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7/13/2005 How have you been lately? I've been good, I've just been working. On the grind. How's your new album "Free at Last" coming? It's coming along real good. What can we expect on this album? It's gonna be electrifying. I got Scott Storch, Just Blaze, I got a couple bangers from Mannie Fresh, and I got my man from Philly, Chad West on the joint. It's gonna be crazy. Not a lot of people would expect you to work with Mannie Fresh, how did that come out? It came out real good. He works good, he's a hard worker. He comes to the studio and takes care of his business. It was a pleasure working with him And we've been seeing Chad West's name a lot more recently, why should we check for him? He's up-and-coming, he's hungry, and he's got that sound. He's got that Philly Soul sound. And he's willing to grind. He's willing to stay up all night with you, he'll get it in and he's got that heat. He's definitely somebody to check for. He's got five joints on the album. How was it recording with Scott Storch? It was an honor working with him. We were in the studio and he cooked a couple joints up for me and it was a wrap. He brings the heat for me. How's the Scott Storch-produced single "Where You Been" doing for you? It's doing good. Everybody's loving it. They're just starting to work it so you'll be hearing it a lot more soon. We'll probably shoot the video for it in a minute. Just Blaze has been very important to your career, how have you guys worked together through the years? Me and Just got good chemistry, so as soon as we're in the lab it's a wrap. There's some people that you work with that you know when you get together you'll come out with a good product, and that's how Just is. How would you describe your state-of-mind today? Hungry. Business-minded. I wanna strive for more. That's just where I'm at right now. I have to strive to make it to the next level. I've got to make sure this album goes platinum this time. I have to get my business ventures in order. I got a lot of people to feed. How was Jay involved in "Free at Last?" I'd go in and work and then I'd bring him my ideas and we'd collab. He'll let me know what he thinks will work and what won't work, and we take it from there. When is the album scheduled to drop? Probably at the end of September, early October. Joe Budden just got pushed back, does that concern you that your album may get pushed back as well? No, it don't concern me, because you've got to make sure the product is right. You can't rush it. Everything gotta be right. How did the Dame and Jay split affect you? It affected me, but I have to do what I have to do. It's all gravy. Jay holds us down. It was a family, niggas missed that, but I have to do what I have to do. You did the Scram Jones-produced song "In These Times" where you said, "a lot of rappers out there trying to sound like Young Free." How do you feel when you know people are biting you? It's all good. The rap industry is competitive. It's like boxing. I could change my style up and niggas can jerk it all they want because I could come up with something else. But I notice though. There's a lot of gossip going around about what's going on with State Property and who's beefing with who. What do you have to say about that situation? Everything is everything. My man Beans is locked up and once he comes home, he'll reach out to the press and y'all will know everything. You got another month to wait and then you'll know everything. What's Ice City up to? Ice City is working, they're in the studio trying to cook another joint up. They're on my album, so once my album drops and goes triple-platinum, then the world will know them and we'll put another album out. How important is it to bring other MC's up with you? It's real important, you can't forget where you come from. I just have to give back and do whatever I can do. Where do you fit into the Philly Hip Hop scene? I am Philly. Me and Beans, we run Philly. If you come to Philly, it's us. There's a lot of people doing their thing, shout out to them, I love it, but at the end of the day, we're Philly. We got that thing on smash. Would you ever want to work with the Roots? I was just with Black Thought last week, we'll do something real soon. We always wanted to do something. Questlove did the drums on the Scott Storch track. Plus, we work with the same producers. We never got a chance to do anything, but we'll probably do something real soon. How do you feel today when you listen to "Philadelphia Freeway?" I feel like it should have went platinum. That's a crazy album. It's a Hip Hop classic. Everybody loves it everywhere I go. What's your favorite song on that album? I like the whole album. That's like my baby right there. Picking a favorite song is like trying to pick a favorite child. You've got a dope catalog of material, could you pick a favorite song? "What We Do Is Wrong," I like that. "International Hustler" is my shit. "Goodbye." There's a lot of joints I did that didn't make it to the mainstream. I love "Night Shift" with Bleek and Carl Thomas, I love that shit but we couldn't get the samples cleared. How did it feel getting the call to get on "1-900 Hustler?" It was crazy. I just took the beat home and I came back up with the verse and they loved it. Jay loved it. He was like "this is gonna be your introduction to the world." What kind of reaction did you get from that verse? I got a crazy reaction. I was doing shows off that one verse. Everybody loved it. Remember Jay said "one verse could fuck up the game." How does your Muslim faith affect your rhymes? I try to say some things here and there to let people know what time it is. But in all actuality, you can't mix the two things together. In my religion, I'm not even supposed to be doing music, because anytime people listen to my music, they could be doing something else like reading or praying. But that goes back to my favorite song "What We Do Is Wrong." I have to do what I have to do to feed my family, and I know what's in my heart. Hopefully God knows my heart too. You've always had that devotion to your family...you said "if my kids hungry I'll snatch the dishes out your kitchen." How important is family to you? Family is important because those are the people that will be with you if you got 10 million or 10 cents. And in this business, you're around a lot of fake people that act like they love you. You know when its real, and when it's real, you have to try to hold onto that. How's your acting career going? I'm in "State Property 2," I'm in "Fade to Black." I'm going over a couple other scripts now. Once I get the album done, I'll probably go out to L.A. and start working on some movie stuff. What's the difference between acting and rapping? Rapping is real, acting is acting. Acting isn't hard, and it pays a lot. I gotta get that paper. How was it acting in "State Property 2?" It was easy because it was family. Beans, Dame, everyone was around. It was fun. How's your business "Custom Motor Sports" doing? It's doing really good. We've been getting a lot of business lately, we've been promoting it… What exactly does it do? We pimp your ride. If you need a system, hydraulics, if you want interior stuff done, if you want 24's on your wheels, if you got a hooptie and you want it to look nice, we'll hook it up. How important is it to have other things going for you besides rapping? It's real important, because this music thing is like boxing. One day you're on top, the next day you might not be there. It's important to have other things to fall back on. Plus you should have other business for your family anyway. Stuff your kids can fall back on. Do you have any other ventures you're working on? I got a couple things I'm working on, I don't really want to talk about it until it comes to pass. But once it does I'd be happy to do another interview with you to talk about it. How do you feel about the Cassidy situation today? I'll be the bigger man. It's a touchy situation, because when I see him, he be palms and teeth. But it ain't about nothing. I'm happy to help the young fella out. Did you ever consider yourself a battle rapper? I make songs. I make stuff people can feel. I'm a reality rapper. That's why people love my shit, because they can put it on and it helps them get through their day. When I was coming up, I had to battle to get where I'm at. That's like the scene in Philly. If you come to Philly, there's a thousand little niggas rapping on the corner, but if you want people to feel you, you have to make songs that people can feel you on, that's the bottom line. How did you first get discovered? I was in Philly, doing the Ice City thing, we had made a little name for ourself. This guy named Sadeeq was Beans' manager. My old manager fucked with Sadeeq so we got cool with him. Then they took me up to spit for Jay. Then Jay was fucking with me. I got locked up for 6 months. I came home and was on house arrest. Beans was calling me. He said as soon as I got off house arrest we were going up to New York. We went up to NY and I got on "1-900 hustler." There you go. For every Freeway, there are a thousand kids that will never get that shot you got. What advice do you have for young MC's? Just whatever you do, work at it your best. If this is what you really want to do, you have to work at it. You can't just sit around and think it's gonna come to you and fall in your lap. My whole block raps, and I got love for everybody, but it's not that simple. You can't think "my man's on, I'm gonna get on." If you want ot be a doctor, you have to work at it. It's all a hustle, whatever you want to do. If you work at McDonald's and you want a raise, you have to work hard at it so they recognize that you're working hard and they'll move you up. You can't just be lazy, you have to be on your grind. How would you say your grind is? I'll be up writing while they're asleep. I'll be on my job. And I'm not at my full potential. And I know I can work way harder, so I'm talking to myself when I say you have to work hard. What do you want to say to all your fans? Make sure you get that album, "Free at Last." I'm gonna stay on my job, you stay on yours. It's the Roc! Holler at your boy.

By Brian Kayser

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