Trill Fam: Get it How You Live it

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.