At the time, Black Milk [click to read] was in BR Gunna with the homeboy [Young] RJ, and he gave me Sound of the City Vol. 1. Once I heard that, it was on. It made sense because Detroit is a second home to me. It’s sad that the first time I got to go to Detroit was for Proof’s funeral. But, that’s when we first started working on shit for Caltroit without knowing it. Me and Black got in there and RJ made a crazy track. That was “Go Ape” from way back when.

It was just a celebration of life. It’s ill emcees and stupid beats. It’s that Wu-Tang shit, that Canibus [click to read] shit, where niggas kick a million bars, and there ain’t no A&Rs over your fuckin’ shoulder. There were no corny ass producers trying to give you the same beat like, “Yo, remember that Cool & Dre [click to read] shit? Let me give you that same beat again.” It was just being able to pick whatever beat you wanted, grab which ever emcees you want, and go. It was a blessing man.

DX: Any fan of the Detroit scene has to love how you called out all the “Dilla dickriders” right off the bat.
BL: That’s why I said it. Them niggas wasn’t fuckin’ with dude when he was alive! When niggas used to say Jay Dee, half of y’all thought we were talking about Jermaine Dupri. Straight up, it was sickening to hear, “Dilla this, Dilla that,” because y’all were not fucking with Dilla until he died. Then, all of a sudden, they wanted to hop on. How many Dilla records did you have? How many records can you name from Dilla? How far back can you take his body of work?

I wanted to make sure we honored that. We wanted to give people something that they haven’t heard in a long time, or they could only get if they went to Mack Life or some underground clubs. I got shoeboxes full of cassettes, man. I’ve been pulling them out and making myself happy and shit listening to old, dope shit.

DX: It’s been interesting to see an artist with the Interscope machine behind him embrace the Internet with these free mixtapes. Part of that Internet exposure also seemed like you and Joell Ortiz were being pitted against each other.
BL: Yeah, that bitch Miss Info. But, it’s all good when you’re right. I could see if I was a fucked up person, and I was doing the shit that was being perpetuated…it’s like ahh, Miss Info, you cute. I took up for dude when I did the other interview, but of course, they want to change the words around. Joell [click to read] knows me well enough to know how I get down. He came out here and saw how I embraced him and stayed in the studio to fuck with him. I ain’t gotta do that shit. I’m on. I’m good. Focus called me, so I fucked with dude. And, when I heard people with the shit they were trying to say, I’m like, “Yo, what the fuck? Jimmy [Iovine] tried to drop me [too]. That ain’t shit.”

During the interview I say that it doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t dropped. He’s family and I’m fuckin’ with him. That shit is verbatim, but here comes that bitch Miss Info.

DX: And then once that popped off there was this whole thing with DJ Strong. Is that still going on?
BL: DJ Who? DJ Who? What’s his name?

DX: I’ll take that as a yes. [Laughs].
BL: C’mon you fuckin’ with me, man. [Laughs] What’s his name?

DX: So you still won’t refer to him as anything except for DJ Thong?
BL: Okay. There you go, incredible journalist guy. [Laughs] His name is DJ Thong. That shit ain’t over. Fuck that nigga! This dude…that’s some amazing shit to me when people that you don’t even fuck with, people who you’ve had the smallest amount of conversation with…I can count on three fingers the amount of times we talked before this situation happened. Now, all of a sudden, he wants to jump on and piggyback my shit and fuck my shit up. The nerve of this dude. This dude went to UC Santa Barbara, so he should have some type of mental capacity to go, “Hmm, he’s signed to Dr. Dre. The nigga’s been in these streets for fuckin’ years and he knows everybody. Will I be safe doing this shit? Will I be safe leaking Dr. Dre, Nottz, L.T. Mo and Dready Beats tracks, and putting his head on Mack 10’s body? Will I be safe doing this shit?”

For what? Dude sold my masters to a couple different dudes here and in France for like $300 to $400 a pop. That’s some petty, small-minded shit. But it gave The Confessional [click to listen] and my presence such a phenomenal lift from where it was already going. What the devil does wrong God makes right, so we have to thank DJ Thong for that one. So, I thank you, you bitch ass nigga. Continued on page 6 »