You grew up in Jersey City with Joe Budden, how'd you first meet and when did you start rhyming?

"Me and Budden went to the same high school. We met one day because he was with one of my boys. My boy spit as well and Mouse (Budden) knew that, they were cool. To make a long story short, the 3 of us ended up going back to my cousin's house to spit. When it came time for me to spit..I burned it down. Budden was like, "Yo, you hot", you need to make it happen. I was only 14 at the time, I didn't take rap serious. I was on the block selling drugs, you know, the average shit for niggaz in the hood. I didn't take rap seriously until I turned 18."

When did you decide you wanted to take rapping seriously?

"When the people let me know!! I used to spit on mixtapes for no name dj's and shit, but for some reason when I did freestyles for these cats, their tapes would ALWAYS SELL OUT!! The DJ became a household name when I was on their Track Listings. So that turned into the dj's constantly hitting me up to get into the studio to drop something for their tapes. I have a huge fan base in Jersey City. The more mixtapes I was on, the more publicity I got. Everyone in the hood would come up to me like, "Yo you Meedah? Yo, you hot son, you got maaaaad talent. Who mixtape you gonna be on next?" When you got a city of people constantly telling you your shits fire, and DJ's beggin you for freestyles, its only so long before you wake up and realize the talent yaself. I started loving the recognition that was coming my way. With the enormous buzz I had, I realized that music was my meal ticket. I was tired of getting arrested....tired of getting locked up. Music was the only thing I was good at."

Who would you look to as your influences?

"Kool G Rap...Big Daddy Kane.. Jay-Z...Biggie..."

You used to rhyme in a group called "The Franchise" with Joe Budden, why did that fall apart?

"Me and Mouse (Budden) got arrested!! When Mouse got out, he went into a drug program. I was arrested and shipped to a Correctional Facility. When Budden came home he was walking a straight line...you know, the "straight path". When I came home I was still selling drugs, smoking weed, hitting the block up. He was more focused on rap and I wasn't at that time. He had to stay away from me because I was a bad influence. While my money was "GROWING ON TREES"..."SNOW WHITE" & that "WET", he was focused on doing his music. I wasn't mad at him."

You then joined "The Pharmacy," how did that go?

"The Pharmacy were a group of niggaz in the area who were hot!! I took them under my wing because I felt that together we could be a problem!! However, my work ethic was too serious for them and they couldn't keep up. They like my lil nephews now. We still polly and all.....I just had to get away...my hunger and drive was just too much for them to keep up with. They weren't hard enough workers."

You were locked up for two years, how did that affect your career?

"It was a big pause for me. I caught a charge right at the time when I started to take my music seriously. It was a wake up call. Before when I had no concern with music everything was cool. But when music became my life, and I couldn't do it like I needed to because I was locked the fuck up, I knew it was time to make that decision between my career (life) or the streets. I couldn't get too much work done (as far as recording) behind bars. I couldn't be out here working on my hit records or sharing my gift. I wrote my ass off though, shit, thats all I could do."

Which labels are you interested in?

"If I had to pick and choose a label, I would easily say G-Unit Records! Why? Because them niggaz remind me of myself. Niggaz is straight hood and still make good music. The nigga 50 is a genious if you ask me. He came in and took over this whole music shit, even shut some niggaz down in the process (we ain't gon' get into that). Their whole movement is big. The whole AfterMath-Shady-G-Unit connection is serious right now to me. They just remind me of myself...hard workers!! Niggas work so hard that all Whoo Kid drop is G-Unit shit. That means that niggaz are in the lab knocking out joints to fill up this niggaz cd. They're just smart to me----they understand that there's no better way to promote music than with music itself. So yeah, I'd have to say the whole G-Unit/Interscope foundation is what i'm feeling right now, but I'm open.

There was beef between the Pharmacy and Joe Budden, how did you squash that?

"When I came home The Pharmacy felt that being that Mouse (Budden) was on (signed), he was obligated to put them on, or at least help out. It wasn't jealousy, but they did feel that he should not have just left them. It was supposed to be "their" time to shine I guess. Since he was signed now, they wanted him to work miracles for them as well and it don't happen like that. I came home and gathered everybody up. I told niggaz to handle it, if not, then I'm going to do what I gotta do..."

There's a beef between Joe Budden and 50 Cent going on right now, whats ya input on that?

"No comment!"

You were the third member of the A-Team, can you talk about what happened with that?

"Man, lets just say before Budden came along.....everything was good!! But I guess when your a signed artist, niggaz will quickly slide you out ya spot & do what they gotta do to get on. Its a business...I can't be mad at that. So thats what happend with that. Budden had a name, he was useful, so they ran with that. "

You've been doing a lot with the A-Team lately, what's it like working with them?

"Its like working with ***Myself***....its no different!!! There's no pressure if thats what your trying to get at. When your talented yaself, there's never pressure. I can work with anybody, I'm comfortable. If anything, you should be asking them dudes whats it like working with me. They have an excellent situation. I'm the hungry one....I'm the WORKAHOLIC!! I'm still striving to get what they got. You feel me? Anyone working closely with me is gonna feel something. I'ma threat to anyone who "thinks" their position is solid. I work so hard sometimes cats dont even attempt to hop on a track with me because I bring the best out of them. Niggaz dont like that! Cats dont like when you make them work. Niggaz nowadays are lazy, they dont wanna work hard. They accept whatever their first work is. Not me!! I'm an artist! I make sure I'm creating a masterpiece! The freestyles and shit that I do for all these street mixtapes are good...they cool--but I'm a songwriter. Thats my strong point. I got "hits" in the stash fa real fa real! I give the streets what they wanna hear though. The punchlines, metaphores, similes, different flows, etc, thats fun shit for the streets. Thats shit I dish out for niggaz to know where I come from and that I'm just as nasty as ya BEST artist, not ya next artist. But my songs, those are my money makers. Only industry execs hear those--fa now! Anyway, back to this A-Team shit....there's nothing special working with them. Niggas are grown men. We just get done what we have to get done...."

You've got a reputation as a hard worker, what's a studio session with you like?

A studio session with me is focused and very private. I dont like too many niggaz hanging around my sessions. The engineer has to be focused! Its a job to me, niggaz can't get bent nor smoke in my session. You wouldn't (or shouldn't) go to work drunk, so don't do it in the studio. I take my shit very serious.

How are you as a battle MC and what's your record?

"Man...I'm dat dude!! What you expect me to say?? I can say that though... Why??? Because I never lost!! Every battle on the streets--I won...Every contest I've been in...I won! I got the plaques and trophies (and no scars) to prove it! (Niggaz tend to get outta hand when you embarras them....notice...I said...No scars....E-Z!) As far as my record, I just won a few more battles so I've lost count....and still....there are no donuts in my lost column..."

What's your next move?

My next move is to drop my street cd. We already got over 2,000 pre-orders!My Manager/Producer Quick (QuickDraw) has about 70 consistent street mixtape dj's lined up who wants material from me for EVERY tape they put out. Thats mad love right there. We are going to push this cd just to promote ya boy a lil more. We got our own distribution team set up in different states ...from New York, New Jersey to California...Atlanta..Chicago...Florida (Orlando & Miami)...Tennesse...Toronto Canada...Virginia..DC..Maryland..North & South Carolina...Texas...etc. We even have a few things setup over in London. Yeah, ya boy got a buzz out in London as well. So we doing it a lil something. I'm going to continue to make these hits though (I got'em...the people just have to make them hits now!). Thats really my main focus....to keep my songs coming. Right now, I have about 4 albums worth of material....it may be a bit much, but until something pops, I'm going to continue to work hard. The production on my joints are straight fire!!! My producer Quick and his production team (Da Demo-kratz--IllaNoise & Knoxx) are most definitely gon' fuck up the game when we get in. Until then, we gon' work hard and work even harder on top of that. But from the response and offers we're getting,( I'm no pyschic but) it WON'T BE LONG......"

Shout Outs:

First and foremost shout to my hood--->WETLANDS<---...& my WETLAND niggaz...(Dame..T-Louch..Rocky..Sy-E...entirely too many niggaz to name)

One of the most important niggaz in this whole process is my Manager & Producer Quick (Quickdraw)...You a genious nigga!! ..I'm watching you work wonders...Keep it up my dude...we just about there...Big Shout to the whole FrontLine Artist camp....Big shout to ILLANOISE & Knoxxx..Quick taught you niggaz well...

Shouts to 201 Jersey City of course...(these last 2 years were big for us.."I got the city on my back...and I ain't done yet..." You know the rest....."

Shout to Marcus Heisser of Interscope...Riggs Morales & Nelson of (Shady Goliath)....Tina Davis...Randy Acker...Lenny S...Ramses...once again..just too many to name...at any rate...much love!

Shout to Whoo Kid & Green Lantern..Big shout to Sickamore..you another genious nigga..I see you!! Big ups to AnimaleSteele for the dealings you and Quick got.....shout to Alchemist & Jay (beats are serious)...Mixtape Inc..SMACK DVD...Kenny Ken of Unisigned Artist & 100 bars or Better DVD...Shout to KaySlay..DJ Kool Kid..DJ Envy...PCUTTA...Pudgee P...CutMaster C & Fendi....Dj L...DJ Big Mike...Dj 730...RADIO.Dj Domination..Lazy K & the whole Murda Mamis...shout to the whole Get Money Nation........Webb...Nitty..Skane (whuts good!?!)..Mouse..aka..Joe Budden...Presidential...Hitch...Ran...Stacks (Stack Bundles)...Kanairy Juelz...shout to Young Spydah for creating my cd cover...I needed that!...big shout to everyone I didn't mention....I gotchu in the album credits....it ain't too far away!....early!

Last but not least I would like to thank hiphopgame.com and 730 for all the love...its greatly appreciate my dudes! Keep up the good work. Yall on top of yallz game. Stay there!

For Booking or any other information contact Quick at khalisharris@comcast.net