With every major player in Hip-Hop, there is always
someone behind the scenes ensuring all the business is
being handled. In the case of multi-platinum trap star
Young Jeezy, Demetrius “Kinky B” Ellerbee is the man behind the man. An
equal partner in Corporate Thugz Entertainment, Kink
plays an intricate role behind in the day-to-day
operations of the company. He rewinds back to meeting
Jeezy, talks street versus the boardroom and sets the
record straight on the nickname.
Kinky B discusses Jeezy, the Corporate Thug empire and the differences between the music industry and the streets of Atlanta.
AllHipHop.com: Word is you were running the streets heavy before you bossed up?
Kinky B: Yeah, you know, the typical everyday life of being in the inner city, just doing things. Doing anything to keep food on the table. I, never in a million years, thought I would be doing the music thing. You could only get so much money for what you doing in the streets. You want to go and legitimize yourself.
AllHipHop.com: Did you realize that when you got knocked and had to spend time in juvenile detention?
Kinky B: That’s were I met Jeezy at, we came together and had each other’s back the whole eight months there. When we got out we came up with a plan to get more money.
AllHipHop.com: You met Jeezy in juvenile detention, what was your first impression of dude?
Kinky B: He was a very loyal dude. He was real headstrong type of guy, he knew what he wanted, and he knew where he was going. Same ol’ s**t. Exercising, going to school. Everyone had a claim to fame and when you behind bars everyone got a story. We used to sit back and listen to these cats like “these cats weren’t doing nothing; they weren’t really getting no money.”
AllHipHop.com: Was Jeezy really getting it back then though?
Kinky B: We were really young back then, like 18 years old. But back then at 18 years old, you making $30,000 to $40,000 a week, at 18, that’s some good paper.
AllHipHop.com: Damn, that’s some good paper when you’re 25 years old. He wasn’t rapping back then correct?
Kinky B: Nah.
AllHipHop.com: How did you map out your game plan, did you have one?
Kinky B: We came together and wanted to get out and just put our heads together and get some real money. So, we created our own team.
AllHipHop.com: What was your first big mistake that you made in the music biz?
Kinky B: The first big mistake is that I still had one foot in and one foot out. It wasn’t like people were trying to steal my s**t, but they were claiming my fame and they weren’t doing s**t.
AllHipHop.com: So, you were still in the street and had other individuals run the business side of CTE (Corporate Thug Entertainment)?
Kinky B: No, not as far as run the company but you know, I’m reading magazines with n***as running around talking that they made Jeezy and all this other s**t. But we were around before all this other bulls**t, before them Boyz N Da Hood n***as. Jeezy was Boyz N Da Hood, where that s**t at now? These n***as claiming the fame like they made a n***a [Jeezy], we was doing this s**t before any of these n***as even thought about it. They were beating a n***a door down to be in this muthaf**king group.
AllHipHop.com: You are referring to Block from Block Entertainment?
Kinky B: Basically.
AllHipHop.com: And that’s how you feel you were slighted?
Kinky B: Yeah, that’s just me from a business end. That just made me want to be more behind the scenes. I learned my lesson; I can’t fault the n***a for wanting to claim the fame for the s**t. But it wasn’t like that, the n***a didn’t do s### for us. Jeezy is CTE, Kinky B and Jeezy, that’s it. Nobody else did a muthaf**king thing for us.
AllHipHop.com: What was the mindset for you guys going into recording the first album?
Kinky B: We were having fun with it. We really had fun with that record. There was a lot bulls**t too though, the album got leaked out. But we overcame it. We still did 1.8 million copies and still selling 5,000 to 6,000 a week. We could have done 2.5 million if it didn’t leak. But 1.8 ain’t bad. Somebody stole the album out of the studio. You know how you in the studio and they have all your sessions in the studio, we didn’t know any better. We just getting in the game, so we working and they have all our DATs [Digital Audio Tape] in the studio. They went and got it out. We got our own engineer and our own drive. Jeezy got his own engineer everywhere we go and we got our own drive. So, when we there we leave no music we take everything with us. In ’04, Jeezy was the hottest dude in the streets. Nobody knew his face but they just wanted to meet a n***a. It was raw, any street n***a could relate.
AllHipHop.com: What about the second album?
Kinky B: On the second album, we were on the run, we were running everywhere. The first album was still selling and he wanted to go back in and still record. He never stopped recording since he dropped the first album out. He would record everywhere he had off time. So for the second album, he had 112 songs done. He never stopped recording.
AllHipHop.com: How do you plan to market the rest of the CTE roster? It seems like the crew of big rappers like Flipmode, DTP, don’t really connect like the boss of the crew.
Kinky B: Well, we got Slick Pulla; he got a different type of flow. He won’t be marketed to the same market as Jeezy. He will already have Jeezy’s core audience. We got to market Slick to a different audience. He still going to have the street fans, we just got Slick to appeal to the women. Slick is just that type of n***a. He love b**ches, so we just gotta do it different. Jeezy is not going to market his music to the women. Jeezy is a street n***a, so women going to like him anyway. Blood Raw is a straight street dude, they both going to have two different types of fanbase.
AllHipHop.com: What is your day-to-day like?
Kinky B: S**t, sometimes I be leaving the studio around 8 a.m. My day-to-day is pretty much coming in and setting my business is straight. Making my marketing and promotion is good. Staying on top of management and making sure everything is moving. Staying in contact with the labels and staying on the same page, answering emails.
AllHipHop.com: What’s the hardest part of the gig?
Kinky B: Keeping up with these artists; I love what I do, but this is worst than the streets.
AllHipHop.com: Can you give us an example of the contrast between both aspects without dropping any dimes?
Kinky B: People will look you in the face and tell you a lie and you can’t do anything about it. This music industry is fake. Like there is no loyalty with this s**t. When you’re hot, you’re hot and when you’re not, you’re not.
AllHipHop.com: How is dealing with Def Jam in regards to making sure they are giving all projects the right amount of attention? You’ve got Jay-Z as president and they are really heavy with R&B.
Kinky B: I’m in contact with them everyday. I want to really thank L.A. Reid. He really believed in us. Can’t nobody bring what we do. Can’t nobody do what we do over there. CTE is the streets for Def Jam. They got their R&B side and then they got the streets with CTE.
AllHipHop.com: You think CTE is covering the street aspect for Def Jam than let’s say Slip N’ Slide would with Rick Ross?
Kinky B: S**t, the proof is in the pudding. Like I f**ks with Rick Ross, I f**ks with dude but the numbers don’t lie.
AllHipHop.com: How did you get the nickname Kinky B?
Kinky B: [Laughs] That came from middle school. I had a little hustle on, you know the older kids on the corner doing what they do, I did what I had to do. I wanted some money, so me as a young boy as they were watching their little p#### movies. I thought up a plan of making some money. Back then we had VCR tapes, I took them and dubbed them and took them to school. I know I wanted to see some women, so I know the rest of the little guys felt the way I felt. So every night I rented the tapes. I did that all the way through middle school and up to my 10th grade.
AllHipHop.com: What was the late penalty?
Kinky B: That’s funny, because everyone brought my stuff back the next day! I never thought of that. This White guy named Josh gave me that name like “He kinky man!” And my nickname back then was Black, so he was like “I’m going to call you Kinky B!”
AllHipHop.com: What was your hottest seller?
Kinky B: The Devil In Miss Jones, I’ll never forget. You remember that?
AllHipHop.com: Of course, that’s a classic!
Kinky B: Actually that’s the first p#### I’ve ever watched in my life. I’ll never forget it.
AllHipHop.com: That’s the one that turned you out?
Kinky B: [Laughs] That one right there!
AllHipHop.com: Now that you have your corporate stripes, would you ever consider going back into the Adult Entertainment?
Kinky B: Hell yeah, I would do that s**t. I would have to really sit down and think about it. I am really trying to become a mogul in this business and I don’t want to make the wrong decisions.
AllHipHop.com: How do go about making your biggest decisions?
Kinky B: I go with my heart man. I go with my first instinct. So far my first instinct hasn’t led me wrong yet. I never think twice about anything, whatever my heart tells me to do, I do it.
AllHipHop.com: Who makes the bulk of the decisions for CTE related business? Is Jeezy just the face and you handle everything?
Kinky B: No, it’s fifty/fifty between me and Jeezy. Like we on the phone every day making these decisions. He plays a huge role in this company. He’s an artist also but he’s a business man first.
AllHipHop.com: Do you and Jeezy bump heads on any situations?
Kinky B: Sometimes, but it’s different. We work it out because we were friends before this music s**t. We brothers at the end of the day. This ain’t nobody just coming together just getting some money and at the end they breaking up over bulls**t and money.
AllHipHop.com: You think that’s what happened to Dame and Jay?
Kinky B: To be honest with you I don’t know really what happened. I thought they were homeboys before the Roc-A-Fella situation. When I first started in this game I wanted CTE to be right up there with Roc-A-Fella Records. I didn’t even know them, but when they broke up that hurt me to my heart. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t meet them one day in my life and it hurt me. They set the blueprint for street real n***as like me to get in this game.
AllHipHop.com: What’s next up for CTE?
Kinky B: I got this new USDA album coming out in late May. We got the clothing line called 8732, we got that cracking. We putting this movie together called Trap Or Die: The Life of Kinky B and Young Jeezy, it’s some real street gangsta s**t on how it really went down in the South man. It’s going to be some new age Menace II Society s**t.