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Monday - July 31, 2006

— by Ronnie Gamble w/ reporting by Willow

Much like Cee-Lo did with Dangermouse earlier this year as Gnarls Barkley, Ali and Gipp have paired up to fuse two different styles of music to create some special. Ali of Nelly's St. Lunatics and Gipp of the Atlanta vets the Goodie Mob, have been running into each other for a while now, and after Ali convinced Gipp to come over to add a verse on Nelly's recent smash, "Grillz," the partnership began to flourish.

After almost three years of creating music and setting up a deal with Universal through Ali's connects as President of Derrty Ent, the rappers are just about ready to reveal their new album, Kinfolk, to the world.

As intergal members of the respect camps, Ali and Gipp are ready to step the forefront. Will the balance between party tracks and more serious content be the key? Will Ali's business experience and ability to create hits -- as he did with the St. Lunatics -- be enough? The pair answers the questions in this truthful interview.

BallerStatus.net: Tell us how this partnership came together because it's different. No one would ever think you two would collab together.

Gipp: Me and Leezy (Ali) was just running across each other. Their crew and our crew was just always running across each other at awards shows and stuff like that. Me and him, he's the oldest of the St. Lunatics and I'm the oldest of the Goodie Mob, so it was almost like we was always hooked up together.

I was out in L.A. and they was working on the Sweat/Suit album. They told me to come out to the house, and we just started. We got off in the closet, cooked the beats up, and we just started making records. The first record we made was one called "Butterfly Doors," which still made the album.

It really wasn't something that was forced. Once we started making songs together and listening to each other's ideas, it wasn't a forced issue to us.

BallerStatus.net: How did you guys manage to get a deal with Universal? Because you guys come from different camps and usually labels would usually steer away from that. Situations like yours usually end up on Koch.

Ali: Me being the president of Derrty Ent, that just played a really big part of it. It wasn't really a point of trying to get a deal because being on the imprint of Derrty Ent, I was seeing what was within our budget. It's really like pick and choose with us, like what we wanna do or spend our budget on.

The biggest thing was trying to work out the situation Gipp has with Koch. He wasn't 100% happy with that situation. I mean, he was appreciative of them giving him a home, while he was in between deals. Just sitting and talking with the people at Universal, they saw our vision. Nelly was at the house when we was doing it. That was the first person we took to the studio and was like, "Yo, we're gonna do it like this." And Nelly was like, "Let's run with it." Universal then came along, but we kinda wanted to set it up ourselves first to get it runnin' and moving.

BallerStatus.net: How will you guys handle the Gnarls Barkley comparisons in that Gipp comes from a group that's really eclectic and political in its delivery or flow, while Ali brings the crossover "TRL" crowd? Like how Cee-Lo bring the Goodie Mob crowd, while Dangermouse brings all the white kids.

Gipp: I mean, it ain't really no comparisons, 'cause like Cee-Lo, we still doing two different things...two different businesses from Goodie Mob. If you listen to Goodie Mob's records, Cee-Lo on all these songs. First time I done ever heard Goodie Mob, he was singing. So, I just think Cee-Lo just had the opportunity to go outside of that and find somebody that he really clicked with, with the music. Dangermouse's music is what matches with Cee-Lo vocals, and Cee-Lo identifies with that.

It's the same thing with me and Leezy. It's like our ideas match with each other, it doesn't bump heads. That's the thing about music, it's not about where you come from, it's about your musical upbringing. When you meet somebody that's whole upbringing is music, it's not really a hard process to put together. If you think about it, all people that do music, we weird anyway. We sit around, rap to ourselves and hear beats in our heads, while other people saying, "Y'all crazy!" So, when you meet somebody like Leezy, who's been in a group situation -- like I have -- for so long and been their leader, it's easier for us when there's two people. And we still have our collectives to go to, to bring different sounds and ideas. It was real easy.

BallerStatus.net: This is for Gipp. How do you think you'll bring your audience over, when your listeners expect you to talk about disparity in the hood and real issue, while Ali's are more of have fun and no worries about the world?

Gipp: At the end of the day, my audience, I have to keep evolving. If I keep staying in one room, then I'll never evolve to the other three. In my career -- if you think about it -- we all have evolved. We can't stay the same. At the same time, as time goes on, there will be another St. Lunatics album; there will be another Goodie Mob album. But, my question to the fans is: we're always asked why we are changing, but back when Goodie Mob was here, no body was appreciating us like they should have. The fans be like, "We miss y'all, we miss y'all," so if that's true, why the f--- didn't y'all stand up for us? I'm with my brother now; we getting this money.

BallerStatus.net: Ali, you're a part of a crew or brotherhood if you will, that has withstood the test of "group time." At this point -- with the success that Nelly has accomplished, there would have been a dismantling of sorts. How have you guys been able to keep that afloat?

Ali: We ain't friends, we're brothers. It's like how you got two or three sisters and you really don't hang together, because it's always her and her friends. Like, when Nelly and us go to a party, we might not really talk. It's kinda like how you and you're sister would talk in the kitchen. It's just like that. We're not trying to stay friends; we're just locked in like brothers. Like, there might be a time where Nelly and Murphy might be mad at each other, but Murphy still be coming to the house playing the game, but they just won't talk. With us, there will never be no breaking up because it's nobody but us. We all we got. It's not like we were a group that became brothers and friends. We were friend that started rapping.

BallerStatus.net: In terms of you guys' having two different types of styles, how did the chemistry come together?

Gipp: Yea, we have two different sounds. Like, where I come from, when I started, we didn't even wanna be on the radio. With me getting with Ali, he's teaching me a whole different part of myself, a whole new way of writing that I just never really had a chance to do. It's not that I didn't really want to or couldn't, I just feel like he's the first person I could just really sit down with and actually do a verse, and he be like, "Nah, Gipp. Don't say it like that, say it like this." What he was doing was teaching me how to not be so wordy, not to say so much. He basically taught me not to be so personal with the music and to have fun with this sh--. You sitting up there, trying to figure this sh-- out, when it's really 1, 2, 3. No one ever told me that. And that has really brought a new side of me out that will really help me in the future.

BallerStatus.net: In terms of the business aspect of this. Gipp touched on radio, and Ali, you are no stranger to radio. So, was it hard to get radio to come aboard with this new single?

Ali: It's a difficult thing because some radio is loving it and some is hating it. People were just really trying to figure it out like. Gipp, them, they never even looked at the radio. When we went #1 with Grills, Gipp was like, "Whoa! Oh My goodness." This radio sh--, people are really trying to figure it out before they really give it a chance. It's not really a big ole issue with the radio. They're either gonna pick it up or not. This is a great album. It's just the usual politics with the radio sh--.

BallerStatus.net: The climate of the industry has changed. When Gipp first got into he game, you had to really work hard in terms of getting noticed or touching the people in a different way to set yourself apart. Now, it’s like, if you jump on the trend, you can probably get on. Do you feel a way about that?

Gipp: Nah, I don't feel a way about that. I feel to a certain extent the climate and culture of hip-hop made it like that. That's why the culture of hip-hop is in the state it is. Y'all was so hard with Outkast and Goodie Mob, y'all was so hard, they don't wanna rap no more. Organized Noize don't wanna do it like that no more. It was just hard because they watched them give all the honors to everybody else, and now, why is the South or Midwest so in control? Because the culture itself kept the motherf---ers out that was valid.

We were the first to go out with Roots and Fugees every night. And we kicked their ass every night, it wasn't on the radio. Every night, they'd be like, "Goodie Mob kicked y'all's ass." Fugees even used Goodie Mob songs in their shows. You also saw Roots doing Goodie Mob songs at the shows. People gave other people more praise for doing our songs than they did us. So, it's like, it's always been where we're from. That's why the culture of hip-hop is so f---ed up. They always judging people for where they're from and not just giving their music the equal opportunity you give everybody else. That's why New York, right now, don't know what's going on and can't figure it out. And the South and Midwest, we done built the base where we don't need to listen to nobody. We don't need to come to New York or L.A. We got the whole middle of the map and down two floors to listen to us.

Now, New York rappers are like, "Yo, we can't get our music played." Well, they know how we feel now. New York ain't never been in their position. To a certain extent, they feel like [the South] in the 90's. We're we on the same label as B.I.G., Puff and Mase was, but people we're like, "Oh, B.I.G., Puff and Mase! But Goodie Mob and Outkast, oh ok. Ok, aight." One thing they did for us was make us stand the test of time. All them gone, where they at? We're still here doing it. We're still building out catalogs. All the people I started with, they not here no more.

BallerStatus.net: So, what have you done different? Because some of your truly classic albums, some of today's stars will never have that.

Gipp: No, they won't because today's stars, it's easier for them now. Like, everybody can come up with one little hood jam and it hits the radio, and that thing might spread like hotcakes. It's just different now. The South's got its base now. But, I can tell you the quality of the albums aren't the same. If you think about St. Lunatics, to me, they know how to put a quality album together, from top to bottom. And that's with [Goodie Mob]. I think a lot of these kids gettting more exposure and getting more radio play, people forget about their album. If someone buys your album and there's only one or two songs on there, they might never buy one of your albums again. Once they toss you out the window, that might be a wrapski.

BallerStatus.net: Who did you work with producer-wise to come up with the sound for the Kinfolk album?

Gipp: We worked with a producer called DJ Speedy. A couple kids from St. Louis named Coco. Jay-E, he did a lot of the Country Grammar album and Nellyville. [We worked with] Trakstarz, they did Chingy's album. Jasper out of Atlanta. A lot of Atlanta and St. Louis producers and a few others.

BallerStatus.net: What about featured artists?

Gipp: We UGK, Pimp C and Bun B, on two different songs. We got Juvenile, Three 6 Mafia, the Goodie Mob, St. Lunatics, Avery Storms, Chocolate Thai and that's basically it. And David Banner. Anyone who would sound good with us.

BallerStatus.net: How has this experience strengthened yourselves as businessmen?

Gipp: Ali was the one that taught be to be more about the business. See, I was around here trying to save the world. And he had really showed me how to be about your business, get this money, feed your kids and be financially stable. That's what Leezy taught me.

Ali: I'm from the projects. It is so stereotypical how we're from the projects, so we make pop records to act like we're not from there. But, all these dudes that are from the suburbs, they act like they gangstas and they soft. Really, really. And I will name names 'cause I'm 6'5", 250... listen. It's only a few rappers that's tough. 98% of the rest, they soft, they actin', they FAKIN'!! I'm 6'5", I see the fear in their hearts when they see me. When they see me coming, they nervous. That's why I'm always like, "Let's make this money and go in the house" 'cause the rest of these dudes is fakin'. They jokin', they pretendin'. We went somewhere, me and Gipp, we walked up into the show by ourselves. You got the gangstas coming in with 50 people behind them. You a gangsta? You ain't come by yourself? You got a gun on you, ain't you? You got 1,000 n----s and it's all fake. It's all an illusion. I got kids, I ain't a rapper all day, saggin' my pants, smokin' blunts all day, keeping it real!!! Keeping it real!!

That's everybody in the industry. EVERYBODY! The reason while we're able to do that is because I'm so comfortable being pop, it ain't a mistake that we did this. Yea, we grew up in a bad situation, you wouldn't even understand it, where you'd be like, "Damn, why is he like this? He would be a suburban kid, but he ain't." I came home and said, "Let's do it like this. Let's get this money. Let's act numb. All these cats ain't tough, they fakin'. They got a 1,000 motherf---ers with them, they scary." The music Gipp made, Gipp is keeping it real. Everbody else, they wrapping they heads up, and they go with white women. They straight up eat pork. Gipp is keeping it all the way real. Gipp talking about saving the world, and spittin' real sh--, but what has the game paid you back? It's not your responsibility to save the world, your responsibility is to save Gipp and that's it. So, I was like, we playing ourselves, let's go out here and have a good time.

BallerStatus.net: Tell us about this new album, how you guys were able to find balance in bringing your two different styles together to make it flow. And what people should expect.

Ali: For me, what we did, we just had fun in what we were going through. What we're talking about right now, we just having fun and making good records. And it's not really being too political, not being too...on my side, we didn't go too, too far party. And his, we didn't go too political. We just met in the middle and had fun.

People are get in this album, that it's good and consistent. It took 2 1/2 to 3 years to make it. We took all the best songs out of 60 songs, the best 16. We just had a good time.

Gipp: We messed it all. We gave you still some political, but in the middle of that, we beat up the trunk. For the girls, I've never done any records -- outside of "Beautiful Skin" -- that was geared toward Black women 'cause I was married at the time. Me being married and telling my other side of myself, I couldn't do it too cool. This was the first time I've ever been able to make a record as a single man.

BallerStatus.net: Ali, you just put it out there, you're no stranger to the pop world where you kinda have to half-sell yourself. Gipp, you come from an area that's real grimey, and you're coming into a whole different world. How have you mentally prepared yourself for that?

Gipp: Well, if you think about it, I've always been that side to the Goodie Mob. That's why I always did my thing. Gipp always tried to match my clothes with the music. That's why I always wore the stuff that I wore. I look like a rock or pop star, but I was saying something totally different. That was my way of getting you to listen to me. That was always our trick. We're gonna look so motherf---in' wild that if they don't remember anything we say, they gonna remember us, like, "Them folks look crazy!" They gone remember that. That's gonna give them the intrigue to go and find out about us.

Ali: It wasn't a forced thing from Gipp. All it takes is being comfortable in your skin. What I did was tell Gipp to come over and try it out a little bit. I be damned if we didn't come straight out with "Grillz" and go #1. It ain't about what I'm talking about, it's about what he sees. He's like, "Goddamn Leezy, I've been rapping for 10 years and I've said some of the most intelligent things of all time, but the only thing people know me by is 'Gipp got them yellows, got them purples, got them reds.' I be damned." That jiggaboo talk, and they like that jiggaboo talk hoe [laughs].

I went to college. We dumb it down on purpose. "We need two peear." I'm like, "Yo, it takes a brain to sell this sh-- to these people like that." And I'll say, "Fabolous chain, one white, one yellow..." Get the f--- out of here. If you listen to Ali, I've said some amazing sh--. Damn, people don't even wanna recognize that sh--. They just wanna hear, "Gipp was the first with my mouth bright white." There it is, I ain't gonna run from it.

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