Out in the wild wild West, it’s been said that the older artists in the rap game don’t bring up any of the younger generation and in return the rappers lean in years don’t show their elders enough respect. Two artists from the West Coast who are dispelling such ways of thinking are O.G. Inglewood rap star Mack 10 and upcoming Watts sensation Glasses Malone. Signed to Cash Money Records through Mack 10’s Hoo-Bangin’ label, Glasses Malone is set to release his debut album The Beach Cruiser which is spearheaded by the DJ Toomp produced single “Certified” featuring Akon. With the song gaining steam across the nation, on the set of its now completed video the veteran and the rising star took the time to discuss their working partnership, the Beach Cruiser album and Mack 10 putting his own album on hold in order to guide prodigy to the winner’s circle. AllHipHop.com: Let’s start with Mack 10. Do you have a release date yet for your own Soft White album?Mack 10: No man. I’m riding this Beach Cruiser thing out and once that is done I can concentrate on my own thing. I’m focusing too much on Glasses’ album right now to even focus on mine.
“People hated when I signed with Mack, saying that he never put out this
rapper or that it never worked out for them. F**k y’all, look what’s
happening.”
AllHipHop.com: April 1st is the release date for the Beach Cruiser album correct?Glasses Malone: That’s the date that the label gave me. It’s coming out though. That’s what Mack 10 does. He gets with Baby [of Cash Money] and they decide all of that. I’ve been chasing this way too long to be worried about when it’s coming. Right now we are big and the song is up to 2,000 spins without a video yet [note: the Certified is now completed, see below]. The video is going to play in a lot of different places. When the label says it’s time for the album to go, it’s going to go. I’ve got the “Certified remix” knocked out already with Kam, Bun-B and Lil Wayne.AllHipHop.com: What’s it like working with Mack 10 as your boss?Glasses Malone: How can you not respect a n***a that understands what you are trying to do? I mean, we argue but the n***a is always cool with me. Because of this game a lot of nights I couldn’t sleep and figure out what was wrong and he’d be like, “Don’t trip. You’ve got this.” The n***a has been right all of the time, so how can I argue with that? AllHipHop.com: A lot of rumors get spread online and I’ve seen some state that Cash Money is going to drop you and not put you out. How do you respond to that?Glasses Malone: I laugh. People hated when I signed with Mack, saying that he never put out this rapper or that it never worked out for them. F**k y’all, look what’s happening. They said that Cash Money couldn’t work with West Coast artists but what’s happening now? The hateful rumors are probably being started by artists that are mad – mad because this isn’t their Bentley or because this isn’t their video shoot. Mack 10: Glasses reminds me a lot of myself. This video shoot reminds me of my first video, “On Them Thangs.” I look at him and I see myself sometimes so I tell him, “I’ve already stepped this way so don’t step here or step around this because there are problems here.” I can guide him through. Ice Cube helped me out but I am a little more hands on. Glasses can’t do nothing but win. [story continues below]AllHipHop.com: Mack 10, give us an insight from making that transitional role of artist to executive. Mack 10: I was an executive after my first record. It ain’t nothing but ballin’ man. You’ve got to be smart about it and ball out – it’s marketing. To be honest, I like this a lot better than being on stage. I just never had someone before that I could pass the torch on to. AllHipHop.com: You are used to the wax battles but I imagine now you have your office and boardroom battles. Mack 10: Not really. It’s good right now. We are having our way – completely our way. It was hard at first but we were never wrong about anything so now people back up and let me do what I do. AllHipHop.com: So you really feel that you chose right with Mr. Malone?Mack 10: There are a lot of rappers out there, you won’t even know if they exist ten years from now but Glasses isn’t a novelty-type of rapper. He’s here to stay – and that’s what attracted me to him. To me he was the best around. There were dudes that rapped faster but Glasses is one of them dudes that have a little bit of everything. This dude is going to the Hall of Fame when he’s done – all he has to do is stay healthy – and that’s real! AllHipHop.com: You’ve got Glasses #1 in L.A. How does he become #1 in all of the other cities?Mack 10: It’s going to be a snowball effect. It’s like me pouring water in to a glass until it fills up and starts overflowing. L.A. is a respected market – it’s one of the biggest! If you go #1 in L.A. then you’ve got a real shot to do something somewhere else. Glasses Malone: We are number one in a few other places but what I love about Mack is that he knew that we had to be on top in L.A. for it to matter. The n***a called it from day one – everything he’s said so far, he’s been right about. AllHipHop.com: After “Certified” does it’s thing, what’s the next single?Mack 10: “Go Big” is looking good. “Haters” is also. Glasses Malone: “Go Big” is looking good but “Haters” is hard! The company likes “Go Big” but it’s good to see them know that they have options. AllHipHop.com: Do you think you’ll have a good chance of getting played on BET & MTV?Glasses Malone: It’s a wrap. It ain’t no question. The record is over 2,000 spins, we are in the top 30 on crossover already, we are moving in on the urban. Mack 10 is working on the crossover and Cash Money is doing the urban. Mack 10: That’s why we are a good team. The West Coast is really all mostly crossover stations and the South is mostly urban, so that’s why I wanted to take Glasses to Cash Money so we can join both of those worlds together and have the best of both worlds. I got this [the crossover] but we needed help with the urban stations in the South. We’ve got them both now so I don’t see how we can lose – plus God is with us homie. Glasses Malone: We prayed and all of that. There’s a lot of bad s**t going on in this town right now. We prayed all day for God to bless this whole day of video-shooting. There’s a lot of n****s that might want to come up here and cause havoc but they won’t do it. A lot of them here know me and they want to see me win. A good example right now are a couple of n****s that came with me that have problems with other n****s here. Instead of doing something they said, “We are going to roll G. I am not going to disrespect what you are doing.” They left and called later saying, “Make your moves. Do your thing.”
“At the end of the day, me and [Big Fase] just decided to do our own
separate thing. He’s a good
n***a and I have nothing bad to say about him.”
AllHipHop.com: There was some controversy about your management situation recently when Big Fase stated in an online interview that he was no longer managing you. Can you tell us what that was all about?Glasses Malone: It’s all gravy. At the end of the day, me and my n***a just decided to do our own separate thing. There were never any hard feelings no matter what goes around on the internet. I see that n***a all of the time. He’s a good n***a and I have nothing bad to say about him. It is what it is — we both decided to do our own thing. He’s going to be successful because his ear is incredible. I am going to do what I am going to do because I am a motherf***ing hustler. AllHipHop.com: Some of the fan response was painting you out to be the bad guy in that situation. Glasses Malone: Anybody who knows me will tell you that I am not a bad guy. I am just a guy trying to get the most amount of money I can. At the end of the day, I’ll invite you over, make you feel respected, pay for your food – n***a whatever. I’m learning a lot of player moves from Mack 10 and I am going to keep rising until I decide to quit. AllHipHop.com: Please end this with a quote. Mack 10: Glasses Malone, Beach Cruiser – that’s it. Glasses Malone: And after that it’s Mack 10’s Soft White.