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efore the masses get solo albums from Hell Rell, JR Writer, or Jha Jha, the Diplomats expanded their movement with more artists. Luckily, the unit houses one of the strongest mixtape games in the industry. Enter Chubbie Baby – a Bronx by-way-of Columbus, Ohio club-owner, rapper, and producer with big plans.
Chubbie’s self-titled mixtapes have been hosted by Cam’ron and Juelz, and they’ve attracted the many Dipset cult followers. The self-proclaimed insomniac also produced, “It’s Nuttin’” on Funkmaster Flex’s Car Show. On the production side, Chubbie has upcoming projects with his Diplomat colleagues, as well as Young Jeezy and Lil’ Wayne.
Here, Chubbie tells AllHipHop.com how to get booted from his Columbus club, The Red Zone, as well as misconceptions concerning his peers. Hell Rell even tries to jump in on Chubbie’s interview, as the man with the “out of town, get money type flow” tells you why he is trying to get large in a new game.
AllHipHop.com: You’re Bronx-born, right?
Chubbie Baby: Yeah, I’m from the Bronx.
AllHipHop.com: Okay, I know you had specific reasons for going there, but what does Columbus, Ohio have that The Bronx doesn’t?
Chubbie Baby: Columbus has a lot to offer me, man. I been goin’ out there a lot over the years and stuff. I was going there around ’94, ’95, ’96. Then I went to jail, and spent like two years and jail. When I finished parole, I went to Ohio ’cause my father was out there. That’s what I did. Got my mind right. I stumbled across a lot of good things out there.
AllHipHop.com: You came from the birthplace of Hip-Hop. There’s folks like Bizzy Bone and Bow Wow in Columbus, but how is the Hip-Hop scene out there?
Chubbie Baby: They got me. They got Dipset. Me, I’m bringin’ that powerful music to the table – that out of town, get money flow. If you out of town, you listen to [me].
AllHipHop.com: I know everything out there in Bustown is about “Buckeyes”…
Chubbie Baby: [Laughs] Yeah, the buckeye. Everybody in Ohio loves that buckeye stuff.
AllHipHop.com: What about you? Since you out there, you get caught up in it?
Chubbie Baby: Man, I’mma keep it real – [the Ohio State athletes] mess with me. If you go to Ohio State, you heard of me. I’m cool with them, they hang with me. I got a club, so everybody wants to holler at me.
AllHipHop.com: Right, right. The club is called Red Zone?
Chubbie Baby: Yeah.
AllHipHop.com: Movies like Casino show club owners having to kick dudes out the hard way. What’s the craziest thing a cat ever did to get booted from Red Zone?
Chubbie Baby: The craziest thing somebody ever did to get kicked out of the Red Zone was act like they had a gun of ’em. They get they neck broke.
AllHipHop.com: Has that happened a lot?
Chubbie Baby: Nah, they don’t want to do that no more. I got a lot of security – like 35 [guards].
AllHipHop.com: Is there much competition in the city?
Chubbie Baby: My club is the best club in the city. [Hold on,] my boy Hell Rell just walked up…
Hell Rell: What’s good, AllHipHop.com!
AllHipHop.com: I’m gonna be blunt. A lot of people associate the Diplomats with some gang related stuff…
Hell Rell: Nah, we not a gang – we a movement!
AllHipHop.com: I understand that. But your club is named Red Zone, and there’s been speculation of Blood affiliation in Diplomats…
Chubbie Baby: Hell Rell wanna take over the interview, my bad. Red Zone was the name of the club when we bought it. We ain’t name it Red ’cause everybody think we a gang or whateva.
AllHipHop.com: Rell called you a movement. Jim and Cam have said the same to us. Within that movement, what’s your specific function?
Chubbie Baby: My role is this: I’m a confirmed representer of the movement. I bring that hustle music to the table – that out of town, get money flow.
AllHipHop.com: Everybody’s hung up on The Wire. As a young Black male owning a club, being involved in the street, do you think Avon Barksdale is portrayed realistically?
Chubbie Baby: I laugh about it. I laugh because nowadays the street life is gettin’ appreciated and they makin’ money off it legally now. I’m from the streets. But if I ain’t have music, I’d probably be dead or in jail. We make good music and put it back in the community. What better, than to have a club? A lot of entertainers have clubs. You make money. You bring artists people wanna see, and you make money. Everything is a hustle. It is what it is. If you see it on TV, they lookin’ at my life.
AllHipHop.com: You don’t get offended?
Chubbie Baby: I don’t care. I only get offended if you disrespect me, my family, or my crew. I can’t care about stuff like that. This is the world – a world based on politics and bulls**t. Grind hard, and get checks forever.
AllHipHop.com: Going into your second mixtape, “Chubbie Baby Volume 2” what kind of responses are you gettin’?
Chubbie Baby: I’m gettin’ a good response, yo. We be doin’ shows, and they be goin’ crazy. I ain’t even think they know my songs like that. I’m behind the scenes, man. But when I come out and [perform] “Yayo” and “‘Bout That” and stuff, they just go crazy.
AllHipHop.com: What about in New York? You could be a celebrity in Ohio, but are your tapes movin’ in New York?
Chubbie Baby: Yeah.
AllHipHop.com: Between the club, rapping, and producing – how do you divide the time?
Chubbie Baby: You know what? We don’t get to sleep. [Out of a seven-day week], I probably get to sleep Monday and Tuesday. Sometimes, I’ll get an hour or two hours a day. But when I do [really] go to sleep, I might sleep for two days. I ain’t really been to sleep in like three years man. Ever since this Cam deal with Roc-A-Fella, I been on the move.
AllHipHop.com: “Sleep is the cousin of death.” Last year, we interviewed Bizzy Bone. He was very appreciative of the love the Dips showed him in a trying time. Being in the same city, was that your initiative?
Chubbie Baby: Well…yeah. But it was not really me. It was this girl Nina that we know. He’s cool with us. He does his own thing. He’s cool. If I see the guy, he throw it up, say what’s up, that’s about it.
AllHipHop.com: Lastly, did you see the Cam’ron attack on Jay-Z coming?
Chubbie Baby: Like I tell everybody, Cam explains it better than everybody. If you wanna hear what’s goin’ on, ask Cam. It is what it is.
AllHipHop.com: For the Diplomat fans beyond the New York and Ohio lines, where can you be checked for?
Chubbie Baby: Look, fans can check for me at ChubbieBaby.com and DipsetMixtapes.com.
