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7/31/2006 What's good? I'm here. I'm living. A Day in the Fastlife is out. How was it filming that? That was real life. There wasn't any making of it. That was just real-life realness. That was a chance for you to see Jim Jones in the real. Smell me? How important was it for you to show people your life? It was very important because I have a lot of labels put on me. People think I'm thugging and I'm a gangbanger. People think I'm a knucklehead and a troublemaker. Some people say I'm overspoken. It just gives people a chance to see the whole Jim Jones and not just the ignorant side that people want to portray. It shows you my business side, my emotional side, it shows you how I'm in tune with the kids and in tune with my ghetto and how I'm still in the hood. It shows niggas scrapping. It's some real cool shit. I would love to be able to watch all that shit about Big Daddy Kane and all those niggas from back in the day when I was a pure fan of hip-hop and had no idea how it would be in the game. Did you have a lot of obstacles to overcome when you started at Warner? There were a lot of obstacles I had to overcome. People had to listen to me talk to see how articulate I was and that I wasn't an ignorant nigga off the street. I might not be knowledgeable of all the technical things but I'm a fast learner. Do you have to balance certain parts of your personality at Warner? I don't balance nothing in my life. That's the way I'm living. They gave me that job at Warner off of who I am and what I do. My artistry is always first. I wouldn't change shit and I wouldn't compromise my integrity for a job. Ya dig? I don't have to change shit. They gave me an opportunity. I never worked for no one in my life. They gave me my own lane to ride in. It's always good to learn something and now I play both sides of the fence. It's hard to do that. What are your day-to-day responsibilities at Warner? I'm the Director of A&R and I work for Kevin Liles and Lyor Cohen. I'm just trying to find the next big thing out there. I don't care what genre of music it's coming from as long as it will generate platinum sales. Let's get it. Is it true that if an artist has over 200,000 in sales they move to Atlantic? It's not automatically. It all depends on the contract and if you do a certain number of sales off an indie, they want to take you to a major so they can take you that much further. Are you happy with how things have been going? Yeah, I'm very happy. Shout out to Kevin Liles and Lyor Cohen and all the executives up there. It was a real good opportunity and I took it and there's no better learning experience than this. I don't plan on being up there my whole life but life is stages and who knows what my next step will be. What are you looking to do next up at Warner? I'm working. I'm a Diplomat CEO. I'm an entrepreneur first. I'm looking to apply my knowledge up there to something bigger. That's where the business comes in. Why did Cam's Killa Season have such little promotion? That was a business move. Cam chose not to promote or do anything for the album or shit like that. Was that a good move? It's a good move. We rep the fans and we've been doing it for a long time and sometimes you can't compromise your integrity when it comes to business. It's a George Michaels move. He took a leave and said, "Fuck them niggas." We live by a certain code and that's why people love us. It's Dipset, baby! We have our own rules in this shit. Are you happy with the sales? You put it like this: He did over 100,000 in sales with almost no promotion. That's unheard of. People don't do 100,000 in sales with 10,000 spins and you know who I'm talking about. We have a movement. We don't even have fans, we have family. You stayed fairly quiet when Cam was dissing Jay. It wasn't like I stayed quiet. I don't necessarily do battle raps and diss records. That wasn't a promotional tool. My man had some shit to get off his chest and that's what he did. It wasn't a promotional tool and he wasn't trying to get sales off that. It is what it is. You know what it is. I back up Cam a thousand-hundred-million percent. Smell me? I'll still slap the shit out of a nigga. Figure it out. It's all good. Can you tell us the plans for Cam's next album? I'm not liable to say that. Do you want to get Juelz off Def Jam? Business is never personal. There's a difference. There's a big difference. Just because I don't like you isn't going to change the contract. Shit is so simple in this game. How's JR Writer's album doing so far? It's gotten a good response. "Grill 'Em" is an incredible single. Niggas can't fuck with JR Writer. I'm proud of the boy. Are people ready for Hell Rell? He's the hardest out! He's got some beautiful music. Hell Rell is what it is. What's going on with the Byrdgang? That was a dream of mine. Diplomats are the umbrella and Byrdgang is flying under the umbrella so they can't get wet. We have the same plans for them as the Diplomats. I plan on following the same blueprint as the Diplomats. It's the same thing we just have more artists now. It's like the army, navy and marines. We're going to kick all types of ass. You and Cam were on Hot97 talking about a boxing match with Tru Life. Is that going to happen? Who? Niggas didn't answer to that. That's some horseshit. That's not worth my time. I've got too much money for that, ya dig? Tru Life criticized New York artists rocking southern beats. What's your response to that? Come on! We're not even going to talk about that. My interviews are worth too much money. Know what I'm talking about? What's your relationship with Dame Dash today? We're on good terms. Shout out to Dame! I was in his office and took like twenty pairs of Pro-Keds. How do you feel about Dame leaving hip-hop? Dame is a hustler. Hip-hop was just one of his stepping stones. He's in charge of his destiny and that's my nigga right there, smell me? What else do you want to get into? I would love to get into the movies. Wherever life takes me…I'm not going to be doing these albums for much longer. I hope people listen to what's going on and listen for the messages. I'm not a preacher but I do it for my niggas coming up hopeless and I want people to understand at the end of the day that after the balling, the money, the bitches and the fast cars, we're still in a state of emergency in the hood. People still have to sell crack to pay rent and they depend on the first and fifteenth of the month. There's still welfare out there and food stamps. It's all wrapped in one. How many albums does Jim Jones have left? After this one, I may have one or two left in me. I'm going to make them good. I'm not going to say I'm leaving music and I'm retiring. You're always going to hear me jumping on other niggas' shit. How's your new album coming? Beautiful. I'm proud of it. All my albums come together organically. You never know what to expect. Now that it's closing it's all coming together and I couldn't expect anything more. How will this album show your growth as an MC? I keep telling people I'm not an MC. I'm from the ghetto and I understand what people in the ghetto are going through. I can take what's going on in the ghetto and bring it to the rest of the world. We're fucked up here and it's a state of emergency A lot of people criticize Koch for not giving proper marketing and promotions and for being a graveyard for rappers. What's your take on Koch? I get more money on Koch than 90% of the whole music industry, and that's a true story. I do multi-million dollar deals at Koch for one album and that's unheard of in this industry. Shout out to Alan Grunblatt. What's next for Jim Jones? The sky's the limit. I can't foresee the future but some of the things I would like to do is acting, directing movies and cooling out with my son. How's Freeky Zeeky doing? Shout out to Freeky! He will be out for Thanksgiving. Let's get it! He's doing good. His spirits are up and he's maintaining. It's a beautiful thing. What do you want to say to everybody? What we're doing is much more than music. I hope people don't just take it for the music. When we say it's a movement, it's a way of life. If you have any aspirations for sports or entertainment or just for getting money, what you have to do is you have to know life will repeat itself and opportunities don't. You have to seize the moment and that's what we did and that's why we're flying high right now. It's Dipset Byrdgang for life. If you're in tune with the movement, ride with us. Ya dig? If you're not in tune, fall back. This is a movement of gangsters and we refuse to compromise our integrity for anybody. You fuckboys know what it is. You're not on our level so watch it. Dipset, nigga!

By Brian Kayser

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