The Breakfast Club - G-Unit Interview

Episode Date: March 4, 2015

50 Cent, Lloyd Banks & Tony Yayo stopped through to chat about heir new EP, The Beast Is G-Unit. They discuss Lil Wayne's issues with Birdman, Suge Knight, Bobby Shmurda and much more. Learn more... about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:02:40 Come on, real people, real celebrities, real talk. Join the Breakfast Club.'s dj envy angela yee charlamagne to god we are the breakfast club got some special guests with us today it's the original unit brought some liquor with us this morning you're supposed to be doing that i thought you was one of the one of the diddy? I am no longer a C-Rock boy. Oh, okay. I'm no longer my FN Vodka. But, uh, 50 Cent, G-Units in the building. It's good, man. It's all good. What's the FN Vodka about, Fifth? It was organic.
Starting point is 00:03:16 Like, the collaboration with me and Beam worked together on that one. It's a good model. FN stands for smooth mm-hmm in Dutch you know I mean it existed it was already out in the market so it's like five variations of it and it's already there and then I just came in and you know put the um behind it gotcha you don't really drink you is that like
Starting point is 00:03:38 a healthy vodka I think everything's good motivation moderation okay okay you know what I'm saying and then occasionally I get to it like if we these guys drink drink hell yeah you know what I'm saying the black cherry is it for me man
Starting point is 00:03:52 and everybody around like even when when we was in on in the neighborhood it was more like I didn't choose to do everything
Starting point is 00:04:00 the same way at the same pace that I did I'm like lighter cause I know I got a real my personality is yeah in the same way at the same pace they did. I'm lighter. Because I know I got a real... You crazy when you don't drink. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:09 We were talking about 50 up and down. I was like, leave 50 alone. Who was it? Who was it? I forgot who was it, man. I don't know. A$AP Rocky. A$AP Rocky, right?
Starting point is 00:04:19 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, leave that man alone. I just ran into, what, Ferg? Yeah, A$AP Ferg at the Barclays. Yeah, he cool. He was at the basketball game. But with him, he didn't really know. You know what he's doing?
Starting point is 00:04:31 He did that to everybody. He sent everybody the same text. He was fishing. Yeah, he was fishing. You don't know what happened. He hit up, tatted up Holly. And I guess she was in her DMs like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, she sent it to me.
Starting point is 00:04:41 Oh, she sent it to you? Yeah. Damn. But she knows what the type of person you are. Like, she knows it's not going to just be smooth yeah well you know i i really don't care but you know i don't respond to anything connected to her like that you know we just don't have that kind of friendship where it would be like you reacting over something so on saying like if you got someone involved in nightlife that's where you go to meet people right yeah yeah you know what i'm saying? You hang out like that.
Starting point is 00:05:05 And then it's not, we don't have that kind of relationship anyway. So it don't matter. I told him, leave 50 alone. Anybody else you can mess with. I ain't see nothing wrong with. I'm like, if you invest that kind of time, money into a female, hey, you have the right to speak out and say, stay away. But you know, if you, I wouldn't say it.
Starting point is 00:05:24 Like, that's the woman's job true you know what i mean because i think the guy like if you're not right there like you can have all of that you have everything it's just your like for your wife who's the gatekeeper she got to know from your communications what's acceptable and what's not acceptable absolutely and move on that you know everything else is and that's that's like that's not acceptable. Absolutely. And move on that. You know what I mean? Everything else is. And that's not my girlfriend. So I was like, you don't even really. But there was another video where she was,
Starting point is 00:05:53 I guess, had a beef with another girl. They said that you drove her to the fight to shoot a film. No way, no way. There was a fight there, and they said 50 drove her to the fight for a film. I've been trying to figure out, like, 50 does not act like a millionaire. No way. No way, don't give me that.
Starting point is 00:06:07 I said, that sounds like a word. Let's go shoot the fair one. I ain't never going. Look, does this ever get boring for you guys? Like, the promo runs, the press runs. Nah, I love it, man. I love it. It's just a part of life now, man.
Starting point is 00:06:24 Unit's back. We here. Beast March 3rd.rd forget about that you're doing these eps fast why so fast usually it takes a year a year and a half but you guys are really into this music real quick what's crazy is is this was like the first week yeah this music is from the first week that we did when we did the summer jam show and all that. Following that, the week after we recorded this music. The first conversation we had, like May 15th, that whole theme, the whole Beauty and Beast that was spoke about in that first conversation. To see it play out now is kind of crazy.
Starting point is 00:06:57 And from a business perspective, why the six song EP's? Well, I mean, it doesn't do any damage to the overall brand based on numbers. Gotcha. You know what I mean? So it's better to just give them something to keep everyone active and new music coming out. And then it creates the content that allows us to continue to shoot the music videos so we can stay current virally.
Starting point is 00:07:17 Because a lot of times people, it's different. It's changing so dramatically. Like, the people are making different choices for entertainment. Like, they're getting streaming stuff. They're doing all kinds of stuff like watching cable how many channels in your cable so we ain't seeing everything they would traditionally we used to have to watch up to channel 11 you know what i'm saying and then then we're doing the cable started coming in now it's like a hundred channels 200 channels you can thousand channels and i don't even have
Starting point is 00:07:44 a schedule anymore like of what I'm watching. I just flip through until I see something I want to look at. You know, and just roll from there. You think numbers still matter? I don't. I think when I can't allow numbers to matter because of what my numbers were. You know what I mean? Like 13 million records, and then 10 million records,
Starting point is 00:08:02 they ain't going to have no artists go diamond again. Right. But that's got to be scary, though, because people now are not selling the amount of units and people seem like they're still looking at numbers like the fans don't care about an album no more they look like well what he did first week it's gotta be scary i think so well i mean i don't really that's how impressionable the music is like when i think and when you have momentum it's easy for you to sustain it by being active. You know what I mean? Like,
Starting point is 00:08:27 I just watch and see if you, if you can create something that's special, especially if you haven't had that momentum at that point, then it says
Starting point is 00:08:33 you're in pocket or you got your finger on the pulse of what's going on. But a lot of music that I'm watching now, I'm seeing it, it's backwards.
Starting point is 00:08:40 Right. Instead of it coming from radio and going into the nightclub, it's starting in the nightclub and coming out. So, like, Coco and and hot these records are all um they're great album cuts they're not single like it wasn't written with intention to go to the masses but it becomes that
Starting point is 00:08:57 cool thing that everybody's embracing so as long as you got stuff out there for people to you know to test and play with then you can have those records happen. You think release dates are played out? Yeah. Because an established artist, anyone who's actually sold records, like you see when you see Beyonce release a record in the middle of the night, even Drake's last record came out, and I think they called it a mixtape, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:21 Mixtape album, yeah. That was the, okay, in case it doesn't sell. It was just a mixtape. It was a mixtape because you can't really gauge what numbers it's mixtape, right? Yeah. Mixtape album, yeah. That was the, okay, in case it doesn't sell. Right. It's just a mixtape. It's a mixtape because you can't really gauge what numbers it's going to do and you got the kind of
Starting point is 00:09:29 momentum and exposure that you need to be current right now. So they're just going to put that there and see what happens. This is what Animal Ambition was. But me making it
Starting point is 00:09:39 like a mixtape is the difference. They said the Drake album was for him to get off Cash Money. I guess he's not getting treated right over there. I don't know why there's so much of a problem over there. I think every time
Starting point is 00:09:51 they ask me about MTV, about Baby and Wayne, I was like, no comment. And it's only because your relationship with your pops, he can forgive you he may not necessarily forgive me right
Starting point is 00:10:08 I get what you're saying you see what I'm saying and then it's their personal thing and I'm looking at when you just see they had that father son type of relationship
Starting point is 00:10:15 I think it's a tough thing for you to you know from the outside to say something but business wise when everybody on the company
Starting point is 00:10:22 say that they're not making money or they haven't received royalty checks there gotta be a problem banks and yeah y'all never had never heard y'all complain about money never never had a problem 50 is a little crazy nah you know what you know what it is with fifth like and with the whole unit situation is like even when i came home out of jail it was never like I went back to the hood and had a chance for somebody to smoke you in the hood. Because once you get a deal and you up there, you already know how it is.
Starting point is 00:10:53 The game changed. I moved straight to 25th Street, right down the block from Fashion Institute. And then from there, me and Banks had a condo in Battery Park. They say I got them kicked out, but it wasn't me. I believe it was Fifth. Coming to the studio, right in it was fifth it was nice we had to see the statue of liberty when we step out of condos it was like you know we was good i was good when i came home so i thought y'all was off there in connecticut in fifth house no and then they moved to their houses they had the condos in the city they know
Starting point is 00:11:20 banks didn't even like to be there in connecticut He didn't want to be there. I don't feel like I'm going to be nowhere. You can't just say it to me. In the beginning, he was like, he goes, yo, where you at? He left, he's leaving. I'm a huge Knicks fan, but I'd rather watch the Knicks game on my TV. That's the way I react when they,
Starting point is 00:11:38 you know what I mean? They're going to be like, Banks ain't the cool guy we thought he was. And you haven't been playing for a long time. Yes, that's why you ain't seen me there. You ain't been playing. As a mogul, though, how do you not pay your franchise artist, though?
Starting point is 00:11:49 Like, if you're Burtman, how you don't pay what? Well, I think he paid him. I still think that their relationship is different. Like, I think if you say, I think it can get blurry and you can feel like
Starting point is 00:12:01 this is our money. Because it's father and son and he, for a long time he he put into wayne like wayne's hit album was his sixth album right like he would already be out of the game like any place else without having the passion that your father has for his son no one would continue to pour money to you look even with mob deep they'll look at it and say our expectations are 500 000 pieces and then their budgeting goes to the expectations of 500 000 pieces not the as soon as we get something we're gonna go after it to the maximum ability because
Starting point is 00:12:40 they feel oh we hot we heating up they feeling you I mean? He said he did stick with it. I don't think it would have happened if he was with another company. Think they would have let him go by then? Yeah. How do you determine who gets what, though? Like, how do you say you gave Yale too much money or Banks too much money? How do you determine who gets what? Well, nah, but I did play this.
Starting point is 00:12:58 The reason why Interscope, they're not on Interscope, is their contracts were designed on the old music business. Making too much money. money yeah so it's like they would have to pay them 750 000 in advance for the next record right and they go what we can get the new kid right because we went through the transition of the 360 deal too like that that didn't happen after me yeah after after vitamin water the 360 deal came they said that wasn't gonna happen again you know like
Starting point is 00:13:26 and it was like when they implemented that thing in the deal I thought they would be expanding the building or trying to do what Warner was doing cause Warner was
Starting point is 00:13:33 paying for they were financing Chris doing brand assets right to try and facilitate the deal making process to make more money
Starting point is 00:13:43 right so it's like we're gonna do this 360 deal but we have this arm that's gonna go find facilitate the deal-making process. To make more money. Right. So it's like, we're going to do this 360 deal, but we have this arm that's going to go find you the deal. And they didn't even do that. They just said, if you get a deal, we get a piece. Do you still love the music, though? Because you make money from liquor, underwear. Selling drawers now.
Starting point is 00:13:58 Yeah. You know, headphones. Frego. There's so many different ways to make money. So why is the music? Because it has to be the least. Well, it may not be the biggest financial piece, but it's still a passion connected to it. It's the reason why everything else,
Starting point is 00:14:13 I'm able to do all those things. And it's, you know the feeling you got, that song that come on at one o'clock in the morning, and it's that song? Like, I feel like I'm always a record away because of how big my profile is worldwide. So you make a song
Starting point is 00:14:29 and it shifts back to, you're right back in the middle of everything that's at the top of music culture. Right. A lot of people have that hot song at the moment,
Starting point is 00:14:40 but they don't have that hot song for life. Like, B-Boom turned 21 yesterday and the first thing they throw on is in the club. Yeah. Those records are timeless. They're hot song for life. Like, B-Boom turned 21 yesterday, and the first thing they throw on is in the club. Those records are timeless. They're going to be there. It's just, it marks a whole period of our actual music.
Starting point is 00:14:52 It's like, and Wayne has it for that, the period that Dakota came. You know what I mean? And that Drake, that first album is his spot. You have artists come in, and they'll have that period where that's happening right in music culture you know i mean and we gotta always because it marks like it marks time like
Starting point is 00:15:11 you know a person pickets that's my that's our song like when they go out a couple that's their favorite joint and then what comes on it takes them right back to the things they were doing back then right you know and that's what i think. But people stereotype the unit a lot. I mean, because when we first heard 50 and first heard the unit, it was gun busting, shooting, punch you in the face, we mobbing out. But all of that was really happening from what we saw. It was. It was. And you already know the party's involved.
Starting point is 00:15:39 Right. You can't say. You cannot say. I didn't say no name. But now it's hard now because it's like you're not there anymore. Y'all don't have to run around queezing and punch people and fight people. Now it's more diverse. Even the second song off of the EP is I'm Grown.
Starting point is 00:15:55 Right. You know, and it's a different, like everybody, the audience got older with us. So the maturity has to be into the content of the material or they're going to look at it and go, what are you talking about? Like, you're watching in hip-hop, they're trending so hard. Like, the things that I fell in love with
Starting point is 00:16:13 have fell out of the culture. Like, it was important for you to have something that made the music you or made it special, unique from you. And now they're following each other. I hear New York artists say they're trapping out a band up. You know what I'm saying? And I'm like, what is it?
Starting point is 00:16:30 Hold up. Oh, okay, I got it. Took me a second. You know what I'm saying? And then I go, yeah, you got to. Even the Hot N' Rekord from Bobby and them, that sounds like drill music to me. That's cheap.
Starting point is 00:16:43 Free Bobby Schmurda. You know what I'm saying saying why they won't make bail yeah why they if she was signing would you have got him out already I'd have had to he would have been
Starting point is 00:16:51 out already I got guys that weren't artists that I bailed out me and all he would have been Bobby Schmurda would have been out
Starting point is 00:16:58 Trav my little my son like my baby Hove is my Trav's big brother is my baby. Every time he got in trouble in my house, it was like.
Starting point is 00:17:10 Yeah, his bill was like a million dollars. A million dollars. John Wayne. And they was hitting him like that. Two guns blazing. Because he was connected to me. Right. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:17:19 So I was like, when they did that, I was like, I'll get him. He don't look for trouble, but he's one of those people that finds trouble finds him in Connecticut like I'm like you gotta get in the car and drive and find trouble
Starting point is 00:17:29 sit your ass in the house you know what I'm saying like he just he different like he went through something when Trav was saying the things that he was saying you know what I'm saying
Starting point is 00:17:39 cause it was like what you doing like you just pushed us away from you trying to get a mixtape to work. You know what I mean? It's like, he came to see me talk about it, but Travis, like, I had nothing to do with that kid.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Like, he's a little guy trying to, well, he was actually trying to do what he seen me do at a different point. I kind of saw him saying the things. You gave him motorcycles, everybody in the projects, motorcycles. He was the first one I didn't even get one my son didn't get a motorbike you don't think
Starting point is 00:18:09 it's a little different with you though because you actually everybody knows you put in work in the streets and you had beef
Starting point is 00:18:14 with real street dudes but then they come in and they see it work on a rap formula and feel like I can do the rap formula but then it gets real for them in the streets
Starting point is 00:18:20 because of that right right and then it just you see the second all the way across the board. Like, you see it. You see them choose. They know this.
Starting point is 00:18:31 People got to understand Fifth. Fifth is from a different era, Charlamagne. He's from a crazy 90s era. The fabulous situation. Instead of the come to me. You see what I'm saying? And I don't know why they did that because that didn't make no sense at all to me. You see what I'm saying? And it's like, and I don't know why they did that because that didn't
Starting point is 00:18:45 make no sense at all to me. But I felt like it was trying to brush the dirt off them from what just happened by creating more conversation about something else that's going on.
Starting point is 00:18:55 But, you know, that was kind of a sucker move. But I think it's just confusion. Right. Now with the G-Unit and moving G-Unit around
Starting point is 00:19:03 because it gets costly and everything is more independent now. So how does that work now? Because before it's just confusion. Right. Now with the G-Unit and moving G-Unit around because it gets costly and everything is more independent now. So how does that work now? Because before it was the label. The label was taking everybody else. We all going together. But now it's like it's 50 and Caroline. So you got to pay for the movement of Banks, Kid Kid, Yeo, Buck.
Starting point is 00:19:21 And like, you know, the other day, you know, I know you don't smoke. I walked to the car the other day If I got pulled on it with the straight to jail Not you you different let me tell you something man 50 boo boo always been a dude on the block maybe like oh man here he come like that's just i'm used to it and i just always yeah but he's he's been in the streets with the best of them like it's real like it's not not boring you know i think like they said the same thing about joe about fat joe it's just prior to you know what i mean and it's i never picked my shots i just looked to see they was helping
Starting point is 00:20:16 his loyalty made him help with the honey guns honey clips and then I had to make sure that that didn't rekindle John. So I went after him and Jada. You know what I'm saying? But it wasn't personal. So he was able to resolve it as Chris passed. And then he's not. You got to watch the person that you have an altercation with. You got to see who they are.
Starting point is 00:20:41 You see me look closer into it. And then I knew that if we bumped heads for real, it would be something, like, we would go back and forth. It would be bad. And then I started looking through the crew a little bit and pictures. I'm looking in the background. I'm an investigator.
Starting point is 00:20:56 Let me see what shooters you got. I was watching, like, who that? But y'all cool with that, though? They said you was at the Babyface concert last week by yourself, chilling. I ran. I took my aunt. I took my auntface concert last week by yourself chilling. I took my aunt. I took my aunt. Yeah, I took my aunt.
Starting point is 00:21:08 Joe was there. Boy, he was clean as a motherfucker. He had diamonds all over. I was like, yeah, okay. I said, what is going on? Y'all must be making deals behind the scenes on us.
Starting point is 00:21:18 Let me see what's going on here because he had, he had, and it wasn't a shorty. I was, she was smoking. You know, I hope that was the right thing for me to say i think that was his wife i think that was his wife i think that was his wife so i mean he just he just looked good look like he's a good spirit you know everything's
Starting point is 00:21:37 cool like i um the babyface show i that was more fun than i expected it to be like i didn't realize how many records he wrote he got a lot of records yeah yeah yeah cause he went to that little portion of his show and it felt like 30 years of hits
Starting point is 00:21:51 wow that was nuts they said he was performing all night long hit after hit after hit and it was like it gets to a point like well you know how
Starting point is 00:21:59 like even now the music business is like that like they go who's hot okay let's get Hit Boy or get DJ Mustard or get you know what I mean like even now the music business is like that like they go who's who's hot okay let's uh get hit boy or get DJ Mustard or get you know I mean different joints like and I understand that but I haven't operated that way I've always made
Starting point is 00:22:16 records with guys that did you didn't know them from nowhere and I didn't know him I just they just had something that inspired me like it was the uh kid um rob reef did what up gangster yeah um i get money the kid apex yeah that was his first record a midi mafia 21 questions different right uh dangerous llc like these guys are uh guys i worked with that didn't have momentum right just had the record at the time so you know you got it kind of that's the only way you find something that I feel like is right it's new yeah why you never did a second time I don't know man it was just a lot going on I think it was politics with Interscope and it was just a lot going on at that time. But I got advanced for it. I got paid for it.
Starting point is 00:23:05 He said, I got paid for it. I was like, man, they advanced me. I couldn't even tell you. Contractually, they had to get that money. So, this is what I'm saying to you. So, they got paid out like that, and then it was time for them to spend more marketing dollars on it to go into the next cycle. And it's like do we
Starting point is 00:23:26 want to do that or do we want to change our model right with the climate of things is there any adjustments like I think any business you have to do that you have a lot of people around you yeah I mean like I said I'll be at a store and somebody like fifths on the line you know me a lot of friends around do you feel like you pay people necessarily almost like to be your friends? Because what work are they doing? Because it seems like everything is so structured now.
Starting point is 00:23:51 Yeah, you look, and if you say, 70% of the people who have a job were referred by a friend. What happens when you become the job? You start to give those people that you would be comfortable with as your friends the job or the position. Even if they're not as seasoned or prepared for it you'll bring them around early i like i've had
Starting point is 00:24:10 kids that like like little halim right bring them in and i go follow you what you want to do be tour manager okay look go follow the tour manager he's your assistant make him do everything so i think it always happens all the time like he's his assistant for him to go do everything and he didn't know he was his replacement my tour my tour manager came throughout the same process watching you know what i mean i got him for 12 13 years yeah they all came in and it was like the guy you go with him work with him and they'll go work as an assistant for the tour manager and And then when the other artists come, they can handle going to facilitate banks. My role manager, he's my DJ and my booking agent. I think it all happened too fast with G-Unit.
Starting point is 00:24:53 We went from 50 gram of a crib to all of this. It seemed like it was a slow process in a way, though. It felt like because they didn't see the Columbia process. I don't think a lot of people remember that. I remember being around. That's what I'm saying it felt like cause they didn't see the Columbia process I don't think a lot of people remember that I remember being around I had the power to dolly that's what I'm saying
Starting point is 00:25:07 a lot of people don't remember the Columbia process they just remember him getting shot and then coming back out with the music I was on the Cash Money tour right
Starting point is 00:25:14 before they opened the curtain right me and 50 in the front Cash Money, Rough Riders Swiss we and everybody TK Kirkland TK
Starting point is 00:25:23 comedian TK yeah TK was funny as a motherfucker. It was like that. Baby and them would come, helicopter. J.J. was smoking hot. Yeah, that was crazy. And it was like, we was going on before. Anybody like...
Starting point is 00:25:37 Yeah, we was opening it. People probably don't remember because they didn't get there yet. Right. They were still on their way in and stuff like that. But it was like, it was an experience. And it was able to put us in front of, in the sheds. I was always amazed how you took Buck, because Buck was on the fence of signing with either you or Juvenile.
Starting point is 00:25:52 It was right in the middle. And Juvenile, like you said, was on fire at that time. He had the South, and then he decided. I never understood how you did that. Was it a threat? Juvi had, look, I talked to Buck and didn't say anything to him about working with him
Starting point is 00:26:06 like I you know how you get around someone and you say yo he's dope like he has cool energy to him he's good
Starting point is 00:26:12 but you don't want to violate the person that they're connected to because they're there with someone right right right you know and I go
Starting point is 00:26:18 I didn't say anything but Juve had reached to Banks he liked Banks so he was talking like he was talking to him remember we came back and we had because look what i did was when i heard from somebody else that was around us one of the homies that was there he was like yo banks was said juvie was feeling him like that's
Starting point is 00:26:37 a word i said yeah i hadn't done anything yet with banks like we started the g-unit street tape momentum so i was like i had his contract his release done and i was telling him how you could go do what you want to do you'd look crazy on utp banks like that would even sound like you look crazy even disgusting just to keep it 100 because it was never a reality yeah Yeah, like I just said to him, I was like, yo, but because I heard it from someone else, it means that in my mind it meant there was some excitement to it. You know what I'm saying? And he was repeating it to one of them.
Starting point is 00:27:15 I said, you said that? I got the release done and said, huh, you could just sign that. I always wonder when did y'all realize y'all like really had something with G? You know what happened is, look is we went through a process I would say who are you as an artist what are you doing so we don't make the mistake of marketing you one way and then it doesn't allow you to do things that you want to do and
Starting point is 00:27:36 we he's a drug dealer yeah he wanted to write that content from 1-3-4 and this is why I thought some of the predicate felon and different things that he did
Starting point is 00:27:47 were the concepts for those records that happened. Like he'll do the, what are even the mixtape series is? Right. The El Chapo.
Starting point is 00:27:56 El Chapo. And then Banks, I would go, yo, you should write about girls. He go, what?
Starting point is 00:28:05 Like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,. He go, what? Like, it wasn't that cool. I think he was open off that one line. He said, the only way I get blue balls is if she wear blue lipstick. That wasn't that line. That was one of them jokes. Down there, broke a Manolo, get a photo. He's like, every time he says something that related to women, he would say a cooler line.
Starting point is 00:28:22 But see, that came, that guy came because smile was first. So girls coming up to you, I like the smile. And then they coming out, he got up, no, you don't love me. And Buck got, you know what I mean? I used to like porno stars. I liked it, but that porno star. It's when you rap, I'm telling you, he's still going to see it.
Starting point is 00:28:40 When you rap around the girls, when he start to do things that is in that lane, like even I Don't Deserve You, the different joints that he do, it be on point. They do. Even LL Cool J had Mama Said I'ma Knock You Out. You know what I'm saying? No, I'm not saying it. It was two sides.
Starting point is 00:28:57 I'm not saying not to write those other things. You don't want to be looked at and just see girls. Like, no offense. You know what I mean? What do you think Fabulous write about? Well, Fabulous write girls, but all his mixtapes is all street. see girls like no offense you know what i mean what do you think fabulous write about well fab was right girls but all his mixtapes is all street because he's aiming at the street but we know what he does like if you get ready to get you got a r b artist singing something that's hot you need fab
Starting point is 00:29:16 you want to sign that off to make it official put fab voice on it let me hear it and i'm excited about it it feels good to me right you know from just the way he came up that he's done that consistently in his career good so when i hear it i go yeah hit like the last one you know what i mean like when he did the waiting for the right moment to collaborate with artists for me is like i don't do the you see now it's kumbaya my lord like everybody everybody's doing something everybody's turning into one paternity. I coach. And then when you had me, I'll sit and wait until I feel like it's the right time for me to work with the artist. Like Soulja Boy, if you notice, when we did the record, it wasn't because I was so impressed with his lyrical performance.
Starting point is 00:30:00 I was impressed with the idea of a kid producing a record and having a hit that big at 16 years old I know it made Christmas it changed everything around but his house Everybody was in a different space because of the record and I'm like, yeah, so you produced it, too Okay, I got like that. And I didn't work with him until the influences kind of got him like and he He was having problems with the uh He was doing problems with the... He was doing the Gucci man. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:30:27 He had to throw a little cocaine, stuff like that around at the time when the super head thing was happening. And it was so much confusion for him that I'm like, I do it now. Then he later had... Kanye worked with him. Puff worked with him.
Starting point is 00:30:43 It changed how people felt about it. People see them, right. So it was good timing with that one. And I just was thinking to myself, when I went to Los Angeles, I was getting ready to work on an album. And as soon as I got there, I said, let me hear the new guy.
Starting point is 00:31:00 I did YG's first song, Toot It. I did Jeremiah's The Down On Me record The Down On Me drop The man's buzzing Out of those new artists That same night I recorded all those records
Starting point is 00:31:12 Put them out And it's like their first Real hit records Outside of Well Jeremiah had Birthday set Yeah he had birthday set Before that yeah
Starting point is 00:31:20 You still got a relationship With Dre? Nah like I don't call to talk to him For no reason Like I think that relationship Was. You still got a relationship with Dre? Nah, like, I don't call to talk to him for no reason. Like, I think that relationship was business. You know, like,
Starting point is 00:31:30 for a long time, I was a New York Knick player in the middle of the L.A. locker room. Like, yeah, I remember, Interscope was the West Coast
Starting point is 00:31:39 when it was East Coast, West Coast going on, and I never really saw them respond properly to games disrespect when it happened because they had some sort of allegiance to the West or something else. And I didn't understand it.
Starting point is 00:31:51 Like, I was like, you know I wrote the records. Almost violated parole for that fight. Then the things that you say are okay. They become parameters of how I function. So I look and I go, if it's okay for him to say the things that you say about me, as long as he can earn some money, then it's okay for you to say having to say the things you say about me as long as it can earn some money then it's okay for me to say whatever I can because I earn money with no problem for the company you know and it's like I've seen them say it like why we can't get
Starting point is 00:32:17 that again why we can't make like find the artist that can do that again it's a lot more than the studio performance the artist had to come out and find themselves in the comfort to be themselves in front of people so they can embrace them like my imperfections are visible at points i get i look in the tactics that i would use on on the corner we use here so it's if you use the mentality, then you take over. I just feel... It's just we work until we position ourselves to be strong enough to take over. And it's just what that process has taught us. Why do you say you almost violated parole?
Starting point is 00:32:54 Because we beat somebody up for Dr. Drake. I can say that. Oh, yeah. Yeah, nobody... It wasn't... No disrespect to L.A., but it was a whole bunch of New York dudes beating somebody up for Drake.
Starting point is 00:33:04 He's cool. I like his music and everything. It's just, you know, I just feel when you beat somebody up, I feel like they owe you a little bit. I'm gonna beat him too. Yeah, we beat him good. Overall, I think the disconnect between me and Jimmy created
Starting point is 00:33:19 the distance between me and Dre. That's his man-man. Yeah, because you gotta understand, like, when Suga was going to kill Dre, it was going to kill him because Tupac was making number one records and Dre wasn't producing none of them. And Pac is getting ready to be done. So you get him out, got a five-album deal, his first CD, All Eyes On Me, double CD,
Starting point is 00:33:42 come back, Machiavelli, Break Street Date, so he's back early with that one. That one's number one selling, and he got two others in the studio doing artwork. He done with that, moving to the Outlaws and doing everything else, and you're going, well, how do I keep him? Maybe I give him Dre's hat.
Starting point is 00:34:04 I don't know, Jimmy. Something might have to happen to Dre. You know, like, these are the thoughts and the things that have been said.
Starting point is 00:34:09 And Suge's still trying to kill him. You saw what happened a few weeks ago when he showed up to the movies and Suge still want blood.
Starting point is 00:34:15 I done seen anybody have the kind of fear that they had for like, for sure. Suge came around like, in the club.
Starting point is 00:34:21 Yeah, that's the first time I seen Mexicans with tattoos on their face. What happened? He came in a video in the club. Yeah, that's the first time I seen Mexicans with tattoos on their face. What happened? He came in a video shoot. He came in a video shoot.
Starting point is 00:34:28 13th Street. He was in the Mexicans with him. He came. They looked. They said, sugar outside. Man, everything dropped. Cameras, video people, makeup. Everybody.
Starting point is 00:34:40 That was crazy. Sugar's like a. What'd y'all do though? We came outside. Opened the box. Opened the gun. The'd y'all do, though? No, we came outside. Open the box. Open the gun. The gun right there in the box. It's a gun that come across the street.
Starting point is 00:34:49 We don't understand none of that shit. I don't know what they was running for. That's the first time I seen people with tattoos on their face. My first time in L.A. I'm like, what the hell? They know we didn't understand. What? Open the box.
Starting point is 00:35:05 What you gonna do? Open the box, get out of here, go. Eminem came outside too. You know, Em had a different thing going on. Him and Proof. Proof cussed him out a couple times. Like, shit. Yeah, yeah, recipes to Proof. He was a wild boy.
Starting point is 00:35:21 Yeah, he didn't care. You know, he'd do it. Yeah, because I think what happened was Shook tried to shake Proof's hand, and Proof was like, you said you'd kill Pop. Get out of my face. You'd kill Pop.
Starting point is 00:35:33 Word. Proof was crazy, man. Rest in peace to Proof. Did y'all ever, you met Shook before, right? Yeah, yeah. He never was, after that, I think after that, the thing went in the war show. I think the Vibe Awards, that's when it was shaky. that, I think after that, the thing with the war show.
Starting point is 00:35:46 I think the Vibe Awards, that's when it was shaky. That was shaky. Vibe Awards was shaky. In no fashion. And I always kind of ended up in situations with guys that had maybe 10 or 15 more years in the street than me. Like the henchmen and all that. That's their discomfort with, you know, how, look, them grandpa, OG, O-Goat,
Starting point is 00:36:11 we only celebrate black history on February, which you do last week, boy. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's all that other stuff. The young boys now, they different. They even more intense now. You know what I mean? So you look at it and you go, you got to know know how to play that you can't be out there just playing
Starting point is 00:36:29 with a right absolutely now what about what about your son you speak to your son to y'all squash that beef yet I see them a world star shooting hoops he good I like you know I hope you do well man you know I think um that they've, look, my son's mother has done a great job with persuading my son to believe. But being a privileged child, he still feels the pride. So that's like, say the new Jordans come out and the retro Jordans pop and you see one of them, they're about $250, right? Instead of, she'll go, you want to ask for the sneakers? You go, all right, I'll get them for you. But I just wish, man, your father, you're supposed to have them all.
Starting point is 00:37:19 So if you say that, you don't even feel the gratification of receiving what you wanted, even though you're getting what you asked for. You know, like, in support support i've paid over a million dollars for him since me and his mother haven't been friends i gave uh 25 000 a month for six months that was supposed to be a walking paper book because she thought she's gonna get fifty five thousand dollars a month she blew it so when they tell us $6,700 a month, it hits her in the head like somebody threw a rock. And that is an adjustment for her to make. And then that process, she goes on to go get 50 Cent's house, baby mother's house, instead of the place that she could have gotten that's really affordable in Atlanta.
Starting point is 00:38:00 And just the Kofa sack and the people that surround it make it a more expensive piece. Other than that, I don't have a reason. I use the same compass and logic that I would use in any other situation for that, and I watch, and when I see someone gravitate to someone that they feel like has a problem with me, it tells me that in your heart and in your mind, you've become my enemy. You don't look at your son as your enemy, though.
Starting point is 00:38:33 No, no, no. Just in general, you know how people find a common ground of disliking someone. Absolutely. Your enemy's enemies are your friends. Right. They'll come to you,
Starting point is 00:38:41 but when I'm watching it, that you be more comfortable around someone that you think is an enemy of mine than me then it says to me where you're at mentally
Starting point is 00:38:49 it says that 50-yard sound like you ordering a hit look at that when you say when you communicate like with bags in them Troy
Starting point is 00:39:02 your money bags when I was having issues with premium I'm comfortable communicating with them. Because they already had a problem. And Just was my man. He's the reason why I even kind of dealt with the rest of it. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:39:19 And they was tied into that. And I didn't understand it, but he was like, it wasn't for him. It was for supreme and then I got that perfectly clear because I was like oh yeah you should have got him right you know what I'm saying like do you ever let anything go because there was even a rumor that I mean I know it's not true but it was a rumor that you uh bought murder inc and you now own jar of publishing I was like I'm sure he would try that I'm sure he would try that yeah it's just not you know it's not worth much anymore like that. You saw that though?
Starting point is 00:39:48 It was online. Yeah, I saw that. I looked at it. It even made me look at, you know, like that, what it would cost. I ain't gonna lie. I looked at it and was like, yo, how much would it be? It would be cool to do that. Like just because you can't.
Starting point is 00:40:05 Right. Yeah, yeah. You know, just finish it off. You really got, in the laws it says when you destroy, destroy completely. Or you've offered someone more passion because you hurt them. Now, let's talk about power. Yeah. Now, power is done extremely well.
Starting point is 00:40:19 Yeah. Next season, you're taping it. It's about to air. Now, what do you think about Empire? Because at one time you thought Empire was kind of a stab, stealing what- Stealing your marketing ideas. What Power was doing.
Starting point is 00:40:28 Yeah, well, they did. They stole the art. They copied the art for the actual show. And then it was like, the show's so different. When I watch it, it feels like Glee. It feels like, because the choice to not allow the audience in the room, it drops out, so it feels like, because the choice to not allow the ambience of the room, it drops out so it feels like a play. Like when the music, when they start rapping and the music comes on,
Starting point is 00:40:51 it feels like you're watching a televised play. Right. Hip-hopper, almost. Yeah. So I watch it, and I had a lot of friends on the show. Like Terrence Howard, there you got Timbaland as the music supervisor. You got Brian Grazier is a producer to join even the director communicate with him a few times you know really do Naomi Naomi was running up on me how you said this about my show this and I said yeah but they don't say
Starting point is 00:41:18 it's your show yeah she kept jumping on me at the CAA when I went to the, I was in L.A. doing the. SNL? No, the Emmys. Oh, okay. The Emmys fight. I feel like you're trying to bait Taraji for a date, man. Oh, no, I just didn't want to fight. I just want to fight, girl.
Starting point is 00:41:36 I don't want to fight girls. I got to just look. I said, wait, wait. How do you deal with this one? When she gets out of everybody, she's the one that's saying something. And you go, wait, that's saying something and you go wait that's not the right thing to do anyway that argue it if she's not a music artist or someone that you would be competing with right to generate interest so it's like as soon as she says that i go uh let
Starting point is 00:41:54 me think about this because i just kind of find sometimes you know since that baby boy thing when i looked at the baby boy you know maybe i could be jody without that mama problem she tried out for get rich that's all yeah i think it was in the wookiee she did she did she she came in i think we read like very in the very beginning and then uh still tracy morgan too you know and it's a lot of it you'll see like because hollywood's like hurry up and wait you know process like hurry up you prepared now wait until the right opportunities come and it's cool
Starting point is 00:42:28 I got things lined up pretty good though the summer's gonna be hot I got the spy movie coming with Melissa McCarthy Jason Saylor Drew Law
Starting point is 00:42:35 and then I did that's in May and then June Power will be back and then July Southpaw me
Starting point is 00:42:44 Jake Gyllenhaal and and Forrest Whitaker. So they'll see me back twice on the big screen while I'm doing television. You still doing the boxing thing? Yeah. My fight, actually, I'm going to Houston right after this to do the press conference for Canelo versus James Kirkland. You got me with a pack, yeah. I got Champ.
Starting point is 00:43:09 Champ going to go in. He's going to smoke him. It's going to look like it was pumped up for no reason. You going to bet? Probably like 1.6. 1.6. Yikes. I don't know where the.6 comes from either. 1.6. Y' said y'all. Yikes. Now y'all don't know where the.6 comes from.
Starting point is 00:43:26 1.6. Now y'all back. Now I've been thinking this out myself. Oh, you said thinking this out. Oh, you budgeted it out. How much you go back? Yeah, like wait. Let me get a real bet.
Starting point is 00:43:35 Because I know. Look, he focused right now too. He can't lose this one. He don't have to confuse me. This the one you can't lose. Nah, he like. Nah, he going to win that. Got to come right.
Starting point is 00:43:45 And he, I mean, he been working. I ran into him at the. Barclays. Yeah, the Barclays. I popped out on Chris show. And I came as a surprise. And then they came backstage to talk. So we got to just kick it a little bit.
Starting point is 00:43:57 Oh, you spoke to him and all that? Yeah. Was that the first time y'all spoke from, since all that? It's been a while. Because it's hard for him to make. Look, he don't have to answer to nobody like you know you give me but that fight is probably gonna be like 80 or 100 million dollars for him i don't i don't have to talk to him this night it don't have to be anything that we speak
Starting point is 00:44:15 to each other about but it's when you there face to face you go wow man why you gotta say that you say something and go everywhere everywhere CNN man you're like yo stop this is not like yo call him take my number call him on the
Starting point is 00:44:32 FaceTime so he call me and get back to the hotel and stuff like that and it's not I can we I can get mad at
Starting point is 00:44:41 at him we can both get angrier when we're not speaking to each other at the situation. Because then it's the, like who you think you are and everything else that agitates you in connection to,
Starting point is 00:44:56 it's like your wife is, you're upset with your wife and then I'm irritating you. It's really coming from somewhere else. From there, but it's going towards you. But it's going towards that person. And it'll be like, when we're not communicating with each other, it gets crazy. It really wasn't about money.
Starting point is 00:45:11 I wouldn't say, oh, I'm going to go into boxing so I can make this money off of Floyd. You can't commit to being a financial supporter of a business and just decide not to, I could easily sue him for that money back. Got it back so quick, your head would have spun. You know what I'm saying? And said there was some damage publicly to me going into the category because of me marketing it.
Starting point is 00:45:40 And I need additional money for damages. But that's, like I said, he's my little brother. So I don't know, why are you going, I didn't see your little brother. So how do y'all line the music up in the midst of all of this? You got the EP coming out.
Starting point is 00:45:52 Yeah, right. What, Banks, you doing a solo? Yeah, well, actually, I got a solo record on The Beast, too, called Doping MLS. So they can check that out just to segue into my Next solo project And Buck put out a dope record
Starting point is 00:46:06 That we premiered Yeah with Troy I was surprised With Troy I was on the hook I didn't know if y'all had issues I didn't know what that was Nah You know
Starting point is 00:46:11 I looked at Troy In the very beginning I'm going I hear so much me In it That I'm not sure To like it But he giving it up though
Starting point is 00:46:20 No but I noticed And that later Look I'm telling you The process for me I'm just going You know how Remember I noticed. And that later, I'm telling you, the process for me, I'm just going, you know how, remember I said the things that I fell in love with have kind of faded?
Starting point is 00:46:30 Mm-hmm. Like, it was so important for you to have your own sound, your own thing initially that it goes, that kind of sounds like me. Oh, I remember I did this kind of melody on this song. This is why I'm feeling like this about this record. And then I go, oh, this is, but it's different pieces. It's not necessarily pieces that I put out for commercial purposes,
Starting point is 00:46:52 like on albums. It may be something that I did on a mixtape or something. But it influenced him. And then it turns into, when you see him be consistent, it's flattering. And you like it. You can appreciate it. You see what I'm saying? When you, you got so many guys that you'll help them in every way that you,
Starting point is 00:47:11 in process, and then they'll go, because you could have just made me a star. All you had to do was say, this was, this, and put me this, and spend the money. You know what I'm saying? So they're going, you go, i'm saying like so they're going you go i'm not sure i like that until i start to see things from they feel different than this him right and then you know now i'm cool i like it like i like the the all about the money like he had different joints to me that's a new version of i Get Money. You see what I'm saying? Like, and it's just, I watch content repeat itself.
Starting point is 00:47:45 Like, Candy Shop is like a lollipop. Like, Outkast is Ain't Nobody Dope As Me. I dress so fresh, so clean. It's I'm so fly, and I got money, and that's a good enough reason to buy the things I buy. Like, Banks' record. Like, a lot of these songs, I've heard the content work and then come around again. Right. In a new way, in a new song, and it feels good.
Starting point is 00:48:11 So I watch it and that's just what that is. I think it's time for new artists to come in. From New York, they're there, but they're not getting the shot. Right. I heard you like the Freddie Wild Kid. I do. I like that song. He had a sound that don't sound like nothing out of here.
Starting point is 00:48:29 I like his music the way I like the kid, the Thug. No laurels? Young Thug. Sometimes I didn't know what Young Thug was saying, but I like the way it sounds. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:48:44 And then being from New York and from Jersey, again, you're trapping out of Van Dog. I don't know about that part. You know what I'm saying? It makes me feel like that you're not actually, it's trending. You're saying the things that they say. So we're all making Southern-based records at that point. And it's like when you can't identify with, not even with who you are,
Starting point is 00:49:09 because you sound like the last record that came out, but the content and the words that you're saying sound like the guy that had a hit record, then it becomes one thing that we all do. You know? Why do you think New York executives never recognize the talent that's right here in New York? Because you got signed from outsiders. Nobody like they've been not got signed from outsiders why they never see what's right under their nose you know what happens that a lot of
Starting point is 00:49:32 times artists didn't have the things that coincided with who they say they were like like if you're writing street music street orientated music and you're not in the street, how do people have a connection to it or feel it like that? I heard that's one of the reasons you didn't want to sign Troy Aff. You said you asked about him, but nobody... Well, you know, it didn't have the same... But it's artist thing. It wasn't like what I was going through. My scenario is not something that happens over and over
Starting point is 00:50:05 because you're not going to make it. You're probably going to potentially get killed in the process. You know what I'm saying? And it's just being real about it. There's been guys that have been in the street putting in work 20 years before. These people came in my parents' age bracket. They went away, did 10 years, came back,
Starting point is 00:50:25 back in the club and everything else, and their experience. So it's like when you bump with them, you usually don't go right. Because they'll make the decision and they already know the consequences and they're going to really go for it. So you can't say these things that I was saying
Starting point is 00:50:42 on those records and not mean it. And then it was like, for them, their confirmation, them being comfortable to stand next to me in that period said who they were to everyone else publicly. But it was really my situation. You can't compare everybody's street situation to yours. Yours is a bit extreme. Yours is a bit extreme. Now back to the music.
Starting point is 00:51:04 How often are you guys going to drop? Because this is getting more and more frequent. Yeah. It's going to be a lot of music coming out. El Chapo coming, Cold Corner. I think KK got some New Orleans joint he's working on. I seen Buck out in North Carolina, CIAA. He was running around to the clubs.
Starting point is 00:51:20 Yeah, right, right, right. Buck was running around. You know, he get in the mix. He be working. He stay where you see him and feel like, know, he'd get in the mix. He'd be working. He'd stay where you would see him and feel like, oh, he there. They're a condition for something different. They don't really go to stuff for no reason. He don't got his all-star weekend fur, though.
Starting point is 00:51:36 Yeah, you know. That was that. It's the throwback, right? Everybody had the throwback. We appreciate you joining us. The album is out right now. Get the vodka. Get the underwear. Get the drawers. Get the headphones. Free go.
Starting point is 00:51:52 Power coming. This summer. Well, it's the Breakfast Club. It's the G-U-Net. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine.
Starting point is 00:52:04 I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets.
Starting point is 00:52:16 Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. have grace with yourself you're trying your best and you're gonna figure out the rhythm of this thing alicia keys like you've never heard her before listen to on purpose with jay shetty on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts hello my undeadly darlings it's theresa your resident ghost host and do I have a treat for you. Haunting is crawling out from the shadows, and it's going to be devilishly good. We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on.
Starting point is 00:53:55 So join me, won't you? Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017, was assassinated. Crooks everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 00:54:33 or wherever you get your podcasts.

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