Lots of parents want their kids to grow up to be doctors, and Doug Bennett's mom -- a physician herself -- was no exception. She got her wish, too, although not quite in the way she expected. When her son grew up, he gave himself his own degree as the dreadlocked Dr. Israel, whose groundbreaking goulash of reggae, jungle, heavy metal and hip-hop set those in the know on their collective ear back in 1998. Late that year, the good Doctor delivered the astonishing Inna City Pressure, which won across the board raves from critics. Writers couldn't speak highly enough about it, tossing around the names of some of music's most hallowed heroes -- like Marley and The Clash -- to describe its punky reggae roots and spunky politics. It looked like the Doc's ship had finally come in, after spending years developing his rep as a member of the Brooklyn-based hip-hop/reggae collective Trumystic Sound System, and on trip-hoppy/dub compilations like the Crooklyn Dub Consortium series. But the small label that distributed Inna City Pressure went under just as Dr. Israel was getting serious national buzz. So he returned to his Brooklyn hideout, Zion Studios, to try again. He's now got a new band, Seven, and an almost-finished album, Ascend Into Zion, which goes heavy on the crunchy guitars and calls up memories of Rasta rockers Bad Brains. That shouldn't come as a surprise -- this is the guy who reworked Black Sabbath's "The Wizard" on his last album, which also featured a duet with second-generation punks Rancid -- but the Doctor says not to worry. Reggae's still the straw that stirs his drink. "My reggae roots, writing-wise, has always been the biggest influence," says Dr. Israel, between dog barks that announce visitors to the gym located next to his studio. Socially conscious, earnestly thoughtful, and a kick-ass vegan kickboxer who admits to occasionally listening to Limp Bizkit, the Doc isn't your typical Rastaman. In an exclusive REGGAEBLITZ interview, he delved head-on into his past, present and future. So how's the search for a new label coming? Well, what I'm focusing on is finding a label that's really gonna understand what I'm doing. I got the rights to "Inna City Pressure" after Paradigm folded, so I'm looking for a home for both records. I'm looking for a label that's not too big that I'll get lost, but big enough to move some records. The Holy Grail of artists, in other words. Yeah (laughs). But the other thing is, I'm also looking to develop a really good management team, and a really good publicity team. Because I really saw how important that was with Inna City Pressure. Big label, small label? I've had a lot of really good conversations with guys who have been pretty high up there at some big labels. So I'm not worried about going to a big label. I just want to avoid the experience I had with Inna City Pressure, where the record sort of began taking off, and I was getting Soundscan entries and all this stuff I'd never experienced before, and then all of a sudden you go into the label and they tell you, "We're not a label anymore." That's phenomenally frustrating. And some of the people I'm talking to hear the potential for rock radio with some of my new material, I guess because of stuff like Limp Bizkit. I listened to some of that stuff while we were making this record, and I really have no problem with that. Do you worry about getting pushed too far in that direction, though, and losing the reggae side of things? Yeah, I do worry about that. I mean, I've never had the pretension of being a great reggae artist. I've certainly been influenced by great reggae artists, like Burning Spear and especially Black Uhuru. But it's always been the spiritual path that's connected me, through Rastafari. I always keep the roots in sight -- it's the through line for me. The only thing that really concerns me is when I write a song and it's not really about anything. There are certainly pretty heavy, Old Testament roots themes in some of these new songs, particularly "Sodom" and "Ascend Into Zion." Any resistance from some of the guys who'd like to hear you alongside Limp Bizkit? No, you know, I'm kind of surprised by that. One guy did tell me -- and he was just trying to be helpful, I think -- was that I ought to consider trying to simplify some of the messages. And that's legitimate, to an extent. Bob Marley was phenomenally good at that, that sort of simplifying. 1 | 2 | 3