Young Buck: Buck You! (Part
2)
HHDX: A lot of people have beef with G-Unit, but many of them attempt to exclude you from the beefs, saying you're the realest one out of the group. Where does that respect come from?
Young Buck: [laughs] I hear that all the time. Honestly, I'm out of this one, I don't really know what to tell you. You can see me—I deal with more outside artists than the artists in my camp. You may catch me doing records with Three 6, Lil Scrappy, in a Monica video. I move around more outside of the Unit than the other artists, so other people get a chance to know me and a chance to see me, and they can make their judgment from what they see and know before (assumptions are made).
Bottom line, to get all the way to it, a lot of mothafuckas know the other side that comes along. I'll get left out of that shit, because it's like death. A lot of shit comes along with me outside; when a nigga do beef, my shit's more real life, it's bigger than just jumping on a record and saying, “Fuck Buck.” At the end of the day, I'm a hands-on person. Even with all this shit—this Game shit, this Dre shit, this Fat Joe shit, all that shit—I play a part in it and give my loyalty to my crew and can't let a nigga start my Unit. But even that's outside of my character, because I'm more of a mothafucka who don't even play the game; I'm a mothafucka who sees you on the streets if there's a problem, and we'll handle it from there.
That's why with this record, I didn't even fuck with that old beef shit. That old, “Fuck Game, fuck Jada, fuck Joe,” you aren't going to get none of that shit out of my album. You're just going to get good fuckin' music, some real life real shit. Whatever beef issues that's supposed to be with me or with the Unit, I feel like I might address them on some more up close and personal shit outside of music. ... All our beef shit was based on real situations, from when it popped off with Ja to when it ended when when we was fucking with The Game, to when it got to Fat Joe and all that extra shit. All that shit was real life, but then it gets to the point where everybody starts jumping on this shit, where it's like, “I don't even know this nigga, but fuck Buck, fuck Banks.” Niggas don't even know niggas, you see what I'm saying?
I choose to say fuck that shit, I ain't gonna do it. ... I'ma tell you something that you and I both know: If I'm going back and forth on these records, if you know I've got beef with another nigga, then the police know. I've got to focus on staying away from that gang, because when shit happens as far as people getting taken out of here for good, my name is on the fuckin' list, they come see Buck. I try to stay away from that shit, cuz. Just trying to do it the gangsta way, because hip-hop don't need that shit no more. I keep telling them at the end of the day, they'll see how it's going to be. I'ma pull niggas cards and see if a nigga's real or not, because if I chose to say, “OK, I'm not dissing this nigga and saying nothing to these niggas,” and you're still getting that same different energy from a so-called nigga that's got beef with the unit, I'm sure there would be ways of handling that shit. It just won't be no fuckin' rap shit for me no more. If shit gets out of hand, it's like OK, let's get to this shit for real. If it ain't no beef, let's get to the money. If it is, let's handle this shit outside of this and still get to the money, and play the game the way real street niggas do and keep it in the streets. That's the way it should have been but it got off...I wasn't the controller of it then. But now, it's like, I'ma step my foot in the shit, let you know my point of view the way I feel about it, and it is what it is.
HHDX: You also have your own label, and you have a role with G-Unit South. What do you do with each?
Young Buck: G-Unit South was a movement. I wanted to name my shit G-Unit South Records, but Interscope still owns the brand G-Unit. So for me taking my company and going to take my deal to Def Jam or Atlantic or Warner Bros. or something like that, it would cause conflict of labels, and I didn't want to go through that. So I started Cashville Records. Cashville Records is my label, I'm the CEO, and G-Unit South is the movement, we have that to get you focused, to get you to pay attention to what I'm doing. My artists are Lil Murda, D-Tay, and a cat by the name of Hi-C—them and myself form the group 615, which is the area code of my city. I'm in negotiations with C-Bo from the West Coast, it's looking like I'm probably going to sign him to my label. So homeboy, I'm moving. I'm in the middle of a bidding war with the labels and shit, trying to figure out which way I'ma go with that, but you can expect to hear some shit from me in the near future on that end.
HHDX: How do you like the executive roles so far?
Young Buck: I feel good in giving mothafuckas opportunity, whether it's from my city or other mothafuckas the opportunity to have a shot to get their talent out to see if the people are really going to like it. I can think of artists who are hot, but just to build a lane and have an opportunity, it feels good to provide that. Coming from the pit, I was always a mothafucka who, in order to be a good ass chief, I was a good ass fuckin' Indian for a long time. So to put the fuckin' feather in my hat, hell yeah it feels good, partna. But at the end of the day, it's a job. I want the best for my artists. I'm not really built for just what money can do, because I come with the hustle myself. I believe in fuckin' with mothafuckas from the heart, not the hand. If they've got their heart involved around you, then they'll work from the heart. They don't work from the hand, that means they're working for the pocket—and the minute the pocket ain't there, they stop working. I like to make a mothafucka feel me first, and then get down with me. I be hands-on with anything that comes around me with my label. If you sign to Cashville Records, you're going to be a part of a family. We won't just be from a business viewpoint. We won't do business like that, because I don't do business like that.
HHDX: I've been reading up, and you've done some charity work lately. In the vein of you giving back, can you remember any instances when you were growing up where you benefitted from those types of situations, or when you met a rapper or celeb that had a notable impact on your life?
Young Buck: Yeah, you're damn right: Jay-Z. I ain't ever had a chance to tell this nigga this shit, but he came through my city years ago, when I was a young nigga and I was putting it down in the streets real, real heavy. They were doing the Roc the Mic tour, the first one, I think...nah, the Hard Knock Life tour. They came to my city, I was in the club, I had a million niggas with “T.I.P Records” on, which stood for Totally Independent Productions. Homeboy didn't know who I was, but I guess he seen how niggas took to a young nigga and shit. He called me over there in the middle of his circle, and he's like, "I started Roc-a-fella by a bunch of my niggas together, my whole crew would wear T-shirts. Just keep doing what you doing, my nigga, and I'ma see you on top.” He would've had no idea that I am who I am today, and I see him to this day, and I done had a chance to be around Jigga like that at certain times, and I just don't say nothin. I don't know if he remembers, I doubt if he would remember, but he played a hell of an impact. I left that day like, “This nigga done pulled me out of all these people and said that.” That was like a little fuel for me, like, this shit can really happen. I was in the streets, trying to independently hustle that shit. At the time, it cost me $300 to press up 1,000 CDs, I sell them shits for $10 a piece. You do the math! I was slowing down from selling dope, from selling myself, and he caught me in that era. That shit was good bro, it gave a nigga more fuel.
Young Buck: [laughs] I hear that all the time. Honestly, I'm out of this one, I don't really know what to tell you. You can see me—I deal with more outside artists than the artists in my camp. You may catch me doing records with Three 6, Lil Scrappy, in a Monica video. I move around more outside of the Unit than the other artists, so other people get a chance to know me and a chance to see me, and they can make their judgment from what they see and know before (assumptions are made).
Bottom line, to get all the way to it, a lot of mothafuckas know the other side that comes along. I'll get left out of that shit, because it's like death. A lot of shit comes along with me outside; when a nigga do beef, my shit's more real life, it's bigger than just jumping on a record and saying, “Fuck Buck.” At the end of the day, I'm a hands-on person. Even with all this shit—this Game shit, this Dre shit, this Fat Joe shit, all that shit—I play a part in it and give my loyalty to my crew and can't let a nigga start my Unit. But even that's outside of my character, because I'm more of a mothafucka who don't even play the game; I'm a mothafucka who sees you on the streets if there's a problem, and we'll handle it from there.
That's why with this record, I didn't even fuck with that old beef shit. That old, “Fuck Game, fuck Jada, fuck Joe,” you aren't going to get none of that shit out of my album. You're just going to get good fuckin' music, some real life real shit. Whatever beef issues that's supposed to be with me or with the Unit, I feel like I might address them on some more up close and personal shit outside of music. ... All our beef shit was based on real situations, from when it popped off with Ja to when it ended when when we was fucking with The Game, to when it got to Fat Joe and all that extra shit. All that shit was real life, but then it gets to the point where everybody starts jumping on this shit, where it's like, “I don't even know this nigga, but fuck Buck, fuck Banks.” Niggas don't even know niggas, you see what I'm saying?
I choose to say fuck that shit, I ain't gonna do it. ... I'ma tell you something that you and I both know: If I'm going back and forth on these records, if you know I've got beef with another nigga, then the police know. I've got to focus on staying away from that gang, because when shit happens as far as people getting taken out of here for good, my name is on the fuckin' list, they come see Buck. I try to stay away from that shit, cuz. Just trying to do it the gangsta way, because hip-hop don't need that shit no more. I keep telling them at the end of the day, they'll see how it's going to be. I'ma pull niggas cards and see if a nigga's real or not, because if I chose to say, “OK, I'm not dissing this nigga and saying nothing to these niggas,” and you're still getting that same different energy from a so-called nigga that's got beef with the unit, I'm sure there would be ways of handling that shit. It just won't be no fuckin' rap shit for me no more. If shit gets out of hand, it's like OK, let's get to this shit for real. If it ain't no beef, let's get to the money. If it is, let's handle this shit outside of this and still get to the money, and play the game the way real street niggas do and keep it in the streets. That's the way it should have been but it got off...I wasn't the controller of it then. But now, it's like, I'ma step my foot in the shit, let you know my point of view the way I feel about it, and it is what it is.
HHDX: You also have your own label, and you have a role with G-Unit South. What do you do with each?
Young Buck: G-Unit South was a movement. I wanted to name my shit G-Unit South Records, but Interscope still owns the brand G-Unit. So for me taking my company and going to take my deal to Def Jam or Atlantic or Warner Bros. or something like that, it would cause conflict of labels, and I didn't want to go through that. So I started Cashville Records. Cashville Records is my label, I'm the CEO, and G-Unit South is the movement, we have that to get you focused, to get you to pay attention to what I'm doing. My artists are Lil Murda, D-Tay, and a cat by the name of Hi-C—them and myself form the group 615, which is the area code of my city. I'm in negotiations with C-Bo from the West Coast, it's looking like I'm probably going to sign him to my label. So homeboy, I'm moving. I'm in the middle of a bidding war with the labels and shit, trying to figure out which way I'ma go with that, but you can expect to hear some shit from me in the near future on that end.
HHDX: How do you like the executive roles so far?
Young Buck: I feel good in giving mothafuckas opportunity, whether it's from my city or other mothafuckas the opportunity to have a shot to get their talent out to see if the people are really going to like it. I can think of artists who are hot, but just to build a lane and have an opportunity, it feels good to provide that. Coming from the pit, I was always a mothafucka who, in order to be a good ass chief, I was a good ass fuckin' Indian for a long time. So to put the fuckin' feather in my hat, hell yeah it feels good, partna. But at the end of the day, it's a job. I want the best for my artists. I'm not really built for just what money can do, because I come with the hustle myself. I believe in fuckin' with mothafuckas from the heart, not the hand. If they've got their heart involved around you, then they'll work from the heart. They don't work from the hand, that means they're working for the pocket—and the minute the pocket ain't there, they stop working. I like to make a mothafucka feel me first, and then get down with me. I be hands-on with anything that comes around me with my label. If you sign to Cashville Records, you're going to be a part of a family. We won't just be from a business viewpoint. We won't do business like that, because I don't do business like that.
HHDX: I've been reading up, and you've done some charity work lately. In the vein of you giving back, can you remember any instances when you were growing up where you benefitted from those types of situations, or when you met a rapper or celeb that had a notable impact on your life?
Young Buck: Yeah, you're damn right: Jay-Z. I ain't ever had a chance to tell this nigga this shit, but he came through my city years ago, when I was a young nigga and I was putting it down in the streets real, real heavy. They were doing the Roc the Mic tour, the first one, I think...nah, the Hard Knock Life tour. They came to my city, I was in the club, I had a million niggas with “T.I.P Records” on, which stood for Totally Independent Productions. Homeboy didn't know who I was, but I guess he seen how niggas took to a young nigga and shit. He called me over there in the middle of his circle, and he's like, "I started Roc-a-fella by a bunch of my niggas together, my whole crew would wear T-shirts. Just keep doing what you doing, my nigga, and I'ma see you on top.” He would've had no idea that I am who I am today, and I see him to this day, and I done had a chance to be around Jigga like that at certain times, and I just don't say nothin. I don't know if he remembers, I doubt if he would remember, but he played a hell of an impact. I left that day like, “This nigga done pulled me out of all these people and said that.” That was like a little fuel for me, like, this shit can really happen. I was in the streets, trying to independently hustle that shit. At the time, it cost me $300 to press up 1,000 CDs, I sell them shits for $10 a piece. You do the math! I was slowing down from selling dope, from selling myself, and he caught me in that era. That shit was good bro, it gave a nigga more fuel.
