Once when we interviewed Wayne, he said that if you couldn’t produce for him he didn’t want to do any more albums. Obviously, that changed. Wayne didn’t have a choice. He had to go out there and get it. I take my hat off to him for doing what he did. He could’ve said, “I’ma settle for whatever [tracks] y’all bring me,” but instead he went out and found producers and found songs for his album. Since you had a chance to watch Wayne grow over the years as an artist, how do you feel about Gillie the Kid claiming he wrote for him? I can honestly say that I’ve seen Wayne grow into the artist he is now. I don’t know if Gillie wrote nothing for him. I’ve never seen that, but honestly, I have seen growth in times. At certain times, I would listen to what he said, and he also would listen to what I said. I was like, “Dude, you gotta get back to the South and give the people what they want. You can’t do those songs where you’re just trying to get on the radio.” The whole point of The Carter was to get back to our roots. How was Cash Money able to develop such a roster of talented artists at a young age? It’s kind of amazing when you think about it that you had a group with Lil Wayne, Juvenile, BG, and Turk, so long ago, and they’re still relevant today as solo artists. Our city was always surrounded by talent. For instance, when Wayne came aboard, I was like, “He’s the truth. Y’all might see him as unpolished right now, but let him hang around. He’s gonna be that dude.” And their work ethic when they were young, you couldn’t stop these dudes from writing raps. B.G. would come in with tablets full of songs. That shit is unheard of now. Now artists come to the studio and want to write their verse. And my opinion mattered in the beginning. You’ve gotta think about what Cash Money did. They took some solo artists, put ‘em together and made a group, broke it down to some other shit and kept it moving. We took the producer and the dude that owned the record company and made a group. So it had to be a vision or something.
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At one point, Wayne was talking about signing with Jay-Z. At the time, I can honestly say that he wasn’t happy. Something happened and they made him happy, so he’s still there. But at the time he wasn’t happy. He might not speak on it because that’s his people, but at the same time, why even do that if you’re not happy. What’s the general feeling in New Orleans towards Cash Money? I gotta say it’s half and half. A lot of people take their side and some people take my side. That’s just life. I guess when I did the interview [on the radio in New Orleans] dude felt like I was trying to smear his name or whatever, but I’m just saying what happened. I promised everybody when I get everything settled, I’m going to actually really say what happened and what it was all about. But at the time when it first happened, they were like, “You can’t talk on it, you can’t speak on it, you can’t do this, you can’t do that.” My approach to it is different from everybody else’s. B.G. felt like, “Fuck ‘em.” I’m not that type of dude. I feel like the pen is mightier than the sword. I can curse you out, we can do diss songs and all that, but that ain’t gonna get me nowhere. Basically, you got some money but still feel like there’s money owed. Yeah, they still owe me, and I’m not ever gonna let it go. If God takes me off this earth, I hope my kids inherit it. Go get it. Go after it, cause it’s rightfully mine. I can’t speak on the amount because of the settlement, but I can say that it’s a large amount. If they don’t go by the rules of what they’re supposed to do, then my next step is to bring it back to wherever it’s gotta go to make them do what they’re supposed to do. And in the meantime you’re just trying to move forward.
Exactly. I just want to do my own thing. I’m independent. I made a promise to myself: I’ll never let another man control what’s going on with me. I’m not going to do homie business, buddy business, none of that. It’s me. I’m going to know what’s going on with my figures. If I end up on VH1 on a special, it’s my own fault from here on out. It’s kind of like a Dr. Dre situation where you’d rather just leave the past behind you and focus on making new music. Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to do from the get go. It’s just funny how dude and them can’t leave me alone. Just leave me out of your mouth, dude, it’s just that simple. Wayne is y’all president. Y’all label has got a president. Y’all got this, y’all got that. Y’all happy, dude. So just leave me alone. I don’t have nothing to do with y’all. Y’all don’t have nothing to do with me. But I don’t have no bad feelings towards them at all. Despite what they’ve done to me, I can’t move on feeling that way. I think it’s better for me not to hate them, and that’s genuine. I still love ‘em. We were raised like brothers and we grew up together, but unfortunately business changed all that. If you were able to come to an agreement as far as a financial settlement, would you go back to Cash Money if they wanted you to? Wayne asked me to do something on his albums. I’m willing to do it, but there are stipulations. If it happens, it’s on him. He reached out and I agreed to it. After the [radio] interview I saw Wayne in Atlanta. I was leaving out the hotel and he was coming in, so I stopped him as a man and I said, “Dude, I don’t have a problem with you. Do you have a problem with me?” He was like, “Nah, we good,” and I was like, “Wayne, none of this had anything to do with you. I understand [Baby] is your man and that’s who you ride with, and I’m cool with that.” Is there anything else you want to get off your chest? For real, I’m here to stay. If you don’t like it, shit, fuck you in your ass with a broken piece of glass. [laughs] It’s good to hear we won’t be seeing you bankrupt on any VH1 specials. [laughs] Not if I can help it. I’m not going that route. I’m blessed. I look around and see where I’m at in my life and my accomplishments, and it ain’t got nothing to do with money or cars, none of that. It’s a good feeling to be like, this is me. This is mine and I ain’t gotta worry about nobody taking it from me. I ain’t gotta worry about if I’m going to get all of [my money] or not, or if I’m even going to get the message. For instance, if you went to somebody else to do the interview and I never got the message – now, you can come directly to me and I’m going to either say “yes” or “no.” Nobody can make me look like the bad guy. How did Katrina affect you? Did you move from New Orleans? I’m still there. I ain’t going nowhere. That’s my home, but it did affect me. When [Hurricane Katrina] happened, it made you realize what’s important to you. You’ve gotta leave some shit behind, be it a Bentley or whatever. You’ve gotta get your family. My whole family evacuated and it was one of those situations where the only thing left was a five-star hotel. If you’ve got your whole family together, it’s like, what’s going to matter to you? Your family or money? I was glad I was in a position where I could help my family, friends, or whatever. There were so many people scattered everywhere, that made me realize that besides your family, everything else is obsolete. I think I’m blessed, so it’s going to keep coming to me anyway. You seem to do a good job of keeping your family life private. Is that intentional? It’s definitely intentional, because there are some characters in this music shit. Some good and some bad, and I don’t think that’s good for your family. I’ve been doing this a long time, even before Cash Money. It was a gang of years before them and I have learned some hard lessons. I believe you keep your family separated from what’s going on with this music game. With the threats or statements that were made at the radio station, are you afraid of Baby or anyone at Cash Money? Hell no. I don’t fear nothing but God. The fear of man, that’s just not in me. We’ve gotta realize that Hip Hop is still a growing thing. Kids are listening to [the radio]. It’s another generation coming up on us, so it kinda made me refrain from what I was really feeling right then and there. My kids could be listening, or your kids could be listening. If I had just gone crazy [on the radio] that would’ve been a message that I’m sending somebody. Rather than that, I just said what I really felt, which is, “For real, dude, I still love you. If I saw you right now, rather than punch you, I would give you a hug.” //
Editor’s Note: We attempted to contact Baby and Cash Money/Universal Records for comment, but have not received a response as of press time. OZONE MAG // 93