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11/1/2006 What's up? I'm feeling good. I'm feeling real motivated and really blessed to get a second opportunity to come in the music business and make my mark. How do you feel about how American Me came out? It came from the bottom. It's really something that came right out of the street. It's something that took a lot of pain and consciousness. It's part of the movement I want to establish. I wouldn't change any of the pieces of it. You can be independent, stay sharp and do what you do. To do that is something to marvel. What did you want to give people with this record? I wanted to show people that established artists can still build off their history and they don't have a "certain time." I feel that anytime I put out a project, I'm valid. Society needs medicine right now because it's poisoned and I'm the medicine man. Are you in your prime now? I'm exactly in my prime. I retired in this same climate ten years ago. Now I'm feeling fresh and motivated and more connected to the streets. I'm seeing everything in slow motion. I'm calculating my moves and mastering my own destiny and where I lay and plant my seeds in. How do you feel about the mainstream belief that older hip-hop artists can't do anything today? I know the obstacles that lie before me. I know that a lot of these great artists with history and names come back and they tell you one thing and then when you listen to the material, it's not valid and it doesn't coincide with what they're saying. They may have the formula of redoing three or four songs from their past, but they don't have a foundation. I'm showing that I have the formula and the chemistry to put together a whole album and not only dispel the myth that it can't happen, but also be more relevant than the artists out now. Does it bother you that a lot of fans consider CL Smooth old-school? No, it doesn't bother me. What I'm sensitive to motivates me. I need that. I need those odds against me. If it's one out of 100 or one out of 1000 or one out of 1,000,000 and I win, what does that do for me in history? It puts me at the top of rap music. I accept those odds and I'm motivated. I accept, How can he do this? He's old school, he's new school, he's this, he's that. When I conquer all those schools, what does that make me? Legendary. Is American Me overdue? I think it's overdue and coming out at the right time. I think it's a combination of both. It took a lot of time and motivation and living to really create an album like this. This isn't something that you just wake up and say, I'm going to take my imagination and do this. This is something that you had to live first. I lived it and then I created it. I had to get my tools sharp and transfer it into my craft and my gift. I had to work hard to meet my medium of what I was thinking lyrically. Would you consider yourself a perfectionist? I would say so. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist and a little bit of a neat freak. Being precise and being clean and being heard and being understood is more or less what I'm trying to project. I'm clearing up the misconceptions of who I am and what I'm about and who I had to go through to get where I am. Why did you name your album American Me? That was a name that always stuck with me growing up with my family coming from another country. My great-grandfather came here from another country and tried to create the American Dream. A lot of family members would rise and fall trying to make it here. Plus that movie always stuck with me about prison and how you have to appreciate who you are and where you are and the misconceptions here. It's the land of opportunity but it's also the land that will get you killed. Are you happy with the response to "Smoke in the Air"? I'm happy. People understood and they gave me the truth. They said it was a great record and it really felt hip-hop. I shot my own video right out of my pocket. It was a great beat and right now it really makes me feel happy. I saw it on the 2 Minute Drill on ESPN. Being a big sports fan and seeing them putting all the highlights to it, it was a great look for myself and it really motivated me that I was on the right track. On "Smoke in the Air" you said, "This is the type of heat to make Pete squirm." Have things between you and Pete Rock gotten better? I think it's gotten better because I concentrate and put it into my craft, all that emotion and all that dissension in the ranks. This is what I'm coming back to for my motivation. It lit a spark in me. If anything you have to thank him for lighting that spark and not being hungry enough to meet that quota and make it right. This is what I wanted to make valid in my own struggles of it. How much did you want to address the Pete Rock situation? I just wanted to let them know that I make great records and valid records. When people listen to this album, I want them to know that I was a heavy contributor to the making of the Pete Rock and CL Smooth records. The music that I picked wasn't the norm and my lyrics weren't the norm and my thought patterns weren't the norm. American Me allows me to show what I contributed to that great group. I had to live my life to make this record. Similar to 2Pac, I lived what I said. Does Pete Rock get too much credit for the legendary music of Pete Rock and CL Smooth? I feel like even if I thought that, my whole thing is motivated in proving it here. This is checkers. It's not your turn, my turn. It's what you earn, what you deserve and what you are rightfully shooting for. This is where I'm coming from. This is where my credit lies, in my own work. That was the body of work that was established in a different time when beat-makers were maybe a little bit more under the microscope. Then you had more "let's make a beat" vibe than "what's up with those lyrics." Here, it's not really about music anymore. It's more "what are you saying?" and I have something to say. Do you have doubters out there who think you can't win without Pete Rock? Sure. I hear it all the time. That's what motivates me. That's what makes me get up in the morning. That's what makes me say, Let's run this six miles. Let's hit this heavy bag. Let's do these 500 push-ups. Let's go to the studio and let's not lollygag. Let's spit three to four records. If people are not against me, where would my energy be? I'd be way too comfortable with people saying, "Yeah, yeah yeah" to me. These artists or athletes when they win their awards, what do they say? They say, "Do not give up on your dreams." When somebody tells you you can't do it, do not believe them. I live by that. I believe in the message. Do you like writing tracks like "Call on Me" which are more autobiographical than most? I like writing whatever comes to my mind and whatever needs to be projected because a lot of times things that you might not think are important are very important. I go back and say, Maybe I need to write about this. People are not truthful enough on records because they're scared they're not interesting enough. What I'm going to do is give you all the weaknesses of myself, all my shortcomings and weaknesses of my life. I'm going to have people know that I'm not perfect so that when you see where I came from, you'll see that it's not hopeless. "Warm Outside" had a very mature vibe to it. Do you ever worry that too much maturity in records could turn off potential fans? No, not at all, because my thing is what got me here this far is being different, going against the norm. People appreciate it when you don't follow the crowd and you create your own flock. My whole thing is establish who you are. If you feel you need to make a mature, creative, understanding record, that's valid because everybody needs to learn how to grow up at some point. A man who makes mistakes at 24 shouldn't make those mistakes at 34. It depends who you are and what you're willing to take on in your validity in trying to create a great record and gain an audience. It starts with being truthful to yourself. I'm working with the same guys who make Dipset records and Mos Def records and Naughty by Nature records. I'm dealing with anybody from America to Italy with this music. No matter what age you are, you're never too young or too old to appreciate creativity. You said on there that "hip-hop needs a new president." What did you mean by that? I'm saying that my focus on the campaign is wide open right now. Seats change all the time and what I want to do is campaign to be No. 1 in this country and No. 1 in the world and No. 1 on all charts. This is my campaign, to be anointed by the people. It's a seat the industry can't give you. It's a seat the people give you. Does this album put you in the running to be the president? Definitely, because I'm well-balanced and thinking. I let you know that going to jail and acting savagely is not going to sell a record all the time. It's about empowering yourself and the people around you, making the right decisions, learning from your mistakes and starting what you finish. It's not about being preachy-preachy, it's about being balanced. People wonder why things don't go right. It's because their balance is off. If we don't have anybody in our corner to show us and prove it to us that this is the right path, then your instincts are going to make your decisions. I happen to come from a great bloodline of teachers of life and I'm not trying to hide it. When the people approach me, I want them to know I come from real people. What were you looking for production-wise on American Me? I was looking for anybody who wanted to work with me and wanted me to win, whether it was Timbuktu or Jack in the Box. It's about, Does this guy really want me to win? I could work with big-name producers but they might not want me to win. They might just want to see what's up. I didn't want the burden or the emotions of people disappointing me so I wanted to work with the people who wanted to work with me. I did that and I was successful at it. It brought the best out of me. I wasn't working with anybody looking for credibility or a check. I just wanted to work with producers who wanted to make great music. How important was it to have a variety of different beats on American Me? I've made my whole career off one producer. That's real special. To give people a new opportunity and work with people from different walks of life, it's taking chances. I don't want to know what's going to happen. I just want to be on the top of my game. These guys are real established and they were instinctively aware of who they were dealing with. That's what made it great for me to just let loose. I needed somebody who could coexist with my creativity and really create the soundtrack of what I'm feeling. If I got on a mink coat, I want this music to it. If I got on a pair of gym shorts, I want this music to it. If I'm trying to lift three plates off the rack, I want this music to it. I was deliberate with what I was doing. Why is that variety lacking in today's music? My whole thing is that it's hard for me to listen to other artists when I'm in the middle of my creativity. You're talking to me where I'm just now sitting down with other artists because I'm so fixated on CL not sounding like them or adopting their slang. It's hard for me to really project what these other artists are trying to come out with because my whole natural thing is being a commercial artist and making a mainstream record naturally. If you listen to the radio like a normal person, you get the opportunity to hear a hard rap artist make a mainstream record. You could say, That's a great idea, but how can you take somebody who wants to bang out seriously after they make a record like that? I ask, Who got in his ear? That's the process I was trying to avoid myself. I didn't need a manager telling me how to make a record. I naturally come to the big dance knowing the formula. I don't need anybody showing me how to make a record or telling me to make a record like that. If it's valid, I'll write it. I want certain beats and certain instruments in my music. That's a part of who I am. Did you try anything different on American Me that you never did in the past? I just kept it more simple. When I was younger, my whole thing was taking things from my grandfather and flipping it and bouncing it, his walk and his swagger, and really just adopting that whole mannerism of enlightening people. It goes above the average 21 year-old's head. I got a great history and buzz from what I said, but a lot of people didn't understand what I was saying. I'm breaking it down more simplistic now, but I'm still keeping that sharp pen process. Now it's like A-B-C in chemical form, in biological form. How involved are you in the Mount Vernon scene today? I try to own the hood and buy things in the right amount and keep my reputation clear and positive so people can see me and approach me and see my vibe is right and my energy is right. Besides that, I don't see any use for me in the hood because it's already hard enough to go to a neighborhood that you grew up in. Anybody with a reputation and fame for what they do always has a hard time going back. What keeps me motivated is owning property in Mount Vernon. I'm doing something positive. I'll go to a place that I own and rent out and make sure there's no bottles out front and nothing mysterious going on. That's where my mind is at. That allows me to live my lifestyle that this music has blessed me to have. What's next for you? We're putting together a lot of dates for tours. With school starting it's hard to predict what college tour I'm going to be on. I do know that people can expect a great show. Nobody's going to be saying that I have a horrible show. I put all my energy and all my love and all my devotion into making records, but I put more into doing a show. What do you want to say to everybody? I thank you for your support and your patience. I know that people know that a great artist can speak for himself and I aim to do that and I want people to vote for me to be the best artist I can be. I feel I can hold that torch. I've stayed as close to the Book of Job as possible and it never cracked me. Everything that happened only made me stronger. This is what I have to offer and I'm going to see it all the way through. I appreciate everybody who supports me. I guarantee you nobody will doubt this project. I have everything on there from the streets to the politicians to the standing government, everything from Iraq to Harlem to the church. I have a song called "Heaven is Watching You." That's a spiritual vibe of CL and I'm showing you the balance of how I can bring it and how these great albums are being missed. They only come once every ten years and here comes another one.

By Brian Kayser

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