Young Buck - HipHopHavoc.com Interview

Young Buck Going at it Hard!
Interviewed by Jewels from HipHopHavoc.com

It seems as if controversy and fame go hand in hand in the career of every successful rapper, and with the increasing popularity of David "Young Buck" Brown it is clear that he’s no exception to the rule. Starting with his departure from Cash Money Records which led to an estranged relationship with Birdman & Lil' Wayne, down to the much talked about conflict with Compton rapper,The Game,. Buck has been taking shots at his competition all while managing to keep his audience anticipating more. With his freshman debut, "Straight Outta Cashville", a platinum selling success, he has come out of the gates unscathed surpassing the critics and underhanded attempts to circulate his album illegally, a pitfall that ninety-nine percent of artists face in these digital days of cyber-jacking. "I worked hard for that shit, niggas was trying to bootleg me and I had to prove myself to [them], but I'm on the edge, and [they] are understanding me right now.", says the dedicated Nashville native.
His sophomore release, "Buck the World" , scheduled for release on March 27, is a testament to having learned from experience on how to put together a classic album. The title track off of the album "Get Buck" is produced by Atlanta's own Polow The Don and definitely delivers a side of a Young Buck that we're accustomed to, "I think the people really wanted a record with that energy, the first single I kinda like got at the ladies. I wanted to give them something from Buck. The biggest record that I had on my last album was, "Shorty Wanna Ride wit' Me", so I wanted to come back and give the ladies what they wanted first, so I can get straight to what I do best and that’s making good street music, period." The album features a variety of producers and artists that will not only defy the myth of the sophomore jinx but will also secure a high ranking on the charts. So, if you're asking yourself who could possibly be on the album to garner such high expectations, well, Buck told me just that and more.


[HipHopHavoc.com]: Who can we expect to hear on the album as far as some of the production and other artist that you may have featured on the album?
[Young Buck]: Aww man, you gonna get records out of this album like wit me, Snoop Dogg and Trick Daddy together. [ I also got tracks] wit me, Bun B and Eightball MJG. Man, I even got a record wit Linkin Park. I brought them straight to the 'hood. I also got Lyfe and of course Fifty. As far as production, the album is "stupid", Dr. Dre produced some shit , Em[inem] produced some shit...even though I didn't get him rapping, he laced some shit for me. You know how he do!

[HipHopHavoc.com]: How did you approach the second album differently than the first? Do you feel as though you had more creative control with this sophomore album?
[Young Buck]: Well, at the end of the day I know I had more control. I don't owe nobody shit off of my last album, I recouped. I don’t owe the label, I don’t owe Fifty, or nobody nothing as far as my album, they made back the money from whateva they put off into me so it was like whateva I wanted to go off and do I was able to and I had room to do it because the budget was there. I didn't move in this fashion with the last album as far as me knowing the business. I was aware of the word "recoup" that a lot of artist aren’t aware of. So I kept my budget low, like with my first record I brought to the table, and worked with a lot of “other” producers rather than working with big name producers just because I want to be able to recoup and see money. Regardless, I didn’t know I was gonna come out and sell a million records so I budgeted my album so that if I went gold I would still be paid then I came out and sold 2 million records, so you know [how I did in terms of money].

[HipHopHavoc.com]: Since you've been signed as an artist, have you realized that you have to be more of a business man than an artist at times in this industry?
[Young Buck]: Yeah, I understand that. I mean I have no choice that’s why this album is so important for me to do well because it establishes me and everything that I got going, especially wit my label Cashville Records. I just signed C-Bo from the Outlawz and we're almost at the end of negotiations. I'm in a whole 'nother lane. Catch my own group, 615. It's myself, a kid by the name of Hi C, Blue Murda, and D.

[HipHopHavoc.com]: When can we expect to hear the first release from the 615?
[Young Buck]: At the end of the day I don’t know for a fact which company I'm gonna sign us under but I just left a meeting with Jimmy Ivine and the way he's sounding he ain't really trying to let anything come up out that building without [him] being a part of it. He knows what I created wit my own company so he's really trying to push the end on giving me what I deserve to make my thing happen through another division of Interscope Records. So really, you can expect to see a record release this year sometime from Cashville records [but] I don’t know whether its gonna be C Bo's [album first] which is titled, "Ready for the World". It's crazy, then the Outlawz, their shit is ridiculous so its gonna be a good look.

[HipHopHavoc.com]: With the latest trend of rappers coming in the game and branching off into so many ventures do you plan on going in any other directions in the entertainment industry for example, acting? Do you have any thing lined up for us on the Big Screen?
[Young Buck]: Man I'm just leaving my acting coach right now. I got a movie, its entitled "The Story". I start shooting in three weeks it's [depicting] my life. I got a reality show that's coming out on MTV in the summertime. its gonna be sixteen episodes of that shit, its titled, "Buck the World" and what we doing its like life behind the music, you know? A lot of these rappers….what they do is rap about other people’s life or rap about their homeboy's life.….. when I speak this shit in these verses, I'm taking certain records outta my album and I'm gonna narrate [the scenes] through the music. So some of these people that you hear me speak about on these records you can get a chance to see. Like the situation with my auntie, whose dying of aids and she's in the penitentiary and you can get a chance to see some of these people come to life through my reality show [people] understand that this shit is real and its not a game that a nigga spittin. There are certain artist that’s really real and are speaking from the heart cause they're really going through it and living that shit and I’m one of 'em. Fuck talking about it, I'm gonna show 'em, so that’s where my reality show come in with matching the music up with the life, and letting see that you hear about this line I’m spittin, well here it is. This that person I was talking about right here.

[HipHopHavoc.com]: Have you noticed that there are a lot of imposters in the rap game?
[Young Buck]: Yeah, man definitely. That’s the biggest disappointment of the rap game You grow to love niggas, nah em’ sayin? When you come up being a real street nigga, half of the niggas that I’m running around this industry and doing business with was niggas that, when I was on that block, I was listening to and was a real fan of their music. But moving around like how I move at times in life and listening to some of the niggas that [are] sittin' right beside me and I get a chance to analyze some of the shit that I used to look at them for, and appreciate them for but I'm close enough to see it aint that. I mean, I don’t dislike them [but] I grow away from them. I don’t pay attention as much as I did when I was there [out on the block], a lot of the times.. but some of them would be exactly what it is [real] and exactly what they say they are. I can name a few of 'em, but its only a handful. I call it report card. The report card gotta match you and if the report card don’t match what you doing then it aint worth it. That’s what I look for when fuckin wit an artist. I respect an artist for what he does. If a nigga aint from the streets and he from the suburbs and all he did was go to school and come home everyday. If that’s what’s on his report card when he spit his music, and that’s what comes out then that’s a good nigga to fuck wit cause he's not trying to be this other nigga. It's the ones that try and spit that other life [through their music] knowing damn well that aint them. That’s the ones that twist the game up.

[HipHopHavoc.com]: Recently the G-Unit album sales have been declining. Why do you think this is happening? …and, How do you think your gonna change this going in with your sophomore effort?
[Young Buck]: Yeah, I think honestly we catch a lot of flack for the standards we set for ourselves and I tell that to my crew all the time. We set the standards so high that we gotta be able to keep up with them. I mean you get a nigga like Fifty to come out and sell out all these millions of records, then Banks come and sell like one or two million and then I come and do what I do, wit million of records then Yayo come and the nigga go get a gold record, then its like oh shit what the fucks goin' on, then Mobb Deep come after that then they don’t do shit. So people are like oh shit, but I know that we come and set the standards so high that we get a lot of that flack, so it’s best to stay on top of our game. I don’t think no individual has damaged G-Unit as far as stopping us from selling records. I know me as an individual, I'm about to do my thing like never before, and at the end of the day I think a lot of people feel like I don’t get what I deserve from G Unit...

[HipHopHavoc.com]: Is that why you established Cashville Records?
[Young Buck]: Exactly, so that I could get myself into position and still remain loyal to the Unit and loyal to the situation I'm in. I love Fifty cause he made my career happen from nothing so a nigga will never see Buck [disassociate himself] from Fifty cause I'm a real nigga. If I had a problem with business, honestly nobody would know about it. I’m a real man, and real men get down wit going straight to the horse’s mouth and then handling things from there. That’s how I handle my shit so I never have problems with nothing. [Me and Fifty] respect each other from day one, he understand that I’m my own man and I have my own direction and I have the knowledge that he has too, [relating to] the business. Fifty's like the biggest supporter that I have with Cashville Records. He wants me to get my shit right which is unheard of! He's on me sometimes like "nigga hurry up and get your label going." He's on me sometimes about my own [situation] than our deal, and I respect him for that...

[HipHopHavoc.com]: It's been a long road for you coming up from your days when you used to run with Cash Money Records to now being situated in G Unit and having your own label. Has your life changed dramatically? Are you still able to go the same places you used to go without being mobbed by your fans?
[Young Buck]: Shit man, a nigga will get mobbed by the fans but I appreciate that shit. I go to the mall to get mobbed. I’m a different breed from it all when it comes to shit like that... because the only way my life has changed is that on the other side some of the niggas I used to hang around and the things I used to do, being a street nigga for real, I cant do anymore. I can’t affiliate myself wit some of the niggas that’s still active in the streets, being in the game that I’m in. You know? ...and run wit 'em the way I would if I wasn't in this game. Certain places I can’t hang, like hanging around "the trap" how I used to. So things like that have changed but for the most part when you get a nigga from the ghetto the minute he get any kind of success he gonna run back to the poor people in the projects. That’s how I use my success. I give more back to the hood. Damn right, I’m the mayor of my city and the niggas will tell you that! I hold it all the way down from donating money to the schools all the way to rebuilding the community centers.

[HipHopHavoc.com]: What’s the current relationship between you and the Core DJ's and DJ Will from Hot 107.9?
[Young Buck]: Nigga, we good. [DJ Will] just two-wayed my homeboy Sha Money and asked him, "where's his G-Unit track at?" That situation was a situation that I knew was gonna work itself out because it didn't happen the way that everybody was [making it out to be]. [People] was sayin' that I put my hands on a DJ, but that's not my thing. I don't do no shit like that. I knew Will knew I didn't put my hands on him and he voiced it and let it be known. I didn't touch DJ Will, you know? and it wasn't like DJ Will played a Game record and then I said that I was gonna rush him. I was paid to be at this club and perform and once I got on stage, my DJ was set up and we was about to start the show and "One Blood" was dropped and I thought for a minute that maybe my DJ was playing it then come to find out it wasn't him because I was like, "Nigga, what you doin'?" and he was like, "It ain't me!". So I got on the mic and was like, "Yo cut that off!" and once the record was cut off the fans just went crazy for me...Eventually the Core DJ's was the first to stretch out to me to let me know that they knew the situation from reliable sources that it didn’t go down in the way that it was gettin' presented to them and they just wanted to show me their support and they invited me to their party in Milwaukee, which was hosted by the Core DJ's. Shout out to Tony Neil, one of the "Big Dog's" over there. He organized everything and they bought me out and showed me nothing but real love. They let me know that they totally support my projects and that they always supported me and for me to just move forward from there. Then DJ WiIl came around and eventually he broke to the situation.

[HipHopHavoc.com]: How do you feel about the beef between 50 and Cam?
[Young Buck]: I'm not fucking wit that shit. I feel like that shit is funny. I think that Cam is trying to do whateva he need to do to get his feelings across and I just don't think its gon' really last long. Then Jim Jones stretched out to me, and me and him is pretty even wit each other and he let me know his take on the shit and I let him know my take on it and both of our takes was like, "we'll let 50 and Cam, do the damn thing with that one." It's bound to happen but it's about keeping it hip hop because outside of that its dumb and my report card speak on how I move and me fucking wit it from that end makes it hard on me from the law enforcement end because they play hard wit me, and I aint trying to get caught up. Ya heard?

Shortly after this interview, Young Buck joined 50 in a diss song aimed at Cam'ron titled, "Hold On". It is not clear what inspired this retaliation on Buck's part but in the spirit of Hip Hop it has been characterized as just "aggressive competition".

Also check the following snippets from "BUCK THE WOLD" (In Stores March 27)

Young Buck - Clean up Man

Young Buck - Push Em Back

Young Buck - Money Good

Young Buck ft. Paul Wall- Dead or Alive


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