But we’re doing a lot of major things with Rap-A-Lot Records this year. We’re going to be looking for a lot of talent. Especially on the west coast, I’m getting ready to put up II Trill West with my man Nino Cap from Paper Chase Entertainment. We’re trying to find some great west coast artists and bring the west coast back.

DX: On “Wood Wheel” from Dirty Money, you rhymed, “Pro smoke, pro choke, Anti-broke, conservative liberal, Left-wing slangin', right-wing hangin'.” Would you still consider yourself a conservative liberal? If so, what does that mean?
BB: No, not really. It was really more of wordplay than anything, trying to interject political terminology into a rap song. Just trying to start dialogue about that type of thing in the hood, you know? Lot of brothers in the hood wouldn’t know what a conservative or a liberal was, because they don’t explain politics to us like that. All of us have a lot of preconceived notions about what the political system is all about, based on the way they’ve been treated with the judicial system. It’s really just a way of injecting some terminology, to raise a little bit more awareness. On Trill II, I did a little bit more, I went in deeper with political situations and spoke on how different things that people do reflect on the inner city. The decisions that these people make for us affect us tremendously.

When I say “conservative liberal,” there are a lot of people who consider themselves “conservative liberals.” I think a lot of people would agree nowadays that the way things are going in the world, a lot of people are probably conservative on some issues, and liberal on others.

DX: Yeah, you go off on a little bit of everything on “Getcha Issue.” Is there anything specific that really tipped off that song? The way that it seems, even though you cover different things, it sounds like the type of song that’s spurred by one event but ends up being something bigger.
BB: Definitely police brutality, and the terminology on that. Speaking on that situation right now in the city, I think everybody can agree that it’s really getting out of hand. We’ve seen eight police beating up the guys who got suspended, the Sean Bell case. I think it’s more pertinent now than ever to start a dialogue about the situation.

DX: How did you think the Hip Hop community—more specifically, artists—have responded to the Sean Bell case?
BB: The sad reality of the situation is that we’re probably going to have more instances where Hip Hop is going to have an opportunity to stand up and be heard in representation of the people. Based on the way I feel as a human being in this world, I’m going to continue to stand up against wrongs against people anyway. All I can really do is try to lead by example. Once you start calling people out, you have to be careful, because sometimes might make them that much more pissed that they want to do shit. But we are aware that there are people that could be doing a lot more, people who have a bigger audience and bigger mediums to get these messages across than we do. We can’t concern ourselves about what they don’t do, but moreso what we do.

DX: You’re on the remix to Kidz In The Hall’s [click to read] “Drivin’ Down the Block” [click to listen]. How’d you hook up with them?
BB: Those guys are just really talented kids, too, in their own right. Chicago’s got a lot of great talent coming out right now, between them, Cool Kids, Lupe and even on the street level with Cap One. Even Crucial Conflict [click to read] made a new album, and they’re coming back right now. There’s a lot of new talent in Chicago. Kidz In The Hall are two kids that I really, really found myself liking as a group. One thing I found is—which a lot of people probably wouldn’t even see it like I see it—Kidz In The Hall remind Pimp and I a lot about ourselves in the fact that they’re self-sufficient. There’s an emcee and a producer, and with their group, they can all do anything. Anything they need to get done can get done right between those two guys. It reminds me a lot of how Pimp and I worked together. And Naledge is a pretty good damn rapper. Their mixtape on Valentine’s Day [Geniuses Need Love Too] pretty much solidified it to me.

I reached out to my man Eskay at NahRight.com, and I said, “If you know how to get in touch with those kids let me know, I really want to fuck with those kids.” Eskay got his Internet A&R on and made it happen. I don’t think he’s been given his credit on helping make that happen, but he definitely played his part in that. Duck Down is doing a lot of promotional stuff, and I’m not sure that Duck Down knew exactly how it happened. But big ups to Buckshot [click to read] and Dru Ha for fucking with that. Continued on page 3 »