Disclaimer: These are my opinions and my statements. They do not reflect on Bun B or UGK as a group. Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth.” That quote is the truth. First off, I wanna say that 98% of what I said in my OZONE article last month was the honest-to-God undisputable truth. But to say that Atlanta, GA is not the South is a muthafuckin’ lie. I was trippin’ when I said that shit, and I’m recanting that statement. There’s no doubt in my mind or anybody else’s mind that Atlanta, GA is the muthafuckin’ dirty South and has always been the muthafuckin’ dirty South. Off top I wanna apologize to T.I., I wanna apologize to the Dungeon Family, and all the rest of my people out there [in Atlanta] that’s been buying my records from the jump. But to all the pussy ass DJs, fake ass rap niggas, and bitch-ass muthafuckers typing that bullshit on the computer, fuck you in your ass, bitch. You’re either down or you ain’t down. There ain’t never a good time to tell the truth because nobody wants to take their medicine. But somebody had to say it and I’m stepping up to the plate. I’m saying, no more of these fake ass niggas, no more of this lying on muthafuckin’ records, and no more accepting this bullshit coming out of the muthafuckin’ speakers no more. I’ve got St. Louis riding with me. I’ve got Chicago riding with me. I’ve got the West Coast riding with me. I’ve got muthafuckin’ Houston, Texas riding with me. I’ve got muthafuckin’ New York riding with me, nigga, so you’re surrounded. Everybody I called told me they understood what the fuck I was saying, and they understood how a man could make a mistake. So I’m apologizing again to my fans and everybody in Georgia that has ever bought one of my muthafuckin’ records. I don’t know what Russell Simmons’ sexual orientation is. My statement that he was “dick-in-the-booty” did not reflect as much on his sexuality as it does on the statements he’s made recently that we need to stop cussing on records and stop saying the “n” word. Last time I checked, Russell Simmons was a multi-billionaire, and he made his money off niggas saying the “n” word and cussing on records. So by me saying the nigga is “dick-in-the-booty,” I ain’t saying that the nigga actually has a dick in his ass. And it ain’t me saying that he’s actually doing some gay shit, cause I ain’t seen the nigga do nothing. All I’m saying is this: If you’re a billionaire off rap music and you want us to stop cussin’, give us that billion dollars back and let us throw a party in that muthafuckin’ mansion you’ve got or forever hold your peace. The only reason I felt bad about riding on Russell Simmons is because he was one of the forefathers that helped build this thing called Hip Hop, and that’s what country rap came from. His brother Run is the man that made me want to do this thang called “rap.” I’ve been trying to rap since 1984. I heard Run DMC’s first album in December 1983 and ever since that day, I’ve been bitten by the rap bug. So I’m hoping that my words, and my [Hot 107.9] radio interview that was on radio stations all across the country, have been clarified as to what I meant by that. After saying that, if that ain’t good enough for you pussy ass muthafuckers that’s out there, well, fuck you, bitch. Shoot your shot. I guarantee, nigga, it’s gonna be like Noah’s Ark around this bitch. I’m gonna ride on your ass for
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forty days and forty nights or however long Noah was on that boat. Rap-A-Lot Mafia for life. You ain’t gotta like it but you gotta respect it! I’m very proud of all the rappers from the South that are selling records and getting money. I’m a congratulator, not a hater. When a nigga gets a new house, I congratulate him. I think we all deserve to have new houses. They criticize us a lot for buying jewelry and shit when we get our first royalty checks, don’t they? Don’t they say we’re fools for spending all our money at Jacob’s and Queen Johnny’s and Emmett’s? But let me tell you my outlook on why we do this shit. It’s gonna make sense to some people, and it’s gonna sound crazy to others. Before we were brought over here to [America] we were kings and queens over there in Africa, ya dig? That’s where diamonds and gold and all that shit is derived from – the motherland. When they brought us over here, they made mutts out of us because they crossbred with our women. That’s why we’ve all got different skin tones now. We’re mutts now. We’re not pure no more. But the African side of us is yearning to get back to our roots. So subconsciously we buy diamonds and gold to try to get back to our roots. That’s my take on why a muthafucker would take his first royalty check and spend half of it on a muthafuckin’ watch or chain. That’s why muthafuckers get their first check or first show money and buy a Rolls Royce – because we used to ride in chariots. We used to have all the diamonds and gold. Now the game is reversed where we’re buying the diamonds from a muthafucker that doesn’t even look like us, and we’re buying them at a 300% markup. Any jeweler out there that’s claiming to be down with a nigga and wants a nigga to be down with them, they need to give us that shit – not at cost – but at least at 100% markup. Don’t markup that bullshit 300%. So this month we’re riding on the muthafuckin’ jewelers, that’s who we’re riding on. You’ve overcharging us and we’re tired of it. Diamonds come from the motherland. I’m challenging everybody out there to find a black jeweler, a man of color, and let’s start buying our muthafuckin’ rocks directly from Africa. Let’s buy them from niggas that look like you and me instead of buying it from the muthafuckin’ Iranians and Arabs and Russians, ya dig? I came through the New York airport and I had my praying hands piece on. You know when you come through the checkpoint and you’ve gotta take your [jewelry] off? I was putting my shit back on and a bitch asked me, “Are those conflict diamonds?” You know what I told that bitch? I said, “I don’t know.” I gave her the chain and put it in her hand and said, “Does it say ‘conflict diamonds’ anywhere on there? Can you tell conflict diamonds from regular diamonds?” The bitch looked at me like I was crazy. I said, “Okay, so I can’t tell conflict diamonds from regular diamonds either.” So shut your muthafuckin’ ass up, bitch! When they start writing on the diamonds in microscopic letters whether they’re conflict diamonds or not, that’s when I want somebody to ask me if I’m wearing conflict diamonds. Until then, shut your bitch ass up. Until we start buying diamonds straight from black folks, we’re all buying conflict diamonds. // Photo by Julia Beverly