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11/7/2006 What’s up? I feel good. Shit, it feels good to be me. The Doctor’s Advocate is about to drop. How do you feel about the album? The Doctor’s Advocate is the most anticipated album in the world right now. I feel like Rocky in Rocky I. I’m fucking niggas up right now. Your first album was critically acclaimed. Can The Doctor’s Advocate top The Documentary? The Documentary is not even on my mind right now. That was my last album and I’m not even worried about that right now. I had my back against the wall doing this album and I had all the adversity and all the shit that I’ve been through in the last year and a half from the move from Aftermath to Geffen to no Dr. Dre on the album to no 50 Cent saying he wrote the hooks. This album is all me. I executive produced this album. I want the world to recognize me for the true MC that I am. After they hear this, they’ll know who I am. Did you take a different approach to this album? Not really. I just go in the studio, hear the beat or we create a beat and whatever that beat tells me to do, that’s what I do. I do my thing on each record. That’s what it is. It’s about hip-hop. It’s not about trying to do too much. It’s about letting it be what it is and keeping it 100. As long as you keep it real with yourself, it’s going to come across like that on these records. Why is the album cover so similar to The Documentary’s cover? I was a big fan of Nas growing up and Nas did that with his album covers and his face. I thought I would show the transition from The Documentary to The Doctor’s Advocate. I wanted to show the growth of myself. This is my life. This is my world. How was it recording “Why You Hate the Game” with Nas? That was hip-hop. That song is ten minutes long of me and Nas doing our thing. The song is about the title. There are a lot of people out there who hate and thought my album would never see the light of day again. This is a reminder that I’m hip-hop’s new king. Crooked I recently called you the Prince of the West. How do you feel about that statement? I appreciate that, but if I’m the prince, who’s the king? I’m the king. Can you tell us about the track you did with Nas for his album? I don’t want to give away the goods on Nas’ album. What’s going on between you and Dre right now? There are no problems. So many people said that the success of The Documentary was because of the Dre affiliation and 50 affiliation. I just did it without those guys. No hard feelings to either one of them. Me and Dre are 100. We’re good friends. I speak to Dre once a week and the conversations are 100% love. Dre is my mentor and I will always pay homage. Dre gave me a chance to breathe again and he took me out of the hood. I’m always thankful to Dre. Did Dre ever talk to you about your interview in King when you said that Dre not working with you is like him turning his back on Compton? Nah. Dre would never turn his back on Compton. It wasn’t a diss or nothing. That was just a metaphor for me and Dre’s friendship and camaraderie. That’s never going to change. You quoted The Sixth Sense on the intro to “One Blood” when you said, “Dre, I see dead people.” What did you mean by that line? There’s a lot of hip-hop artists that are killing hip-hop. Not only are they killing hip-hop on Soundscan, they’re killing themselves. That’s what I meant. Is “One Blood” doing what you wanted it to? “One Blood” is the biggest song in the world right now with Jim Jones’ “Stay Fly.” It’s the craziest shit going on. You recently dropped “Soundscan,” dissing Lloyd Banks. Do you consider Lloyd Banks’ Rotten Apple a flop? I knew it was coming. He didn’t know it was coming. I don’t know why the fuck he thought he was going to come out and sell 500,000 the first week. These dudes are over and I ended their careers. At this point, I’m not even beefing with 50 anymore. It’s not about 50. It was about killing G-Unit as a brand. 50 is the last man standing, the only one left breathing. I think 50 is good for hip-hop sometimes and other times he’s bad. When he’s bad, I’m going to make him pay for it. Are you satisfied with the results of your G-Unot campaign? I killed that whole brand. Their shoe sales went down and their clothing sales went down. People stopped being interested in G-Unit. Yayo flopped, Mobb Deep, Lloyd Banks, who’s next? I’m ecstatic with the outcome. What goes around comes around. They tried to do me one way when I was successful and they even had me going against Murder Inc. when I was a big fan of Ja. But when I ride with somebody, I ride. Since I left G-Unit, I squashed my beef with Irv and Ja. It’s hip-hop. What goes around comes around. I’m just trying to make records. Are you and Ja going to work together soon? Maybe. It’s hip-hop. You might see me and anybody together on a song together. It just depends on the day and how I’m feeling. I record with the best in the business and I consider Ja to be dope. You’re going to see him come back. I think there’s still room for Ja. Look at all the hip-hop artists today. You can’t even count them anymore. Back then, you could count the number of hip-hop artists on two hands, East and West Coast. Hip-hop is worldwide now and that’s good. There’s a lot of room for everybody. In the future, I might be working with anybody but I’m definitely going to make the best songs with the best people. How many more diss tracks do you have for G-Unit at this point? I don’t have any diss tracks. Lloyd Banks went on Rap City and tried to say some funny shit, so I had to respond with “Soundscan.” At this point, it’s funny to me. They can’t fuck with me. Everybody in the world knows that. At this point, it’s kind of like kicking a dead dog. There’s no use in kicking a dead dog because it’s dead. That’s what it is. I like to poke fun at them sometimes and remind them that I slayed them as a group. They know it and they respect it. They just need to gracefully bow out. When the chips were stacked against Ja, he disappeared and went behind the scenes and stacked his money elsewhere. Now he’s ready to come back. That’s what I think 50 and them should do. They’re oversaturated in the media and people are tired of that. They need to fall back. You read out Lloyd Banks’ Soundscan numbers on “Soundscan.” What kind of numbers do you expect to do your first week? I’m selling a million records my first week. Has anything changed going from Aftermath to Geffen? Nope. It’s the same deal. It’s no change for me. It’s the same people over there. Ras Kass has dropped two records towards you… I don’t want to talk about Ras Kass. He’s garbage. Next question. Do you have any plans to talk to Ras Kass? You must not have heard my last answer! Do you feel like anyone can mess with you at this point in the game? Outside of the legends like Snoop, Jay, Nas and Scarface, nobody can fuck with me. We know your son is very important to you. Do you want him to pursue a career in rap? My son can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn’t get himself hurt and it’s nonviolent. If he wants to be a rapper, R&B singer, rocket scientist or pro basketball player, I’ll be there to support him as a father. My everyday mission is to secure his future. That’s what I’m out here doing. I’m not playing games. This is serious. This is my job and I love it. Have you started planning your next album? My next album is already pre-thought out. I know how it’s going to go and how it’s going to end up and I know my first week numbers. I’m so far from that album and you have to keep people on the edge of their seats. You have to leave them wanting more. That’s what hip-hop is about. It’s all about anticipation. That’s what I used in the creation process of The Doctor’s Advocate. Everybody’s wondering what I’m going to do. The album is phenomenal and soon people are going to see what I’m made of. What are your goals for Black Wallstreet going into 2007? I want to give Nu Jerzey Devil enough room where he can elevate his producing game to the next level and be amongst the elite producers like the Just Blaze’s and Kanye’s and Swizz Beatz’. I’m also working on my new artist Juice from Arizona. He’s creating a big buzz. After hearing The Doctor’s Advocate, do you think people will stop saying 50 Cent made you? The talk is going to be that now I did it without 50 and without Dre. The people always say they’re tired of me and 50 going back and forth, but the people aren’t tired of it. They feed it. This is hip-hop. It’s all good. We’ll see. You guys really hold the weight. We ain’t shit but artists. Our words are twisted up every day. I’m to the point where I don’t give a fuck. Write what you want. If you want to write what you want or stretch the truth, who cares? Do whatever you want. They’ve said everything about me from me being a stripper to a fag to a fake gangbanger. I take all that shit in and chew that shit up and blow bubbles with that shit. It’s nothing to me. Did that take time to develop that shell where nothing bothers you? Nothing ever bothered me. I’ve been on my own since I was 9 years-old. Nothing in the world can ever phase me. The only time I’m ever down is when I start missing my brother, my grandmother or some of my dead homies. Other than that, I can’t be faded. In your Complex interview, you said you were going to retire at 31. Is that true? Yep. I want to be behind the scenes helping other artists blow up. I want to be a CEO behind the scenes. What do you want to say to everybody? I love my fans and they love me, so let’s ride into 2007 on some gangster shit.

By Brian Kayser

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