Along with DJ Clue, Fatman Scoop was an original DJ yelling on tracks. When you hear the mighty “Mixdrop!” you know who’s mixing. In his downtime from being a staple radio host at Hot 97, Scoop has grown internationally known through his productions and label work.

Scoop recently hosted and co-produced the “Inside Hip Hop” debut DVD. The first disc features superb interviews with hip-hop power movers like Lyor Cohen, Dame Dash, Steve Rifkind, Fat Joe and others. Somewhere between his radio show, his DVDs, and even hosting AllHipHop’s own “True Grit Volume 2” mix, Scoop sits down to catch up on things, discuss the movie, and reflect on his career as one of the best known radio personalities of our time.

AllHipHop.com: So besides hosting, what is your role behind the scenes on “Inside Hip Hop”?

Fatman Scoop: Something like Associate Producer. My thing is like I don’t credit for something I really don’t know about. Like saying that being a director is so easy and hands on. What I did was let [the directors] take the lead, so to speak, and I watched them. I’m an Associate Director, Associate Producer. By the third go round with this project, I should be able to take the reigns myself.

AllHipHop: Were there executives that you thought should of gone on the first volume, that didn’t?

FMS: Sure, sure! I give you the list right now: Puffy, Steve Stout, who else? Jimmy Iovine, a couple people I didn’t get to on this trip because it was so tough reaching out to them. Now Puffy, I’ve known for many years. I had to contend with his schedule. He’s a work horse. He’s doin’ thirty different things at forty different times. So I just have to wait on him. Jimmy Iovine, I’ll probably be going to the West Coast sometime [soon]. Dre, the good doctor, [we’ll] get him on there, and a couple other people. But there are people missing.

AllHipHop: And that’s what leaves the viewer looking for number two.

FMS: Exactly. So I didn’t have to go for the entire gusto right away. [Because on this there’s] executives who have done things that have changed Hip-hop. Look at Steve Rifkind! That man created the street team. My grand-mother has a street team. Your uncle has a street team. Paul Rosenberg, that’s Eminem. What’s bigger than that? Mona Scott, Violator. Busta Bus, LL, anybody that’s had some power, has been on Violator. Craig Cowman, the man runs Atlantic. Jesus Christ, Atlantic Records. That’s Sean Paul, that’s Lil’ Kim, that’s household names. Baby from Cash Money, [Fat] Joe from Terror Squad. I got Joe because I wanted to show that unique situation where the artist is the CEO. Same thing with Baby [Williams], the artist is actually the executive, and I wanted to show that side of it too.

AllHipHop: Was there any point in the making, and I realize you’re a Hip-hop veteran and authority, but were you at all intimidated or humbled?

FMS: Not intimidated because I know all these people personally, so it could be looked at as maybe more of a situation where I’m learning something. Just talking to Damon Dash. Now I’ve known Damon Dash for many years. Damon Dash is actually from my neighborhood in Harlem. Just listening to him talk was really great for me. It’s not an intimidation factor, it’s more like, “Wow, I didn’t know this about you.”

AllHipHop: Changing up, just wanted to thank you for hosting our last mixtape.

FMS: AllHipHop, and just having a connection with them, that’s a connection that happened organically. It’s not a connection where we had to pay for it or something like that. I genuinely like your site. I genuinely like the email alerts I get everyday. So what I did was, I sat down and figured out a way that we could both get together. And that will continue in the future! Because I love you guys. So, just that, and basically the fact that I’m about to own part of AV8 [Records] and be an owner in that. That’s where I come from. I come from being a record executive. I worked for Tommy Boy for two years so I understand what it’s like to be an executive and run a company.

AllHipHop: Looking at your career, can you cite a big break that was instrumental in who you’ve become today?

FMS: I can give two. One of my biggest breaks was being involved with a gentleman by the name of Alby Regusso. A guy named Daryl Rockhart was my original mentor. He taught me how to do things and do promotion. But my big break was when I met Alby Regusso, who at the time was the Don of Tommy Boy Records. He put me on with Tom Silverman and Monica Lynch. That’s where I took off with the pictures on the back of The Source, and all that type of stuff. The next big break was when I got involved with Hot 97. Those are the two big breaks. The final is just recently, a milestone in my career, [was] scoring a number one single in the United Kingdom over people like Liberty X and Suger Babes and Brittney Spears and groups that had millions of dollars in promotion and I didn’t have [that]. To see that triumph over giant monsters like [them], it was just a major thing for me.

AllHipHop: Just like GURU says, “It’s mostly the voice.” Your voice is so much what we know you by best. What can you say about that.

FMS: The voice is everything man. But the voice is one part of it. God is another part of it. And for God to put you in a position where you can have your voice out there as a platform, that in itself is another thing you got to thank God for. And I do every morning. And I don’t care if anybody thinks that I’m corny or wack or whatever, but thanking God – I do that. Number two is it’s also having the determination to get your voice out there. In the big picture, your voice is important. If I had to say something to anybody, it’d be work hard. It doesn’t matter what you have, it’s how you put it out there. At the end of the day, it’s about developing your own style too. At the end of the day, if you pick five people who are on Hot 97 now, I guarantee you that none alike: Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Ja Rule. They do their own thing.

Cincinnati sucks! I should know because I live there. An almost non-existent music scene, coupled with racist, homicidal cops, an inordinate amount of illegal business (see: “Traffic,” “In Too Deep”), and post-riot economic and racial distress all add up to one f*ckin’ cesspool of a city. But in this gloomy environment there are a few flickers of light that have managed to shine through, namely a handful of talented hip-hop artists who have consistently blessed the locals with some much needed quality entertainment.

One such ray of light consists of Fat Jon (MC/Producer), Pase Rock (MC/DJ), Kyle David (MC), and Sonic (Producer), the foursome known to every true hip-hop head as Five Deez.

The Deez made their full-length debut in the fall of 2001 with the release of Koolmotor, an homage to their wide range of musical influences. In addition to their work as a unit, the group has also released a string of successful solo (Fat Jon, Pase) and side projects (3582) in the past few years that have elevated the Deez standing in the independent rap game.

Now with the recent release of their sophomore full-length, Kinkynasti, the ‘Nati quartet is seeking to expand beyond the parameters of their past work by encompassing a less multifarious, but no less dope sound. Hopefully with this album Five Deez will finally be able to shine a light on a city currently immersed in social ill and hip-hop obscurity.

Allhiphop.com: Let’s give our readers who may not be too familiar with Five Deez some background on the group. First, where did the name Five Deez come from?

Fat Jon: Five Deez came from Fifth Dimension; that was the original name of the group. But there’s already a group called Fifth Dimension, so we flipped it hip-hop style and made it Five Deez.

Allhiphop: When did the group come together?

Fat Jon: ’93, officially. We were all doing sh*t in other groups before, and hanging out and rhyming and everything, but we decided to officially become a crew in ’93.

Allhiphop: What and when was the first official Five Deez release?

Fat Jon: The first official Five Deez release was “The WVDZ Sessions” in 1998.

Allhiphop: How would you describe the Five Deez sound to those unfamiliar with your music?

Pase Rock: It’s classic hip-hop at its core, but a little bit on the progressive side as far as the beats and the lyrics are concerned. I would say we try to just keep it real soulful and groovy. You can definitely hear the groove in every song, like each song definitely has a groove to it, a little bounce to it, a nice swing in the music.

Fat Jon: Progressive sh*t you can feel.

Allhiphop: Are there any groups out there you would feel comfortable comparing your sound to?

Fat Jon &

Pase Rock: Nope.

Allhiphop: No rappers wanna do that.

Fat Jon &

Pase Rock: (laughs)

Allhiphop: Five Deez hail from my hometown, the “home of jazz fest and blown spots/bearcats and bengals, no culture, no hip-hop.” So sum up for our readers your impression of the Cincinnati hip-hop scene, past and/or present?

Pase Rock: I think it’s a two-sided coin, like good and bad. It’s bad in the sense that a lot of the groups don’t get exposure, I think a majority of the scene has an inferiority complex, it’s like because of the geography they feel that they can’t really get stuff jumping off on a larger scale. They get satisfied with local props. I think that’s the bad side of the coin. The good side of the coin is it’s a loosely unified scene; everybody is down with each other. They’re pretty supportive for the most part.

Allhiphop: So how do you think that changed? Back in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s we were a musical Mecca.

Fat Jon: Not for hip-hop; there was never a foundation until recently for that. There were a few people actually doing it, hand-to-hand selling tapes and CD’s, but nobody really got down for each other until ’92, ’93, ’94. And that started bumbling into what’s there today. But I know for (hip-hop) in the mid-‘80’s, late ‘80’s, it was horrible man.

Allhiphop: Five Deez came on the scene around the same time as Mood and Hi-Tek, but you guys never signed to a major-label like they did, how come?

Pase Rock: We weren’t really ready at that time. We were just off on our own, focusing on making the music and not as much on the business side, we were just honing our skills in the studio.

Fat Jon: Just developing a sound. Because we got together and we had a lot of fun and sh*t…

Pase Rock: And that’s pretty much what our focus was – having fun, making music. It wasn’t, ‘yo, let’s make a career out of this,’ where as Mood and Hi-Tek were more interested in the commerce side of things.

Fat Jon: They were ‘bout it before we were. And they introduced those (business) elements to us, they were like, ‘it’s like this fellas.’

Pase Rock: Them and a few other people were like, ‘yo, y’all got what it takes, y’all need to be doing this.’

Allhiphop: So did you guys ever actually shop to a major?

Pase Rock: We did a couple of things, but not too hard, we weren’t pursuing it.

Fat Jon: We always knew that was just a way to get stroked. We never knew anybody that had a good story to tell, it’s all f*cked up stories.

Pase Rock: We were young and just happy-go-lucky, we didn’t have any responsibilities and priorities at the time, and so it wasn’t really an issue to get signed.

Allhiphop: You guys have a huge following in the ‘Nati, but I noticed you guys are bigger in Tokyo than you are in Clifton (University Of Cincinnati campus). How did that happen?

Pase Rock: They just latched on to it for whatever reason. I can’t really call it. And then we went over there and probably made it worse.

Allhiphop: Why the overseas focus, and not, ‘let’s try and get in The Ritz (local club) every Saturday’?

Fat Jon: Honestly man, I can only speak for me, my personal opinion is that I would rather have a dedicated fan than a fickle fan. I’d rather have somebody who’s down for Five Deez forever than somebody who just likes two of our songs. And most of the people who have more of an appreciation for music are not in the U.S.

Pase Rock: It’s the type of music we make. We’re not gonna make a song about our car rims.

Allhiphop: Why not call it that, but make it about something else, do some subliminally metaphorical sh*t?

Fat Jon: People don’t want to hear metaphors. They’d be like, ‘man, that’s a metaphor, they should have just came out and talked about the rims.’

Pase Rock: That’s not our approach. We’re not gonna do something trendy, just ‘cause it’s hot right now, it don’t last. That’s never been our approach. That particular audience is the prevalent market in Cincinnati. They just want what’s hot at the moment. Cincinnati doesn’t have an identity, it’s got an identity crisis and an inferiority complex.

Fat Jon: But we always knew that our music isn’t the most accessible, popular sh*t anyway. Either you get it, or you don’t get it, or it just grown on you.

Allhiphop: Sometimes I don’t get it either. I gotta be honest, I wasn’t really feeling y’all first full-length, Koolmotor, but I’m loving Kinkynasti. So explain to our readers the difference between the two.

Fat Jon: Koolmotor is like an explosion. That album goes in so many different directions genre wise. Kinkynasti is focused, like a laser-beam. And we did it like that on purpose. When we were making Koolmotor we knew we wanted to make a record that went everywhere, so that we could go anywhere after that record. We didn’t want to just come out like, ‘yo, we sound like this.’ We wanted to come out and show that we can sound like anything. So then when we did Kinkynasti, we decided, ‘ok, let’s make a record that sounds like this.’

Allhiphop: Now, Jon you’re also a member of 3582, along with J. Rawls from Lone Catalysts, so how’d that partnership come about?

Fat Jon: Man, the first day I met J we were making music. We just had this chemistry, and we both have the same mentality when it comes to production. And people don’t know this but J can f*ckin’ rap, he just doesn’t. So we would f*ck around and talk sh*t like, ‘yo man, we should be a group.’ And then one day we just decided, ‘you know what, let’s just f*ckin’ do it.’ We decided to do 3582 for fun and sh*t, because being in The Deez is pressure, being in Lone Catalysts is pressure; you’re in a group, you compromise, and you have ideas that don’t always fit into the concept of the group. So you have this other outlet where you can just do this sh*t. We just decided that’s our side-project, fun sh*t, let’s just be stupid and have a ball.

Allhiphop: So what can your fans expect to hear from 3582 on the group’s new album, Situational Ethics?

Fat Jon: They can expect to hear a bunch of crazy, different situations. It’s a storybook record about what you think you are. Are you a pimp? Are you a cool m*th*f*cka? Do you get *ss? They can expect a buncha of that sh*t, just different situations and what would you do in those situations.

Allhiphop: Pase, you also have a project outside of the group. Tell the people out there about your solo album, Bullsh*t As Usual.

Pase Rock: It’s just this record I did in Japan. It’s kinda cool just having something exclusive to just one country. But I might release it in the states eventually. It’s cool having these side projects that ain’t as accessible as everything else.

Allhiphop: So what’s the future hold for Five Deez? You guys gonna be doing this twenty years from now?

Fat Jon: We’ll definitely be doing music in some form or fashion.

54th Regiment: Glory Days

B’en Original

In hip-hop, acts come and go, especially these days. But just when you were almost convinced that neo-soul was only good music worth buying, along comes an group that reminds you of what loved about the rap game from day one. Repping New Jersey, True Essence recording artists 54th Regiment is not your every day hip-hop act. With their original production, and a wide range of content, they represent what this thing of ours has lost in its rapid growth…authentic hip-hop.

AllHipHop.com: I want to take the opportunity to let you guys clear the air on the confusion between 54th platoon (FUBU) and 54th Regiment?

Unseen: On that situation, you can’t change history. We were first. Our history is documented from reels to DAT’s, music played on Hot 97. You can’t take that away.

Ransom: The music speaks for itself. When you listen to the album, you won’t confuse it.

MP: If you go back to movie Glory with Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman, it was always 54th Regiment. You can’t change history.

AllHipHop: Why did you choose to use the name of the historical Buffalo Soldiers, the 54th Regiment?

Unseen: The original 54th Regiment changed history. As far as our group, we all came together from different backgrounds like the members original regiment and we are going to change the face of today’s music.

MP: We are all coming through our share of struggles, with a common goal to make it as artist. We struggled and earned our spot.

AllHipHop: Your debut LP “Civil War” was featured in The Source’s Independence Day. How did that come about?

Unseen: we recorded, manufactured and distributed it ourselves. We pushed it on the streets. Within a month, they heard about the album and it was history after that.

AllHipHop: How do you differ from other hip-hop acts?

Ransom: Styles. We bring different styles and a different flavor to the game.

MP: We are coming with our own angles. We can go from stories, the party thing to the streets, we got everything covered.

Ransom: I feel we are the true representation of hip-hop because we feel what are doing. A lot of cats don’t feel what they are doing.

AllHipHop: How do guys feel about hip-hop as a whole right now with sales declining and a lot of garbage in rotation.

Unseen: I think people need to stick doing what they do best.

MP: Hip-Hop labels are so stuck on sales that they’re not worrying about the music. How are albums going to sell when you’re not focusing on the music?

Ransom: I think it’s good that sales are falling off because we are going to be the saviors. Let the sales keep diminishing and we’ll get it back to where it belongs.

P-Jigg: It’s all about the Regiment now. We are going to get the people listening to hip-hop again

AllHipHop: Do you consider yourself underground artists?

Unseen: We just do music. A lot of people try to categories on music.

P-Jigg: I think that a lot mainstream stuff they put out is underground. They just have a lot of money behind it.

MP: We got soul to our music. It’s not some popcorn music, something that’s here today and gone tomorrow… next year you wonder why you bought that CD.

Ransom: MP’s album is called Instant Classic. Twenty years from now you’ll be able to put it in rotation.

AllHipHop: So you guys are solo artists as well?

Ransom: All of us are working on solo projects. MP’s album Instant Classic will be the first solo release.

Matty Mal: The joint has nothing but bangers on it. It will be the hottest album out.

AllHipHop: How do you feel all the beefs in hip-hop now?

Unseen: Some of it is overboard. We don’t have beef with anyone. We’ll work with anyone who wants to work with us for the right price.

P-Jigg: If we have beef. We’ll handle it. We’re not going to be making songs about.

Matty Mal: It’s a waste time. If you have a beef with cat like that, you need to get it done or let it go. It’s crazy right now.

AllHipHop: What are plans for the future?

MP: We plan to shoot an independent movie on our lives in 2004, throw a few parties, and drop some more projects.

Unseen: We’re doing more than rap.

Warren G has seen his fair share of beef. Reared in the wild, West Coast, the G-Funk originator bore firsthand witness to the dramatic conflicts during the mid-nineties (Dr. Dre is is brother and Snoop is a rap partner). But, Warren G is considered one of the greatest products of the Left Coast for many reasons, none of which include static. One is his ability to see the positive in all situations. Warren reveals how he linked up with KRS-One on the new QDIII-produced “Beef” documentary and soundtrack. Furthermore, he talks about the highly anticipated, much-delayed 213 album with Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg. Beef hasn’t paid for Mr. G, its always been his penchant for the funk and rhymes. Seeing the positives in any situations, past and present, has fortified Warren’s attitude and his ability to create new business opportunities for himself. The Regulator is a busy man who will put his mark down when it is his time to write his name in the history books.

AllHipHop.com:

Talk about the new music on the Beef soundtrack?

Warren G:

I went and got involved in the movie and QD3 hollered at me. My uncle called and he was like well Warren they doing a soundtrack. You want to get involved and I said yah I’m down to do that. He said I think it’d be a good idea to do a record with KRS ONE. And we got down and KRS ONE was with it. Then lets do it. He came in and he explained to me how he had this hip hop declaration of peace going on, and I told him that I was with that one hundred percent. He came and spit his verse out in New York and I spit my verse out here in LA and the Little AI spit on the Japanese movement. Its just a big peace movement all the way from here to here to Japan. Showing people that in hip hop people can definitely get along and we can have our beef on wax and not on the streets. And its not an East Coast West Coast thing, its different.

AllHipHop:

Can you talk about what it was like to spit alongside another legend in the game like KRS ONE?

Warren G:

Oh my goodness. I mean I’m a big fan and at first I wasn’t tripping, but then I thought about and it was like G####### I’m in here doing a song with KRS ONE. And that really ya know let me know that I am on my way to being a super duper legend. And I really respected him and what he did when he was coming up so it really felt great.

AllHipHop:

Now do any of the parts in the film have you in it or does it discuss you directly or indirectly?

Warren G:

The way it is and the way its broken down as far as New York and how it is out in LA style and it don’t really take one individual and say whoopty whoop this that and this that. They had me when I was first starting out and when I was producing when I was with Tupac. Its mainly clips and different people narrating, like KRS ONE. A lot of different cats from out here narrating and doing their thing on it.

AllHipHop:

Now in Beef what do you think the goal of this type of documentary is, to education and explain different conflicts in hip hop or what?

Warren G:

Just to let people see and tell people how different individuals were really having their battles. It really lets you see how the Beef is. It shows you how back in the day instead of doing the fighting and shooting it shows you how these guys used to battle. And you look at that and say, Damn that’s how we should be doing it instead of violence. We gotta keep it like MC Shan and KRS ONE used to have it. And like how NWA and Ice Cube used to have it, they didn’t go shooting nobody, they handled it on record. Its showing you how bad things were at different points. Its basic goal is showing you that we ain’t gotta shoot each other we can handle things on wax.

AllHipHop:

Theres been a lot of buzz lately about you coming back together with Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg and coming with a 213 project? Talk about that and your focus for this project.

Warren G:

Ya know we been doing work together, we just getting the business and everything straight. You can expect the 213 record coming soon. It feels real good being back with my two guys, I love them dudes. It makes me feel so good to work together. Us together is like the feature man, it’s the feature. We not gonna get a gang of artists together to do what we doing, were the feature right there, we don’t need others really. All we doing is getting with different producers like Dr. Dre, Battlecat, myself, Hi Tek, DJ Quik, its gonna be real nice. Just producers we like and love and its gonna be nice. And I got my solo coming because its time for that too. Its been a long time and we need something different out here to listen to and I’mma break it down how I do it and did it back in the day. I’m right there with these young dudes too is what I’m gonna show them.

AllHipHop:

Is the 2003 version of 213 going to sound similar to the group from back in the early 1990’s or explain your new sound?

Warren G:

Its incredibly. This piece. I can’t even explain it, its just us man. Its got a little bit of that old feel in it, its just us and how we work together, its really magic. I can’t even explain. All of us been together in Pop Warner football eating free lunches in the park.

AllHipHop:

You mentioned that you’re trying to keep the guest appearances on the record very low, explain the reason for this?

Warren G:

That’s what people want to hear, they want to hear 213, they don’t want to hear a hundred thousand different artists.

AllHipHop:

Back when you were with Death Row Records (now Tha Row), was one of the reasons you left so early was it because they were seemingly using you and Nate Dogg and making Snoop the focus of their efforts instead of the group?

Warren G:

Well I won’t say they were manipulating and all of that. It just wasn’t working out man. We was a group and we wanted to come out as a group, but it didn’t happen that way.

AllHipHop:

Did you see their eventual downfall from number one status back in the days when you were with the group?

Warren G:

Ah, I just kept on forward, I wasn’t even trippin. I ain’t got nothing against Suge Knight, he ain’t saying anything against me in a magazine. I just do me. I’m just mashing with who I am one hundred percent. I am all about positive energy and I keep it real.

AllHipHop:

Do you see yourself working with any of the artists on Tha Row at all in the future?

Warren G:

I don’t know about that one right there.

AllHipHop:

You signed a deal with audio equipment maker JVC and have your own line of equipment, talk about that and how you got down with them initially.

Warren G:

I got my own line of speakers and amps. Basically I got my own tens and twelves, I got a boom box, its history man. Its really history. I am one of the first to deal with a Fortune 500 company. JVC was trying to break into hip hop and I have a pretty clean record of not being one of those dudes that carry another hundred dudes with him or get caught with guns or this that and this. So they wanted to deal with somebody like this. They got at me and I was with it.

AllHipHop:

Anything else you want to talk about that is going on a business level or a personal one?

Warren G:

I been involved with my kids and teaching them how to play football. I ain’t coaching but I been involved in it, going to the games and stuff. Just trying to spend some good time with my kids.

After being heard by 9 million fans of 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks needs little introduction. AllHipHop’s Jigsaw talked to 50’s chief lyrical machine gun. The conversation went as follows:

AllHipHop: When you hooked up with 50 Cent did you know that it was going to be this big – like this?

Lloyd Banks: I did. Even from the g##-go. He told me his whole approach of what he was going to do. He had a list of DJs, of like 60-70 DJs and their contacts. He told me he was gonna call all of them. He told me what his plan was. The next day, he was on the phone talking to all of them – Kay Slay, Whoo Kid, Cut Master C. Before you knew it, he told me, we was going to be on every mixtape.

It’s kinda hard to be shocked or surprised when the n#### is telling you everything that is going to happen step by step. He’s telling, “Yo, you are going to get a buzz [if] you keep performing like this. They are going to start seeing that you are hot.” Then everything started happening. I think I will be more shocked when my solo stuff starts happening.

AllHipHop: Why do you say that?

Lloyd Banks: That’s when I hold the ball. It’s all up to me. Even the Beg For Mercy album, that’s going to be considered 50 Cent’s second album. As far as 50, he ain’t been wrong yet.

AllHipHop: How hard to you think its going to be for you to establish an identity away from 50 and G-Unit?

Lloyd Banks: Just as hard as it is to shoot a gun. We work so much, we work so hard…they ask me about the pressure. You only feel pressure when you don’t have enough material. That’s why a joint like “Magic Stick” can go on Kim’s album. It was for his album. At this point I got 26-27 records – I’m deep into my solo album. My album got to be turned in by February. By then, I’m going to have about 40 records.

AllHipHop: You have a reputation of being a better mc than 50. Even 50 has admitted that. Is that a good thing? I mean it is a good thing but sometimes it can be flipped.

Lloyd Banks: I mean as far as that, 50 and me got a different kind of relationship, 50 is like my big brother. He didn’t have to put me in the situation that I’m in; He could have easily gone on in the game as 50 Cent. And Lloyd Banks Would have ended up with God knows who or went to jail or even worse. So being in my position you don’t get big heads. I hear that a lot but that’s just because in hip-hop you got different parts, you got the backpack rappers, there’s different parts to hip-hop. I’m considered a lyricist but at the same time when you say Lloyd Banks is hot your saying 50 is hot because I’m signed to 50 Cent. What people don’t know is that he goes on cloud nine when he hear that sh*t, remember when Jay-z was saying “This a dude at home with the cereal box, trying to take my spot?” He feels good cause he’s like, “I’m that n####”. So that’s why I’m coming out so fast my album is coming out March 9th.

AllHipHop: What’s the title?

Lloyd Banks: Aw man, I can give that up, but whatever it is it’s going to be surrounded by money. I can’t use “money in the bank” because I used that for my mix tapes already.

AllHipHop: There was a little rumor that you and 50 had beef and you might bounce from the group. Any truth to that?

Lloyd Banks: It’s crazy when I made my decision to take the rap thing seriously, if it wasn’t for 50 I probably wouldn’t have joined with anybody else if I got in the rap game it would have been on my own. 50 been shot up, I was shot. When you get shot certain things change you start saying “who’s really your friends?” Or who’s around because you’re a good person to be around? So them people might not stay around that long. They might stay around long enough to shake hands but…

We started seeing a lot of sh*t going on and we had a lot of similarities so when I made that decision to get with 50 in the game it was more like you know what “sh*t happens in this game”. I’m going to be in the game with somebody I’m going to take a bullet for and vice versa. That’s why it amuses me when you do this rap [battle] thing and I’m like that’s cool and all that but…50 is too big right now to jeopardize anything. Me I’m like I still got to solidify my spot but I’m still at the point where I will jump out the window. 50 got my situation secure, he got my family straight. 50 got my family straight, and I’m not saying that I want to go but I wouldn’t have a problem jeopardizing that right now. My whole thing for doing this was to make my family straight, because I could have been back in the street and been locked up for somebody that’s not going to become anything.

AllHipHop: What were the conditions around you getting shot?

Lloyd Banks: My situation was kind of different [than 50’s]; I wasn’t really a night person like party’s and all that, when I went to parties I was one of the people you had to watch out for. My mentality is still that way. Like standing outside of a club in Queens, you either wanted to get arrested, waiting for a b**ch, or waiting to get shot or you waiting to shoot somebody. That’s the only options you have standing outside a club, especially a local club in your neighborhood. At that particular night it was chaos like 10, 12 guns going off at the same time. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I got shot in my stomach, and I was grazed in my back. I actually ran all the way to the hospital, it wasn’t a situation where I was on the floor and all that. I actually had a conversation with 50 a couple of nights before that.

AllHipHop: How does Yayo not being on the album effect the album, because chemistry with ya’ll three was crazy.

Lloyd Banks: Yayo and me grew up on the same block, Yayo was the one who really inspired me, and he was my drive. I stay on my job now, but when he comes home… it’s a wrap.

AllHipHop: Tell me about Young Buck because he kind of came out of nowhere.

Lloyd Banks: When we did the first mix tape…Buck stood out, sometimes it ain’t what you say it’s how you say it, He stood out to me and I told him that night son…you’re serious! A lot of artists are taking for a joke in hip-hop you know, they saying things like…”Right Thurr!” [Referering to Chingy] He’s like probably one of the biggest lyricist that’s out. We kept in contact; Yayo got locked up but even if Yayo was still here Buck would have still been apart of G-Unit. It just looked that way because Yayo had left. If it wasn’t for Buck I wouldn’t know what’s popping’ in Tennessee and all that.

AllHipHop: Ja Rule just got on BET with Minister Farrakhan to air it all out. What are your views on that?

Lloyd Banks: [Referring to Ja’s Jehovah Witness upbringing] I’ve had birthdays where I got stuff, and I wore em the next day, the next day they were gone why? Because my father bought stuff to make me happy but he really couldn’t afford the sneakers and had to give them back. So when he’s on there crying over that I’m like, “Are you serious?” He goes with the ice grill screwing his face up and I’m like you talking to Louis Farrakhan who are you looking at like that? I’m like “You know what? He doing that for the camera.”

AllHipHop: Suppose Ja and Murder Inc wanted to do a behind-closed-doors peace talk, not in the open. Would ya’ll be willing to do that?

Lloyd Banks: We’ll never be friends. I don’t think that will take place because there is nothing to talk about, I been in these meetings where they did everything in there power to stop 50 from getting a record deal. They were telling people if you played his records we’re not going to give you no records. My whole take on it is, Farrakhan, in my household, is respected in the utmost but my thing is if the beef didn’t start in the public eye, why try to squash it in the public eye? That’s my take on it, and it’s like how you going to squash it when your record comes out the next day and you got over 10 references to us.

AllHipHop: Have you listened to the album?

Lloyd Banks: Hell no I ain’t listen to that. I saw the album cover though. O my god, is he serious? Did you see the cover?

AllHipHop: Yea, it’s kind of like a cartoon.

Lloyd Banks: It’s a cartoon, he got like a little funny haircut he’s skinny his head is huge, I ain’t get that one. He got a shackle on his ankle.

When is the rest of Murder Inc coming out?

AllHipHop: I couldn’t answer that.

Lloyd Banks: I got no reason to be mad, I only been in the game for a year now and my album is coming out within a year. They been on that label since 98, 99.

AllHipHop: Any truth to the rumor that ya’ll got beef with Joe Budden?

Lloyd Banks: The thing is I read a magazine and he said if 50 Cent says his name then he’s going to get at him or something like that. I think he saw the “step his rap game up” in the XXL [and got upset]. And then he went up saying he sold 90,000 records but Juelz sold 70,000. He tries to hide his disappointments behind somebody else. As far as 50, [Budden’s] got to realize 50 is 9 million albums sold worldwide and when stuff like that happens I be like, “Yo 50 chill man cause when destroying a career sometimes you’re creating it.” Even at this point I’m not going to say nothing, I’m not going to say nothing to none of these dudes because I can do nothing but help them.

AllHipHop: What city got the best groupies?

Lloyd Banks: Connecticut! That was actually the first stop off the Roc The Mic tour. Houston, my god! I told 50 we need to get us some boats and ship them down to New York, they are built like horses down there. All through Texas, Texas is ridiculous and ATL too. Boston, Connecticut, Texas, and ATL. I’m slowing down though you know, I’m chilling.

AllHipHop: Why you chilling? You are only 21!?

Lloyd Banks: You are right but I have to focus, I’ve been through that. 50 takes us everywhere, I mean everywhere, every show, all over seas, I’ve been everywhere. So whoever I’m meeting, I’m meeting for the second time. I mean just to have that advantage I kind of got it out of my system already so by the time my solo album comes out I’m going to be totally focused. I had already dealt with the groupie situation. I know it is kind of shocking to the other artists, they see me I’m like man I done had her already. I’m not that kind of guy anyway I’m laidback.

AllHipHop: Anybody ever tell you, you look like Craig David?

Lloyd Banks: G#######, you know how much I hear that sh*t. The only time I agree with it is when I’m in London when they run up on me, I be like yeah baby. I don’t care naw mean.

AllHipHop: So they be mistaking you for him?

Lloyd Banks: Oh all the time. I’m like man this dude looks nothing like me. [He’s going to] make me start hating my face.