HHDX: Does this arrest speak to a financial situation that you’re currently going through? Or is it a part of a rapper’s aesthetic to “stay in the streets”…?
GDK: Nah… you got to think… some of us are really are in the streets, you know what I’m saying? Some people come from the streets… whether they grew up there or lived it… that’s what they come from. That’s what really gives us our ability. We’re only talking about what we know. We come up with the rhythm from the ghetto. If you’re intelligent enough to put words together… that’s the hustle. That’s the law of the ghetto. It’s kind of like unless you at a certain level… a Puff [Daddy] level, a 50 Cent level or a Jay-Z level, then you can’t pull all of your homies out the hood. You may live one way, but all the guys you grew up with are on the same corner since you were all kids. At the same time, it’s a bad thing, because the hood will get you caught up. You’re always going to have that connection to the streets. There can be a separation between the hood and the industry, but it feels good when you come from the hood and make it to the top. It’s good when you’re able to ride back and see where you were raised. Life went from sour to sweet. You may have a $2 million dollar house, but you came from nothing. It gives you a sense of staying grounded.

HHDX: Most people use their jail stints as motivation towards their lyrics. How has this occurrence invigorated you?
GDK: I was brought up in the hood, so I handle it accordingly. I’ve been shot before, but I never rapped about that. That’s not really my thing. I’m going to do what I’ve always done with my music. If it’s something worth mentioning, then I will. But all my negative events, I learn from it in from a positive aspect, but I don’t really put it in the music. I really don’t do that.

HHDX: For Cassidy, it gave him a renewed hunger, but he also wanted to step back from the bullshit, too. So, is it easier to stay connected to the streets and still be relevant within the music industry? Or do you have to choose one over the other?
GDK: You always got to stay connected to the streets. The streets are what make you. The suburbs may buy the records, but it’s the streets who make you. They [the suburbs] look at the streets and want to be like that. That’s what people who are not of the hood emulate. So, you always got to stay connected because the streets come up with the new gear, the new slang… the streets determine that. Continued on page 3 »