After leaving the label that gave popular culture such phrases as drop it like its hot and bling, bling New Orleans rapper B.G. was counted out. Many people thought that without his fellow Hot Boys and Cash Moneys clout, the New Orleans native would never be able to repeat or surpass any of his past success. After signing a multi-album deal with Warner Brothers to distribute his Chopper City record label, B.G. gained a new life. After the successful release of B.G. & Chopper City Boyz’ independent debut album, We Got This, B.G., along with fellow Chopper City Boyz Snipe and Gar, are preparing to take the Chopper City movement to the next level with the September 16th release of their new Chopper City/Asylum album Life in the Concrete Jungle. Oh yeah, did we mention a Hoy Boys reunion?AllHipHop.com: Given your history you probably had access to hundreds of aspiring rappers and even artists that are already in the game. What is it about these two men that made you want to form the group with them?B.G.: I chose them because I saw hunger in them. I saw something different about both of them and they wanted it. They wanted it and I wanted it. I had just left Cash Money and started the Chopper City label and they wanted to jump on board and ride with me. AllHipHop.com: What are your styles of rhyming and what is it you two bring to the Chopper City Boyz?Gar: My style, what I do, I bring my music from the heart man. Everything I spit I done did it, been seeing it, or I saw it. I give it straight from the heart. The beat pretty much tells me what to do. I let the fans decide what my style is but I give my 200 to the group. I bring it all the way real.Snipe: I bring my originality to the group. I find my own way to say what I saw. And like he said, you got to keep it 100 with yourself. Thats all you got to do. As far as my style, Ill let the fans pick the style for me. I cant really name my style. AllHipHop.com: What has it been like for you leaving Cash Money and building your own label from the bottom up?B.G.: A lot of people, when I left Cash Money they counted me out. A lot of people wrote me off. A lot of people thought I couldnt do it without Cash Money and its now, what? Six or seven years later and Im still here. Im still relevant. I left Cash Money on my sixth album and Im about to drop my 11th solo album and that aint even including the Hot Boys albums or the previous Chopper City Boyz albums. The streets kept me relevant. I do it for the streets and I stay true to myself. I followed what was in my heart and I didnt let anybody tell me what I could and couldnt do. I kept giving it to them man and the streets just embraced me. Im here and it is what it is I aint going nowhere.
I got Babys name tattooed here, Slims name tattooed there. Baby got my name on him. I named my son after him and he named his son after me. We were so family oriented that I never wouldve thought in a million years that the situation would end up the way they ended up. B.G.
AllHipHop.com: What is your current relationship with your former label mates/group members?B.G.: Our relationship, and I mean from day one when I left until now, we never had problems with each other amongst the group. It was always problems that we had personally with the business side of things. Things werent going the way they were supposed to be going and it just became obvious. And people had been saying those things for a while but couldnt nobody tell me anything about Baby or Slim. I got Babys name tattooed here, Slims name tattooed there. Baby got my name tattoed on him. I named my son after him and he named his son after me. We were so family orientated so I never wouldve thought in a million years that the situation would end up the way it ended up but it did. I dont regret it. Everything I went through make me the man I am today. Everything happens for a reason. At the end of the day Im a Hot Boy for life. Im one of the originators of the Hot Boys s**t. I carried Cash Money on my back, by myself before Universal was even much involved. Before Juve, before Wayne it was me, Fresh, Baby, and Slim. Then Wayne came, Juve came, Turk came and we took it to another level. But, before all that, I was a regional star, I was a neighborhood superstar. Everything I put out I was doing 100 thousand plus. A 15 or 16 years old.AllHipHop.com: So there is truth to the rumors of a Hot Boys reunion?B.G.: The first single off my new album is featuring Lil Wayne and Trey Songz that were shooting a video for. I got a record on my album called Ya Heard Me and thats just to certify the Hot Boy reunion. The worlds been asking for this for a while. They want it and you cant deny the fans what they want, you got to give it to them. It took a while for us to come to this but we already showed that we can stand alone. We already showed we can stand on our own two feet. Were all men now. I look at it like that. We were Hot Boys then and were Hot Men now so lets do it. AllHipHop.com: Do you plan on involving your Chopper City group in that project?B.G.: Chopper City Boyz is us. Thats our movement right there. But Hot Boys is the Hot Boys. We got to work out the situation as far as how were going to do it. You know how it goes. Is it going to be through Universal, is it going to be Atlantic but however it ends up its going to happen. Chopper City Boyz is a whole new generation. Im repping for the 80s babies. Im a 80s baby. 1980, September 3rd. I feel like were the now. Im just repping for my generation and just take it to the next level. AllHipHop.com: Snipe and Gar, you guys are fairly new to the game. What is it like for the young hungry rappers out there in New Orleans?Gar: Everybody in New Orleans is just trying to get in where they fit in. Theres very few n****s thats really doing their thing down there. Everybody pretty much kind of just plug up. Like we plug with Gizzle, Juve got his situation, Wayne got his situation. Muthaf**kers is just trying to get in where they fit in, trying to slip through f**king with us. Were playing our part by keeping it real with them. We do songs with them and all that. We do what we can do to make their situations better.B.G.: Just to have that unity back in New Orleans… At one point in time New Orleans was ran by No Limit and Cash Money. But our CEOs had their egos so for whatever reason it was we never ended up working together, Ill never know, even though all of us knew each other. We all grew up with each other. New Orleans is small. Everybody knows each other. Now, its a whole new day and a whole new generation. N****s is looking at Atlanta and Miami and all these other places that come together. And New Orleans is so grimy. We like crabs in a pot. They see you and they wanna pull you down. Im trying to really open people minds up to saying ,Hey, lets do it together. Instead of me, myself, and I let it be we, us, and ours. AllHipHop.com: B.G. has been in the game since 93 and had his share of ups and downs. What was your struggle like trying to get into the Hip-Hop game?Gar: To tell you the truth, rapping wasnt even on my agenda. Im an opportunist so I went to school, I hustled, I was playing ball. I was doing everything to get up out the hood. This opportunity presented itself when Gizzles brother Hakim was rapping, about to do his solo thing. He asked me if I wanted to go on the road. We went on the road and s**t just popped off from there, Chopper City Boyz. But I was pretty much an opportunist. Rap wasnt what I chose but now were in this game going hard and thats what it is.Snipe: I came in through management. I knew of B.G. and Gar, me and him from around the same way, the east so it all came together. Like I said, I knew them before the rap but, as far as me coming into rap, I had a passion for it since high school. I was beating on the desks and s**t in high school. Thats what it was for me as far as my drive. I just had to get in the game, had to get some money. And I was working at one time, pretty much doing anything to get some money. And now Im here telling my story.AllHipHop.com: I heard T.I. was going to be involved in some of your upcoming project [Too Hood to Be Hollywood]?B.G.: T.I. executive producing my album with me. Im most definitely affiliated with Grand Hustle. Thats my second family but I got a situation with Chopper City/Atlantic, T.I. executive producing the album with me. It’s funny how it happened…me and T.I, we partners. Like were cool. Before we started doing business we had a real n***a to real n***a relationship. He had got word or itd got leaked some way that I had signed to G-Unit. So Tip called me to congratulate me. I was like I appreciate it my n***a but that aint official. He was like, S**t, whats it going to get you over here at Atlantic with me? I told him what it was gonna take, he called Craig [Kallman], made a few phone calls. They flew me to New York and we went back and forth, they gave me what I asked for and we took it from there. The rest history.
I support Grand Hustle 100 percent and he supports me and what Im doing 100 percent. Im a fan of T.I. and T.I. is a fan of mine. We got that real n***a relationship. He respects what Ive done and where I come from.
AllHipHop.com: Did he have a hand in this Chopper City Boyz album as well?B.G.: Hes just involved in my project but like I say he involved in whatever I do just like Im involved in whatever he do. I support Grand Hustle 100 percent and he supports me and what Im doing 100 percent. Im a fan of T.I. and T.I. a fan of mine. We got that real n***a relationship. He respects what Ive done, where I come from. He came up listening to the Hot Boys and B.G. so for him to work with me is kind of like a honor for him and it’s kind of like an honor for me too.AllHipHop.com: What can people expect to hear when they listen to Life in the Concrete Jungle?B.G.: When you listen to it youre going to hear that real New Orleans, down south s**t. That real street s**t. I learned from traveling all over the world that my hood aint no different from your hood. My story aint no different from your story. We tried so many different things and was so open minded about the whole project and that just took it to a whole other level. I didnt want to be in their way because I want them to shine. I want their talents to be noticed and respected. Everybody knows who I am. Im already going to do what Im going to do. For me to be co-signing them you know it has to be official. I believe in them and they believe in me, believing in them. We just went in the studio and did what we do and it came out exactly how I predicted itd come out. AllHipHop.com: What are some of the tracks you feel people will gravitate towards the most?Gar: The song I really appreciate the most is a record called Maintain. We all know whats going on in the world right now. Times is hard and were in a recession. Money is short, work is high. This record is basically therapy for n****s in the hood going though something. Theres n****s that need to hear that word. Theres n****s that need that pat on his back to tell him keep going. The song pretty much sums that up so if you out there going through something f**k with that Maintain my n***a. You need it. Snipe: Id have to say that Maintain too. At the same time, I put like 100 to 150 percent into it so the whole albums a beast. Its well rounded. It go everything you could possibly want. AllHipHop.com: What are some of the things that get to you while trying to build your label and your brand?B.G.: The brands already built. When I left Cash Money and started Chopper City records I was in the process of building the brand. When I put my first album out on Koch I did like 400,000. That let me know the street was f**king with me. Then I dropped another one and did 300 damn near 400,000. Everything I put my hands on I was doing numbers that motherf**kers on major labels wasnt doing. Then I spread my wings a little more and put the Chopper City Boyz in effect. We did like 100,000 on they first album and that was with little promotion. Just in the streets grinding it out. It’s like Chopper City, I nicknamed New Orleans Chopper City back in like 95 or 96 so the brand’s there. It’s just taking it to the next level. I felt like I did everything I could do independently with Koch. Thats why I took the situation to Asylum. I felt the they was an independent with a major push. We saw eye to eye. They see where Im trying to go with it and theyre on the same page with me, behind me 100. They believe in me, I believe in them. Then, I got the situation at Atlantic which makes it all better because I can just bounce from one floor to the next floor. It’s all good. AllHipHop.com: How has the response been from the people youve encountered while promoting the project? Do you have any memorable moments?Gar: To be real with you, the promo tour has been crazy. The people just been embracing the music like its been there. Thats just letting me know that the vibe is there. Most of the time when you doing s**t theyll pay attention. But when you got a muthaf**ka bobbing and nodding, wanting to touch you and feel you and s**t, its real respect. Chopper City, just the name carry weight. Just to represent that, just to put that work out there and get that love, I appreciate it. I really do appreciate it. Snipe: The memorable moments for me has been when a n***a come up to me rapping my s**t or when people come up to me with CDs and s**t when were in the streets or out of town. They pretty much embrace us wherever we go because theres a Chopper City in every hood. That name is strong by itself.Gar: Just to touch on that, I dont think [we] appreciate and really recognize what Chopper City stands for. Were a bunch of realists. We represent the realism, we feel the realism dog. Im going to give you a monumental moment in my life, my musical career, that stands out for me. The moment my dog [B.G.] kicked his habit and started this s**t. When we went on the road it was just an idea, a thought and he made that s**t materialize. That s**t is monumental.AllHipHop.com: Will there ever come a time when youll step back as a member of the Chopper City group and just focus on the label?B.G.: My little brothers part of the group too so its four of us. It was four at first, R.I.P. VL Mike. He got killed a couple months ago. Then my little brother got locked up. Hes going through some personal situations right now so he just got to stay out the loop on this one. Im going to have to wait until hes ready fro him to step back in. But its us three right now. Were holding it down and were going to keep giving it to them. But really, Im just coaching. I got a Kobe and a Lebron right here and were trying to get us a gold medal, that platinum plaque. AllHipHop.com: You were with Cash Money since 93. What are some of the things you learned that you use in the operation of your Chopper City situation?B.G.: Keep it real. You got to keep it real with yourself before you can keep it real with others. You cant keep it real with others if you can keep it real with yourself. If you got something in the back of your head or youre feeling a certain way, bring it to the table. Dont hold it in, were all men. Were going to keep it real with each other and doing that were all going to eat from the same plate. Its like Puffy say, theres no b***hassness in here. B.G & Chopper City Boyz “Bubble Gum” VideoAllHipHop.com: What do you hope to see happen for the group and the label in the future?B.G.: Im passing them the torch. My fans look at me like, If Gizzle say its hot, it got to be. I dont put my name on nothing I dont feel is official. I stand for too much. Im trying to turn Chopper City into what I helped turn Cash Money into. I want Chopper City to be like a Rap-A-Lot, a No Limit, a Cash Money. I want it to be like Grand Hustle, like DTP, or CTE. When you mention the south I want Chopper City to be in that same conversation. Gar: Skys the limit. Everything is just starting with this music s**t. As far as the group, were trying to get as many deals and put out as many projects as possible. Its not for us, its for yall. Our stories aint no different from yours, our hood aint no different from yours and were going to keep giving it to you like that. B.G.: This s**t creates opportunities for a lot of things. Dont think if Oliver Stone calls me tomorrow with a role I aint going to take it. At the end of the day we got kids and a lot of people who depend on us. Were just trying to take this to the next level, represent the N.O. but rep it in the right way.
