Dubcnn: It’s Jose I’m here with Jayo Felony. What’s crackin’ man?
Jayo: Wasup man just here chillin’ representin’ for my nigga Nip Hussle. Puttin’ it down for his new mixtape. Your boy Jayo Felony just out here showin’ 'em how hood do. Representin’ this crippin’ man we big rollin’ man y’all know the business.
Dubcnn: What’s up it’s Jose with Dubcnn I’m here with Big U Nipsey Hussle’s manager. What’s up man?
Big U: Man I’m doing good. We ou there at the album release party for the mixtape. Puttin’ it down, finnin’ ta introduce the world to Vol. 3. The next movement that’s gonna sweep the streets, All Money In, Uneek Music, A 2 Z, get ready for the sound.
Dubcnn: You guys have progressed from Vol. 1 to Vol. 2 to Vol. 3. You’re starting to roll em and Nipsey’s about to be introduced to the world. What do you have in store for everyone with Vol 3.?
Big U: Well Vol. 3 is a progression from Vol.1., which is a bit more street, grimy. Vol. 2 is the next level up. Vol. 3 shows his progression, his ability to be versatile. We got more collaborations with different artists on there and it’s gon’ be good music. You can put this CD in and never take it out. You gon’ foget that you heard twenty songs, I guarantee that’s how good it is.
Dubcnn: How’d you hook up with Nipsey in the first place? How’d you discover him?
Big U: Nipsey my little homeboy, we both grew up in the Slauson area, I was born on Slauson, he was born on Slauson. I had gone away and came home. I just got into the music industry, I heard about nipsey through one of my little nephews. Basically when I heard his music I got back at him and told him, “I think you the one I wanna go with.” I took him in, we went to a couple places, knocked on a couple doors. My man LT Hutton gave us our first look on radio, through LT Hutton we got on Pac’s life, Pac’s Life was his first introduction to the world, we moved from Pac’s Life we did Bullets Ain’t Got No Name, which Felli Fel started playing on the radio, that picked him up. Between me and Steve Lobel it took off from there. Once he got Cinematic through Sony it took us to a whole new level so now we started making mixtapes. We introduced our neighborhood to the world. People always wanted to hear about our neighborhood so we got a documentary on the 60s coming, we got more music from Slauson Boys, we got Blue Sky coming, another artist, we got the Vixens coming. We got a whole stable about this Uneek movement.
Dubcnn: Traditionally artists when they wanna come out, especially out here in the West they gotta come through some other artist’s camp, they gotta get a big cosign. Nipsey built his own movement. How’d you manage to do that?
Big U: Hard work, really just hard work, knockin’ on doors, believin’ in ourselves. Really the only person that came out to hit us in the beginning was Game. Game kept it 100, he kept our movement goin’ took us on tour with him. Even before that it was hard work. Before I got in Nipsey had already put out Volume 1. I came and just added a more corporate structure to what Nipsey was doing already. He already had his little movement going personally and I came in and added more structure got us through more doors, helped the movement. That’s what I do, I do the business side of things.
Dubcnn: Last time I talked to Nipsey he was telling me at first when he was getting started a lot of people didn’t want to mess with him because of his background and the nature of his music. How’d you get over that?
Big U: I don’t think we ever got over that. Our music didn’t change, style didn’t change, our look didn’t change. This is what the world wants to see. Young people wanna have something real, they wanna know that they can connect to somebody form the streets. There’s a lot of I don’t want to say soft rappers, but non-entertainers. Right now you can put a rag on put any color put it on your body and be a gangsta rapper. Most all of the rappers now are affiliated with a rag, over the last five years unfortunately. Me, ain’t nobody gonna question my credibility in south central LA. And Nipsey being my little homeboy, we really came from here, you can see our names written on the wall here. There ain’t gon’ be nothing else but that, it’s really gonna be on the walls, from twenty years back. We just bring a real genuine movement that can span decades that’s been tested. I don’t know what else to tell you but we come real. We bringin’ the streets what the streets really wanted.
Dubcnn: It’s finally happening you guys are about to drop the album South Central State of Mind.
Big U: December 22nd.
Dubcnn: What are you guys doing to prepare Nipsey and prepare the world for what he’s about to do?
Big U: That’s the purpose of the mixtape. We wanna give the world a look at what we gon’ bring, introduce you to our music our look, videos, our sound, bring people back to the real LA streets. Then at the same time when we come with South Central State of Mind it’s really gon’ be that. We gon’ infect the whole country with a South Central State of Mind, infectious, and that’s our whole movement, we finnin’ ta Uneek the world. Go to Uneekvision.com.
Dubcnn: Before we close out, who can we expect to see collaborating with Nipsey on the album that’s coming out in December?
Big U: We definitely got Game, Snoop, Drake, we got a lot of stuff from a lot of people, we just gotta see what works. We gave up 19 songs on Vol. 1, we gave up 22 songs on Vol. 2, we just gave up 20 songs on this one. We ain’t gon’ give up that many songs on the next one, so we gotta see what works. We wanna stay genuine to the people so they can be in love with South Central State of Mind and Nipsey movement and not try to come out with a whole lot of other people and water down our brand. We wanna stay unique with what we doing, that’s our thing. We didn’t come out beggin’ nobody to do features. We came out workin’ and hustlin’ that’s how we doin’.
Dubcnn: We about to sign off, any last words?
Big U: Go join uneekvision.com.
Dubcnn: Thanks a lot man appreciate your time.
Dubcnn: What’s up y’all it’s Jose with Dubcnn I’m here with my boy Mann. What’s crackin’ man?
Mann: What’s the deal? It’s ya boy Ma dub, straight from the wets coast, here with my big bro Nipsey, mixtape release party. We turn’t up, holla back.
Dubcnn: Tell us how you got into the music game and your background.
Mann: I’m from West LA, off Adams and La Brea. I been doing my thing around LA and I got recognized by JR Rotem. I’m JR’s artist signed to Def Jam Beluga Heights through A2Z and Steve Lobel. I’m just doing show and performing, displaying my talent got me the deal. Basically doing what I’m supposed to do got me where I’m supposed to be at.
Dubcnn: So what you up to what you got going on?
Mann: I got a record hittin’ the radio right now, it’s called Text, it’s me featuring Jason Derulo, my label mate, also signed to JR Rotem. We about to hit the radio real hard this year so it’s gonna be official.
Dubcnn: What do you think about this hubbub about Nipsey. He’s getting a lot of love, what do you think about that?
Mann: I been with Nipsey since he came out ‘cause we’re on the same production company, A2Z, so I watched him come from 6 Slau[son] to this big superstar and it’s amazing. Just to be able to say I’ve watched it is amazing. And I’m one of his biggest fans, he like one of my bros so it’s amazing.
Dubcnn: Describe your musical style, for those that don't know.
Mann: There’s jerk music in LA and there’s gangbang music in LA and I’m in the middle, I don’t do neither. I just do me and I do my young, I’m only 18, just turned 18, I do my young West LA music thing. I’m Cali and you can hear I’m from Cali without me saying I bang. It’s just that new Cali swag and that’s what I bring to the table.
Dubcnn: Where can people hit you up?
Mann: You can hit me on my twitter, which is twitter.com/_mann or hit me on my website, mannsworld.net. I respond, you can call me at 213-215-mann, it comes straight to my phone, I’m really reacheable, anywhere, you can just google me and you’ll find a way to get in touch with me. Holla at yo B-O-Y.
Steve Lobel: It’s Steve Lobel we here at the BET 2009 Awards, we hittin’ every station, you know he have a record on the radio, Hussle.
Nipsey Hussle: It’s ya boy Neighborhood Nip. We at the BET roundtable radio shit. You see what it’s filled with, the who’s who in hip hop and I’m in this motherfucker doing my stuff. Gettin’ it in. LA is the place to be right now, we took the championship in the NBA we finnin’ ta take the championship in this rap shit too, my shit drops December 22nd, stay tuned.
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Nipsey Husle - Bullets Ain't Got No Name Vol. 3 Mixtape
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Bullets Vol. 3 Mixtape Release Party // Event Coverage/Video Interviews // Dubcnn
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