putting food in their stomachs. We come from the bottom; we don’t put up with bullshit from nobody. You see me saying I’m balling, but that’s not the message here, the message is that there’s money to be made, and you need to do what needs to be done to make that. Most of my niggas have felonies and shit they’re not giving us any jobs and you know what we have to do to get the paper. Most of my niggas like to live lavish, and I can’t knock you for that, I want everybody to hustle for their paper. A lot of people put out their own groups but they really aren’t doing much. What makes the Diplomats successful? Because we set the precedent for this. We have this thing called N.W.A. Rules, we knew what it took for us to get there. And there’s no “I” in team, everything is we, and I’m not talking fronts; that’s what we embody. You see me, you see Juelz, Cam, Zekey; you’ll see an army if you need to. And everybody goes different directions and then makes their money and brings it back home. That’s why we’re all stars, everybody is selling records. That’s what N.W.A. did, they had stars that complimented stars, and the movement they had was so strong. They made hundreds of hundreds of millions before they broke up and even when they broke up the family tree was so strong that they still made a lot of money on the west coast and that’s what we respect. Me and Cam have been studying this game since we were in high school as far as hustling and the streets. And that’s what we bring to this music; all we know is street savvy. You learn a lot when you’re in the streets; you learn how to learn fast, and that’s how we got in this game. Even though it took us ten years, we’re here now. Every year we’re getting better and we never declined. Every year we just dug in and dug in, we know what the streets want we know what they’re going through. We know the bad times, the hard times, and the good times, and we’re still going through it. I keep telling people that the rap game is like the crack game because we could still end up dead or in jail. So what I’m doing is taking the risk of saying powerful words on wax just like you’re taking that whiff and going outside and making that money, we are both in the same boat. That’s why I go at niggas like Jay. He’s not in this boat anymore, he may be able to remember back to the times when he was struggling, but he’s not in this fucking boat. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have to go out and hustle anymore. He doesn’t have to do that anymore. So you know what we have to do? We have to take people like that down. We need a new spokesman, somebody who’s in it. At what point do they get off that boat? When they lose integrity. When you lose the integrity of the game, when you lose the integrity of a hustler’s mind. You’re too caught up in the corporate world, you’re so far up Doug’s ass you want him to be your father. Now pardon my French, but how could you ever want a cracker to be your uncle or father. We’re supposed to be schooling them to the game, they love us for what we’re doing, and we’re the ones making them the fucking money. But you, you’re looking like a puppet now. You were a boss, but now you’re a worker. How does that look? What kind of example are you setting for the hustlers out there that give it their all? You’re lost your fucking integrity to corporate America. I have an executive position, but I don’t let any of that compromise what I do. You can tell from my contract and from me as a person. And I’d say fuck a job before I let anyone compromise what I do. Shout to Kevin Liles and Lyor Cohen for giving me the opportunity, but all they did was give me the opportunity to take over this game as a whole because I’m learning both sides of the fence. I’m so keen to the game now, no one can tell me no for shit. Me and him playing the same position, except I’m not under anyone’s ass. I don’t put on hard heel shoes and button ups to go to work, I live my life. They gave me the executive position because of my street savvy, who I am and what I mean to this music. And I filled the void right now; a void that I feel can’t be filled by many. And this is a void he once filled and he can’t fill it any more. My niggas don’t know what an IPO means. They know what birds mean, they know what bitches and fly cars mean, they know what prison means, and they know what death means. They don’t know what a 401k plan means. You have to keep them inspired to make money and once they make that money you have translate it for them, and show them how to make more money. You made a special version of “We Fly High” for the New York Giants. How did that come about? Shout out to Michael Strahan, man, Strahan, Pierce, the whole Giants, even the management, they all showed me love. They told me it’s a motivational song, so I said, “I’ll do you one better. I’ll do you your own version.” They said they’ll start coming out of the tunnel to it, so that’s how that came about. What do you think about the Giants season? They got a couple players hurt, and you know it gets rough but our 96
loyalty and integrity to the game will take us to the top, just like the Diplomats. Shout out to the Giants, I will meet you at the top, we’re going to pull a sleeper on these niggas. I’ll meet you at the Super Bowl in Miami. You and Juelz are working very heavily with Southern cats, what about it catches your ear? I’m about working with music in general. I was on The Game remix, the “Walk it Out” remix, we’re about music and business. We know what the people want. We’re like chameleons when it comes to this money, we’ll blend in to get this money. That’s why niggas from New York always took work out of town, because when they got out of town they know how to get it. That’s the same thing with music, it’s just taking work out of town, it’s just breaking bread with another block. A lot of New York artists are not as open to the new movements as Dipset has been. Where ever we go you hear New York, we’re confident in our identity, that’s why we can go on a track with some Southern cats and still rep New York. How was it working with Game? Shout out to Game, that’s my brother from another mother, we’ve been doing music since my first album. I just commend him on what he’s doing. What do you think about his situation with 50 Cent? Everybody has their own way of getting money so let that boy go crazy if he wants to man, he always gets his point across, [laughs] if it’s not broke, don’t try to fix it. It seems you get more money from Koch than other artists with situations. Yeah that’s the Jim Jones/Koch piggy bank records [laughs]. That’s my piggy bank right there. You go find out how much we’re worth, you might hit your head. How did you first meet Alan, and how did the deal come about? Me and Cam were searching for deals with the majors, and the majors were giving me some problems. So we said we’re going to do it like they’ve been doing it in the South and West Coast for years, we’re going to give them a headache. And by me doing 108,000 my first week, I’m a contender with the majors. They said I did better than something like 75 percent of the game in my first week. Juelz has been doing pretty good lately. Of course, that boy had some hits, that “Whistle Song.” He killed them this year, that Chris Brown, he came on strong. Has the Def Jam situation made it awkward for you with the Jay issue? Not at all, we work with L.A. Reid, shouts to him, he’s a good man, he knows how to get that money in. After he is done with Def Jam, will you guys bring him to Koch? That’s his prerogative. Whatever he wants to do. He’s a boss up here at Diplomat Records. What else can we expect out of Dipset? Hell Rell, he’s coming out soon, and the Byrdgang compilation will be out in February. There were rumors going around that there was a fall out between you and some of your crew, this last weekend. No, man, no truth to that. People would love for us to fall out. Shout out to the whole Dipset. You just signed Katt Williams to Dipset also. What kind of album are you going to be putting out? Yeah shouts out to him. We’re going to do a half comedy half music album with him, you know how funny he is. We’re going to build a marriage between music and comedy like no other. Anything else? I just want people to keep integrity out there, this game as a whole is in a state of emergency. Like I’ve been telling people, if we have no integrity, we’ll lose it all. I’m the voice the hood, the voice of the ghetto, the havenots, I’m like Robin Hood. When I don’t do it anymore, I’m gone, until then I’m going to tear a hole in this game. And all the fake shit, and the bullshit I will expose. I don’t want the top I just want the rock, we don’t claim to be the king, we just do our thing.