AllHipHop.com: A lot of people feel like you and 50 have your own legal situation, a lot of people feel that you know, you kind of put a battle in Game with that to be your vocal piece.
Jimmy Henchmen: No. No, all I did, all I did was assist in the battle in the war. I’m a general at heart. And so I told ‘em how to fight the war. And obviously, we fought a war that was efficient.
AllHipHop.com: A big part of that was the G-Unot campaign…
Jimmy Henchmen: We knew if we could attack his brand, if when people saw a G-Unit they thought of G-Unot that that would affect him more. ‘Cause we knew we couldn’t topple 50. [But], if we tackled the whole G-Unit thing, that we would definitely penetrate something, and it worked. He paid it no mind, he didn’t think G-Unot would grow, but it definitely did and it stopped him from making Game irrelevant.
AllHipHop.com: Now I remember Jayo Felony who, an artist you were associated with at Motown, attacked Jay-Z on “True’d Up.” Did you ever catch any flack for that?
Jimmy Henchmen: Oh, absolutely. It killed a lot of relationships. Jayo [and I are still] pretty cool now. We’ve done business together. We talk occasionally, but yeah, I mean at that time, sometimes we have to go through those things and you know you don’t win every battle but you know, as long as you fight sometimes. And there was reasons why things like that happened and you know, it’s I’m glad that those things are behind us at this point.
AllHipHop.com: That album, Bulletproof Love Volume 1 was how a lot of people learned about you…
Jimmy Henchmen: Yeah, you gotta remember my main niche in the game has, was always really consultant. And there’s [been] a lot of behind the scene things that people didn’t really know that I was behind. A lot of things musically you know, that I was involved with guys that didn’t really know like where, what’s has this to do, what makes money. One of the things that was real lucrative to me was the “How Can I Be Down” which was like really what made me friends with everybody, because every year people had to deal with me. I had to go to every company, and really solicit their acts and showcases. They knew from that and then you know, I had to [managed producer] Mark Spark, who did various hits for Grand Puba, for Salt-N-Pepa, and Mary J, Blige and stuff like that. And at the same time, I had [R&B group] Groove Theory.
AllHipHop.com: Now let me ask you, are you still managing Trillville?
Jimmy Henchmen: Yes.
AllHipHop.com: Have you talked to Don P about his condition?
Jimmy Henchmen: Yeah, it’s an unfortunate situation of some people just being targeted. We have to reserve judgment on things like that, and wait for the facts to come out. Because if people was at my trial, I’m sure people have an idea in they heads that I had this kid under the console stomping him out because he said something about my earpiece. But at trial, you know, the fact-finding situation you know, you see that it was a mutual fight and you know he taunted me into that.
AllHipHop.com: With Hip-Hop though, it seems like artists do things that you know, get shot or shooting or a legal case, it’s like publicity now, you know what I’m saying. So I think it goes both ways where the artists also use the, you know the media.
Jimmy Henchmen: Well we seen that, we seen that with ‘Pac. ‘Pac was the ultimate person who without that rape case, then the beef with Biggie. You know, seeing him being wheel-chaired into a court room after allegedly being shot five times is more better than saying, “‘Pac shot himself and he used this as a stunt to get sympathy from a jury.”
AllHipHop.com: We’ve all heard that ‘Pac could’ve shot himself. Why, in your opinion, has nobody ever reported on that possibility?
Jimmy Henchmen: It’s a small voice. You want to hear the facts? Let me say it to you, Andre Harrell was there. You want to hear the facts – let him say it to you. But because our voice is so small, and ‘Pac was so big, it didn’t make no sense. You want to put in your records you been shot five times and all of that? Then that’s you dude. Like, what the f**k? I didn’t know that that s**t was coming back and f**ker would say I had something to do with it.
AllHipHop.com: Do you think your name will ever be unaffiliated with Tupac? I mean “Against Our Lives” is one of my favorite songs, you know what I’m saying.
Jimmy Henchmen: Hot ass record, I just, I just wish he was alive to explain it to people, you know what I mean? We never got that explanation. We never got a chance to say. “Hey, records are against all odds. What did you mean by that? You mentioned a lot of names in that record.” We never got a chance, how we do with Game or 50 when they dropping out. That’s where the mystery comes in. That’s where the villain comes in at. That’s where the, you know, like is my last words, my last dying words are this.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, right, right.
Jimmy Henchmen: I’m learning to live with it, man, and I’m trying to make my work ethic and my business etiquette man. supersede [this stigma]. There’s no way that I ran a guy like Game and break a guy like Game, if I’m just a street thug. There’s no way that I ran artists like Brandy, if I’m just a street thug and don’t have no kind of business and have any kind of business etiquette to deal with people, and land the deals that I do. It seems like no matter how loud did I tell people, “Okay forget the name, Jimmy Henchmen,” [I’m made] into a villain thing. I’m really Jimmy Rosemond. I wouldn’t even be alive today if I was the snake and the villain and the dark side of the music business that our guys really try to make me be.
AllHipHop.com: It’s just, the way I guess the industry runs.
Jimmy Henchmen: But like I said earlier, can one person stand up and say, “Hey, this n***a gave me a bad contract. Hey, this n***ga f**king thugged me outta my publishing”? I’m the go-to guy with s**t, that’s f**ked up. When n***as got problems with they record companies, when n***as got problems with contracts guess who they come to?
AllHipHop.com: On another note, you’ve had a near death situation, right?
Jimmy Henchmen: I just walked into a situation, and no my friend got away, and I was shot three times.
AllHipHop.com: When you go through something like that does that change your life?
Jimmy Henchmen: It made me a lot more aware of a lot of things. I handled kids at that time, you know what I’m saying. You know and they do more things, a little more responsible and you know it made me do things a whole lot more responsible, made me think twice about a whole lot of things. And it showed how easy that was among friends for things like that to happen.
AllHipHop.com: From your point of view the whole thing with Game and his brother, Big Fase 100…do you have any thoughts on that or insight on that situation?
Jimmy Henchmen: My prayers are with both of them on that one, because I don’t know how to deal with stuff like that. You know I attribute it to the Cain and Abel man, – one brother against the other. I think a lot of it has to do with jealousy. I just pray that it works itself out and I don’t know why every time, you know there’s a problem people feel that they need to air it out through me. Like to me that’s, I don’t know how much points you really get off of that.
AllHipHop.com: So what’s for Jimmy Henchmen and what’s the future looking like?
Jimmy Henchmen: You know right now, you know especially with the turmoil man, I’m starting to feel like Mike Tyson right now. It’s a situation that comes up or even a rapper but where there’s always just some kind of turmoil, you know. I’m gonna just stay positive man, and if I can, be an example. I’m big on going into the penitentiary, talking to the youth because I just remember when I was adolescent, it was really nobody who use to come in there and try to give us advice on how to change our life and that’s one of the things that I’ve been trying to do. And being very instrumental in going back to Riker’s Island and going back talking to these kids man and the people and saying, “Hey. I sat right here where y’all was at, and this is what I do now.” And this one of the reasons why I’m so upset with Ethan Browne about the article because I told him, I said, “Man, if you’re gonna tell my story, I need you to tell like the good s**t that I’m doing because there’s a lot of people who look at me at and remember I was in lockup with dudes, man. Dudes was facing two life sentences and he got out of that and changed his life around, I rather that story told than f**king Tupac who’s dead, and it’s twelve years old.” : I’d rather the story be told that how I climbed out of you know, the tribulation and the trouble in youth and really making my mind set and to where I’m at now, having rational and conscious conversations with people that all their lives always had rational and conscious conversations.
AllHipHop.com: Where will you be in ten years?
Jimmy Henchmen: In ten years, I hope I’m the success story. I hope I’m the guy who is the poster-child for these kids who’re coming up. “Look what he’s accomplished even after coming through that hole, you know that he was in.” I did a whole lot of ignorant s**t in my days, brother. And I’m not proud of that. But this, what I’m doing right now, I’m definitely proud of that.
