While his mentor and label mate Lil’ Wayne serves his time on Rikers Island until what many believe is this coming November, Lil’ Twist is steady at work on his debut album Don’t Get it Twisted. Already garnering the support of his other label mates Nicki Minaj, Drake and Tyga on featured tracks, the youngest in the Young Money camp is learning a lot about the game and growing up fast. But the features don’t stop with the Young Money emcees, Twist has also developed a strong relationship with his fellow young breakthrough artist Justin Beiber. The two spend lots of time together doing the things that kids their age do; playing basketball, swimming, chasing girls and just enjoying life. But the life of a young and up and coming rap star isn’t easy, as according to Twist it’s “a lot of work”. Take a look at this sit down with the next in line of the Young Money camp and see whats going on inside the head of a 17-year-old emcee on the verge of his debut album and living amidst the craze for anything Young Money. AllHipHop: So, what’s been up with it Twist? Lil’ Twist: Just working. Working on the album. Still working on some solo songs of myself, because I have a lot of collaborations on this album. So I been really focusing on banging out songs just by myself. AllHipHop: Right. So, who are some of the collaborations with? Lil’ Twist: You know, the whole Young Money Camp, Including Wayne, Drake, and Nicki [Minaj]. Justin Beiber, Sean Kingston. I got a reggae feel with Sean Paul. It’s a few more man. I really can’t even think of all of ‘em off the head. AllHipHop: I understand. That’s crazy and a good look. Now, how old are you now? Because I know you got started early in the game. Lil’ Twist: I’m 17 years old. I make 18 in January. AllHipHop: Wow. We thought that you were younger than that. Honestly, I thought you were 16 or something. But, none the less, How’d you end up linking with Young Money and how did all of that come together? Lil’ Twist: Well, Lil’ Wayne actually had a show that was about an hour away from Dallas. I drove down to the show. And I already knew my management that I have now, Cortez Bryant, and I ran up to him, and I was like, “ Yo, man. You have to let me get on the show. “And so, he was like, “ Okay, let’s see. Put the little dude on stage” So, I got on stage, and I ripped it! So, after that, Cortez started calling and talking to Wayne, Wayne got back to me, and I been down every since. AllHipHop: That’s crazy, man. So, obviously, everybody in the Young Money camp is real close knit; sort of like a family. Can you tell me what its like being with Young Money, and being surrounded and able to work with such talent. Lil’ Twist: Man, It’s a lot of fun. But, at the same time, its a lot of work too. All of us are different, so we bring our own thing to the table, you know what I mean? But, yeah, it’s a lot of fun, and basically it’s just a family. That’s all it is. AllHipHop: So, you had mentioned that you have got some work wit Justin [Beiber]. And, he is a good friend of yours, right? Lil’ Twist: Yeah, Justin is one of my best friends. We like brothers, for real. AllHipHop: So, when you guys have free time, what do ya’ll do together? Lil’ Twist: We just chill. Kick it with each other when we both don’t have anything to do. Like, this past weekend, we didn’t have anything scheduled to do, so we all just caught a flight to Atlanta, and was just chillin in Atlanta. You know, and being able to be young and be able to kick it with out all the work we have to do. Take a day or two just to play basketball, or go chill with girls, you know. AllHipHop: [Jokingly] I know that’s treating you right, them girls… Lil’ Twist: Yeah. Them ladies man…. AllHipHop: So, have you had any contact with Wayne or saw him since he’s been locked up or anything? Lil’ Twist: I talk to him every chance that we get. Every chance that I get. You know, my phone line is always open for him to call. He calls a lot, and sometimes its just for the blog and stuff. And other times, he calls just to talk about the whole process, and what he’s thinking about, and what he’s going through. But overall, a lot of times its just to call and check on me. AllHipHop: That’s a bet, man. Okay, if you could say a couple things that you have learned from being in the Young Money Camp, either from Wayne, or Drake, or Nicki, as far as lyricism, and spitting, what would you say are some of the things that you’d say that you picked up on being around some of the other emcees? Lil’ Twist: Just music as a whole. You know, all of them are very musically creative. And that’s all they care about when it comes to music. Being the most creative and innovative artist that they can be. So that they can make sure their music sounds great. Me being the next one off the label, they want to make sure that I’m the same way. So, they will be in the studio with me a lot. Just making sure that my album is quality. So they do give me feedback and I have the opportunity to ask them questions. AllHipHop: So, how much feedback have you been getting so far? Lil’ Twist: They Love it! I feel that my album is going to be great. AllHipHop: Now, talk to me about some of the production that you’ve been kind of using for this project. Who are some of the producers you feel are going to make the album? Lil’ Twist: I haven’t been using any major producers like that. Because I honestly don’t feel that I need to. Because there are times where you may reach out to a major producer, and I feel that they don’t put they all into the beats. But, it can be a young and hungry guy, that’s tryna make it in the game, and he goes so hard in the studio, and puts everything that he got into a beat. And those are the type of producers that I work with. Because I know he’s trying to come up, and I can help him. They help me, and I help them. That’s how I look at it. Also, I hate going for the big names, because they like negotiating a dumb high price. AllHipHop: That’s true. And that’s where the business sense comes in. And when you have big names like Drake, and Wayne, and even Nicki to do features, you really don’t any names that are bigger than that. So, going forward, who are some of the artist that you would like to work with? Whether it be producer or artist. Lil’ Twist: I would love to work with Andre 3000 of OutKast. That’s my favorite rapper in the whole entire world! So, if I got a chance to link with Andre, I would definitely be on a whole different level! AllHipHop: What’s it like working for them at Cash Money Records? They brought up Wayne at a young age. Are they doing the same thing with you? Lil’ Twist: It’s the same process. Because Drake and Nicki are the first two artist off the label, and Me and Tyga are the next two. It’s the same process with everybody. The goal is to make all of us as strong and as great artistically as we can be. AllHipHop: Has there ever been a time when you guys have a freestyle session? Lil’ Twist: Sometimes on the tour bus, just joking around. We may throw on a beat, because I make beats too, and we just go! But we don’t just do it out the blue all the time. AllHipHop: So, Imma say a word or name and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind. Lil’ Twist: Cool, let’s do it. AllHipHop: Dallas, TX. Lil’ Twist: Great City. Home. AllHipHop: Tyga. Lil’ Twist: Beast. AllHipHop: Baby. Lil’ Twist: Game Spitter. AllHipHop: Wayne.. Lil’ Twist: The Best. AllHipHop: Drake Lil’ Twist:: The Best. The Next. AllHipHop: Last Question…. What is Lil Twist listening in the iPod right now that is getting heavy rotation? Who would the readers be surprised to know you are listening to? Lil’ Twist: Don’t Get it Twisted, which is the name of my album, which doesn’t have a release date as of yet. That’s what I am listening to right now. I am also listening to I Am Not A Human Being, which will be Lil’ Wayne’s pre-album, that will be releasing on the internet.
