Jay Rock’s debut album, Follow Me Home, has managed to stack up quite the impressive line up of producers and MCs. Included in that list of producers is Tha Bizness, Dow Jones and J-Hen, who have turned their production duo into a bonafide success.

With production credits on Young Money’s “Every Girl” and 50 Cent’s “Follow My Lead”, Tha Bizness has managed to break through to mainstream chart toppers. All of that celebrity hasn’t kept Tha Bizness from appreciating independent grind though, as they surprisingly share a lot of history with the revolutionary Black Hippy. We recently spoke with both members of Tha Bizness and asked them to share their thoughts on Black Hippy, and the possibility of future work together.

Having worked with Jay Rock and Black Hippy, what is your take on the group as a whole?

J-Hen: They’re all dope. They all have their own different styles. Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Kendrick, when they all come together they form this dope West Coast Voltron that’s part hippy, part militant, part gangsta, part soulful, part for the bitches. You know, they kind of have this whole perspective on the urban youth and what’s going on in today’s culture. They’re dope . They all have their different personalities, but they come together and knock out records like it’s nothing.

Dow Jones: The main thing is, we’ve never really seen a super group built up of individuals that are big on their own. Soul has his own style and vibe and fan base, Q’s got his own, Kendrick’s got his own, and Jay Rock’s had his own. When they come together, it really is something that stands out. Normally when you have groups, it’s kind of like you got the one guy who is the main guy in the group, then everybody else is the second level. You’ve got a group of all first string players, and there is no bench player. They’ve all been able to branch out and build their own following, and stuck together, and it’s just amazing. Then also the fact that they’re all from different parts of Los Angeles, which has not really been done before. You got a Hoover Crip on the same song with a Compton Blood. It’s not really been done before. The West Coast has always been a big separation due to the gang history and the culture. Then to be one of the hottest new acts coming from the West Coast region, in a jumbo pot of all these residents…it’s just something else that’s monumental. It shows the younger kids that, you know, let’s just all get together and do what we love. We haven’t gotten up out of this music, so let’s just get this music out of this and we can still all represent where we’re from. It’s about higher power.

Can we expect more work between Top Dawg Entertainment and Tha Bizness?

J-Hen: Definitely, you know we already started working with Kendrick on his album. Started working with Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul on their projects. You’ll definitely hear more stuff coming out of the collaborations.

Dow Jones: The thing that’s different with us is, it’s more of a family thing. We been doing stuff together before it was cool to do stuff together. “Zip That Chop That” was like one of the first songs they put out as Black Hippy. We have a history that’s deeper than, “Oh, we’re hot, you’re hot, let’s do songs because we’re hot.” We genuinely mess with each other.

For now, fans can hear brand new material from Black Hippy on Jay Rock’s Follow Me Home, and be sure to check out the official music video for “Say Wassup” below.

Click here to pre-order Follow Me Home.

–Photo credit: Estevan Oriol