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2/16/2009 First off, on the snippets for This Ain't A Mixtape, one line that caught me was, "Watch Brian to hear the peanut butter and jelly song." I'm assuming you're a big Family Guy fan.    Yeah, I love Family Guy. Who doesn't? You know I watch it all the time, high or not. It's good material. It doesn't really matter if you're high or not to watch because Family Guy is quality programming either way.   You said you're rarely found clubbing because DJ's are hating on you. Do you feel the DJs are particularly responsible for this hip-hop recession?   Nah. I mean they gotta play what's hot. It's their job to make people move. You know whatever is hot - if the general public like a certain thing, they gotta just play that stuff. The only thing I feel is that it's bigger than that. I feel like some DJs, they could give people a shot though. Instead of just playing some other shit, they gotta look for what's new. They gotta take what's being sent to them. That's part of the machine. They have to work under the machine. At the same time, you (DJs) have to look for that shit too, man. They gotta bring it back to how it was.    I remember DJs back in the day when it wasn't even about playing the hottest single.    Right. They were records like, ‘Oh, you didn't hear this. You don't know this.’ It was whatever was the new shit. It's that shit. Original shit.. The way it is right now, man, the system, the only way they get through, the only thing the machine isn't filtering out, is the stuff that's out. So you gotta sound like that, to get in. You know what I'm saying? But, the DJs, I feel like with some DJs, who I'm not saying are all guilty, but some DJs instead of just playing what's given to them, they have to do some looking too.   Like get in touch with everything?    Yeah man, they gotta get in touch with everything. There's all kinds of people, bro. That's why I just be saying some DJs are hating because they ain't really taking a chance to be one with music. If you a DJ, you gotta at least play what you feel. I think some DJs are guilty of not even being true to themselves. You gotta play what you feel. I'm always gonna rep what I want. You gotta be true.    You have the Mythblazers going on at The Smoking Section. Would you take part in the Smoke-A-Thon, with Juelz, B-Real, and Snoop?   Oh, I would love to do that! I would prefer to smoke joints though, man. Blunts be real hard on you, dog. So that might just disqualify me, but I would love to get in it. So you know, line it up, bro.   So is that an open invite?   Yeah if it's going down, come on man, I'm with it.    A lot of artists get high to record tracks because they feel free and are at their highest peak of creativity. Do you feel you're at your record at your best when you're high?   I don't know. This is why I don't know no more: last year I took a little break, and stopped smoking because I was recording a mixtape. Some of that shit I recorded were like some super Kill Bill shit. So I'm like I don't know no more. I would rather be high ‘cause I'm comfortable.    You know what would be cool? If you did like a show with Bam Magera or like of those dudes from Jackass mixed with Mythblazers. Would something like that interest you, if that came about?   Yeah man! Yeah! You know what's funny bro? You remember X Games two years ago when Travis Pastrana did like two flips with the motorbike, broke records, and all that kind of shit? That's my homie, so I don't mean to downplay what he did. He called me, and wanted me to sit in a car while he jumps over it and I fucking missed out! I was in New Orleans and I was wrapped up. I didn't get the message because it was too late.    On a serious note, when you look at Young Money right now, Wayne gave them a lot of play on the Dedication mixtape and he’s been featuring a lot of his newest signees on his more recent mixtapes. Do you feel Wayne didn't show as much attention to you as he does to his artists now, like Drake and Jae Millz?   Well, I haven't been really watching that situation, you know what I'm saying? At the same time, if that's the case, it's understandable because now he has a different spot in his career. He's done so much shit, and had so much problems, he probably had some time to do it now. What I can tell you is This Ain't No Mixtape will be out in March. (laughs)   With This Ain't No Mixtape, why did you decide to push this album independent rather than shop it around with some major labels?   It's like what I saying about the machines, bro. I don't know if you heard the snippets of the album, but I played the snippets for quite a few majors. Everybody agreed that it was great music and they made offers, but it was like, ‘Did you hear the records? Are you sure that you heard them?’  I figured that nobody really knows what we're trying to do for us. So actually with the way it's going is, I'm going to drop This Ain't No Mixtape, which is totally produced by Monsta Beats. It's like I came over here, bro, honestly to do a couple records to round out my shit, and the sounds was so me. They actually threw in some different sounds where I did so much shit, and to try to pick which one I would go with, and we were like we got one here.  As far as the machine and all that goes, I'm gonna build my own machine, man. Like I know where all my fans at, all my followers. They already understand that they don't hear the real shit on regular channels, or avenues no more. They know when they turn on the radio, they ain't gonna hear that shit. Thank God that Wale and Charles Hamilton are on MTV Jams, man. That's the highlight of my day. To see some people that were on the cover with me on XXL and represent this new shit, both them boys got videos.    It's good to see you guys like Charles, Wale and the other rappers from the XXL cover for the new school can have such camaraderie. People might expect you guys to bump heads, have egos and clash.    Because we all here for the greater good. Like I was a fan of rap when I was younger. I always tell people if I was a kid right now, I wouldn't want to be a rapper, because I don't really like the state of the game. I don't really like the music. When I was in school doing my thing, I knew a bunch of shit, but through music, I was hearing intelligent music. The Tribe was out. Camp Lo was out. All kind of shit was out.  I feel like all the people on that cover, they were all fans of that era too. I met everybody. So we all talked, and had a chance to see what's real. I just wanna see everybody do there shit, because I know they're thinking the same thing. So when I see Wale's video, B.O.B's video, Charles Hamilton's video, it feels like I'm watching my shit, ‘cause these are the same people who graduated with me. Like the same class, you know? But I think my way to do it is the way I even got my buzz. I was just dolo man. I had to break away from a situation that people felt was better for me, because of how much limelight I coulda been getting. But a part of that, wasn't mine. I gotta get mine. I feel like there's no room for egos, we just trying put the game at a different state than what it is right now.    You had your single "Where The Cash At" with Lil’ Wayne and Remy and the record did pretty well. What happened to prevent your project from going further, man?   I don't know. (long pause) I don't know. I don't know, yo. I ain't really try to figure it out. It's just once I realized the car wasn't moving no more...   Do you feel like it was a sense of selfishness from Wayne's end?   I feel what you saying. I just don't know, man. I ain't even to figure that out. I wish I had the answer for you man, but for you to recognize that there was a situation, that shows there obviously was something. I didn't look to figure it out. I was like, ‘Well okay, there's no gas in this car so I just gotta switch whips and go.’ I don't really know. At the end of the day, that's why there's no love lost.    I've heard since December you had over 200 records stashed away. Any particular reason as to why you're hiding so many tracks from the public?   Just because I put some much stuff out on the mixtape. I felt like I needed to stock up on some original shit. I had people gearing up for this album. I was recording with different producers, and that's why I had so many records. I told you, I only wanted two tracks from Monsta Beats, where I got seven instead, and it gotten to a point, where it ended up being amazing. That's why I got so many records. For each situation I was going into, the music I was bringing, I was gearing up. I got a ton of shit.    So after this album, are you just going to release those tracks on mixtapes?   Yeah. What I think I'ma do, man, is once I put This Ain't No Mixtape out and we start working on other projects, I'll start putting those records out. It's just I'm sitting on them right now, and it only gets better with age. So it's all right.   Fly Society is the name of your movement. How important is it to secure a comfortable place in terms of a label in order for Fly Society to grow?   It's the only objective. That's why I haven't signed a deal yet. Everything gotta be straight. I want my dudes to have production shits. I want these niggas to have deals for their shits.   So is the plan to basically to become successful, break into mainstream and then emerge as a CEO?    That's all in the plan man. I've been taking bumps and bruises since forever with this rap shit. So I've really seen a lot. Really my plan, bro, is to drop a classic underground album that then will bubble onto the mainstream. Then my lane will be called, and then that lane will be called for all my friends, because we're all on the same level just trying to bring that real music. Then maybe I'll just do two more albums. I'm not saying like over a span of how many years or whatever. I'm not going to be rapping for a long time.    Did being on the cover of XXL bring additional pressure in terms of succeeding this year?   Hell yeah, man! I don't want to be on that motherfucker at the end of year. You know when they do the cover again, they'll also follow up on us, and give us progress reports. They're not going to be like, ‘Oh well, Curren$y got the cover, and fucking stopped making tapes. He fucking didn't do shit.’ So nah, man. ‘Spitta got the cover. Spitta hooked up with Monsta Beatz. Spitta put out an independent album, underground, digitally.’ That's what it's going to say.   On another serious note. When you were with Young Money, a lot people linked you and Wayne as like one of the same, because you guys had similar styles. During the time you were there, Tha Carter II was out. Did you write any tracks for Wayne on Tha Carter II?   I did not write any portion of Tha Carter II. I'm a cool guy, man. My presence is a motherfucker.    On the Dedication 3 mixtape there was a skit in which it sounded like Wayne was throwing shots at you. What did you think about that?   Yeah. I heard it. First I heard about it ‘cause then I didn't really care to hear it. Then I heard it, because I wanted to make my own personal decision on how I felt. But I'ma say, I don't think that's for me. I've been gone for fucking two years. I don't even think it was about me. When did that album (Tha Carter II) come out? ‘05-06? So I don't think in 2008 he would direct his skits at me. I'm chilling.    You don't take anything to heart do you?   I'm going to keep doing my shit bro. I figure the reason I don't get so out the way and shit, is ‘cause like as long as I keep doing what I'm doing, you can't deny the shit. No matter what you have preconceived for me. People write me off but once they hear the shit, there's nothing they can do. I'm just waiting in the pocket. I'm chilling. I already have Lamborghini keys in my pockets in my mind man. (laughs)   How's ‘09 is going to be your year?   Because we just gonna do this shit ourselves. When you doing the shit yourself, it’s yours. So everyday, and every minute of this year, we're going to be doing it ourselves. Therefore, we own everyday of every moment this year. This Ain't A Mixtape album is coming in March, homie.    Any parting words for the fans?    March, man, This Ain't No Mixtape, totally produced by Monsta Beatz. TK, his hew Supra shoe will be out soon. We have pictures up on his mixtape. We having the sour diesel. We having a good time. We rap, hustle, and we're doing it independent. Credit Spitta for repping New Orleans hard. You could print that.

By Carl Lamarre

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