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hroughout the history of Hip-Hop, it would seem that artists who come into the game as the protégé of another artists never quite live up to the hype, or even to the success of the friend, mentor or whatever who put them on. You can argue that record sales don’t always reflect the popularity or skill of these protégés and crews, but the reality is: the proof is in the numbers.

Slick Pulla, the first artist slated to be released on Young Jeezy’s Corporate Thugz Entertainment, may just be the guy to break that mold. After all, Slick’s priorities lie in shattering stereotypes. The Fourth Ward Atlanta native understands that he entered the race by following the competition’s rules on mixtape single “Birds Fly.” Now in, Slick Pulla says he’s got the lyricism that it takes to last the long haul in rap. While those promises have been made and broken before, few ATL newcomers are using their budget to solicit beats from Hi-Tek and Alchemist in addition to the usual suspects – an indication of Slick’s direction.

The “Trapublican” candidate from Atlanta declares his platform, and introduces himself to the consumers he’ll need to keep him off the block and in the office.

AllHipHop.com: Now, I know the album and everything is scheduled for ’07. Have you started working on it already?

Slick Pulla: Oh yeah, I been working on it for a minute now. I’m in deep. It’s gonna be like my presidential campaign on CD. At the end of the day, when you finish listening to the album, it’s gonna give you the same effect like, “You know what? This cat need to be president! Let’s go ‘head and put him up there.” When the time is up, I know all eyes is really gonna be on me hard. Like, it’s cool now, everybody know I’m doing a album [or] whatever. But it get time to jump, the whole game gonna be looking. ‘Cause first of all, it’s gonna be the first installment of CTE. I mean, [Jeezy’s] album was the first installment, but this is gonna be CTE [Corporate Thugz Entertainment] on a business aspect, [and people will want to know about] the first artist, Slick. “Is he gone do good? Is he gone be on the same type of s### Jeezy was on?” All that kind of s**t. So the ball’s in my court now.

AllHipHop.com: Who are some of the people that you’re working with on the album so far?

Slick Pulla: Right now, I was really just messing with the young hungry cats, as far as production-wise. But now that I’m towards the end of everything, I’m starting to get in with people. Like I got in with Cool & Dre, I got a hit from them. I’m [trying to] get in with Hi-Tek, Alchemist, cats like that. I just wanna get in with all the heavy hitters, cats who make those kind of songs and then, after that I should have the perfect dinner for the streets. They can come eat.

AllHipHop.com: You said Hi-Tek and Alchemist? That doesn’t sound like what most people would expect from an artist coming out of Atlanta…

Slick Pulla: Yeah, but see, I’m from Atlanta, but I got a flow that’s universal. I got a flow where I can go on any kind of beat and it’s gonna always be South ‘cause of my slang and my flavor. But I’m one of them lyricists who, I can get on a West Coast beat, I can get on a East Coast beat. I can still do that and it be all good. I’ve always liked Hi-Tek music and Alchemist music, they nice with it. Imma also get in with Manny [Fresh] and [DJ Paul and Juicy J]. I’mma get in with everybody that needs to be got in with.

AllHipHop.com: Now you said the album’s gonna be like your presidential campaign. Ugly stuff often likes to come out during presidential campaigns…

Slick Pulla: Yeah, but you know, with the whole Trapublican thing, when I go into that mode, I’m really just speaking about social issue and just letting cats know I got another type of mind frame. Like, I can do the street, I can do the club, and also I got a conscious mind too where I can let you know I see stuff that’s going on with the government, like the way they treat us. Stuff like that, I’mma speak on all that kind of stuff. At the end of the day, I mean shoot, I’m just tryna get everybody to see me how I am. Slick Pulla is me all day. If it’s gonna be spoke on, it need to be spoke on. Imma handle it. I ain’t got no skeletons in my closet what I’m running from.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking of skeletons that you don’t have, what happened with the shooting by Slice last year?

Slick Pulla: I really felt the cat was tryna make a little slick move. So I peeped the move, and then shoot, that’s what resulted in the end.

AllHipHop.com: But who was he? There was a rumor that he was some homeless dude from Tennessee…

Slick Pulla: That’s definitely not what it was, it was a cat from another city. He was saying he was from Memphis. But he definitely wasn’t no homeless dude. But due to the way they handled me after that, I don’t do too much talking about it, ‘cause the police took me to jail after that..

AllHipHop.com: A lot of times, artists don’t take the opportunity to speak on situations. This is your chance right now to really speak on it and tell us what really happened, since all we had was rumor…

Slick Pulla: I mean, s**t, I don’t really wanna go too much in depth with it ‘cause of that. But [the assailant] wanted me to listen to some music, and I was like, “I’ll do that when I’m finished.” But then he was [bothered by that]. So when I’m outside talking, he was saying something. Then I peeped that he was armed, I just seen up under his shirt a little bit. So I made a move, then I tried to dip. And that’s when he did what he did. ‘Cause like I said, I felt the dude was tryna’ take off. I felt the dude was tryna’ try something on me, so I kinda took off. And then that’s when he backed up and then, boom.

The reason I don’t be talking on that stuff [is] that kind of stuff really happen everyday. That’s not my claim to fame. Like really talking about that a whole lot is like giving a n***a ammo to take a shot at me. ‘Cause like, I got shot in the leg! Come on man! I got n***as shot four, five times in the chest. So like, really that’s nothing. But then if you hear somebody talking bout it all the time. “Okay, this cat tryna talk about getting shot in the leg?” Then you give a n***a ammo. Next thing you know, you hear a diss record. That s**t ain’t nothing but a little flesh wound. That s**t went in and out, boom. [I] wrapped my s**t up, keep it moving.

AllHipHop.com: So how did they end up taking you to jail behind that though?

Slick Pulla: ‘Cause like I said, I took off on the dude. When I peeped the move, I’m like, “Hold up man! What the hell you trying?” And then boom, I made a move. But when I got shot, I went on to the hospital. But they caught him on the scene. He probably tried to kick the innocent role then, ‘cause I ain’t there. And then, they was already looking at me a certain way. But yeah, that’s why I don’t really do all that talking about it, ‘cause I got shot in the leg. Wasn’t nothing major like that. That’s what they think most people try to do to get on by doing. That s**t happen everyday. Like, right now, somebody probably getting hit up. That’s just part of life. So I don’t try to take them kind of things like that and capitalize off that, ‘cause I feel like my lyrics and my swag is what my claim to fame is.

AllHipHop: How did you get started with the music game?

Slick Pulla: I’ve always loved music. Like, I always used to work with music, but it wasn’t something I could take serious, ‘cause I got two kids. And then it’s a certain way of life I want. I feel like it’s all this money out here, everybody should be subject to the same amount of money. Everybody can get rich. It’s just about how you put your grind down. I’m not one of them type of people who gonna settle working 9-5 like, “Okay, I’ll just get paid $8.50-9 an hour,” like I’ll just take a paycheck the rest of my life. That means you containing yourself to just living a certain way. Sky’s the limit, you could do way more than that. So I was just like, if this happens, it happens. If it don’t, I still gotta get money, I still gotta feed mine, and then I still gotta be able to do the things I wanna do in life. So really, I was just really in the trenches, getting it how I live. And then that’s when I bumped heads with Coach K, Jeezy and Kinky B, Yussef and all those cats. And they took me under they wing, and everything been everything since then. But what it is with me is, I’m a loyal cat. So say for instance if this didn’t work, it won’t be like I would go sign with somebody else. ‘Cause these n***as is like my big brothers and stuff. This my family ‘cause they have changed my life. So I really wouldn’t wanna do it with anybody but them, unless I was doing it myself. And it still would be kinda wack just doing it by myself, ‘cause shoot, I wouldn’t have my homies there.

AllHipHop.com: It seems like so far, whenever an artist comes out and they’re really successful, whenever they bring their crew behind them, they don’t really pop off like that. And automatically, the people that don’t know you, when they go to describe you, Jeezy’s name is gonna pop up. Do those things bother you at all?

Slick Pulla: Nah. It don’t bother me because cats haven’t really heard me yet. “Birds Fly,” that was a street anthem we leaked. The mixtape stuff, that’s mixtape stuff. Cats ain’t really heard, heard me yet. The album’s gonna surprise a lot of people. I think it’s gonna blow a lot of mu’f**kas’ highs. People [are] underestimating me. Y’all don’t know what I talk about at home. Y’all don’t know what I’m doing in the booth!

AllHipHop.com: But cats in the South haven’t really had to do that, though. Clearly, in Atlanta, over the last 18 months or so, you don’t really have to have lyrics.

Slick Pulla: True indeed, I could just go in there and say [anything], put a nice hook on it, get a nice producer on it, and it’ll do something. But at the end of the day, I’mma kill myself at the end. ‘Cause that’s what you call fast fuel [or] fast food music. That’s just something for right then. What about next year? Cats are doing stuff like that, but who you gone be checking for four-to-five years down the road? That come from lyrics, making the person identify with you, touching a mu’f**ka heart all the way in Oregon or all the way in London. You can do that fast food music, but next year, mu’f**kas not gone wanna eat that. ‘Cause it’s gone’ always be somebody coming up with some s**t like that. So now you pretty much outta there ‘cause of the new cat. I mean it’s enough to get you a deal and your first album, that fast food s**t. A fan can’t grasp on to a little fast food song and just keep on like, “that’s my s**t,” for three, four years. But like ‘Pac, that the stuff where mu’f**kas like, “This is my s**t!” – even still now. But that fast food s**t, you can’t hold on to that for too long.

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ot all lessons are learned on the first try. Around the time Trick Daddy was telling haters to “Shut Up,” Panama City, Florida’s Blood Raw was supposed to follow-up the sunshine-state charge. While label drama was one thing, it was ultimately Federal agents that halted Blood Raw’s charge to the game. A drug-trafficking conviction landed the rapper in state prison, with a dim future.

Since being released in 2004, Blood Raw has been committed to meeting his dreams with the mic in lieu of the measured grams. Despite that new outlook, the rapper is aligned with Young Jeezy’s Corporate Thugz Entertainment by way of U.S.D.A. (United States Dopeboys of America) with Slick Pulla. The trade secrets of Blood Raw’s speckled past push his rhymes forward. With hopes of releasing The True Testimony in the next year, Blood Raw intends to carry the Trap Star baton in the rhyme relay-race of the South. Get to know Blood Raw, and read a story that could just as soon air on Court TV as MTV or BET.

AllHipHop.com: What’s going on, man? What are you up to today?

Blood Raw: I’m just running a couple or errands and kicking it with my son while I’m in town. Other than that, man, I’m handling business. I’ll probably work from around seven o’clock until whenever. Really man, my day consists of just getting up, hitting the gym, and doing what I have to do during the day and work at night.

AllHipHop.com: How old is your son?

Blood Raw: Well, he’s six but he acts like he’s 23-years-old, for real.

AllHipHop.com: When did you first move into the rap game?

Blood Raw: I’ve always been a fan of rap music. I like the way it really moves people, inspires people, and gets people through their day. As it went on, the different types of music started losing me. It went away from [being about] people [to being about] people just trying to make some money. Back in the day, people like Tupac and Biggie influenced a lot of people. They made people want something out of life. It made people believe that even though we come from the struggle we do have hope.

I was initially just dabbling. I kind of wanted to do it, but I really didn’t have my head into that. What really woke me up was that back in 2002, I caught a trafficking charge. I was like, “Look man, I gotta do something else.” You know? These folks ain’t playing. In January of 2005, the Feds picked me up on a conspiracy charge. I really feel like God took me on this paid and he showed me that he would deliver me from anything. And on April 6, 2006 I was acquitted on all charges.

AllHipHop.com: When was it that you got up with Jeezy?

Blood Raw: I signed in like December, 2004. So I was already running with him for a whole year before we were getting ready to go over to Europe. These folks met me at the passport office. I don’t know what type of feeling that would be to anybody else, but to me, that was my worst nightmare. I mean, for me, to be a [fearful] man, it’s unbelievable. When I tell people this story, they don’t believe me because you and I know that when the Feds grab you, nine times out of ten, you ain’t gonna see no daylight anymore – especially dealing with that type of charge where it only takes two people to convict you.

AllHipHop.com: What do you feel the best way to fight “Fed time” is?

Blood Raw: I mean the best way to do it is to put your trust in God and keep your mouth closed. The younger generation doesn’t really know the definition of a “gangsta” or a “real n***a.” To them, it’s just a title that the younger generation is carrying. It’s really funny, I’m going to say about 90% of the artists in the industry are pretending to live a lifestyle that they never really experienced. They’re not worried about the consequences or they’re not thinking about the consequences. Nowadays in the Federal System, they feel like it’s cool to snitch on a n***a, and it’s cool to get ten years. That’s not the way I was raised and it’s not in my blood. I would rather take life than to put my family through it knowing that I done told on somebody or even dealing with that. It’s not in my blood, homie. I don’t get these n***as.

AllHipHop.com: From hearing this though, it might seem that you’re new to the game. But weren’t you supposed to be on Genovese’s unreleased album in the late ‘90s?

Blood Raw: Genovese is my man; that’s my heart. He helped me man when a lot of people doubted me and didn’t believe. There was a lot that went on in terms of the politics. The industry is so full of s**t and they would waste a wholeheartedly good n***a, or a good artist or a good dude to deal with these bulls**t, watered-down cats. They can accept them easier than they can accept the truth. It’s because they can’t handle guys like us who are going to keep it real and give the truth to you. He was just too real and Universal [Records] couldn’t accept that. I mean, I do believe that somewhere down the line, my dude ‘Vese is going to come back and it’s going to be shocking because the same people who didn’t do their job are going to be on his d*ck.

AllHipHop.com: You’re running with Jeezy’s USDA camp, will there be a group album coming out from that clique?

Blood Raw: Actually right now, we’re working on a domino effect. Jeezy fittin’ to drop in October, then me, and then Slick Pulla will drop.

AllHipHop.com: Southern Hip-Hop has come a long way in the last ten years. Did the greater Hip-Hop audience miss out on some great rappers?

Blood Raw: I mean, one thing about Southern artists is that their mentality is “We’re not going to get recognized.” So when you come in with that mentality, you get your business sense. You’re not looking for no deal, you’re looking to get money. Down here, they package their s**t up, or they sell it out of they trunk or they get a small distribution deal. As far as an up North artist or a West Coast artist, they’re right near the labels and they try and get deals first, because of the connections. Down here, without connections, we try to get it on the hustle.

AllHipHop.com: Were you rapping while you were in prison?

Blood Raw: Yeah I rapped in prison. That’s actually where I got the name “Blood Raw” from. Blood Raw is slang in Florida for whatever you see that is real tight or real dope. Like a n***a down here will say some s**t like, “Damn. that s**t’s Blood Raw.” So when I was in prison, prison is really like the streets, so I was doing my thing rapping the older cats started calling me Blood Raw. So, I kinda liked it. Blood is the purest form and Raw is uncut.

AllHipHop.com: Did you record anything?

Blood Raw: Nah, in the Southern prisons, man, you don’t really get that, except for in the Federal system. I did time in the state at first, and they don’t really have that.

AllHipHop.com: What is your new album like?

Blood Raw: My new album is going to be called The True Testimony and it’s going to be like the new ghetto gospel. I’m going to take people back to the old s**t, the Tupac and the B.I.G. and give people the struggle. I’m going to give people the real definition of pain and struggle.

AllHipHop.com: We’re sure the album is for the streets, who do you have coming with you?

Blood Raw: You know I’ve got the camp with me. I’ve got Jeezy, I’ve Slick Pulla, I’m trying to work with Beanie Sigel, and I’m trying to get at Lyfe Jennings. I’m f**king with Cee-Lo. I got a few cats. I’m going hard and trying to bring the real soul back into the game from my heart. This s**t is s**t to help people get through their day and not want to party all the time and go to the club.

AllHipHop.com: If you could do an All-Star track with only Southern artists who would you pick?

Blood Raw: Oh man, as a matter of fact, I got a song where I’m going to collaborate with Trick Daddy and Rick Ross, with Jeezy on the hook. It’s a real crazy Chevy song and it’s going to be real summer anthem.