I

f you asked a friend about Nick Cannon a year or so ago, you might have heard the words “nice guy,” “Nickelodeon,” and “the second coming of Will Smith.” Ask about Nick now, and a lot more things come to mind. He’s got the Number One rated show on cable with his brainchild comedy hit, MTV’s Wild’N Out, a flurry of upcoming movies, a new album on the way, a clothing line and a youth foundation. He directs, produces, emcees, writes, acts – and on top of all that he’s heading up every aspect of his own record label, Can I Ball Records.

AllHipHop.com nabbed the multi-talented CEO on one of his very hectic days to discuss the pros – without too many cons these days – of being Nick Cannon.

AllHipHop.com: Obviously, you’ve addressed the comparisons to Will Smith in the media, and you get asked every day about [your break-up with] Christina Milian. Do you feel over the years that you’ve had any unreasonable pressure from your fans or from the media to be this superpower good guy all the time?

Nick Cannon: A little bit, but I’ve grown content with it. I never set out to be a role model, I’d rather call it a real model. I’m just a real dude. A role is something that you play and put up a front, but I’m a real cat. So I’m gonna do some things that people are gonna really be impressed by and really think, “Wow he’s a good example.” But I’m not gonna always say or do what everybody thinks is the right thing, I’m gonna just do me. A lot of times, based on my morals and the way that I was raised, it happens to be a good example for young people out there. So I know that people are looking at me, but that doesn’t make me want to play a role – or I don’t feel like I’m in a position where I have to be a certain way. You’re not gonna agree with everything that I do, but you’re definitely gonna say that I achieved what I wanted to achieve.

AllHipHop.com: You went from doing stand-up into TV, then to movies, and now you’re back on TV again. What have you taken from your early days on TV and your film experience into your show, Wild’N Out?

Nick Cannon: It’s just a different situation, because the first job I had in TV was as a staff writer at 17. I was the youngest staff writer in television, I wrote for a couple of shows on Nickelodeon as well as the WB. That’s when I got the first taste of behind the scenes work. But this time around, I’m focused on actually running the show, me being in front of the camera is something extra this time. It’s not like that’s my main focus, that’s not my bread and butter this time.

AllHipHop.com: With Wild’N Out, In the beginning you were a little nervous about what the reaction would be, or were you confident that people would finally catch on to it?

Nick Cannon: I didn’t really care. [laughs] When I first did the show, I used my own money. I shot and produced it, and I didn’t even have a plan for it. I just did it because it was like a hobby to me. It was just something fun, it was something I wanted to have – me and my friends just wilding out. I sold it to MTV and I was shocked that they ordered so many episodes and put more money into it. Then it was just like they were paying me money to have fun. Based on the MTV audience, they always get good ratings regardless of what programming they have on. The same number of people are watching, so it’s a safe haven where they give me the freedom to do what I want. The fact that it ended up becoming the Number One show in cable is crazy to me because I didn’t expect that type of success. I was just wanting to have a good time and introduce my comedic friends to the world. I was actually kind of hoping for a cult following type of situation. I wasn’t really trying to jump out of the box with a huge successful show, I was just doing it for the people who enjoyed the same style of comedy and same sense of humor that I had. But it’s all great that it did do that.

AllHipHop.com: Talk to us a little bit about your label situation over at Motown.

Nick Cannon: The label is called Can I Ball Records. It’s pretty much me looking up to the Jay-Z’s and Biggie’s saying, “Can I ball? Can I get in? I do the same things y’all do’ It’s just me trying to finally get in my lane.” I’ve always been a producer – people didn’t know that I produce records, that I’ve been the music supervisor on my show, that I produce for other artists. It’s cool to be able to have your own lane, and this time around not really have an A&R on my project and be able to do everything I wanted to do myself. I oversee marketing and everything from promotions, which is cool because I do that in film and television as well. I’ve had my film and television company for almost five years now, so that’s the right thing to do to bring it all together and make this multimedia production company with Can I Ball Records being a element of it.

AllHipHop.com: You have a video out with your first artist. Tell us about his project. Nick Cannon: Yeah, Izzy. He’s sick. He’s this kid I met when he was 16-years-old. He jumped on my tour bus wanting to battle me. [laughs] He’s real grimy, he was a kid from Southeast DC, and I had never seen anybody so hungry and so serious. He’s extremely talented, but I was more shocked by how serious he was about what he was doing. The kid was making thousands of dollars a month selling mixtapes of himself. I respected his hustle, I told him finish school and I’d fly him out to [see about starting] working with him. I did that, and when he got the opportunity we got it poppin’.

AllHipHop.com: Not too long ago you purchased the PNB Nation clothing line, and you’ve been developing that. What are your plans in the next year for the clothing line?

Nick Cannon: This year we’re just focusing on the premium line and getting the denim game up. Everybody knows I’m like a denim head, I’m a enthusiast when it comes to that. I always gotta try to have the flyest jeans and stuff, so I figured I might as well purchase PNB and focus on the type of jeans that I like to wear. We’re making a certain amount of custom pairs, only distributing them to the tastemakers and making sure they’re available in boutique stores before we go mass market with it. I really want to build the brand back up, because it’s had so much credibility over the years and I’ve been such a fan. I don’t want to lose any of that, I just want to put the urban luxury style on it. That’s the only thing I think was missing where people outside of the Hip-Hop community could be introduced to it. I’m trying to hit Milan up the next Fashion Week – I’m feeling this fashion thing.

AllHipHop.com: Aren’t you working on another new movie too?

Nick Cannon: A few movies – I just left Madrid shooting this movie with David Beckham, it’s a soccer movie. That was the last thing that I did, I actually stopped in the middle of it because I go back to shooting in June at the World Cup. I did an animated film that comes out in July called Monster House with Kevin James. I did an independent film with the same director who did Bomb The System – that was at Sundance last year called, Weapons. It’s a real dark independent film. I did a movie called Bobby with Anthony Hopkins and Sharon Stone.

AllHipHop.com: What was it like working with Anthony Hopkins?

Nick Cannon: It was crazy, being on set with “Hannibal Lechter.” I remember doing this scene where I was crying and throwing stuff, he came up to me like, “That was an amazing job.” I was like, “Wow, Anthony Hopkins told me I did a great job.”

AllHipHop.com: What about Sharon Stone? What was it like working with her?

Nick Cannon: Sharon Stone is funny, she’s cool. She’s a regular person, she walks around and talks to everybody, being friendly.

AllHipHop.com: I’m sure it’s kind of surreal to you at times because you’ve worked your way up to this superstardom range where you’re recognized everywhere. Is there ever a point where you pinch yourself and go, “I can’t believe I’m standing here on this set doing this?”

Nick Cannon: Not really – not ‘til after the set. The majority of the time, I’m so focused that I’m just there to get the job done and try to move onto the next stage. Sometimes I sit back afterwards like, “Man this is amazing.” You go somewhere and you see billboards in Times Square for Wild’N Out, I remember sitting around sketching and drawing what I wanted the logo to look like. Now it’s in Times Square 20 feet high, that’s crazy.

AllHipHop.com: You’re working on your new album right now. Considering that your first album did well and you’ve definitely built a lot more of a reputation for yourself as an artist, what do you feel like this time around you focus is? Do you have a plan similar to your last album or are you going in different directions?

Nick Cannon: Just showing the growth as an artist, as a man and as a businessman. I didn’t try to reinvent the wheel or anything like that. I worked with Kanye, he’s the only other producer on my album besides myself. The advice he gave me was to make sure it’s really something that’s a reflection of me, and that I’m talking about me. Nobody wants to hear about anything else, they want to hear about my story. I was trying to put my story down.

AllHipHop.com: How do you find time in your day to do all of these things?

Nick Cannon: I don’t sleep. [laughs] No sleeping plus [Attention Deficit Disorder] will get you a long way.

B

ET’s Rap City is easily one of the most respected shows in pop culture, and host Mad Linx is rapidly becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the Hip-Hop nation. From its beginning in 1989, Rap City has had a slew of hosts including Joe Clair, Chris Thomas, Big Lez and Big Tigger. When Linx took over in 2005, he followed in the legacy and a heritage of memorable moments the show was known for, and fans had high expectations.

A native of Queens, New York, Mad Linx got his start in the Tampa, Florida radio scene in the early ‘90s. He moved on to WTMP, and soon became their Mixshow Director, and eventually the drive-time on-air personality. In 2002, he got a big break as the tour DJ for Angie Martinez, and by 2003 he secured a position at Tampa’s WLLD radio.

With all of his charisma and background in radio, the transition Mad Linx made to television was smooth in terms of his talent, but somewhat difficult with regard to the way fans of Rap City received him. A little over a year later, fans were begging to have Linx return to the show when he left to co-host BET’s new start-up The Road Show. We recently sat down with Mad Linx to talk candidly about the pressure of being one of America’s Most Watched.

AllHipHop.com: Just a little over a year ago you took the spot over at Rap City, and you dealt with your fair share of criticism in the beginning. How did it feel this time being on the other end of that where people are asking you, “When are you going to go back to Rap City?”

Mad Linx: [laughs] You know, I think it’s one of those things in life where – and I’m trying to say this in the most humble way possible – sometimes you’re not appreciated fully until you’re gone. I’m saying that with no disrespect to anybody first off. I think even with Tigger, he’s dealt with his share of criticism for a long time as well, after he took over Rap City. When he was gone, all of a sudden everybody seemed to be like, “We always did love Tigger, what are you talking about?” It was a good feeling knowing that cats kind of came around after a while, and it’s always a challenge going into a new situation.

People tend to make these judgments off of a lot of things; it might be your physical appearance which you can’t help. For me it’s, “Who is this light skinned R&B ass n***a, that pretty n***a that they got doing Rap City?” Now I can’t control the skin color I have, or the way my face is structured and set up, but that has nothing to do with whether I’m Hip-Hop or not. I’m not gonna go out tryna be anybody who I’m not, I didn’t get shot up 15 times, or spend 12 years in the bing, or I didn’t push crack. I don’t have those stories to tell you when I’m hosting Rap City, but ultimately what does that have to do with whether or not you can conduct an interview if you know about Hip-Hop?

So all I can do and all I have been doing is bringing what I have to offer Hip-Hop-wise, which is long, vast and very deep. I think cats over the course of the year, have started to see it if they paid attention. I know that when a lot of artists come in, they might have preconceived ideas and then through the course of their show where they know that I really know about them and their history. I’m talking about their first album like I spun their record in the club, or I had their white label before the huge single came out, or I remember going to the store to get their album. Those are the priceless stories that you can’t [make up].

AllHipHop.com: Coming from the radio industry into television, with people not really understanding your background, did you ever feel the need to assert that, “Hey, I’ve been through all of these things,” or was there ever a certain point where you just kind of threw up your hands and said, “Think what you want?”

Mad Linx: I always thought that people are going to think what they want, regardless. But I got that attitude that, given the opportunity and timeframe, I’ll turn the whole world into Mad Linx fans. I think that respect is something that you earn, it’s not just given. People all the time see the end result – they don’t see the grind and the hard work it took to get there. It’s a challenge and it’s one that I take wholeheartedly.

AllHipHop.com: How hard is it for you politically speaking? If you may not be feeling an artist’s work, is there a part of you that feels the need to keep a good rapport across the board, or is it just that you really aren’t the type of person to outwardly state your opinions?

Mad Linx: My mom always taught me if you don’t have nothing good to say, don’t say nothing. I respect anything and anybody that’s trying to advance and move forward. I don’t even go out of my way to have thoughts like, “Oh this is some bulls**t.” It’s kind of like a waste of energy; I respect what everybody’s doing and understand that they have their own lane. Cats that caught a lot of flack this year – D4L “Laffy Taffy” – say what you want, but they have their own lane, and there’s the saying that a billion Elvis fans can’t be wrong. This group obviously has fans, they got fans right here in New York, because when the club isn’t popping you play that record and then all of a sudden something happens. Now, I might not listen to that CD when I wanna get my real Hip-Hop fix on, but I respect what they’re doing. All things may not be for me, but I’m not gonna go out of my way to s**t on them.

AllHipHop.com: Since you [started your career] in Florida and you had several years to embrace the scene, North Florida is revolutionary in the grind of getting independent music out and they support their own in that area. Coming into New York, do you see a big difference in the way the whole system works here versus what you saw in Florida?

Mad Linx: Oh definitely. I always said that I don’t care where the deal gets struck, and no matter where the person comes from, the check gets cut here in New York. The industry is changed to where the check still gets cut in New York, but the way you get to the point of getting the check has changed. I think that as we all we know, before it used to be good enough to run up on somebody, spit a hot 16 bars and you could get a record deal. Those days are gone. Now the way that the industry business works is, “What do your sales look like already?”

AllHipHop.com: How do you feel about giving knowledge to this new generation of Hip-Hop fans about where all that music and the hustle comes from?

Mad Linx: I think it’s very important. I just played recently in Cancun. The club I played in there were a lot of white kids I’ll say between the ages of 18 and 21. I played the Nirvana song and they knew every word. Keep in mind this song came out in ’90-’91, so most of these kids were maybe a year or two years old when it came out, but they still know it all. They knew about Van Halen’s “Jump” from way before they were born. There’s some kind of connect that happens with other genres of music that really hasn’t happened as much with Hip-Hop.

I actually have some ideas that I’m hoping we’re able to make happen with Rap City that hopefully will at least do a little part in trying to connect those dots. A lot of our kids in New York know who Grandmaster Flash is, but maybe in Texas or Alabama, they’re not as familiar. They may have heard the name one time, but it wouldn’t be like if “The Message” came on and they could rhyme it. The same way people in New York don’t know who DJ Uncle Al is or Jam Pony Express. These cats down South revolutionized the game. Hopefully, I can connect the dots for not only the younger generation but the older generation who has never heard of a Jam Pony Express.

I think one thing that makes it a little harder with Hip-Hop especially there’s always this push on what’s new or what’s next. I think that push comes a lot harder with Hip-Hop than other forms of music because a big part of that is the mixtape game. It kind of makes it hard to move back to the past a little bit, because we’re so rapidly moving towards the future. We still don’t have any classic Hip-Hop stations, and every market got a classic Rock station.

AllHipHop.com: How does it make you feel to see so much Southern Hip-Hop come through the video show?

Mad Linx: I feel a couple of different ways: I love the fact that now in 2006, no matter where you’re from, you got a shot. You can come from St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland and you’re gonna get a shot. But now to get that shot it’s harder than ever, where before radio was a little more regionalized – you could get that shot locally first, and then if things happen well enough for you then you could go national. But like I said, I think the fact that it’s so much music coming from other places on radio here in New York is brave, but at the same time I don’t want artists from any market to get shut out of their own marketplace because of the commercialization of radio and the business.

AllHipHop.com: Did you sign a new contract with BET for Rap City?

Mad Linx: I’ll be with BET definitely for the remainder of the year. You know how this industry is the same with radio, the same with every other industry. Changes can come at any time, I’m fully aware of that. But as of right now it’s Rap City.

AllHipHop.com: What are your next plans?

Mad Linx: We got Spring Bling coming up. Now that I got my turntables and my mixer, I plan on working on a mixtape as well. Actually that’ll mean I get to practice for the first time in a year and a half – my practice was coming in for a few minutes on Rap City or in the club, which is not really good practice. [laughs] I love to DJ, so I’m looking forward to getting a nice little hour in a day from now on. The relaunch for madlinx.com is coming up, we’re still under construction. Rap City Monday through Friday from 5-6 PM. For those who are always surprised yes I am a DJ, I didn’t go buy ‘DJ in a box’ two weeks ago and thought I could get live in a party now.

AllHipHop.com: Is there anything else you want people to know?

Mad Linx: I’m glad to be back. And at the end of the day, the hate has never bothered me for a couple of reasons. One, any time people hate, that means you’re either doing something good or you’re in a real good place. I loved the fact that people hated on me even when I first started, to me that said that people cared enough about Hip-Hop to care who the host of the show was. If they didn’t care, that would just mean they didn’t care about Hip-Hop, so it didn’t bother me. I love the fact that people care about Hip-Hop and they care about the show.

Just because you see me for an hour a day, it don’t mean that you know me to know what I’m really like. That just means that you know what you see through that screen. As we all know, what comes through that screen ain’t necessarily the entire package. Rap City the show isn’t who Mad Linx is – come kick it with me, and you’ll leave with somewhat of a different perspective.

B

ig Tuck is the lead off artist of T-Town Records, who inked a deal with Universal for a staggering seven million dollars late last year, may not be a man of many words, but he claims to be a man about many units.

Having moved 100,000 units of his album Purple Hulk independently, it is kind of understandable as to why so many labels were staking this Dallas collective. Along with fellow Dirty South Rydaz, T-Town Records and Tuck are hoping to encourage the home of JR Ewing as another Southern Hip-Hop hub.

As the lead-off single “Tussle” makes its way around stations, Tuck spoke to AllHipHop.com about the position he’s in, and the year he claims he’ll have.

AllHipHop.Com: So first of all, you are out of Dallas, what is Dallas going to do to add to the shine of Houston?

Big Tuck: Well we ain’t going to try and take away the shine from Houston; we just want to add to the Texas movement.

AllHipHop.Com: You got serious money from Universal, were they hunting you for a long time?

Big Tuck: They were, Sony was, Def Jam was, Interscope was and Universal pretty much talked the most money, so that was the way we went.

AllHipHop.Com: But moving the units you moved, wouldn’t it have been better for you to stay independent?

Big Tuck: Well yeah, but you can only do so much underground and then it comes to time to take it to the next level.

AllHipHop.Com: You mean get your music beyond Texas?

Big Tuck: Yeah, but I mean we were already hitting Cleveland market, the Florida market so we were already beyond out state.

AllHipHop.Com: How did you encourage those markets?

Big Tuck: You know we just started hitting the road and then the Mom and Pops stores, driving between Dallas and Cleveland, you know, dropping the tapes off and people picking them up and that.

AllHipHop.Com: You are part of the collective Dirty South Riders, how many people make up that group?

Big Tuck: There are six of us.

AllHipHop.Com: But you are the main artist, is that because you are the one that’s so far moved the units, or are you just the guy to kick start the movement?

Big Tuck: It’s pretty much because I have a bigger fan base. I mean everyone has a big fan base but I just seem to bring mine out a bit more.

AllHipHop.Com: You went to school and got a degree in music, does this mean you do more than just the MC’ing; do you put your hand to the production aspect of it too?

Big Tuck: Yeah, I do it all: the music, I produce, I write music for black college marching bands, everything. My whole life is music.

AllHipHop.Com: Were you in a marching band yourself?

Big Tuck: Yeah, I was.

AllHipHop.Com: What did you play?

Big Tuck: I played tenor drum, snare drum, keyboards.

AllHipHop.Com: Yeah I was watching Drumline last night, as we don’t have marching bands where I come from, and I didn’t realize just how serious college bands are.

Big Tuck: Yeah, we did exactly what they did on that movie too. Y’all don’t have marching bands in England?

AllHipHop.Com: No, schools are really different over there. So who have you pulled from inspiration wise?

Big Tuck: R. Kelly, as I think he is ahead of his time and all those people who were in the position that I wanted to be in.

AllHipHop.Com: Listening to “Tussle,” it’s obvious you are putting your own twist on the Southern sound. Who else is emerging from Dallas that we need to watch out for?

Big Tuck: Well, you got a guy called Bow Legs and Gator Man, a guy called Mr. Poochie Loochie.

AllHipHop.Com: When you look at the South, y’all seem to move as a movement, its not just individual states and cities coming together, will you be doing the same by collaborating with other southern artists?

Big Tuck: Yeah, I mean we have already started by collaborating with Slim Thug, Mike Jones, and Paul Wall. My last CD featured those guys.

AllHipHop.Com: So when can we expect to see something on the shelves from you?

Big Tuck: Yeah my CD should be dropping [soon], and that is called The Absolute Truth, and that is just introducing you to me and how I live.

AllHipHop.Com: So talking about how you live, if I was to come to Dallas as a first time visitor, what would be the places you would show me that give me a full understanding of your city and lifestyle?

Big Tuck: Dallas is so big so it is hard to say just one spot as everyone has their favorite spots.

AllHipHop.Com: I mean, you hear it is a growing city, so doesn’t that mean you should have your own sound, your own musical identity?

Big Tuck: Yes.

AllHipHop.Com: How long has T-Town been around, because even though you are just getting nationwide attention you have been established a while right?

Big Tuck: Yeah, we have been around about six years.

AllHipHop.Com: Have you always been a part of T-Town?

Big Tuck: Yeah, I was one of the first members.

AllHipHop.Com: Have you got any collaborations we can look out for on the Absolute Truth album?

Big Tuck: Yeah, I have Paul Wall, Bun B, and Erykah Badu.

AllHipHop.Com: Wow, did you actually get to work with her?

Big Tuck: Yeah, we live in the same area. I know her. It is pretty much a big Southern album.

AllhipHop.Com: Any video in the works?

Big Tuck: In terms of video, we just shot the “Tussle” video and that is super hot. It should be out in about three weeks on BET and MTV. There is a lot of Southern action and it shows the potential of Dallas.