2007
WE THUGS, IF THAT’S
WHAT YOU WANNA CALL
US, IN A CORPORATE
WORLD. WE’RE ADAPTING
AND GETTING MONEY. { } - BLOODRAW
OZONE MAG // 29
duced to a corporate world, but we still being us, we ain’t gon’ change. We
thugs, if that’s what you wanna call us, in a corporate world. We’re adapting
and getting money.
BloodRaw, even though you beat the Federal case, I heard that you recently
got arrested for a similar situation.
BloodRaw: I mean we ain’t gon’ get into the new case, but we gon’ get on
the old case because that was big. The new shit is real petty, but the old
case went down like this. On January 6th, 2006, we were about to leave the
country to go to Europe on a 17 city tour and the U.S. Marshall picked me up.
They expedited me to Panama City to face federal conspiracy charges. Then,
on April 6th, 2006, I was acquitted, and by the blessing of God I’m here. There
was a lot of niggas who held they nuts and counted me out. They say niggas
was giving each other high-fives at the club, but this is destiny, homie. Can’t
nobody stop this. We’re gonna be successful no matter what. When you put
God first, everything is possible.
Slick you recently got shot; why didn’t we hear more about that situation?
Slick Pulla: Getting shot is not my claim to fame. If you in the hood and a
certain situation goes down, that’s something that can happen at any given
time to anybody. In that situation, I felt the cat was trying to make a move
on me and I’m hotheaded so I went and slapped him and his homeboy, and it
resulted in the shooting, but I’m blessed.
How has the group dynamic changed as a result of the some of the situations
you’ve been involved in?
Slick: The group has pretty much stayed the same, man. It’s real street music,
we been sticking to the same formula. It was the same thing coming in and
it’s gonna be the same formula coming out.
BloodRaw: The difference between us and a lot of other groups is that we
don’t really look at it as a group. We came into this as family and with a lot of
niggas. We’re all solo artists also, but we wanted to come out as a group first
to show people that we could get down this way, and we can get down on the
solo tip. Right now we’re just representing CTE. We gon’ be around for a long
time, so if anybody else think this a game, they just finna’ see.
Slick: Be prepared.
Tell me about the new album, Corporate Thuggin’.
Slick: It’s three great minds thinking alike for one common cause, and that’s
to put the “real” back into this street movement, man. We gon’ give the
people what they want and let ‘em know the Corporate Thuggin’ mindframe.
BloodRaw: The whole CTE, Corporate Thuggin’, is just really showing the
whole world what we stand for, what we live by. It’s blood, sweat, and tears:
Corporate Thugz. Entertainment. USDA is the clique; we’re Slick Pulla and
BloodRaw. Corporate Thugz Entertainment is the umbrella and USDA is the
forefront. Really, this is just three young cats from different places, different
states, who came together from the streets and got something to say.
Corporate Thuggin’ is gonna be released under Def Jam, right?
BloodRaw: Yeah, Def Jam. Everything we do is Def Jam. We got a label deal.
Our solo projects are Def Jam, we got R&B artists, we got other rap artists and
everything is through Def Jam.
Do you guys have different positions or ranks in the group?
BloodRaw: We all working on positions, me personally, I got my own label.
Slick got his thing, we either gon’ run some type of department, or we gon’
be A&Rs or something. But like I say, we all learning as we’re being artists.
We’re learning the business. It just doesn’t stop with being an artist. We’re
all gonna have positions in this company.
Slick: We’re a young label, but with all of big homie’s success, we’re in a
good position. We’re learning things right up close and personal.
Speaking of Jeezy, how do you plan on emerging from behind his shadow?
BloodRaw: We all had a following before this. We all brought something to
the table, and Jeezy just made our situation better. Slick has a style that you
can distinguish from anybody. He got his own flow and his own voice. When
you hear me on a track, you know it’s me. It ain’t like we’re following in the
footsteps of Jeezy. When we came in we had a following, and we’re doing our
own thang. The people are gonna wanna hear more of us individually, but
they gon’ love to hear us as a group.
What mindset do you guys have when you’re going into the booth?
BloodRaw: We just really bring us. We just put that together and its like Peruvian
Flake, you can’t get no better. It’s like a thousand grams on the scale, it
just adds up. Slick is the fly, flashy, young nigga. I’m gonna bring the soul to
the table, the gospel, and Jeezy gon’ do his thing. He gon’ talk them yams, he
gon’ talk about being a boss and it’s just gonna be three different minds all
with something to say.
Slick, what defines your style and separates you from other rappers?
Slick Pulla: Pretty much my vocabulary, and a lot of times I like to say something
that make you think a little bit too.
BloodRaw, how is the music scene in your hometown of Panama City, Florida?
BloodRaw: The music scene is not real big. Panama City is drug-infested. We
don’t have nobody to look up to. The kids don’t have no recreational centers,
no idols or nothing. Kids in Panama City grow up and at 11 or 12 years old
they’re trying to get a sack. I’m real influential to the younger generation
that’s coming up now in Panama City, so I do everything I can to support the
hood. Everybody knows I’m the Bang ‘Em Bay representer, but at the end of
the day, I’m trying to bring Florida together. Florida as a whole has been
divided for so long. But we’re coming together and I’m in a position to help
out and bring us together as a state. I look forward to putting Florida on my
back. I feel like Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne Wade. I am Mr. Gunshine State.
I heard Jeezy heard you performing at a concert and signed you almost immediately
afterwards. Is that true?
BloodRaw: Yeah, in Dothan, Alabama. I’ll never forget that night. I love
Dothan, man; it’s like a home to me also. Yeah, one night in Dothan, me and
Jeezy was both on the ticket. Dothan is right next to Florida, so that’s like my
market, too. Jeezy seen me perform the street song I had called “Represent,”
and him and Kinky B lost their minds. So I came to the A and in less than a
week we made it happen. Here I am now.
Slick, you’ve been with CTE since 2000. Have you gotten restless within those
seven years?
Slick Pulla: It’s about playing your role. Restless for what? We’re family. Whatever
accomplishment my big homie made is an accomplishment for me, too.
It’s a team thing for me, and everybody is gonna get they chance to do what
they need to do. We’ve been down since before it was even on and cracking
like this. It’s all about playing your position in life. Whenever my homie
shines, I shine. Whatever he does, that’s a reflection of me also. And whatever
I do is a reflection of him, so we all shining together. I have no reason to be
restless because everything has been right on stride.
What are you most looking forward to from this project?
BloodRaw: Really, I’m looking forward to us being together again because
we’ve all been pretty successful from our mixtapes. We’re all been out doing
our own shows and we were on road all the time. points at Slick I love being
with my brother and I think this USDA project is gonna bring us back together.
We’re gonna be on road, having fun like old times, and we gon’ still make
money.
Do you know what the first single is going to be?
BloodRaw: I’m 90 percent sure it’s gonna be a song called “Check.” It’s by one
of our in-house producers named TA, he gave us a banger. The song is about
getting money and bringing all the tools it takes to get money.
What other producers do you have on the CD?
BloodRaw: We really did the in-house thing. We probably got four outside
producers on the whole album: Shawty Redd, Midnight Black, Toomp, and
Mannie Fresh. It’s a tight lil’ lineup, but the in-house producers really showed
they ass. We got Nasty, the nasty one. We got TA, we got Speedy, and Tony Rey.
They all really showed their ass on this project.
Why separates Corporate Thuggin’ from other group albums?
Slick Pulla: This album is gonna take you back to the 8Ball & MJG days. The
UGK days, the Geto Boys and Goodie Mob days. There hasn’t been an album
from a group in a long time where several people collectively got together
and gave you a solid, straight drop album. It ain’t really went down like that
in a minute. It seems like a lot of cats just get in where they fit in and throw
a verse here or there. But we did this here from the beginning to the end. We
finna take you on one helluva trip. //