Family Business How did the ABN project come to pass? Trae: We just said we was gonna jump out there and do it, and we did it. We jumped out there for a few weeks and did what we did. Of course production on the album has changed, it wasn’t the same production we had when we finished, but we jumped out there and did it. One thing people gotta understand is we realized what they already know and that’s we are powerful by ourselves, but together, we a force to be reckoned with, we them muthafuckas man. “Who’s The Boss” wasn’t supposed to be a single, we just leaked it so people can know we working on an album. The streets picked that up on their own. Z-Ro: When I got out of jail this last time, I was in the studio everyday at the crib. One day my phone rang and it was Trae, he wanted me to meet him at Chili’s or Applebees, and we talked about what drove us apart and after that we called J Prince and I said “I’m fucking with Trae right now, what you got for us?” I came home on July 9th 2007, and about a week later, J asked how I felt about doing a ABN album. At first I said fuck that shit. Then a couple months later we had that chit chat and we was in the studio every night after that. Fourteen days went by and the muthafucka was finished, ABN been finished for along ass time, we was just waiting from some other things to go down. I just left the label to get my copy and they said it was the last one. Trae: It took us no time. I told you earlier, this is what we do. We don’t go in specifically to make a radio or club hit, our music is a form of us expressing ourselves, definitely for me, this I how I vent. It was nothing to put an album out, it’s gotta be another 1,000 songs muthafuckas ain’t heard from a nigga. I know I got shit sitting up in my hard drive just like I know he got shit sitting in his hard drive; this is what I do. I might be pissed one day and crank out 4 songs, might be happy and knock out 6, might be straight and knock out a couple mixtape tracks. What direction did you set out for in recording it? Z-Ro: The direction we took on this album is similar to a Z-Ro solo album. We’re talking about everything Z-Ro or Trae would talk about on their solo shit. We got some tight ass production on the album. We got remakes of Pac shit like “Picture Me Rollin’.” We on the same page throughout the record. Talking about snitches, crooked cops, we got songs about these busted ass bitches as always. Nothing different, just group effort this time. What was it like working together as opposed to alone? Z-Ro: To tell the truth, it was really the same. Trae would bring beats to my house and nine times out of ten one of us would have a show that night, so he’d give me the beats and just be like “come up with some hooks, put in on the beat and I’ll come back and take it to my house.” I did all my verses at my house, and he did most of his verses at his house, so really, it was like doing a solo. Did you run into any challenges being in a group with someone you don’t talk to? Trae: Since we finished, we ain’t talked at all. We did a show in the process of working on the album. I don’t see us running into no problem with these rap cats though. Our only competition in this rap is me and him. We’ll never have a problem with no rap cat or no one in these streets. At the end of the day, even though we ain’t dealt with each other, if I reach out to him he’ll respond back to me and vice versa. Do you think things would be harder if you were always in each other’s face? Trae: The way things are right now, it always makes it better, it puts us on our game and up to par. If we were to run into problems together, we might be able to beat that situation since we know how to handle it alone. How crazy is it that with the status of your relationship, the album is titled It Is What It Is? Z-Ro: Yeah, it’s just an album. It was some family shit. We’re riding for each other on the album, but it ain’t like that on the streets right now. If I was to see him on the side of the road, I would help him, and I hope he would do the same for me. We are family, we ate dog food together before. We been down and out together. I’ll kill for him, I’m not sure if he feels the same, but I ain’t tripping. Trae: He launching his label, I’m pushing mine and doing things other than music like this prison tour and making movies. When the time comes to come to the table we’ll do that. If it don’t come, shit we still cousins and it is what it is, it ain’t no other way to say it, it is what it is. People don’t understand, that title means so muthafucking much in different ways. Even political white people say, “It is what it is.” That term can carry itself for a long time, man.
Strictly Business Trae You’re no longer signed to Rap-A-Lot, but you still have an album coming out with them, right? The RAL album is called The Beginning. I’ve been off RAL since February, but they still had some music from me, so the homie J [Prince] felt that’s something the fans might need. People got to understand that even though I’m not over there, me and that nigga are close beyond the music. I get near him and we don’t even talk about music, we get to laughing about shit and these other niggas. But that album may come out the month that this issue is coming out. It’s gonna be 12 songs, strictly me, I don’t think I had any features on there, I might have had an older song with Khujo Goodie. I’m getting them warmed up for my new album The Truth. I got bunch of labels shooting at me right now, so whichever one I decide to get with, Def Jam, Universal, Interscope, J, I haven’t really thought on it yet. I’m just trying to warm up my buzz. You’ve worked with a lot of people since you entered the game. Even more over the last few months, we’re even seeing you do songs with DJ Khaled. That’s different from the Asshole By Nature attitude we see you exude. I work with a lot of people. That’s why I’m respected; there’s nobody that doesn’t fuck with me. But being an asshole, I still got that in me. Any real nigga stays humble to themselves, so they not really gonna chastise you or check you or go off on you if you ain’t did nothing wrong. But a lot of cats I come across, the relationship we got is alright. I can call them 4 or 5 in the morning and need something done and they do it, just like I’ll jump out there for them. With that said, I’m able to venture out and deal with a lot of cats. One thing everyone understand about me is if you fuck him over or do him wrong, he’s coming. I can mess with a million R&B, pop dudes, it don’t matter, I’m still the same Trae, as long as you respect me, I’ll respect you. But the time you disrespect, I’ma show you what not to disrespect. Sometimes people confuse respect with fear. That something you ain’t gotta tell me, I already know. Sometimes I see how cats wanna go through Houston and they jump to get with Trae, because when you come to Houston ain’t no nigga in the streets more than me. I’m able to go to any hood, I’m able to go squash beefs. A lot of people saw that first hand and probably dealt with me out of fear, but after being around me and understanding that yeah this nigga can be a threat but he is cool as hell. A lot of my relationships are built off that. To those who I only feel did it for protection, they was cut off. Earlier you mentioned the possibility of signing with a major. In this climate it seems like independent is the way to go. What would you stand to benefit in going to a major? What’s crazy is, what people don’t understand is I was still independent when I was on RAL. I’m one of the only indie artists with major recognition. I wasn’t on a major, I was on RAL, we were an indie entity. I had distribution through Asylum, but as far as seeing their brand all across my stuff where they was pushing it to BET and radio, that was moreso RAL. I was indie all the way, I just fuck with so many people my rep carried itself. Only benefit is to go over there, work and go back out on your own. Thing about me, once I have a fan I have a fan, they don’t leave. So if I gain a million fans, I do what needs to be done. We do music daily, bro. It ain’t shit for us to make an album. I do what I gotta do, when my contract up, I’m back indie and eating. I’ve been indie my whole life, I’ve scanned over 300k independently on my own. My RAL releases jump out doing 70-80k, 50k or whatever it is, but that’s by word of mouth because a lot of people still don’t know the album out. You got cats who got all the radio and TV and moving less units than me. What’s stopping rappers from saying fuck the majors altogether? If you ain’t start off in the indie shit, it’s gonna be hard for you. If you start off in the bottom, when you jump out here with what we’re doing indie or in these streets, you can’t depend on nobody to come hold your hand or walk you through it. So cats ain’t got that heart or hustle to be out here link that. That’s not to discredit anyone on a major; some people were blessed to get on a major and the shit worked. Some cats on a major and still work their ass off. Wayne is on a major but that nigga works just like I work on an independent. I believe last year me and him probably had more music out than any cat on earth, he made me feel lazy because he knocking out 2-3 songs a day and I’m knocking out maybe one. They gotta have that heart and that hustle, that’s what we both got. So when I get to a major imagine how much more deadlier I’m gonna be to a lot of the industry bro. My work habits is crazy right now. You can call J Prince, Wendy Day, Tony Neal, or TJ Chapman; they gonna tell you that Trae is a monster when it comes to his work, he on it. //
OZONE MAG // 83