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9/27/2006 What's up? I'm good. I'll do an interview with you every day if you want to! Everything is fucking good with me, straight up. I'm beautiful, bro. I'm feeling good. Are you comfortable with how things are moving for your sophomore album Buck the World? Everything is moving right and it looks like my album is going to drop on the date they say it's going to drop on, November 28. I'm just real comfortable with this record. I got to get in my own zone, my own domain. I recorded most of it in my studio. I recorded my first album on the Roc the Mic tour so it was almost a rushing thing with that one. I was blessed to establish platinum success on that and I got to let people know where I'm from. This album, there's pretty much no limit. That's why it's named Buck the World. They wouldn't let me name it Fuck the World. I learned a lot on this record. I worked with Dr. Dre on three tracks. Eminem produced something on there. I worked with Jazze Pha. I worked with Lil Jon, Hi-Tek, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Akon and others. There are more features on this record than any other G-Unit record. I have a TI, Young Jeezy and Pimp C all on one record. I have another one with Bun-B, 8Ball and MJG. I have a record with me, Snoop Dogg and Trick Daddy together. I have another song with the whole G-Unit. I put a lot of my features all on one record to make room for my own solo record. I catered to the ladies a little more on this record than I did on the first record. The only song I really had for the females on the last record was "Shorty Wanna Ride." I'm going to keep them panties wet on this record. Do you have a lot to prove on this record? I feel like I just have to do me. I just have to do me. That's how I feel about everything. I feel like if a person feels they have something to prove, then in a sense they're trying to outdo themselves. I let the game come to me. I live every day like it's my last one but I don't feel like I have nothing to prove, music-wise. I feel like I have a job to do to make the music to the best of my abilities. Are you the most respected MC out of G-Unit? I have to give it to Banks. To me, Banks is one of the most lyrical cats I've ever came across in my whole life. I'm more like, I don't give a fuck. Banks is more laid-back. Look at the words he puts together. It's like, Where the fuck did you get that from? I've always looked up to Banks on the lyrical side. And his age, Banks is younger than all of us. I give that to Banks. A lot of people say I'm the best and I thank them for that, but I give that title to Banks. How do you feel when fans who hate G-Unit like you? Man, I deal with that shit every day. To me, if you love me, you love G-Unit because I am G-Unit. When I say I am G-Unit, I am a fucking full member of G-Unit. It takes more than one to make G-Unit. G-Unit consists of me, 50 Cent, Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks. As far as a label, there's also Spider Loc, Mobb Deep, Olivia, MOP and Hot Rod. I just try to do me and I think my personality wins people over because I let motherfuckers touch my hand. You're not going to see me with a million security guards around me. I'm not one of those motherfuckers who's going to be scared to kick it with people. That's not what I'm about. That right there I think draws people into me. As far as my hood and my city go, they appreciate me having success and still being here. I'm in the projects right now with my homeboys. They really appreciate that and I appreciate them loving me that way. I can't see myself ever leaving no matter how much money I get. When you first got joined G-Unit, did you not feel like a full member? Yeah. Now I feel like I'm an official member of the family and I feel like I'm carrying a lot of weight. In the beginning I think a lot of people felt like I was filling in for Yayo. It confused a lot of fans because they were used to hearing Yayo on the mixtapes and here comes this cat named Young Buck. I had to really work the game and show the hip-hop world what I could do. I even had to prove myself to Interscope. I came out with Straight Outta Cashville and maintained the best rap album in the country for two weeks straight. I would have had the No. 1 album in the country if it wasn't for Tim McGraw's country ass. I feel like I made them pay more attention to me so I can accept a phone call from Jimmy Iovine and be like, Whaddup, partner? I'm still not nowhere near where I'm trying to be. I'm just now getting my feet wet. I'm trying to bring other artists to the game. I got Cashville Records/G-Unit South. My artists officially signed to the label go by the names of Lil Murda, D-Tay and Hi-C. They formed the group 615. That's the area code of my hometown, Nashville, Tennessee. I'm on the move. I have a lot of different movie scripts I'm going over. I have a couple of clothing stores we're building in my city as well as Cashville Chicken and Waffles. It's moving and who knows what the world holds next? The future holds a lot for me and I'm out here trying to figure out what it is. What type of artists are you looking for? I like talent. I believe in checking report cards. What I mean by checking report cards is that a lot of rappers basically lie about a lot of shit. I believe in checking report cards, meaning that you are who you say you are, you're from where you say you're from and you do what you say you do. I believe in promoting reality no matter if it's R&B music or rap music. As long as the artist is comfortable with the music they're putting out and it matches up to their lives, then we have a deal. You don't have to be the greatest MC or singer to be the most real. You can grow that shit. It's having that real-life shit that attracts me. Should Game's report card have been checked more thoroughly? Yeah. From my end, it should have. I think 50 probably should have checked out who he was dealing with. Game's deal came about through Dr. Dre. Success was coming with Beg 4 Mercy and Dre had a lot of artists that he was backing and it was only right to let Game be a part of our momentum because of what was going on. Game became a part of G-Unit from Dr. Dre's word and 50's loyalty to Dre. I don't know too many people who would say no to Dr. Dre. Game has been continuously dissing G-Unit. Do you pay attention? I never do. I never even listen to them, I just hear about them. I heard there's one where he's supposedly dissing me. I don't hear them because there's nothing in them that he could actually say about me in his raps to make me really go do something to him. Everything I've done has been real. My ghetto report card is straight. It ain't hard to figure out how I get down. I think when another motherfucker devotes their energy to responding to someone else, it means their music was actually speaking on something. There's nothing he can say about me. You responded once to Game and then Game never talked about you again. Is Game scared of you? I'm from Down South. I am born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. I don't have anyone out here except my mother or sister. My family is all out there so in a sense, the best way for me to put this without getting indicted is that I'm out there for real, where he's from. Shit could get real fucked up for real. I ain't to be fucked with. I'm protecting my life. That's the best way I can say it. You went double platinum on Straight Outta Cashville. Can Buck the World do better? I think it's going to really, really exceed that double platinum mark. My first album was bootlegged thirty fucking days before it dropped. I still went gold in two weeks. If my album was delivered on time and wasn't bootlegged, you'd be looking at 50 numbers. People have to pay attention to what the fuck this dude is going to say on this album. Even if you get me on bootleg, you still have to go out and get the album. That's how 2Pac and Biggie were. You would get the bootleg just to hear it and then you'd go and get the official. You had to have that. You instill that by making good material every time. Hopefully this is an album that does that. By my junior album, hopefully they understand that everything you get from me is going to be good. I put my heart in everything. What you hear from me on mixtapes is for the mixtapes. My album is going to be totally brand-new material for you. I feel like when people spend money on an album they're not spending that money to hear a song they already heard on the mixtapes. I believe in making new material and I can make mixtapes and do Gangsta Grillz and put my other music on there. I worked with DJ Drama and I worked with Jamie Foxx and DJ Whoo Kid. I'm expecting an invitation from the Mixtape Awards this year because I'm damn-sure playing my part and I got the streets on lock. This is a real fucking nigga and he's real serious about making this shit happen. Despite the heavy bootlegging, are you satisfied with how Straight Outta Cashville did? I'm more than happy with that album. I think that's the best opening record I could have done. I got my title from NWA. That was their first album and it showed what they were about. That's what I'm trying to do. This is a country music city and people didn't even know hip-hop lived here. I've been an underdog for a lot of reasons, from my city to my crew already having their notoriety. I've been an underdog all around and I still am. There are no points to prove. Just follow me and I'm going to let the music do the talking. Are you ever going to lose the underdog mentality? Nah, because at the end of the day, if you take the streets away from me, then you lose Young Buck. As long as you have a project in the ghetto and the streets, then I'm never going to lose that mentality. I come from nothing, bro, and I made something. A lot of people say, I made it out of the hood. I say, Damn, it feels good to have my bills paid. I'm still in the hood, every day that I'm available to be. I keep one foot in and one foot out. When you come up in the black community and you become successful, if you take both feet out then you will not be able to come back without having problems and having the people reject you. The people love me for not leaving. I know where my love is at. The day I leave that I know my love will stop. I can't go nowhere. What do you think of how Mobb Deep's Blood Money did? I'm kind of shocked myself. That was a good album. That was one of the best Mobb Deep albums I ever heard and I'm a true Mobb Deep fan. A lot of Southern artists don't relate to East Coast artists, but if there is one crew I related to it's them. It's an honor to be around them now. It's almost a disappointment looking at the sales. 50 structured us where even if the music doesn't sell, niggas are still paid and more than fucking happy. We don't deal with the problems of the hunger pains other artists have. When the stomach is grumbling, that's when the problems come. 50 keeps us fucking fed. He keeps us overfed. Even if we're waiting for our album to come out, we're still full. You can come up with your best material and not have to worry about anything. Do Mobb Deep's sales worry you about Buck the World's potential sales? No, not at all because at the end of the day, the momentum comes from the artists themselves. At the end of the day, the music is going to do what God grants it to do. I'm established with the Man upstairs, Jesus Christ himself. Get established with Jesus Christ. I'm good with the Man upstairs so I'm always going to be good. If it doesn't work, I'll work to get where I need to be. I feel like I'm God's best friend and I haven't even read the Bible yet. You've done some work with Lil Scrappy and he is affiliated with G-Unit. What's your relationship with him? That's my homeboy. The chemistry is really there. Scrap is around me a lot outside of the hip-hop world. We hang as just homeboys. That plays a part when we go in and make music together. "Money in the Bank" is doing real good for him. His project consists of 50 Cent and Lil Jon collaborating. It's a good look for him and I think he's got a lot of energy. At the end of the day, his heart is in the music game so I really feel good about how he's going to do. Have you worked with Hot Rod yet? No, I haven't actually sat down with him yet. I'm trying to figure out what track we're going to collaborate on for his album. Right now it's all about Buck. He's in the kitchen cooking up his shit making sure it's right. There was a picture of you wearing a shirt with a knife that said, Don't Make Me Do It. What kind of feedback did you get from that? It was pretty much all good. Motherfuckers understand that whole situation. The only reason God allowed me to walk away from it was because I wasn't going in there to start nothing. I was there to check out the fine women and win my award like any other star would be doing. It put me in a situation where I had to act. I saw Dr. Dre tangled up and he shouldn't be tangled up with nobody. He's got too much respect and too much money. That's how I feel about that situation. Shit happens and you get what you get. I got probation out of that shit and it cost me a lot of money. If your bankroll ain't right, don't do it. If I could rewind it I probably wouldn't do it. That cost me a lot of money to stay out here. At least you showed you were loyal. Yeah, you're right, but I didn't go looking for that shit. I'm thankful it panned out the way it did. I was just looking to fucking hold it down. What do you think about the 50/Diddy beef? Oh, man, Diddy's funny to me. I don't really have anything to say because I don't know him to speak on him personally. He's just a funny cat to me. As far as his situation goes, if you have an artist and you have contracts that are holding up that artist and you have no use for the artist and the artist doesn't want to be a part of what you're doing, then he should be released. I don't know Diddy and 50 Cent's situation. I stay away from the shit and I just come when that shit is about to bubble and run over the top. I come to the shit before it blows up. Was there ever a time when you were going to hop in? Nah. 50 had an issue with Diddy and he voiced his opinion. Diddy didn't say anything about Young Buck. From my understanding their situation got ironed out. What's your focus going to be from now until Buck the World drops? Pretty much from now until Buck the World drops, my focus is on promoting this album and letting everybody know it's one of the best albums to drop. I'm ready for Hollywood and for some acting and movie roles. I want to use this album to help get Cashville Records off the ground and get my artists off the ground. I want to help make them successful. The only way to do that is to do it myself. Would Cashville's releases come out on Aftermath? I believe in going somewhere where it's the best actual situation for me as a label and my artists. It's really not, at the end of the day, based only on the money. It's about the best deal. What advice do you have for up-and-coming MC's? Four letters: P-U-S-H. Be focused on your material and be careful what you put your name on. Mean what you say and try your best to revolve your music around reality no matter how much motherfuckers may switch the game up. Base your music around reality and you'll last longer. Dances get old and people don't want to do dances no more, but people never get tired of hearing "Brenda's Got a Baby." I got thirty Brenda's in my projects that have a baby. Make your music around reality, push and be careful, straight up. And don't stop at the stop signs and run all the red lights and holler, Fuck the police when they pull up beside you. What's the best advice 50 ever gave you? Smoke all the weed you can, Buck. (laughs) Nah, the best advice he gave me was that the people who can play a big part in your life don't have to grow up around you. Some of the people who play the biggest part of your life may have never spent time where you're at. My trust factor with people was real low after Cash Money. What do you want to say to everybody? God made pot, man made beer. Who do you trust?

By Brian Kayser

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