40 Glocc: Empire Strikes Back

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s Mobb Deep gears up for their smashing comeback, one of the members of their entourage may look familiar to West Coast Hip-Hop fans. 40 Glocc has taken a personal investment in P and Havoc, and parlayed his own career to the G-Unit label.

Unlike your usual rapper support-system, 40 Glocc is hardly waiting for his turn. Instead, the Inland Empire native released his debut, The Jakal in 2003. While the release was hardly in mainstream conversation, it did feature production from Dr. Dre and appearances from Ras Kass, Kurupt, and Suga Free.

On the verge of another edition of “Outspokens” with DJ Whoo Kid, AllHipHop.com and 40 discuss his hometown, and its native daughters – J.J. Fad. The rapper revisits his debut, and looks at the catalysts to his future with G-Unit.

AllHipHop.com: Recently, you were involved in the G-Unit Golf Tournament in Arizona. Now, I did hear that you didn’t participate. Why?

40 Glocc: Uh, well, you know…I was runnin’ around. I stole me a Scion car. It was rainin’. So I made the driver get in the passenger seat, and I was drivin’ around.

AllHipHop.com: How does the Scion handle?

40 Glocc: They tight. I like ‘em. It was like a lil’ golf cart with a [Scion] shell over it. It was rainin’ like hell. I liked that s**t.

AllHipHop.com: So who came in the lead at the golf outing?

40 Glocc: To tell you the truth, I don’t really know. Nobody came in the lead, ‘cause it started rainin’. Everybody was freelancin’. [Prodigy] and Spider [Loc], they was partners. It was crazy, man. They was just throwin’ the golf balls into the holes. It was cool.

AllHipHop.com: We all know what a 40 Glocc is. But how did you earn the name?

40 Glocc: Basically, people put it on me. It was a metaphor for myself. My name was already 40, but I been spittin’ like [mimics a round fired]. I put the ‘Glocc’ on it – ‘cause that’s what I always carry too.

AllHipHop.com: Not much is known about the Inland Empire in California, where you’re from. What sets that apart from what outsiders perceive as just “greater Los Angeles”?

40 Glocc: I’m from Colton City in San Bernadino County. It’s right on the side of LA. We’re right by Pomona, where Kokane, Above The Law, Suga Free came outta Pomona. They right here by us. The Inland Empire is makin’ noise though. Sly Boogie came out, he had his lil’ s**t.

AllHipHop.com: Were these the people you looked up to, coming up?

40 Glocc: The people that influenced was me seein’ Dr. Dre. Matter of fact, J.J. Fad is from my hood. All my big homies used to f**k with them b*tches. When I was a kid walkin’ around, them b*tches used to be around, rehearsin’ they parts, in the hood. Dre and Eazy used to come through and pick ‘em up in limousines. I’d be like, “Whoa!” I was really lookin’ at Dre and them – Snoop. They was the s**t. This is what I want I want to do.

AllHipHop.com: What’s good with J.J. Fad now?

40 Glocc: S**t. I don’t know. B*tches runnin’ around with babies and s**t.

AllHipHop.com: They’re not back around the way anymore? They had the crazy cameo in Coming To America.

40 Glocc: Um, yeah, they still around. I see Dania [Baby D]. She’s doin’ her thing. I see her around. The rest of ‘em, who knows, they around somewhere, knocked up.

AllHipHop.com: From Yo-Yo to Spider, a lot of artists claim to be getting into the studio with Dre. You achieved that on your debut album with “Papa Lil’ Soldier.” Everybody approaches Dre. Why do you think he decided to work with you?

40 Glocc: It’s funny that said Yo-Yo, ‘cause I just got off the phone with her. But with Dre, it was crazy, ‘cause I always used to run with Snoop. Dre heard me, he felt me, and he said, “I’m f**kin’ with you 40,” and I’m like, “For real?” He was callin’ me everybody, it was amazing. S**t, that n***a like the Abraham Lincoln of rap. It was really like a blessing. It was a pleasure.

AllHipHop.com: Coming from the Inland, how did you become part of the click or entourage of people from other parts, like Snoop?

40 Glocc: That started to take shape like around the ‘Pac days. I was runnin’ with my homie, Bad Azz. It transitioned so much. I done been through so much since then that it’s hard to remember. Snoop was just a good homie. He laced me with a lot of game. Him, Big Tray Dee, all them.

AllHipHop.com: When’s Tray coming out?

40 Glocc: He got a few more years, man. It’s all bad. But I keep my “Free Tray Dee” campaign goin’ on.

AllHipHop.com: So many artists refuse to put out an album if it doesn’t succeed. The Jackal probably didn’t do what you wanted. But what did it mean to you as an artist to get that album out there?

40 Glocc: I felt like it was a blessing, man. It was my first time. The [label] gave me $250,000. I had never seen that s**t. I was just open. I was happy, because since we’ve been f**ked up on the West Coast so long, it felt good. I did what I could to help it sell and make it do good. The label didn’t really step up to bat and do the s**t that they was supposed to do. Being that I’m a hustler and a gangsta, seein’ them not step up to bat, I ended up spendin’ the money that they gave me to push my album further. I couldn’t just sit and watch my s**t fail. [At] least I can say that the numbers that it did do, I made it do that.

AllHipHop.com: But on an artistically?

40 Glocc: I thought it was hella good. I was thankful to everybody that participated on it with me. It was a no-brainer. It helped me in my career too, because looking back, my work ethic now is way crazier. It made me want to work harder, and achieve more.

AllHipHop.com: How are things different since you’re now with G-Unit and I’m guessing, have more resources around you?

40 Glocc: Ah, hell yeah! It’s way easier. Everybody at the Unit is workaholics. Being nice, we stay in the studio. We eat, s**t, breathe, sleep in the mothaf**ka. When we come out, it’s to handle business. 50’s the same way. The whole Unit’s like that. Say, like if you can’t go to a certain studio, you can go to another studio and get crackin’ over there, or go to 50’s crib, and do music over there. It’s way better. Plus, you workin’ with people of that stature, you get the best of the best.

AllHipHop.com: You mentioned 50’s crib. Do you spend more time out East or in the West?

40 Glocc: I’m not gonna lie, man. Since we’ve been with the Unit, we’ve been spendin’ most of our time on the f**kin’ road – just movin’. I do be in New York morely now, but I do fly home and be here for two, three days, s**t like that.

AllHipHop.com: Does the travel wear on you?

40 Glocc: It does. But it’s something I gotta deal with, bein’ this is what I wanna do.

AllHipHop.com: Being on the road, what’s one spot that particularly moved you?

40 Glocc: Man, when we was in that motherf**kin’ spot… what was its name? This n***a, 50 takin’ n***as to spots they can’t even name. I can’t even pronounce the s**t. I be accidentally callin’ it Morocco, but it’s Monaco or Monte Carlo. It’s one of the richest places in the world. Crazy!

AllHipHop.com: What did you like about it?

40 Glocc: It was the fact that I was somewhere that a lot of these n***as and sucka ass artists that I don’t like, act like they been, but they can’t even get in some of these spots around the world. To get inside Monaco, you gotta get approval. You can’t just walk up in there. It’s a whole gated city.

AllHipHop.com: There’s a belief that people are a product of their environment. What do you think it’d do to a kid from Inland Empire to get to experience that? Would it impress them, or disgust them at the wasted wealth?

40 Glocc: Man, I think it’d better. They’ll see that s**t and be like, “Man, I’m tryin’ to get this.” It gives the n***as somethin’ to look forward to.

AllHipHop.com: The same way you were when you saw J.J. Fad’s limos…

40 Glocc: Exactly, man! Real talk. You see that s**t, you get that adrenaline – especially if you a hustler. You can’t just be a nothin’ ass mothaf**ka though. You gotta be somebody that’s gonna already try to get yours anyway though. You gotta have big expectations anyway.

AllHipHop.com: You were a part of The Rifleman with Prodigy, Kurupt, and Jayo Felony. It was monumental to see Kurupt and Prodigy come full-circle to collaborating anyway. But that was several years back. What’s the status of the group now?

40 Glocc: Everybody doin’ they thing. Kurupt, that’s my homie. We all f**ked with each other [before that]. You can’t forget Ras Kass either. We just all came together – just some cool mothaf**kas. Now, Kurupt and P and Hav talk. We all still f**k with each other, it’s just different situations.

AllHipHop.com: There are skeptics out there who believe that we’ll never see an album from M.O.P., never see an album from Ma$e. There are people who believe that G-Unit just signs artists for political reasons. Being on that totem pole, how do you answer that?

40 Glocc: M.O.P.’s doin’ they thing. They recordin’ like a mothaf**ka. They workin’ and livin’ good. Ma$e, I mean, there ain’t too much they can say about Ma$e. Ma$e rich as a mothaf**ka – he’s runnin’ around in Maybachs, Phantoms, and Lamborghinis. He doin’ his thing. G-Unit, what they doin’, people just can’t understand. When you get to a certain level and achievin’ s**t, n***as gonna hate. 50, being successful with a lot of s**t he do – if something does a little bad, they tryin’ to make it sound real, real bad. So if [G-Unit] puts out a record and it don’t go platinum, they act like that’s a bad thing. Meanwhile, they made like 20 mill off it! These mothaf**kas gonna hate you when you get something. I’m sure there’s websites out there that hate the f**k out of AllHipHop.com, ‘cause y’all doin’ y’all thing. [laughs] That comes with the territory.