When thinking about Preparing Legal Assets for Years from A to Z, don’t forget your duffle bags. At least that’s what Tity Boi and Dolla Boy claim they’re faithful to every day of the year. In this respect they formed Playaz Circle, with the said acronym representing just those terms. The two hail from the A, and are enjoying the success of their smash hit “Duffle Bag Boy” featuring Lil Wayne, which places the focus on their debut album, Supply and Demand, slated for an October 30, 2007. As members of Ludacris’ D.T.P. (Disturbing Tha Peace) camp, the duo have shared obstacles along the way but still managed to stick together. During a stay in New York City, they experienced the notorious city traffic and talked about their plans of heading to “1-2-5” in Harlem to get a pair of uptowns. While they apparently showed appreciation for NY style, they discussed how they are trendsetters in their own right.AllHipHop.com: Before joining DTP, what was your vision of how your music career would be? Dolla Boy: Before we got with Disturbing Tha Peace, we put out an independent album called United We Stand, United We Fall. A guy from our neighborhood who was a little older than us [and] doing the music thing, he kinda got us into it. So we did that, we made a lot of noise in the South Eastern region. Everybody kept tellin’ us, “Ya’ll are the future, ya’ll sound real good, what’s next, what’s next?” That whole career start[ed] buildin’, so things were lookin’ bright from the beginnin’ and then we met Luda afterwards. Tity Boi: We put together this compilation to clean up some money. The whole Playaz Circle, originally was an acronym. It stood for Preparing Legal Assets for Years from A to Z. Where we came from, being a product of our environment, we were just naturally born hustlas. It wasn’t like we tried to do this, it was our environment. We always had the mindset and the education to try to clean it up and just do something positive with what we were doing. We did the compilation [and] the feedback was tremendous. Everybody was sayin’ “Ya’ll need to do this.” I remember for me it was like my first two times I ever recorded, at this time Chris was on the radio. Luda was going by Chris Luva Luva, so he was like a channel that we could use to get our music played and heard. He stayed in our neighborhood on the Southside of College Park. That’s how our relationship was built, it started back then. A couple of trials and tribulations came through but right now we’re here. We’re like seasoned rookies.AllHipHop.com: How did the collaboration with Lil Wayne on “Duffle Bag Boy” come about?Tity Boi: Our relationship with Young Money and Cash Money, first of all I have to give a shout out to Slim and Baby, [our relationship] is behind the scenes. People don’t realize we’re like family with Cash Money and Wayne…we built our rapport years ago, like prior to The Carter II. Just reaching out to him wasn’t hard at all. He in Miami now, we always go to Miami to promote and see our producers. We sittin’ down with him lettin’ him hear the Playaz Circle mixtape and some of the Playaz Circle album and he felt like we were a great group to be reckoned with. He felt like we should be in the game. When we got hold of this beat I thought it would be cool, [I said] let me just get Wayne to see what he can do on the hook. Of course Wayne wanted to rap, he goin’ bananas on the mic right now. He did the hook and we held up our end of the bargain. We here now—55,000 ringtones a week, number three on 106 & Park, we here!AllHipHop.com: What brand of duffle bag do you have now that you’re gettin’ paid? Tity Boi: Dolla got his black Gucci bag with him right now. I got my brown Gucci bag. This was a vision we had prior to the song blowin’ up. The idea came out and we put it out there as far as [the] visual. It just started comin’ together. Basically, we been rockin’ with the designer bags, the Louis, the Prada, we do this.AllHipHop.com: So what do you pack into your duffle bag? Tity Boi: Right now, right now I got our album, I can’t go home without this. I got all three of my cell phones. I seen this commercial, I probably need to get just one phone. Dolla Boy: I got nothin’ in my bag but some cigars and some kush.AllHipHop.com: You’ve said that “Duffle Bag Boy” is your wild side. What is thewildest thing you’ve ever done?Dolla Boy: We from the street, so you can say anything from robberies to shootouts.Tity Boi: Whatever you can think of I’m sure we done, done it ‘cause we been out here this long. Since we got so much time we on the road always grindin’. They were drivin’ around, me and Dolla was just at the club and we a little intoxicated and we just talkin’ and reminiscin’ and the dudes in the car were like “Ya need to do a movie.” We were just talkin’ free and reminicin’ about how we came up but he said we need to get up with a director or a producer to try to put this up on the screen. ‘Cause the things that we done, ‘aint nothin’ to brag or boast about, but we did it and we lived through it; we on the other side of it now. AllHipHop.com: What do you think was the determining factor in Ludacris’ and Chaka’sdecision to sign Playaz Circle to their label?Dolla Boy: Before we signed with Chaka Zulu, a lot of n****s was tryin’ to get at us. When Def Jam South first started out they tried to get at us. Cash Money was tryin’ to get us signed. We for real, we major – just haven’t been put out on a major level. We’re respected by our peers, our community, everybody. Folks out of our area really just don’t know about us. We run this s**t man.AllHipHop.com: When was the turning point when you felt like, “Yeah we got this?”Tity Boi: When you are able to wake up and go to a job that you enjoy doing and get paid for it, that’s when you make up your mind like this is what I wanna do. A lot of people have to deal with customer service or restaurants and it’s something that maybe they have to do to take care of their family, but they don’t wanna do it. This job right here, it came to us. Comin’ up together in the apartments doin’ what we be doin’ we used to rap, we used to be in the basketball courts, on the block, rappin’, shootin’ dice whatever you wanna call it. We never knew we were gonna take it to this level. We started to put out our mixtapes and freestyles; gettin’ on other tracks with people and gettin’ that respect through the rap community. We were so respected with our peers it’s ridiculous. I don’t think people know, when they come to the A, they gotta holla at Tity [and] Dolla. Everybody in the game right now, when they come to the A, they hollerin’ at us for one reason or another. We came up with Luda and Chaka and all them. They saw somethin’ but they got a hold of it before anybody else. The whole climate of Hip-Hop right now it’s just waiting for us to get in. AllHipHop.com: At one point, Luda thought Tity Boi would be recording a solo album.What do you feel both of you bring together to Playaz Circle that you wouldn’t be able to achieve alone? Tity Boi: It’s the strength in numbers baby. We both individuals, we both have different concepts, we both came from the same area but we have different experiences in life. When we put that together you can expect a listening pleasure. We both are solo artists in our own right.We both recording, we both listen to different music sometimes. But when we come together we’re a force to be reckoned with. AllHipHop.com: This question is for Dolla. After your incarceration, was it difficult to come back to music?Dolla Boy: Nah, it definitely wasn’t difficult to come back to music. Before I went in, everybody was at the same level, nobody had really made it. When I was locked up I was lookin’ at BET one day and I had seen Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy” video. We always said, whichever jump off, Playaz Circle or DTP, the other one was gonna come back and look out for the other one. Shout out to Luda, ‘cause he did that, made sure he came back and got us. I knew there was a lot of stuff I was gonna have to change. I had to take rap 100 [percent] serious now. Before I might just go like one or two times but now I go in there like five or six days out the week. Of course Tity Boi always had so much ambition, he’s always been so hungry it was ridiculous. With those two elements we was gonna make it. We always had faith that we would. AllHipHop.com: How is the music on your debut album Supply and Demand different and/or the same from music on previous independent albums/mixtapes?Dolla Boy: We got some new heat on there. We got a lot of anthems on there like “Duffle Bag Boy”, it’s doing what it do, we got “Number One Trap Pick”…Tity Boi: WoooDolla Boy: We working, basically, takin’ the same route as “Duffle Bag Boy.” The streets taking to it first, like everybody’s requesting it. We got another jam on there with the dude from Little Brother. Tity Boi: PhonteDolla: Phonte, that’s gonna be a ring tone, number one ring tone. We got a lot of good stuff on the album. I think a lot of people are gonna be surprised at how good we are, how seasoned we are being that this is our first time out on a major level. AllHipHop.com: Has being famous worked against you or got you in a situation that you don’t want to be in? Tity Boi: Nah, just all our friend and street partners want jobs now, that’s all it is. We ‘aint really in no situation man. We ‘aint got no beef at home. Like he said, we runnin’ town, we from the A, born and raised. We did elementary, all the way above. We go places and we’ve had people go to us with the whole idea like “Man, ya’ll crazy, want me to be your security guard, body guard?” I can’t say that we won’t need that but it’s just so much love. When people bum rush the stage with us, they ain’t tryin’ to steal our jewelry, they want the mic, they want to perform. We just did a show somewhere and they got to the front, hell, me and Dolla gave them the mic, we let them do our show.AllHipHop.com: Do you think you’re starting a new trend?Dolla Boy: Yeah, we do this. We create new styles man. We been doin’ that since like elementary, junior high, high school. A lot of folks have adapted to what we do, they like what we do. They go cop the shoes we wear; they find the gear that we wear. We always just had that flavor about ourselves since we was little. I think we owe that to our moms and our dads.Tity Boi: Comin’ up, I used to be around a bunch of these rap heads. I was always behind the scenes, I knew other people in the industry. As a kid I’d wear some Gucci shoes, I’d wear on my hoody and some baggy pants and these n****s they wearin’ it on TV. These n****s come out and wear the style on TV so I’m like they’re bitin’ our trend, they bitin’ our swag they’re bitin’ our lingo. We damn sure gonna do some trend settin’ s**t. So it’s whatever you want it to be, you can call it a man purse if you want, you better look inside of it and be like ‘mmm hmm’.AllHipHop.com: If for any reason the music doesn’t work out, what do you see yourself doing to prepare legal assets for years from A to Z?Dolla Boy: We straight with or without rap, we just love it so much. If it don’t jump off the way that we want it you will still hear stuff from me and T## because we been doin’ it for the love. We’ve been doing this since like ’96, ’97. We ‘aint get any money out of rap yet, real talk. Even if it don’t jump off you’ll still hear mixtapes, you’re still gonna see us at all the events. But it’s gonna pop off and we’re gonna be here, probably gonna do more interviews baby.AllHipHop.com: Was there ever a time when you felt like giving up? How did you bounce back?Tity Boi: Naaa mannn.Dolla Boy: We ‘aint never feel like that. When things get down on us we take it out on the beats, we take it out on the microphone, we take it out on the studio. When things don’t go right that push us to go even harder.
