Last year, Long Beach rapper Crooked I hooked up with AllHipHop.com for a special two-part interview where he gave us his thorough story from his beginnings to his time with Death Row Records, to where he is now. Although we are still waiting for the debut album, Crooked I has made some big moves since then by aligning himself with Royce Da 5’9”, Joell Ortiz and Joe Budden to become the group known as Slaughterhouse, who released their self-titled debut about this past August to much praise by Hip-Hop fans worldwide. Crooked I himself will be releasing his very own EP called Mr. Pigface Weapon Waist this upcoming November 10th. The biggest surprise on the EP is a song that came out of nowhere called “Guess Who’s Back” which features long-time enemy and rival, Snoop Dogg. How did this surprising reconciliation of Long Beach rappers come about? Crooked I answers that question and more in this new exclusive interview that he gave us while on the K.O.D. Tour with Tech 9ine, Glasses Malone and others.

AllHipHop.com: Last year you did an interview with us in which you state that in order for you to reconcile with Snoop Dogg, he would have to come to you and apologize. I see that you two are now working with each other. What’s the story?

Crooked I: I had a meeting with some of my homeboys in Long Beach and we were talking about getting the city together. That same day that I was having that meeting with the O.G.’s, I received a phone call and it was Snoop. He actually texted me first and said, “Yo. I want to holler at you. I’ll be getting at you in 10 minutes.” 10 minutes passed and he hit me up – and we had a long discussion.

AllHipHop.com: Did he say what prompted him to call you after all this time?

Crooked I: I just think it was a timing thing. It was that time to do it. It was becoming unnecessary tension in the air. As I am taking my position in this industry, it’s going to be pretty hard for us to avoid talking to each other. I think he just felt the same way. He called and said some things to me on a man to man level that I respect. When we hung up the phone, whatever tension that was there was dead.

AllHipHop.com: It sounded pretty easy to solve and fix. Shouldn’t this have happened year ago?

Crooked I: My whole thing is any time has a problem with me or any kind of drama, I like to address it with that person man to man and face to face. I’m always willing to reach out. A lot of times it’s about communication. One conversation can squash anything. If people can go over to the Middle East and talk peace amongst different countries then you can also get Crips and Bloods to talk peace, or Blacks and Mexicans – all it takes is a good conversation. I think that is the reason they gave President Obama that Nobel Prize because he’s willing to go in to hostile territory and promote peace – and he understands communication – and that’s something that we can learn in this rap industry. There wouldn’t be so many beefs if people could just talk to each other face to face, man to man, and leave their egos at the door.

AllHipHop.com: Patching things up with Snoop Dogg is so big for the West Coast. What impact do you think this is going to have on the rest of the rappers from the West Coast?

 Individually, there are

rappers like Nipsey Hussle, Jay Rock and Glasses Malone that are doing

it but if you unite all of us on the West it will be like a nuclear

explosion.-Crooked I

Crooked I: I think it will have a big impact because he [Snoop Dogg] has always been the King of the West. In a lot of people’s eyes, Snoop has been the King of the West for a minute. In a lot of the eyes of the underground, I’ve been the King of the Underground. If you bring both of those elements together, that’s a powerful force. I bring a lot to the table and Snoop brings a lot of success and inspiration to rappers that are trying to do this and get paid for it. The first time I went to Snoop’s house when he was still on Death Row Records, I was inspired! I was homeless but they didn’t know that. I was living at my homeboy’s bookstore on Atlantic and Hill in Long Beach. I had to sleep in that mother***er every night. I went to Snoop’s house and was inspired. He had the UCLA basketball court in the back and all of this other stuff. I was young – a teenager. I thought, “He got all of this sh*t from rapping!” He didn’t go to college for 12 years and doesn’t have a PhD and yet he’s living next to lawyers and doctors. So I know what kind of inspiration that he can give to young dudes coming up. I inspire people just because I’m still doing it! I have people tell me that they feel like quitting but then look at the ups and downs that I’ve had and how I keep going. I know that by me and him coming together, we can inspire the Coast. Individually, there are rappers like Nipsey Hussle, Jay Rock and Glasses Malone that are doing it but if you unite all of us on the West it will be like a nuclear explosion.

AllHipHop.com: Snoop Dogg is on your new single, “Guess Who’s Back”, but he only did the hook. Are you two going to do a song with full verses?

Crooked I: We definitely are. We just scratched the surface real quick. It was the tip of the Iceberg. We’ve spoken about some projects and upcoming joints together. I am just happy that its one less piece of tension in the air for me.

AllHipHop.com: And it was a big one at that!

Crooked I: It was a big one! I came in to the industry to get away from bullsh*t. A lot of dudes come in to the industry to be fake a** gangstas and they run towards drama in their lives. That ain’t me – I came in to this business to get away from that type of sh*t. It’s always good to have less tension in the air. Anytime that you can turn a potential enemy in to an ally – that’s the sh*t to me. I’d rather be on the side of unity than to be smashing against people. These rappers don’t understand! They’ve got people and I’ve got people. What are we going to do? Take some petty a** rap sh*t to another level and start getting in fights, and having our homeboys injured or end up in jail? All over some rap sh*t? That’s not the business. Let’s do what we do and take care of the ones that we love.

AllHipHop.com: You have this new EP coming out November 10th called Mr. Pigface Weapon Waist. What the hell does that name mean?

Crooked I: When I started doing shows with Slaughterhouse, I would come out with a black Dickies suit and a Pig mask. A lot of the fans started calling me Pigface. The “weapon waist” comes from a line that I said on a Slaughterhouse song where I say, “I’ll never throw a gun in the trash but they call me weapon waist.” I just took the Pigface and weapon waist and put it together but it was just sh*t said around the Slaughterhouse brothers. When I would come in to the studio they would say, “Pigface Weapon Waist.” It was an inside nickname. I decided to bring it out and make it public. They say that when I drink Hennessey that I turn in to Pigface. That side of me is real rebellious so I decided to put out a project that reflects that side of me. I decided to make some G-sh*t and I don’t give a f**k who doesn’t like it. That’s the lane I was in when I made and I actually intended for it to drop in the summer. There was a sample on there – and I really wanted to give this song to the people – I didn’t want to take it off the record. I kept fighting for it but by doing that it kept f**king up the release date. I had to finally take it off and bow down. The people didn’t want to release it. I didn’t even go real hard on it but you know how it is.

AllHipHop.com: What sample was that?

Crooked I: I’m not going to put them on blast because I got some more samples from that I want to use (laughs). I don’t want to p### them off. It was just that particular sample; they didn’t want to let it go. They have cleared samples for me in the past so I don’t really want to put them on blast. The EP is still rocking though. I am going to do a full length to it and probably drop that in January.

 You can’t make money on the West and I can’t make money where you’re at. How smart is that? Why flex that power and focus on the negative and feed in to the beef?-Crooked I

AllHipHop.com: How does this coincide with the debut album that we are all still waiting on?

Crooked I: I’ve got one of the most unique stories in Hip-Hop – that’s not a setback for me. I’ve been rapping my mother***ing a** off for almost a decade. I’ve jumped on songs for people in Australia, Germany, Russia – I get more orders for COB shirts overseas than I do in America. I’ve expressed myself to the fullest and my body of work speaks for itself without putting sh*t on the shelf. The debut is like this: I might do the full length Pigface in January, the second Slaughterhouse album, and then the debut album. I might do it like that – I don’t know. I want to keep my supporters with some fresh sh*t in their rotation. It’s coming. I am going to load the clip for them in a minute. I’m going to load the clip because I ain’t going out of this b*tch without being one of the best ever.

AllHipHop.com: How is the group thing working out for you? I know that being in a group is so different because you have to deal with different egos and plus you guys are all extraordinary MC’s. Is there ever tension between you all?

Crooked I: We respect each other so much as individual artists, that when we come together, the ego doesn’t make a difference. Royce Da 5’9” is a monster, so if he has a suggestion for a song what are we doing to do? Say no? We don’t even come with the egos. We just click like an assembly line.

AllHipHop.com: Is that something that was worked out before hand? You guys agreeing to work as a team without the egos?

Crooked I: We just went in an operated like that. No plan was set – nothing. We liked that first song that we did and it was dope. I went out to New York and Royce was already out there working with DJ Premier and we just recording more sh*t for the internet and we clicked. We didn’t have to sit down and set no ground rules or anything like that.

AllHipHop.com: You mentioned a second Slaughterhouse album. Care to share more info on that?

Crooked I: That’s going to be something dangerous. I want to call it No Muzzle so we can air out all of these suckers. I don’t know if that’s going to go down (laughs).

AllHipHop.com: Over the summer it seemed as if your group was involved with beef after beef. What’s up with that?

Crooked I: Aw you know, when you are going up the ladder there will be people trying to pull you down. The fans of Hip-Hop play in to it too. Some dudes I have respect for and some dudes I don’t. It’s like me sitting back and watching Benzino say, “I respect Crooked but Slaughterhouse is over-rated.” I’m Slaughterhouse. If you disrespect Slaughterhouse then you are disrespecting me. But what am I going to do? I am not going to waste my breath rapping a million bars about somebody. If I did that, I would put it on an album and get paid. I’m not going to air anybody out for free. All of these little beefs pop up and to me they are just silly. To me it’s like, you do something to me when I’m on your Coast and I’ll do something to you when you’re on mine. You can’t make money on the West and I can’t make money where you’re at. How smart is that? I have that power on my Coast to make hell for anybody on that Southern part. Forget about getting on that stage if you’ve got a real issue with me. Why flex that power and focus on the negative and feed in to the beef? Whatever you focus on is going to expand. If I focus on beef it is going to expand. If that person that I’m beefing with has as much power as I have, that sh*t can hit the news. It can be bad for a lot of people and you have to ask yourself, why? How did we get so deep in to this sh*t? Just because somebody said that I’m over-rated? It’s ridiculous but nobody believes that they can rap better than Slaughterhouse – nobody!

Da Cypher: Nicki Minaj, Buckshot, Crown Royyal & Joe Budden

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Da Cypher: Mos Def, Black Thought, Eminem

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Those who stopped following Master P’s career since the rapper’s No Limit heyday have a lot of catching up to do. The former founder and CEO of the influential New Orleans- based label may not rap as much as he used to, but his behind-the-scenes work in music, television and humanitarian causes have made the 40-year-old mogul busier than ever.

Having made numerous appearances on Fortune Magazine’s “40 Richest Under 40” list—in 1998, his estimated $56 million net worth earned a Guinness Book of World Records mention for Richest Music Producer—the rapper/entrepreneur used his wealth to help fund a number of different projects, most recently Better Black Television (BBTV), a “family-friendly” network set to launch in mid-2010 for which P will assume the role of Chairman/CEO.

As he prepares for the channel’s launch, the man known as Percy Miller has partnered with One Million Gifts, a charity aimed at feeding and clothing one million homeless people around the country and recently finished shooting the first season of “No Excuses,” a new VH1 show aimed at turning the lives of various downtrodden people around. In a lengthy interview, the businessman, entertainer and motivational speaker spoke with AllHipHop.com on the genesis of the show, why face tattoos are a bad idea and sends message to young killers.

AllHipHop.com: Can you talk about how “No Excuses” came together? Was this an idea you had or were you approached to do this?

Master P: This was something that I had been brewing for a while. It was about the changes that I made in my life and how I was able to be successful without making excuses. Also, it was knowing where I could end up if I didn’t change my life. Why do so many brothers end up dead or in jail and not realizing that if we just got out and did the right thing to better ourselves, that we could go a long way? I just had to break those cycles and show people that come from the places I come from that can say, “What can we do to make a change to survive to be around and grow up?” I figured out a way to give entertainment and education in one show that will hopefully save lives. This is the first positive, entertaining reality show on television.

AllHipHop.com: Unlike similar shows, this one doesn’t talk down to the person needing help. Was that tone a conscious decision?

Master P: Oh yeah, I’ve really thought about this and I want people to learn something from this. I think that education saves lives and watching other peoples’ mistakes can help save or change your life. This is something that our culture needs. All we got now in is entertainment and most of it’s negative. There’s a lot of African Americans that want to see stuff that make them feel good.

AllHipHop.com: How do you think “No Excuses” differs from T.I.’s “Road to Redemption,” which aired earlier this year?

Master P: I like that show, but this show is not just about a road to redemption. You got shopaholics. You got people that are overweight. I really liked T.I.’s show, but this show is about motivating people to go out and do what it take to better yourself. I think T.I.’s show was more about somebody getting in trouble and trying to change their past. But this show is not about the past. It’s about the future.

Don’t be afraid to grow up. If you in Hip-Hop and you have a kid, that means that now you gotta be responsible. You should think twice before putting tattoos on your face ’cause one day you gonna have to look for a job in Corporate America.

-Master P

AllHipHop.com: On the show, the topic of pride comes up a lot and some of the people you work with feel certain work is “beneath them.” How do you counter this way of thinking?

Master P: You gotta do what you gotta do, because your pride could take you away from your family. I’ve learned that firsthand from my brother [C-Murder, currently serving a life imprisonment sentence for murder]. He know he didn’t commit this crime but for him keeping it real in the streets and not saying who did it, where he at? He in the penitentiary. So sometimes your pride could kill you. My whole thing is: don’t let pride get in the way of what you want to do. Hip-hop artists got this “keep it real” thing like they on the streets now. You making money and making records! All those people that’s trying to feed into your ego, they not going to be there for you in the end.

It’s been a struggle for me the past eight years to keep doing what I’m doing right. What I’m dong right now ain’t about money. I realize you can’t take none of this with you. I’m about building a legacy and about changing other peoples’ lives. I’m teaching my people how to fish. I’m not giving them a fish. A lot of people in the community mistake kindness for weakness and that’s where we gotta draw the line. Ain’t nothing wrong with your legs and your arms. You got a great body. You in shape. Now go out there and find you a job.

AllHipHop.com: Were there any defining moments in your life that made you reconsider the negative path you were on?

Master P: I think that losing my brother—watching my mom lose her son—and then losing another brother to the prison system affected me and made me get harder on my kids now. It’s like, “Look. You got an uncle dead, you got an uncle in jail. Now you see this is what could happen to you if we don’t break these cycles.” Right now, C-Murder is a victim of a crime himself. He’s innocent on this case but because of his name, image and past, that’s given them the right to take him away off the streets. That’s why I get out here in the communities to try to help save these other kids. I’m trying to show y’all, “This is why I’m still here on the streets because I chose to do the right thing.”

AllHipHop.com: That being said, do you find it hard to stay connected to the places you grew up?

Master P: When kids see me coming back and I’m there, they know P come from here. They don’t think he better than us. He even know he don’t want to come back and live here. Guess what? I work hard because I don’t want to end up back here. Somebody who’s feeding you crap that you got to “keep it real” by staying here for life, they feeding you bullcrap. I’m feeding you the real. Anybody get a taste of the good life, they don’t want to be living back in that environment, but they can’t forget where they came from. That’s why I’ve always been connected and give back. I say to myself, “What can I do to put a smile on one kid’s face that might turn out to be better than me?” These people bought my music and allowed me to live the lifestyle I could live, so I could at least give back to their kids. There’s a lot of sponsorship money that Romeo could get that I couldn’t get because of my music. I realized that peoples’ lives are affected [by music] and I was part of the problem and I want to be a part of the solution. I owe this to my people.

AllHipHop.com: Do you regret any of the music you’ve put out?

Master P: I really don’t, but I know that I’m at a level of exposure that I worry about it [going forward]. Don’t judge me on my past. Judge me on the path that I’m going on for my future.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve spoken a lot about youth violence. What was your reaction to seeing the video of Derrion Albert’s murder?

Master P: We live in a violent world right now and without education, a lot of young people are making moves but they can’t think. I hope that people learn that this is not what you want to go through and send yourself or your family to. So now you’re in trouble. Now what? What are you gonna do? People are making excuses like, “They ain’t got nothing. They live in poverty.” Guess what? There are a lot of people that live in poverty that changed their lives and are successful right now. It’s easier to pick up a gun than to pick up a pen.

AllHipHop.com: What would you tell the kids accused of his murder?

Master P: I’d tell them they probably took a life from somebody that could have been the next president or somebody that could have changed somebody else’s life. That could’ve been one of your family members. But whatever you do, you have to suffer the consequences for it, so why not do right?

AllHipHop.com: Going back to music, do you ever envision a time where you’d go back to being a full-time emcee?

Master P: It’s like Michael Jordan. When he was in his prime, nobody could touch him and as he got older, I think a lot of people took cheap shots at him. They felt like, “Wow, I just beat the best man in the NBA.” I just feel that people would respect me more and I could offer a lot more to the Hip-Hop world in corporate America. I’ve been working on building a union for Hip-Hop because we have no retirement funds. Corporate America’s not gonna respect us if I’m on the stage.

AllHipHop.com: But Michael Jordan retired and came back to the game. Have you officially retired from emceeing?

Master P: I think you don’t retire from something you good at. I just think my fanbase is older and it’s a young person’s business on stage. Now me getting up on stage just to have fun, I’m fine with that. But me actually going out on tour, I don’t see that happening ’cause it don’t make sense to me. I can be the person behind a lot of these younger artists and offer y’all advice and give y’all more resources so you can get more money and people won’t be afraid of you because of the sacrificing that I and other artists done paid. People still be like, “You older now. What is you still doing rapping?”

AllHipHop.com: Any last words for AllHipHop.com readers?

Master P: Don’t be afraid to grow up. If you in Hip-Hop and you have a kid, that means that now you gotta be responsible. Hip-hop has to grow up now. You look at Russell Simmons and Run-D.M.C., those people are older now but living a good life because they realized they had to grow up. I don’t care who you are. You should think twice before putting tattoos on your face ’cause one day you gonna have to look for a job in Corporate America.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s go 40 years into the future. You only have one sentence to sum up your legacy. What would it be?

Master P: No limit. That’s it.