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5/31/2006 What's up? I'm doing good. I'm in New York City feeling good. I came out to get a couple of outfits. It's going pretty well. How's your album Best Thang Smokin' coming? It's coming along fine. I'm still open for whatever. I can start recording at any given time. I'm still recording it. It's not like I'm meeting a deadline for it. Do you have a release date? August 1. Are you confident that date will hold? I feel confident about that date. I feel confident about a lot of things that are going on. How's the album sounding so far? It's sounding real kosher. It's sounding real crispy and brand new. I'm about to give it to them. It's coming along pretty well. How important is it for you to be seen as Young Dro on this album and not as someone who works with T.I.? It's important to me because I've been doing this for a long time. I didn't just drop out of the sky. It's real important to get to know Dro because this is something that haven't heard in a minute. I'm speaking on all levels. What separates you from all the other artists dropping debut albums this year? My style and my swagger. I'm that nigga you're trying to be, for real. It's that real hood shit, that real good shit. How's your Day One mixtape with Drama doing? It's doing exactly what I wanted it to do. How did you go about making Day One? We put it together and Drama told me what he wanted to do to it and the things he wanted me to talk about. It was really like letting a pig loose. It was like letting a pig loose on wax. He was telling me what I needed to spit and how I needed to spit. Did you treat that project like an album? Yes. I really gave them more. I gave them more. I did songs. I got real deep on it. Some of them were liable to hit the album. How does it feel to give away something you could probably get paid for, but at the same time, if you don't drop it, people may not buy the album? If you put in a little bit, you're going to get a little bit. If you put a lot in, you're going to get a lot out of it. I'm getting straight to the point. It's about what do you believe in. I believe that I gave them enough to want to come fuck with me. Are you dropping another mixtape before the album comes? Anything's liable to happen. I doubt it, though. They got forty songs on me already from the Burn one to this one. We're sorry to hear about the death of Philant Johnson. What can you tell us about him? Man, Philant Johnson was the best guy in the world. He taught me a lot of things. I love him to death. He knew how to fly to Milan and dine with the best of them, he knew how to go to Italy, and he would come back and put me on to game. He'd shoot a movie with you, he'd do whatever. Has it been hard to record since his death? No. No. No. No. That's energy. Philant gave us energy. He would want us to do that anyway. We would be fools to stop. How's T.I. doing? He's doing cool. How does his death change the Grand Hustle movement? It doesn't change anything at all. We're still real. Are you guys going to move any differently now? I move a little differently. What have you learned watching T.I. come up and then explode on the national scene? I've been knowing Tip for twelve years. He's my boy. I'm proud of my boy. We're still doing the same shit, we just have the money to do the shit now. That's my homeboy forever. Did things change from you after your appearance on the KING album? No. It's always been the same. I've been doing what I do. It's been the same. T.I. said P$C was like a family. How important is that family element to the music? We've been around each other for so long making music and cooling it, just hustling in the streets. When the music came, this shit was easy. We just stick together. It comes natural, man. When we make music, it sounds good because we're family. P$C is family. When's the next P$C album coming? We're focusing on Dro's album right now as a matter of fact. We'll put one of those together when it's time. Do you feel any pressure being the first P$C member besides Tip with a major-label debut? It ain't no pressure. There's no pressure for me. I had a hit on the radio before. It ain't really nothing new to me. There's no pressure to me. What do you have to do from here on out to make Best Thang Smokin' successful? Stay behind it and believe in it. I have to be out here and go to the different markets and show them who I am. I'm one of the best and I'm going to put it in their face. I'm going to do the best I can do. That's how I know I'm going to do my thing. After all this time grinding, you must feel this album is overdue. Exactly. I've been working for a minute. I know what it's about. I'm not going to question it. I'm claiming it, if anything. There's been a lot of controversy over snap music lately. Some say they love it, some say they hate it, and some say it's for the kids. How do you feel about the snap music movement? I've never done no snap music, so I don't have nothing to do with it. I never looked into that so I wouldn't be able to comment on that. I've never studied that music so I wouldn't be able to comment on that. What's your next move? The next couple of weeks I'm going to be on the road trying to get on one of these promo tours. I'm going to show some love and get some back and do what I have to do in these streets. What do you want to say to everyone? Believe in whatever you want to do. If you believe it yourself, you'll get whatever you want out of life.

By Brian Kayser

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