CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD Words // Randy Roper
He went from South Carolina to the Wendy Williams Experience, and now Charlamagne Tha God is one of the top radio personalities in the country. Some rappers hate, some listeners do, too. But since no one knows what’s coming out of his mouth next, people love listening to him. You’ve been on the Wendy Williams Experience for two years now. Tell me how that whole experience has been. As far as radio, that was an adjustment because I come from doing my own show, “Charlamagne Tha God’s Concrete Jungle” in the Carolinas. I’ve never been nobody’s co-host. So it’s not my system, it’s her system. I had to find a way to do my numbers and put up my points within her system. But as far as the career aspect, it was the best move I could’ve made at the time. My talent is showcased on a national level now. I went from zero to sixty in 15 seconds and in the next two years I’m going to go from 60 to 200. It’s a beautiful thing. Wendy has a bad rep with a lot of people. Do people that don’t like Wendy not like Charlamagne Tha God? I came into the situation with my own enemies. It’s like the industry hates me just as much as they hate her. I think it’s just because we don’t kiss the ass of the celebrities. Nobody’s come up to me like, “I don’t like Wendy, so I don’t like you.” But I have heard people say, “Wendy, I like you, but I don’t like Charlamagne.”
he will kill newborn babies, somebody had to check him. You do a lot of things outside of radio. Care to talk about that? Yo, my South Crack [Carolina] album should be out no later than August. We got distribution through EMI for our label imprint Stupid Dope Moves. I got a real nice TV situation ‘bout to go on. God is good. Anything else you want to talk about? I just got named one of the Top 30 radio personalities under the age of thirty. It’s a big thing because it’s not just black radio; it’s country, rock, and different people in the industry under the age of thirty. In 2005 I got named one of the top influential people in arts and entertainment under the age of 30 in South Carolina. Now I’m saying that to say this: WHXK Hot 103.9 in Columbia, SC won’t let me do [my show] “Concrete Jungle.” I asked [the station’s program director] Chris Conners numerous times; he says the general manager Steve Patterson always says “no.” I think it’s funny how I’m one of the top personalities in the nation; I work for Inner City Broadcasting, but they won’t let me do “Concrete Jungle” when I come to the town and it bothers me. It’s not like they don’t need the help; they’re number 13 in the market and their competition is number 3. I was on one day a week after they demoted me and now I’m one of the top 30 under 30.
What was your problem with comments Lil Wayne made in a recent article in OZONE? I’m writing a book called Socially Irresponsible and a lot of times people in general with a voice, when you’re an influential person like Lil Wayne--when you got a brother like that saying, “I won’t rap about you, I’ll murder you, your family, your wife, and your newborn baby--that should’ve had everybody in an outrage. We don’t get outraged for nothing. They shot Sean Bell 50 times; we didn’t get outraged. Jena 6, we didn’t get outraged. We saw how they responded to Hurricane Katrina; we didn’t get outraged. People really don’t care no more. But when you hear a brother saying
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