ship with diamonds. The three of you visited African diamond mines. How did that experience affect your growth? In terms of the diamonds it made me want to make a difference and just help out. Before I never felt I could help and that I was too small to make a difference. I hear about Oprah donating millions of dollars and think, “I don’t have millions of dollars to donate,” but at the same time the experience showed me that I could help out by raising awareness. I can help out by just doing what I do in the way that I promote and get other people involved. We started a charity organization called the Bombai Bling Foundation. On the documentary we visited an orphanage of children that had been affected by war and [the orphanage] was about to be evicted, but we helped save them from that. There’s also another place called Coyvey where the city had been treated as a public dump because there was no waste management system. We’re in the process right now of cleaning that up right now, putting in a soccer field, and creating a waste management system. We’re also going to help build some schools around there and crate some jobs in the area. It’s been a lot of fun just helping people out. We’ve been helping out people in this country for a long time with the food giveaways that Swishahouse has every year. We also give out scholarships here in this country, but it feels good to help out people on the other side of the world. Artists like yourself are criticized for everything from wearing diamonds to your lyrics and how they affect the youth. Do you think that because a lot of people outside of Hip Hop don’t get to see the positive things artists do, it makes Hip Hop an easy target? I think that Hip Hop is so big, there’s a lot of negativity that comes from it, but there’s also a lot of positivity. A lot of times the negativity from outside of Hip Hop overpowers all of the positive things that are happening. There are a lot of artists out there doing a lot of good. I heard Jay-Z helped a village in Africa get running water, but you don’t really hear about that. Plus it’s not just charity that artists are involved in. Andre 3000 has a cartoon show that my little boy watches all the time. Just seeing these artists and musicians in Hip Hop branch into different things and creating positive avenues for others to follow is a beautiful thing.
ing. We released a mixtape with DJ Skee on our myspace page which is available for free download. Hopefully we get to put out something soon but we haven’t even really talked to any record labels. So many times, major record labels come in and try to control the music. You have to have a video that appeals to a large group of people. You have to have a song that has crossover potential. You have to sell to this market or that market. I just want to make songs. Expensive Taste just gives us the opportunity to make music without all of the rules and restrictions. We just go into the booth and have fun. You spoke earlier about songs that weren’t cleared for your album. Is that a problem that comes up often when trying to put out a project? The record label politics is a muthafucker. I just want to make music and it’s hard when you’ve got someone standing over you saying, “You can do it with this person, but you can’t do it with that person because this person is on our record label and the other person is not.” Expensive Taste is featured on your album with other artists, including your wife, Crys Wall. What was it like working with her on the album? She would come to the studio every day - me, her, and the baby - so it was like a family affair. We would be in there just collaborating with the whole Swishahouse team. My wife can sing and she use to be in a group that just didn’t go anywhere. She kind of hung the microphone up for a while, but Lil’ Keke and T. Farris kept motivating her to get back in it and sing. Every time she and Keke would collaborate they would come up with some monster jams. I love seeing her do her thing. I’m happy to see her do what she loves to do. When we were all in the studio collaborating she would make suggestions for a track and the next thing you know she’s singing the hook. What’s the next single off of the album? Shit, I don’t even know. We’re supposed to shoot a video next week and we don’t even know what the single is gonna be yet. My favorite song is “Slidin’ On That Oil” with Expensive Taste but the songs I like are never the hit singles. It’s up to T. Farris because he always picks the smash hits. Whatever T. Farris says, I’m with it, because he’s always right about the singles.
Now that you’re a father, what do you think of critics who say Hip Hop artists should present a better example to the young fans? I respect freedom of speech to the fullest, but at the same time I feel we take advantage of that freedom and don’t speak responsibly. As a musician I see that sometimes we don’t make the most responsible music. A lot of these artists are telling stories of their life and people just take it the wrong way and think that it’s being glorified. Most of the time it’s just to get something off of our chests or just speak on what we feel because this is how we came up. I think we definitely have a responsibility in the music that we make and our actions. We have a responsibility as role models and leaders in the community but at the same time I respect freedom of speech. We just need to be more respectful and more responsible with our freedom.
You’ve been with Swishahouse since the beginning working with T. Farris and Michael Watts. Have you thought about taking what you’ve learned from them and starting your own record company? Nah, I thought about it, but it’s too hard. As a manager or owner of a record label you kind of have to babysit the artists. It’s too much to do and too much responsibility. You have the career of an artist in your hands. Plus, a lot of times, the artists get the caught up in the diva lifestyle and start acting spoiled. They start being a superstar and it takes away from the reason the artist got in this game in the first place. They start to lose their grind. For this album T. Farris was constantly reminding me of the time when we were broke so that I could maintain my grind. That’s how I keep my edge, just reminiscing about how it use to be.
How do you feel about the state of Houston Hip Hop? I’m loving it! There are so many artists here, and the screwed and chopped style is being accepted everywhere. You’ve got people like Justin Timberlake with a screwed and chopped chorus in one of his songs. Ciara has a screwed and chopped chorus. Just seeing different things like that shows me how much the music has been accepted. At the same time though, there is so much other Hip Hop here in Houston that isn’t even do screwed and chopped. Artists like The Grit Boys, I’m real excited about them because they just got their deal with TVT. My boy PKT has some stuff going on. There is a lot of talent here in Houston that doesn’t even do the screwed and chopped style, but they are still trendsetters and leaders here in the Houston community. Artist like Devin the Dude and K-Rino, to name a few. It’s just a Houston movement and I love seeing it.
It’s rumored that you’re open to doing another album with Chamillionaire. You want to speak on that? Yeah, definitely. I saw him at the Grammys and I was so excited about him winning. My boy Mike Frost did all of Chamillionaire’s graphics for his album and he had both of our platinum plaques hanging in his office right next to each other. It was pretty cool seeing that. We’ve proved to the world that we can stand on our own two feet as solo artists and it’s great to see that. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to work together and put an album out. We just have to get a record company that believes in the project and will put out some good music.
How did you link up with Fall Out Boy for your upcoming tour? I wanted to do something different. I was on a promo tour with Brooke Hogan for “About Us” and it was just a different type of tour. Fall Out Boy was on a couple of the shows and I realized I shared a lot of things with the group. I figured the tour would be a nice change of pace for me. When you see a RunDMC or Cypress Hill going on tour with rock groups it’s just people making good music for the fans. I think that’s what the fans are going to get when they come see our tour, just a lot of great bands and me doing my rap music. The fans are going to see a good show. Fall Out Boy isn’t the only rock group that you’ve worked with. When is Expensive Taste, your rap/rock group with Skinhead Rob of the Transplants and Travis Barker formerly of Blink 182 supposed to come out with an album? Who knows, man. We’ve just been recording for fun. Travis is doing all the production with me and Skinhead Rob on vocals. We come from three different walks of life and put it all together in the studio. It’s been a lot of fun record-
74 // OZONE MAG
Why not on Swishahouse? Definitely on Swishahouse but also with Atlantic, Sony, Universal, Interscope, or whatever record label wants to get down. We haven’t talked to anybody about it. I haven’t even talked to Chamillionaire about it. I just saying I’m down to do it. Hopefully that will happen in the near future because you two are good collaborators. Speaking of people you work well with, you spoke earlier about Lil Keke helping you on your album. When is “your favorite rapper’s” album supposed to come out? I know he just signed his deal with Universal Records. I’m pretty excited about that. He’s got a serious album and the world is finally gonna see where it all started and how far Lil’ Keke has come. He has definitely come a long way. Are there any other artists that you’d want to work with? I’m just having so much fun working with Lil Keke and Expensive Taste. Who knows? I’m just a fan of good music so there are a lot of artists out there I would like to work with. //