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10/16/2006 What's up? I'm good. I got up early and I'm just driving back to San Diego doing radio promotions for the record. It's dropping October 17. Is everybody ready? Yeah. It's going to be an interesting time for me. It's been a year and some change since I released my last album. A lot of the forces driving my last record aren't there. I'm not on Sony anymore and I think it's going to be interesting. There's a lot of misconceptions and some hatred. How do you feel about how Full Circle came out? I'm excited. I got some fresh ideas on this album. Keith Shocklee (The Bomb Squad) executive produced this album. There's fourteen cuts on here that I'm excited about. I feel like this is my first record because I'm driving around doing promos and all that. I understand the ins and outs of the business and I feel this is the best way to go about getting my goals accomplished. What did Keith Shocklee bring to the album? There's a particular way that dudes from the era before me go about creating records and their whole process. Keith didn't produce any beats but he brought all of the input to bring the right ideas to the table. I recorded in his spot in New York. It was like a fucking dungeon. It was cool. There was no phone reception so nobody could bug me. Only the weed man and the studio engineer knew where I was for that thirty days. Have you ever recorded in New York? No. I've never been out of Los Angeles recording. I never did anything like that. We did half of it in New York and then did the rest of it in LA. Are you happy with how your single "Concentrate" is doing? It's good. I wanted to warm up the streets and get the machine going. We're doing the video for it and we're grinding it out. It's nothing new. You always have to go out and grind it out. I'm not expecting anything from hip-hop to be anything different. I enjoy what I'm doing and I enjoy this part of it. I'm just anxious to get back out there in front of my colleagues and do what I do. Snoop has "Vato" and you have "Black and Brown." How important is unity between blacks and Latinos? It's important because these kids growing up and living this out have to understand exactly what it is. When we're kids, we don't understand half the things we do. We're basically copying and imitating the people around us. Blacks and Latinos are in the same boat and we hit each other the hardest. It's a lesson to be learned that we stand to do better together than we do separate. There are things that trickle down from the penitentiary to the streets that we have no control over, but we can make it better. Game is on your album and you've been cool with Ras Kass for a long time. Where do you stand in this situation? Ras Kass is not just a good friend, he's one of my best friends. I'm not going to be sitting here and trying to put a battery in either one of these guys' backs. I think we do a disservice on the West Coast of not having any unity. The whole world recognizes when we ride together and when we don't. We put ourselves in a position that we don't really realize until it's too late. Somebody who likes to listen to Game has ill will towards Ras Kass. These dudes could be unifying the West and we can all be pushing together and the world can see the movement. We can bring the movement back and then have a platform for other artists to come out on. If there's a problem that we need to take care of, then we should handle it internally. If they have to duke it out, maybe that will work. I don't know. I do know that this is not the way to go. All it's done is put our icons in the ground. I don't see any benefit coming from this situation. I think in this time, with the West trying to unify and come together, this is a step in the wrong direction. Do you see this situation getting ugly? Any grown-ass man that has a conversation with another grown-ass man has the potential to go any way. I'm not basing it off anybody's reputation. I could care less. I'm not going to sit here and condone any of this shit. It's weak, it's fucking unnecessary and I just did a song with Game. He's trying to focus and get his head together and be a part of the culture. I can only use myself and what I've been through for an example. I've had people say stuff about me, but if they're not going to say it to my face and back it up with some hands, then they're not really saying shit. I look at it like, Dude, if you're not trying to come at my family or me, then what you're saying is basically hot fucking air. When you're dealing with pride and egos and you're trying to bring other people into what you're going through, that's when it gets ugly. You're keeping your masters on Koch. How important is that to you? Ownership is everything. I came off Loud Records and I sold two million records then went to Sony and we couldn't push past gold with no marketing and no promotions. We had differences of opinions with singles and all that. They wanted to go one way and I wanted to go another. I spent a year and a half trying to get out of that. Then the television thing popped off. It wasn't until I was in total control of everything that I felt better. You're talking about the difference of a brother getting between 15 cents to a dollar per record and a brother getting between $7.50 and $8.00 for a record. That's a big difference to me. Even though you may sell 200,000 records on your first week, they can still tell you it's a disappointment. I'd rather be disappointed in my sales and still have millions of dollars coming in. Method Man's said that critics thought his music got soft once he acted in comedies. Have you dealt with any of that because of Pimp My Ride? No. Actually, it just shows me how closed-minded these people are. I can't be criminalized for having a personality. I'm sorry. I get it from my family. I will sock you in the fucking mouth if you disrespect me in the streets, but do I have to walk around all day with my face scowled so that you know that? What I do in film and television does not have to control what I do in music. I like being versatile. It's easy to do what I do. I'm not acting on Pimp My Ride. When I chill with my family, that's how I am. That's a side of my personality that you don't get to see in the music. There are millions of people who watch that show and appreciate that I'm doing something positive for somebody. I could care less what the critics say because they'll love me today, hate me tomorrow and love me again when I do something they like. I don't really put it to that. I put it to the fans and the people who do support me and appreciate what I'm doing. Can I please everybody in hip-hop? No. I really can't. I really don't care to because my path is original. Look who's names you have to pull to compare my situation. The haters are going to be there but it's the people that support me that I'm taking care of. What's the most annoying thing to come with hosting Pimp My Ride? Everybody asking me to pimp their ride like I got rims in my pocket and I'm just going to slap 'em on right there. What do you want to say to everybody? Thanks for the love, thanks for the support. October 17 is Full Circle. Give it a listen because I feel good about it and I can't wait to see how you feel about it.

By Brian Kayser

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