The guys from Purple City wanted us to better understand that piff – with a look inside the deeper meanings, the discovery, and the purple assets of Agallah and Shiest Bub. Purple City got a Purple Reign!
AllHipHop.com: Why do you think purple has become this year’s pink for all of Dipset?
Agallah: Well, you know, we was basically…the pink thing was just a gas! It was just Cam putting that out there to get a response on a fashion level, and it wound up blowing him right up. They was like, “Yo, what the f**k Cam doing wearing pink? N***as don’t wear pink!’ That’s a forbidden color. That’s some s**t for b*tches. So he took that s**t and made it flamboyant and flipped it on some, ‘Yeah, I’m rockin’. I’m that pink flamingo now!’” That’s what I caught from it. It was stylists, man. You know styled on them with that. Now with purple, purple is definitely a stylish color but it got to be that piff!
Shiest Bub: That was Cam’ron’s color. Dipset was red, white, you know what I mean? American flag type s**t. But, you know, it’s time for a change. Something that’s real ‘hood, and purple symbolizes a lot of things. It symbolizes a lot of things that people in the ‘hood live by, like loyalty, exclusiveness. Purple is exclusive. It symbolizes a lot of things. It’s countries, nations, the color alone. It symbolizes f**kin’ sex.
AllHipHop.com: For real?
Shiest Bub: Word, yo! To be honest, why there’s such a cult following with the color purple is because it’s a sinful color. Even though it’s royalty, it’s still sinful. It was the color of Babylon. So, of course people who live by those underworld standards of living – sex, money, women, drugs, all that s**t – they gonna love Purple City. They gonna love that, because that’s what it represents at the end of the day when you really do the homework behind it.
AllHipHop.com: So you think purple kind of does the same thing as pink?
Agallah: Nah, purple is more of a color that has meaning behind it. It ain’t a color to go out there and be like, “Oh, that’s pretty.” It’s to look at it and be like, “Yeah, I got respect and loyalty when I see that color…everytime!” What purple means is…it comes from amethyst, which is a royal gem, a royal stone. That’s how we got on it with that.
AllHipHop.com: So talking about cars, if you had to take any car and make that purple, what type of car would we be looking at?
Shiest Bub: Purple Maserati! Doesn’t that sound good? Yeah! Purple Maserati! Ayyy!
Agallah: Oh, word. The motherf**kin’ purple lavender 600 [Mercedes]! Like my man Un [Kasa] said! [laughs] You come through in that, you looking crazy.
AllHipHop.com: And how we pimpin’ the inside Purple City-style?
Agallah: Like, I’d make the lavender 600 with basically rims and it’d be all purple with white interior. Those white cocaine seats!
AllHipHop.com: What entertainment industry female should be wearing more purple? Anybody, man! Actress, singer, whoever…
Shiest Bub: Tough question…Well, I like Amerie, so she could wear purple all day with me.
AllHipHop.com: Why her?
Shiest Bub: She’s a sexy little thing! Even though she’s a little on the slim side, she’s just exotic. She’s like purple haze. She’s like the weed. She’s exclusive!
Agallah: Damn, that’s a hard one. Who out there right now? Who should wear more of that piff? Definitely Faith [Evans] should wear more purple.
AllHipHop.com: Faith?
Agallah: Yeah, Faith, man. She’s Purple City all the way, man. You know, man, she’s one of the only females back in the day that I ever really smoked a blunt with in this industry. Shout much love to her, too, and good luck on her new project. I’m glad she’s back.
AllHipHop: How about in your house? Anything in there that’s purple?
Agallah: Anything in my crib? Well actually, except for clothes and, you know, I got like…what I got in the crib that I could say that’s purple right now? Really? Nothing! Just that piff, man! That piff I be smoking wherever I’m at, man – that haaaze. That purple piff, that morpheus, that’s the only thing that’s purple. That, and a whole bunch of Purple City CD’s, too.
Shiest Bub: About 65-70%. F**kin’ couch, curtains, room is half painted purple, sheets, dinner plates, bathroom toilet seat, bathroom curtains…
AllHipHop.com: Alright, you’re a rapper, straight out of Webster’s dictionary, can you think of any words that rhyme with purple?
Agallah: Purple…virtue, commercial [laughs]…work you…
AllHipHop.com: What’s your favorite purple outfit?
Shiest Bub: My favorite purple outfit? The velvet purple smoking jacket. Jesus Christ, I love that jacket!
Agallah: My favorite is the…who got the purple s**ts that’s crazy? Well, right now, that I know of, Enyce got some good purple tops out there. Everybody jumping on the color – all these fashion companies, but wait until you see my boy right now come out with that PCBG, that Purple City Byrd Gang clothing. That PCBG hitting your stores real soon! That’s what it is.
AllHipHop.com: When you guys started rocking purple, did a lot of people ask you why you did it?
Agallah: Yeah, they was wondering why n***as was rocking purple like we was a gang or something. Everybody ain’t on that s**t.
AllHipHop.com: What about girls? Were they feeling the purple?
Agallah: Girls feel the color. They like it. They love it.
AllHipHop.com: Did any dudes ever step to you and use your purple clothes against you? I know plenty of dudes got stepped to for wearing the pink and not being in Dipset.
Shiest Bub: Hell no! Nobody can’t say nothing to me. To be honest, on a light-skinned individual, purple is a fruity color. On a dark skin person like myself, purple is almost black. It changes with the person who’s wearing it. On a White person, it’s like, “Oh wow, you have a bright purple shirt on.” But on a dark skin dude, it’s like, “Oh, he got that dark ass purple shirt on.” It blends into my skin tone. Purple is black to me. I don’t wear black. I wear purple. It’s gangsta!
Agallah: Nah, they ain’t never get on it like that with us. N***as question, but it was basically n***as seeing what it is. [They thought,] “They on some straight-up good music, loyal n***as, and royal people that just want to get recognized for what they been doing so long, doing this music s**t.” N***as respect the movement. You look at Diplomats, you see that movement. You look at Purple City, you see that movement. You be like, “That is the Diplomats.” You automatically overwhelmed by the extensive love. That’s how it is. Cats didn’t really give us a hard time for that.
AllHipHop.com: Other than purple, what’s your second favorite color?
Agallah: Red!
Shiest Bub: My favorite color is like cranberry and different tones of red. That’s what I look best in. But I’m not a Blood and I’m not a Crip. Mad people hear the word Purple City Byrd Gang and think that s### is a gang and s**t like that. Just to let people know, Purple City Byrd Gang is a song that we did with my man Jim Jones, who is the CEO of Byrd Gang Entertainment. You put it together, it’s “Purple City Byrd Gang.” He’s the one with the Gang! I’m just Purple City.
AllHipHop.com: That’s right, you wore red on the cover of the album.
Agallah: You know, a trend’s gotta end.
AllHipHop.com: Do you guys think Purple City will ever sport the name but not the color?
Shiest Bub: Damn, we been tired of that s**t to be honest! I don’t even wear purple like that everyday. I wear it when I want to be exclusive. When I’m with Dipset, I wear purple because that’s what people are looking for. When I’m doing my Purple City s**t, I don’t wear purple. I wear every color but. It’s exclusive! I don’t want everybody wearing the s**t to be honest. I was a little mad when I seen Cam switch up to the purple, and make it seem like that’s the new color for everybody to wear. That’s not the new color for everybody to wear, dog! That s**t is exclusive. That’s how s**t gets played out. That’s how people hate on it.
Agallah: Yeah and no. We definitely like the color. The shade of it is incredible. When you can match up with clothes and all that, but like I said, man, we making statements so anything we do, got meaning behind it. Everything we do got a meaning behind it, and purple just happened to be that color. It just happens to be that color with a lot of meaning behind it. It’s more than a color; it’s really a way of life.
Purple City’s album, Road to Riches is in stores now. Plus, stay tuned for more from Purple City, all as part of AllHipHop.com’s Dip Week!
