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2/6/2006 How are you doing? You already know! I'm constantly grinding. How do you want to introduce yourself to the HipHopGame audience? AP is a regular street dude. I'm so versatile. I'm like every street dude that you ever met and at the same time a regular cat that you can build with on a regular basis. There are a lot of people who haven't been through anything and there are some who just took a different direction. AP represents that struggle. It's one thing to grow up in the hood and see a lot of bullshit, but you have to move past that and see things in a different way. I can go anywhere and adapt to anybody. Everybody's always asking what "AP" means. It's universal. It stands for a lot of different things. It can stand for "All Profits," "Apply Pressure," or "Absolutely Perfect." The list goes on. It can adapt to anything. What did you want to give people with your mixtape "All or Nothing"? This is just the tip of the iceberg. I was trying to give niggas everything on that. I didn't have one theme for it. I just wanted to give you a lot of street shit. "The One" is a dope song where you talk about your father. How does he motivate you today? The whole thing with my father put me in a position to use that for motivation. My moms was having a lot of problems and he was out in the streets something crazy. I dabbled in the street thing a little bit, but it was really hard for me to devote myself to that being it was so close to home. I've watched somebody destroy their life over drugs. With me doing this music thing, it's put me in a position where I can't lose. I can't be a second-coming of my pops. I love him, but I have to go in another direction. "Keep Trying" is a good song too. How important is it to be persistent in the game today? I had a head full of problems when I laid that. It fucks me up when people decide to not be for real. Whenever I'm put in a position where I'm facing the odds and my back's against the wall, I have to toughen up. It's go hard or go home. You had a lot of classic beats on your mixtape, how come? That's where my mind-state is at. I fuck with everyone. I have to be the most unbiased Hip Hop fan ever. I'm broke on Tuesdays because I buy everybody's shit. I try to fuck with everybody because I feel that it's real if you had enough courage to put it down. As far as my mind-state as a fan, I'm stuck in '94 to '98. I always have "Illmatic," or "Ready to Die" bumping. I'm a nostalgic dude. I feel like the music was so much more real back then. Joints would put you in a state of mind. I've never been to Long Beach, but listening to "Doggystyle," I feel like I have. When you listen to me, you're going to feel like you've been somewhere. How was it working with Lord Tariq on "Sunshine"? It was crazy. He came to the crib and laid the joint. At first, I tried to play it cool. You try not to look like a groupie, but at the end of the day, I'm a fan and I had the privilege to work with him. It was crazy. It was an honor. He's one of the coolest cats I've worked with. That was big for me. With these industry niggas, there's a lot of politics. We sat down and built and laid it. He never lost it for a minute. What did you learn watching Tariq? I learned that when you got it, you got it. I hadn't heard anything from him in a minute. We were just chopping it up. Of course being a fan, I was asking him questions. It showed me that he's a real humble cat, and if I can be that way 10 or 15 years from now, that'd be what's up. He didn't have to do that track. He showed me love and that's a good look for me. Your label slogan is "All Bets Down." How do you apply that to your music? It's a state of mind. People are going to immediately associate that with the gambling thing and all of that, but it's about when the chips are stacked, you go out and play. We go hard and we're grinding. Why did you want to go with On-Point and Kool Kid for hosts? I don't know anybody that doesn't have a stack of On-Point CD's. Kool Kid is another dude coming up. Obviously everybody wants to go with the Kay Slay's and the Clue's, but I would rather work with these dudes before they pop off. They've shown me a lot of love. I wish we could have done more work putting the tape together, but I appreciate them giving me that look. Are you working on an album right now? For sure. The album is called "Bold Lettering." I'm working with Da Riffs out in Cali. I'm also working the Midi Mafia. They're sick. They're probably going to be those next dudes. I'm trying to get some more joints, too. I got my producer, Alexander the Great. I co-produced a lot of joints on the mixtape, so I'm going to try to further that and maybe do a few joints myself. We got a "Best Of" joint coming out and a "Part 2" to "All or Nothing." What are your goals right now for finding a label? I don't want to stunt my growth and settle for a regular artist deal. I'm not a regular artist. I bring a lot to the table and my music is a lot more sophisticated. My movement is so completely different from everyone else. I can't hate on what everyone else is doing, but if you're doing a million things the wrong way, it just doesn't stack up. We're looking to get the best situation for All Bets. We have a lot of talented people behind the movement and we're trying to really make it pop. Do you feel that it's harder for an up-and-coming artist to break in coming from Jersey? You already know. It's crazy. Off the top, a lot of dudes front on Jersey all the time because when you think of Jersey, you think of somebody taking a backseat to New York. This isn't a diss to New York, but we have our own look. One of my favorite groups of all time is Naughty by Nature because they really put it down for Jersey. They etched it in stone where you can still get rocking in the club to "OPP." They really put it down and had their own style. We've been here and there's a lot of heat coming out of here. I try not to stress the whole "where I'm from thing." I'm just trying to keep the AP Movement going. What should we watch for next? The "Best Of." It's crazy, because when you think of a new dude, you don't think you're going to get a "Best Of" that quick. Volume Two of "All or Nothing" is coming too. We're going to do a couple more mixtapes. It's the tip of the iceberg and it's early in the year. The album "Bold Lettering" is coming as well. Just watch out for the whole All Bets movement. What do you want to say to everyone? Respect the movement and respect All Bets. AP is the truth. I'm about to bring '96 back, the best year in Hip Hop of all-time. The South is running things now and we're real quiet. I'm going to bring quality back to the music.

By Brian Kayser

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