If you have any experience what-so-ever in the music industry, you know that there are a lot of shady, suspect people; artists to A&R’s, publicists to presidents. Every now and then I run across a real quality individual. By ‘quality’ I mean someone who is down-to-earth, straightforward, and genuine. Somebody who seems like they have nothing to hide.
Slim Thug is one such quality individual. Born Stayve Jerome Thomas, Slim stands a cool six foot six inches tall, and is as impressive in real life as he is on the microphone. Much has already been written about the Houston native, everything from his sense of humor to his southern drawl. The title of his full length debut Already Platinum is, of course, a reference to his undisputed sales records as an independent artist, a virtual household name in the 281 for the last seven years.
What’s interesting is that his own personal rise to hip hop stardom has in several ways mirrored that of the Houston rap-game in general. Anybody from Texas will tell you that the sound, the charisma, the way of life has been hot for quite some time now.
Why then has it taken the rest of the country so long to wake up? I think it got a lot to do with ATL kickin’ down the door for us. A lot of people being successful out of Atlanta and it kinda opened the doors for people in the whole south. They really started opening they ears to what we doing down here, we just on something totally different than everybody else. You know, New Orleans did it, Atlanta did, now it’s just our time.
See there? That’s what I’m talking about. Slim used four plural possessive pronouns to refer to the success that many people feel he deserves some direct credit for. That indicates humility. Like the center fielder who drops a walk-off homerun and then credits the team for the win, Slim is a mature, humble dude with more on his mind than album sales and personal victories. He seems intent on bearing the burden of success on his massive shoulders, and bringing all of Houston right along with him.
His success story is all but a blueprint for up and coming artists, but perhaps even more remarkable is his realization that he’s in an such an influential position. I definitely think I’m on the forefront of Texas as far as the mixtapes and the independents go, and then to take it major and for it all to work, it’s a blessing man. A lot of dudes follow the lead on a lot of the things I do.
That blueprint was drawn years before Pharrell recruited the young underground SwishaHouse superstar to Star Trak. Slim began by rhyming his way onto mixtapes and doing cameos on other rappers’ joints. His storied hook up with southern super-producer Michael Watts was key. Michael Watts? (laughs) Michael Watts is like family to me. So you know I feel at home when I get in the studio wit him. We got a hell of a chemistry so whenever we get together to do some shit it always seem to turn out real big man.
But it can’t be all good. Can it? I mean with all of the very recent heat coming from Houston (e.g. Scarface, Mike Jones, Lil’ Flip) what’s the relationship like among artists from the Lone Star state? I mean, most of em I’m pretty good with. I ain’t really no dude who starts shit or be on some competitive shit. I do my thing, get my money, and when everybody else get they shine on I don’t hate. So my relationship with most of em is good. Of course it’s gonna be a few people who go the other way wit it, but I’m good, for the most part.
I, for one, have always wondered how and why Slim claims to simultaneously be the boss of the north, and the boss of the south. (I’ve also wondered how he manages to rhyme boss with north, but I guess that’s the Chi-town in me.) In my opinion The North side is more of a thuggish area, both sides got hoods. The south side is more player, clean dudes with the bald fades on some player shit. North side niggas don’t really give a fuck- they like the dirty niggas who be robbin and shit. So it’s that type of shit, so you know its everywhere, but that’s how they used to separate us. It ain’t really no humongous difference, it’s the same city, just different sides.
With Pharell’s typical searing production and backing from his Star Trak label, Slim knows he’s got a winner. Already Platinum features guest appearances by T.I., Bun B, and Jay-Z. The album represents his first real shot at letting the world know just who Slim Thug really is. Already Platinum is different in a lot of ways from his previous projects… Cause it’s me. A lot of the other records I did before was collaborations with other artists and it was kinda rapping for the city and rapping to they hooks and shit like that it so was just verses or it was a mixtape with me going anyway with it. These are real life substances, my life situations, it’s just all me. So I feel like this is my first record where you can hear really what Slim Thug wanna talk about. The album also features production from a variety of other producers. Jazze Pha gave me 2 heaters, Cool and Dr e, Mr. Lee out of Houston (he did my independent shit before) a new producer we got on my team T.A … it’s a whole lot of people. I just tried to fuck with a whole lot of different producers.
Besides touring to promote the album, Slim is also focused on his clique Boyz N Blue, as well as his own label Boss Hogg Outlawz. I’m gonna promote this album, then do the Boys N Blue Shit. And I just wanna blow that shit up and make it to where my label be thick like a G-Unit or something like that, you know what I’m saying- be a brand like that. I’ma just try my hardest.
It just so happens that my little sister claims to be the biggest Slim Thug fan in the world. She went crazy when she found out I was interviewing him, talking about Ask him if he has a girlfriend! I wanna know what he looks for in a woman. To which I calmly replied: Traci, you can’t just ask an artist if he has a girlfriend…that would be boring, not to mention unprofessional.
So, my little sister wants to know if you have a girlfriend…
Right now I’m dating Toya (LeToya Luckett), chick used to be in Destiny’s Child. But I ain’t married. Tell her I’ll see her later on (laughs).
Slim Thug is one such quality individual. Born Stayve Jerome Thomas, Slim stands a cool six foot six inches tall, and is as impressive in real life as he is on the microphone. Much has already been written about the Houston native, everything from his sense of humor to his southern drawl. The title of his full length debut Already Platinum is, of course, a reference to his undisputed sales records as an independent artist, a virtual household name in the 281 for the last seven years.
What’s interesting is that his own personal rise to hip hop stardom has in several ways mirrored that of the Houston rap-game in general. Anybody from Texas will tell you that the sound, the charisma, the way of life has been hot for quite some time now.
Why then has it taken the rest of the country so long to wake up? I think it got a lot to do with ATL kickin’ down the door for us. A lot of people being successful out of Atlanta and it kinda opened the doors for people in the whole south. They really started opening they ears to what we doing down here, we just on something totally different than everybody else. You know, New Orleans did it, Atlanta did, now it’s just our time.
See there? That’s what I’m talking about. Slim used four plural possessive pronouns to refer to the success that many people feel he deserves some direct credit for. That indicates humility. Like the center fielder who drops a walk-off homerun and then credits the team for the win, Slim is a mature, humble dude with more on his mind than album sales and personal victories. He seems intent on bearing the burden of success on his massive shoulders, and bringing all of Houston right along with him.
His success story is all but a blueprint for up and coming artists, but perhaps even more remarkable is his realization that he’s in an such an influential position. I definitely think I’m on the forefront of Texas as far as the mixtapes and the independents go, and then to take it major and for it all to work, it’s a blessing man. A lot of dudes follow the lead on a lot of the things I do.
That blueprint was drawn years before Pharrell recruited the young underground SwishaHouse superstar to Star Trak. Slim began by rhyming his way onto mixtapes and doing cameos on other rappers’ joints. His storied hook up with southern super-producer Michael Watts was key. Michael Watts? (laughs) Michael Watts is like family to me. So you know I feel at home when I get in the studio wit him. We got a hell of a chemistry so whenever we get together to do some shit it always seem to turn out real big man.
But it can’t be all good. Can it? I mean with all of the very recent heat coming from Houston (e.g. Scarface, Mike Jones, Lil’ Flip) what’s the relationship like among artists from the Lone Star state? I mean, most of em I’m pretty good with. I ain’t really no dude who starts shit or be on some competitive shit. I do my thing, get my money, and when everybody else get they shine on I don’t hate. So my relationship with most of em is good. Of course it’s gonna be a few people who go the other way wit it, but I’m good, for the most part.
I, for one, have always wondered how and why Slim claims to simultaneously be the boss of the north, and the boss of the south. (I’ve also wondered how he manages to rhyme boss with north, but I guess that’s the Chi-town in me.) In my opinion The North side is more of a thuggish area, both sides got hoods. The south side is more player, clean dudes with the bald fades on some player shit. North side niggas don’t really give a fuck- they like the dirty niggas who be robbin and shit. So it’s that type of shit, so you know its everywhere, but that’s how they used to separate us. It ain’t really no humongous difference, it’s the same city, just different sides.
With Pharell’s typical searing production and backing from his Star Trak label, Slim knows he’s got a winner. Already Platinum features guest appearances by T.I., Bun B, and Jay-Z. The album represents his first real shot at letting the world know just who Slim Thug really is. Already Platinum is different in a lot of ways from his previous projects… Cause it’s me. A lot of the other records I did before was collaborations with other artists and it was kinda rapping for the city and rapping to they hooks and shit like that it so was just verses or it was a mixtape with me going anyway with it. These are real life substances, my life situations, it’s just all me. So I feel like this is my first record where you can hear really what Slim Thug wanna talk about. The album also features production from a variety of other producers. Jazze Pha gave me 2 heaters, Cool and Dr e, Mr. Lee out of Houston (he did my independent shit before) a new producer we got on my team T.A … it’s a whole lot of people. I just tried to fuck with a whole lot of different producers.
Besides touring to promote the album, Slim is also focused on his clique Boyz N Blue, as well as his own label Boss Hogg Outlawz. I’m gonna promote this album, then do the Boys N Blue Shit. And I just wanna blow that shit up and make it to where my label be thick like a G-Unit or something like that, you know what I’m saying- be a brand like that. I’ma just try my hardest.
It just so happens that my little sister claims to be the biggest Slim Thug fan in the world. She went crazy when she found out I was interviewing him, talking about Ask him if he has a girlfriend! I wanna know what he looks for in a woman. To which I calmly replied: Traci, you can’t just ask an artist if he has a girlfriend…that would be boring, not to mention unprofessional.
So, my little sister wants to know if you have a girlfriend…
Right now I’m dating Toya (LeToya Luckett), chick used to be in Destiny’s Child. But I ain’t married. Tell her I’ll see her later on (laughs).
