ing is intact, make sure Koch is sending those checks ASAP every month. It’s a real deal out here. We gotta get it.
consistent beats that I hear in my head and I know a few dudes that can do that for me.
Your mom is your manager. Do you think it’s easier to trust someone in your family, like your mom, with your business as opposed to hiring an outsider as your manager? Yeah, I don’t trust nobody in this business. This business is shady as hell. I never really collaborated with a lot of people in the industry or a lot of music execs. I’ve always been on my own mission with my own team. My mom and them have always been in the picture and I trust ‘em. Even though I’m out here in the field doing most of the business and bringing my mom the work, making sure the contracts are intact, and stuff like that – that’s all I really need. I want her to enjoy life. I want to make sure I put money in her pocket so she can have fun and enjoy her days too. I’m really the one on the grind in the forefront and my people around me support me in anything I need.
Do you think there’s a particular part of the country that you get more love in? A lot of people don’t know that you’re actually from Mississippi but you seem like a West Coast artist. It seems R&B singers have a little more freedom than rappers, who it seems like always get pigeonholed into a particular category or region. I’m West Coast all day but my music is in every market. It’s pretty much on every radio station from Urban to Rhythmic to Top 40. I’m pretty much all around universal. I would love to capitalize more on the West coast and try to take R&B music, even on the West, to a whole other level. I’m working on that right now. Hot 97, Miami, down South, Atlanta, everybody is really bangin’ it.
Did your entrepreneur spirit come from your upbringing? Does it run in the family? I don’t sit back and wait for somebody to do something for me. I don’t blame the people around me, or my producer, or my agent, or my manager. I don’t ask them why I’m not doing this. I just do it and bring them back what I’m doing, as opposed to some artists that wait on somebody to hook ‘em up with something. I go out and hook myself up. That’s a good attitude. That’s the only way to go. Another good rumor was the one about you having a threesome with two of the girls from Danity Kane. Oh man! If it ain’t one thing, it’s another. I was shocked when I seen that on the internet. I don’t remember us getting it crackin’ and I definitely don’t remember taping it. All that shit was not true. I cleared that up on my Myspace page, and the Hyatt incident too, ‘cause those were two things that people were really starting to believe. I felt like I needed to kill the hype on all that. All the rumors can’t be bad for business though, right? When they’re talking about you, it’s a good thing. But some things they talk about, even the person they talking about [can] get deterred by it when it’s bad or it’s something I don’t believe in. What’s your thoughts on this whole Yung Berg/Brisco mini-beef? I know you tried to step in the middle to smooth things over. Berg’s my homie. Brisco and them was cool as hell. I just hollered at him on the phone when I went to Miami. Rick Ross, Khaled, them my dudes. Me and Rick Ross got a song called “Go Hard” that’s coming out real soon. I hit him on the phone like, “I need this from you, big homie,” and he sent it right back to me. I got love for all of them. I was trying to bring everybody together and squash the shit so we could all keep pushing. That’s just the type of person I am. If I’m cool with both sides, I’ma try to bring both sides together and make it right. But it ain’t my fight so I’ma just keep pushing, keep doing my thing. I got love for all of ‘em. Shout out to Berg, Brisco, Rick Ross, everybody. Do you think that in Hip Hop today there’s too much pressure for artists to have such a hardcore image that it’s impossible to be real and believable? I think in music you want to be believable. You want people to listen to your shit and believe it. That’s the most important thing so sometimes that gets caught up into other situations. It’s weird sometimes. But music is music. That should be it, but at the end of the day it’s rap, it’s hardcore. It’s the streets. You gotta take it how it is. Did you ever have a day job before you got into the industry? I guess you never really had to ‘cause you were kinda born into an entertainment family. I ain’t never even went to school. I went through 7th grade and that was it. You stopped going to school after 7th grade? You had tutors or something? I would just chill and my tutor would come through. She was like 19. She would come through every day and it was curtains from there. (laughs) Your tutor turned you out, huh? She was from Atlanta. Her name was Joyce. So you had fun in school? Oh yeah. I learned a lot. Believe that. (laughs) King Pimp! If I had some explosion sounds I would hit it right there, like [Funkmaster] Flex. Are you getting into the production side of things too? Nah. I’ve always been into producing, but I’ve been letting a lot of talented producers do the beats and I go in and write the songs. I feel like it’s easier to do that. I’m just on a creative run right now. I need to hear the same
Do you feel the West has been in a little bit of a slump ever since Tupac? And what do you think it’s gonna take for the West to be back on top like it was ten years ago? A lot more West coast artists coming together and building a movement, just creating that entertainment that the whole world wants to see again. I think that’s all we’re missing. We had a big run though. The East coast also had a crazy run as well. It’s seems like the South is really on top right now. The South is hot. They’re coming with the beats, the flows, and the ideas. Everybody just needs to collaborate and build together. As far as the West, they need to throw that unity in there a little more. Who do you see in L.A., or the West in general, coming up on the rap side? Who are some people you’re working with out there? It’s a lot of new artists out here. The homie Lunch is tight. Glasses Malone is tight. The Game is right at the forefront of the West. When you think of West Coast rap right now, you think of Snoop Dogg and The Game. The Game is still young and fresh. Snoop’s still in the building. I know they got a lot of new artists they working on too so we’ll see what happens. You got your own artists too, right, like Shorty Mack? Yeah, Shorty Mack the Purp Man. Let me tell you, this dude is about to have a smash with this song called “Raining Women.” That’s coming out in like two months. We just inked a deal with Knock Out/Koch. Shout out to the Purp Man. Shorty Mack is coming. Anybody out there who likes to blow purp and is down with that purple movement, if you know what I mean, then y’all are gonna dig this Shorty Mack the Purp Man album and the new single. Anybody else coming that we should look out for? We got a few more artists but right now we’re focusing on Ray J and Shorty Mack the Purp Man. Then we’ll get into some other stuff. And my sister’s coming back out too. Crazy. What about the book you were working on? Is that still coming out? I put it on hold. I ain’t wanna tell my story yet. I turned down the deal. It was a lot of money but I ain’t feel like I need it. I’m getting money so I wanted to wait to tell my story later. You had a change of heart or you wanted to keep it a little bit private? They were trying to give me like a million bucks to do it and I was tempted. I was like, “I’ma come back, and when I come back, y’all gotta give me ten million.” The story is gonna be even more intense. How do you feel about seeing your ex-girlfriend Kim Kardashian on a constant promo run with Reggie Bush? It’s all good. I want Reggie Bush and the New Orleans Saints to come back this year and make some noise. All my people are from Mississippi and New Orleans. I just want him to get his work done and come back and shine like he started in the beginning, and not get clouded with all of the press and all of the hype. As far as her, I congratulate her on all her success. We had a good run and now we’re both just taking it to another level. Much success and much props to her. That’s a good political answer. You’re like a politician. Yeah, but I’ve ran my mouth, I’ve talked shit. I tried to explain and express myself, some of my emotions, and I don’t think that was professional. A lot of people read this and tune into what I say so I just wanna make sure I’m on point and not let my emotions cloud my professionalism. You made Superhead’s first two books, right? I did. Is there gonna be a Ray J chapter in books three, four, and five? She’s got more books coming? I would assume so. I’m just talking hypothetically. OZONE MAG // 59