Block (below right) with the President of Block Ent., Rico Brooks (left)
Do you think it was harder in there or on the outside? Hmmm, that’s a hard question. I got shanked in there [points at his stomach]. But shit, I got shot in the head out here, so it depends. If you have a family to feed and no job, that’s hard. If you walking in a store and getting held up, that’s hard. If you’re talking about responsibilities it’s harder out here, but when you’re in prison with niggas with nothing to lose, it’s hard too. Since you’ve been on the inside and outside, do you think music has a relation to how many black males are getting sent to prison? No. That’s life. You might get a couple that ease through the cracks and say music influenced them, but music ain’t influencing people to end up in jail. You got your own mind. They say 80% of the people who buy Hip Hop records are white, so if that’s the case, why ain’t they going to jail? You see them snapping, leaning and rocking and doing the motorcycle, but they ain’t robbing niggas. They the ones buying the music. It’s about common sense. Some of us are just dummies. Even a dummy knows that the people buying Hip Hop records are buying a lot of Block’s projects, so much so that he has extended his partnership with Bad Boy South/Warner. “People think that since Block has a street history, that we aren’t professional,” says Block Entertainment’s president Rico Brooks. “We know what we’re doing over here. People question us saying we won’t be around, people saying we’re connected with this and that, but at the end of the day it’s about hit records. And that’s what we’ve been delivering, hits.”
“MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DIED WITH NO MONEY. I THINK PEOPLE ARE MORE INFLUENCED BY GLITTER AND SHIT. MUTHAFUCKERS WILL KILL FOR THEIR DREAMS INSTEAD OF THEIR RIGHTS. THAT’S IGNORANT.” Do you think rappers should even be looked at as leaders? Should they just be looked at for what they are, entertainers? It all starts with the seed inside of a man. Before I was a CEO, let’s say that I didn’t give a fuck about my people. When I get big, I still won’t give a fuck. But if it was instilled in me to care, I will. It starts before you become who you are. So no, I don’t think rappers should be role models. They are influential though, it depends on what our target is. Some people don’t want that responsibility. Then you got people that you wouldn’t want to be role models, real talk. Just like with the athletes, if it’s not in you by a certain point of your life, no matter how much money you get, you won’t change. I just happened to have certain values instilled in me. I was doing the shit that I’m doing now even when I didn’t have paper. I was here in ‘95 giving away food plates on Thanksgiving with Greg Street. I don’t have PR on my shit when I do some of my shit, I just don’t. I do it from the heart. I don’t do it to get no extra play. If it’s not instilled in you by a certain part in your life or you don’t go thru experiences that make you wanna change, you won’t.
What do you consider success? I think success is when you have peace within yourself, when you can sit peacefully and feel grateful about what you’ve done. Some people have money and don’t feel successful. A house and car don’t mean you’re successful. It’s starting to look like a lot of artists who have had major deals are going back independent. Do you think this trend will grow in the near future? Yes. A good thing Lyor is doing is that he created Asylum, you can go either or. That’s why I like fucking with them, because they gave me opportunities and choices. But your grind gotta be harder being independent. Being independent you can only go so far, I don’t give a fuck what you say. Selling records takes money, it takes money to make money. It’s gonna go back to when niggas can get in the door and do their thing but sometime you can’t go no further. Signing with a major, more people know you so now when you go back independent more people see you. Majors put you on a plateau, being independent makes you money. But a fish grows according to the size of the tank. Speaking of growth, how do you feel about the direction Atlanta is going in? A lot of the old neighborhoods are getting torn down. Me and T.I. got a song called “Fuck You” and we hit on that. They tearing down our projects and ‘hoods, we’re saying that the A is getting commercial. Me personally, I say leave it hood. But growth is a good thing. It lets these kids see better shit. Growing up, all I saw was projects. When kids see nice shit growing up, it’s good. It’s like if you teach them a language when they’re four years old, it comes to them easier and they can get fluent in it faster. When kids see bigger and better things younger, they won’t settle for less.
On that note, you spent some time in prison. Can you tell us how you ended up in there? I’m from East Lake Meadows. I’d been going to prison all my life, that’s nothing to glorify at all, I hate that I even went. But some niggas shot me up, I shot back and someone passed in the process. I shot two other dudes in the process. I’ve asked and prayed for forgiveness for that. I got charged with aggravated assault for that. I did four and a half years, that was back in ’91.
Tell us about some things you thought you’d never see, but have been able to see through being in the music industry? I don’t get starstruck when I see people, but I can make a phone call and make shit move quicker than if I wasn’t in the music business. I can make a call to the mayor and make something happen. If I make a call, it’s not to get tickets to a fucking ball game. I make calls to make shit happen and help people. Jermaine Dupri used to tell me it’s about what you do next. You can build an artist’s career, but what you gonna do next? But yeah, I’m in a position where I can make shit happen. If I make a call it’s not for me to get in a club, a party or tickets to something.
During your time in there, how would you say that experience changed you? I went to Alto, one the roughest prisons for people age 17 to 22, nothing but violent criminals in there. By the time you go through diagnostics you’re a man. Did prison make me more of man? No. It taught me to not trust niggas, and it helped me think more. When I was on the streets I wasn’t using my brain like I do now. I left home when I was 14, so I was a man before I went to prison. When you’re feeding yourself, that’s a man to me.
Lastly, what are your plans for 2007? I used to be the $15 million boy, so I re-upped with them, now I get half of everything I do. Joc is coming May 1st with Hustlenomics. BNDH got Back Up In the Chevy in June, Gorilla Zoe in July. Then my album Welcome To My Block and I got the Hosea Williams, Jr. presents Feed the Hungry album. I’m going around finding hungry cats for that project. Every four months I’m dropping that as an independent album. 678-7778382, that’s my number if you want to holler at me. I also got my R&B group Southern Girl coming out, and Jody Breeze coming out. 85