10. SPANDEX I don’t mind a chunky chick - but when you a size 3 all night and then when the Spandex comes off you’re a size 18, its really false advertising. 9. FAKE DYKES I’m hating on women that hang with a bunch of butch girls all night but aren’t gay. I mean, really. How are we supposed to know that? 8. SELF-PROMOTION I’m hating on rappers who promote their records in magazine and website interviews saying we should listen to their “hot new single,” but no one’s ever heard the record. How hot is it? 7. Real from Real Chance of Love I’ve got nothing against the dude, but I hate on any dudes with better hair than my girls. 6. CRAIGSLIST Make your mind up. Can I promote my girls or not?
Me & Paul Wall in the cockpit of a cargo plane flying over Dubai
ERICK ANDERSON
by McKlezie of Grind Mode
Overcoming my fear of heights in the helicopter with DJ Smallz
ERICK ANDERSON
10THINGS I’M HATIN’ON
ERICK ANDERSON
JB’s 2cents I
Yeah buddy!! Blasting off M203 grenade launchers into the Afghan mountains
3. UGLY PEOPLE THAT ARE CONVINCED THEY LOOK GOOD And yet they’ve still got the nerve to look down on you. Where they do that at? 2. Female porn stars that DON’T KNOW HOW TO GIVE FELLATIO Y’all are supposed to be good. You know who you are! 1. Pitbull I’m hating on Pitbull because he’s been on the cover of OZONE more times then Oprah has been on the cover of O Magazine. ...just joking, that’s my dude. Here’s the real #1: 1. FAKE GANGSTERS IN THE CLUB I’m hating on that dude who’s acting hard and ready to fight til it’s time to “Swag and Surf.”
Filming out of the helicopter over Afghanistan
I watch The First 48 sometimes and think, damn, it’s a good thing I’m not a cop, because I’d take it too personally. I feel like justice always needs to be served. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Crooks shouldn’t be let off the hook just because they flee to another jurisdiction or have a good lawyer. Lately I’ve had to deal with a lot of (male) bitches like the two mentioned above, and I have to chill sometimes and remind myself that God says, “vengeance is mine.” You know who you are. You lied on me and that shit will not go unpunished. And you.. you robbed me. And I’m gonna get my money. But I’m putting it in God’s hands because I shouldn’t have to fight all these battles on my own. That’s one thing I’ve grown to hate about this business. It makes me so fucking mad having to deal with so many bullshitters, liars, haters, and just plain con artists. The good folks in this business are few and far between but we stick together, so it does even out. With all this frustration brewing, I was more than excited to escape the U.S. for a few weeks with trips to Afghanistan and Kuwait with the Paul Wall and DJ Smallz USO tour, and the Rick Ross and Triple C’s tour to London and Germany. I loved the scenery and atmosphere of London, and Afghanistan, in particular, was a life-changing experience. It lived up to my expectations and then some. You can catch the full story in next month’s issue; it was a lot to digest. We were living in barracks in the midst of an active war zone for a week, and for me, observing the military lifestyle was an interesting social experiment. What happens when you isolate a group of people, assign them to life-or-death missions, ban mindaltering substances like drugs and alcohol, and eliminate many of the trivial distractions of our everyday lives (Twitter, and even sex, for example)? More than anything, the trip made it clear that there’s so much lacking here-- in our industry and at OZONE and in my life personally-- in terms of structure, discipline, organization, and dedication. A lot of us have become lost in the flashing lights without a clear vision of where we’re headed. You may not agree with the war in Afghanistan or understand why the U.S. has dedicated so many of our resources to fighting those battles, but regardless of their political leanings, the men and women fighting overseas have missions. In some ways, I envied them for that one reason. They have an assignment and they put in 100% to accomplish it and then they go home; the opposite of my life, which often feels like a never-ending pile of work headed in multiple directions with no clear endpoint. They wake up at the crack of dawn and put in hours to keep their bodies in top physical condition. At 5:30 AM I found myself waiting for a treadmill to become available since dozens of troops were already in the midst of their morning workout. That was some inspiring shit. If there’s one thing all of my overseas trips have taught me, it’s that we’re spoiled as hell here in America. If I could be half as productive here as I was during my week “in the Army,” OZONE would have taken over the world by now. Literally. We gotta do better, myself included!
ERICK ANDERSON
4. FAKE BALLERS I’m hating on that dude in the club that holds the bottle he bought all night long, even after it’s empty.
ERICK ANDERSON
5. Sugar DaddIEs with Viagra I don’t ever get a chance to see my girl anymore.
don’t know what it is about 2009, but there sure is a lot of bitchassness floating around the music industry this year. It might be the recession or it might be the desperation of folks who have been trying to get on forever and are finally realizing that they might not make it. A few people showed their true colors this month, like one Bay Area rapper who revealed his severe case of bitchassness. You will not be seeing any more of him in OZONE West. You already can’t get radio play in your hometown and now you decide to disrespect the one magazine that shows you love - are you serious?? Then there’s the fat ass shiesty booking agent who can be seen around Atlanta wearing more fake jewelry than his artists and pretending to be important, robbing promoters of their deposits and hiding behind lies and third-party contracts. And it isn’t limited to just the United States; Swedish radio station The Voice enlisted promoter Riccardo Jackson, who went so far as to fabricate a wire transfer receipt, to book an artist through me. It’s a dirty game when you can’t even trust the radio stations.
DJ Smallz, me, & Paul Wall
- Julia Beverly, jb@ozonemag.com
Jay-Z f/ KiD CuDi “Already Home” Big Bank Black f/ Kandi Burrus “Try It Out” Big Maine f/ Collardgreen & Lil Brod “That’s What She Love” Drake & Nipsey Hussle “Killers” Kings of Leon “Use Somebody” Trey Songz “Neighbors Know My Name” Young Snead “Love When Dey Hate” Boss G f/ Lil Brod “Say Yeah”
RE’Splaylist
randy.roper@ozonemag.com Travis Porter “Turnt Up” Willie the Kid “Aviation” GT “Don’t Know Who To Be” Drake “Fear”
OZONE MAG // 15