Throughout Hip-Hop, there are record executives and several rappers that have instilled fear in the hearts of many. Behind the turntables, the same may be true of Kay Slay. Still, “The Drama King” didn’t use those tactics to get into the industry. Instead, the East Harlem native has been involved in Hip-Hop for four decades, and four elements.

As the Hot97 DJ will be quick to defend, perhaps the stigma behind “The Drama King,” is a misconception. After all, Kay Slay has been a hero to the unsigned rapper. He was there for 50 Cent, and today, he’s backing Papoose into his own rise to fame. The mixtape veteran holds it down for his community, the old school, and his art.

AllHipHop.com: I guess let’s start with being “The Drama King,” what’s with all the drama?

Kay Slay: Well really, it’s more-so drama in the music because it’s just like everybody plays the political game and when it comes to certain people, I’m just the type of person that felt like this is Hip-Hop, and if you in it, you in it. And if somebody challenges you to a battle, you supposed to pick up your pen and pad and go to work.

AllHipHop.com: Listening to some of the stuff you’ve said to cats on mixtapes though, it would appear that you get pleasure form going at these cats the way you do. Is it all just business for you or do you just like pissing people off?

Kay Slay: I mean…I’m into Hip-Hop, understand? So if everybody’s in this game for all the right reasons, then they know the rules of the game. I’m around a lot of different types of artists, and I know a lot of them don’t really know what this whole thing here is about. I know some of them don’t know who who Kool Moe Dee is or Busy Bee; they don’t know about their battle… and if they don’t know, that’s their problem. But as far as I’m concerned, I’m just here to do what I was put here to do.

AllHipHop.com: So is it okay for an artist just coming out to go after a top dog like Jay-Z in the spirit of battling?

Kay Slay: Nah, nah, nah, I don’t cosign that. Stay in your zone.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, but if this person feels like he can hold his own and he wants to call out Jay or whomever, what is earning your stripes?

Kay Slay: Earning your stripes is just like if a new website came out yesterday, and they was sayin’ that they were number one and AllHipHop sucks, and nobody should f**k with y’all. You know damn good and well that if y’all respond to that, y’all are putting them on the same level as y’all, so you gonna ignore it. So I feel like it’s a due-paying process, nobody should be able to just come out and go after Jay-Z, I’m not honoring that.

AllHipHop.com: Although I don’t agree with all the beefing, I understand it as a proponent of Hip-Hop…

Kay Slay: Now see when you say beef, it’s not beef. Beef is like what Biggie told people. Beef is when you can’t take your daughter to school ‘cause you don’t want her to get hurt because of you. Beef is when you have to move your mother out of an area where people know her. That’s beef. I don’t know what this is that cats are doing ‘cause Number One: If it was beef, you wouldn’t be talking about it giving statements to the police and dry snitching and Number Two: All you gotta do is show up, you know where the show is gonna be, go to the show, and take they head off. You know the s**t ain’t beef, it’s drama, it’s entertainment.

AllHipHop.com: But how do you keep situations from escalating?

Kay Slay: I mean, whatever is gonna be in life, is gonna be. None of our s**t is more powerful than the Creator, so if that’s what he put in your destiny, then that’s what he put there.

AllHipHop.com: Going back to snitching for a minute, isn’t everything said on wax about what goes on in the streets dry-snitching?

Kay Slay: That’s true, but if don’t attach names to it, and you just talking about life experience, then it is what it is. But once you start having peoples’ names and begin to get intricate with details where people can figure out who you’re talking about, then that’s not cool.

AllHipHop.com: So let’s play devils advocate and say if someone were snitching in the name of justice and doing what’s right in order to solve a crime then why isn’t it okay?

Kay Slay: You can’t confuse a civilian with somebody from the hood. You could be from any borough and take a p### on the street, and n***as would walk by like, “Whatever.” But if you do that s### on 52nd Street and 5th Avenue, a white man will calmly go tell a police officer, “Hey, that man is urinating on the corner,” and he’s gonna be able to go back to his neighborhood and not have people care that he told. But in the hood, somebody can violate another individual and that person can go to his office and crack his head and keep it moving, you just gotta stay strapped because when he sees you again he’s gonna get back at you. You try to go to a record label and crack somebody’s head and that guy is gonna call the cops and he’s not gonna worry about what you say about this that or the other so you really cant confuse civilian life with life on the streets.

AllHipHop.com: What’s your favorite old and new school battle?

Kay Slay: I would have to say Force MD’s [vs.] Cold Crush Brothers. More recently, it would have to be Jay and Nas, because it was more on the Hip-Hop side than drama.

AllHipHop.com: Do you ever feel caught in the middle as a DJ?

Kay Slay: Naw, I never feel like I’m in the middle.

AllHipHop.com: I don’t mean in the middle like you’re the cause, but like you have to choose sides?

Kay Slay: I’m never in the middle. This is a business, ya understand? It’s just like if I’m disagreeing with a DJ, they’re not gonna say I’m not gonna give this record to this DJ because he’s beefing with Kay Slay, that’s bulls**t. They’re going to give the record and the beat to the DJ ‘cause they have nothing to do with it. These are grown ass men.

Allhiphop.com- Yes we all miss Justo, I’ve been hearing a lot of banter about things going on as far as the difficulty of putting on this years awards.

Kay Slay- Yea, I don’t know what’s going on, I just know I’m gonna support it when it happens. I just think it’s too many people trying to be involved and I don’t really want to speak on it because I love Justo and his family might feel a certain way about things being ran by certain people and they want it to go one way and I think Titanic and them want to do it another way but it’s so much confusion that I’m just kinda leaning back.

AllHipHop.com: everybody knows DJ Kay Slay, what is something they might not know about you, any hobbies?

Kay Slay: I think [some] people know that I draw. That’s my alter-ego, graffiti, drawing, all that. When I was younger, that was my craft.

AllHipHop.com: What types of things do you draw?

Kay Slay: Characters, all types of things… whatever comes to my mind.

AllHipHop.com: So does that mean we have some animation coming?

Kay Slay: I ain’t into it like that, but I still go out to the park where we got this wall we started back in ’81 called “The Graffiti Hall of Fame,” and I still go once a year and link up until some old heads I used to run with, and lace the wall. Other than that, it’s not enough hours in the day for me to do that – especially how deep into the game I am right now.

AllHipHop.com: Totally off topic, if you were a superhero what would be your superhero power?

Kay Slay: To take away all the poverty in the hood.

AllHipHop.com: Are you involved in your community?

Kay Slay: Yes, I have a tournament that I do in the projects for the kids eight [years old] and up. I get ‘em trophies and everything, and there’s no losers.

AllHipHop.com: I like that, that’s important that everyone gets rewarded.

Kay Slay: Yeah, I do it every year for the kids. I invite some rappers and stuff down to get involved. Last year, Ron Artest came down. This year it’s gonna be August 19th, at East River Housing [Projects] on 151st Avenue. It’s all day event. I have a lot of different things going on and I’ve been doing it the past nine years, so it’s something that people know that I do.

AllHipHop.com: It’s important for our kids to have something going on in the midst of all this other crap going on in the world including wars and all that. Do you know anyone in Iraq?

Kay Slay: Yeah, I know a few people. I have a friend who’s a Sergeant, who goes back and forth.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think we should be over there?

Kay Slay: I don’t really speak on it much, but when you get down to the real s**t going on, hell no we shouldn’t be there. But if our kids gotta be there then these people in Congress and the White House need to have their kids over there too. But since none of them will ever go, why is it that we gotta send all our little black sons and daughters to fight in a war that’s being fought for no reason? I don’t see the reasoning behind that but now it’s to a point where if they pull out, they look stupid, so they’re like, “F**k it.” How long are y’all gonna be out there letting people die? When there’s no more soldiers to fight? Then that means we lost.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s bring it back to our streets. How do you know an artists like a Papoose has it before he’s on?

Kay Slay: I just got a good ear. And with him, it’s like if rappers are on a topic and he’s coming at me with a different topic, he was saying stuff people needed to hear. It was also his intellect and things I seen early on and I said all I gotta do is get this kid to listen to me and I’m gonna make him big.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the biggest misconception that people have about you?

Kay Slay: That I’m a trouble maker.

AllHipHop.com: Could it be the title Drama King?

Kay Slay: That’s exactly what it is, but anybody who knows me knows how I move, I don’t like movin’ with a lot of people. Number One: 99% of time when people see me, I’m by myself and [Number] Two: I’m just like anybody else. If you do something to me, I am going to attack. But with my situation, it’s more [that] you hear what I did, but you don’t hear why I did it. But trust me, it’s all a reaction. I’m a grown ass man – I don’t just run around doing s**t, I don’t have time for that.

While the new faces of Rick Ross, Dre, and Plies have popped up in Florida, another rapper has scouted the real estate of Miami success for the last four years. Although his album, El Mariel did not hit shelves until 2006’s fourth quarter, the presence Pitbull saw primetime exposure by way of “Born N’ Raised” from DJ Khaled’s album, which recently snagged an Ozone Award.

But reppin’ the 305 isn’t what Pitbull is all about. On an album dedicated to his father, Pitbull talks a lot about other issues, including loyalty, street ethics, and his heritage. That last element comes to the surface heavily, as Pitbull addresses some criticism he recently faced from dead prez affiliates, A-alikes. Pitbull neither barks nor bites, but when he opens his mouth, he makes it clear that his jaws could lock very easily if he so wanted.

AllHipHop.com: With the release of M.I.A.M.I. the city of Miami was not in the limelight like it is now. Dropping late in 2006, now that the city’s on the global radar, how do you think that El Mariel will benefit from that exposure alone?

Pitbull: I don’t look for the record to benefit from the exposure, to be honest with you. I try to add to the exposure. As far as my movement, you saw that I named my first album M.I.A.M.I., so I jumped out with the whole 305 s**t. I remember when nobody was really reppin’ like that. So, for me, it’s beautiful just to see the city blossom the way that it is, and to see how unified the city has become. Everybody that’s comin’ out…the Khaled’s, the Ross’, the Dre’s, I’m happy to be a part of the movement.

AllHipHop.com: Ozone magazine really gave it up to “Born N’ Raised” at their awards. It’s on your album, as well as Khaled’s, but tell me what a song like that means in your catalog?

Pitbull: Yo, to do that record there, was a blessing. To be there with Trick [Daddy] and Rick Ross, and just the whole idea behind the record. The city needed an anthem. That’s basically gonna go down in history right there, I don’t think you gonna get a better one than that. It was just a blessing and an honor to work with them boys.

AllHipHop.com: I really like this song “Blood is Thicker than Water” on the album. Mack 10 and Fat Joe made a whole movie back in the day, based on that adage. I think they had different reasons in mind. What’s that statement mean to you? I know a bunch of this album is a dedication to your father…

Pitbull: “Blood is Thicker than Water”, the reason I made the record was to describe my life to the audience, letting them know what I’m feelin’ like as far as takin’ on my career and my success. “Blood is Thicker than Water”, a lot of people talk about that as far as family, but as soon as them Feds come around, people get some money, people start to change. That’s how I came up with the concept.

AllHipHop.com: On “Come See Me”, you talk about dreaming of becoming Scarface. Now, that’s film close to Hip-Hop’s heart. Looking at your heritage, when you were a child, what were other people you had to look up to?

Pitbull: Wow. As far as my heritage, you had [Salsa singer] Willy Chidino, you had Celia Cruz, and there were some street legends in Miami that were huge in the game, but I just don’t mention they names. I just don’t that type of s**t. [Laughs]

AllHipHop.com: A couple weeks ago, I interviewed a rap group named A-alikes. They’re from Tallahassee, now in New York, and as Socialists of dead prez’s RBG movement, they expressed displeasure with your support of Fidel Castro’s sickness, and comments perhaps taken from the song “Ya Se Acabo (It’s Over)”.

Pitbull: As far as the A-alikes, everybody has a right to their opinion. I don’t disrespect nobody or nobody like that. As far as the A-alikes, my family was forced to leave Cuba, okay? Now why would somebody wanna leave such a beautiful island, I have no f**king idea. So you have an idea of what goes on, on that island. My grandmother was in the so-called Revolutionary War between [Fulgencio] Bautista and [Fidel] Castro, with Che Guevara. My grandmother has pictures with these people… my grandmother holding a f**king machine gun and s**t, you understand me? My grandmother had to send over my mother on a movement called the Peter Pan to live with an American family. Before she saw her mother again, it was five to seven years. Now, with my grandmother going through that, you think anybody would want to send their kids to the United States? Anybody who has kids, the last thing you wanna do is send your kids somewhere. That’s because of all the things that were going on in Cuba. Castro snatched peoples’ property, assassinated people, murders, a lot of things were going on in Cuba.

Now, Socialism, Communism, Idealism – whatever Ism you wanna call it looks great on paper. It gets read great in books. It’s great on television. But if you’re gonna tell me that my cousin is in prison doing 25 years-to life for selling meat – meat – meat in Cuba, and tell me that Socialism is the way to go – why, because ‘cause you got a watch and I got a watch, you got beans and I got beans? You think it’s really like that in Cuba? You got kids – oh yeah, they got an education, 13 year-old women get out of school and go out and sell their p***y on the block. You understand me? Just to bring food home. It doesn’t make sense. Not in a book, nor on television, nor in an ideal perspective. So, they have the right to their opinion, may God bless them. But I know the real deal, ‘cause my family went through it. So, like I said, they might want to go to Cuba, do some more research, I don’t know. Like I said, I respect their opinion, no problem, but these are facts, scientifical facts.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking of politics, with the midterm elections recently behind us, what’s your opinion on the state of America?

Pitbull: Man, to be honest with you, I’ve been on a promotional tour, so I haven’t really gotten a chance to follow candidates on what they’re doing and not doing. I ain’t really got a chance to do s**t. I make it a priority though. It’s definitely a must to vote. It definitely can be discouraging after incidents in the last two elections. As a minority, as Latinos – which they’re trying to pass certain laws against us, we definitely have to voice our opinion, and the best way to voice your opinion and be respected is by voting. That one vote can make a world of difference, literally. You’re not just voting for the United States President, or governor, or mayor, or whatever – it’s a domino effect, it trickles down. Whoever we get in office, as you can see, has something to do with the world. Definitely, voting is power. People need to know that.

The reason I couldn’t vote before was that I had a felony [conviction]. Thank God, I got it expunged. My thing is, I can pay Uncle Sam taxes, but I can’t vote ‘cause I got a felony? This don’t make no sense to me. That’s why I fought it. That’s why I do Voto Latino now, because I couldn’t believe… I went to vote, I went to vote, and they were like, “Nah, you can’t vote.” It’s crazy. “You have a felony pending.” I find that very unfair, injust, and hopefully, they’ll find some sort of solution. But definitely, everybody, get out there and vote, ‘cause it’s power.

AllHipHop.com: It’s a busy fourth quarter for Hip-Hop, and T.I. is still the only rapper to go platinum. Your first album went gold. As a businessman, and somebody who’s aware of the market, do you think you can meet that again?

Pitbull: Me gold? Yeah. Whatever it does, it does to be honest with you. I think this new record is a lot better than the first record. I matured a whole lot. At the end of the day, man, as long as there’s progress, I don’t really care what it does. Me, I’m about the fans. I’m a peoples’ person. I’m sure it’ll do a lot better than gold. Maybe it’ll go platinum. Who knows? So right now, I’m happy. I don’t pay no attention to first week sales. I’m on an independent label. I don’t have no monster pushing me. TVT [Records] is an independent label, distributed within itself, so whatever it does, it does. Just know that those are real records, that’s not the label goin’ out and buying 100,000 to make it look good.

AllHipHop.com: Last question. In all the pictures and videos, you’ve always got a bunch of pretty women around you. It’s safe to assume you’ve got a nice life in that department. All that said, has Pitbull ever had his heart broken?

Pitbull: Yeah, I’ve had my heart broken! I’ve had my heart broken by my first baby’s mother, who is the mother of my daughter. Yeah, she broke my heart. It’s unfortunate and fortunate to the women in my life. I have a wall up now. I protect my heart and my feelings and my emotions. That’s unfortunate for the woman – the women in my life now. It’s fortunate because I know how to guard my feelings. Yeah, she broke my heart, but you learn from it, and you move on. Whatever don’t kill you makes you stronger.

While there’s a while slew of artist coming out of the south these days, we haven’t had that one artist or group that just speaks for hip-hop in quite some time. Our generation has definitely had a few, most notably groups like Outkast, 8Ball & MJG, and UGK. These groups have managed to appeal to millions, while carving their own niche in Hip-Hop. They’ve made their own way without the gimmicks that we’ve seen in the past, and still see till this very day. The horizon was looking rather bleak for Hip-Hop in that respect, until the arrival of the newest breed.

Cadillac Don & J. Money, made popular as of recent by their hit single “Peanut Butter & Jelly”, hail from Mississippi. These brothers have come a long way in making a name for themselves. Actually, they made respectable buzz as budding soloists, but after multiple collaborations together, their friendship ultimately brought them together as a group. J. Money also spent some time as a member of The Crawford Boys, which he discusses in our interview.

He and Cadillac also offer a little insight on how things finally came together for them, the people they gave them the inspiration to even pursue this career, as well as a little advice for anyone else looking to jump into the business.

AllHipHop.com: Talk to me about your history and how the two of you came together in Mississippi?

Cadillac Don: J money was with the Crawford Boys, and I myself was teaching. We just started rapping together. The DJs were really feeling us.

AllHipHop.com: What made you want to get into rapping, being that you already had a job teaching?

Cadillac Don: Actually, I’ve been doing it all my life. My brother was break dancing. I was a shorty then, but I was feeling it, so I just got into it.

AllHipHop.com: How much of a part did music play in your lives growing up in Mississippi? Were there any others around your area doing music on a big level?

J. Money: Music played a big part. David Banner was doing his thing for Mississippi. Atlanta was doing it big too. We got out there and worked ourselves.

AllHipHop.com: So tell me about the album…

Cadillac Don: This album is real big. It deals with all kinds of situations, man. It’s a one of a kind. It’s got something for the young kids, something for the thugs, and you know, it’s something for everybody.

AllHipHop.com: Coming from the South, who were some of the people that you guys looked up to coming into this game?

J. Money: Wow, we looked up to people like 8Ball & MJG, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J….. We talked to Bun B a lot. We actually did the collaboration with him for the album. He was able to teach us a lot of things. People like them, they been working so hard and maintaining in this game. It motivates us in every way.

AllHipHop.com: So besides the feature with Bun B, who else have you guys had the chance to work with?

J. Money: Well, besides the big feature with Bun B: “Lookin At Me”, we did a joint with Paul Wall, and then a couple of upcoming artists. We got DJ Redman too. He laid the album down. Squid from P.O.P., and Rush & Moe.

AllHipHop.com: So what else will you be doing in the coming weeks and months?

Cadillac Don: We’re just going to keep grinding, doing shows, signing autographs, and just stayin’ humble. We’ll be doing promo, and we’re still hollering at the DJs. We’re doing a lot of networking.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the one thing that you want people to know?

Cadillac Don: That we’re still in these streets, and we ain’t going nowhere.

AllHipHop.com: Tell me, what was one of the hardest things about coming into this game? Where did you have the most difficulty?

J. Money: The hardest thing in the beginning was that we ain’t have the money to do the things that we wanted to do. Of course, we did what we had to do, sleeping in the car and whatnot. The DJs, they love our music now, but before, it was like we were doing everything ourselves. We needed the money to make things happen.

AllHipHop.com: Shed some advice for the up-and-comers of the game?

J. Money: Just know that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make it in this game. If you give up, you’re throwing away the chance of making it. You have to find that gold and push it. People are always going to say that you should give up, but you have to prove them wrong. With us, we had a goal in mind, and we kept pushing. People told us that we couldn’t do it, coming out of Mississippi. They really didn’t expect it. Of course, we’re Black, so that was something else. Sometimes, it’s just the everyday things that can hold you back, but in the end, you have to let the good rise above the bad.

Before there was music, there was madness. BMF has maintained one of the largest followings in contemporary urban America. However, after Demetrius Flenory, aka Big Meech, was arrested last year and millions in assets were seized by the DEA, Bleu Davinci was left to run BMF Entertainment on his own, finding himself alone to deal with the curiosity of the media and the scrutiny of federal authorities. In the midst of it all, few people bothered to recognize that the California-born entertainer was a rapper, who maintained strong followings in every destination the BMF bus stopped, many of which, Bleu calls home.

Bleu has since taken to concentrating on running the label and preparing his debut album, leaving the media with unanswered questions. Tight lipped when it comes to BMF’s legal problems, Bleu is on a mission to separate his company from the legal mess and make sure that the world learns what BMF Entertainment is really about, all while trying to make the world, as his Koch-distributed compilation says, The World is BMF’s.

AllHipHop.com: How did BMF hook up with Koch?

Bleu Davinci: Me and Meech were just going off of little bets like, “I can’t bet you can’t get this on the radio, I can’t get this or I bet you can’t get that.” And I was just like “I can do anything I put my mind to.” So I went to New York, to see if anyone wanted to put the record out. And a lot of people didn’t want to put the record out because they were scared of my situation, and didn’t understand my situation. We have the big street crew that everybody in the industry has something bad to say about. There are a lot of different things going around about how tough crew we are and the things that we do at the clubs and what not, which is bunch of bulls**t. And that is something that we have to deal with while we’re on the come up. People at the labels just didn’t know what to expect.

AllHipHop.com: What did BMF have to do with Jeezy’s deal and the success that followed?

Bleu Davinci: Meech told me before Lil’ Jon and all of them blew up that Atlanta was going to take over. And he was just giving me a bird’s eye view of how the ball bounces from the East to the West and then to the South, and everybody will get their turn. So I went down there and peeped it. Being who I am, I was looking for who was a hot n***a, the next to blow that was from down here. I wasn’t looking for a major n***a, we were independent ourselves, we weren’t about running up on major n***as and ask for stuff. So Jeezy at the time, he was already putting out records. He was Lil’ J, he just changed his name right after I met him. He had a couple of songs that was on mixtapes that I was hearing. I saw him at Magic City one night and he had like an old school promotional thing going on. I was like, “This young n***a is trying to do his thing,” so I hollered at him. One thing lead to another, and it was cool, and when we saw each other out and we just say what’s up to each other. And he’ll come through and drop a verse on some mixtape tracks, so from there we just got cool.

AllHipHop.com: Did you guys fund Jeezy in any way shape or form?

Bleu Davinci: No, no, no! He already had s**t out before we even knew who he was. I was doing my own s**t, we had s**t in the warehouse. We did a hell of a promotional push with all of them n***as by word of mouth and the whole nine.

AllHipHop.com: Before the mixtapes, how and where was BMF making all that money?

Bleu Davinci: Well we weren’t back then. Meech was giving us the price of Moet that you got in the store. So we could get 10 bottles of it but we still made it look good because the n***as at the club knew Meech. It’s called, “fake it til you make it.”

AllHipHop.com: How were you able to turn over so much paper?

Bleu Davinci: Do you have an exact amount on how much we made? An exact figure? Because the way we worked the system, this right here is all to the game. I’ll give you an example. Right now, Ohio, it’s just me right now, I just did a show down here, and I get a certain amount for the show. Before I leave, I will do couple of verses from some local people for like 3,500 – for the local n***as, I usually charge [10,000]. Back then, I was at like [1,500], and we weren’t getting a lot of features. But then when we started getting the morale and the doors opened and we got the DVD opportunities: the uncuts and all that s**t. And people were slinging it on the black market. I got eight tapes out now. For this new tape I can just go to a city, and then press up 15,000 [CDs] for $7500. And by the time I leave this city, I am ready to press up my next 15,000 from which I’ll probably make back 40-50,000. It’s nothing super, I don’t have millions, and people are just lying. That’s just the telephone game man, people are just talking. The stuff about the million dollar parties, and everyone in my crew gets a Lamborgini. N***as can kiss my ass with all that fairy tale s**t.

AllHipHop.com: What about the DVDs and what not? And all the things you have in the DVDs?

Bleu Davinci: Everywhere I go, I will have cars – that doesn’t mean that they’re under my name you know? N***as ain’t questioning nobody else about that s**t, so why are they questioning me?

AllHipHop.com: So you’re saying that there was no street money funding BMF?

Bleu Davinci: None whatsoever, except for the mixtape money. Everything we make comes from the street, we don’t have any major distribution. We’re popping up at the clubs and stores and radio stations, and convincing them to buy the tapes that I got. I don’t have any Universals or Sony or Atlantics and such to put my s**t out there. This is just me out there on the streets, doing hand to hand combat with receipt books.

AllHipHop.com: A lot of the skepticism goes to how most indie labels don’t have things like buses and whatnot…

Bleu Davinci: That’s because a lot of indie labels don’t know their grind, they spend their money on other s**t. You have to know what you’re doing to be able to do s**t. A lot of people don’t know they need a bus. They’re stuck in their own cities. Their indie labels are local, my indie label is nationwide. This isn’t your average indie label with your average people running it. And for that reason alone, we are who we are.

I say f**k all of what the tabloids say and s**t, like you think that if I really had 300 million, I would give a f**k about a rap? If I had 300 million, I’m good! I’d go underground or something, and just smoke all day. N***as be killing me when they say that. Go on MySpace, see how many people come up like they’re apart of BMF. You can’t be crediting everything anyone does to my company. When y’all say my first and last name or Bleu Davinci, y’all don’t even talk about the music, who I work with, the artists, or “Yo, you had a track with Trick Daddy,” or “You did this,” or “You wanted to work with Scott Storch.” This is the s**t that needs to come out. I get blasted with all this bulls**t that it really overshadows the s**t that we’re doing over here. I can’t even get the n***as at magazines to talk about my music or the s**t we’re up to, because they’re busy talking about s**t other people’s names are mixed up in.

AllHipHop.com: How did the DEA raid affect your situation?

Bleu Davinci: By me having to keep going through and explaining to people what I’m explaining to you right now, that’s all, it just takes time away from what I need to really get across and what people really need to know about BMG Entertainment. This s**t is a catch 22. With me, I just gotta do what I’m here to do and continue to do what I’m doing which is making that the record comes out, that we have the distribution for the record. I sell more records on the street than through distribution. They don’t know how to sell the records like I do. They ain’t on the bus and meeting with all the people at the shows like I do, they just put that s**t on the shelves hoping people will buy it. When you on the street and you run into my crew, then that’s when you gonna respect the movement. We sell this s**t like crack.

AllHipHop.com: So exactly what ventures are BMF Entertainment involved in? Are you promoting clubs?

Bleu Davinci: Right now, I’m not promoting any clubs, but last year from January to June, we promoted Crobar in Miami and we turned that club from having f**king three people in it and filled it up. We were just able to work something with the owner and in two months we had that motherf**ker to where we had people lining up around the corners. We promoted the hell out of that club, we had time to just sit back and promote. As far as right now, we got club gigs, we’re rolling around selling this tape, I’m getting my walkthrough money, and I’m getting my performance money. We also got our t-shirts, DVDs, glow lights, and a lot of promotional material to build up BMF. It’s cool though because I stay afloat, the streets feed me.

AllHipHop.com: Tell us about the loss of your brother…

Bleu Davinci: I was on the road, I was promoting. I was originally supposed to be dropping my debut album and we had the streets on lock with the Fabolous, Young Jeezy, Jadakiss, and Akon tracks all ready. I was on the bus and doing big promo. My brother was going through a case in Atlanta and he had to go back to meet his mom and attorney, and an incident happened at the club and it resulted in his death by gunshot wound to the chest. That s**t killed me on the road and I was on a 60 tour date run and I was almost halfway through, and that s**t killed me. I did no more radio, no more in-stores. I went to Miami and met with Jeezy, and s**t went crazy, and he went to jail. I went back home and just sat back. All my preorders dropped, my radio spins dropped, and I just needed some time to get myself together. I was like, “Let me just put a compilation out and resubmit my album.” I just look up to the sky and find out what my next move gonna be.

AllHipHop.com: What about the Hip-Hop Police. Do you feel like you’re being watched?

Bleu Davinci: Hell, yeah! Them motherf**kers locked me up. I’m a good boy, man, I ain’t done nothing, man. I ain’t no threat to society. These motherf**kers came up and grabbed me for some fake ID I had, and some s**t I had in another state and these Hip-Hop Police picked me up in New York. I know who they are. They be tired as a motherf**ker when we go to the studio and then perform and then go the hotel. Then we come back and do the same s**t. They be like “Damn, these motherf**kers ain’t doing s**t,” that’s prolly what makes them mad. Them motherf**kers look at you funny, so you know who they is.

F Few can forget the classic bridge of Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours”. People at house parties and clubs got low to ground immediately when they heard “engine engine number nine…” erupt from the speakers. That song still fills dance floors 15 years later, whilee the duo of Dres and Mista Lawnge failed to equal the success of their seminal hit.

Fast forward to 2006 and the sonic mastermind behind Black Sheep changed his name to a more grammatically correct, and easy to pronounce, Mista Long, continues to make beats, and released a Hip-Hop purists’ escape with his latest mixtape “Class of ‘89”. For months there were rumblings of a new Black Sheep album in the works, but when October rolled around the album dropped Long was conspicuously absent. The veteran sat down to speak on being a lyricist, Dres, and the significance of the Class Of ’89. You could get with Dres, you could get with Long, or you could support both, and keep the Black Sheep engine chugging.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve been off the scene for a few years. Why the long hiatus?

Mista Long: Truthfully…’94, ’95 second album [Black Sheep’s Non-Fiction], record company [Mercury Records] 20 million in debt, folded, umm Polygram bought Def Jam. They felt like that’s all the Hip-Hop they needed, so if Def Jam didn’t pick you up, then, hey, you were just homeless.

AllHipHop.com: Wow.

Mista Long: So that’s when I dissolved the group and I decided I’m getting outta the biz and becoming a regular type dude.

AllHipHop.com: How was that time spent?

Mista Long: Just finding myself. Doing regular s**t, family s**t. Still doing beats for the love of it, you know.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, let’s back up a second. You said you dissolved Black Sheep, but Black Sheep just put out an album. Are you still down with Black Sheep?

Mista Long: Nah, nah, nah.

AllHipHop.com: But you were a part of that movement. How did that happen?

Mista Long: As of recent I dissolved it because… first and foremost… if Guru was to go out and do a bunch of songs with a bunch of different producers, you can’t really call that a Gang Starr album. If Q-Tip was to do a solo album, he can’t call it A Tribe Called Quest.

AllHipHop.com: So you’re saying Dres went out and …

Mista Long: All the original music from the start was remixed off.

AllHipHop.com: Was there a falling out between you two?

Mista Long: Throughout the career of Black Sheep, there has always been some bad history, creative differences, and s**t like that. My style is one way; his style is another way. You know it’s funny with duos. That’s usually how it goes. One’s apples one’s oranges. Pete Rock, CL Smooth, Guru, Premier, even the EPMD situation.

AllHipHop.com: EPMD recently got back together, is there a chance you and Dres will collaborate again?

Mista Long: I can’t tell the future. [The split] is of recent. A couple of months ago I decided to step away from the entire situation.

AllHipHop.com: But wait. Don’t you get paid for Dres using the Black Sheep name without you?

Mista Long: Nah, he changed it to Dres’ Black Sheep.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s shift gears and go back to your classic debut A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing. Dres was the more visible member, but you contributed heavily to the album. Do you feel you got the proper credit for your lyricism back then?

Mista Long: Uh, I really wasn’t in it for the lyrics. I was more into production. I just did the lyrical aspect as kind of a release. Besides being comic relief on the lyrics, I really wasn’t deep into it. Dres wanted me to do a little rhyming on [the album], so… I initially didn’t want to be in a group, man. I just wanted to produce.

AllHipHop.com: But the content of your current mixtape “Class of ’89” sounds like you champion pure lyricism…

Mista Long: That just comes from knowing that if I’m gonna touch a mic, I gotta have the skill. That’s the era that I’m from. [On] the “Class of ’89” you’re dealing with some real dudes on the microphone.

AllHipHop.com: That’s true.

Mista Long: I mean, ’86 to ’90 was really treacherous. You couldn’t touch a mic if you was wack. You can’t touch a mic around Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, KRS One, LL, come on, man you know what it is.

AllHipHop.com: The golden era.

Mista Long: N***as would chew you alive.

AllHipHop.com: True. I mean, I’m at a loss. Did you want to rhyme like this back then? I’m hearing the new music and I’m thinking where was the lyricism back in ’91? Was there pressure from the label to get you to rhyme more sexually, I mean there’s some of that libidinal content on this joint…

Mista Long: Nah, no pressure from the label, I was on some beat s**t. Also, it’s been a long time. Skills get stepped up over the years. Back then, I was just idolizing the cats doing it.

AllHipHop.com: Do you plan to release anymore music after “Class of ‘89”?

Mista Long: Oh yeah. No doubt. The “Class of ’89 Part II” and it goes on and on. I got thousands of beats. It’s just a matter of finding inspiration in cats that’s really keeping it Hip-Hop.

AllHipHop.com: There’s a new generation of listeners who may not be familiar with your music, how do you hope to reach that audience with your new work?

Mista Long: You know, I really am doing it because I want to. I’m not trying to capture Lil’ Jon fans or Slim Thug fans, they wouldn’t f**k with me anyway [laughs]. I’m trying to do music that I love and put it out there, and whoever I reach, I reach. Let me elaborate on what I said earlier as far as doing it ‘cause I want to. A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing was done the way we wanted to do it. We were doing it just to have fun – doing s**t that we thought was dope, we had no expectations. We were a new group fresh outta high school. We didn’t know that s**t was gonna do what it did. We were in the studio just doing us, and that was the best feeling in the world.

AllHipHop.com: What made you decide to mentor up and coming artists?

Mista Long: I mean, I give beats to strangers. As long as these artists are enthusiastic to do it, I’ll help ‘em out. I always try to tell cats not to listen to what’s going on and mimic that. What makes you who you are is the talent you have.

AllHipHop.com: How is today’s music going down a collision course in your eyes?

Mista Long: It’s stopped being about the talent and all about the money 10, 12 years ago, man. Nobody’s concerned about if you can rhyme or if the beat is hot. Hip-Hop is still there, don’t get me wrong. Put it this way….I’m tired of hearing the same song and seeing the same video with different faces and voices…to sum it all up.