Bubba Sparxxx has consistently been a victim of bad timing. Although ?Ugly? was a hot record in 2001, the Georgian suffered as the press took jabs at him following Eminem?s newly laid footprints. Then, as Bubba returned for an imaginative follow-up album, Deliverance Hip-Hop turned away in search of Crunk ? then, all the rage.
Perhaps times have changed, and so has luck. Almost three years later, Bubba says he?s finally home. The rapper is no longer under Timbaland?s wing, but instead, the Dungeon Family/Purple Ribbon umbrella that he always toted in his rhymes. Backed by Mr. Collipark and Organized Noize, The Charm, dropping April 4th, shows a completely different side of the once perennially frustrated rapper. Bubba reflects on his personal and musical changes with AllHipHop.com. He reveals a brotherly friendship with a certain New York rapper fans might not expect. Lastly, for the sportsmen [and women] out there, Bubba gives personal advice on fishing bait.
AllHipHop.com: I really enjoyed this album as compared to your previous. Hip-Hop right now, is much about ice-grills and screwfaces. This is honestly, a happy album. How true is that to what?s going on in your life?
Bubba Sparxxx: It?s 100% true. I?m goin? through a renaissance, man ? a rebirth. I?m super excited. I?m back with my home team, man. The people who raised me, the people who put me in the business, that?s who I?m with now. I just can?t ask for much more. My last album was dominated by a somber mood. I just wanted to shake it off this time. I wanted to go in a fresh direction.
AllHipHop.com: Besides the business end, was there something in your personal life that opened up these clouds?
Bubba Sparxxx: I got a girl now, man. We?ve been dating for quite a while. That?s definitely something that?s improved my moods and s**t.
AllHipHop.com: My favorite record on the album is ?The Other Side,? with Petey Pablo?
Bubba Sparxxx: A lot of people are sayin? that! We tryin? to put that record out [as a single] too. I thought it was real good, I thought it would work.
AllHipHop.com: So many times when there?s singing in a rap song, it scares away the Hip-Hop in some people, myself included. This joint though, it comes across brilliantly. What prompted you to write this record?
Bubba Sparxxx: I was workin? with Rico Wade from Organized Noize, which is like my foundation. With each of my albums, I kinda went in with him first to set the tone for what the whole project?ll be like. I had decided that I wanted a brighter mood on this album. It was a whole arrogance and whole attitude ? like, ?I?m on the Other Side of the Room.? If the negativity?s on that side of the room, then I?m over here on my side of the room. Petey Pablo killed that song! Halfway through the process of us working that [as a single], ?Ms. New Booty? leaked, and DJ?s just started rollin? with it, man. We had to catch up.
AllHipHop.com: So will this be a single soon?
Bubba Sparxxx: I don?t know. I love what Collipark did on ?Heat It Up.?
AllHipHop.com: You?ve got songs like ?As the Rims Spin? and ?Wonderful.? These songs have a very whimsical production to them. They?re not like something we?re hearing from a lot of your peers. Is this is part of your being with Purple Ribbon?
Bubba Sparxxx: It?s definitely in the spirit in the Dungeon Family. Knowing for a fact that that?s officially the flag I?m carrying now, I definitely thought I needed to revive that spirit. Like you said, it?s not really what?s goin? on in music right now. It?s a definite spirit.
AllHipHop.com: You said you?re back with the home-team. In your bios, it?s been written that your career started because of an A&R at So So Def. So, do you mean that you?re back with JD now?
Bubba Sparxxx: No, no, no, no. I was part of this production company with a staff producer at So So Def. I?ve never had any ties with So So Def, prior to now. I strictly mean in the sense [of being back with] the people I grew up on ? the people who define my sense of good Hip-Hop music ? the Dungeon Family, and Big Boi. It?s a complete blessing too that Jermaine Dupri is the Head of Urban Music at Virgin, and he?s 200 % in my corner. I don?t wanna take anything way from that.
AllHipHop.com: You have another record, ?Runaway.? It?s a very honest song. How difficult is it for you to trust your audience on that level?
Bubba Sparxxx: You just gotta believe that if you give you people a choice ? that they?ll pick nutrition. That?s a faith that I know I have myself as a fan, a listener. I hope that my fans will make the same decision.
AllHipHop.com: Hip-Hop moves so fast right now. As you prepared this album, how much mind do you pay to the trend of it all?
Bubba Sparxxx: Whenever something pops off, I wanna know why people like it and why they f**k with it. That?s not to say that I let the trend affect what I do. I?m at least gonna [notice it]. Like, I don?t follow ?snap? music, I just follow rap music. D4L, Dem Franchise Boyz, I get a kick out of checkin? them out, and seeing them do their thing. You not gonna see me doin? that in a video anytime soon, but I appreciate what they?re doing.
AllHipHop.com: So much attention, in 2005, was put on Georgia and Houston. You were releasing albums in not-as-friendly times for the South in the marketplace —
Bubba Sparxxx: — When I dropped Deliverance, it was the absolute worst possible timing for that record. Lil? Jon?s got the whole world gettin? crunk, and here I come with a guitar and a banjo.
AllHipHop.com: Do you feel that now, with the attention there, that you?ll see your largest audience yet?
Bubba Sparxxx: I hope that?s the case. Everything that?s goin? on and comin? out of the South right now is a part of me. But I can?t say I do the music that you hear coming out of the South predominantly right now. At the same time, maybe because all eyes are on the South right now, people will give me an extra look and an extra listen. I think I?ve got the kinda music that?s gonna transcend those kind of boundaries.
AllHipHop.com: You?re really a student of Hip-Hop?
Bubba Sparxxx: Shoot, 10, 15 years ago, in Georgia, you didn?t trip ? there was no such thing as East Coast or West Coast Hip-Hop. There was jammin? s**t and wack s**t, period.
AllHipHop.com: A little known fact is you?re very close with Def Jam artist, and rising star, Tru-Life. Tell me how that friendship came to be.
Bubba Sparxxx: We met before a had a deal or anything. We met through a photographer. He was actually signed to Loud Records at the time, with his group, Ghetto Inmates. We?re both Pisces, and we?re two kindred spirits, and we just met one another, and we just cool and brotherly from the jump.
AllHipHop.com: To your market, how important is something like mixtapes?
Bubba Sparxxx: I think mixtapes were more of a factor two, three years ago when 50 Cent made ?em the phenomenon. These days, man, I still host the occasional mixtape every now and then. But I didn?t come up on that wavelength. When I was growin? up, when I was listening to Hip-Hop as a fan, it was about how Outkast was dropping an album every two or three years. You wouldn?t hear s**t from ?em in between. Then, all of a sudden, they?d just drop this classic, groundbreaking album. It?d bust you in the head. No Internet. No downloading songs. That?s the Hip-Hop I love. The Internet made the world small.
AllHipHop.com: In your personal life, do you use the Internet much?
Bubba Sparxxx: I don?t even a computer, dog, to be honest. I?m completely computer illiterate. My best friend, he?s a nut. He keeps it up to speed. I definitely hate computers, especially what the Internet has done to music. It?s hard to impress kids these days.
AllHipHop.com: Lastly, there may be some fishermen out there. On the record, ?Nowhere,? you said, ?catchin? fish with Dylan?s poo.? I?ve heard about many types of bait, but explain that to me?
Bubba Sparxxx: It?s stick bait. Stick bait is basically bait that smells like s**t. It?s called ?s**t-bait.? It?s an artificial product. That?s just a metaphor for s**t-bait. I didn?t actually take s**t out of a diaper. S**t-bait works.
