DX: What does it mean to you that you got where you are with no help.
Rocko: It gives me a hard……I almost said something. [Laughs] It gives me a rush. In this music, a lot of people and artists try to use popular people as a crutch to get somewhere. I’m the total opposite. I want you like me for me. I want you buy into me for me. I don’t want you to buy into me because Kanye is on my record. With Self Made, since it was all about me, and I grind hard for every coin I got, I wanted it to be all about me. Listen to my music and get into me. Don’t buy me because I got 50 Cent. Buy it because it’s me. I’m on my single by myself. I came in the world by myself and I’ll leave by myself. So why not do everything else by myself?

DX: So with this album, it was all about you. Are you open to collabs in the future?
Rocko: This is my first album. What I look like coming out on my first album making a compilation? This song featuring this one and that one.

DX: You signed through your own label Rocky Road.  Was there any way the deal could have been done without it?
Rocko: There was no other way to do it. Any other way was unacceptable. It was important because I’m the one that put in all this hard work. I’m the one that drove thousands of miles to promote myself. That was the only route to go.

DX: After someone cops ‘Self Made’ what are they going to know about you as an artist?
Rocko: I want them to know me. I want them to feel my pain. I want them to know everything I’ve been through and my experiences. I want them to learn from my experiences so they don’t have to go through what I been through. I have records on my album like ‘Karma’ that tell about experiences that I learned from. That’s why I am such a good person now. I know you get what you put in it. You put out good you get good.  You put out bad you get bad. I want people to listen to those types of records and dissect them, take them for what they are worth, and apply them to everyday life.

DX: Since you said you were the “new south”, what is the track on Self Made that’s going to get have your southern rap fans bouncing? 
Rocko: If you from the south, [the track] "Old School."  In Atlanta we get into the old cars. We’ll put $100,000 into an old car in a minute. 

DX: You got your down south joint, but what’s going to be the single that takes Rocko national?
Rocko: I try not to listen to my music because I don’t want it to get old to me. "Karma" or "Hustle Fo’." Everyone can relate to that. I got Lloyd singin’ the hook on that. I only have two featured artists on my album— Monica and Lloyd.

DX: Any parting words?
Rocko: I respect everyone’s hustle and grind.  If you winnin’, you poppin’. Self Made. The album of the year. Rocko Da Don. Best thing since the microwave.  Fried potatoes. Broccoli.  Everything.  The whole nine.  The best thing since McDonald's.