When talking with HipHopDX, each sentence uttered from David Banner’s had an undeterred consistency: passion. When talking about Loud.com’s contest that lets listeners download beats by the likes of Banner, Cool & Dre and others for $0.99 cents each and submit their finished songs to win $100,000 and a deal with SRC Records, he sounds as if he really wants to help would-be MCs achieve their dreams. When asked about his beats, he answers with depression. When asked about his versatility as an artist, he answers with a diatribe about hypocrisy in America, God and talk show host/media mogul Oprah Winfrey. He talks about his community service with the same pride as Kobe Bryant does while reliving a 50-point game, and the same excitement a sneaker fiend does while talking about limited edition Air Maxes. Whether you agree with the Mississippi MC/producer/activist or not, you can’t say that he doesn’t care.

HipHopDX: First off, what was your involvement with the contest?

David Banner: My involvement was just contributing to the music, giving people that opportunity to have a David Banner beat. The most important thing about Loud.com is that it kills all excuses that a rapper would ever have. “We don’t have dope beats, we don’t have Pro Tools, we can’t get our demos to Steve Rifkind.” That’s why I like Loud.com so much. Somebody from the south, where I’m from, they don’t always have the opportunity. [In this contest] everybody’s on a level playing field. You got the same beats, you got the same opportunities, you got the same everything. I’m just contributing hot ass beats.

HipHopDX: A lot of the time, winners of contests like this either fizz out, or never put out anything. What do you think would make this contest different?

David Banner: I don’t know. I can only tell you what I would do. Maybe this is another one that fizzles out, or maybe this may be an exception to the rule. I hear what you’re saying … I couldn’t answer that question, because that’s up to the winner, and I have no idea who the winner’s going to be. There’s no way I contribute to that; the only way that I can contribute to that is by giving them the chance to buy a David Banner beat, and take pride in them having better beats than other people in the position that they’re in.

HipHopDX: So you don’t have any expectations for the contest at all?

David Banner: I don’t have any expectations in life, period. Any time you put expectations on anything in life, you either put over-expectations, or you don’t give people enough credit. I just let people do what they do, and it’ll be what it is. I went through the worst year of my life last year, and I just realized that you’ll come out thinking you’ll have the best album in the world, and then it flops, and then you’re going through a depression or you don’t want to rap no more. If you would have never had those expectations in the worst place, and you just let it be what it is, it would’ve just been what it was, whether it’s successful or not. I don’t put expectations on things, that only leads you to failure or disappointment. Continued on page 2 »