Author Topic: New Lloyd Banks Interview (Read 137 times)

Mr. Humonculous · « **on:** June 21, 2006, 07:57:51 PM »

"Rotten Apple"

With his sophomore release entitled, “Rotten Apple”, G-Unit’s Lloyd Banks hopes to achieve the same critical acclaim as his debut album, “Hunger For More”. Born Christopher Lloyd, this Queens, NY native has been privy to sights and scenes most never witness in a lifetime. With countless touring and recording, T.O.N.Y. sat down with Team G-Unit’s hardworking and introspective All-Star Player.

Speed: Ok, so what’s different about this new album in comparison to your last album?

Banks: The first album was my baby. The first album is what I had in me since I wanted to be a rapper. Which means half of the album’s thought process came from the neighborhood and me bein out the neighborhood… and being on the road. So, its kinda like my first and second album put together.. almost.. because a lot of the songs were inspired by me not having the things I have now.. and then I actually had the chance to go on tour and I was able to experience the things that I was rapping about in the first half of the album.

The first half of the album is like “I need this! I want that!” Those ‘needs’ started turning into ‘I got this. I got that.’ The difference now is that I’ve been all around the world.. two or three times.. know the dos and don’ts a little more now. Mature/24 years old. That’s probably the biggest difference.

I had a studio in the comforts of my own house. I’m able to go and record whenever I want to and be a perfectionist. Change a line if I need to change it. Do another hit record after another hit record.

I didn’t have to spend all the money on having a big studio. That’s what they do when new artists get signed. They find ways to spend your budget up real fast. Give you a big nice studio.. like the ones you see on TV. But you really don’t need that. All I needed was the Protools and.. .

Speed: Are you learning how to use Protools and how to make beats.. all of that?

Banks: No.

I didn’t learn yet and it's not because I don’t wanna learn. I wanna learn what the engineers do. I wanna learn how to make my own music, so I can be like your Eminem’s and your Dr. Dres and your Havoc’s and everybody else that knows how to make their own sound.

I don’t have that yet. I have to wait until the sound comes to me. I gotta wait until I find a hit record. A hit beat.. in order to make it a hit record. I guess that will come in my off-time. Go out to Detroit or something and sit with Eminem and watch and learn.

Speed: You were talking about a time when you didn’t have things and now you do as a successful rapper. Do you think your still relatable to the streets now that you’ve attained wealth?

Banks: Yea, ofcourse. I think a little bit too much. People are always looking with a naked eye. They don’t see all the Catch 22’s.

My Catch 22’s is when I’m in my hood.. I’m usually illegal. You know what I’m sayin? And that’s because that’s the way I had to be there before I was a star. You know what I’m sayin? So, it’s the biggest Catch 22 there is.

Like they want you there. I want me there too. But a lot of shit comes with it. I’ve been in the newspaper three days straight in the past couple weeks. Just for those opportunities and then situations happening. If I’m there, it’s a whole other story. If I go around the corner right now.. and go into a mall and a riot takes place in the mall… guess who they gonna blame for that shit tomorrow. It’s a Catch 22.

Its like the AA, man. You gotta separate your people, places and things. Know what’s important to you at the time and know what ain’t. It ain’t important for me to stand on a corner no more. I’m not a regular nigga that can be standing on the corner no more. People that be standing on the corner… you think that wanna be there? They standing there to get out that neighborhood. They do what they do to get out. Everybody has dreams of having a big crib and everything else. And that was my dream.

At the same time my ties there are so strong because I still got niggas there. If something happens. If somebody gets smacked in the face right now.. I’m gonna get the phone call. ‘Yo, Such And Such got smacked in the face.”

Speed: What do you do if you get that phone call?

Banks: It depends on who it is. It could be somebody you know. It could be somebody that knows you. It could be a close friend. You know what I’m saying? I just recently had a close friend of mine get murdered about two weeks ago. And these are the phone calls that I have to deal with. I have tattoos on me now that I had to get in the period of the 'Hunger For More' album and this album. And it's because shit don’t stop.

Its almost like to a certain extent.. you’ll be damned if you do.. damned if you don’t. You spend your whole life trying to prove points or trying to impress people. Sometimes you have to sit, reflect on when its all said and done.. what matters to you. Its my family, really. So, anything else is a plus.

Speed: Can you move by yourself at this point? Can you walk down the street or go shopping by yourself?

Banks: I mean, I could. But for what? I could walk to the store right now but I would get mauled after awhile.

Well, it depends on what area your at. If I’m in my hood its not really like that, all the time. If I’m in the hood with me and two of my niggas...motherfuckers don’t rush you like that ..because they know that’s my hood. So, they know I’m comfortable.. so they give you that space because you’re a star. But when your back there.. your thinking the same way you was before you was a rapper. Lot of people don’t really fuck with you like that.

The more people you have with you, the more people are attracted to you. They feel like you have all those people with you to promote. Your here to be out in the street. If I wasn’t prepared for that.. I’d be in denial. The fact that if I walk to the store, I might have to sign the motherfucker who sold me the sandwich.. sign him an autograph. But those are things I’m comfortable with.

Speed: Do you like having to sign autographs and take pictures?

Banks:; Yea, I do. I wasn’t always important. I make sure I sign every autograph I can and take every picture I can. Motherfuckers didn’t want my picture a few summers ago.

Speed: I’ve heard a lot of other celebrities say that at a very early age they knew they were going to be famous. Did you know when you were little that you were going to have celebrity one day?

Banks: Yea, I knew. I knew because I knew I had the talent. I always felt that that’s what I wanted to do.

I also felt like I could play basketball at a time. But you know, academically shit didn’t add up. I’m pretty sure I could have if my grades were good.

Speed: What were you like in high school?

Banks: First year of high school I was playin basketball. I was playin ball and then that’s where it all fucked up. It all flip flopped and that’s the time that hip-hop really started influencing me. It always influenced me.. but that’s around the time that I realized basketball wasn’t going to work.

My first concert.. seeing people.. seeing the stage… it was Bone Thugs and Nas was there. It was the night Tupac got shot. at Nassau Coliseum.- The After-School Jam. That was the night I knew I was gonna be a rapper. I told my mom, ‘I’m gonna be on that stage.’ And then the second time I was there I was actually performing and was actually in the same section that we were in for that first concert. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to feel that scream. I wanted to show the world what I had to say.

Speed: Is that why you tour so much? Or is it the paper?

Banks: Both. But every dollar is not a good dollar. You don’t take every show. You don’t do a show every time that promoter got some money to pay for you. You know what I’m sayin? But at the same time, the only thing better than making a hit record is people who are appreciating it. I know I feel the shit when I’m knocking my head to it in the studio. But what happens when 30,000 people at the same time are liking it? It turns into a hit record. That’s what I’m trying to do.. make hit records.

Speed: What artist outside of G-Unit are you really feelin right now?

Banks: Wow, um.. I like.. uh.. I listen to everything. Everything that comes on TV.. I watch it.

Speed: You listen to country?

Banks: Nah, not that shit. But I don’t see country videos on the TV. You don’t see country videos on BET or MTV. That’s the only two stations I watch for music. I just take little things. Because you get ideas not just musically but visually. You might see something on an alternative record that you could be able to make relevant to hip-hop.

But as far as rappers go.. I like 8 Ball & MJG. I like T.I.’s music.

Speed: Who do you like from New York?

Banks: Who do I like from New York? I don’t know. I mean, I could listen to people but its not the same energy.

I bought Busta’s album. Busta’s album is very good. It was time for that. You know what I’m saying.? Its time for me to come right now.

Speed: I remember hearing an interview with 50 and he said that New York is G-Unit’s your lowest market.. or something along those lines. The way he spoke about New York, at the time, I think some people took it as criticism… You wanna talk about that?

Banks: People get that mixed up. He wasn’t talking about the people of New York. You know what that is? New York City radio is what he’s specifically talking about.

You can't control that, you know what I’m sayin? Because we never got a break, the streets is who gave us that radio play from the get-go. From hearing our name in the streets so much.. niggas were like you have to play this one the radio. Radio markets are changing so much. If you look at Miami, you have your Rick Rosses, a lot of new artists that’s coming out of one area, so they get that hometown support… cause that’s where the from.

A couple of years ago if you didn’t have all theses new artists coming out.. the Bay Area and so on.. they getting exposure. So now would play artists from different regions. That’s when they was playing your New York artists in your Bay Area.. or your New York records in Miami. Its flippin around right now.

New York City has always had material presented. Its always had three or four rappers coming out.. every other month. And what they doing now is embracing other artists from other regions.

The mixtape market is heavily bootleg. When my album comes out its gonna be heavily bootlegged.. because I’m getting bootlegged off of my bootleg. I’m getting bootlegged off of my mixtape. A lot of artists don’t have to worry about that. The ones who don’t sell records, they don’t have to worry about their bootleg, cause there’s not a demand. That nigga that be in the plant and gets that $20,000-$30,000 to take your copy and bootleg.. didn’t get a request on you. Those all play a part into why music is a little different right now. But hey, all I can say is I’m doin my part.

Speed: Does that make you nervous that some of your tracks got leaked and you get so heavily bootlegged?

Banks: Nah, nah.. The only thing that makes me nervous is like, “Is my ear changing or is everybody else’s ear changing?”

You know what its like? Its like that kid at the basketball court. If he went to the basketball court with no ball.. say he just walked through the basketball court.. he decided to stop.. he wanna play a full court. There could be one nigga there with a basketball. He could be the wackest motherfucker in the neighborhood… but he got the ball. So, he gets to play. That’s what music was turning into. There’s a lot of rappers that were representing New York City.. that wasn’t getting the respect outside of New York City. Why? Because they were the only motherfuckers that was doin it. Once you do it so much, people start respecting your grind, as appose to your music.

I rather put out an album every two years and it considered to be one of the best albums for that year.. as apposed to me putting out an album every fucking six months and then not generating any income.. that’s not cool to me. I think that’s what happened .

My whole thing is, my competition is me. I’m my own competition. I don’t hear the negative feedback. When I hear feedback, I hear ‘Divide and Conquer' feedback. I hear, ‘He’s better than him.” And half the time that shit be from my own crew. As long as the nigga ain’t comparing my album to no outsider, its cool with me. Right now they sayin’, ‘Can Banks do it again?” They not sayin, ‘Is he gonna make a better album than.. one of these stupid niggas out here.”

Speed: Right, so your competing with your first album.

Banks: Yea, and that’s based off of the success of 50’s first album. If 50 didn’t sell 11 million records the first album, they wouldn’t have expected me to have those record sales. So, what happened is 50’s success filtered down to everybody. Which means they expect everybody to have the breakthrough album for their first album. That’s one album on my card.

If you date back to the albums that came out, that you consider classics.. your Illmatic’s, your Reasonable Doubts.. those records weren’t platinum successes at that time. That was a stepping stone to the rest of their albums and they added on. Your ‘It was Written’ and In ‘My Lifetime’ came after when their career was built up. That’s what I’m trying to get people to understand right now. That was my first album. Let me be an artist first before I try and do anything else…jump out the window, or make an invention, or whatever. Let me do my music and be the best solo artist I can and then I’ll start thinking about all the other things. The movies and all the other shit.. I rather wait until I’ve peaked before I do anything. I don’t want to except anything before I peak, period.

Its like basket ball. I make references to basketball all the time because I played ball. I rather have an MVP year before I do my commercial deal.

Speed: So, you see yourself eventually going to down the path of movies?

Banks: Yea, when I’m ready. When the right roll approaches. I like racial tension movies. That’s the one thing you cant get wrong. The movie’s all about opinions. Whether your black, white, Spanish.. your gonna relate to it in some kind of way. The reason that stands out to me is because it doesn’t matter how much money you get.. certain things don’t change. That’s the bottom-line. If I was gonna do something, it would probably have to be a serious movie, similar to Crash… something that deals with everyday situations. I don’t wanna be a superhero or no stupid shit like that. I rather do a movie that could touch all markets. Even the motherfuckers that never been through it. Ain’t no different than the people in Amsterdam or Bangkok who buys my records. They never went through half the shit we talk about, but they can image and they can respect it cause they know its real life.

I rather deal with that: Movies that contain something or give you a better outlook on what people go through, if you don’t go through it yourself.

I could see myself in the big screen, ofcourse. I’m just not going to rush to do that, just to say I got a movie coming out. That might not be the movie. That might be your one movie that flops and you never have another opportunity to do another one. I rather be a key player on a winning team, then a star on a losing team.

Speed: You mentioned racial tension. What do you relate more to your Black side or your Puerto Rican?

Banks: Probably my black side. That’s because nobody really spoke Spanish in my household except for my Grandfather. My grandfather pasted away in 2004 and that was the only real reference I had to that side of my culture. Until I actually went to Puerto Rico and all that. I just felt that I belonged there.

I have a certain attraction to the women. I don’t know. I can just understand from being around my Grandfather and my mother. My particular neighborhood that I grew up in was mostly black people. That’s what it is. If I had grown up in the Bronx that might be different. It might just be the area I grew up in.

If you had dumped 50 Puerto Rican girls in my neighborhood it would have been crazy. It would have been a frenzy. A frenzy for each other. If you was to put 50 white women in a black neighborhood they gonna be the new… whenever you keep shit separated and it finally comes together its gonna be big.

But I embrace both. That’s who I am, I’m Black and Puerto Rican. I love both sides.

Speed: Speaking of girls, what type of girls do you generally like?

Banks: I like all kind of girls.. black girls, white girls…

Speed: Personality wise…

Banks: Personality wise it depends on what I need you for. I’m not really looking for personality unless I’m gonna be talking or really kicking it with you. You can have the best body in the world and be a dingbat.. You know what I’m saying? But if all I needed you for was for whatever we did.. then that’s what it is.

But if I’m looking for someone who I can have a conversation with or be around, then ofcourse she’s gonna have to have an understanding. She’s gonna have to understand that you won't be able to see me as much as you would a motherfucker who ain’t doing nothing for himself. Understanding is the biggest thing, really. You have to understand that I don’t even understand what the fuck we doing half the time. My life is moving around so fast that I don’t have a schedule until the morning I wake up. And it’s not because I can’t find out, its because I still have a regular life.

Everything other than that is a plus after understanding. If you can teach me something then that’s a plus too, because I’m a writer.

If I was in a room with a female and she felt like she didn’t wanna do anything with me but talk…then we’re gonna talk and I’m gonna get your story. Because everybody’s story is relevant.

Speed: You'd be ok with just talking? You don't really do that.

Banks: Ofcourse, I do that. If I have a conversation with somebody that’s homeless.. I take that serious because I ain’t ever been homeless. I’m gonna get your insight. I’m gonna get what your giving me and I’m gonna take it and put it into my everyday. I have a reference to that.

I had family members who were on drugs and alcoholics.. So, I had references to that as a kid. But everybody’s story is important. If I could have a conversation with Bill Gates, I’m gonna take it that just as important with a motherfucker who’s dead broke.

50 bought Mike Tyson’s house. Mike Tyson generated over five-hundred million dollars and was filing bankruptcy. So, that shows you how fast that can happen and you can go back to that. I don’t want to be that. So everybody’s story is important.

The stripper in the club’s story is important. Bottom-line if we ain’t gonna do nothing but talk, I’m gonna get your story. What if I gotta make a record pertaining to your story? What if somebody gives me ‘I’m In Love With A Stripper”? Now I know more about it.

Speed: Do you see yourself settling down and getting married.. with the kids and all of that?

Banks: I don’t see myself doing that. I mean, not saying that I don’t see if ever happening. I just don’t see that.. I just don’t look for that. But ofcourse, you want a family at one point or another.. I just don’t think its something you look for. I think that when I find that and I’m in the situation.. I’m gonna be just as shocked as everybody else. Just because that’s hard to find. Fuck, girls say its hard to find a good nigga.. shit, its hard to find a good girl. It’s the same thing. Not only that, but a good girl if you wanna have kids and all of that. Everything has to match up. But I think a lot of shit isn’t out of your system until an older. Not saying that a young marriage cant work.. but hey, be my friend for awhile. See me make my mistakes, so we can both look on them and laugh… if it works. Yea, ofcourse I see myself having a family later on in life. I’m 24 years-old though, I’m trying to find out who I am before I can actually welcome a whole household for a little nigga.

Speed: You have younger brothers, right? Are they thinking about rapping?

Banks: I have two younger brothers. The little one doesn’t wanna rap. Well, at least he wont tell me. The littlest one is 10, the second oldest is 17. I actually brought him with me to my birthday party and he was talking to all the girls and shit. When he’s around me he feels like ‘my brothers the best rapper’ and its cool. They like my sons, almost.. so its cool to have that influence over them. They wanna rap, but they wanna do whatever I do. That’s why I’m careful what I bring around them and I stress to them that they don’t have to do what I do. I told my brother he can go to college and do what he does.

I’m actually sending one of my female cousins.. she got excepted to Howard University.. so I took care of her finances for school for 4 years.

Speed: Do you feel like your bringing New York back?

Banks: I don’t feel like I’m bringing New York back. I feel like what we did.. I don’t even wanna count all the record sales and all the numbers. But I feel like if you look at that.. What do you consider what a makes New York rock if its not still rockin? What made it “rock” when it was “rocking”? Record sales? If you really wanna think about it G-Unit made up a good percentage of what was the music for the last three years.

I don’t think its up to me to bring New York back. I think its up to me to bring back the essence that I brought a couple years ago. And that’s to make a motherfucker press the rewind button and make a nigga listen to the lyrics again. Now the rest of New York City has to put that on they shoulders. Y’all have to bring New York back. You understand what I’m sayin? Cause I feel like we been doin that for the past three years. When we was doing it wasn’t nobody else doin it in New York City.

I’m just gonna do my part. I just hope that all the other rappers do they part also and try to remain relevant. Cause hip-hop is a music tornado. Shit can go over there this day.. go over there that day. When its your time again.. when it stops back in New York.. you gotta be prepared for it.

http://www.talkofnewyork.com/interviews/