important ones. My brother, my ace, Money Clip D was just murdered on Thanksgiving night. The crazy thing is, we had just gone out on Thanksgiving feeding all the homeless people and going through the apartment complexes and projects downtown and everywhere else making sure people had food to eat. That’s just the kind of thing we do. When he was murdered, I just kinda shut down. Me and him were together every day. You know, every time you saw one of us, you’d see the other one too. So I kinda shut down. The King of the Streets Freestyles was my first time coming back doing anything rap-wise in months. I got in [the studio] and just fought myself to get out of that shell, and it turned out to be a good thing. That tape alone led to all kinds of crazy stuff happening so that was a blessing, man.
believed that [my career] should be a lot farther along than where I am. So I think the timing just worked out. With me and him, it’s kinda to the point where it isn’t even necessarily about music. We were pa’tnas first and foremost. We’re similar in a whole bunch of ways so everything just panned out. Now he’s got somebody on the label like me, I’m finna get out there and get it by any means necessary. He understands that with me, I’m not the average type of artist where you’ve gotta hold my hand and walk me here and walk me there. I think it’s definitely a power move because we’re both real dominant from Atlanta to Houston and that’s gonna bridge a different gap.
JAYTON
Did they find out what happened? My brother was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, man. He was an innocent bystander in that situation, but that’s all I can really speak on. What do you miss about him most? Everything, man. We struggled from nothing to having something to losing it all to gaining it all back and having something again. It’s hurtful because now that he’s gone, I actually have one of the biggest situations in my career, with me and TI doing a Grand Hustle/ABN deal. He used to push to see me in [that type of ] situation, you know? He was willing to sacrifice whatever to make sure we got there. So it’s hurtful now that he ain’t able to see it, but I’m gonna get out here and handle my business to the utmost so while he’s up there looking down he can still be proud. How did your deal with Grand Hustle come about? Me and Tip have been cool for a long time. It was just about timing, and now is a better time than ever. He had his eyes on different stuff I was going through, and he
20 // OZONE MAG
Will you be spending a lot more time in Atlanta? They know I live and die for Houston, so I’ma balance it out. But you know, I’m a street nigga. I’ve gotta be in the streets, that don’t ever change. I’m really out here with the lil homies, and if some shit is about to jump off and I feel that shit ain’t worth it I’m gonna be the first nigga in the middle of it deading it right then and there. I’ll forever be out there because I feel like there are so few real niggas in the different neighbourhoods and blocks and cities and states. The few who are there, make sure you reach out and try to involve some of the youngsters.
ROD-C
Was Grand Hustle involved with the ABN Renegadez project? Nah, that was actually done. The album comes out March 27. We’ve got Meek Mill, J Cole, Twista, Jim Jones, Krayzie Bone, Messy Marv, Freeway, a lot of features on there. I wanted to showcase each of [the Renegadez] in their own way. Everybody knows Jayton does his thing, that’s my little brother. Boss does his thing, Quis was up-and-coming, and Rod C is another real talented one that’s gonna shock