Rreparing for
his photo shoot in an Atlanta recording studio, T.l,
PSC (Pimp Squad
Clique); and Grand Hustle's female rappers Xtaci. DJ
all business, His entire crew is on-hand, including his business Pispartners I in his label Grand Hustle Entertainment; his posse, the
our chief of staff, They keep the shit moving, make sure shit is in order for us. Ctay brings in different opportunitjes and Doug [Petersonl does as wett, They're tike two different reatms of the company, CLay deats more with promotions and endorsements, things tike that.
Drama's Gorgsto 6rillz: Down With the King mixtape is blaring through the speakers over and over, a constant reminder of T.l.'s lyrical assault on his current rival Lil Flip. Despite being locked up for part of the year,
You
T.l. certainly knows how to keep his name current ln the streets. still, you get a glimpse of T.l. the famity man when he takes a quick lunch break in the studio lounge with his youngest son and longtime girlfriend, former Xcape singer Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, A few weeks later, we caught up with T.l. by phone while handting some business in NYC for his upcoming album, Urban Legend.
when we were doing your photo shoot, you were commenting that there's "nice T.1." and "cocky T.1." ls there some truth to that?
stirred up the streets with your DJ Drama/Gangsta Grillz mixtape aimed at Lil' Fllp, Down with the King, There's been a lot of controversy around you calling yourself the "King of the South," so how can you justify that?
Man, the peopLe support me, period. I'm the King I said so.
of the South because
the conversations you had with him about Lil' Flip were being recorded? Yeah, yeah. He knew he was being recorded. Did Scarface know that
I have a hot head sometimes, but I don't think I'm hatf as bad as peopte think I am. lt's ying and yang. There's positives and negatives to everything
Now that the South is finally getting recognition in the hip-hop world, do you think it hurts the South to have two of lts biggest artists against
you do.
each other?
You had one of your children there with you at the studio. How do you balance having a career and having kids? It's a sacrifice. t have four kids, and basicatty, l'm being there for them less now so I can be there more latet That's a mission, making sure they have everything they need. Luxuries and necessities. They're not gonna be spoited, though. They're gonna have the things they need but they witt underctand and respect the vatue of a dotlar as long as I'm there. You made a joke that your son should be on the magazine cover - would you encourage your kids to rap, or be in the entertainment business? I want my kids to do whatever they want to do. I want them to have access to anything they want to do. ldon't want their options to be limited.
As you've been promoting your new album,
it
seems
like you've been working hard to brand your label
Grand Hustle more so than the label you're signed to,
Atlantic.
lmean, Attantic don't need my hetp. Attantic was the home of Patti LaBetle and a tot of other tegends, not mistaken.
Do you plan to
if
l'm
IT'M
I don't give a damn if you're in the South, North, East, or West, if two men have a probtem they gonna have to handle the situation. Att this shit about
"unity," man, you just unify with whoever you wanna unify with. Ain't
none of your business what the next man do. You can't telt me who not to muthafuckin' have a disagreement with, Where the fuck were you when this bitch was on stage sayin' "Game Over"? I don't give a fuck about what none of these niggas say. That's how shit gets btown up to be bigger than
it
reatty is. There's other peopte comin' in sideways, puttin' they nose where a muthafucker don't betong. I don't need no hetp, no muthafuckin' peanut galtery Shit, man, anybody who knows me knows that anything I say, pimp, it's cause I mean it. I ajn't never said nothing that wasn't on my heart. I ain't never said anything that I didn't stand behind, whether it's "King of the South" or anything I've said on the record. Did you get
the reaction you were hoping for from the mixtape? Man, I ain't looking for no reaction. l'm lookjng to uncover the truth and tett peopte what's reaLty going on. There's a lot of muthafuckers faking and flossing and tying for so long, l'm showing peopte what the real is. lf you choose to betieve [Lit' Ftip] then continue on, but if you're the kind of person I am, you'tl want to know the truth for reaL and l'm just putting r't out there for you. Muthafuckers are lying, man. I wanna show how they are when they ain't actin' tike they hard. Man, quit muthafuckin' flexin'for the cameras and microphones and be a reat person. I ain't lookin'for no muthafuckin' reaction, I don't give a fuck. I gotta say what's on my heart. That's the way I Live and operate.
THE
KING OF
THE rerease arbums rrom Grand H"'rt BECAUTE I 'AUTH
through Atlantic? That's possible. lt hasn't been discussed yet. We've got Big Kuntry Mac-Boney, AK, and C-Rod.
$AID tA.n
Do you think it's gonna be harder for them to establish their own identities, if they come out kind of under your wlng? A lot of people are tired of rappers putting on their friends. It's gonna be easier for them. They don't have to go through the shit I went through. They're spoited, to tetL you the truth. But it ain't just me coming out and trying to put my friends on, Even back when we first met each other, I toLd 'em I couLd rap and they were tike, "Shit, us too." We atways had a common goat, it just happens that I got there first. We've
spent a significant amount of time together; we've known each other since we were ten, fifteen.
One of the arguments Lil' Flip has made is that he'! sold more records than you. Man, he Lyin'. That man sotd tike 1.4, 1.3 mittion right? This man got a double aLbum, which means it gets doubte scans, That means he's got two albums beinq sotd for 512.99, the same price as one of mine. 5o this man ain't so{d but 700,000 records, man, Right now we've lsoLd] Uke 910,000. It'5 smoke and mirrors, man. lt's that buttshr't that niggas be puttin'out
there. What's the first release coming from Grand Hustle? It's gonna be a group atbum, PSc. Pimp Squad Ctick. We're gonna put that out the beginning of 2005. lt's catted 25 to Lr'fe. That's what the guys wanted to name the atbum. They've reatly got control of this project. At the end when it's crunch time I might add a tit'something, but they've decided what songs they want to be on the aLbum and what artjsts they want to work with. I ain't reatty tryin' to dictate this project. From what they totd me, they agreed on the atbum titLe 25 to Lile 'cause they att turned 25. and they gon' be on this shit for tife. On Nelly's song "Pretty Toes, " you've got a line where you said, "l don't wanna rap no more, l'm C-E-O." What's the advantages and disadvantages of being an artist and being an CEO? The advantages of being an artist is that everywhere you go, peopte know who you are. More recognition, more special treatment. The groupies are good (ioughs), and you get in ctubs free. But the disadvantage is that you neyer know where the money's going untess you take extra special tjme to find out. You're not reaLly connected with the ins and outs of the profits and tosses of the company.
Who's involved with Grand Hustle as a labet besides you, and what are
their roles? Me and Jason
lceter] own the company togethet and Ctay [Evans] i5 like
think bootlegging has anything to do with it? Bootlegging hurts everybody, not just me, lt hurts everybody's potentiat. I mean, if you come out today and soLd 10 mittion, you coutd've sotd 13 mittion if it wasn't for the bootLeggers. That's just part of the business Do you
right now. What other side income do you have besides music? I do my thing. I have several sources of income, but I'm not gonna put 'em atl out there. I do shows, I setl cars Hea\ry Chevy Ctassic Chevys - that we restore. I'm about to open a new restaurant with my uncte in Bankhead. We got att kinds of things we're working on. When you put out sonEs like "Look What I Got," do you think the average person who doesn't have a lot of money can relate to that? I feet tjke its 50/50. Hatf of 'em Like to hear that shit 'cause jf they had
the money they'd do the same thing. But you can't oversaturate the
market with bragging about what you've got, because you've got to have some kind of substance and meaning other than that. So, I feet tike your messaqe shoutd be 50/50 or maybe 60/40 depending on which qroup of peopte you're trying to reach. When I say, "Look what I got, " l'm speaking on material things and atso "respect from the niggas and G's." l'm tatking about my fottowing, my admiration and presence in the ghetto, not just OZONE MAGAZINE
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