G. Malone
G. Malone has been looking for the perfect deal since about 2004. A onetime affiliate of Black Wall Street, Glasses, as he’s also referred to, took a seven-figure deal with Sony at a time when The Game was winning, and each major scrambled for California talent to follow suit.
That was then. Nearly two years later, G. Malone, with some help, returned much of his stipend to Sony, walking away with his half-completed Beach Cruiser album. Now affiliated with Cash Money Records in a deal brokered by Mack 10, the Eastside emcee is already getting spins of his official first single “Certified.” Here, DXNext gets opinion from Malone on underground love, the importance of unity, and how respect is just as good a commodity in the industry as money.
HipHopDX: Tell me how your career or the timeframe of releasing your album has been different since Cash Money Records has gotten involved…
G. Malone: It’s a lot better. If you see somebody who understands what you’re doing and can bring to the table and match your energy. My records are getting really big out here, getting all day spins in L.A. and San Diego. I think in terms of breaking the record in the south, because it’s a completely different look, it will make that step easier too.
DX: A year ago, your situation did not even include Mack 10. Walk us through the last year, since leaving Sony. Since you’re with Cash Money now, are you with Universal?
GM: Exactly. What happened [with Sony] was the people that signed me left. That was all the confirmation I needed.
DX: You had a blockbuster, seven-figure deal. Was it hard to get out of there?
GM: What happened, really, was that’s what took so long for me to get out of the situation, because of the deal I got, because of the size of the advance I got, because of the type of budget I had, because of all that. They weren’t gonna let somebody go, who they had invested so much money in. I had half of my record paid for. There was so much money as a stipend that I had to pay it. It was hard to get out, once I knew the situation was going bad. We had to go through a lot. Shout out to Chilly, that’s the dude who runs Lupe [Fiasco’s] whole [1st & 15th] camp, got locked up, Big Chuck of Drama Family and K.P., an executive over there at Sony. [With their help], I was able to maneuver my way out. It was a situation between Akon and Mack 10, and I just kept it west coast. Akon is my partner, so whatever he needs…I’ll kill a nigga for Akon, he’s just that type of guy. Like I said, it took a minute, but as soon as I got out of the situation, I got a half-done [album] with Akon, Wyclef [Jean], all kind of people. It was never a problem. Mack 10 really brokered it. Once I got out, he made the situation really smooth for me as to whatever I was going to get in.
DX: You mentioned a huge budget at Sony. The half-done record, we’re never going to hear, correct?
GM: Nah. The thing about Sony…a lot of people talk shit about Sony, but I’m not. Lil Flip got to leave with his material and I got to leave with mine. So I’ve got the same material, plus Cash Money has allowed me to do even more, which is stepping it up to a whole ‘nother level. It’s an awesome project. You’re gonna hear everything that I’ve been working on. You’ll hear what’s taken me a year and a half for making great records, great music for everybody. You got the whole thing. Sony let me walk away with my whole masters. It was in exchange for a lot of the stipend, but I’m not in the hole with ‘em at all, so it’s actually worked out really good for me.
DX: When people saw you associated with that budget, I’m sure it was no problem charging you heavy. But so much of Hip Hop, as Lil Wayne and Akon know all-too-well, is about favors for favors. Having been exposed to both ways of doing business, which do you prefer?
GM: It’s a little bit of both. When you can walk up to somebody and say, “Money’s not an issue,” of course, you’ll get whatever you fuckin’ want to get. That’s the perk of having a situation where the money is that big. Secondly, when you sign to a label like Cash Money and people know Lil Wayne, and you’ve got Baby, Slim and Mack 10 pushing you, everybody wants to just get down anyway. To be honest, from stepping to a have-money situation to more of a respect situation, I’d go with the respect. It’s going from having all the money you need to people respecting what you’re a part of; it’s the same thing, really. Some artists wanted money, some didn’t. When I was with Sony, it was all good. And while I’m with Cash Money, it’s been all good. Baby and them ain’t strange with the change. They’re gonna get whatever I want them to get, and do whatever I want them to do. They love that shit.
DX: Mack 10 never said anything bad about Cash Money. But many critics looked at his only release with them, 2001’s Bang or Ball, as a flop, considering the publicity he received signing with them. Many know the story with Gillie or T.Q. too. How important do you think it is for Cash Money to successfully bring out an artist not from the south?
GM: I think it’s important to them. Talking to Wayne, he emails, calls me constantly, he helped me with the ["Certified"] video, writing the treatment. He’s making it his business to make sure people know I’m affiliated, and that I’m as successful as I can be. Lord knows Slim and Baby…I love these guys to death, and I barely know dudes, but they go so hard for me, like I’ve never had nobody do. Mack 10 sold 400,000-something records [with Bang or Ball], so you’re talking about a guy who’s been independent his whole career, and Cash Money is an independent label with major distribution; I look at it as a success. People have such high standards. Me, I’m just looking at a gold plaque. I’m not worried about too much other stuff. Don’t nobody hold you down like you do. So I don’t expect anything more out of Cash Money than what they supposed to do.
DX: In 2004, 2005, when you started buzzing, a lot of critics forecast a changing-of-the-guard in the west. To some extent, that’s happened, and to some extent, it hasn’t happened. Three years later, do you think the urgency for somebody like you – and the “new class” is higher?
GM: I think it’s inevitable. Music is going up. A lot of people from the [west] coast are a lot more lyrical, and we’re making good records, trying to bring back good stuff. I don’t think it’s a necessity, I just think it’s inevitable. There’s a difference, and I think that’s what people never understood. The future is comin’, no matter if you want it to or not. It’s inevitable, and that’s how it is with this rap shit. From Crooked I, to Bishop Lamont, to Jay Rock, to Roccett, it’s inevitable that people see these faces. This is what people grew up off of – the rapper guys. [Young] Jeezy, T.I., you look at them dudes, at the [Vh1] Hip Hop Honors, these dudes are rapping exactly like Snoop [Dogg]. Not only are they rapping his song, but they have the same cadence, swag – even his tone. These guys have been listening to [Snoop’s] records all their life, so of course they’re gonna hear a G. Malone or a Jay Rock or a Roccett and say, “Damn, these niggas sound like them niggas,” and see that we’re real gangsters. It’s inevitable that all you gotta do is be heard. Once you’re heard, it is what it is.
DX: A lot of writers have tried to fuel beef within that new class, based on labels or gang affiliations. One thing that interested me is, you appeared on Roc C’s album, who is an independent artist on Stones Throw Records. Not many would expect to hear a million-dollar rapper for the first time there.
GM: I be gettin’ $4,000 or $5,000 a verse. But when I talk a nigga in the street, a nigga ain’t got $5,000. I’m an eastside nigga, so I know how hard it is for niggas trying to do their thing. If a nigga comes to me and says, “G, I got $300, dog, that’s all I got. I’m working at UPS, blah, blah, blah.” If they’re putting out product, if they’re doing their thing on the street, then I’m doing it; I probably don’t even want the money, really. That’s just this new way of thinking. It ain’t like that old school shit, that old west. We’ve been separated so long, dog. As youths, me, Bishop, Crooked, we didn’t get that same help from the fame. We didn’t want that to happen to the niggas under us. We didn’t want the 18 and 20 year-old niggas to think, “Oh, I can’t talk to Crooked I or Glasses Malone.” We don’t want that. I’ve really pushed that line. I don’t do V.I.P.’s when I go to the club; I be right there on the floor with everybody chilling. Niggas can walk up to me, talk to me, try to get game from you, I’ll give it to ‘em. Roc C was just a nigga I knew who was on a Hip Hop tip at Stones Throw. He ran into me, fucked with Bishop, I’m an eastside nigga, so if a nigga’s serious, come fuck with me, I’ma do whatever I’ma do for you, it ain’t nothing. It’s worth it if you’re a real dude. It just makes sense.
DX: Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound, Jurassic 5 and The Pharcyde all shared venues like The Good Life back in the early ‘90s. Have there been steady performance opportunities for your class to rock it on a weekly basis?
GM: I was 18 with a lowrider. That was real popular at the time – being a young dude, havin’ lowrider groupies. I was in the Ghetto Life Car Club with a lowrider. When we go to Crenshaw, I don’t remember seeing Snoop and [Ice] Cube over there, compared to now, where when you pop on Broadway, you’ll see Glasses, Jay Rock, Crooked and them. At my show you’ve got Guerilla Black, Hot Dollar, all these niggas on the horizon. I don’t remember seeing that when I was younger. That wasn’t something that was done. Now we just pop up everywhere that we at. If a nigga doing something – if Crooked I got a show, me and my niggas come out and support. That’s how we get down now. A lot of people knock the south, but we learned a lot from them niggas, dog. And that’s what they brought to the game.
DX: Do you see any correlation between lowrider culture and Hip Hop?
GM: Of course. Anything that urban youth [represents], that’s what Hip Hop is. It was built to go against what society thought was cool, for the urban youth. It’s not about black, brown, white – it’s urban youth. Lowriding, of course it has to be part of Hip Hop. That’s why all the rappers put lowriders in their videos. It says, “Okay, these niggas are ‘bout the business.”
DX: I get the impression that there’s a lot of rappers who might own a lowrider or put a car in the video, but couldn’t find the gas tank. As a real lowrider, doesn’t that bother you?
GM: It’s not the movement to them. It ain’t really the movement in L.A. like it used to be. Right now it’s about Harley [Davidson's]. I just got a Harley, a Road Glide. It’s not about lowriders, not as much. People have ‘em. L.A. is Harley-central though. Every dude I knew who was a big factor in lowriding, like Big Punchy, these dudes are on Harleys – Road Kings, Road Glides, Electroglides, Soft Tails, that’s what it is now. L.A. niggas are naturally car niggas, because we spend most of our life in the car. That’s why we make a lot of music that bumps, bangs, and woofers, all that.
That was then. Nearly two years later, G. Malone, with some help, returned much of his stipend to Sony, walking away with his half-completed Beach Cruiser album. Now affiliated with Cash Money Records in a deal brokered by Mack 10, the Eastside emcee is already getting spins of his official first single “Certified.” Here, DXNext gets opinion from Malone on underground love, the importance of unity, and how respect is just as good a commodity in the industry as money.
HipHopDX: Tell me how your career or the timeframe of releasing your album has been different since Cash Money Records has gotten involved…
G. Malone: It’s a lot better. If you see somebody who understands what you’re doing and can bring to the table and match your energy. My records are getting really big out here, getting all day spins in L.A. and San Diego. I think in terms of breaking the record in the south, because it’s a completely different look, it will make that step easier too.
DX: A year ago, your situation did not even include Mack 10. Walk us through the last year, since leaving Sony. Since you’re with Cash Money now, are you with Universal?
GM: Exactly. What happened [with Sony] was the people that signed me left. That was all the confirmation I needed.
DX: You had a blockbuster, seven-figure deal. Was it hard to get out of there?
GM: What happened, really, was that’s what took so long for me to get out of the situation, because of the deal I got, because of the size of the advance I got, because of the type of budget I had, because of all that. They weren’t gonna let somebody go, who they had invested so much money in. I had half of my record paid for. There was so much money as a stipend that I had to pay it. It was hard to get out, once I knew the situation was going bad. We had to go through a lot. Shout out to Chilly, that’s the dude who runs Lupe [Fiasco’s] whole [1st & 15th] camp, got locked up, Big Chuck of Drama Family and K.P., an executive over there at Sony. [With their help], I was able to maneuver my way out. It was a situation between Akon and Mack 10, and I just kept it west coast. Akon is my partner, so whatever he needs…I’ll kill a nigga for Akon, he’s just that type of guy. Like I said, it took a minute, but as soon as I got out of the situation, I got a half-done [album] with Akon, Wyclef [Jean], all kind of people. It was never a problem. Mack 10 really brokered it. Once I got out, he made the situation really smooth for me as to whatever I was going to get in.
DX: You mentioned a huge budget at Sony. The half-done record, we’re never going to hear, correct?
GM: Nah. The thing about Sony…a lot of people talk shit about Sony, but I’m not. Lil Flip got to leave with his material and I got to leave with mine. So I’ve got the same material, plus Cash Money has allowed me to do even more, which is stepping it up to a whole ‘nother level. It’s an awesome project. You’re gonna hear everything that I’ve been working on. You’ll hear what’s taken me a year and a half for making great records, great music for everybody. You got the whole thing. Sony let me walk away with my whole masters. It was in exchange for a lot of the stipend, but I’m not in the hole with ‘em at all, so it’s actually worked out really good for me.
DX: When people saw you associated with that budget, I’m sure it was no problem charging you heavy. But so much of Hip Hop, as Lil Wayne and Akon know all-too-well, is about favors for favors. Having been exposed to both ways of doing business, which do you prefer?
GM: It’s a little bit of both. When you can walk up to somebody and say, “Money’s not an issue,” of course, you’ll get whatever you fuckin’ want to get. That’s the perk of having a situation where the money is that big. Secondly, when you sign to a label like Cash Money and people know Lil Wayne, and you’ve got Baby, Slim and Mack 10 pushing you, everybody wants to just get down anyway. To be honest, from stepping to a have-money situation to more of a respect situation, I’d go with the respect. It’s going from having all the money you need to people respecting what you’re a part of; it’s the same thing, really. Some artists wanted money, some didn’t. When I was with Sony, it was all good. And while I’m with Cash Money, it’s been all good. Baby and them ain’t strange with the change. They’re gonna get whatever I want them to get, and do whatever I want them to do. They love that shit.
DX: Mack 10 never said anything bad about Cash Money. But many critics looked at his only release with them, 2001’s Bang or Ball, as a flop, considering the publicity he received signing with them. Many know the story with Gillie or T.Q. too. How important do you think it is for Cash Money to successfully bring out an artist not from the south?
GM: I think it’s important to them. Talking to Wayne, he emails, calls me constantly, he helped me with the ["Certified"] video, writing the treatment. He’s making it his business to make sure people know I’m affiliated, and that I’m as successful as I can be. Lord knows Slim and Baby…I love these guys to death, and I barely know dudes, but they go so hard for me, like I’ve never had nobody do. Mack 10 sold 400,000-something records [with Bang or Ball], so you’re talking about a guy who’s been independent his whole career, and Cash Money is an independent label with major distribution; I look at it as a success. People have such high standards. Me, I’m just looking at a gold plaque. I’m not worried about too much other stuff. Don’t nobody hold you down like you do. So I don’t expect anything more out of Cash Money than what they supposed to do.
DX: In 2004, 2005, when you started buzzing, a lot of critics forecast a changing-of-the-guard in the west. To some extent, that’s happened, and to some extent, it hasn’t happened. Three years later, do you think the urgency for somebody like you – and the “new class” is higher?
GM: I think it’s inevitable. Music is going up. A lot of people from the [west] coast are a lot more lyrical, and we’re making good records, trying to bring back good stuff. I don’t think it’s a necessity, I just think it’s inevitable. There’s a difference, and I think that’s what people never understood. The future is comin’, no matter if you want it to or not. It’s inevitable, and that’s how it is with this rap shit. From Crooked I, to Bishop Lamont, to Jay Rock, to Roccett, it’s inevitable that people see these faces. This is what people grew up off of – the rapper guys. [Young] Jeezy, T.I., you look at them dudes, at the [Vh1] Hip Hop Honors, these dudes are rapping exactly like Snoop [Dogg]. Not only are they rapping his song, but they have the same cadence, swag – even his tone. These guys have been listening to [Snoop’s] records all their life, so of course they’re gonna hear a G. Malone or a Jay Rock or a Roccett and say, “Damn, these niggas sound like them niggas,” and see that we’re real gangsters. It’s inevitable that all you gotta do is be heard. Once you’re heard, it is what it is.
DX: A lot of writers have tried to fuel beef within that new class, based on labels or gang affiliations. One thing that interested me is, you appeared on Roc C’s album, who is an independent artist on Stones Throw Records. Not many would expect to hear a million-dollar rapper for the first time there.
GM: I be gettin’ $4,000 or $5,000 a verse. But when I talk a nigga in the street, a nigga ain’t got $5,000. I’m an eastside nigga, so I know how hard it is for niggas trying to do their thing. If a nigga comes to me and says, “G, I got $300, dog, that’s all I got. I’m working at UPS, blah, blah, blah.” If they’re putting out product, if they’re doing their thing on the street, then I’m doing it; I probably don’t even want the money, really. That’s just this new way of thinking. It ain’t like that old school shit, that old west. We’ve been separated so long, dog. As youths, me, Bishop, Crooked, we didn’t get that same help from the fame. We didn’t want that to happen to the niggas under us. We didn’t want the 18 and 20 year-old niggas to think, “Oh, I can’t talk to Crooked I or Glasses Malone.” We don’t want that. I’ve really pushed that line. I don’t do V.I.P.’s when I go to the club; I be right there on the floor with everybody chilling. Niggas can walk up to me, talk to me, try to get game from you, I’ll give it to ‘em. Roc C was just a nigga I knew who was on a Hip Hop tip at Stones Throw. He ran into me, fucked with Bishop, I’m an eastside nigga, so if a nigga’s serious, come fuck with me, I’ma do whatever I’ma do for you, it ain’t nothing. It’s worth it if you’re a real dude. It just makes sense.
DX: Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound, Jurassic 5 and The Pharcyde all shared venues like The Good Life back in the early ‘90s. Have there been steady performance opportunities for your class to rock it on a weekly basis?
GM: I was 18 with a lowrider. That was real popular at the time – being a young dude, havin’ lowrider groupies. I was in the Ghetto Life Car Club with a lowrider. When we go to Crenshaw, I don’t remember seeing Snoop and [Ice] Cube over there, compared to now, where when you pop on Broadway, you’ll see Glasses, Jay Rock, Crooked and them. At my show you’ve got Guerilla Black, Hot Dollar, all these niggas on the horizon. I don’t remember seeing that when I was younger. That wasn’t something that was done. Now we just pop up everywhere that we at. If a nigga doing something – if Crooked I got a show, me and my niggas come out and support. That’s how we get down now. A lot of people knock the south, but we learned a lot from them niggas, dog. And that’s what they brought to the game.
DX: Do you see any correlation between lowrider culture and Hip Hop?
GM: Of course. Anything that urban youth [represents], that’s what Hip Hop is. It was built to go against what society thought was cool, for the urban youth. It’s not about black, brown, white – it’s urban youth. Lowriding, of course it has to be part of Hip Hop. That’s why all the rappers put lowriders in their videos. It says, “Okay, these niggas are ‘bout the business.”
DX: I get the impression that there’s a lot of rappers who might own a lowrider or put a car in the video, but couldn’t find the gas tank. As a real lowrider, doesn’t that bother you?
GM: It’s not the movement to them. It ain’t really the movement in L.A. like it used to be. Right now it’s about Harley [Davidson's]. I just got a Harley, a Road Glide. It’s not about lowriders, not as much. People have ‘em. L.A. is Harley-central though. Every dude I knew who was a big factor in lowriding, like Big Punchy, these dudes are on Harleys – Road Kings, Road Glides, Electroglides, Soft Tails, that’s what it is now. L.A. niggas are naturally car niggas, because we spend most of our life in the car. That’s why we make a lot of music that bumps, bangs, and woofers, all that.
one moment...
Reply To This Comment
Got an account with one of these? Log in here, or just enter your info and leave a comment below.
