HipHopDX: I have talked to a lot of artists that share those sentiments. What do you think is going to take to change all of that?

Phonte: I honestly don’t think it’s going to change. I think we’re at a point in the music business now where it can go one of two ways. I think A) It’s going to take some kind of market to be built for the 25-35 year olds because a lot of the cats from that era are gone or are finding out they don’t have a place. Or it’s going to take the record industry straight crashing and burning and rebuilding itself into something new. Which I don’t think is far off at all because record sales are continuously going down and it’s at a steady decline. I think it’s going to take the music industry to crash, burn and just bomb the fuck out. Then it will eventually rebuild itself to a brand new business model that will work out for everybody.

HipHopDX: What’s the current label situation looking like for you guys?

Phonte: Well, we’re still with Atlantic. The new record is scheduled to drop in Spring and the new album is called Getback. We’re working on it now. The shit is coming along dope, man. I actually feel less pressure working on it than I did with The Minstrel Show.

HipHopDX: I can’t let you get away with it, because like a million other people, I read your blog where you said you feel like a step child with Atlantic. What made you feel that way? Do you see that changing?

Phonte: We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago and I told them straight up, we’ve been treated like step children the whole time we’ve been here. I told them ‘A lot of the reasons The Minstrel Show didn’t do as well as we expected it to, as much as we hate to admit it, y’all didn’t treat it like a priority. Y’all didn’t treat it like a big deal. And in the eyes of most people, just being real, if they don’t see the label treating it like a big deal, they think ‘Well, maybe it ain’t a big deal’ or ‘Maybe it’s not that good.’So, we came to y’all, we got signed and it was like ‘Whatever.’ It was like ‘Yeah, we signed them and here comes the album.’ So, now the current situation…We had a meeting with them and we looked back and examined the mistakes that we made from both ends on Minstrel Show, both from our end and the label’s end. And we kind of reassessed it and it’s looking like we’re going into it with a clear head and with a clear goal. Right now, it’s looking like people are on board. I’m still preparing for the shit storm regardless. I got my umbrella out this time. So, if it does start raining turds, I’ll be prepared for it. So far it’s looking good, but it’s the music business-it can change tomorrow. That’s all I can say. Continued on page 3 »