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Back to Artist Profiles So what's good Lake?

Everything is good man. It's strictly business right now. I'm just looking at the game and checking out which angles dudes are coming from. I'm ready to hit the ground running right now.

What projects are you working on right now?

I'm putting my album out. I've been in the studio for the past three years just recording. I just want to hit the streets hard and get it poppin. I got some things on the table right now with different dudes. I'm not gonna settle for anything. I'm gonna get what I feel I deserve. I am in a good situation right now. That's all I can say about that.

So you can't let any names out?

I don't wanna let any names out, but I'm in a great position that a lot of dudes aren't in. It's really, really good right now.

You've been rhyming for awhile and you've never dropped an official album, is that frustrating to you?

Yeah it is, but I have to take it like everything happens for a reason. I never stopped recording. I've been in the studio all these years. Since the 41st Side came out I've stayed recording and it's only helped me to perfect my craft. There aren't too many dudes messing with me. I got more than enough music to come out with. I feel better than I ever did and I'm in a better position lyrically and musically. I'm really good right now so I'm not really mad about that because I'm capitalizing off of my misfortunes right now.

Do you look at your not having dropped an album as bad luck or bad business, or both?

It's both, because I went back to the penitentiary in 2001 and that definitely set me back a lot. Who knows what opportunities would have been presented after that 41st Side album. A lot of people liked that and how I put it together. It was opening doors for me and I was going back to jail. As far as bad businesses, I was dealing with the wrong people. I was putting 110% and they was saying that they were going to put 110% in and they didn't, and that really stagnated me. I was putting my all into the music, and they just have to make the phone calls. They wasn't doing that. So that was definitely bad business. But they're paying for it now because they're not accelerating in their position. Their career is in a decline. In not helping me they hurt themselves at the same time.

Why did you make the Nas song asking him all those questions?

It was not something I ever wanted to do. First off, that was homeboy-to-homeboy. There was nothing insulting or derogatory in that record. It was just me expressing how I felt in my heart to him. If you listen to it, there's not nothing in there that's a diss! I never wanted to make the record, I'd rather us get it poppin' with him, let's hit the industry by storm! He didn't want to do that, and at the same time, my people are dying on the streets, that's not a figure of speech, they're literally dying. These are people that we both say we care about. He's not there. And I'm going to court for people that are supposed to be out and they're blowing trials for 100 years…natural life plus 87 years…I'm going up North to visit them and he's not there. Everything I said in that song was from my heart. I would have rather never had to make that record. The reason I did it is because we haven't talked. I haven't talked to him since August. And the reason I ain't talk to him is because he was supposed to help me out with a deal. These dudes from Sony wanted to holla at him about me and that's when he turned his phone off and didn't return calls. Now his number's changed…he wouldn't return my calls, I'm in limbo! The last time I seen him was when we did the concert at Central Park. Universal wanted to give me a deal too and he doesn't take that meeting. Then he goes to Universal behind my back and takes another dude named Dirty Mouth up there and they didn't want Dirty Mouth. And he never went back to Universal. Then he did the same thing with Columbia. You've got to understand that the type of life I live is that if somebody walked out of a meeting and told me to chill for a month, in that time span a lot can happen. We're not promised tomorrow. So for you to do that to me you're just saying "fuck me." The only thing I have is the ability to make music. That's the only thing I have to live off of, so if you leave me to the streets you're leaving me to die.

Is Nas still QB?

Nah, Nas is not QB. QB is where you see people standing in court, you see unity, you see people holding each other down. You can see he's not QB in his music. "Illmatic" is Queensbridge. That was when he was living with his mom talking about his 20 years of experience of living in the projects. That album is Hip Hop in it's purest form, and that's not where he's at right now. You had to be connected to people. He was connected to me. I'm still in Queensbridge everyday. When anyone hears Queensbridge, my name is attached to that. He gets his stories from being with people like me. He got on straight out of high school, why the fuck would he be out there and fuck up his career? But he has to get that creativity from somewhere. You can't get that in Hollywood. You have to get that street essence from being in the street. That's where you get that from. That's where you get everything that makes people gravitate to you. He had to keep me around to gravitate to people. He don't have that. That's why he's not connected with the people the way he should be. Nas is not Queensbridge, not at all!

Did you feel like you should have been invited to Nas' wedding?

Yeah, if that's your man, that's who you invite. Who else are you gonna invite to a gathering besides your people? If something happens to you and you're lying in a hospital and you pass away and you can see people showing love at your funeral, you'd be like "damn!" why wouldn't you want someone there. If that is your fam why wouldn't you invite them, unless it's some other shit. That's just me being real asking questions and saying that. There's a lot of people around him that say it behind his back but won't say it to his face because they're scared because he's all they got. Me, on the other hand, I speak from the heart. I'm not worried about none of that.

How much should Nas have helped the Bravehearts?

That's an absolute truth. You can look at artists like Nelly, he has the St. Lunatics. He promotes them. Eminem. Obie Trice puts out an album and does well. If you look at the greatest artists, they have loyalty to their people. Tupac, Junior Mafia…Junior Mafia wasn't even rhyming and he pushed them like that. 50 puts out everybody and makes sure that they eat. Does Nashawn deserve something for going at the Diplomats? Now Nashawn has beef with the Diplomats because of Nas. And he still hasn't put out an album. Look back to Nas' first video. Bravehearts were there. I could show you old pictures of everybody standing around before they even had hair on they face. They deserve to be in the projects fucked up with no money. They have to work now and be fucked up and be struggling. If you look at all these motherfuckers from my projects, they didn't even finish high school. What the fuck are they gonna do now? They started rhyming when they was younger. What job opportunities do they got now? Some of them went to jail. What are they going to do? Realistically? Do they deserve that. But when their man that they know and love is riding around in a Phantom and has a big old mansion and your man has to have token money and budget his lunch money, you can live with that? C'mon man.

Has Nas gotten back to you after you put out the track?

Nah, Nas ain't get back to me. He doesn't have any numbers on me. The few people that was dealing with them, they tried to reach out but it ain't nothing to talk about. There's nothing to debate about. You do what you gotta do, much success to you, let me do what I need to do. I don't need to be distracted. All the energy that I was putting into your project that's what I need to do for myself. People don't see how hard I worked with Nas and the ideas I gave him, I know that. I was there to support him. Like if you got a championship boxer and you're in his corner, you're gonna tell him what he needs to do to help him win. When I was over doing that I was doing that because that's my part. That's what it is. There's really nothing to talk about. It's about me doing what I have to do and putting my energy into myself.

Who are you working with right now?

I got producers from all over. I got fire producers. Uno Dos, Ben Grimm (Now-N-Laterz). I already worked with Alchemist, I worked with Havoc, I still got old tracks I did with them. I've done records with Fat Joe. Right now me and 'Kiss are working on a couple records. Me and 'Mega. I got a lot of people that are gonna come out that are gonna be dope, like Uno Dos, Artillery. My whole plan is bringing them to the world. I know how nice they are. I know what they're going to bring to the game and that's what I want to help them do. I wanna let the world see what I'm about. Let the world hear me. Let my story be told and let the world decide what's real and what's fake and how much they're feeling me.

Littles once told me that Queensbridge is too divided and that the MC's there don't want to see others blow, do you think that's true?

Yeah, it shows. You can't judge somebody by their words, you judge them by their actions that they display. A lot of times their actions are contradictions of what they say. Like if you want someone to eat, you don't have to say it, you just have to do it. No one is coming to the table unwilling to work for their money. No one's asking for handouts. Everyone's willing to work, but there's never going to be any unity unless there's some new leaders in Queensbridge. Don't just judge me by my words, look at the actions. You could name a whole list of all the dope Queensbridge artists. Now look at "why ain't y'all down together?" That's because the people in the most powerful position don't want to do that.

With the Littles and Mobb Deep beef, did you get involved in that at all?

That's a personal beef. They was fucking with each other. Littles was on Rap City, the Source with them, they were down with each other. If I step in with somebody, it's over me over some shit that they violated with me and my peoples personally. I don't like to get into other beefs. If other people have problems I try to stay neutral. When I put 41st Side together, I tried to unite everybody. I brought dudes on tracks that weren't talking. That is how I came on trying to do, and now you see that it's not going to happen. Now it's time for me to do me. Let's see how good Lake can do. People haven't gotten the full effect of me. You can not like me but you have to respect what I say because it's the truth.

What are your goals right now?

My goals first it to let everybody hear my voice, let everybody hear my story, and hit the ground running. I need to do this for my peoples because a lot of people have been suffering because other people have been saying they'll make something happen and it's obviously not gonna happen. Now it's my duty to make that happen because there is people that are depending on me that are in the penitentiary and the only way that they can see daylight again is if I get in the position. People that are in the position to help don't give a fuck. They don't give a fuck about me as well. My duty now is to step up to the plate and let my presence be felt and leave my mark and do the shit that I'm talking about these other people not doing. It's my duty to get that done now.

A lot of people are going to be mad at you for making that track about Nas and speaking out against him, what do you have to say to them?

People that say "why you gotta diss Nas?" People that say that, my music ain't even for you, my words are not even for you. If you talk real questions, I will answer them, because it's real. But I'm not here to address these weirdo motherfuckers who sit behind a computer with a pair of glasses and a Chaka Khan wig butt-naked. I don't give a fuck about them. I'm here to talk to people who really understand this music and understand this culture and know what this shit is really about. So if you don't understand what loyalty is, there's no way for you to be even checking for Lake.

By Brian Kayser

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