Like rap fans everywhere, I’ve been hearing all the hype about you since you signed with Shady/Aftermath. But based on the songs I’ve heard from you so far, it’s clear that you’re as good as people say you are. How do you feel about being cast as rap’s next big star?
Thanks. I appreciate you saying that. But, I mean, I’m excited about my whole scenario right now. And I also think it’s sustained off the consistency. I’ve been putting music out. That would make sense, you know? Because first it’s like they ain’t lookin’ at pluggin’ you. It’s just like, ‘Get that record away.’ But I make music for the mixtapes because it’s important. I feel like that’s the largest form of promotion.
Your brand new album, "Get Rich or Die Trying," is your first official release since signing with Shady/Aftermath. How have you liked working with Eminem and Dr. Dre so far?
It’s dope. It’s the best experience I’ve had making music, period. The process is different with the two of them. With Dre, he’ll play the music and I’ll pick whatever I want. And he’s got a whole heap of music — a bunch of shit. You pick what you want to work with and then he’ll leave you, let you write it and then come back and listen to what you do. And he’ll say, ‘Yo, you know what? I think it would be iller if you said this one part like this or made this like this.’ He’ll take your words and come up with a way to record it. And it sounds different. After you record it, it’ll be the same words that you wrote. But it’ll feel different. Dre, he’s one of the illest producers I’ve ever worked with.
How have you liked working with Eminem?
Em is cool. He usually likes to watch me do what I’m doing. He lets me just do what I want. You know what he’ll do? He’ll send a skeleton — like the track won’t be finished when I get it. I’ll rap to a beat that’s not even 50 percent done and I’ll put the concept down. And then he’ll build the record around what I did.
Do you like the way the tracks come out through that process?
At the end of the day, it’s not until he actually mixes the record that you’ll hear what it is for real. And I’ve been happy with everything that we’ve done so far. He mixed a lot of records on this album. He produced and mixed his two records and then he mixed, I think, about five or six other records on the album. He can expand the record. He can make it something that, if someone else has already produced the base of it, he can put what it takes to make it go over the top.
You’ve been shot nine times, including a .9mm bullet to the face. Now, after years of hustling and trying to get the right record deal, it seems that you’ve succeeded. Would you say that your new album’s title, "Get Rich or Die Trying," is autobiographical?
It’s universal. It’s the hustle. When you say it with the aura that’s around me, it feels negative—get rich or die trying. But if a working class person tells you they’re gonna get rich or they’re gonna die trying, it just means they’re determined.
What has kept you so determined to succeed as a rapper despite the obstacles you’ve faced, which have included growing up in a rough neighborhood and being dropped by Columbia while you were recovering from gunshot wounds?
I ain’t got no Plan B. I ain’t never had no job before. My plan wasn’t working. I’ve never even had working papers before. So it was either this or hustling. So I had to do my thing.

This interview continues in Murder Dog Magazine. Subscribe to Murder Dog! $26 for one year. Info@murderdog.com

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