Torrence Hatch hopes to master the comeback. Better know to his fans as Lil’ Boosie, Hatch has declared his return and expects to move from an underground King to a gold-selling artist. With a new flower planted in his head, Boosie plans to combine his matured lyricism with ingredients of the industry- all mixed together with Baton Rouge thug life. Super Bad: Return of Boosie Bad Azz, his new album, will meld all of the ingredients into one big bowl of musical gumbo.
In this piece, Lil’ Boosie moves forward with his album and Bad Azz Entertainment, but also recollects the fans, working with Young Jeezy, and the ultimate UGK Pimp C.
AllHipHop.com: So I see you had another run in with the police, I guess your “bad ass” is really bad huh? (Laughs)
Lil’ Boosie: Naw they be messing with me. I had a couple altercations.
AllHipHop.com: In this incident I believe they got you with a marijuana and gun charge. The police even claim that you tried to bribe them by saying “This is Boosie, how much do you want”. Is that true?
Lil’ Boosie: Naw that was a lie, they [the police] just made all these statements. It was for rumor of the day. I don’t know where all these statements came from. I had a couple altercations that went down but they’re really trying to take me down. They made all kinds of false statements saying I said all kinds of stuff like “How much ya’ll want” and “I’m going to tell the judge this”. They got me all messed up.
AllHipHop.com: Other than that, what have you been up to because you disappeared for a few years? I haven’t heard you since Trill Entertainment’s Survival Of The Fittest.
Lil’ Boosie: I still been making music, I still been putting out mixtapes. Every mixtape I’ve been putting out been like a damn album because I feel like the label wasted money on other people to sell records.
AllHipHop.com: You started rapping at 14, correct?
Lil’ Boosie: I started rapping on songs at 14; I started rapping when I was like seven.
AllHipHop.com: When you were young and rapping, did you ever get teased about your high pitched rap voice?
Lil’ Boosie: I done heard it all so it doesn’t bother me anymore. I have something to show for what I’m doing so it doesn’t really get to me anymore like it used to.
AllHipHop.com: Who were some people that you listed as your inspirations when you started rapping at this young age? Who were you listening to at that time?
Lil’ Boosie: I was listening to Tupac, the Geto Boys, 8 Ball, No Limit- of course, Cash Money… people like that.
“I like money. I like gambling, I
like taking care of my kids, I like ping-pong, I like shooting pool, I
like having three-somes…– Lil’ Boosie
AllHipHop.com: Tell me about life in Baton Rouge because we’ve heard No Limit, we’ve heard Cash Money, but we never heard a sound like you coming out of Baton Rouge.
Lil’ Boosie: There ain’t nothing like Baton Rouge. We got our own style, we’re trendsetters down there you know. A lot of people look over it because of New Orleans but Baton Rouge is like a city life you know- it’s retarded down there. It’s dangerous, gangsta, we got the illest shoes and we got shuttles so we got women everywhere.
AllHipHop.com: How did you hook up with Trill Entertainment?
Lil’ Boosie: I hooked up with them in like 2001. I got a phone call from Pimp C and we just started making music.
AllHipHop.com: Is the line-up for Trill Entertainment still the same?
Lil’ Boosie: I think so, I think everybody’s still over there. I really be doing my own thing. I be working in my house- my in home studio. I haven’t worked over there in so long; I don’t know who’s still making music. I’m just staying focused because I’m making music every night.
AllHipHop.com: You have an in home studio?
Lil’ Boosie: Yeah
AllHipHop.com: Do you have any artists come over and work with you?
Lil’ Boosie: Yeah, I and Hurricane [Chris] did our whole mixtape at my house. I even had Mike Epps at my house on the microphone man. So a lot of people done been over there- Yo Gotti… a lot of people man. It’s a nice in house studio. We got that killer production so everybody wants that good sound.
“I want to work with Kanye [West]. I wish I could have got Kanye
on the album. Even Diddy… so people can see my Kanye side and see how
lyrical I can get.”-Lil Boosie
AllHipHop.com: Before you made your official debut with your album Bad Azz, you still had coast to coast hood buzz without radio play nor promotion. How did you make that happen?
Lil’ Boosie: I just kept dropping mixtapes, kept getting featured on people’s songs. People feel my music; I have that real life music so if you’re from the hood or where I’m from then you have to feel it. Before I even had a national song I had a big fan base, they were just waiting for me to cross over to this national market. I already had the hoods and the streets telling the venues “I’m the one”, so that’s why my first album did what it did because I already had a fan base.
AllHipHop.com: How long did it take for you to build up this fan base?
Lil’ Boosie: After my first album came out, I had over 5,000, 10,000 fans the first time they heard me. I jumped off quick, it wasn’t like I just did a couple songs and people were on it. I jumped off quick; I was getting shows the next month.
AllHipHop.com: Till this day, down south clubs still have “Boosie sets” where they’ll play songs off the Bad Azz album and even the Bad Ass mixtape- kind of how the Jay-Z classics are played in the club. What do you think it is about you’re music- from the style to the way you deliver that keeps your music effective?
Lil’ Boosie: Everything just makes me a perfect 10. The way I look, what I’m talking about, how I’m rocking the stage… I do concerts. I can do a capella every song and people are going to know every song. It’s just that people feel that music and once I get you to be my fan, you can’t tell my fans anything about me- they’re very personal. I be seeing fans everywhere with my name tattooed all on their private parts, with my face all on their chest, my haircut on their ass… all kinds of sh*t. I got them nymphos- Boosie nymphos.
AllHipHop.com: One of classics that never gets old is “Swerve Pt. 2” featuring Webbie and Pimp C. How was it like working with the late Pimp C?
Lil’ Boosie: It was basically normal because I had been around him for a minute then. So it was basically normal like we always do.
AllHipHop.com: I know you were used to working and being around Pimp C, but when you did this track you were still underground. So was it exciting actually recording a track with him at this moment?
Lil’ Boosie: You know first when I went over it was like a dream, but after the second day it was just regular man, it was just real n***a to real n***a. That was basically it. I meant them [Bun B & Pimp C] when I was seventeen. I was a man- I was a full grown man in my own apartment. I was a man when I met them already so they realized that and they took me in, and when I called them for music, they put it down.
AllHipHop.com: Your single out right now is “Better Believe It” featuring Young Jeezy. What are some things about you that people “better believe”? What are some interesting facts that people probably wouldn’t know about you?
Lil’ Boosie: I like eating- I like good soul food. Of course I like money- you better believe I’m getting money. I like gambling, I like taking care of my kids, I like ping-pong, I like shooting pool, I like having three-somes…
Lil Boosie: “I’m A Dog”
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AllHipHop.com: Young Jeezy’s name comes up a lot when it comes to an artist that other artist would like to collaborate with. How was it like working with him?
Lil’ Boosie: You know he put me on The Recession so you know I had to put him on my single you know- favor for a favor you know… that’s my homie. He wanted to work with me and hell yeah I wanted to work with him so our people got together and you know we’re two of the realest in the game and you know we got that same fan base. We rap about what we done did in our lives and that doesn’t change for nothing. [Young] Jeezy and I are hard hittas. It was just over due man, we was suppose to been hook up years ago and now it’s just official. You might catch anything from us.
AllHipHop.com: I heard that you actually would like to do a mixtape with Young Jeezy. How can you say the mixtape would come out and what would it consist of?
Lil’ Boosie: It would consist of that street music; we’ll get versatile with it, women music… that real street music. I feel like if [Young] Jeezy and I do an album, it better do five times platinum. That will be all the street s###- you can’t run or hide from it.
AllHipHop.com: You have Super Bad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz ready to be released September 15th. Is the project already finished and ready to go?
Lil’ Boosie: Yeah it’s ready to go. I wanted to double-disc, but we couldn’t come to an agreement but the album’s fire and you can listen to every song on the album. I have a couple producers on the album- Mouse on the Track, Guss, B Real, Big Wayne, BJ, Maniac and Nard & B…. we got a track from The Runners, Trina on the record, Bobby V on the record, Lil’ Phat, Foxx and Webbie on the record also.
AllHipHop.com: Compared to your first album Bad Azz, you stayed close to home with familiar producers and artist. On this album you seem to be branching out more. What direction are you going with this album as far as features and production?
Lil’ Boosie: As far as features, the first time on my album I had something to prove so I didn’t want anybody on my album. I just got smarter with the game, putting more people on songs and getting their fan bases also. So now my rhymes are just better, I ain’t got the same sound on every one of them either. I just expanded my hustle and there ain’t no where to go from there; Trying to see if I’m gon’ win or not.
AllHipHop.com: Is there anybody that you would like to work with but didn’t get the chance to make it happen?
Lil’ Boosie: I want to work with Kanye [West]. I wish I could have got Kanye on the album. Even Diddy… so people can see my Kanye side and see how lyrical I can get. Besides Kanye, I would have like that, but you know there are always more albums.
AllHipHop.com: Do you ever set out a format or structure for your albums and if so, how close to they end up being to what you originally planned?
Lil’ Boosie: I make the music in separate studios and we put them together like that. I be having say-so on a lot of songs but I don’t have say-so once I release the songs. So I say I’ll have more say-so once I get my own deal then I can be further notice on that question.
AllHipHop.com: To the fans that are waiting for this album to drop, what can you say they’re in stored for?
Lil’ Boosie: They’re gon’ get a lot of knowledge, girls’ drawls gon’ get wet… it’s just real life music. They gon’ get a lot of tickets and DWIs. A lot of people are going to get caught with a bottle in the club, a lot of people are going to slow down and stop runnin’ those streets. It reaches all levels with this album.
AllHipHop.com: After this album drops, what can you say is next in line for you?
Lil’ Boosie: I have a label deal about to jump off.
AllHipHop.com: A label deal? What’s that looking like? Is there a name set for it yet?
Lil’ Boosie: Bad Azz Entertainment. You know it’s my own label and I own it 100 percent. I got an offer the other day, but we’re going back to talk in a month. So once I get that, I’ll have my own land and I can still drop a couple albums here and there. With that label, I can do what I want. I can drop my artist and just kill the streets- four albums a year. That’s the biggest situation that I’m in right now. AllHipHop.com: You’ve done community work in the past, what’s up and coming in that department?
Lil Boosie – Top Notch (feat. Lil Phat, Lil Trill & Mouse)
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Lil’ Boosie: We give away 10,000 turkeys on Thanksgiving, 80,000 bikes on Christmas- 80,000 dollars worth of bikes each and every year for the Ivy [Community Service] Foundation. So we do it big for the community- that’s why all the old people love me now. Everywhere I go, old people love me and they show me more love than I ever had because I give to the kids. The first three years I did it, I didn’t even get any tax refund, I just did it out my heart.
AllHipHop.com: If you can give advice to anybody coming into their passion- basically just like you, what advice would you give them?
Lil’ Boosie: I would just tell them to stay focused… pray for better days. If you know you have talent then you know you have talent and you have to use it. If you don’t use it, you’ll be 35 years old before you think about rapping. Time isn’t stopping for none of us. So I just say you go on and use your talent. There’s plenty of room in the rap game so if you feel like you can do it then do it.
AllHipHop.com: Any last words for Hip Hop?
Lil’ Boosie: Wake up, don’t die.