The Breakfast Club - G-Unit Interview
Episode Date: March 4, 201550 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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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.
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
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
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
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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,
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,
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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,
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?
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
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
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.
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
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
paying for
they were financing
Chris
doing brand assets
right
to try and facilitate
the deal making process
to make more money
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.
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,
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
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,
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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?
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
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
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.
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
it's a little different
with you though
because you
actually
everybody knows
you put in work
in the streets
and you had beef
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
before they opened the curtain
right me and 50
in the front
Cash Money, Rough Riders
Swiss
we and everybody
TK Kirkland
TK
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...
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
were the concepts
for those records
that happened.
Like he'll do the,
what are even
the mixtape series is?
Right.
The El Chapo.
El Chapo.
And then
Banks,
I would go,
yo,
you should write about girls.
He go,
what?
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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
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,
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
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.
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
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?
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.
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
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,
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.
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.
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.
I done seen anybody
have the kind of fear
that they had
for like,
for sure.
Suge came around
like,
in the club.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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.
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
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
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
and then I did
that's in May
and then
June
Power will be back
and then July
Southpaw
me
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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,
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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?
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,
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,
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.
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.
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.
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?
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,
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
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
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,
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
or wherever you get your podcasts.