they’ve got my back, and that was all I needed; someone
to have my back financially and to see my view of where I had
to go for my career. They’ve got my back one hundred and
twenty percent. I couldn’t be happier. As far as my album
Chain Reaction, you can just tell by the power, it’s four
years since 2001, a dude like me has been grinding. Not grinding
too much, it’s just a black ball effect as far as grinding.
A lot of labels want to rock with me. It’s up to me to
go out there and find somebody like M.O.B., and for them to
find me to make that perfect match. It happens. It all takes
time. It took me three and a half years, but it happened. You
can just tell by the power of Chain Reaction. I got some big
names on there that I would have never got if I was working
through certain avenues. I’ve got Mya on the album, Selena
Johnson, I’ve got Jadakiss, I’ve got The Game, I’ve
got Pedey Crack… Reggaeton is getting crazy, so your boy
Cuban has to be a part of that. There is a lot on the album,
with the fact that the album was already done. We needed the
ingredients to add on to the album. So, it’s pretty crazy
man. |
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Cuban,
how do you feel about the current state of the radio? |
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If
was 50 Cent or Alicia Keyes or whatever, I definitely would
be feeling the state of the radio situation. But I’m not;
I’m almost like a rookie again. I’m like a freshman
again. I’m coming up through an independent source, so
it’s harder, it’s definitely harder. They tend to
play the same stuff over and over throughout the day. I don’t
even listen to the radio any more. They just play the same stuff
too much. They play it too much instead of giving fresh air
a try. I’m that fresh air that they’re going to
need. Usually it takes a little time, but I think we’ve
got the right materials to make it happen. But, I’m not
feeling it too much man. |
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How
much longer do you plan to be rapping man? |
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Me?
Forever man, haha, rapping is my first love. I fell in love
with it even before I learned how to speak English. That’s
always going to be my first love. I’m planning to venture
into others as far as acting, clothing lines and things like
that. But rap and hip-hop will always be my first love. I’m
always going to kick something that’s in my heart. |
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ENTIRE AUDIO INTERVIEW BELOW |
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