How did your relationship with Warner start? They seem to love you over there. It started with Tom Wally and Naim [Ali]. They came with a label deal first. I figured if I shaped my foundation first, that I could get more money and more opportunities without someone looking over my shoulder. So Tom went on ahead and made me a consultant over there. Anything urban had to go through me. Tom was the first person to put me in an executive position. Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles got a program over there where they are building CEOs. Me and Jim Jones are the first ones. Lyor, Kevin, Puff and Harve Pierre are really showing me the game and they ain’t playing with my money neither. Obviously, they see you know what you doing; you could do this job by yourself instead of working for them. Going into a situation like that, do you have to humble yourself? When you deal with anybody in business you have to humble yourself if you want to grow. You never know out of the people you come across, if that man is gonna be your boss one day. I’m very humble anyway. I’m Muslim so I gotta practice being humble to get my blessings. Being Muslim, does working in this industry put you in a lot compromising situations when it comes to your faith? I’ve been really blessed not to have to be in the middle of my faith and my dreams. I been blessed to not have to chose between them. Life is about picking which way to go. I don’t drink or smoke or go clubbing. The only thing I do bad is tote pistols, but I have no habits that cost me money. I ain’t never been in a situation where if I chose to do something that it fucks with my faith. What’s up with the Jody Breeze album? People have been waiting on it for a couple of years now. Here’s some history. When I came in the game, I was hanging around 2Pac and the Outlawz, then Tony Draper made me president of Suave House. When I came back to Atlanta I took Jazze Pha to Noonie, I didn’t know about managing producers, then Noonie asked me to co-manage. Noon handled record executives, I handled street niggas. So we made a label, Sho’Nuff. The first artist was Ciara, so I handled Ciara’s shit, and Jody was our first rap artist. Pac’s mom introduced me to Tom Walley. We had a sitdown and Tom signed Jody off the strength. Sho’Nuff was owned by me, Noon, and Jazze. I started doing BNDH, but I wanted to bring back Block Entertainment which I started with Big Gee. Block Entertainment was supposed to be like No Limit and Sho’Nuff was gonna be the big label. BNDH got so big that Puff wanted to sign them but the paperwork at Sho’Nuff had some problems. So I was like, these niggas are my family, so before I raise my voice at one of these niggas I’ll do my own shit. Jody got caught up in that. If you remember, he was in the front of the videos and all that. He was gonna be after Jeezy. So we getting it together, but it ain’t no problems or bullshit on the business. It’s just that whenever you’re in business with anyone, get the paperwork straight. But Day In the Life is coming soon.
too good with the underground and shouldn’t go with a mainstream artist. But Joc made me a lot of money so I appreciate it. And folks fail to realize that even though Joc is a crossover, he’s hood. He’s just more player about his shit. Did you have worries or concerns going for a mainstream audience? Not really. I knew it was part of the plan. I understood the underground and I knew fucking with Puff would get me to the money. Dealing with the industry, you have to crossover to get paid. The white boys are looking to see who they gonna put their money on. Niggas like Russell Simmons, Pharrell, and Jermaine Dupri know how to work their polished products. Puff knows that Bad Boy as a label been breaking even, but Sean John is making him the money. But he gotta have Bad Boy to keep all that shit going.
With Boyz N Da Hood already being recognized, why did you choose to add Gorilla Zoe to the group? First off, let me get this thing straight about people saying Jeezy left the group. When I did this BNDH thing, I got Gee, Jody and Duke signed to contracts from day one. Jeezy was doing his thing before I met him, he came in but he wasn’t BNDH from day one. But I needed a real nigga to represent the hustlers. All of them are bosses, but I knew that he was already rolling, so we helped each other out, that’s all it was. Everyone knows if you sign a contract you can’t leave. BNDH was designed to have rotating members. BNDH is forever. N.W.A. could have been forever; when Cube left they sold more records than ever before. But I put Zoe in because there was a space for him. It was supposed to be Lil Wayne at first but someone wouldn’t clear him, same thing with Rick Ross, so I made them honorary members. But Wayne, Ross, and Jeezy, we still got songs with them on the album. What else does Block Entertainment do? We got a film we’re working on with Ice Cube. It’s called Down By Law, and it’s based off a gang in Atlanta in the mid-80s. I picked Cube to write it with me because at the end of Boys N Da Hood the characters moved to Atlanta to get away from shit, but they see when they get here they can’t run away from things because the same thing goes on in every ‘hood. We also got a management company and a clothing line. I’m not doing it to make money off it, but just for us to wear our own shit. As it was stated earlier, it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving. Even though Block doesn’t celebrate the holiday he does practice its namesake. He’s decided to conduct a photo shoot in a neighborhood up the street from 83