"The way I look at the Grammies is that Old Dirty [Bastard] said it the way it needed to be said. Thank god for Old Dirty. In short, that's the best thing that I can say. Maybe people didnÕt understand why he did what he did, but I did. I think a lot of people that were watching or involved with the Grammies whether it be nominated or whatever, respected Old Dirty because he represented and kept it real. Politics aside, I thought [the Grammies] was about music. I'm not talking about my category, I'm talking about the Grammies as a whole. WILL SMITH RAPPER OF THE YEAR?! YEAH!! How did he even get nominated?! NOBODY that I know bought that record, and my friends are very diverse with their tastes. How can you win rap artist of the year when Wu-Tang dropped an album, Biggie, Puffy... there's a lot of good hip hop out there not getting recogntion. The Grammies are confused. It's a political machine. I can't support something that doesn't keep it real to what is happening."
Keeping it real is something that Armand strives to do everyday. But not in an anal way. There is a way to keep it real but also tap into what people want that is not in the specialist 'I have it and you don't' kind of DJ mentality. By not trying too hard to remian underground he still is able to express himself the way he wants to without compromise:
"Underground means in it's truest definition 'puritanical form.' If you go 'I'm underground' that means that you like one thing specifically that its the only thing you give a fuck about. I hate puritans. I caught myself in those realms a few times realising that I wanted to be Mr. Underground but at the same time realising that there's a beautiful world that I'm missing. Underground sucks, that life sucks that concept sucks, it's shit life and they're depressed, repressed anything that's like that. I've been there and I know people who live that life. They all got attitudes, they all think that they're god because they know every record that comes out every two minutes. They never go to a salsa/merengue club and losing themselves in a carnivale like atomosphere WHICH IS COMPLETELY NOT UNDERGROUND! When I do things now, I'm all over the road. The kind of feedback I get now is like 'hey Armand, maybe I don't like you but you know what? Every time I see your name on a record, I don't know what the fuck it's gonna be.' I like that. Before, it used to be 'oh, it's Armand, that hard house guy? I don't wanna fuck with that.' Now it's 'oh this is Armand -- lemme give it a listen cause he could be doin' any fuckin thing' I like that."