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o you’re working on a new album? Yeah, it’s called Fast Money, Cash Money. I got about 17 songs. It’s really the first time we got a chance to record at home since we’ve been with Universal the last eight or nine years. We’ve been touring, travelin’, all kinds of shit.
A lot of shit that me and Fresh did. Fresh is like my soulmate and shit, so anything that we did has my blessing. Just watching what he did, or what I did by myself, or what Wayne ‘bout to do. It’s like, being given back to me for all these years I put down for all these niggas. I’m left with two out of six. I made six so I’m cool with that. Wayne’s future is to dominate; guaranteed. He’s one of the best rappers to ever fuck with this shit. Mannie Fresh is what he is, too.
Since you’ve had the chance to step up from being not just the CEO but also one of the main artists, which do you enjoy more? As far as performing, I like being in a group with me and Fresh or me and Wayne. As far as being a CEO, it ain’t really that complicated. It becomes complicated with some of the types of people you deal with. Now that I really know this shit, it’s cool. It’s all about being able to make money and enjoy the shit with ya family, not being in court and all the other bullshit. There’s so many record labels out there, and there’s very few that actually make it. What do you think set you apart from the others? I’ve been doing this shit for 17 years. Just grindin’ and really raising the bar, we felt like it was our turn. We had been putting it down for a minute and we came with that raw street shit. We talking from what we know, the projects. A lot of big names in Southern music came from your camp. Who do you see today with that same potential? Shit, Flip, T.I., there’s a lot of muthafuckers. Trick, all them dudes doin’ they thing. Slim Thug. Lil Wayne got some hot-ass acts comin’ from his company, Young Money. A lot of people come in the game, have their time to shine, and then fall off. But you’ve been putting out records for so long, how do you stay current? Just stayin’ new, stayin’ fresh, stayin’ fly, really. Just being the trendsetters that we are. Muthafuckers is following what we do. You’ve got people who get one or two years in the game and that’s that rollercoaster. Once that rollercoaster ride is over, you gotta really show what you’re made of and then that’s how you can tell. When you look at a label like No Limit, for example, it seems like when they lost in-house producers Beats By the Pound, they fell off. How important is Mannie Fresh to the Cash Money camp? Shit, Mannie definitely holds the walls up. He’s the piece to the puzzle. It’s his talent that has gotten us this far, so I wouldn’t have done it any other way. I wouldn’t fuck with this without Fresh. Are there any features on your album? We’ve got Bun B, Lil Wayne, Lil Mo, Six Shot, Fresh, and some of the Young Money cats.
You’ve got the book the 48 Laws of Power on your desk. What’s the most important law? That book is one of my favorites. I read through all of them: your enemies, your friends, envy, jealousy, foolishness. They’re all important.
What was your reaction? Was it a surprise or something you had already discussed? Basically, I think muthafuckers took it out of context. It was Wayne’s label Young Money that was supposed to be doing a deal with Def Jam. I think muthafuckers just took it out of context so we was just like, Fuck it, we ain’t gonna fuck wit’ it. We’ll just keep it in house. So Lil Wayne and his company is signed to Cash Money. Recently in Tampa there was a show where Lil Wayne and B.G. performed together. If Wayne wanted to reunite with the Hot Boys, would you allow him to do that? Yeah, I mean, it would have to be done here anyway. It can’t be done nowhere else. It’s a hustle, it’s a business. Personally, I don’t give a fuck, but if it’s about some money then it’s cool with me. I ain’t trippin’. So a Hot Boys reunion album on Cash Money is a possibility? I mean, all of them are doing they own lil’ thing. Juvenile got a new CD. Wayne’s career is on the uprise, so I’d never ask him to stop if he’s got something he tryin’ to do. That’s not in our plans right now, though. We’ve got some things we’ve been masterminding since last year, and that’s what we’re working on now. You recorded Best of Both Worlds 2 with R Kelly, and then he did the album and tour with Jay-Z instead. I mean, I kinda looked at R Kelly’s situation and thought that might be the way to go to try to help his situation. But that was some fuck shit to me. I don’t even like discussin’ that shit.
With all the things you’ve been through internally, do you find it hard to trust people as far as bringing them into your camp? I started this shit on family and trust, but right now this shit is straight business. That family and trust and love shit will have you in court all fucked up, so now it’s just strictly business.
Kids see you with all the jewelry and cars, but what about long-term investments? I’m into real estate. My name alone makes a lot of money. I’ve got Birdman shoes, a frangrance, a watch deal with Jacob. I got a lot of shit outside of this record shit. That’s what I do, though, real estate and deals with my name. I own like 50 condos that I rent out, and I got 10 homes for my muthafuckin’ self. Real estate is my thing. I wish I had been got into it. I’ve been in it for like maybe four or five years. I think a lot of other niggas need to be turning this fast money into cash money, ya heard? The cars and all that shit, I love that shit, but they do depreciate, ya heard me? I’ll always fuck with that, but I got to fuck with both.
Lil Wayne made headlines recently when he said he was thinking of signing with Def Jam.
What’s the most meaningful accomplishment in your career so far?
What other albums do you have coming from the Cash Money camp? Lil Mo’s album is coming out in June, then Teena Marie and a new Big Tymers album.
You’ve got a plaque here for an annual turkey giveaway? Yeah, we’ve been doing that shit for a while. This is the ninth year. We was doin’ it independently with toys and shit, and then we decided to try this turkey shit. We was doin’ it in the hood, then muthafuckers started coming from different projects so we moved it to Shakespeare Park. Now we do like 15,000-20,000 turkeys every year. We do a lot of community events. We do school giveaways. I buy equipment for shit like basketball and baseball teams, and we give away school supplies. Does it ever scare you to realize that you’re a role model to kids? Nah, cause I like the fact that they know where I come from and they see that it can be done. I did it, and just for a muthafucker to see that it can be done, that gives them faith. Before us, we was just wishin’ on a star. How did you learn the business aspects of the music game? Experience. Trial and error. That’s how it go. I was young. I was only 15 or 16, raisin’ muthafuckers who was in the same situation as me. My daddy died when I was young and my momma died when I was young, so all I had was brothers. I was a young nigga raisin’ young niggas. That shit was crazy. After the situations with Juvenile, Turk, and B.G. leaving, do you think it’s better to keep business and family separated? With what I had to do in that situation, if I had to do it again, I probably would do it again. But with today’s business I don’t think I would. I wouldn’t just bring a muthafucker into my house like that unless he was blood. When you were on 106th & Park, a lot of people saw you kiss Lil Wayne. What’s that all about? We kiss each other on the cheek, it’s like an Italian thing. We all got each other’s tattoos. Every scar he got, I got. The same script on his body, I got on my body. I had the script and then he went and got it. Like a father/son thing? Wayne is my son. He’s my oldest. Everything in this bitch is Wayne. Wayne is my sole project, he’s my future. I can sit back like the godfather and Wayne gonna hold this bitch down. Was there ever a time when you looked at B.G., Juvenile, or Turk in the same way? Well, not to hold the fort down. It’s like, we all got older, and I saw them change from boys to men. When they became men, I guess they forgot who they were down for. OZONE MAY 2005
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