(Editor’s Note: Mike Bigga (aka Killer Mike) will bring appear at the AllHiphop Social Lounge on October 17 (with Saigon, Raekwon and others) in Newark, NJ at the NJPAC Center. Click here for details and to purchase tickets.)

Although he dropped “killer” from his moniker, Mike Bigga (formerly known as Killer Mike) says his killer instincts for making good music is what’s propelling him to move on to bigger and better things. Mainly, his new venture with T.I. and Grand Hustle, which include a solo album at the top of next year, with the lions share of production done by DJ Toomp. Until then, Mike took it upon himself to unify Atlanta’s rap scene into a two-disk compilation CD titled, “Underground Atlanta,” featuring T.I., Gucci Mane, and Soulja Boy. Mike recently sat down to talk about Atlanta’s musical diversity, how to take Jay-Z’s crown, Obama drama and dumb Black folks with no agenda.

AllHipHop.com: Underground Atlanta is like a mixtape that highlights what Atlanta’s rap scene has to offer. Is this a way of showcasing that Atlanta still produces a variety of music like the days of Dungeon Family, Pastor Troy, Raheem the Dream, Kilo Ali, etc?

Mike Bigga: For people who don’t know in 1994 Atlanta was essentially dominated by bass music, Florida and Miami in particular. So you had that element of funky, wild out good time. OutKast and Goodie Mob provided that lyrical substance, a more in-depth look at the south besides partying. You had Kilo Ali, you had all of these artists that were doing different things but it was all centered around this city called Atlanta and I wanted the record to feel like that.

Only in the minds of commercial listeners in other places do B.o.B does not belong next to the [Dem] Get-A-way Boyz. In Atlanta, we were never like that… Atlanta is a place where black people be on different vibes: I’m “artisty,” I’m lyrical, I’m trapped out, I’m swagged out, but everybody parties together. So I wanted to show that despite what the world says, this city stands alone.

AllHipHop.com: With you now having access to bigger resources through Grand Hustle you could have pulled in some top-notched producers for this project. Why did you choose to let Brandon Matthews produce most of the tracks?

Mike Bigga: For those that remember in the late 80s, early 90s one or two producers customarily would do the whole album. If you look at Cash Money, Manny Fresh; if you look at Dungeon Family, Organized Noize; Master P, Beats By tha Pound. There’s a group called DMG that’s owned by a guy named Brandon Matthews. He was an intern at Grind Time then doing some salary work, helped put together “Pledge 1,” the ‘Killer” mixtape, so he’s really a part of the Grind Time family. He’s a young brother who went out, got his own studio, got his own production team…so I said why don’t I just pay y’all to produce, mix and master the whole record. And it made sense because of the diversity of the beats. There’s a few other producers that are on here, but for the most part, I wanted a more cohesive sound.

“Nothing that you do during the day benefits you. And if all you have to be proud of is a Black president I feel sorry for you lazy, worthless, shiftless n****s.”

-Mike Bigga

AllHipHop.com: A lot of people know you for being a true lyricist who is politically and socially aware. What do you say to those who might be shocked to see Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane on this project?

Mike Bigga: The best descriptions of me that I see is nobody has balanced God and gangsta like Mike since Tupac or since Scarface and those the comparisons I have when you hit the blogs up. It took a long time for people to get it. My whole thing is I’m not gonna deny the God or gangsta in me. I’m a man. I’m conflicted. I want women to keep their head up and I love strippers, all at the same time.

I’m going to give people all of Michael. And it’s not trying to be at your detriment, but I don’t have a problem with Gucci Mane because I know him from when we had no record deal and we was begging DJ Funky to play our records. I don’t have a problem with OJ [Da Juiceman]. That’s a segment of Atlanta I want represented. I’m being true to myself. My father was an Atlanta policeman. My mother was a known trafficker. So I gotta be true to all of me… I’m an intellectual. I’m a educated villain, but I’m still a villain.

“The cheap way [to diss somebody] is to talk about how someone look or someone’s age … That ain’t how you beat Michael Jordan. You beat Michael Jordan by getting a f**kin’ basketball and shoot that muthaf**ka religiously. “

-Mike Bigga

AllHipHop.com: T-Pain recently called Jay-Z old, which puts the spotlight on a generational divide in hip hop. In your opinion, why are young artists attacking him?

Mike Bigga: Well, Jay Z is the measuring stick, like, rap is a fraternity. I feel a lot of the young artists and a lot of the artists my age, what they trying to do is, instead of trying to get over the bar in a legit way and say, ‘Jay Imma one-up you by a song,’ they trying to do it the cheap way.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the cheap way?

Mike Bigga: The cheap way is to talk about how someone look or someone’s age or talk about a song they made or talk about who they party with or talk about what they wear. That ain’t how you beat Michael Jordan. You beat Michael Jordan by getting a f**kin’ basketball and shoot that muthaf**ka religiously. Sleeping with it, waking up with it, taking it to lunch with you, shooting after practice, shooting before the game. That’s the only way you gon’ do it. So my whole thing is I don’t have no envy or jealousy because if you listen to “Poppin Tags,” oh I shook the building up. I know what I can do next to an icon whether it’s Jay Z, Big Boi, Bun B…I have that supreme confidence, these other young men don’t have that. Cause that supreme confidence is gonna have you say I love Jay, I can’t wait to compete with him… This is what I’ve been practicing for, this is what I’ve been shooting these threes for… I don’t know T-Pain’s beef or any rapper’s beef. I just know for me, you gotta take a crown. Until you do that, shut the f**k up.

AllHipHop.com: How much does Jay Z’s moves as a businessman change the culture of hip hop and its social status?

Mike Bigga: If we talking about Jay Z and business, this is no disrespect, but I never think of Jay-Z and business as solely Jay-Z. Me being a Rocafella and Jay-Z fan since the first single, not the first album, the first gotdamn single when he still rapped fast, that’s how long I’ve been a fan, so but I never disassociate Dame and Biggs from the business. The first time I saw Dame Dash, he had a arm full of Rocafella records making DJs play it in the club. To see him with the street team doing that made an impression on me.

When I went into the studio with Jay and to see his calm and his resolve, you know when a rapper has that type of calm that there’s someone working on his behalf to make sure the bulls**t don’t land in his lap…But I really have to say when I look at how great he has become as a business icon in terms of being inspiring to young African Americans men that ain’t trying to be rappers, that’s trying to be businessmen, and business owners, I cannot separate that from Dame and Kareem Biggs. Every building is foundation first and truly man Damon Dash is a cornerstone of that. Whatever beef that got personally, I ain’t taking no sides, that don’t matter to me. I’m speaking as a Rocafella fan.”When Tip steps out I want him to step out to a moving running engine. I

want him to come out happier than the day before he went in.”-Mike Bigga

AllHipHop.com: Let’s talk about Grand Hustle. You’ve done the label thing before, first with Sony, then with Purple Ribbon, which led to you not speaking to your friend for three years. What made you sign with T.I.’s label? What do you hope to be different this time around?

Mike Bigga: I don’t know how it will be different. Let me tell you how it has been different. I came in here, I made dope music, the dope music went out on vinyal and went out on mixtapes immediately. It wasn’t no waiting, no holding to see what happens. It got taken to radio and radio is hittin’ the single in my city right now. No waiting, no holding it. I came in here with thoughts of how I wanted to look, the name change. We didn’t have to wait to bring anybody extra in. Hannah got on that immediately.So if you’re a pro-active artist then this is the place to be. If you’re in the streets trying to work it yourself, most of these artists are, Big Kuntry is one especially, once they see your wheels spinning, they’ll get behind your car and push it. And that is a really unique place to be at. To be around people that’s about the grind. People are eating. When people know there’s an opportunity for everybody, it eliminates that air of backbiting and I’m happy. When Tip steps out I want him to step out to a moving running engine. I want him to come out happier than the day before he went in. I want him to say wow look at what y’all managed to do while I’ve been gone.

AllHipHop.com: Everybody knows you’re very outspoken when it comes to President Obama. How would you grade him on this health care reform? Do you feel…

Mike Bigga: To all my good Black people any statement I make, it ain’t just about your president or our president. I am going to be as hypercritical on any president. I don’t want people to think I was trying to disrespect my president when I said the thing on rollingout.com that I gave a “C”. I just looked at it like this is midterms. When you’re in school everybody had that one teacher that gave everybody a “C” on their midterm. You’d be like why I get a “C?” She’d be like because everybody’s average right now.

That’s not bad, not good either. He is where I expect any president to be. When this health care bill pass that “C” immediately goes up to a B+ and that has less to do with our president and more to do with Democrats in both Houses supporting our president. Right now Black women get struck with breast cancer more than anybody else. Black women endure abortions more than anybody else. So I know when that health care bill pass I know every BAlack woman got insurance immediately. That’s the big test. Every politically astute person knows that. He knows that.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve been the biggest critic on not having a Black agenda…

Mike Bigga: Let me help Black people understand something: I don’t just talk this s**t. At least for two hours out of my day I’m reading or watching Claud Anderson or John Henrik Clarke. Go google them to see what they have to say about a Black economic agenda, a Black socialization agenda. For those who say why we need a Black agenda, I want you to get your dumb ass up in the morning, look at them clothes and see if any of them are made by Black people. No they not.

They made by little Brown people who are underpaid and overworked. Then I want you to go to the refrigerator. You didn’t buy that s**t from a Black coop, you bought it from a White chain grocer, a corporation. So you didn’t produce none of the food because they have taken over 30 million acres of land from Black farmers over the past 70, 80 years. Then you go to the gas station and you think he look like you, so you say ‘hey wussup brother,’ and he don’t respond to you because he ain’t on your agenda. Why? Because he’s on the East Indian agenda. He’s on the Saudi Arabian agenda. So it sounds to me like, n****s, you need to make one. Nothing that you do during the day benefits you. And if all you have to be proud of is a Black president I feel sorry for you lazy, worthless, shiftless n****s.

Hello, Mike Bigga.

Later, Killer Mike

The “sophomore jinx,” the idea that a group or artist’s second offering is unlikely to be as successful as their debut release, is a thought that likely preoccupies the majority of artists in Hip-Hop today.

  Especially in a climate where not only do most record labels lack the resources to properly support new releases, but where fans are super fickle, constantly looking for the next hot thing. To make matters worse, not only are new releases being judged against previous record sales by the same artist, but there is no sliding scale that distinguishes between success from one artist to the next for whatever reason.

For Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam duo Playaz Circle, is judgment day is here.  Dolla and Tity Boi have released their sophomore LP, Flight 360:The Takeoff, hoping to prove that they are more than just a one hit wonder.

The group, which first came together in 1997, is best known for the hit they scored nearly ten years later thanks in part to a catchy, Lil’ Wayne-assisted hook and a unique track by newcomer M-16. “Duffle Bag Boy,” their click’s other nickname, became such a hot single that it was actually the lead single for not one, but two albums: the third DTP compilation album, Strength In Numbers, and Supply and Demand, Playaz Circle’s long delayed debut. The song even made it to the world of film and television, appearing on several soundtracks, including the opening of Chris Rock’s highly publicized HBO special “Kill The Messenger.”

“Duffle Bag Boy” peaked at the #15 position on Billboard’s Hot 100 before earning a Platinum certification from the RIAA in December 2007. The song’s popularity drove Supply and Demand.

In the amnesia-prone consciousness of Hip-Hop fans, however, the duo disappeared after the song’s novelty faded. But Playaz Circle has been hard at work, developing the fan base and buzz needed to eclipse their past accomplishments. The duo has been preparing for Takeoff, so to speak.

“With the success of ‘Duffle Bag,’ we were able to do a lot of things, see a lot of different areas, see a lot of different cultures,” says Dolla. “We want to tell [our fans] about it. Flight 360 is pretty much a conceptual album, dealing with me and T##’s travels. We got a lot of hot features on the album, a lot of hot producers. I think we got something on there for every fan in the world.”

The effort to find balance in their music, to appeal to a wide audience, has been a driving force behind Playaz Circle’s movement since its inception. With contributions by a bevy of up-and-coming producers and appearances by Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Bobby Valentino – who provided the hook for the group’s current single “Can’t Remember” – OJ da Juiceman, Young Dro, the Casey Boys from Jagged Edge, and Hip-Hop elder statesmen Cee-Lo and Raekwon, Flight 360 could very well prove there’s more to the College Park duo than people think.

“Dolla and myself come from a substance era, when you had Outkast and Goodie Mob,” explains Tity Boi. “So that’s what we kind of tried to bring to this album. 360 is another analogy for circle. On the streets, in laymen’s terms, 36 O is the whole thing. We just tried to put it all in one pot.” To stay consistent with their theme, Tity and Dolla narrowed down the album’s 15-song tracklist from over 70 songs cut for the album. The two also attempted to make their lyrics as visual as possible, they say. And to keep their vision clear, they have also set out to shoot videos for all of the songs on Flight 360. So far, in addition to the official first video, “Can’t Remember,” they’ve released clips for “Look What I Got,” “Stupid” featuring OJ da Juiceman, “Yeah We Getting’ Rich” featuring Ludacris, and “Turbulence.” They’ve also released visuals for street singles not included on the album including “First Class,” and the soulful “Let Me Fly,” which, as evidenced by their titles, are consistent with the album’s theme.

“The album ties into everything from the hangar all the way down to the engine,” Tity adds. “The order of the album, all the way down to the sequence: we tried to put together a complete album that all dealt and stayed in the same lane. We like to talk about the trip. It’s like going on a ride.”

Now Dolla and Tity just have to wait and see how many fans will come along.

Playaz Circle – “Can’t Remember” (feat. Bobby Valentino)

Playaz Circle – “Full Circle”