Whether
or not you rock with Southern music, you can’t knock the hustle of
underground artists who manage to build their fan base with little
support from major players. Baton Rouge, Louisiana natives Lil’ Webbie
and Lil’ Boosie hold some of the strongest street appeal in their
region, and have taken their flare for new age bounce to a realm of
national acceptance.
While they’ve had success with solo projects, they ride high with their
Trill Entertainment collective. This time around, they have brought in
crew member Foxx to create the recently-released Survival of the Fittest album, with their first single “Wipe Me Down” firing up the ringtone circuit.
We sat down for a smoke-filled conversational adventure with the trio
during their visit to New York. Normally the quiet one of the bunch,
Boosie had a lot to say this go-round as we discussed censorship, the
vets of the Louisiana game and exactly what Trill Fam has up their
sleeve for the future.
AllHipHop.com: The last time you guys talked to AllHipHop, specifically
you Boosie, you were trying to separate yourself from Webbie
artistically. You guys have done a lot of songs together on a lot of
projects, why did you end up doing a group album so close together?
Boosie: The group album was to spread our hustle. It’s just not us on the group album, we got like five other artists
Webbie: Me and Boosie are the backbone of Trill Entertainment. We’re
trying to expand Trill Entertainment this year. We’re trying to start
off the year with the group album. We got me, Boosie, Foxx, Big Head
and like three more other artists on the album.
Boosie: We got Mouse coming out, he’s doing the tracks and he’s
rapping. Mostly in-house producers, just the family on the album and we
just putting it down. Mouse and B.J. on the tracks, we just happy to be
where we at and everything is all good. Got this group album finna
come, that’s what’s up.
AllHipHop.com: Since the two of you are the backbone of the group, what
are you doing to help Foxx distinguish himself on this album?
Foxx: I done already proved my point, I done made a mark. That’s why it’s Boosie, Webbie and Foxx Presents: [Survival of the Fittest]. I done already did what I had to do.
Boosie: He gotta learn from being in the game, he a man. You could tell
a man, but he gotta learn from his mistakes in the game. You gotta
learn from yourself, all I could do is tell him [to] come on. I can’t
make him come on or anything, it’s up to him. Plus I’m not a CEO, I
can’t be like, “Ay you gone be here!” and all that, it’s up to him.
He’s in a good position.
AllHipHop.com: Foxx, since these two are so closely associated together
in the public eye, what are you doing in terms of distinguishing
yourself?
Foxx: Basically being myself, I’m not trying to sound like him or him.
I’m just doing me because it’s only one Boosie and one Webbie. That’s
where a lot of people mess up at, I knew that before I even started
rapping and that’s probably why I’m at where I’m at now. Doing me and
not trying to follow the next man’s footsteps, I got a different sound
so I’m not sounding like them.
AllHipHop.com: How important is it for you guys to pay homage to
original Bounce music, and how much do you feel you wanted to take it
and make it your own?
Boosie: Really we don’t look at it as Bounce music, we look at it as our
feel for music We don’t take off of that Bounce music, we take off of
that Mouse music, I guess. [Laughs] Once he taps that beat up, anything
can be made on it. We don’t look at it as Bounce music because Bounce
music started in New Orleans. We’re not from New Orleans, we’re from
Baton Rouge. So we don’t look at it as Bounce music at all – when them
beats come, we know how to make people dance, fight, women drop they
pants. We talented, we ain’t on no bounce s**t, don’t think just
because of “Wipe Me Down” we got songs just like that. We got bust yo’
head songs.
Webbie: We got every kind of song, it’s versatile. It ain’t no one
thing you could point out about the crew. You could get a big Bounce
hit and feature me on there, we could roll on there and go hard. We
just hear the beat and rap.
AllHipHop.com: With you guys being from Louisiana, do you feel that a
lot of newer rappers haven’t given [artists like] Master P and Mystikal
enough credit for what they did for the game?
Boosie: Really, I think the people who was really in their prime still
give them their credit. It just goes from generation to generation.
Webbie: I ain’t forget what they did. Mystikal and them not getting their credit – there’s a whole lot behind that.
Boosie: People who are really Mystikal fans [are] still Mystikal fans.
They got some people who might be 16 or 17 who don’t really know about
Master P.
Webbie: A real fan is gonna be here tomorrow. I was a Mystikal fan, I
was a C-Murder fan. I’m still here and I still wanna hear what they
gonna drop till this day.
Boosie: As generations go on, the younger generation might not know all
of Master P’s hits like us. They still legends, it’s just like as time
develops on people fade and that’s how it is. Nobody’s hot forever.
AllHipHop.com: Do you guys feel that being in that middle range you have the responsibility to educate people on the history?
Boosie: I feel bad a lot of times when people say, “My child did this
because of your music.” That be gettin’ to me because I don’t want my
music to make people kill people. I feel bad about that, when they do
that I go in there and write a song about a girl.
Webbie: Coming from nobody wanting to lend you nothing to nothing, I
never had a nine-to-five [job]. Either you gonna go get a job, you
gonna beg or you gonna steal. Coming from that, my only responsibility
is taking care of my kids and paying my bills. Mothers that wanna come
talk about, “You made my kids do this…” That’s your responsibility. All
my responsibility is, like I just told you, to pay these bills and get
this money.
Boosie: If you don’t want your kids to listen to the music, don’t
listen to it. Don’t come at us with it because that be a burden on my
shoulder, I don’t like that. If you don’t want your kids listening to
rap music, turn it off.
Foxx: I feel like if your child willing to do something he heard on a song, that’s your fault.
Webbie: I’m talking about being creative and making this money. Saying
what we want on any beat, not like these dudes watching Usher versus
Jay-Z the playoffs. That’s what it’s about, getting this money. They
said what they wanted to say and got that money.
AllHipHop.com: We’re talking about saying what we want to say… we have
the big topic of discussion right now with Don Imus, Kramer and Oprah,
etc. Do you feel you have any responsibility for cursing or censorship?
Webbie: More than a million girls you know go and look it up on the
Internet and they love it. I feel like this, I bet my house, chain and
cars you don’t have to listen. You don’t have to sit there and listen.
You don’t have to sit there and say, “Listen to what he said, listen to
what he’s calling her.” You don’t have to do that, all you gotta do is
turn it off or walk away. Oprah, you too rich for that.
Boosie: That’s part of the reason why “Wipe Me Down” ain’t aired on BET right now to this moment.
Webbie: Me personally, I don’t listen to Country music. Not saying I
don’t like Country music, Country music makes too much money, so it
might be a day I collaborate with a Country person and maybe do that.
But I don’t listen to Country music, so when I’m flipping through the
radio and I’m pushing seek and I hear a Country song I push seek again.
I keep going, I ain’t sitting there listening for nothing bad for him
to say to go start a big riot about. I keep going I just don’t listen
to that music. When you push seek, you hear one of us and you look
outside your window and they jumping in their car listening to the same
station as you. If you don’t wanna listen to it push seek again.
Boosie: You made your money doing your thing, let us make our money doing our thing.
AllHipHop.com: You guys definitely deal with a lot of sharp racism
living in the South. How do you feel about white people using the ‘N’
word and then using the excuse, “Well the rappers say it”?
Webbie: I got pulled over the other day, White man was like, “Yeah boy,
you in redneck city now.” It’s still out there, but I got White
friends, so when I say “What’s happenin’, n***a” they say “Man you
called [that White boy]…” I don’t be trying to do it, so if you feel
offended, my bad, but if it slips…He probably be done told me back,
“What’s happenin’, n***a,” if we’re chilling like that. A n***a is
different from a n****r.
It probably sounds funny, but for instance the other day I’m in Houston
behind a 18-wheeler with a White boy and his old lady, a young Black
dude is near the car he hops out in the middle of traffic acting like
he finna punch him because he thought the White boy was scared. The
White girl is grabbing her boyfriend like “No, just leave it alone” but
he hopped out like, “What, what”, then he hurried off and turned him
off with the 18-wheeler. He gets something from off the back of his
truck and gets to ramming the car like “Get back out, b***h.” I’m
respecting the White boy, I’m like “Yeah he thought he was finna punk
you. But the only thing that f**ked me up, what he do at the end? [He
said], “You f***ing n*****r.”
Aw man, you just changed the whole [thing], you did it wrong. Any Black
person would have punched you because you did it wrong.
Boosie: It’s just how you say it, you could be White person and if you
say, “What up, n***a,” I’m a give you a hug. But if you say, “You
n****r”…It’s how you say it, the way you say it to a person.
Webbie: [Don Imus] tried to prove a point, you can’t prove no point.
N***a is a part of language to me, so I don’t even pay attention until
it’s like, “You n****r,” like slavery. Just like me, my name’s Webster
Gradney, Jr. The day I was born, instead of naming me Junior they named
me Webbie, it got all over the state. My name’s Webster for real, they
think about the little short dude or whatever they’re thinking about;
when you just say, “What’s happenin’ Webster?” on some real life
because that’s my name it’s different from saying “Hey Webster” because
that’s when I show up. Just like a n***a and a n****r, don’t get it
twisted into thinking I’m a Webster, I’m Webbie that’s what I’ve been since I was born.
AllHipHop.com: What do you want everyone to know about the evolution of the Trill family with this album?
Webbie: Man, we f**kin’ making noise this year, we got 2007-2008 in the
trunk. Everybody gonna be like “Man where everybody at?” All these
rappers gonna be like, “Man what the f**k happened in 2007-2008?” We
got that s**t in the trunk and we finna ride out.
Webbie: It’s a big coming out for Mouse, he the one doing most of the
tracks and he’s rapping on there. It’s a big coming out, especially for
Foxx.
Boosie: We was in the drought, but we already put 2007-2008 in the
trunk then Foxx came out the house like, “Let me roll.” I was just
finna pull off then he jumped his ass in the drop and now we finna ride
off real fast for 2007-2008.
Foxx: We finna come with album after album after album, like that old No Limit.
