Young Buck: You Must Love Me(NEW interview about g-unit,interscope,new projects)

[Elano]

With the exception of groupies, few people can claim that their dreams came true aboard a rapper's tour bus. Although he’s far from a groupie, that’s exactly what happened when Young Buck stepped aboard 50 Cent’s luxury coach back in 2001. Since meeting 50 and becoming a member of G-Unit, Buck has sold close to two million albums and established himself as a bankable solo artist. During that time he's also been involved in every G-Unit related beef from Ja Rule to Fat Joe, The Game, Lil Wayne and Cam'ron. And let's not forget about that incident at the VIBE Awards involving an irate spectator and a certain piece of silverware. Talk about guilt by association.
After seemingly being left (and perhaps returned?) in the Hip Hop purgatory that was Cash Money Records post-Hot Boys, and being literally stranded in California when Juvenile’s UTP label folded, you couldn't blame Buck if he decided to ditch the whole rap mentor idea altogether. If you believe all of the rumors circulating, you probably think he has. Now, as he prepares his stable of artists for the launch of his own label, Cashville Records, Young Buck finds himself in the position of both leader and disciple. It's a delicate balancing act, but to hear him tell it, the dream is just now about to be realized.

HipHopDX: Since the last time we talked, you've launched a record label, a clothing line and a jewelry line. Are you worried about spreading yourself too thin?

Young Buck: Hell nah, man. I’m trying to do more, straight up. I ain’t bullshittin’. At the end of the day, I’m trying to get Young Buck established. I’m signed to G-Unit and I’m down with The Unit. I’m fully focused on everything I have to do as far as my obligations to my contract with G-Unit. But, as human beings we’re only getting older. And the older I get, the wiser I become. It’s just about me reaching out and building this foundation.

DX: Another hustle I remember MTV was trying to get a Buck the World reality show started. What happened to that?

YB: I kind of put it off for a little bit, ‘cause I was focusing on my music. I’ve got a DVD that will be out in May. It’s just a DVD of some cats that have been following me around for seven or eight months. There’s a lot of footage throughout it, and I’ve never had a DVD on shelves. People can see my everyday life and things of that nature, so it’s worth looking out for. I thought it was a good idea to put the reality show off and focus on Cashville Records, being that my first release is April 1. My single will actually be up and running in a few weeks. I’m trying to pick and see which one I’m gonna go with. I got a lot going on and I think my fans, 50 Cent’s fans, Game’s fans, Eminem’s fans and Dr. Dre’s fans are all rooting for me.

DX: You’re coming off of a year where you experienced what almost every other artist did—you released an album that was received well by critics and fans, but didn’t sell what you expected. What did you take away from that?

YB: I learned that you can have a good record…not even just a good record; you could have a classic record, ‘cause that’s what I consider Buck the World and Straight Outta Cashville. Even though you may have this classic record, if everything isn’t in place, as far as the marketing, sometimes you won’t get as much as you planned on getting from a product. I learned about putting the business part in place. I recognize that I’m delivering hit records with everything I do, so I got a little more focused on the business side. Marketing is a key situation.
I don’t consider that album a loss at this point. Not by far. [Buck the World] is damn near gold, and my shows don’t stop. I’m booked up all this month, and I’m constantly moving and performing. I look at everything as a stepping stone to get off into the next project. As long as my fans understand that my music is good, then there are some things that I can’t control as a member of a crew. At the end of the day, my well-being at Interscope is [connected] with 50 Cent. His word is what counts when my solo record is in there, because I’m signed to 50. I’m signed to G-Unit, and I’m only as strong as 50 is when it comes to my solo projects and dealing with Interscope because I’m a part of a crew.
A lot of times people overlook it and I’m like, “Nigga I am still amongst a crew.” I guess it’s because I’m so much of my own man. That’s where Cashville Records comes in, because if I’m not getting the full cooperation from Interscope, at least I can…[laughs] If I’m gone lose on anything, I’d rather lose on my goddamn self, my nigga.

DX: As far as the handling of Buck the World, are you specifically referring to things like “Fuck The Police” being left off the album or “I Know You Want Me” being the lead single?

YB: Yeah, that shit right there, those things were out of my hands. Those were Jimmy Iovine’s decisions, and there were other people in power positions who made those decisions. When I say it’s out of my hands, the relationship of how the album gets marketed is established through 50 Cent dealing with Interscope. Very seldom am I a part of the meetings. I stay militant and loyal to 50 and his actions, and how he deals with Interscope
It’s a rough time too, as far as the economy goes, so I don’t just put all of the blame off on Interscope. It wasn’t just my product that didn’t sell what was expected, it was everybody in the whole fuckin’ game. It was bad for the whole rap game, so it wasn’t all Interscope’s problem. But, I did feel there were a few things Interscope could’ve done [better] as far as marketing my project.

DX: Anything in particular?

YB: You know, getting me a little better of a budget as far a videos and stuff. If you market me as well as you market your top selling artists, you’ll get some top selling shit. I got the fuckin’ hit records to go along with it. I’m straight. I think I’ve got that understood with Interscope, and they understand where I’m at as an artist. I’m moving forward, man.

DX: You brought up a good point with the economy and the declining sales. As the head of a label, are you looking to make changes based on that?

YB: Hell yeah! I’m a smart nigga, you know that. I didn’t want to take my [artists] to a major label and create a debt with where the economy is at. Say I don’t go out and sell what is expected with my own label. Then I’m in a similar situation like my own with Interscope, where I have a classic fuckin’ project and it doesn’t get what it deserves.
What I did was get a deal for myself where—trust me, man—every 100,000 records I sell is a million dollars. I don’t play when I sit down at the table for any kind of meeting. I’m straight. I’m good. And shout out to Sony Red for seeing me eye-to-eye. They believed in Young Buck and didn’t have no problem with cutting me that type of deal. They understand that I understand where the game is at. It’s just about hustling and not getting hustled.
I was humble a lot dealing with this shit, because I’m thankful to come from where I came from and be in the position where I’m at. I let certain shit fly, because a nigga is just that humble, and I respect where I’ve come from. But, in business and dealing with these mutherfuckin’ folks, they ain’t understanding none of that. So, it’s just about putting your foot down a little bit, and walking out with everyone at least satisfied. That’s what I did when I dealt with Sony Red. I was like, “Nah y’all can’t run that shit on me. I already know, so this is the way it’s gonna go. You can either fuck with it or not. And, if not, let me know so I can keep on moving.” At the end of the day they fucked with me, so, here we go.

DX: As you expand the brand, sometimes it seems like too much for Nashville to handle. The “Let Me In” video almost got shut down and people started wilding out at your birthday party.

YB: That’s the thing, because I always get that support at home. I’ll have ups and downs just like any other mutherfucker has dealing with home. But, for the most part, my home has always supported me from day one. I always feel if you don’t have your city behind you, then you ain’t got shit. I deal with some bullshit, but when you’re a street nigga you have to deal with a lot of bullshit. When you’re out of that atmosphere and you’re still in it, you become vulnerable.
Like I said though, the older I get, the wiser I become. I’m learning from my mistakes, and at home my shit has always been genuine. These people understand what the fuck I come from, what I’m talking about, where I used to hustle that shit at and some more shit. They fucks with it all the way at home, and I can’t do shit without Cashville.

DX: This has the potential to make your name synonymous with Nashville the same way Dre’s is with Compton or Jay-Z’s is with Brooklyn.

YB: That’s beautiful. Now my biggest focus is to make it where you think about Nashville and you think about 615, Sosa the Thug, Allstar, The Outlawz and C-Bo. That’s my thing. I was born out on the North side of Nashville, and pretty much raised on the South side. But, you always hear me represent Cashville all at once. I’m only one that made it out of a whole bunch. There’s a whole lot more Young Bucks in this motherfucker, and I just want to represent us as a whole. That way the next man, who is just as good or better than me, can come behind me and do his thing.

DX: Given your background, and the time you’ve spent watching 50 make deals, how much of that do you take to the negotiating table?

YB: I’ll tell you on some real shit. I’m just the first one. 50 told me, Yayo, Banks and everybody else to get out here and create our own. He always said, “I wanna see who’s gonna be my star.” I always took that to mean, “Who’s gonna go out here and be successful without 50 Cent?” I’m just the first one who chose to make the attempt. And, I’m down with my nigga, so don’t get it twisted. But, I’m out here going hard for Cashville Records and my goddamn self. It’s brand new. It’s a brand new label, brand new music, brand new every fuckin’ thing

DX: G-Unit has been criticized for being too formulaic. What separates this Product of the South album from the previous stuff?

YB: This is totally different than what you’ve been getting from me with G-Unit. If I had to label what Cashville Records brings to the table, I’d call it ghetto gospel. We make records for the club. We make hits that will spin on the radio just as much as any other record would. But, our strong point is speaking about the struggle to those people still in it and the ones who already made it out. That’s what we all come from. C-Bo, The Outlawz and the other artists I’ve signed are people I listened to. I’m their fans, so you can imagine what having them on my team is doing for my confidence. I’m through the roof with Cashville Records, and it ain’t a soul out here than can fuck with us.

DX: You’ve gone on record as being a big 2Pac fan, and he was a fan of C-Bo and a mentor to The Outlawz. How much did that play into you signing them?

YB: A lot of people don’t know that when ‘Pac was living, he had a family member, I think he was his cousin, named Kenny Black. Back when I was a young boy grinding in the streets, I was in Atlanta at the time. This nigga Kenny Black ran up on me like, “Yo, nigga you a Outlaw!” I was young, so I didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about. But he kept on with it like, “You one of us, nigga. You gone see what I’m talking about. I’m ‘Pac’s cousin.” He was a real loud nigga, and I was like, “Alright my nigga, I hear you.” I was with Juvenile and UTP at the time, but I had always been a fan of ‘Pac. I had came through that Death Row circle at a point in time, so I’m squared up with Suge [Knight]. Suge know how Buck get down. He knows me from the streets to the beats and some more shit. When the shit happened from that angle, he was always pushing that line.
C-Bo was one of the first artists to get down with me. We used to fuck with each other in the streets. Once I started to establish my shit with Cashville Records, he was the first to actually sign a contract with my label. Once he signed, he was like, “Yo, my nigga, The Outlawz are really loving what we’re doing. They really want to be a part of it.” I’m going, “What? Let’s do it.” I ended up getting with E.D.I. and Young Noble and I’m telling them, “When I was a little boy, this nigga was always running up on me popping shit, saying I was an Outlaw and I’d see what he meant later on in life.” That nigga really did end up being 2Pac’s first cousin, and they called Kenny Black up on the phone. We ended up having a little family reunion.

DX: So this isn’t a novelty thing, and there really is a connection between you all?

YB: This shit is God’s plan, my nigga! This ain’t no shit where I just woke up as a fan of Tupac Shakur and said, “Fuck it. Let me run and go get The Outlawz and C-Bo.” Nah, I’ve been fuckin’ with them for a minute, and shit is just unfolding this way. One thing about God’s plan is that you can’t stop it. No man on Earth can stop God’s plan. So we’re taking that shit, the good and the bad, and rocking. It ain’t shit that can stop me—not 50 Cent, not nothing. 50 is down with me. A lot of people get that shit twisted, but I just rock on. That’s the only thing I can do because there’s so many rumors out there. I’m still sitting on a phone call from 50 to let me know when we’re moving with the G-Unit album.

DX: As you said there are a lot of rumors. Do you feel like addressing those?

YB: Yeah, it’s cool.

DX: What happened with your chain allegedly getting taken from you?

YB: I ain’t gonna act like it wasn’t a situation that didn’t happen. It happened. I got into an altercation at a club down here called The Place, and the altercation was actually with some cats that I know. Now, during the altercation, my watch popped off my wrist and one of the cats also reached over and snatched my chain. I’ll just put it this way…at the end of the day my watch just jumped back on my wrist. My chain just fell out of nowhere and landed right back in my hands and shit. I’ll just be real. Shit happens out here, but it’s all about how you handle it. As far as anybody taking anything from me? Hell no. My watch is here right now, my chain is on my neck and the Bentley is in the driveway.

DX: Given the politics of the game, what do take away from a situation such as DJ Khaled refusing to play G-Unit records or the now resolved incident with The Core DJ’s?

YB: It is what it is. That was ’07 and this is ’08. As a matter-of-fact, this is not ’08, it’s dough-eight. Everyone is focused on doing better for themselves. By not playing a Young Buck record or not playing a G-Unit record, who are you hurting other than yourself? There are people out there that actually like me and like G-Unit. As far as The Core DJ’s, we already resolved that issue. Shout out to Tony Neal and the cat that the incident was with too. We sat down like men and worked it out and got an understanding. He understood that my involvement with that situation wasn’t as deep as he thought. He spoke his side, I respected everything he had to say, and we moved on

At the time it happened, it caused a backlash with a lot of deejays, because they are the core to the success of an artist. If there’s a situation where a deejay feels he’s wrongfully targeted for playing a record, then I expect for other deejays to feel salty. But, once the truth got out there and it was all resolved, then I think a lot of deejays realized what really went down. It got resolved in a good manner, and that’s why I’m moving on to dough-eight. I’ve got the support of every deejay in the world right now, and I’m not trying to lose that shit. I don’t need no incidents, so I try to stay away from the bullshit and focus on making this real fuckin’ music.

DX: What about the whole situation with you going at Wayne and Trina?

YB: I moved on from all of that old shit. Honestly, at the time it was fun and that was all good, but this is dough-eight and I’m on some get money shit. Shout out to Trina and Wayne. I wish them the best and all that good shit, but I’m Cashville Records all day.
Other than that, I’m getting to it. I’m standing tall, I cut my braids off, and the bitches are loving me even more. I’ve got movie roles out of the fuckin’ world. Man, do you know I wake up everyday with 1,000 deejay e-mails? All the deejays can hit me up with an e-mail to youngbuckmarley@gmail.com. Send me a drop list with your name and all that good shit, and I'm on you. This is dough-eight, and I don’t give a fuck no more! I don’t give a fuck about nothing. That’s what I’m telling niggas. The next time you see me on a fuckin’ TV screen, just understand me, it’s the same individual, but he just don’t give a fuck—straight up and down. Rock with me, ‘cause this is the part where it gets interesting. This is where they get in line and pay close attention to Buck ‘cause Buck letting them know like, “Look, I’m my own man, and I’m going to get me.” So, either rock with me or rock without me, but either way I’m gonna win. Shout out to the niggas that are so-called enemies. I don’t consider none of the situations beef, because I’ve got a brand new label. Fuck with it. Ain’t this the way I’m supposed to be moving? I’m just asking honestly, what do you think?

DX: You can’t sit around and wait on someone else to put money in your pocket.

YB: I feel like that. I’m supposed to be the nigga that’s out here getting mine, right?

DX: Yeah, you can’t keep doing the same thing.

YB: Goddamn right, you can’t do that. I’m knowing the average opinion is that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. And before I feel that I’m doing anything wrong, because sometimes I feel like the support ain’t there as strong as it should be from 50 Cent, or shit like that, I just know my homeboy is out there getting his on. He’s focused on 50, so I’m focused on Buck. You know what I’m saying?

DX: Sure. Aside from that, how do you think the game has changed since you started?

YB: Back then it was more about hustling to make the dream happen. The dream has happened, so now I’m dealing with the dream. As far as back then, artists were a little bit more loyal to their situations. Right now I feel like there’s so many different varieties of music, that a lot of what I call "reality rap" is getting overshadowed. No disrespect to Soulja Boy, because I actually like what he does. It’s the same thing with Lil Mama, and everybody making records for the kids.
We need a mixture of that, because Hip Hop is supposed to be a mixture of everything. But, I don’t think we need so much of it that people forget half of the people where I come from don’t even have cable to see Soulja Boy do his dance. We’re forgetting that tax time is right around the fuckin’ corner. We’re forgetting that Bush is gone kill us all if we don’t get his punk ass out of office. We forget about all this type of shit, and it’s all good. But, I’m going hard to make that presence felt again.

DX: So the braids are gone, but it’s still Buck Marley?

YB: Yeah, you do know that.

DX: Well, since you mentioned Bush, I have to ask you about the upcoming election.

YB: You do know that [Barack] Obama is my nigga. You put that in big black letters, “Obama. That’s my nigga, so go vote for him.”
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[virtuoso]

A million per 100,000 records lol what a tool, is he just thick as pig shit, or just delusional i wonder.

[The King]

A million per 100,000 records lol what a tool, is he just thick as pig shit, or just delusional i wonder.

If your independent, that's not an insane ratio. With all the other revenue G-Unit gets, I bet they get that much.

[virtuoso]

Have you ever heard 50 cent in interviews addressing the independent route? he rubbishes these types of claims, these rappers, a lot of them are idiots i think and don't fully comprehend shit, that's why p diddy is able to screw so many artists, because they don't understand or don't read their own contracts.  ratio of $10 per record, is absurd, that's not actually what he will receive come on now.

[AnybodyKilla]

Young Buck says "At the end of the day" like in every sentence LOL, ive noticed that everytime dude talks or does a interview LOL, anywayz, propz!!!

[h2k4]

Thanks for the interview.  It looks like he is realizing that 50 doesn't seem too concerned with promoting Buck the way he should be so he's doing it on his own and willing to work with anyone he pleases.

[GATMAN]

Buck is one of the realest nigga out

[You Ain't Shit]

for the most part of the interview buck tells us how smart he is. But the nigga signed C-Bo to his label. Dont get me wrong, c-bo is a great rapper, but he won't sell shit! He aint mainstream, same with outlawz. They wont sell, which means buck's label will flop.

[AnybodyKilla]

Bucks just being loyal to Bo and the Outlawz, signing them n shit, knocking out some dope music, but no one gonna cop there shit, they aint mainstream at all, they wont sell anything!!!

[Elano]

Bucks just being loyal to Bo and the Outlawz, signing them n shit, knocking out some dope music, but no one gonna cop there shit, they aint mainstream at all, they wont sell anything!!!

true