W
hen Pastor Troy graced the cover of the 2nd Anniversary issue of OZONE back in 2004, he was in a celebratory mood. It was a new year for the magazine and a new album for the Pastor, both on the cusp of stardom as the Southern Hip Hop takeover was growing from a flame into four-alarm blaze. “This is going to be the first Pastor Troy album to be released in the middle of the Southern Hip Hop phenomenon,” he said about Any Means Necessary in a conversation the day of the interview for the story. “I’ve yet to take full advantage of this new wave. This album will do it.” Since then, Troy has: • Seen his relationship with Universal Records dissolve • Broken up with, and made back up, with D.S.G.B. • Recorded diss records blasting Lil Jon and Lil Scrappy • Relinquished ownership of his club, Palladium Not exactly what one would imagine when trying to “take full advantage.” However to his credit, Troy has used the void of not having a major label to return to the underground roots that made him a star in the early 2000s. After dropping Hell 2 Pay, Face Off II, Stay Tru and most recently By Choice or By Force, Troy is once again aiming to cash in on a phenomenon that he helped build. We caught up with Troy on what happened to be the eighth anniversary of his groundbreaking debut We Ready: I Declare War as he relaxed in Baton Rouge during a mini-tour of the Gulf region. Here he talks about the advantages of going independent, his opinions about Southern Hip Hop and the respect he feels he deserves. 2006 has been a busy year for you, what all do you have going on? I’m working on this independent shit. I’ll have another album out at the first of the year. Another one? You just dropped two this year. Yeah, I dropped two back to back. But [Stay Tru] was like a mixtape. Then [with By Choice or By Force] Koch dropped it without getting the full potential out of it. I told them to hold on but they wanted to keep up with the mixtape. One was supposed to set the other up. Koch didn’t let me deliver what I wanted. How has it been working with Koch? One would think you’d be disenchanted to work with a label of any kind. Koch was just a one album deal, so I’m back independent. Matter of fact I’m back on the phone with Universal. The shit I was doing when I was with them, they weren’t prepared to work it. They saw what I did with We Ready: I Declare War but they wasn’t prepared to work with what I was giving them. I was in a situation where Universal was going through changes. It was my job to grind, but they ain’t have themselves together to catch that wave. I mean look now, Chamillionare went platinum. I had songs like “Vice Versa.” No disrespect to Chamillionare, but a lot of niggas have been able to benefit from the steps I’ve taken. My position is unique. It’s like Jesus bearing the cross. But I ain’t complaining though. How has working independent been for you so far? This indie thing is so gravy because you really get the opportunity to control your own destiny, man. You get out what you put into it. We got all our dates right. We done did three dates in a row, every thing routed out the right way. I got a nice home and I’m always working, so it’s good. After “We Ready,” Southern Hip Hop took a turn. It went from typically being laid-back to being more aggressive. You can hear a lot of your influence in today’s music, from Atlanta in particular. Do you feel that you get your props? I’m cool because I’m getting paid, but all I want is respect. It’s not like you owe me something, but don’t downplay me like I ain’t shit but you doing all my shit, keep that shit real. I know who I gave my props to: 8Ball & MJG, UGK, Outkast, Goodie Mob. You’re product of what you were raised on, and when I see ‘Ball and them I give them respect. It ain’t like that no more. New niggas think it’s about competition. You hear all kinds of ad-libs and shit on the music now. Niggas don’t even call me to come get on a track, niggas just say fuck it and take my shit and do it themselves. But I get props from the city for the most part, just not the radio station. The city supports what the radio plays. The streets don’t know these new niggas, it’s just that the radio plays them. In the club niggas know my shit word for word, but I don’t get played on the radio. Do you go back and listen to that first album at all? What do you hear? I do when I perform it. I listen to it sometimes. I can listen to the songs
and remember the day I was writing it. I hear the despair in my voice. That’s all I had and believed in. That’s all I wanted to do. I was telling myself, “I’m putting 150% into this.” I don’t even know what all that shit came from, it wasn’t no plan. We had classic lyrics, ad-libs, all that shit. When I listen to it, I’m like, damn, we set out to do what we had to do. Niggas still come up and shake my hand and tell me about that CD. When we interviewed you back in 2004, you were quoted in saying: “I ain’t faulting the niggas that’s doing it but as a veteran in this shit, I’m tired of hearing all these damn [wannabe] Pastor Troys. [Southern Hip Hop] is more than just screaming ‘nigga, killa, muthafucka, do this, do that.’ That ain’t what [Southern Hip Hop] is about. Niggas done took what it was about and turned it into something that everybody can party with and that party is about to turn into some bullshit. It’s gonna last as long as these niggas respect the music. Niggas are ready to ride the hell out of it and it’s about to get crazy because everybody wants to do the shit. If you put too much water in the Kool-Aid it’s gonna fuck it up.” Do you still feel the same, judging from what you’ve been hearing? Reese, man, did we call that shit or what? I saw it because it was getting too easy. When the labels come calling, watch out! Because at that point it ain’t about standards, it’s about money. Peanut Butter & Jelly? C’mon, dawg. I myself have difficulty thinking like “Damn, is this what it is? Is this what niggas like now?” But I’m staying with the gangsta shit. My shows are off the chain. I go from city to city, getting love and ain’t nothing I got on the radio. They go crazy in the club whenever I perform. But the streets still respect the real, so if it stays like that, its cool. I see more opportunities coming along for Southern Hip Hop, but I don’t necessarily see the music getting better. So who are you in the studio with right now? I’m in the studio with the Medicine Men, some people remember them as Beats By The Pound. So you already know.
PAID, BUT G IN T T E G M I’ S , “I’M COOL RESPECT. NEW NIGGA.” T IS ALL I WANIT COMPETITION T U O B A ’S THINK How ironic is it that you are working with the same producers who worked with Master P, the man you dissed 8 years ago? I respected that sound even then. I’m a businessman, so we gonna compliment each other. They understand, it ain’t no beef between us. These tracks thee dudes got for me, we going to war all over again. I look forward to going platinum. I know it’s gonna happen for me. The music gonna make me go platinum, not the marketing and promotion. I’m the best solo gangsta rapper in Atlanta, if not one of the first ones. What is the status of the relationship between you and D.S.G.B.? All them boys done got back in the group. This rap game is a learning process. Sometimes you gotta back up off a situation and let them figure it out for themselves, and that’s what happening right now. But they ready. We washed our hands together and been through too much for a few things to come between us. We changed this thing up together. When you get your own fans niggas tell you some bullshit, championing you, but that ain’t always the case. If you feel like it’s your turn, you got my blessings. We gotta do this shit together. I don’t be trippin’ on no bullshit. To this day, do still feel like your music gets misunderstood? I still get misunderstood. Especially when they take it out of context. Like when shit goes down at the club like we in a Western movie. We try to calm the club down a lot of times. We be telling the DJ to play some Keyshia Cole, something to calm these niggas down. Are you going to change your style? The music is definitely changing. I’ve been talking to God, asking what to do. Because, I dunno, man, a nigga so smart and I don’t wanna be wasting my time taking niggas as deep as I could. Because I know when I did that I was only reaching a few niggas and niggas in my clique. I used to think niggas was slow, but instead of stooping down to people’s level, I’m bringing niggas to my level and when niggas get it they gonna be like ‘oh shit!’ I’ma produce an album my self too. Since niggas dig my tracks I’ma produce an album myself and I’ma tell them everything on my mind. I got people from all over telling me ‘you did this for me.’ I remember when someone told me ‘Troy I just got shot with Face Off came out, my girlfriend bought it for me. I listened to that until I walked again. Shit like that keeps me content because niggas don’t get shit like that from this new music. 89