Warning to all rap artists operating in the Northwest. The bar has been raised. Lac of Respect's Game Members, is a watershed moment in the rap game's most slept on market, the Northwest hip-hop scene. From the album's opening  sample, in which Master P himself testifies to the street level grittiness of Seattle's ghetto culture, through the chilling ride to the album's close , Game Members moves beyond the West Coast gangsta' blue print of its legendary predecessors, N.W.A., and into the realm of what they describe as 'Gun Clap Rap'.

            Game Members is quite simply a brilliant album from a group, that given it survives its own lifestyle, will have a chance to deliver Seattle's first five mic classic in 2006, with Headliners & Legends. I sat down with the Lac Respect at Atomic Bomb Enterprise's Studio A, and talked about everything from the album (3,000 sold in 6 weeks), to upcoming solo projects, to the close kinship between the NW and Bay Area rap scene. We even had an insightful discussion on U.S. foreign policy, which inspired Twin G to quote Michael Moore.

A Train, you are the youngest member of the group. How did you hook up with Lac of Respect?

A-Train: These guys been pushin' tapes from here to here. I remember going to the record store and they said 151 from Seattle. . .that made me listen to AWOL a lot more. I was getting Twin and Mafia (AKA Skuntdunanna) tapes before I even knew who they was. . .so when I was out here hungry in my backpack, I had to find these cats.

So what was it like to find yourself a member of Lac of Respect, working along side the artists you grew up admiring?

A-Train: It's a blessing.

How did Lac of Respect develop into the group we see today?

151: Me and Mafia, we go way, way, way back, to like '91-92'. Around '93', I met Twin; you know they're twin brothers. We started hangin' out. We just always been family, doin' demo tapes, on little 4 track tape recorders, and little drum machines, puttin' down shit. When I moved out to California, Train came along and him and Skunt (Mafia) was real tight, so when I got back, he was part of the family. . .like I told you in the other interview. . .he's an unpolished diamond. . .niggaz hungry on the mic, working on his craft. I compare shit to dope. If you got a zip of dope, you could put 10 zips of soda in it. You could cook that shit down and you only got a zip to work. Its like the real shit. (It) just sticks, comes together, and locks up. That's what happened over the year. It was simmerin' all the fake shit off.

Twin: we always been family. . .we always hung out, doin' shit together, regardless, before this rap shit. Before rap music, we're family. We just decided to get together. Everybody waiting (for our solo albums) 'let's just do an album.'

151: It almost didn't happen. We had a lot of options.

As far as MC's, who do you want to work with next?

Twin G: It's kind of hard to say. If you're looking at it in an 'I admire you' type you kind of perspective it would have to be Cassidy or Jadakiss. But if you were talking about record sales, probably like Nelly or someone like Eminem.

So we might see Eminem on the next Lac of Respect album?

 151: If money wasn't an issue, anything is possible. I'm going after Jadakiss on my next album. The wheels is already turning on that. Carl Thomas, I've already lined that up.

What are the hottest verses on the album?

 Mafia: A-Train's verse on 'Win, Lose, or Draw.'

 A-Train: One of the hottest verses to me 51', 'When a Thugs fed up.'  Another one, Twin Gamin' 'I Can't Believe' because it was dedicated to a street soldier, Little Spoon. One of my favorites from Mafia is the beginning, 'Hustling these Streets.' 'I was raised by street cliques, G's, Crips and'. . . I think it just set our album off, it just introduced us so good, na' mean. There's a lot more than that, but them' is my off top verses. And my verse, that I like the most, its "That's how we do it', on track #3. I got a lot of favorites. I just can't go through and tell you the whole album.

Twin G: My favorite I would have to say, Blood Thirsty the second verse. Also track #2, 'Fucc U,' 151's verse, because it's how it just came off (he recites it). By saying 'Fuck You' that anthem already gets your attention, but when he starts rappin' about it, you be like yeah, 'fuck you!'

Who are the Producers on this Album?

 A-Train: Mafia, D Sane, Rockafella, Cutty, Bing One, Todd Brown,

Which tracks did Mafia produced?

Mafia: I produced 'This is how we do it' and 'For the Moment.'

Twin G: These are the best producers that are underrated

What about Sampling? I only really noticed audio clips.

151: We got that Master P. . .

Twin G: That came from a BET interview. He as just talking about how he first started in the game, and he tried to come up here and sell some CD's. And he pretty much got ran off.

151: Yeah, like it wasn't cool to just come through here and sell no CDs man.

Twin G: When they say Seattle is the hardest place to sell records, Master P came up here and found out the wrong way.

A-Train: People in Seattle didn't understand out the trunk sellin', probably how the Bay understood it. So they lookin' at this cat, 'who the fuck is you?' It was heavy gang bangin' goin' on round the time P came up here, he's like 'I'm tryin' to sell records' They like 'who you comin' up in here!?!' he was like 'I'm just tryin' to sell records man.'

151: And that's what we doin'. We tryin' to get this money, but at the same time, people think. . . Seattle is soft.

Twin G: Back packs, white boys with dreadlocks.

151: Master P, No Limit. That's a big icon in the game, and he came out here. . .

A-Train: He heard about us, he came out here, and he didn't get the full run down

So maybe when Master P comes back, now he'll know where to go.

 Twin G: He ain't been back since.

Let's talk about your sound. As MC's, You guys all have such  unique styles as solo artists, but you still 'bring it all back home' as members of Lac of Respect. Is it a case of the best of both worlds?

A-Train: Our styles are so distinctive. . .we even came up with out own name for out style. It's 'Gun Clap Rap.' Every bar, murders the charge. We're not gangsta' rappers. N.W.A set the tone for that, and everybody put on the kakies and shit.

Mafia: This is not only gansta' music, we're lyrically inclined.

Besides each other, who are your biggest influences?

A-Train: Everybody would say N.W.A., they co-founded that gangsta shit. But I felt like, when they felt like the West Coast was dead, we was still bobbin' out heads to C-Bo's to X-Rated's. I felt like that shit distinct'd my type of rap that I be doin'. . .that's why we came with that 'Gun Clap Rap', because that C-Bo, that X-Rated shit was still embedded in my brain. Man they taught us how to shoot up house parties and everything.

Twin G: But when C-Bo was down for a second, Killa Tay was holding it down

A-Train: Yeah, Yeah, when they thought C-Bo was going, they came with they boy Tay. So I say AWOL Records was an unpolished diamond as far as the industry goes. I feel like before Death Row came, it shoulda' been AWOL, they put out the most product in the streets. . .

Twin G: It's almost good they kept it underground, because the industry was not ready for C-Bo.

This may not be Gansta' Rap, but you do have a reputation. . .

Twin G: Everywhere we go, we're on the defense man. We're never playing offense. We're never trying to score on anybody, (but) if you press the on us, we're gonna bring it to you.

A-Train: We're about business. . .we're out here hungry.