Tony Yayo is a loose cannon. While his man Fif was busy putting the rap game in a choke hold, the Talk of New York, as he’s known now, was only the talk of Rikers Island back then [what up Mike Joooones!] due to parole violations stemming from gun charges he caught while hugging the block. Now, however, Tony’s home and the Queens native’s fresh-out-the-pen mentality has subsequently meshed with his crew’s new fresh-out-the-G4 mindstate, which, at this point, only adds insult to injury to the rest of the Rap community.
Here, the unpredictable G-Unit soldier c#### back the hammer and takes aim on everyone from Fat Joe and The Game to the NYC Hip-Hop scene and music industry vet Jimmy Henchman. Fire! Just please let AllHipHop.com get safely out the way…
AllHipHop.com: So this album was done half while you were in prison and half while you were free, right?
Yayo: Well, a lot of the first songs I was making….I made too much aggressive songs, so I had to make some music like “So Seductive” and I did the Jagged Edge record and the Joe record, I wrote those in the town. Everybody ain’t go to jail, so everybody can’t relate to the things I went through, you know what I mean? But I have major street issues on my album; records like “Dear Suzie” and “Homicide,” “Eastside/Westside,” those were lyrics that I had in jail already and I just formulated them to beats. But I have more stuff that your whole family could relate to.
AllHipHop.com: What was it like for you to have to work on the album while you were house arrest?
Yayo: It was kind of frustrating, because you would hear Banks going here, Buck going here, 50 going there, so when they come back, I’d be happy, you know? But I had the females and my peoples keeping me company. But you know, it was winter time so it wasn’t too bad, you know?
AllHipHop.com: What’s your take on The Game and his departure from G-Unit?
Yayo: He had his own ulterior motive. You look at it, like, we had our issues with other rappers, he said he would do songs with them. The whole thing is, all right, stay out the beef, you don’t want no parts of the beef, you want to be cool with Fat Joe and all them. But my whole thing is don’t do songs with them. It’s not like we’re telling you what to do. Nobody’s telling you what to do. It’s not what you do, its how you do it. I mean, if 50 helps you out in a situation, you suppose to be behind 50 one-hundred percent, no matter what. Because if it wasn’t for you, that situation wouldn’t have occurred. But right now, I’m not really focused on that kid. He’s gonna be a VH1 special by next year.
AllHipHop.com: There seems to be a perception that G-Unit exploits beefs to sell more albums, based on conflict and controversy.
Yayo: I tell people every time, G-Unit ain’t Gimmick Unit. We just say what we say when we want to say it. And instead of being subliminal, we’ll say your name. Them beef records don’t do nothing for us. Those beef records don’t play on the radio. They might play on a couple of late night shows, but nothing serious. It’s not playing on Top 40. So people who say that we’re Gimmick Unit, dudes is just mad. Rappers is just mad. And I’ll say rapper’s name. Like, me, I’ll tell you, Cassidy is mad. Fat Joe is mad. The Lox is mad. They all mad. But they won’t…they say stuff subliminally. And then they get on their mixtapes and try to say stuff to assassinate dude’s characters. Oh, 50’s a rat. Oh, Yayo was in P.C. Come on, man. Do you really think if we were gold artists, if each of us went Gold, do you think we’d have the beef we have? We, WE, have New York City on our back. Right now Down South is running the Rap game. Atlanta, Texas, everywhere else is running the rap game. We the only ones out of New York City that’s making noise. Jay-Z is gone. Besides that, ain’t nobody making noise. That’s why you got Mike Jones selling more [his first week] than Fat Joe’s first week. ‘Cause dudes is putting out garbage! Put out some hot music. Don’t hate me ‘cause my music is hot.
AllHipHop.com: You mentioned gimmicks earlier in regards to beefing, I’m sure you’ve seen the G-UNOT shirts and the giant rats, etc.
Yayo: Game is just following suit. Game don’t got nothing to say about 50, so he’s just gonna dick r*de what the New York n***as got to say. But when you look at it, ain’t Jimmy Henchman [Game’s manager] the so-called n***a that set up ‘Pac? And you from California? So how the f**k you got love for California when 2Pac said f**k this n***a. Jimmy Henchman is a washed up O.G. That n***a don’t scare me, man. When I see this n***as I look at them as washed up O.G.s. It’s our time to shine. F**k all that. N***as is washed up and they hating because we making money and we selling these records. They hating ‘cause the crib got a f**king elevator in it. They hating because I’m about to buy a mansion. They hating ‘cause Buck got a mansion. They hating ‘cause Sha Money got a mansion. I’m the only one without a mansion, I got a condo. I’m looking a mansion right now as we speak. And 50’s mansion, we could put ten rappers houses together and it still won’t amount to the acres of Mike Tyson’s old crib. That’s why they hating. ‘Cause we ain’t gotta walk up steps, we press buttons. F**k these n***as, man. As well as Game,too. F**k him.
AllHipHop.com: Where were you during his infamous Summer Jam performance?
Yayo: Oh, I was in the condo, laid up. I was chillin. I had to be in the house at nine o’ clock. I live this s**t, you know what I’m saying? I got a curfew still, these n***as don’t live this s**t. But him beating up a rat onstage don’t prove nothing to me. That don’t mean nothing. ‘Cause at the end of the day, you know what’s crazy? 50 is getting half his publishing. So go on and put on a show, for every Documentary that sells, he’s getting a dollar. It don’t matter, that’s coming right back to the table. Matter of fact, all the proceeds he get from Game, I’ma say, 50 lemme get all the money you got from Game and let me spend some of it. Come on, man. Game is a bum ass n***a. Think about it, this guy was on Change of Heart talking about he was in the dope spot. Same guy, “F**k Jay-Z. Oh, Jay-Z is a legend to me.” Same guy, “Yayo’s the rawest in Rap. F**k Yayo.” Same guy, screaming “Lloyd Banks,” called Lloyd banks buy his ass didn’t come. Come on, son. That dude is a clown. He’s a put together gangster. When my album comes out, I’m gonna show and prove. And if I sell what I want to sell my first week, call me Tsunami Yayo. He’s Hurricane Game, call me Tsunami Yayo, cause I’m dissing everybody. I’m throwing everybody under the bus. If I sell the number I wanna sell my first week, I swear to God I’m f**king going bananas on everybody, believe that.
AllHipHop.com: What’s that number?
Yayo: I wanna go about 625 to 700 [thousand].
AllHipHop.com: Why do you think Rap crews have problems with loyalty?
Yayo: Because these dudes didn’t grow up with each other. And I’ma be honest with you, when you look at situations like Fat Joe’s album. Does it have Remy Martin on it? Does it have Armageddon on it? That tells you right there, brother. That tells you right there, right? If these are your artists, if they’re Terror Squad, why the f**k they ain’t on your album? Right? It doesn’t make sense. If 50 does an album, he’s gonna throw us all on there. He’s gonna throw Olivia on there, he gonna throw me on there, he’s gonna throw Banks on there, he’s gonna throw Buck on there. Right? Now, you look at that situation right there. Him putting Remy on the album is exposure for her, I don’t understand why she’s not on the album. Why’s Armageddon not on the album? What kind of s**t is that? Because a lot of these rappers, don’t wanna see their people shine. They wanna be number one, numero uno. That’s what it comes down to.