DON'T MISS TODAY:

Back to Artist Profiles

2/27/2006 What's good man? I'm just working, grinding hard. What's going on with the A-Team situation right now? It's done right now. What happened? Conflict of interests, that's all. Did anything specific happen? Nah. He wanted to do something different and I wanted to do something different. It's not that big, but that A-Team shit is dead. How do you feel about that? I started as a solo artist and he started as a solo artist, so it's like a natural reflex anyway. It really doesn't matter about the work we did. That shit is dead. Will fans have as easy of a time learning who Ransom is now? They should. I'm making the same type of music they heard in the past. Hopefully I can get even more fans now. You're on the new Clue tape a lot. Does that mean that Desert Storm is supporting Ransom and not Hitchcock? Yeah. Clue's behind me right now. Hitch wants to do something else. Clue's going to be behind me. Does Clue's support of you stay consistent? Yeah. It's consistent. At the end of the day, he's still a DJ and DJ's are going to do what DJ's do. I look at it like that. It is what it is. He's pretty consistent. Are you completely done with Hitchcock? Musically, yeah. It's a wrap. It's nothing personal. What's your focus right now? It's the same as it's always been. I've always been a solo artist. Right now, we're working on Clue's album. It should be out around May. I'm also working on my album. Are you looking for a deal right now? Yeah, definitely. There's a couple deals on the table, I just have to take what's right. What are you looking for? The best deal out there. It doesn't have to be the most money, but it has to be the best situation. You need a good label behind you that wants to push you. I'm looking for somebody that's willing to put the effort in. Are you sure that your album will be a success? You never can be. Hopefully I put the best music together on the album. I'm going to have the best producers and the best rappers fuck with me. Everything on the album is going to be the best of everything. I already have some joints recorded. I have some joints with Fab and Lil' Wayne. I don't want to give too much away, but it's there. Who are you working with today? I just did some shit with Lil' Wayne. I got mad material with Fab and Stack Bundles. I got songs with Jeezy. I'm going to have the best of everything. What about producers? I got my in-house producers with Presidential Beats. I have some other producers like Dough Boys, Develop, Filthy, Ron Browz, and Streetrunner from Miami. I also have a couple of tracks from Clue. Are you still working with Joe Budden? Nah. Nothing personal with that either, but we haven't really done anything new. How did you link up with Joe Budden? It was a phone call. My manager called him one day like, "You want to do something with these niggas?" He heard us and said, "Yeah, I'll do something with them." So we went to the studio and laid down that shit. Does the hold-up of Joe Budden's album ever cause you to lose motivation to stay in the game? No. I don't look at it like that. I look at it like he had his chance. Everybody gets a chance. Either you're going to blow it or make the best of it. I haven't gotten my chance yet. You can either make the best of it or the worst of it. I'm going to make the best of it. I just want a chance. Once I get my chance, I'm going to show people how to do it. How did your Desert Storm affiliation come about? Probably through Joe Budden. When we started messing with Joe Budden, they started coming around. That's how we started meeting up. Who do you feel is holding it down for Jersey right now? Me. That's it. How do you feel about the way other artists from New Jersey rep it? They're not, because they're not being heard. You need to be heard to rep. I'm the only one being heard right now. It's not their fault. What sets you apart from every other rapper flooding the mixtapes? I'm not a mixtape rapper. I'm an artist. I make music from the heart. Everything is already in me. I don't have to search for anything. I spit from the heart. You can really tell. I'm not a mixtape artist, I make real music. I don't even want to be under that category. Is there a difference in how you make mixtape tracks versus album tracks? Oh yeah. When you make a track for the mixtapes, you have to entertain. The album is a little bit more personal. You're not worried about the entertainment factor as much as you're trying to get your story across. How's your album coming? It's coming along great. I have a lot of hot stuff you're going to be hearing real soon. Trust me. I'm working with a lot of great people. Was coming in through the mixtapes the best move? It's like a double-edged sword. It's helped in some cases and it's hurt in other cases. I guess it helped, but it did hurt a little bit. I don't want to be put in the category as a mixtape rapper. How was it working with E-Skummy? It was interesting. He's a real funny guy. We had a real good time working on the record. It's real unfortunate what happened to him. It's crazy. It was a couple days after we got up that it happened. From what I saw and how we chilled, he was a real good guy. I want to tell the whole world that he was a real dude. He wasn't fake. He came down and we had mad fun. He loved the game and he loved to rap. He loved everything about rap. We had a good time whenever he came up. I got to chill with him a couple of times before he passed away. How did you react when you heard he was shot? I was like, "Goddamn they took another one." A lot of us still live where we grew up. I've been living in the same building for fifteen years. People don't think about that. You've done the mixtapes, DVD's, and features, but what's it going to take to push Ransom over the top? If I knew…I don't know. I think I'm on the right track. I just have to keep on doing what I'm doing. I think I'm on the right track. Are you happy with where you are in the game right now? I'm real happy. I'm not getting all the accolades, but I'm respected by my peers. Every time I'm around other rappers, they know. I'm respected lyrically. Out of everything, I like that I'm respected for my craft the most. What do you want to say to everyone? Just keep on supporting. I'm going to tell the truth on everything you hear from me, and it's going to be hot at the same time. I love my fans. I'm just going to keep on doing the same thing.

By Brian Kayser

[93] REACT TO THIS INTERVIEW