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4/24/2006 What's good man? I'm chilling man, getting my grind on and recording. What have you been up to lately? Just working. I've been concentrating on the "Blood Money" album and doing radio promo for that. How's Mobb Deep's album sounding? It's super-crack, cuz. That's that crack from back in the day. It's that real street crack. Shit is fire. How did you link up with Mobb Deep and get signed to Infamous/G-Unit? I've known the Mobb for years and I got up with 50 when I signed. Have you guys known each other for awhile? Yeah, through mutual friends. We've known each other for a minute. We're all family. Everybody keeps it 100 with each other. We're real niggas. That's how we get down. What did everyone see in you that made them want to sign you? They liked the music and they already fucked with me. My shit is 100, from my music to me to my personality. They liked it. They've been fucking with me ever since. Have you been working with Mobb Deep a lot since signing? I've been working with everybody. The whole Unit, the whole Infamous, everybody. Everybody's a team. Have you been learning a lot since the deal? I've learned a whole lot. I've learnt that half of the motherfuckers around the motherfucking world aren't known outside of an eight-block radius. Motherfuckers act like they're doing big shit and they act like they're traveling but no one knows them! I've been learning a lot of shit. What's it like having P and Havoc as mentors? That shit is amazing. It's like some dream-come-true-type of shit. Just being able to work with the Dr. Dre's and 50 Cent's. It's unexplainable. I can't even explain it in words. How do you feel your buzz is right now? I'm getting what I deserve. I'm happy about it. It feels real good. I'm real happy, dog. I can't complain. How's your album coming? It's coming out good. I don't have a title for it yet. It's coming out fire. P and Havoc are executive-producing it. Just fucking with the whole Unit is a great experience. Everything is coming out dope. We're just going to keep working until we have a date for the project. We just leaked "Where Them Hammerz At?" with Rick Rock. It's got Sam Scarfo on it who's also a part of Infamous. Sam is on Def Jam. P just had a meeting with Jay-Z so they're doing their business on that. It's a lot of executive shit going on. How was it working with Rick Rock? Rick Rock is a dope-ass producer. He's been getting slept on lately, but I was like, "Fuck that! I have to give this nigga his due." It's a banger and it's always a pleasure working with him. How are your sessions with Dre? I worked with him in the past. You can't even explain it in words. If you looked at my facial expressions, you'd be like, "He's happy." I'm smiling. It's a good feeling. What are you going to give people with this album? It's going to be that gully, raw, street shit. It's going to be reality, man. I'm going to give them something amazing. I'm going to give them something real new. It's going to be real street. It's not going to be just that average shit. It's going to be a new perspective from a younger generation coming up. It's not going to be that same-old gangster shit. I'm a gangster, but I'm coming up in the new era. I'm giving you that new reality shit of the struggle we're going through nowadays and how we're feeling coming up in the game and the streets. Do you feel like everyone is stuck on the "Chronic" and "Doggystyle" days? Exactly. Definitely that. Everybody is still stuck on that shit and it's something that they've got to get off of. Times change. The new, younger generation that's coming up now, you have to think about these kids coming up now, they're not even on that era of the Dogg Pound days. Eventually, after it blows over, people will have to get over it and accept something new. It's going to open that new door for everybody. It's hard for us to get heard because everyone wants to hear that era of music. What needs to happen to change that? You have to make your stamp on people. You have to make your mark. You have to show them. You can't just run around telling them. You have to show them why you're the shit. I'm showing them why I'm the shit and why I'm 40 Glocc and why I'm in the place I'm in. you can't just tell people all the time. Then you just look like you're stuck on yourself. Nah. You watch my moves and how I go through life and you'll see why you should pay attention to 40 Glocc and why I'm the shit. The same goes for Ras Kass and Jayo Felony. They're going to show you. How has Ras Kass helped you? He's helped me a lot as far as being an MC and writing songs, lyrically-wise. He's a true homie. That's my homie. He's really good folk. It helps as an artist and as a person when you have somebody you can talk to through your ups-and-downs. It helps me and my career. It doesn't matter if he never helped me write a song, he's helped me just by being my homie. He does everything with me. That's my nigga. The same goes for Jayo Felony and Kurupt. All that helps me, being a homie, period. It inspires me. How important is that loyalty in the overall scheme of things? There's not a lot of loyalty in the game. There's loyalty and respect in G-Unit. That's everything you want. It's 100. I love it. Are you happy with how your previous album "The Jackal" did? I'm satisfied with what "The Jackal" did. It was all me. It was independent. I got a fat check for it and I got the street buzz from it. I'm not disappointed in no way in my life. That was like a stepping stone for me. I can't be disappointed. Without that, who knows where I'd be now. Are you happy with how the West Coast is being represented right now? I'm happy with it, but I'm not happy with it because the videos that we see from the West Coast, I'm not even going to lie, it's bullshit. The West Coast is so street. Our streetlife is way different. If you walk down my street you don't see nothing but gangbangers. I'm happy with the Bay movement because that's how they are. As far as Southern California, when you walk down the street, I don't care if you're walking to Hollywood, you're going to see a gangbanger walking around. You're liable to get hit up going to Hollywood. They just show the glamour and the bitches. I don't want to see that. I want to see the streetlife and what we're going through. When I walk outside in my hood, I see an entourage of gangbangers. I see hood bitches with cigarette burns and bullet wounds. I don't see no model bitches. There may be some chicks that look like models, but they're not models. She's just a bad-ass hood bitch. I just want to see that. And then you've got your gangbangers that aren't affiliated and they come through stunting in a new whip. The Benzes, Hummers, all that shit. I want to see that street shit. I want to see the block movement. I'm tired of everything looking like car shows. I don't want to see no motherfucking car shows. The West Coast is streets, gangbanging, jail cells, and other shit. You can give them other aspects, but the element I want to see and bring back is the reality, not the fabricated bullshit. How do you feel about certain artists' "fabricated bullshit"? I just look at other niggas that never did anything like, "This motherfucker is telling my story." It's like getting stabbed in the chest. It really irks you. It pisses you off. The industry is like that and you just have to deal with it. If you're going to do it, do it right. It's like getting stabbed in the chest. You just look at niggas and know they're not who they say they are and keep pushing. How important is street credibility in Hip Hop today? You can come in and be who you are, but when you come in and you act like you're this motherfucker in the street, that's when it becomes critical. If you don't come in like that and let everyone know that you didn't bang but you're not a punk, you can do that. You don't have to be a gangbanger. You can just be a regular motherfucker that doesn't take no bullshit. Having street credibility depends on how you're coming in. If you're coming in hard, you better have some niggas in the streets that can vouch for you or you can fuck up your career and have people knowing you're not who you say you are. You're going to have to cover it up with a whole lot of money. The streets see through a lot of bullshit. How important is street credibility to G-Unit Records? It is what it is. It's important. It should be important to any label that's trying to do something. Street credibility over here is 100, so it's all good. What's your relationship with Game right now? I don't fuck with that nigga. Did you have problems before signing to G-Unit? We didn't have no problems before, but when a nigga is talking about my niggas I fuck with, I'm behind my niggas 100%. When you get to talking real slick and what you're about, that's when your street credibility has to come in. I've put in work. When you're talking about dragging P or Havoc up the street…C'mon man. You're not going to do shit to nobody. Nine times out of ten I'm right there with them, and if you're going to do it to them, you definitely better to it to me. You're not just coming up doing nothing. That's my whole thing with dude. He has to watch his mouth. He talks slick with his mouth. He's a good rapper, but don't talk that gangster shit. My niggas fuck with me. They fuck with me like niggas from my gang fuck with me, and they've got my back 100%. When you talk like that, it's a problem. Back that shit up when you see us. Let's do it. Let's go to work. What would happen if you wanted to do a song with someone 50 Cent is not cool with? I don't think 50 would disapprove if it was to happen, but the type of nigga I am, I wouldn't do it. I'd be like, "Fuck that nigga too." That's how I get down, man, especially with someone who is about loyalty and respect. That's like somebody that you consider family. Everybody over here is like family. It's not like you're just on the record label and they're treating you like a regular artist. With G-Unit and Infamous, it's not like that. They care if you're hungry and your stomach's not eating, like family's supposed to. It's not like a regular record label where they don't care and they'll tell you that you spent your last check and you can starve. When you have a family like that and they're caring about you, you give them your loyalty and respect. It's not just a friendship, it's a marriage. I've got enough loyalty and respect for that. That's regular street code anyway. I wouldn't even do shit just by me being a real street nigga. I'm going to ride with my team until the wheels fall off. What's next for you? I'm going to keep hitting you in the head with that hot shit. Look out for the mixtape shit. The Mobb Deep "Blood Money" album is coming out on May 2. Look out for Banks, Buck, Yayo, Spider Loc, Hot Rod, Nice, P, Havoc, everybody's going to be hitting you in the head with some shit. Look out for Sam Scarfo, he's a part of Infamous. We're all going to keep knocking them in the head. What do you want to say to everyone? Look out for everybody I just mentioned and look out for Gail Gotti. She's fire. She's a part of the fam too. She's a raw bitch. When you hear her, you're going to be like "40 knows what he's talking about." Keep supporting 40 Glocc, keep supporting Mobb Deep, and keep supporting G-Unit. We're going on the road May 3, so look out for us and come check us out. I'll see you on the road and in the streets.

By Brian Kayser

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