DX: Yeah, your right because Hell Rell just came out with the Black Mask, Black Gloves album.
40 Cal: Right and I came out right after him. It’s funny that it’s set up like that and we not even on the same label.

DX: Did you learn most of that being under the wing of Cam’ron. I read one interview in which Cam said he don’t sign long term deals.
40 Cal: Yeah, I got a lot of things from messing with Killa. The first thing he taught us is go get that money and I call it Mooga. A lot of people in this game act like money ain’t important, but at the end of the day, that’s what makes the world go 'round. The first thing you gotta do is get that money and put yourself in a situation where you gotta get more money. A lot of labels want you to sign these three-to-five year deals and you stuck. A lot of these artist are just trying to get on and they don’t know no better. They just want to get on and think they getting a big check whatever the case maybe, whatever.

DX: That’s what’s up Cam told y'all to go get that money, you remember the first time we talked in ’06 and I asked you one question. The question was would you rather be more rich or more famous, so I see you want to be more rich, so that’s still the case huh?
40 Cal: Yeah, because it ain’t nothing worse than a famous broke nigga. [Laughs]! I was reading a Remy Ma [click to read] interview and she said something like that, I agree 100%. I rather be rich and not nobody no me then be famous and broke. At the end of the day you can go to McDonald’s and be like, “Oh that’s 40 Cal the rapper, I used to buy his album.” [Laughs] It’s nothing like famous broke people.

DX: I’ll take that route too, I think anybody from the hood would take that. [Laughs]
40 Cal: Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s a bunch of people running around, you know them from TV, they got a lot of fame, but the money doesn’t equal up to it.

DX: Like they say man, these dudes be pump-fakin. They got all this jewelry, but they not even worth all that.
40 Cal: Yeah.

DX: Let’s talk about your music. A lot of dudes when they hear your music they put you in the category of a “Street, Punchline rapper”. You do spit some hot rhymes with the crazy metaphors you put out. How is that an advantage being artist?
40 Cal: For me, it just gives my fan-base more to feel and more to decipher from. I’m opposed to being a regular dude when all you hear is “regular raps.” [Laughs] When you in the rap game it’s different levels you can go to. You can be the dude that just rap regular like let’s say … Plies [click to read]. Not to take nothing from him, but he’s not a real lyrical dude. Then you got Papoose who is a real lyrical dude. The whole point is whatever is your lane, take that lane. The whole punchline battle thing, that’s what my fans like to hear, my thing is clever spitting.

DX: Right, it’s kind of like how you said in one line “Y'all niggas like 14 days, two weak for me.”
40 Cal: Yeah, it’s something to make you think like, “Damn you heard what he just said!”

DX: A lot of critics would throw you in this category and compare you along with Papoose, Cassidy, Hell Rell, JR Writer. They say the disadvantage with punchline rappers is that y'all can’t make good radio songs. Do you agree with that?
40 Cal: Yes and no. I know what category they put me in, I’m in that shoot em, bang, bang category. As far as radio songs I don’t think that’s the case, I think that “We” the shoot em up, bang, bang artist is just not popping right now. I call that genre the DMX of the game. When DMX first came out, it was all shoot em up, bang, bang. When 50 Cent came out he kind of brought that back. There is other ways to do it you know, you can Ja Rule [click to read] or the other do it the other way. I have different theories of ways to do the game. The whole myth about “punchline rappers” is that we can’t make songs.

DX: Cassidy showed that y'all can make hot songs.
40 Cal: Exactly, but I don’t really consider Cassidy [click to read] a battle rapper.

DX: Why not?
40 Cal: Because truthfully he only had one battle [against Freeway]. I mean that I know of, I only know one battle that he had and it was a big battle. I had like eight-to-10 battles.

DX: We talked about that before when I asked you do you think you stand a chance against Cassidy. So what you think right now two years later since that conversation?
40 Cal: Truthfully, I don’t think nobody is messing with me. People that know my music know the truth to that. I keep it 100 with my comments and opinions. I feel that the dude is nice, but honestly he ain’t spitting like he used to spit. I don’t know if it was the car accident or whatever. I just noticed he ain’t as hard as he used to spit. Continued on page 3 »