our own men. It ain’t that we don’t have no unity. It’s just that we’re pushing our own line. If we do come together for a good cause it’ll be good, but if we don’t, it’s still gon’ be a Bay thing. Don’t get it fucked up. Don’t come out here playin’ around thinkin’ it’s sweet like that, like we ain’t clicked up or somethin’. You’ll get yo ass beat real good. What’s your relationship with Thizz? Keak: Mac Dre was like my dude. I grew up to Mac Dre music and I’m 29. As I was gettin’ into the game I was listening to him, all the Bay. MC Ant to Dangerous Dame, but Mac Dre had that shit. But I’m a little bit of everybody in one. That’s what makes my style. Mac Dre was my dude and my guy, but at the time when I was gettin’ on I couldn’t sign to nobody as an artist like that, cause I put a lot of footwork in building me. I reintroduced myself every year, kinda like startin’ from scratch. I got a big fan base because of the work I put in and I got a lot of people depending on me. Together we stand and divided we fall. PSD: I’m the thinker. I’m OG. I’m original with this shit. We just wanna unify everybody, cause the shit killed us. What Kilo’s tryna do is get everybody together in every city. If you in yo town and you signed to Thizz, you got something with Thizz Nation. You throwin’ that “T” up. And that make a muthafucka feel good, cause we just tryna keep Dre alive. Dre was about keepin’ people together. Mess: Just like it is with everybody else in the Bay. It’s a label that’s struggled, had one of the best dudes that ever came up out this muthafucka. Unfortunately we lost him – one of my homies. It’s a personal and a business thing. It’s personal when it comes down to this Bay, and it’s a business thing when it comes down to this record shit as far as our respective labels. Given your stature you can pretty much move how you want to, but there has to be a struggle as an indie wanting that ever elusive major label deal. Keak: And it is. For a minute we was pretty much gettin’ no airplay. It was a time in ’98, ’99, 2000 that we couldn’t get on the radio because people was gettin’ fired left and right and that’s a major part of gettin’ a deal. You gotta show labels you got heat as far as Soundscan. I feel like we need everybody
to buy our record for us to go platinum. Like the South, they shit be over here before we even hit. Mess: I’m not satisfied or content with the level that I’m at right now. I always want to get further and venture out and do other things. But it’s like, dealing with the majors, they wanna have your publishing, and they really wanna give you peanuts at the end of the day. You really gotta go platinum to see some money with a major label, ‘cause after the video, this, that and the other, you really ain’t seein’ no money. Now on the independent level, I could sell 50,000 units at six dollars a pop and make $300,000 in four quarters in a year, puttin’ out an album and just pushin’ it that whole year. So with my career, I would like a major deal, but they’re going to have to match me. I’m looking for a major deal, but I’m looking to be matched. If I can’t be matched then it ain’t no sense in me signing over everything I worked hard for and struggled for all these years. It’s a hell of an example for the kids, the way you all came together, because y’all are the ones they’re lookin’ at and it’s so crazy in the Bay right now. Keak: The hyphy movement is a mix of the good and the bad. I mean, imagine having that much power and it’s all on you right now. So it’s all on my next album. I’m just warmin’ up right now. Mess: All I gotta say is thank the Lord for Lil Jon comin’ and snatchin’ my man and turnin’ the light right back on us. Whether people like it or not, that was a window of opportunity for everybody to get back on. I don’t ride the yellow bus. I’m retarded than a muthafucka, but I don’t ride that muthafucka. When you listen to a Mess album, you’re gonna get that ’84, ’85, early ‘90s flavor. Not to take nothin’ from nobody that’s ridin’ the yellow bus, but it was a window of opportunity for the Bay Area when Lil Jon snatched E-40 and it’s been nothin’ but good exposure for this area. What’s the overdose? PSD: That’s what I say, man. If I was a muthafuckin’ drug, I’m doin’ all of it. I wanna get dead meat. If a muthafucka meet me he gettin’ all of me on the spot. I’m the overdose. I ain’t comin’ with the bullshit. I’m just me. But I don’t do drugs. I’m scared of drugs. I don’t think I’d come down off drugs. //
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