T
hroughout the history of Hip-Hop, it would seem that artists who come into the game as the protégé of another artists never quite live up to the hype, or even to the success of the friend, mentor or whatever who put them on. You can argue that record sales don’t always reflect the popularity or skill of these protégés and crews, but the reality is: the proof is in the numbers.
Slick Pulla, the first artist slated to be released on Young Jeezy’s Corporate Thugz Entertainment, may just be the guy to break that mold. After all, Slick’s priorities lie in shattering stereotypes. The Fourth Ward Atlanta native understands that he entered the race by following the competition’s rules on mixtape single “Birds Fly.” Now in, Slick Pulla says he’s got the lyricism that it takes to last the long haul in rap. While those promises have been made and broken before, few ATL newcomers are using their budget to solicit beats from Hi-Tek and Alchemist in addition to the usual suspects – an indication of Slick’s direction.
The “Trapublican” candidate from Atlanta declares his platform, and introduces himself to the consumers he’ll need to keep him off the block and in the office.
AllHipHop.com: Now, I know the album and everything is scheduled for ’07. Have you started working on it already?
Slick Pulla: Oh yeah, I been working on it for a minute now. I’m in deep. It’s gonna be like my presidential campaign on CD. At the end of the day, when you finish listening to the album, it’s gonna give you the same effect like, “You know what? This cat need to be president! Let’s go ‘head and put him up there.” When the time is up, I know all eyes is really gonna be on me hard. Like, it’s cool now, everybody know I’m doing a album [or] whatever. But it get time to jump, the whole game gonna be looking. ‘Cause first of all, it’s gonna be the first installment of CTE. I mean, [Jeezy’s] album was the first installment, but this is gonna be CTE [Corporate Thugz Entertainment] on a business aspect, [and people will want to know about] the first artist, Slick. “Is he gone do good? Is he gone be on the same type of s### Jeezy was on?” All that kind of s**t. So the ball’s in my court now.
AllHipHop.com: Who are some of the people that you’re working with on the album so far?
Slick Pulla: Right now, I was really just messing with the young hungry cats, as far as production-wise. But now that I’m towards the end of everything, I’m starting to get in with people. Like I got in with Cool & Dre, I got a hit from them. I’m [trying to] get in with Hi-Tek, Alchemist, cats like that. I just wanna get in with all the heavy hitters, cats who make those kind of songs and then, after that I should have the perfect dinner for the streets. They can come eat.
AllHipHop.com: You said Hi-Tek and Alchemist? That doesn’t sound like what most people would expect from an artist coming out of Atlanta…
Slick Pulla: Yeah, but see, I’m from Atlanta, but I got a flow that’s universal. I got a flow where I can go on any kind of beat and it’s gonna always be South ‘cause of my slang and my flavor. But I’m one of them lyricists who, I can get on a West Coast beat, I can get on a East Coast beat. I can still do that and it be all good. I’ve always liked Hi-Tek music and Alchemist music, they nice with it. Imma also get in with Manny [Fresh] and [DJ Paul and Juicy J]. I’mma get in with everybody that needs to be got in with.
AllHipHop.com: Now you said the album’s gonna be like your presidential campaign. Ugly stuff often likes to come out during presidential campaigns…
Slick Pulla: Yeah, but you know, with the whole Trapublican thing, when I go into that mode, I’m really just speaking about social issue and just letting cats know I got another type of mind frame. Like, I can do the street, I can do the club, and also I got a conscious mind too where I can let you know I see stuff that’s going on with the government, like the way they treat us. Stuff like that, I’mma speak on all that kind of stuff. At the end of the day, I mean shoot, I’m just tryna get everybody to see me how I am. Slick Pulla is me all day. If it’s gonna be spoke on, it need to be spoke on. Imma handle it. I ain’t got no skeletons in my closet what I’m running from.
AllHipHop.com: Speaking of skeletons that you don’t have, what happened with the shooting by Slice last year?
Slick Pulla: I really felt the cat was tryna make a little slick move. So I peeped the move, and then shoot, that’s what resulted in the end.
AllHipHop.com: But who was he? There was a rumor that he was some homeless dude from Tennessee…
Slick Pulla: That’s definitely not what it was, it was a cat from another city. He was saying he was from Memphis. But he definitely wasn’t no homeless dude. But due to the way they handled me after that, I don’t do too much talking about it, ‘cause the police took me to jail after that..
AllHipHop.com: A lot of times, artists don’t take the opportunity to speak on situations. This is your chance right now to really speak on it and tell us what really happened, since all we had was rumor…
Slick Pulla: I mean, s**t, I don’t really wanna go too much in depth with it ‘cause of that. But [the assailant] wanted me to listen to some music, and I was like, “I’ll do that when I’m finished.” But then he was [bothered by that]. So when I’m outside talking, he was saying something. Then I peeped that he was armed, I just seen up under his shirt a little bit. So I made a move, then I tried to dip. And that’s when he did what he did. ‘Cause like I said, I felt the dude was tryna’ take off. I felt the dude was tryna’ try something on me, so I kinda took off. And then that’s when he backed up and then, boom.
The reason I don’t be talking on that stuff [is] that kind of stuff really happen everyday. That’s not my claim to fame. Like really talking about that a whole lot is like giving a n***a ammo to take a shot at me. ‘Cause like, I got shot in the leg! Come on man! I got n***as shot four, five times in the chest. So like, really that’s nothing. But then if you hear somebody talking bout it all the time. “Okay, this cat tryna talk about getting shot in the leg?” Then you give a n***a ammo. Next thing you know, you hear a diss record. That s**t ain’t nothing but a little flesh wound. That s**t went in and out, boom. [I] wrapped my s**t up, keep it moving.
AllHipHop.com: So how did they end up taking you to jail behind that though?
Slick Pulla: ‘Cause like I said, I took off on the dude. When I peeped the move, I’m like, “Hold up man! What the hell you trying?” And then boom, I made a move. But when I got shot, I went on to the hospital. But they caught him on the scene. He probably tried to kick the innocent role then, ‘cause I ain’t there. And then, they was already looking at me a certain way. But yeah, that’s why I don’t really do all that talking about it, ‘cause I got shot in the leg. Wasn’t nothing major like that. That’s what they think most people try to do to get on by doing. That s**t happen everyday. Like, right now, somebody probably getting hit up. That’s just part of life. So I don’t try to take them kind of things like that and capitalize off that, ‘cause I feel like my lyrics and my swag is what my claim to fame is.
AllHipHop: How did you get started with the music game?
Slick Pulla: I’ve always loved music. Like, I always used to work with music, but it wasn’t something I could take serious, ‘cause I got two kids. And then it’s a certain way of life I want. I feel like it’s all this money out here, everybody should be subject to the same amount of money. Everybody can get rich. It’s just about how you put your grind down. I’m not one of them type of people who gonna settle working 9-5 like, “Okay, I’ll just get paid $8.50-9 an hour,” like I’ll just take a paycheck the rest of my life. That means you containing yourself to just living a certain way. Sky’s the limit, you could do way more than that. So I was just like, if this happens, it happens. If it don’t, I still gotta get money, I still gotta feed mine, and then I still gotta be able to do the things I wanna do in life. So really, I was just really in the trenches, getting it how I live. And then that’s when I bumped heads with Coach K, Jeezy and Kinky B, Yussef and all those cats. And they took me under they wing, and everything been everything since then. But what it is with me is, I’m a loyal cat. So say for instance if this didn’t work, it won’t be like I would go sign with somebody else. ‘Cause these n***as is like my big brothers and stuff. This my family ‘cause they have changed my life. So I really wouldn’t wanna do it with anybody but them, unless I was doing it myself. And it still would be kinda wack just doing it by myself, ‘cause shoot, I wouldn’t have my homies there.
AllHipHop.com: It seems like so far, whenever an artist comes out and they’re really successful, whenever they bring their crew behind them, they don’t really pop off like that. And automatically, the people that don’t know you, when they go to describe you, Jeezy’s name is gonna pop up. Do those things bother you at all?
Slick Pulla: Nah. It don’t bother me because cats haven’t really heard me yet. “Birds Fly,” that was a street anthem we leaked. The mixtape stuff, that’s mixtape stuff. Cats ain’t really heard, heard me yet. The album’s gonna surprise a lot of people. I think it’s gonna blow a lot of mu’f**kas’ highs. People [are] underestimating me. Y’all don’t know what I talk about at home. Y’all don’t know what I’m doing in the booth!
AllHipHop.com: But cats in the South haven’t really had to do that, though. Clearly, in Atlanta, over the last 18 months or so, you don’t really have to have lyrics.
Slick Pulla: True indeed, I could just go in there and say [anything], put a nice hook on it, get a nice producer on it, and it’ll do something. But at the end of the day, I’mma kill myself at the end. ‘Cause that’s what you call fast fuel [or] fast food music. That’s just something for right then. What about next year? Cats are doing stuff like that, but who you gone be checking for four-to-five years down the road? That come from lyrics, making the person identify with you, touching a mu’f**ka heart all the way in Oregon or all the way in London. You can do that fast food music, but next year, mu’f**kas not gone wanna eat that. ‘Cause it’s gone’ always be somebody coming up with some s**t like that. So now you pretty much outta there ‘cause of the new cat. I mean it’s enough to get you a deal and your first album, that fast food s**t. A fan can’t grasp on to a little fast food song and just keep on like, “that’s my s**t,” for three, four years. But like ‘Pac, that the stuff where mu’f**kas like, “This is my s**t!” – even still now. But that fast food s**t, you can’t hold on to that for too long.