Plies
Interview by Black Dog Bone
Photo by Eric Johnson
Continued from Murder Dog Vol.15 #2
The reason that people all over the world love
Rap music is because it’s an expression of the African American experience. Rap
is unique because the African American is different from other people. If you
had gone through 4 years or more of college training and got a degree, I think
you would have lost that quality. If you were just another college graduate I
wouldn’t be interested in interviewing you.
You probably wouldn’t be interested musically,
but I’m a person that is not afraid to walk away from music. Me and my brother
talk about it all the time. I know I could be successful in anything that I
choose to do in my life. I’m not like an athlete that all they do for 15 years
is play that particular sport because they’re scared to walk away. It ain’t
about the finances of it. They just don’t feel in their heart that there’s
anything else that they can possibly do. I don’t never wanna feel like that. I
don’t never wanna be in love with just one thing. I’m never scared to walk away
from it. I feel that way about music. I’m not afraid to say, “fuck it, I don’t
want to fuck with this Rap shit no more. Let me go try to find something else
to be successful in.” I love the challenge of doing something new and different
and finding out what it takes to be successful at it.
I like that mentality. You don’t want to be a
slave to anything. That’s a free mind.
And any time you don’t allow yourself to have
that mentality you’re going to be what I like to call a music whore. A music
whore is a person that’s willing to do anything to be successful at music.
No matter what you do to make money, you will
have music in you forever. What you’re talking about is when people will do
anything to get signed or sell records.
People that are willing to lower themselves to
get signed. That’s something that I’m not willing to do. I understand that a
lot of the things that I want to do musically, I’m not gonna be able to do or
say those things. If you’re not willing to be a music whore for this music
industry, then it’s some things that you’re gonna have to turn down. For me to
do it the right way, how I consider it to be the right way, I’m at ease with
myself knowing that I’m not gonna be able to obtain everything that the music
industry has to offer me due to my beliefs. I’m cool with that.
When is the new album going to drop?
“Definition of Real” is in stores June 10. At this point that’s 28 days away
and I feel real comfortable and real good about it. I’ve got a single out
that’s top 5 in the country right now. It’s called “Bust It Baby Part 2”
featuring Ne-Yo. On the underground side I’ve got another record called “Who
Hotter Than Me”. It’s probably the biggest record in the streets right now. On
top of that I’m comin back with my second single. I’m still deciding. I got a
record called “#1 Fan”, it’s a huge huge record. And I got another record
called “Please Excuse My Hands” featuring Dream. I’m just trying to contemplate
which one is gonna make the strongest impact. Both of them are number one
records, we’re just trying to decide which one is gonna move the quickest.
Are you planning to tour to promote this release?
I got 4 tour offers today. I’m just deciding which one will work best with my
scheduling. I’m going from one market to the next. I’m trying to get in more of
the major markets. I’ll be making a decision this week on that.
What have you been listening to lately?
I’m a huge R & B fan. That’s the music that talks to my soul. That’s the
music that talks about real problems for me. I’m a big Ne-Yo fan. One of the
records he made that I was crazy about was “You Ever Think About Me”. That
record is crazy. Another record he had that I was crazy crazy about is called
“Teach Me How to Love”. That record I felt was really talkin directly to me. I
really embrace the whole R & B sound in the music game right now. They’re
making some of the best music.
Would you ever go in that direction with your
music?
I don’t know. I’m gonna let my life take me into whatever direction it goes.
I’m not gonna try and pinpoint what direction I’ll be going or what it is I’ll
be trying to do. Whatever the current state of my life situation is today will
define where I go tomorrow.
What do you think about the state of the music
industry right now. With digital downloading and the shift to the internet as
an outlet, do you see this as a good time for an artist?
From an artist perspective is my primary concern should be me. I’ve learned
that this business is based on that attitude. Everybody is trying to do what’s
in the best interest for them. I feel like downloading and burning music can be
stopped if the powers that be want to stop it. There’s all kinds of websites
that allow you to download free music. I’m sure if we wanted to eliminate that,
we could eliminate it. But it’s good business for everyone. You got a myspace
page, that’s probably the biggest network in the country right now. I don’t
feel like people on the corporate level want to stop this. I don’t think it’s
that hard to manufacture CD’s that can’t be duplicated. It shouldn’t be hard at
all. Technology is too advanced for me to believe that’s not possible. Enough
people in power are benefiting from what is going on in the music industry
right now. My personal focus is on making sure that no matter how much the
climate changes that I’m doing what’s in the best interest for me. I just have
to continue to stay in touch with the changes as they occur in this business. A
lot of things that are going on now wouldn’t have happened 3-4 years ago. A
lotta things that are goin on now, 3 or 4 years from now won’t be going on. It
will keep changing. I just got to keep up with it and continue to make more
right choices than wrong.
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