It seems like people respect you more as a community activist than a rapper. But what’s fucked up is that all the industry muthafuckers that I helped, and all the people whose sons’ bar mitzvahs I was coming to and whatnot, and all the muthfuckas that was like, “David Banner we salute you for what you did after Katrina, you the realest nigga ever,” they weren’t there for me when I needed them. I was asking all those same people for some help on my album, and they were all like, “We’ll get you next time, my nigga.” With my label I was like, “Didn’t y’all see what I did? Don’t I get credit for any of that?” And they were like, “We’re sorry, you did a good deed, but fuck it.” That’s when I realized that it’s God that gives you your blessings. So God took music all the way from me, and he gave me movies, dawg. He gave me cartoons. He showed me that music is not my god, and that this music shit is only a small part of my eternal life. And I let music go. I didn’t do no music for 7 months. I hated gospel. I hated blues. I hated jazz. The label had taken that joy away from me. God showed me that music ain’t important, and if I believe in Him, He’ll take care of me. And that’s when the movies started coming in. What’s been the best moment in your experiences in Hollywood? The first time Sam Jackson looked at me and smiled, and told me I was doing a good job. He coached me through Black Snake Moan. And also, I want to give credit to Snoop Dogg. When I was fucked up, Snoop Dogg called me and told me to come to his studio. Dude sat down and counseled me through the whole shit. We always holla when niggas is beefin’ against each other, but not when niggas is helping each other out, and that nigga helped me and I would like to thank Snoop for that. Being that you’re spending a lot of time on the West Coast, do you feel like you can bridge the gap between the South and the West? I don’t know. For some reason niggas in the West really love me. It’s a cool ass vibe. I’m very focused when I’m in L.A. I train two times a day, I read my scripts, and I set up a studio in my apartment where I do beats. I’m real focused out in L.A. ‘cause I don’t know too many people. So L.A. is sorta like my boot camp. What kind of scripts have you been reading? I know you tried out for the next Batman movie. I can’t really talk about the scripts because I did that one time and I lost a movie. Some directors don’t like that kinda shit. But with the Batman situation, you gotta think; the fact that I even got a chance to audition [for the part] with Batman, that’s huge. Think about how big that is from where I come from. I come from nothing. You mentioned earlier that your emotional state has changed to the point where you neither get overly happy nor sad anymore. Are you sure that’s a good thing? You’re a pretty animated dude, so if your emotions are always set at a certain level is it possible for you to truly be yourself? Yeah, I can exude my full personality, but I just can’t get too excited about anything. When you get overly excited or mad, that’s an exaggerated state. If you notice, usually when people are really, really happy about something that shit really ain’t that good. Or when people are down about something, it really ain’t that bad. That’s how life is, just take it. My daddy just died four months ago, and I’ve just figured out that he really was my best friend. It’s hard when you find that out after they’re gone. Looking back at my life he was really, really hard on me, but if you want to know why I’m the type of man that I am, and why I stand up for the shit that I do, it’s because a man raised me, not a woman. So, I’m gonna act like a man. That’s why most of these rappers feel uncomfortable around me, ‘cause they bitches! Most of these rappers is bitches. I’d say 80% of these niggas that’s rappin’ is hoes — and you can tell ‘em I said it. They bitches. That’s the reason you don’t see me hanging out and kickin’ it and shit, ‘cause these niggas is false, these niggas is bitches, they not men of they word. Niggas talk all this street shit, but really it’s all about yo’ word. I don’t give a fuck if you a dope dealer. I don’t give a fuck if you a killer. It’s about yo’ word. Niggas talk about mafia life, but mafia niggas kept they word. They kept a sense of honor. Where’s these rappin’ niggas’ honor? Niggas don’t keep they word. They don’t do what they say they gon’ do because these niggas is bitches. Damn. I’m sure when you first came into the game you didn’t feel that way, so obviously you’ve come across a lot of disloyalty. Is there any specific event prompted you to be so angry at the industry? Well, it’s just living. You gotta live. I’m at the point now where it’s like, “Don’t call David Banner for shit unless it got something to do with money!” I’m dead serious. If it ain’t about money, bury yo’ self. I do my own charity. Don’t call me when it’s time for charity, or don’t call me when it’s time to do something for free; call me when you got some money for me. Do you think people perceive you as too much of a nice guy because of all your charitable work?
What happened with me is that I had a pretty hard life, and niggas act like selling dope is cool. Selling dope ain’t cool. Not knowing if somebody gon’ kick in your door, not knowing if your homeboy a snitch, not knowing if the shit around you is real, that shit ain’t cool. Killing somebody ain’t cool; having somebody’s soul on top of your soul, that ain’t cool. Going to jail ain’t cool. The shit I used to do ain’t cool. So once God blessed me and got me out of that shit, I was so happy to be out of the streets, my nigga. I didn’t want nobody else to feel the way I had felt way no more. But now I’ve figured out that’s what niggas want, so I’ma give it to ‘em. You want the old David Banner, you want me to smack you in yo’ muthafuckin mouth? I’ll be glad to. Fuck it. What’s your problem with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and some of the other black leaders? My problem with them is this: Out of all the problems going on in the world right now, why would they choose to attack young black men? Don’t you think that America attacks us enough? What pisses me off is that people act like young, black men are the reasons for America’s problems, but it’s not young, black men, it’s old, white men who you can trace most of the problems to. If you look at crack in America, you can trace that back to the CIA, but Oprah doesn’t want to talk about that; Jesse won’t talk about that; that would mess up their corporate sponsors. I tell people all the time, what we do as rappers is art. Oprah Winfrey will have a show dedicated to the words “bitch” and “hoe,” but she won’t put Martin Scorsese on there. She promoted the book A Million Pieces that had all kind of hoes and bitches and drugs in it, because Oprah feels that what white folks do is art and what we do is trash. That’s hypocritical; you’re a sellout. Nobody protects young, black men. We don’t even protect ourselves. We didn’t protect Akon, and you know he didn’t have nothing to do with that girl being young and in the club. Come on my dude, where they at to protect us, homie? But we’re guilty of the same thing too, because we’ll beef with each other, but we won’t come to help each other. And everybody in America knows that. They feel they can put anything off on us, because we not even gon’ protect our own damn selves. That’s my problem with the so-called “black leaders.” Why do you think the rap game doesn’t stand up for itself? It’s a whole bunch of bitch shit going on. The Hip Hop game right now is whole bunch of girls yapping at each other. Niggas in the rap game are grown ass men with children, acting like little children, and then since they see they can make money off this shit they done turned it into the WWF. That’s why I say that this Hip Hop shit is bullshit. This shit about money. Do you still have a love for the game, even though you say it’s all bullshit? Yeah, I love it. But I’m not gon’ lose no sleep over this shit no more. I’m just gon’ continue to make jammin’ ass music. I know I got the best album in the last three and a half years, whether people buy the record or not. I feel good and I know it’s the best, and real niggas know it too. If you look at everything from the verses, to the people I got featured on it, to the beats, and the whole nine, you’ll see that it’s the best. I know I’m killin’ these muthafuckas! I know these niggas’ not fading me. So if I don’t sell, that’ll show you the hypocrisy and in the bullshit going on in the rap game, cause I’m smashing these muthafuckas! You gotta give it to me this time, a nigga can’t fade me. And I look great! And they bitch wanna fuck me too. So what can you do? You can’t out-rap me, my beats are better than your favorite producer’s beats, and then I can knock you out. And then, if I call my boys they’ll come and shoot you! Damn, it sounds like a win-win situation for you then. [Laughs] But let me tell you, the crazy thing of it all, in the end, I just wanna go to heaven. When all this shit fades away, I still wanna be a man, dawg. I still wanna be respected. Although I talk all this shit, when I leave this earth I wanna know that I’ve affected people, and influenced people in a positive way. I want to make people strive to do better, and know my story. That’s why I call my album The Greatest Story Ever Told, because I came from nothing. I didn’t have the great city of New York behind me. I didn’t have no big record label behind me. I didn’t have a company buying my own records back for me. Nigga, if I sold a record you know it’s real. I made my own beats. I struggled my way up through this shit. I can look any of these niggas in the eye. Most of these rap niggas really ain’t the man, they the man through another nigga. I can look any of these niggas in the eye. Me and Steve Rifkind are partners, homie, it’s 50/50. Nigga, I came with record spins. I came with an album done. Didn’t nobody do shit for me. I can look any of these niggas in they eye and say, “What?” I’m a man, nigga, I ain’t gotta bow down or bite my tongue for no nigga. How has the industry responded to your new “I don’t give a fuck” approach? I don’t really give a fuck; I ain’t trippin’ off these niggas, man. I don’t have to do this rap shit anymore. I do it because I wanna do it. And the fact that
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