the deal two months after that. You, J-Kwon, and Nelly have all come out of St. Louis with that party vibe. Yeah, that's just a flavor we've got in the Midwest, period. We tike to party, kick it, and go out to the ctubsr so we make that type of music. Do you think you've helped put the Midwest on speak? Yeah, l'm part of that estabtishment?
the map, so the
Who would you credit the most with that? Nelly? No. You gotta took back and think. You've got Bone llhugs-N-Harmonyl, Twista, a Lot of peopLe from the Midwest. R Kelty, he's not a rapper but he's atways been making music. Then there,s the underground scene, too. I mean, there's a tot of people. ,,1 trust me.,, ls that your philosophv? Yeah, I trust me. That's business. ln this shady game, you can't trust nobody. Trust ain't there. Another thing is, I don't want nobody messing up for me. lf there's some mess up, lwant jt to be my fautt. you know? lwant it to be my fautt instead of somebody etse messing up and me getting mad at them. lf I mess up. it's my fault. I've gotta fix the problem. you know? So that's why I trust me.
You're wearing a shirt that says
Who do you have on the album as far a5 features? Janet Jackson, R Ketty, LiL Wayne, David Banner, Nate Dogg, and the Get it Boyz of course.
HOPES TO
HN TIIT JACIIFO|r AGAIIV
Does it have a similar vibe as your last album? You know me, I'm gonna stitt keep the ctubs jumping, lt,s a party, fun vibe. I atso got the street records on there with the Get it Boyz and "We Do" with Bun B. l've got some soto joints on there too. lt's a mixture on this atbum, it's street but I'm stitL hittin'the ctubs with
that party vibe.
UIITII HE SOPIIOMORT AITB[IM. lill$ Do you think that a lot of street cats had a hard time respecting you otrrN r.ABE[,, AltD HEt OUIN CLroUt iff:Xti:l:j:i;3.'J,J:T;:11ffi'1''; of street cats and they l::lii?# iff[:::
company and doinglomething with my crew, the Get to stay a member of anythjng, I want to etevate
lf people call you a commercial rappe., how would you respond? you know what? I don't even care 1,,turi,,; as tong as-the fans who've been with me love lf the peopte tove it' that's who I'm making the
it
too.
Boyz. I'm not
trying
it
DTp/priority?
Are you still signed to No. lwas, but I'm not no more. Stot-O-Lot, that's my record [abe[. Did vou feel like being a part of Drp was hordins you back from doins
own
thing?
your ffi:.g:,t iJi:T"t#lii#li;til1H5!""1older'
I
Nah, because that's where it att started. lt's just that l've got to do what got to do. But, them my guys right there, so we coot. lt,s atl [ove, it ain't
nothins.
It seem5 like your career just blew up pretty quick. How
has
your life
changed? WeLt, you know, back then nobody reatly knew me or cared too much about my music. I was just another guy trying to get a deal and rap. But now, peopte
know me worLdwide and peopte appreciate my music. Now that this atbum is getting heard, l'm get ting money and l'm grindin'trying to take it to the next tevet. l'm tryin' to hetp my foLks eat and do what they gotta do cause they're into the music thing. The Get it Boyz, they rap too, and a lot of other peopLe.
(the Get
it
Boyz walk
Thurr they go.")
W
ond Chingy comments, "You just spoke ,em up.
Will their project be released on Priority too? We just working things out now, so we'tt see. Backing up a little bit, how did you originally get put on? you hooked up
with the Traksta.z?
Actuatty the Trakstarz, them my homeboys from way back in the day doing this music thing. They wasn't dojng too much and I wasn't doing too much, so we decided we needed to formutate a ptan to make this happen. We started working on the Jackpot atbum. ActualLy, the aLbum was already done before we did the deal, for reat. We did a five song demo and sent it to a coupte peopte. [DTP'S] Chaka lzutu] happened to be one of the ones that catted back and tike it. We put it on vinyt, sent it out there, and got a nice buzz and got 12
rhev teLtin' me to keep doins it' so' nah' I don't
what happened with Drp? why isn,t chaka zuru maoasing you? WetL, them stitt my peoptes, but it's just that l'm starting my own record
OZONE TIIAGAZINE NoVEMBER 2004
how do vou switch
I go with the times. I write aboui whatever I tike to do, what I see and what I want to do. Whoever can relate to it, that,s who I write for.
5.ffi:"iT,liill: J8l\e
been soing throush personauy that you
Basicatty, Powerbattin' is just the fottow-up to Jackpot. The accomptishments go on and on with my second atbum. It's just a cetebratjon of coming from nothing to something. Did you expect Jackpot
to be so successful, three million 50ld? Not for real. lwas a new artist coming out, so I woutda been happy if it went gotd. I woutda been happy if it soLd 20O,OOO. Three tjmes ptatinum? You can't be mad at that. I ain't expect it, but I was hoping for it though. Yeah, that's a lot of records sold. Would you credit that to the radio support you had for "Right Thurr"? I'd credit that to radio, magazines, and the shows. lwas out here grindin'and I'm stitt out here. I ain't stopped yet, I ain't had a break yet. I'd credit that to everybody who had something to do with my success. I just hope they show that same love on my second aLbum.
ry
Do the Get it Boyz have a project coming out? Yeah, we've got a project coming out next year catted Hood
Staz.
lot of artists come out and put their crew on, like Nelly and the St. Lunatics and Emjnem and D1?, and don't get the same respect, You just let your music speak for itsetf and do you. Don't tet nobody put no negative stuff in your brain. That's how we rott. We get respect cause we real people. A