He was the Bos5 of the South before the Neptunes signed him to their label Star Trak. Now
he could very well be the next (ing of the Radio, As of now, his solo debut is scheduled to drop in February but since he heard from 50 Cent that he's dropping that month, Stim might push his release back a lil'. He's in no rush.
Sitting in lnterscope's New York City offices, Slim Thug lays out the blueprint for his success, and explains why he's so confident he's got that fire. How did you get started rapping? ln high schoot ltook rapping as something fun to do. They had these tittte parties they used to throw in Houston every Friday. Atl the tocat high schoots used to go. lt was catted The Att Star. That was the spot, the club.
When did you actually start taking
it
seri-
ousty? I went in The Att Star and did a few freestytes and the DJ was a hot DJ in Houston named Michaet Watts. He worked for the radio station 97 The Box. He asked me to come get on one of his mjxtapes. And when I got on the mixtape, it
just took off. lt's the
sLowed down music,
the
Screw music. lt's hard for a tot of other peopte to understand it but down in Texas jt's big. I got on wjth lMichaet Watts] and the buzz just went
from there.
You were successful sellinq records independently before you even got signed to lnterscope. Yeah, in Texas, it's reat bjg for jndependent Labeis. We had the distributjon company Southwest Wholesate and they backed a Lot of independent labeLs. I put my thing down and be' came successfuL at it. lt's a Lot of footwork. You got to make atl the moves yourseLf. You're in controt of your destiny as far as promoting. You got to do a Lot of that with your own money. But if you get a good littte vibe going, you can make a tot of money. You can setL 100,000 records and see atl 58 of your whoLesate money. That was a big part of it for me. That's why I loved it. You seem
to have a lot of drive. Where
does
that come from? From me not wanting to be working in McDonatd's. Me Looking how ltook, atL tattooed up
with a grilt, jt's going be hard to ask for
an wanted a job where I couLd be
office job. I just myself. Now that I found that way I feet tike I need to take advantage of that opportunjty to the fultest and get what I can get out of the game. At the same time, took out for my tittte boy and make sure he's straight later on down the tine. That's what it's about, dojng what I Love to do and getting paid for it. Do you do a lot of shows? A lot of shows. That's how I been tivjng. Off of shows. That was my main way of eating when
I was dolng mixtapes. I was doing shows on other peopLe's beats. I did a tot of shows around Texas, Louisiana, San Diego, Pensacota. lguess what made it travel and what took it to other pLaces were the mititary bases, army bases. That's what I noticed, a lot of ptaces where there are units, we setl a lot of records around there.
doors for us in Houston. He was the first dude to do it reaLty in the south. Of course, I took up to him, the Geto Boys, Scarface. They're some major peopte jn my [ife. I love Devin the Dude. He's on some shit no one etse is on. He's crazy. I love his music.
What do you talk about in your songs? I think it's some shit that happens everywhere around the world. I thjnk peopte in NY can feet what l'm saying. I just keep it ptain, simple and reat. I'm a lajd-back rapper. I tatk about the hustte, the streets, stories of my tjfe. I got some club shit. ltry to hit it jn every area.
The South is hot right now. Do you feel like this is a good time to come out? Yeah, the South is popping right now 8ut we're on something different. I'm definitety happy that across the country is opening their eyes to the South and startinq to respect our artists. 5o yes, it's a good tjme. But I'm going to show another part of the South. We stitt iike that New Coast. lt's time for people to see a lot more of Houston. lt's bigger than LiL' Ftip, what he taLking about. Because he's one side of it. I want to give peopLe my perspective of the city. Spedking of Lil'Flip, do you feel like there's any competition coming from other Southern rappers? For me, it never reaLty been tike that. l'm not taking it that serjous. People caLt me the Boss
down South. So that's why I catt mysetf that. That's what I ran with. T.l. my nigga. We ctose. Last night 'tiL4 in the morning in the strip ctub type shit. We kick it heavy. I see FLip every once in a whr'te. He moves around a lot. I respect a(t these dudes in the game and what they're doinq.
Do you think the T.l.
vs. Flip beef will get
serious?
t realtv know what lhey got going on. I don't thjnk they ought to take it that far. I dol
Being
from Houston, did Rap-A-Lot and
J. Prince influence you? J Prince is definitety a mentor because he's the one who reatty opened the
I
don't think it's that serjous. I think they shoutd do they thing. I doubt if it get to the streets. I hope it don't get there.
How did you get signed to Star Trak? It was me and Pharrett. He was on tour and when he came to Houston, I met up with hr'm. We kicked it. I seen him in Puerto Rico, we kicked it. I did a record with Fam-Lay and he tiked it. When I signed with Geffen / lnterscope, I didn't know Star Trak was over there. Jjmmy lovine found out that
me and Pharrelt knew each other and he linked us together. He tjkes putting someone with a buzz with a super producer. When something is a tittLe hot, he wants to make it real hot. We made a coupte records together and it was atl good so we just kept going. I'm happy over there. Pharretl and Chad are fuckjng genjuses happy working wjth them.
at what they do. I'm
How many tracks did they produce on your album?
They djd nine tracks. I got two from Jazze Pha. One from Scarface. Mr Lee did the rest. He did
most of my independent work. I got Scarface featured, T.1., Bun B and Snoop. And PharrelL and Jazze Pha doing hooks on some shit.
You've got your own click, Boss Hogg Outlawz. Yeah, I got one artist who is tined up right after me, Kjtter CaLione. He's atso stgned with Geffen/ lnterscope. l've atso got the Boyz ln Btue, a group with me, Catione, sjr Daty, PJ, Lit Mitt. l'm going to put them on after. l'm going to try to keep it moving. At the same tjme, I can stitt do a lot of independent stuff. I can put Boyz ln Btue out and also put out my chopped and screwed version of the atbumWhat else have you got going on business-wise? I got a reat estate thing. Iwo CD and tape stores. l'm trying to do thjs strip ctub. lgot a car tot I'm fucking with. I'm an att-around hustler. lt ain't just about music. This is my majn hustte because it's brjnging the most money, so I'm going to give it the most attention. But I'm going to stay doing other shit. Wherever I see money can be made, l'm going to take advantage of it. That's just me. - Jessica Koslow, lovehiphop@aol.com
(Photo: Julia Beverly)
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