Travie McCoy: Evolution of a Rock Star Part 2

Continued from Part 1AllHipHop.com: Right, and now you see it

way more often. You look at Lil Wayne…he put out an entire rock album.

Do you feel like you and Gym Class Heroes had any kind of influence on that.Travie

McCoy: For sure! I’m not going to say any names but I’ve been in studio

sessions working with producers where a big name artist will come in

and be like, “Yea, that’s cool but I want to it sound like that Gym

Class Heroes record!” You know what I mean and to me, I’m just like wow!

To have big name hip-hop artists saying that they want that GCH sound,

that blew me away. I remember one time I got a call from Pete, my boy

from Fall Out Boy, and he was just like, “Yo, Kanye just stopped his

entire show and played Cupid’s Chokehold!” And I was like, “What?!

Bullsh*t!” and I see it was on YouTube the next day. He stopped his show

and was like, “Yo, I was on my way to the show and this song came on

the radio. I told my limo driver to turn it up and he wouldn’t so I’ma

play this sh*t right now!” and he played Cupid’s Chokehold and I’m

bugging out! He was doing his little dance that he was doing…I can’t do

it but it’s crazy! It’s cool! I feel like a lot of hip-hop artists are

opening themselves up more to different types of music. GCH are

influenced by hip-hop as much as we’re influenced by indie rock or house

music, like freestyle. Like I’m a huge Stevie B. fan, you know? All

that stuff finds its way into what we do in one way or another and it’s

cool that other artists are being more open to different types of music.

You got Kanye and Jay doing songs with Coldplay which in Reasonable

Doubt days…that was unheard of! So I think it’s a beautiful thing. It

just makes for more eclectic music. AllHipHop.com:

You’re definitely recognized as a part of the hip-hop community. I mean

here we are now at the Hennessy Artistry event with Hot 97…Travie

McCoy: Yeah this is such a major thing. I’m from New York too, so the

fact they have me representing this part of the Hennessy Artistry tour,

I’m honored. AllHipHop.com:

Did you think Billionaire was going to be as big as it is? It’s sold

over 2 million copies; it’s been featured in so many shows….Travie

McCoy: It’s weird to say but after we finished it and played it back a

million times, it was like this song kind of has that “it” factor you

know? Not really sure who was going to embrace but I’m never concerned

with who’s going to like it as long as I’m into it and the people that

are around me are into it and I can look around the studio and

everyone’s bopping their heads, that’s what matters to me.AllHipHop.com: I saw “Glee” picked it up.Travie

McCoy: That was crazy! The same with Empire State of Mind. Glee is such

a big part of pop culture right now and the fact that they used

Billionaire I’m just like wow, I’m doing something right. AllHipHop.com: Has Oprah heard it yet? (laughs)Travie

McCoy: I think she has. They actually on Twitter they started a

petition to get me on her show. I shout her out so much in the song,

they’re like, it’s only right. I think I need to go to Gale and be like,

“Gale listen, talk to Oprah for me. I’m giving all this free pub man!”AllHipHop.com: And the Queen too, right? You’re going to Europe next month on tour…maybe you can talk to her.Travie McCoy: Yeah I’m gonna try!AllHipHop.com:

So now with Billionaire too….Bruno Mars was obviously a major part of

the success of the single and there’s definitely been some recent drama

surrounding him with the cocaine charges. It’s kind of crazy because you

see Soulja Boy just recently had something with that, Lindsay Lohan,

you even have a song from a few years back with Lil Wayne called “Viva

La White Girl” which is a reference to it. It just kind of seems like

it’s so much more common now in the business. Why do you think this is?Travie

McCoy: I mean, let’s not kid ourselves. Drugs and music have been this

filthy relationship since the beginning. Drugs, sex and rock and roll,

you know what I mean? That’s not to condone it at all, though. The song I

did, Viva La White Girl, that’s not condoning the use of cocaine. It

was more so comparing the high you get going to a show and listening to

music to the high you get from drugs. But I mean, it is what is is…we

all make mistakes. I was very open a couple years ago with my addiction

to pain killers and in doing that, a lot of kids came to me after shows

like, “thank you so much for being so open. You helped me get through

some rough times.” If I could do that, it is what it is. Bruno’s

situation, I don’t really want to speak on it too much but at the same

time, we don’t really know all the pressure that dude’s under right now

that would lead him to go that route, you know? There’s no instruction

manual to this type of lifestyle, you know what I mean? So we falter, we

f*ck up…we’re human. I think that just goes to show the human element

of being a celebrity and being an artist. It’s just that whenever we

f*ck up, it gets put under the microscope. There are cokeheads and crack

heads walking up and down Varick right now and nobody really gives a

f*ck but the minute one of us slips up, it’s like ahhhh! But at the end

of the day, we’re role models, whether we acknowledge that or not. But

we are human and I think that’s the most important thing.AllHipHop.com:

Right, like Wayne now doing his jail stint for a gun charge. Have you

spoke to him since he’s been in jail? I know you guys were cool from

being on tour together and everything.Travie

McCoy: I haven’t spoken to him since he’s been locked up but that’s my

boy. We were all on tour together for the longest and after that I did a

lot of Lazarus at the Hit Factory where Wayne and everybody works at. AllHipHop.com: T-Pain too, right? I know you were down with his label Nappy Boy before. Are you still down with them?Travie McCoy: Yeah, totally! I’m just really stirring all my pots, man. I’m stirring them all.