day thing where last week I was a Republican and I was answering to a label and I didn’t have creative control and all of a sudden I want to lash out in frustration. We’ve always done things our way and will continue to do so. If anything the danger lies more in saying some powerful shit that somebody doesn’t like. It’s equally as dangerous to not say anything. You’re right, but I think in the past with the civil rights movement and things like that, people took different approaches. Like Martin Luther King said, a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. That’s basically saying, “Hey man, by not doing anything you’re a part of it.” On “Like This and Like That” and in the video, you’re talking about the current state of immigration and especially how it affect Mexicans in our country. Well, on the song I’m talking about all kinds of stuff. I got the hustler’s perspective on there, and I’m flossin’ a little bit, because I’m not gonna be preachy on every bar. I just threw a little line or two in there. But the video, I think that kind of paints a picture, showing what an immigrant goes through and how a person could come to this country, really not hurting nobody, really just working. That’s really the main gist of the song. In terms of the movement, I’m not saying we deserve a little bit more respect, I just think that we need a little bit more understanding. There’s just not enough awareness out there. George Lopez is representing and we got a couple Mexicans on TV who every so often express themselves, but I just feel that we’re like the battery pack of America. We’re like a part of this Matrix where they want our money. Tthey wanna sell empanadas at McDonalds, they wanna sell tacos at Burger King, they want to target us on radio stations for advertising. Lincoln, Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, all these companies want to cater to us to get our money at the grocery store, but by the same token, [what would happen] if we really just took a day off like the way we were supposed to that one day, but no one did? Everybody was too scared. There’s not enough communication and organization within our community. But if we really did, the economy really would have taken a hit. Because guess what? All them people that work at them slaughterhouses, they wouldn’t have been there to kill them cows, which means there wouldn’t have been fresh meat for that day. Which means Jack In The Box would have been out of some hamburgers for like a week. That’s just the fast food industry. But we’re the ones picking the tomatoes, the strawberries, cotton, killin’ the cows at the slaughterhouse. Dangerous jobs. You might break your back or lose a 24
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limb at one of them slaughterhouses. There’s pesticides being sprayed over the people like roaches because they live on the property and pick them fuckin’ vegetables. I mentioned what Kanye said [about George Bush not caring about black people] as well, and I basically said “Hey we Kanye, you got a point and we’re in the same boat.” We [Mexicans] make up a large part of the U.S. Army and the military. Basically, we’re here to catch some bullets and buy some empanadas at McDonalds. We’re the battery pack. Our stomachs are hooked up into the Matrix and we keep this bitch going. We keep the economy afloat and pay taxes. We don’t take advantage of all of the things that our taxes should go for, like health care. If you’re an immigrant, you get hurt and sometimes you’re scared to go to the hospital. Are you afraid that message could fall on deaf ears? Are you trying to open up some ears? Not too many other rap artists are speaking about those issues. I think there’s two things. You got the media, which really is just a function of distraction. They want to keep us dumb and worried about Anna Nicole Smith all day instead of worrying about the real facts. They call these people insurgents, when really they’re just immigrants. They don’t have no army. They’re just muthafuckers in some regular ass clothes with some guns trying to defend their house or whatever. So you’ve got the media as a big factor and also, the music industry really doesn’t nurture those type of stars. Back when Hip Hop was fresh and young and expectations weren’t the same, all these playlists and payola didn’t exist. All the shit that is wrong with the music industry, all the lawyers and bankers and accountants, hadn’t moved into these executive positions. You still had “music people” in high places. So a lot of artists feel like they might not have that outlet. They feel like, “Well if I do say some shit [about these issues] in my song, my label’s not gonna let me put it on a record anyway. If I submit all these songs, they’re gonna turn them down cause I mention certain things and they want to hear some more party tracks.” I’m not making excuses for no artist because at the end of the day, if you call yourself an artist, you call yourself Hip Hop, you’re supposed to do what’s in your heart and represent that way. None of that shit should affect you. Not no car, not no mansion, not no advance, and not no label is supposed to make you less of a man to where you can’t express yourself in this country. I said that on the intro of my song. I said, “Dear Uncle Sam in that white and green van, why you chase my daddy, huh? Why you make him ran? On the 25th of August 1969, daddy was focused on the grind. He headed to