one himself? Recently, some of his words were taken out of the vault
and put in print. Let’s take a minute to read what the man had to say
about his own career, hustling, struggles and triumphs.
I see hustling, I see killing, I see girls, I see cars — that’s what I
rap about, what’s in my environment. Everything I did on the album was
all about me. Me and Brooklyn.
My Brooklyn representees know that. All that everyday struggle, waking
up, check-cashing place, it’s 9 o’clock in the morning, that’s all Brooklyn,
baby. That’s all real. As far as somebody else not liking it, it’s on
them, man. I got love from the peeps, it’s all good. I look at myself
as the eyes of the world. At the same time, I know what people want to
hear and that’s not all I rhyme about. If it’s one thing I heard about
Ready to Die, it’s that it’s a full, rounded album. I got songs for the
girls, I got songs for the thugs, I got songs for the radio. I try to
put a little bit of everything into everything. I’m not a one-sided
person.”
“I’m
still shy, I’m a quiet dude. I say the things I want to say in my
music. When I first started off, I just wanted everybody to close their
eyes and just listen to what I’m saying and picture everything. I think
I came across with that. When I came out with the “Juicy” joint, it was
like an introduction to let everybody know how it went down with me as
far as the hustling and [how I] got in the rap game, and it was all
good. “Big Poppa” is a joint for the honies and the willies and the
players out there. You know, that seems to be thing right now,
everybody got their Kangol — they want to be players — all the honies
in the house, it’s a party joint. Puff said, “Let’s get the money,” so
that’s what we went for, get the money. The video [for “Big Poppa”] is
just the way we do it. If you was with me and Puff on the regular at
parties, you would see: We go to clubs, we buy out the bar, we just
have a good time. Nothing but dancing and chillin’ out.”
“Suicidal Thoughts” [I was] stressed, living in that back room. It gets
like that, yo, it gets like that. I really can’t speak for nobody else,
but I can speak for [Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s Lil’] Cease. Because I know
when you dead broke and your baby moms is yapping and your daughter’s
crying and your moms is yapping and you stressed out, man, anything can
come to a head. It’s critical! Sometimes a n—a just be like, “I wish
I was dead so I don’t have to go through the problems.” That’s how I
was feeling, so I just dropped a line on it. What makes my flow so ill
sometimes is that I just don’t care: I will say anything, you know what
I’m saying? I knew that that would be a bugged line to say, so I said
it. I ain’t killing myself though — gettin’ crazy lucci [money].
I heard [some people] that said my career reminded them of Big Daddy Kane’s,
how I came out hard and strong at the time, which is all good, but I’m
just trying to stay above water, stay busy, stay working. Puff told me
the key to this joint, the key to staying on top of things, is to treat
everything like it’s your first project, like it’s your first day, you
know what I’m saying? Like he was [as] an intern — you just stay hungry.
