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here are only two reactions to adversity – win or lose. Roadblocks are certain to affect progress in an environment as political and shark-infested as the music industry. Hit-making machine Dame Grease has gotten the job done time and time again, but has seemingly hit a glass ceiling when its time for that special promotion to legendary status.

Throughout his 10-plus year career, he’s crafted songs for DMX, Kelis, Mobb Deep, The Lox, Slick Rick, Nas and even scored several films. Grease has helped construct the sonic foundation for the wildly successful Ruff Ryders label, but charges that he’s been wronged by the very people he helped build. Outspoken but not bitter, Grease says he has pushed through the invisible career cap to maintain his course to greatness.

After taking a few years off to “go to college,” Dame Grease leaps back into the rough waters with a wiser mentality, a focused ambition and a sonic arsenal that could fend off Jaws. Touting recent work with long time friend DMX, Freeway, and Dipset, Grease says he’s long overdue for that promotion.

Three Dame Grease notables:

DMX "Let Me

Fly"

Diplomats "More Than

Music"

Mary J. Blige

"Dance For

Me"

AllHipHop.com: What are you currently working on?

Dame Grease: Right now one of the latest joints I just put out is “It’s Nuttin’”’ off the [Funkmaster] Flex album, with Cam’ron and Juelz [Santana]. I got about three cuts on the Freeway album coming out. I got a couple cuts with Mase, J.R. Writer, Hell Rell and all them guys. I got five cuts on the new DMX album, and it’s a lot going on.

AllHipHop.com: You started out with Ruff Ryders and DMX. How did you begin working with them?

Dame Grease: I had my group NIB. We used to mix with Cam and them in St. Nick’s Projects, that’s how we all know each other and got a certain respect for each other’s talents. From there, I had a big buzz in Harlem and that’s where I met the owners of Ruff Ryders. I used to come around and they would be like, “Grease we want you to get down with us.” I was like, “Get out of here I’m doing [my label,] Vacant Lot.” Then they said “We want to manage you.” I’m like, “Hey, that sounds alright.” So I came in there and brung in my sound – which is the Harlem sound. I hooked up with their artists which was the Lox and DMX at the time, and I kind of made they whole careers and got their sound out of them and sent them on their way. As far as the first DMX album coming out, we all had a super buzz on the streets. Ruff Ryders went and did the deal with Interscope, and part of the deal with Interscope was based on their number one producer, which is [me]. When they came, they was like hey we got this little [check] for you. I was like Dog I’m a hustler dog, I’m not just a dude making a hot beat, so you can’t just bamboozle me with bulls**t. So after that, we had a fall out. We went our separate ways, but I just thought, “Okay, they do what they do, and I do what I do. “ I didn’t know that motherf**kers was calling people and blackballing me.

AllHipHop.com: Do you know this for a fact?

Dame Grease: Quote unquote, a call went in to Jermaine Dupri — I ain’t gonna say where it came from, but a call went in to Jermaine Dupi and told him, “Don’t take no Grease tracks for the Da Brat album.” One of the guys from [So So Def], a good friend of mine, was like, “Yo Grease, the joints you got is crazy, but a phone call came through my n***a.” So my Live on Lennox album was like Anti Ruff Ryder. I know it for a fact. Being the hottest thing on the streets to not getting calls and getting the confirmation from executives.

AllHipHop.com: So you attribute it to you being the backbone of Ruff Ryder label?

Dame Grease : Yeah, Ruff Ryders is Grease. The black and silver colors, that’s Grease, that’s Vacant Lot. That’s me. That’s my tradition. I ain’t gonna lie, we still cool.

AllHipHop.com: So you do still remain cool with them?

Dame Grease: I mean we say what’s up. You gotta understand… I mean, [DMX], that’s my brother, that’s my blood, I love him. He loves my kids, I love his kids, we family. Me and him is forever linked you know what I’m saying? Throughout music or labels, f**k all that s**t , we homies. When it got down to it, me and him did a lot of talking. He used to tell me, “Grease, I love you, just keep doing what you do.”

AllHipHop.com: So your personal relationship with DMX kept you doing music?

Dame Grease: He was the guy that actually kept me going. When everything went down, he said, “Grease, I’m doing movies, I want you to score the movies.” That’s how I went on to score all of his movies. That’s why I forever got the love and the gratitude for him. It’s real stuff, I hear a lot of people say a lot of stuff about DMX, but he is a real person.

AllHipHop.com: You and Swizz Beats started out with Ruff Ryders together right?

Dame Grease: When I started at Ruff Ryders, Swizz Beats was still learning how to work the MPC. He was just learning how to make beats and so forth. All the producers used to watch what I do and try to emulate what I do. When the blackball came in, all the calls that came for Grease, went to Swizz Beats.

AllHipHop.com: You have an artist Meeno who had a slight beef with Jay-Z. Do you think that had an affect on your career or you being blackballed?

Dame Grease: As far as my label, it has tainted it. Meeno was the first person to go at Jay-Z, and that was done with a partner I had at the time. A crab mother f**er who put that influence within a person to do that. Me myself, I don’t fear any man. I don’t fear any bleeding air-breathing creature, but I’m not stupid. It was actually with Kay Slay, he put the song on what was his biggest tape. The whole Meeno dissing Jay-Z, that’s how he got the name “Drama King.” I’m not a stupid dumb individual.

AllHipHop.com: So that may have affected Vacant Lot Records, but you don’t feel like it affected your production work?

Dame Grease: Nah, from me being a man and know that my ground base is to do music. I keep that fact within myself. For two years, I had to get a big broom and start sweeping up s**t. Actually, me and Jay had done a Rap City show when he was putting out The Black Album. All through the show it was subliminal messages being thrown back and forth and s**t. My whole thing is I wasn’t there to actually beef with Jay on none of that s**t.

AllHipHop.com: Did you make the effort to patch that up?

Dame Grease: [During the show, there were] subliminals thrown at each other. He was like “This is a good look for Harlem,” and I said “You already know.” Little t## for tat s**t. He went to do a freestyle, and I said, “Alright, what beat you want?” He said, “Put that Ludacris and Kanye West joint on.” So I played it and then stepped back from the turntables just to let dude know I’m not here for no bulls**t. I ain’t gonna sabotage your freestyle. After the show we actually shook hands and said what’s up.

AllHipHop.com: So now you’re wide open to work with Def Jam?

Dame Grease : I’m open to work with anyone. Grease is unpolitical. You ain’t gonna hear me talk about anyone. I just do music. I did two tracks on the Freeway album, and Jay’s on one of the tracks. You see how that s**t is like history? That’s actually my first song I ever worked with him. It’s a good thing, you’re a young dude, you live and you learn.

AllHipHop.com: You’ve been in Hip-Hop for over ten years. You’ve watched New York dominate to now the south taking over. What does New York Hip-Hop need to come back?

Dame Grease: I hope you got a lot of motherf**kin’ tape [laughs]. Real talk, I watched the giants of New York destroy the f**king rap game. All them motherf**kers is to blame. If they can get the s**t back and say we f**ked it up, and start rebuilding, that’s when we’re all gonna be good. It takes a man to know his mistakes to rise.

AllHipHop.com: What mistakes do you think were made and who made them?

Dame Grease: All I do is talk the real, but I wont mention who, because I don’t want no problems [laughs]. You have one kid who’s a rap fan, say he’s from upstate New York. In his six-CD changer, let’s say he has Jay-Z, DMX, Ja Rule, Lox, P. Diddy, Biggie, and ‘Pac. They got all these guys. Now you got two guys: DMX and Ja Rule going at each other. Then Jay-Z and Nas going at each other. Now the kid is like, “Who am I supposed to listen to?” The kid is confused. Now you have a guy with dreads [Lil’ Jon] that yells a lot. And he says “Yo, you motherf**kers wanna have fun?” And everybody puts the CD changers down, and say, “We’re gonna roll with this guy because he’s only making good music. It’ s nothing in between or no subliminal [lines].” It got right back to music. That’s what the south is on right now, just making good music. I ain’t gonna knock them guys. They’ve been trying to do their music for a while and with the political stuff from up here, we were like, “Yeah, whatever.”

AllHipHop.com: So you think it was the beefs that destroyed every thing?

Dame Grease: The beef s**t murdered it because it made the consumer confused. The consumer loves Jay-Z and Nas, why do we have to choose?

AllHipHop.com: do you think what Jay-Z did on his I declare War concert is a beginning of a comeback?

Dame Grease: Yes sir. He was a smart enough person to look like it like that. He’s one of the main players. He looked at it and said we did f**k this s**t up and we got to do something. That was the first step to give some strength and structure back to this part of the world’s Hip-Hop.

It’s bigger than rap. It’s much larger than any brand of clothing, record label of the moment, or 16-bar quotable. If Hip-Hop is life, are we living correctly? What is the voice of this generation of music-makers saying? More importantly, does what we see on screen accurately reflect our surroundings? And are we motivated to move forward in ways other than sexual and financial gratification? These are the questions that Bay area filmmaker, Kevin Epps tackles through the lens of his digital camera, sparking an educational and hood phenomenon.

With a sincere passion and artistic eye for social advancement, Epps has put local issues in global contexts, on screens across the nation. The measure of a man or woman can represent the circumference of an entire community. Epps’ first film, Straight Outta Hunters Point uncovered the Bay’s hunger five years before the mainstream. This film, like Epps’ later work, shows the values and consequences in unaltered lights. A black man with a story is behind the camera, read on as his vision unfolds for bridging the digital divide.

AllHipHop.com: You’re from San Francisco, California?

Kevin Epps: Yeah, I’m from Hunters Point, man: Southeast San Fran.

AllHipHop.com: Is it a diverse area?

Kevin Epps: It’s a mixture. Low income public housing with lower middle class blacks. It’s a grind.

AllHipHop.com: You came up in the ’70s era, single-parent home…

Kevin Epps: I was born in New Orleans, and came through here in the ’70s. Moms was the one that raised us.

AllHipHop.com: Is there a moment in music or film history that really influenced you?

Kevin Epps: Back in the day, Spike Lee was directing these Michael Jordan [Nike] commercials. There was this part when he was sitting in a director’s chair. I was like “Who is this young black dude sitting in the director’s chair, and why does he look so important?” That was an image that had a strong impression on me at an early age.

AllHipHop.com: When did you know that making movies was what you wanted to do?

Kevin Epps: I always had it in me. It’s something I always had the passion for. After a few trials and tribulations growing up, I was fortunate to get involved with the Film Arts Foundation. That’s where I learned more in-depth the process of taking a project from A to Z. I had to get involved, and I used the skills that I learned there, along with working with various directors on small projects to launch the film I wanted to make. That’s basically how Straight Outta Hunters Point came forth. It’s a flick about a black community dealing with social, economic, financial, racial, gang-violence issues and how Hip-Hop plays it’s part in the whole thing. That film blew up, got some recognition and here we are now.

AllHipHop.com: What was the process like shooting Straight Outta Hunters Point?

Kevin Epps: Being a part of FAF, I was already taking out cameras periodically, going to the hood and doing little skits and music videos. I was working before the film, experimenting with equipment and shooting. I decided I wanted to tell a real story about this black community: the good, bad, and ugly. I asked myself the question “What is Hunters Point?” That’s what set my thoughts and ideas in motion. I wanted a history of it to see where we came from. I started by getting information from the old folks, then I went to the streets where all the young homeys were at, and just got gutter wit’ it, trying to make some sense out of this s**t.

AllHipHop.com: As far as Hip-Hop, who are you listening to now?

Kevin Epps: I’ve been listening to Mistah Fab, Hectic, Keak da Sneak, Mac Dre – rest in peace, basically the whole Hyphy movement. It’s good to see their music and hard work finally paying off and getting the recognition it deserves.

AllHipHop.com: I think the game’s been missing that energy. What’s the up and coming project, Rap Dreams about?

Kevin Epps: Rap Dreams is about three young up-and-coming rappers Mistah Fab, Kev Kelly, and Hectic. We follow their lives over the course of a few years as they journey through the underground rap scene trying to make it. During the course of that, they run into Shock G and some other influential individuals in the industry who give ’em some direction. It’s also about who they are and where they’re from. I want to show the landscape that the music comes from.

We just released that project in independent theaters. It’s also having a good run on podcasts. Anyone interested in seeing part one of Rap Dreams can go to www.rap-dreams.com and through the video podcast, see the first 30 minutes. We’re trying to get this work out there to the people that really want it. It’s true Hip-Hop, and we’re taking it to the next level.

AllHipHop.com: You definitely seem like a brother who is involved in his community, trying to spark some positivity and shed light on a condition that’s not always seen. Can you explain your philanthropic side?

Kevin Epps: I co-founded a Hip-Hop Film Festival that travels to 50 different cities and universities. We brought together various underground artists, filmmakers and activist that had the same passion and desire. We formed the festival in 2002. I’m also involved in various digital media programs because a lot of the young homeys see a black man with a digital camera, they see the level I’ve taken it to, and it inspires them to strive for something. So I’m trying to give the community access by bringing technology to the hood. I’m an advocate for trying to bridge the digital divide between urban communities and technological advances. Hunters Point is one of the first hoods to get wireless access to the Internet. So we’re trying to move ahead with giving our people the best opportunities possible. The sky’s the limit for the young brothers and sisters that embrace it.

That’s what Hip-Hop should be about with this next generation. Not so much rap music, but the ability to empower ourselves with the resources to take our destiny and community into our own hands. We’re trying to do that with digital media. Our focus is on the battle that’s ahead. Cats is beefing over this rap s**t, but it’s way bigger than that. The rap battles are cool, but why don’t you redirect that energy into the hoods where we need help? It’s gutter everywhere! Whether North Philly, Brooklyn, South Side Chicago, we got a big task at hand.

AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like the rappers of today are losing their focus?

Kevin Epps: They ain’t talking about nothing political, nothing the masses are dealing with. It’s cool, but it’s not meaningful. It’s time to step your game up. As someone in the media, I’d like to push the envelope more. That’s the next move. The digital revolution is feeding the minds of the people.

This Hip-Hop means so much beyond the music. It’s been my way of life. Finally, as black people, we have something that we [should] own. I feel like we could do more. To make something out of nothing is amazing. We’re being passed the torch so we gotta do something with it to where it can benefit our community.

I t’s probably a safe bet to say Lloyd Banks has been with more women than your average 24 year old. The G-Unit soldier lives a lifestyle many people merely dream about, admit it or not. He’s won Adult Video News awards, he’s partied with Hugh Hefner, and he’s just gotten the green light to star in his own TV show on The Playboy Channel. Meanwhile, his latest single, “My House,” a walk-through tour of Banks’ estate, is steadily gaining spins with DJs across the nation. Things are seemingly looking pretty good for G-Unit’s boy wonder.

But there’s a storm of uncertainty brewing beneath the surface of all this success. The last G-Unit release by Tony Yayo failed to achieve platinum status and Mobb Deep’s acclaimed opus, Blood Money, has struggled for a place in the top chart spots. For an imprint that boasted platinum-plus sales for Banks, Young Buck and the sales phenom, 50 Cent, these struggles may be an omen of less festive times. As rocket fuel, for the first time in G-Unit history, Banks recruited some high profile collaborations from outside the camp that are certain to turn a few heads. He’s also got a diss record aimed at D-Block and Terror Squad that could shake things cataclysmicly across the five boroughs and beyond. – if he lets it loose. Selling records is serious business, and ain’t a damn thing funny, even for a G-Unit playboy.

AllHipHop.com: G-Unit always collaborates heavily with G-Unit. On your next album, were there any collaborations outside of the camp that you took part in?

Lloyd Banks: Actually, the album is not stamped yet – ain’t no doors closed to features that could actually happen for crunch time. But, as we speak now, I got Scarface on the album; I got 8Ball on the album; I got Rakim on the album. I got a few. That’s a lot for somebody who doesn’t do a lot of features, you know what I’m sayin’? I got a couple more; I just don’t wanna pull names out the hat. I’d rather wait until it’s on paper.

AllHipHop.com: A couple months ago, some of your tracks got leaked, including a song you had with Scott Storch, and they were put on the Internet. Now, some think that leaks help careers, others think that it hurts them. How do you think it affected your career?

Lloyd Banks: I don’t think it affected me because I never stop recording. Even in preparation for this album here, I’m over the limit. There’s gonna be 16 records for this album, and I have over 60 records in preparation for it. I think all things happen for a reason, at the same time. If the records were leaked out, then, maybe it was supposed to be. If it didn’t get leaked out, who knows? Maybe some of them would be on the [record]. It also keeps you up at the same time. You gotta have two albums, in preparation. You might not be able to clear samples. When I had the original “I’m So Fly,” Nottz produced it. I couldn’t clear the sample. I had to take the acapella and send it to Timbaland, and he came back with the [official] “I’m So Fly” beat. It’s always good to have backup records.

AllHipHop.com: There was a rumor that a groupie leaked it, and there was a rumor that a girlfriend leaked it. Which one of them was true?

Lloyd Banks: I don’t got a girlfriend, so, if anything gets stolen, it’s some b*tch that wasn’t supposed to be… ya nahmean? That comes from actually doing too much, man. You got one lady over here and you got one lady over there. I don’t wanna seem like a dog, but those were just situations I was in. It would be me and three b*tches in the bed at one time, and, you might have too much to smoke, ya nahmean, and, wake up and your s**t would be missing. S**t like that is [no different] from [losing] a chain or watch. Mistakes happen, and you gotta move on from your mistakes.

AllHipHop.com: So, what’s up with this Bleu Hefner persona you got? I know the Hefner part, where does the Bleu come from?

Banks on Blue Hefner

Lloyd Banks: You know what it is? I changed my diamonds. I actually had a whole set of green diamonds, and, one by one, I started seeing dudes with green stones in they chains, and I started getting mad. I took it offensively because I know I started [the trend]; I know when I did it at. I was like, you know what, I’m gonna change my color man. I turned it to blue, it’s one of my favorite colors. I couldn’t be Hugh Hefner, there’s already one of those dudes, so, I [became] Bleu Hefner. I actually am working on a Playboy deal right now, so, it’s all gonna make sense. It started off as something I was playing with. I got a million aka’s: Iceon Beckford, Ni**a Rachi, New Diamonds…[Bleu Hefner] just stuck because I was having meetings with the Playboy people at the same time.

I already did the “Groupie Love” thing, and, after I won the [2005 AVN Award for Best Music], I spoke to Hugh Hefner, and he was just congratulating me and telling me what I have achieved, if I didn’t know what it was, and how much impact I have on that market. We’re in talks right now and it’s gonna all make sense. He’s Hugh Hefner, and I’ll be the New Hefner. It’s a dope market and it’s not like I’m pushing it all the time.

AllHipHop.com: But, is it p### that you’re pushing?

Lloyd Banks: No. The Playboy thing is not p###. Even their p### is like, soft p###. It will be more like a TV series. I would be me. They’d just follow me on the road, you know what I’m saying? I do so many shows and you meet so many women. What it is, is, now I’m having a talent search while I’m on tour. I felt like, I’m meeting all these girls, and then at the end of the day, they gotta be worth something more than me just going to bed with them. A lot of them be looking for lanes to get into modeling or videos and things of that sort. I’m also looking for actual talent as far as music goes. So, it’s like a big talent search. At the same time, it’ll be like, a week’s worth of shows following me throughout the road and seeing real situations that go on. I might put out a calendar, or, I might just have 12 different models picked out of hundreds or thousands of girls. It’s something that will make [touring] more interesting. I’ll have a reason to be around all those women, you know, more than one reason. I can get money off [them] too.

AllHipHop.com: With the exception of Game, you are the only G-Unit artist outside of 50 to go multiplatinum. I mean, Yayo hasn’t done it and Mobb Deep, I just found out, did a worse first week [in sales] than their last album which wasn’t on G-Unit…they haven’t reached your sales record yet. How do you explain that, if you all have the same base?

Banks On Rumors G-Unit is Over Except for him

Lloyd Banks: It’s a time and place for everything. If you look at the music, it all swung to the South real fast, you know what I’m saying, and it starts off like a tornado. It starts off somewhere then it ends off somewhere. The Mobb Deep album is a great album. All projects don’t work the same. The same way my career started off multiplatinum, some of the best artists we look up to today started off with Gold albums.

AllHipHop.com: You’re a New Yorker. Is that tornado something you’re gonna have to reverse right now? Because we have a Southern trend…

Lloyd Banks: I think you gotta just stay relevant. You gotta think: when 50 came out, there was a lotta other artists too. You have to just represent where you come from. That’s why the name of my album is Rotten Apple. New York City: When you see me, you see the Statue of Liberty chain, you see the G-Unit City chain. I been doing that. That’s not just now, that was when my album came out [that] I got that piece made. It’s just a coincidence that, I had all those pieces done up. They’re really looking for somebody to bring New York…you know what I’m saying…[to] have that energy.

AllHipHop.com: So, Mobb Deep didn’t do that then?

Lloyd Banks: I mean, I felt like they did. I felt like the energy was crazy. I got Mobb Deep on two records on my album. That shows you right there. Actually, they’re on the first record on my album. The pressure’s on me. I’m not in competition with anybody, for what I do. You’re all artists. You’re all good in certain ways. I just feel like, for what I do, and my lyrical talents, I don’t think there’s anybody, anybody that’s out there that can deal with me on any level. So, that’s what I’m a do. I’m a make you listen to mixtape verses on the radio.

AllHipHop.com: There’s a rumor that 50’s holding you back because you’re nicer than him. Can you address that please?

Banks On 50 Cent Holding Him Back

Lloyd Banks: No, my album comes out July 18th [laughs]. You know what? It’s crazy, but I love those people. I love all fans, man. You know what it is? At first, it was 50 Cent fans. But then, the 50 Cent fans would filter in to me and Tony Yayo. Then, Buck came along…there’s Buck fans that probably say the same thing about me! But, at the end of the day, believe me, when 50 hears somebody say that, it makes him smile because he created me. He gave me that lane. He’s the one that told me, “No, we’re gonna put you out as a solo artist.” I was just comfortable being in the group, cause that’s how we grew up together. I thought me and Yayo was gonna be a group at one point. [50 set us straight]. We haven’t even sat down and made a record to date. To this day, I have yet to sit down and write a record with the whole crew, since a freestyle. All the records [we make are like] “Yo, that’s the beat, aight, I got a verse.” And it comes together. I wouldn’t say I’m cheating myself, but, in a way, we are. We ain’t actually worked like that. I got my studio in my crib, 50 got a studio in his house, Buck got one in his crib.

AllHipHop.com: So you never really collaborate like a group, you just send verses in to each other, like that?

Lloyd Banks: Yeah. When you’re around each other so much man, you’re always in the same vain. You develop the same ear almost, so I might [use] the same beat 50 might pick, or vice-versa. It’s not that hard for us to work, man. Believe it or not, [collaborating in person] hasn’t been done, but, it will happen in the future.

AllHipHop.com: Did Game click well with you also under that formula?

Lloyd Banks: I never clicked with dude. I think he was intimidated of me just based on my lyrical abilities. It’s one thing to say a whole verse—that’s cool—and it’s another thing for n***as to be like, “Hold up, bring that s**t back. What the f**k did he just say?” I think he was really infatuated with that [quality I have].

AllHipHop.com: I’m gonna play devil’s advocate and say that the songs you made with him were good—and it sounded like you clicked. Some would say you’re only saying this after the fact, now that he’s gone.

Lloyd Banks: He was never really crew. I think he had too many insecurities within himself. He wanted to be too many different things at one time and, the respect wasn’t there, and I never clicked with him. Sometimes, I wish I would have went upside his head while he was there but, I tried to keep it crew, and embrace everybody. It was a bad situation. If you look at it now, it’s evident. Just look at the tattoo situation. You put a tattoo on your face and then cover it up? If I put that [butterfly] tattoo on my f**kin’ face, period, [even] without covering it up, my credibility is squashed. It’s like certain things you can’t do, and that’s one of them. My mother would look at that s**t and be like, “What the f**k?”

AllHipHop.com: His album is dropping around the same time as yours. What do you think about that?

Lloyd Banks: Oh, that’ll be exciting. You think that? [laughs] You think his album is gonna come out the same time as mine?

AllHipHop.com: It might.

Lloyd Banks: That’s cool. [laughs]. I tip my hat.

AllHipHop.com: You got a song on the next album, and from what I hear, it’s called “Death Wish.” Is that true? Is it going at The Lox, Terror Squad and Fat Joe?

Lloyd Banks: It was tied in to the preparation for the album, but it’s not stamped in yet. [Disses aimed at me] are like a catch-22 because the fans wanna hear your response, but at the same time, I juggle with whether I wanna put it out nationally or on a mixtape. On a mixtape, I can get on there and say what I want to say. [But] once you do it on an album, that’s going out worldwide, then you giving them worldwide notoriety. All those are options, depending on what they’re trying to do. N***as hear I’m coming back out, they salty ‘cause they’re broke and don’t got no album coming out [and] they might wanna say something. If they say something, then I’ma drop the A-Bomb on them n***as. They haven’t heard me do it yet. They haven’t heard me go in. I will end n***a’s careers.

AllHipHop.com: Is that the song, “Death Wish”? You think that’s the one?

Lloyd Banks: Only one word can turn into a diss record. I don’t write no song about nothing, about no n***a. It’ll just be one line and it’ll be enough to knock you out. Listen. You’re gonna know. You’re gonna hear about it. I ain’t heard s**t now, since they know I’m back on the market. I was falling back, trying to get my s**t straight. Let a n***a say my name right now, at this point. Tomorrow, day after, and I’m gonna publicly humiliate you. That’s it.