In Nick Broomfield’s recent documentary, Biggie & Tupac, for possibly the first time, someone not associated with hip-hop culture acknowledges the surveillance of the F.B.I. on unsuspecting artists and other figures in the hip-hop community. Implying that the feds have aggressively monitored artists for years in the hope that they will lead them to bigger fish (i.e. Harry-O, Supreme, etc.), but will also cause rifts between one another to destabilize the artist community. Simply stated, the feds who are predominantly upper middle-class, white, and happen to have children who love them some 50 Cent, would love nothing more than to nab a huge drug kingpin as they simultaneously bring down the culture that has their kids matching their doo-rags with their new pair of S. Carter’s.
In Biggie & Tupac, Mr. Broomfield goes even further to suggest that the feds have elevated their game and are now not only simply trying to make the culture seem disjointed, but are actually creating the climate for murder. He suggests that the fellow inmates of one Tupac Shakur, who allegedly tipped him off that Biggie was somehow involved in his ’94 shooting, were actually paid informants working for the F.B.I. A little rift that would contribute to two murdered legends, who both just happened to be under surveillance by the feds at the time of their deaths.
Unfortunately, this malicious and unwarranted attack on mere recording artists has grown into an all out assault on anyone in the hip-hop community. With multiple record companies now under the watchful eye of federal agents, the attention and scrutiny of hip-hop artists and executives has reached an all-time high. With eyes and ears (and snitches) from coast to coast, the feds seem inexplicably fixated on one city in particular: Houston, Texas.
In this Allhiphop.com exclusive, Short Stop Records CEO, Lil’ Troy, breaks his silence on the rumors that have now surfaced regarding a supposed indictment of him as a friend of the feds by Mr. Brad Jordan aka Scarface and lingering allegations surrounding his own run-in with the F.B.I. a few years back. Is this a good ole’ fashioned hip-hop battle, a legitimate beef, or the strategic handiwork of the nations’ top cops? You decide.
Allhiphop.com: Let’s just get right to it, what’s your response to Scarface’ “Snitch N***a”?
Lil’ Troy: It was a tight song. I don’t see him talkin’ about me. It’s just media bullsh*t, tabloids wanna try to make somethin’ out of it. When you got somethin’ to say about another man you gonna say somethin’ to that man, or say his name or somethin’. Me and ‘Face ain’t got no problem. I ain’t heard him say nothin’ bad about me, so I don’t know where y’all get that sh*t from.
Allhiphop: So there’s no beef whatsoever between you and ‘Face?
Lil’ Troy: No.
Allhiphop: Do y’all speak on a regular basis; have you had any contact with him?
Lil’ Troy: Yeah, we see each other all the time in H-Town, he live in H-Town, I live in H-Town, so we see each other, speak, talk. Matter fact, did y’all see the movie, Dirty Third 2? Me and Scarface got a scene in there together. We just did this movie about six months ago, me and him together in the movie.
Allhiphop: Well, basically what’s goin’ on right now on the internet, they’re tryin’ to play it up that ‘Face is sayin’ you snitched to get your deal when you had your fed case.
Lil’ Troy: I don’t know nothin’ about that, that’s speculation and that ole’ he say/she say bullsh*t. Like crabs in a bucket, when one black man get to the top, the other crabs wanna pull him down.
Allhiphop: Have you had a chance to talk to ‘Face directly since this track came out?
Lil’ Troy: Yeah, I seen him since the track been out. It ain’t been no conversation like, ‘oh man, I had to make that song,’ ‘cause it ain’t no issue, the song ain’t about me. ‘Face hard enough to come out at anybody he wants to in this industry and eat they a** alive. You mean to tell me if ‘Face wanted to eat somebody alive on a track he woulda came like that?
Allhiphop: Nah, not really, not to me, but everything is being played up to he’s got beef with you supposedly because you snitched.
Lil’ Troy: Did he say somethin’ about that in the record?
Allhiphop: No.
Lil’ Troy: Well then, what the hell are y’all promoting?
Allhiphop: I’m not trying to promote nothin’. I’m tryin’ to clear up the rumors that are being spread by all of these people out here that say you’re a snitch.
I’m tryin’ to give you the opportunity to clear things up.
Lil’ Troy: Have you ever seen any papers sayin’ I testified against somebody? Why don’t y’all print the real sh*t! Kill all these f*ckin’ rumors! Cut the bullsh*t, this allhiphop.com, why don’t y’all print what’s really happening, what’s really goin’ on?
Allhiphop: That’s what we’re tryin’ to do.
Lil’ Troy: Ok, I’ma see what you put out there.
Allhiphop: I’ma print every word you say.
Lil’ Troy: Alright.
Allhiphop: That’s what I’m tryin’ to do. It’s up to you whether you want to discuss why you ended up with the lesser charge of ‘using a communications device to commit a felony,’ when you were facing a charge that carried a 10 to 15 year sentence.
Lil’ Troy: Because they couldn’t pin that case on me, the prosecutor had to make a deal with me.
Allhiphop: So it wasn’t you goin’ to them, it was them comin’ to you?
Lil’ Troy: They came to me, they had to make me a deal ‘cause they were gonna lose the case.
Allhiphop: I think the speculation is coming in because you only did 18 months. I got family in the fed, and very rarely do you ever see somebody only do 18 months.
Lil’ Troy: Bullsh*t! See you ain’t never been in the penitentiary or the streets before. How you gonna say, ‘very rarely do you see somebody only do 18 months?’ Everybody out there get 18 months, or 86 months, everybody get different times. It goes by a point system. What y’all fail to realize, y’all don’t understand the point system. If you don’t have any other cases, you don’t have the higher point system. So, how much time do you think felony using a communications device carries?
Allhiphop: That’s a lesser charge, so you ain’t gonna get hardly nothin’.
Lil’ Troy: Thank You!
Allhiphop: But see all the speculation out there is suggesting you only got the lesser charge because you was in pocket with the feds.
Lil’ Troy: Ok. Allhiphop.com is very influential in the community and know a bunch of people, right?
Allhiphop: Yeah.
Lil’ Troy: Then why don’t you got no letter at your desk with my name on it showing that I went to court and testified against somebody?
Allhiphop: I’m not tryin’ to do that. I’m tryin’ to give you the opportunity to rebut these rumors.
Lil’ Troy: The way the system works nowadays, if you did somethin’, the internet is so strong, you can find out anything you wanna find out.
Allhiphop: Just to let you know, I did try to, but I didn’t have enough time to pay for it, and get it back. I tried to get a copy of the case record.
Lil’ Troy: Do you want mine?
Allhiphop: If you wanna send it to me, that’s fine.
Lil’ Troy: I’ll send it to you, that way all of this bullsh*t is (cleared up). And I’ll tell you somethin’ else, y’all should never worry about another man. When he makes up his bed, he has to lay in it. You should never worry about what another man does period for one thing.
Allhiphop: I agree with you a hundred and fifty percent!
Lil’ Troy: If that man ain’t done nothin’ directly to harm you or your family, you should not have anything to worry about. And let me tell you somethin’ else, you every see an Army guy? What’s the definition of a real soldier?
A real soldier is gonna survive no matter what the consequences are. He’ll come out of it on top.
Allhiphop: Just to clarify one last time, all I’m tryin’ to do is give you the opportunity to counter this.
Lil’ Troy: I just have.
Allhiphop: Allhiphop.com is not trying to paint a certain picture of you, we’re trying to give you an opportunity to counter this. So, just to review, there’s no beef with ‘Face, you got no problem with him, and you don’t think he’s talkin’ about you on “Snitch N***a?”
Lil’ Troy: Nah.
Allhiphop: Alright, that’s enough of that, let’s move on to some other stuff. What’s up next for Short Stop Records?
Lil’ Troy: Well, Short Stop Records, we got T2 out, the new debonair father/son of hip-hop, straight out of H-Town. T2 got a song out now called “The Pac Man Song.” It’s gettin’ 200 spins per week. So he’s gettin’ mobbed crazy everywhere he goes. That album is out, and then I got my new album that’ll be out this summer.
Allhiphop: Are you still workin’ with KOCH?
Lil’ Troy: No, I’m back independent now. I run a distribution company. I run my own distribution company.
Allhiphop: Is that still Short Stop or is that under another name?
Lil’ Troy: The distribution company is called R N’ D. (www.rnddistribution.com )
Allhiphop: You got like a plant?
Lil’ Troy: A distribution company, I distribute a lot of labels’ records to the stores.
Allhiphop: So like a one-stop basically?
Lil’ Troy: Yeah.
Allhiphop: You just mentioned T2, what’s the game plan for his album? You gonna try to take him national, have him aim for that B2K/Bow Wow crowd?
Lil’ Troy: I’m killin’ ‘em down here in H-Town now. They can’t come this way and mess with T2.
Allhiphop: He’s grown now, ain’t he like 18?
Lil’ Troy: Yeah, almost.
Allhiphop: Since you’re not messin’ with KOCH, do you plan to go back with a major? They helped you get a platinum plaque (for Sittin’ Fat Down South on Universal Records) back in ’99.
Lil’ Troy: I’ma get one regardless. I run my own distribution company, I can get it in the stores.
Allhiphop: So it’s not even worth it.
Lil’ Troy: Nope. The money gotta be sweet for me to do another deal. Right now I make more money than the majors, sellin’ less records. And I control and own my product. So talkin’ about signing T2 to a major, and we own the product, ain’t no need.
Allhiphop: Last, but definitely not least, H-Town. Let’s talk about the Houston scene right now. To me it seems like everybody’s goin’ crazy, goin’ at each other’s throats since (DJ) Screw passed (R.I.P.).
Lil’ Troy: Nah, everybody ain’t goin’ at each other’s throats, its just beef, just like in any other city, certain guys have problems with other people at certain times, just like every other city.