Tity Boi: We’re trying to get to the other side of Old National [Road]. It’s segregated. We’re learning as we get older. When we were coming up, we stayed in some apartments called Perimeter Creek. We’d always go to PC to play ball, get a sack to smoke, everything happened in PC. Is that where you got the name Playaz Circle? Tity Boi: That’s where the initials first started from. We’ve been going by Playaz Circle for years. Dolla Boy: We had a really thick clique, a lot of emcees, and Playaz Circle was gonna be the label. You know, shit started happening. Niggas started going this way and that way. Me and Tit stayed true to the Playaz Circle shit. And we got an opportunity through the record deal with DTP, so we were like, we’ll continue to put Playaz Circle on the map. How did you come up with the name? Tity Boi: Playaz Circle was an acronym. Preparing Legal Assets for Years from A to Z. We all did the hustle thing. The normal youth mistake but our whole goal was to prepare our assets, make them legal. Clean up our money some kind of way. Playaz Circle was gonna be more than just music, it was gonna be everything. Whatever we used our money for, preparing our legal assets. And the circle just symbolizes 360. Dolla Boy: We wanted to cover the game all around. Tity Boy: And you know, the Duffle Bag Boys have been our street side, our gutter side, our independent side. With Playaz Circle being backed by a major label, Duffle Bag does everything on [our] own. Dolla and myself, that’s our label. We got a whole movement. We got a group, we got a click, everything that the people can imagine. So “Duffle Bag Boy” ain’t just a new hot word, it’s a clique, we live this. We’ve been doing Duffle Bag. We’ve been carrying ourselves like that. We been thought it was cool. A street nigga, if he got a duffle bag full of money, that’s like a hustler’s trophy, you’re successful. You look at women with their purses and you look at niggas with their wallets. If you can imagine putting money in that, then you can put money in a duffle bag, then you’re a “Duffle Bag Boy.” At what point did you all go from a clique to being a rap group? Dolla Boy: Our first shit together was ’98. We came with United We Stand, United We Fall. That was the first release from Playaz Circle. Tity Boy: The feedback that we got was so tremendous. Niggas was fucking wit’ it. That’s how I meet Luda. Lil’ Fate, he was fucking with us, he was like, “Luda likes ya’ll shit.” That’s how we first started getting wit’ Luda for that first [DTP] compilation. I was doing the rapping thing, and Dolla got into a little trouble. Dolla Boy: Yeah, I went to the chain gang for a little bit. I’m seeing this nigga on TV with Luda and all them. So I’m like, This shit’s gon’ work when I get out. I got on my writing game and when I came out, the situation opened with DTP. Tity Boy: I was already with them. I was doing solo acts. My first budget was a solo budget. I was supposed to be working on solo project. I’d go in the studio, I’d do one solo song and I’d do one with Dolla. [DTP] started getting invoices like, “Dolla! You’re trying to be slick. You’re trying to do two albums at once.” But ‘Cris got ears; the rest of them were really thinking corporate. He was like, “Ya’ll sound good together.” At this time [DTP] didn’t have a Field Mob, they didn’t have a group. So I was thinking we could be the first group off the label. Playaz Circle was on DTP before Field Mob was signed to the label. How did you feel about Field Mob coming on and putting out an album before you did? Tity Boi: God does everything for a reason but you couldn’t tell me that back then. I felt like we’d been waiting long enough. Of course they looked at it differently, like a business. They looked at it like, Field Mob’s been out already, and they’ve got fans. Dolla Boy: It wasn’t really no crazy shit because Field Mob, they’re some cool niggas. They had to get their record hot and we had to get our record hot. They had a record wit’ Luda. We were a new act, out there on our own. They were the ones that popped but we ain’t trippin’ off that situation. You’ve been signed to DTP for a while now, so what’s been the hold up on your project? Tity Boi: We’ve been around but we haven’t been around. We’ve been staying consistent in the studio. We’ve been trying to cook up something that we thought people can relate to. Our album has been done. Everybody was looking for that one song that everybody [liked]. We had songs that nine people like and one person didn’t. Now we got ten people that all like the same song, [“Duffle Bag Boy”].
Tity Boi: I gave [Wayne] the track, he did the hook and I guess the rest is the reason why we’re right here with you. The hook was so good, all we had to do was rap our ass off. You had a song with Ludacris last year, “U Can’t Believe It,” that received a lot of radio play. Why do you think that track didn’t break for you like “Duffle Bag Boy?” Dolla Boy: With us being a new act, it’s extra hard to break a record. Tity Boi: Everybody thought it was a hit but people weren’t familiar with us. I think [Universal] was trying to see what DTP was gonna do. I think DTP was like, What ya’ll gonna do. I think me and Dolla just got caught up in the middle by it being our first go around, inexperienced, we were just eager to be grindin’. Dolla Boy: We realized our mistakes. We parted ways with Universal, and right now we’re with Def Jam. I think it’ll be a better situation cause that’s where DTP has their label deal at. What’s the situation now over at DTP? It’s seems like a lot is going on. Chingy came back. Shawnna left. Rumors say Field Mob is breaking up. Tity Boi: Good thing we don’t worry them or ask them for nothing cause I can see how they could get stressed out with all those artists. They pick up our calls. We can call them right now and they know we ain’t about to ask them for a damn thing. Dolla Boy: We’re one big family. We’re all just trying to win. Do you think the industry is more suited for your style of music now compared to earlier in your careers? Tity Boi: Times and everything turn. Back when me and Dolla were doing what we were doing, we were talking street shit and trap shit. They weren’t putting that type of stuff out. Dolla Boy: Now, you can’t turn on the radio without a nigga talking about selling dope and he a trapper. We’ve been doing that shit since it wasn’t cool. Tity Boy: We could put out old songs. Our first song ever on the DTP compilation was a straight D-boy track and it stood out on there. Dolla Boy: The streets know, you ain’t really gotta worry about us changing who we are, trying to adapt to the industry. Cause we think that industry shit is really just some bitch shit. We understand you need radio, but radio plays stuff washed down. That ain’t what you get when you mess with us. I think the industry knows we’re coming. And you can even hear it through their music. You know, the slang and styles you make up, then they start using it. Tity Boi: Aw, man, slang? This is the slang capital right here, jack. I don’t know who’s coming over here and taking it other places, jack. This is where the slang starts and I’m flattered. People that say they started something, nine times outta ten, they didn’t start it. They got it from [someone] else but they’re in the eyes of what people can see. You wanna make up a word right now for them? Dolla Boy: Situated. Tity Boi: Situated is our new word. I’m trying to get situated, jack. I have a little situation going on. I got a little situation to get at. I left the club last night with a situation. Dolla Boy: Did you get situated. Tity Boi: I got situated! [Both laugh] Dolla Boy: Tell them they can have that. Can you explain the differences in Playaz Circle and Duffle Bag Boys and your music? Tity Boi: We tried to distinguish the difference one day. Playaz Circle is more coveted. It’s like players, that’s how we first started. So a lot of the music has that feel to it. You might lay back, hear some guitars, smoke a blunt to it, you can feel it. Then you got some other songs on [our album] that are on the Dboy side. It might have a little more 808 to it. It might get you a ticket. Dolla Boy: When it comes to Duffle Bag Boys, we’re straight getting to the money and doing something right with it. We’re trying to show that you can go get it. We ain’t saying you gotta go sell dope. Tity Boi: There’s so many ways out there to get money. It’s about getting off your ass. You gotta go get your money. People think that when the trees start shedding, these damn leaves are gonna be money and fall right here. You better go get that check! Dolla Boy: And that’s basically what Duffle Bag is versus Playaz Circle. Playaz Circle’s laid back, trying to cool, mack a broad, chillin’ wit’ your partners. Duffle Bag Boys, we’re showing you how to get to the money to get your situation situated, you feel me. [Both laugh] Situate that, jack! //
Whose idea was it to put Lil’ Wayne on the “Duffle Bag Boy” hook? Dolla Boy: The track was so hot, we were just sitting there listening to it like, What we gonna do with it? Tit was like, “I’mma send this to Wayne. I’ma let him come up with a hook and we’re just gonna rap.” OZONE MAG // 41