is kinda scary. It really made me just want to get better and be a better father to my kids. Syrup was apparently a factor in Pimp C’s passing. Did that influence you to stop also? Not at all, honestly. I’ve always been a big defender of syrup. Even when [Pimp C] passed, when Screw passed, when Moe passed, I kinda made excuses. I said it was other things that killed them, just their whole lifestyle. That’s part of being a drug addict. You make excuses and try to validate what you’re doing. But at the same time, in the back of my mind I was always thinking, “What if I go to sleep right now and don’t wake up?” That’s a scary thought. I don’t think the syrup played a part [in their deaths] 100%, it was just an ingredient for it. But like I said, being a drug addict who’s addicted to syrup and pills, you try to make excuses to validate why you’re doing what you’re doing. At what point did you admit to yourself that you were addicted? When my kids would wake me up in the morning and I wouldn’t want to get out of bed. It was just the way they looked at me, and the way my wife would look at me. She was constantly trying to get me to stop. I wouldn’t have any energy at times. The syrup makes you real irritable. We would be fighting and arguing over little stuff; little things would piss me off. Did you just quit cold turkey? Nah. Over the years I would stop, then start back up again, then stop. It was something I always struggled with over the years. The last time when I stopped, I just decided that it was serious, and that in order for me to be here for my family and be here for my kids I really need to stop. I can’t be a good father to my kids and be addicted to a drug, regardless of what drug it is. Growing up, I went to all the drug programs for the families of drug addicts. So I was always aware of the problem. Since I was related to a drug addict, I found myself turning into what I’d hated all my life. That’s exactly what I was afraid of. Was your father addicted to heroin before you were born, or was it something that happened over time? Probably before I was born. He abandoned me, my sister, and my mom before I was even in kindergarten. Is he still alive? I have no idea. My mom remarried and my stepdad adopted me and my sister. He took us in and showed us what it was to be a man and how to take care of your family. My biological father is just a sperm donor, but my stepdad is my father. What sticks out in your mind most from the drug treatment programs you attended as a child? I just didn’t understand what was going on. You kinda blame yourself. I couldn’t understand why he loved [heroin] more than he loved me. Even after my mom remarried, I still [attended] those programs because I was dealing with that sense of abandonment. As I drug addict I can kind of understand it, but I can’t rationalize how I could love [a drug] more than I love my kids. I love my wife and kids more than anything in the world, but drugs are real powerful. They change the way you think. They change your mind and your whole thought process, so when you do things it’s not really you doing them it’s the drugs doing them. Thank God that I was able to have the support and able to overcome it. But a lot of people can’t overcome it. That’s deep. On another note, we ran a story in OZONE about your USO trip to Afghanistan to perform for the troops along with DJ Smallz. I shared my perspective on the trip, but what about you? What did you take away from the whole experience? I’m getting ready to go back [to the Middle East] with Big Boy from [Power 106’s] Big Boy’s neighborhood. After we came back from Afghanistan, I was just thinking how crazy it was that we were over there when all those people were dying. It was one of the deadliest months [during the Afghanistan war]. I think the craziest thing was just to think that some of the soldiers who died might have come to our concert and saw us perform. That kind of touches your heart to think, damn, I was probably the last concert they saw before they were killed. For a lot of artists, “Hey, do you want to go to the desert in a war zone in the middle of the summer to perform for free?” is not appealing. What was your motivation? I felt an obligation to do it. It’s my duty and responsibility. I’m not in the military but whether you support the war or not, it’s about supporting the troops. People always say it, but what are you actually doing to support the troops? They’ve always supported me. I’ve had family and friends in the military. Also, being from Texas, I wanted to show love back because I heard
a statistic that 80% of the troops that are in the Middle East either came from Texas or were stationed in Texas at one point. That’s a hell of a statistic and that’s a large chunk of the military population over there. They’ve always supported me and I just wanted to give back in some type of way. When did you decide to get serious about losing weight? Honestly, when we were in Afghanistan and [reps for VH1’s] Celebrity Fit Club were contacting you asking you to ask me about coming on the show. That was a hell of a wake-up call. [Being fat] isn’t a secret. You can look in the mirror and try to hide it and cover it up, and it may work here or there, but there ain’t no shirt or hat you can put on or haircut you can get to hide the fact that you’re morbidly obese. That’s what the doctor said: I was “morbidly obese.” I decided not to do [Celebrity Fit Club] but it was still a wake-up call to have people calling you saying, “Hey, you’re really, really fat.” What kind of weight-loss surgery did you get? The surgery I got is called gastric sleeve. There’s three kinds: gastric bypass, lap band, and the gastric sleeve. Gastric bypass is the one where you lose the most weight the quickest; it’s for people who are 400-500 pounds and have health problems that they need to fix right away. Since [the weight loss] happens so fast it leaves you with a lot of saggy skin. The lap band, which is very popular, is when they put a band around your stomach and it makes you feel like you’re full, so you don’t eat. But there’s ways to cheat with it, and with the lap band, you can always get it removed to go back to normal. [My weight] has been up and down my whole life, so I wanted to do something to permanently fix the problem. Since going back and forth on the drugs for years and taking diet pills, my metabolism was really gone. So I decided to go with the gastric sleeve, because it’s a little more serious than the lap band. They also cut out the hormones that make you hungry. So I actually don’t even get hungry anymore. The doctor talked me out of doing the lap band; he told me it’s the most popular, but it’s not as effective. With the lap band, you lose about 50% of your excess weight. I was 120 pounds overweight. I weighed 320 pounds, and I’m six feet tall. So with the lap band I still would’ve been morbidly obese. With the gastric sleeve, you typically lose 80% of your excess fat. I lost 100 pounds with it, so that’s putting me in a more healthy weight class. Having lost 100 pounds, do you see a noticeable difference in your life? Yeah, hands down. I feel like I got my life back. When you’re so big like that, it’s embarrassing. I didn’t want to go out and be seen. I felt uncomfortable because I’m not used to being that big. People would see me and say something about it, because it was no secret. I was morbidly obese, 120 pounds overweight. It was just embarrassing. I’d be on stage feeling like I was about to collapse. I’d get dizzy spells. I’d be on the airplane and have to ask for seatbelt extensions. Once you go up in the air, it’s really hard to breath. I was just thinking, “What if I have a heart attack?” I want to be here for my kids. I don’t want to have a heart attack. My son is four and my daughter is two and a half. The doctor told me that when you’re 50 pounds overweight, it takes 15 years off your life. So it literally saved my life. Have you been working out too? Nah. I’ve probably worked out twice since I had [the surgery] and that was just a light workout. It seems like your overall lifestyle has changed a whole lot since you first came out. Now that you’re a family man and no longer sipping syrup, has that affected the content of your music and the topics you rap about? I don’t think it’s affected it that much. I feel more motivated now. I guess that’s for the fans to decide, but I always try to keep the music relevant to who I am. But at the same time, it’s music, so I try to keep it entertaining. I try not to be a big farce. I don’t want to stray too far out of my lane because I make music specifically for my fans. Your album Heart of the Champion is out now. Is it still Swishahouse? Yeah, Swishahouse and Warner Bros. It came out July 13th, which is a good day for Houston – 7/13 – [Houston’s area code] 713. You were affiliated with Mike Jones through Swishahouse. Are y’all still on good terms? People are kind of wondering what happened to him. Me personally, I’d say he dug his own grave. He lied to a lot of people, he turned his back on a lot of people, and he burned a lot of bridges. I don’t want to kick a dog while he’s down and I don’t wanna just talk shit about him, but I think a lot of people were happy when [Trae] punched him and knocked him out. But at the same time, a lot of people were mad at Trae too. It’s not like Mike Jones is the gangsta of the year, so in my opinion, you don’t really get points for beating up Mike Jones. Some people say it was a publicity stunt on Trae’s part, but I disagree with that totally because I know Trae and he doesn’t really do publicity stunts like that. If Trae feels disrespected, he’s going to address it. I think that’s what happened. If OZONE MAG // 47