A still standing survivor of one of the South’s biggest movements, AllHipHop finds Corey “C-Murder” Miller with a new lease on life. With the trifecta of a new album (Screamin’ 4 Vengeance), a new label (TRU Records), and new DVD (The Movement) on the way, C-Murder discusses post-Katrina New Orleans, his brother’s new PG rating, the No Limit legacy, and of course, his present endeavors. Read on and find out what’s going down on C-Murder and his new projects.AllHipHop.com: Some of the content that you have is street driven, but it runs contrary to the message your brother [Master P] is trying to put out right now. How do you reconcile that? C-Murder: I don’t let nothing that’s going on in the world—as far as anything , I don’t care what it is—affect my music as far as how I’m gonna produce my music or how I’m gonna put it out. I wake up everyday and I feel like when I get in that booth, I can’t let it be influenced by nobody, no person, no nothing. I gotta give it to my fans the way that I been giving it to them raw. That [P’s stance] really don’t have nothing to do with me.AllHipHop.com: You have the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and other situations in New Orleans such as the low literacy rate, the high crime rate, and the level of poverty. What, if anything, are you doing to address these issues?C-Murder: I got my own organization called Help Me Help You, which is a non-profit. What we doing is we bring together a lot of the sports players out here, you know as far as the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Hornets, and I’m hooking up with them to right the recreational center, the Norris Center. I’m not forgetting about these kids that’s living in them group homes and in the orphanages and stuff like that too. So what I do, like for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s all these different holidays where they don’t have someone to reach out to them and say they care about them, I’m reaching out to them, going to speak to them and bring them gifts and stuff like that just to let them know that because they’re in that situation, that their future’s not a bad future; that they still can do better. AllHipHop.com: Those problems existed before Katrina. Do you feel that your community has been slighted?C-Murder: I mean, there’s the situation that happened with Katrina. OK, so now that happened to shed some light on New Orleans, and a lot of the things that’s been going on, and a lot of the poverty that’s still been here, and a lot of the neighborhoods and the killing and the drugging and all that stuff. But now since Katrina happened, that put a big light on New Orleans and all of Louisiana. And so now it’s time to take advantage of that, and not sit around and point the finger because we got a lot of politicians that come down, a lot of political figures that come down, and we’re just taking advantage of that and we’re just glad that we’re getting some kind of attention and some kind of help. Even though it’s coming a little late but look, better late than never, you know what I mean? AllHipHop.com: Now, as far as your new label TRU Records, how are you setting that up? Are you using the old No Limit blueprint, or is it your own style and management profile?C-Murder: Well TRU Records man, we’re just grinding all day everyday. We’re giving them that good music. I’m proud of all of my artists that I got. I think the world’s gonna really accept them. I’ma lay down the ground rules and I’ma lay down the law and open up the doors with my first album, then I’ma kick back and let my homies come through and I’ma see it out. But definitely I’m taking something from what No Limit did and I’m taking something from what G-Unit did. TRU Records is a family for me. I mean everybody on the team I had to really get to know them and become friends with, and they had that loyalty in them, and I had to see that in order to really deal with them man. I mean, I learned from the best. The No Limit camp, we always family so that’s how you gonna have to be with me. Basically what we doing we just grinding, putting out good music, good videos and quality DVD’s, and we jumping into the movie game, and we also trying to take over the publishing game too as far as putting out novels so ya’ll just gonna be seeing us hitting a lot of avenues that you don’t see average rappers doing.
AllHipHop.com: Much of your early inspiration came from your brother Kevin. Is he still a motivating factor in your career and your life?C-Murder: Yeah, hell yeah. My brother Kevin Miller, may he rest in peace, he’s a motivating factor in my every day. I think of him every day and I think of how he died every day so that way I won’t get caught up in the streets like that too. And plus, I keep him alive in my music too. On every CD you’ll see “Rest In Peace Kevin Miller.” That just shows me how real and how cold and how hard the world really is. When I talk to these dudes in my music, I talk to them straight up. You could tell I’m raw and at the end I’ll flip it and give them a message. Because if you don’t give it to them real, they’re gonna go out there 51/50 and something’s gonna happen to them and they’re gonna make a bad decision anyway, so that’s what’s happening. AllHipHop.com: Do you feel that it was harder to stay out of trouble before the music or after the music?C-Murder: See before the music, I was in and out of trouble but I was a little youngin’ that stood with thug cats. Then come the music I’m still out there head first. And so you gotta go through some things. That’s just the way life is. You just learn from your mistakes and you learn from mistakes you see other people making. So it’s just a time thing man. Life is hard all the way through, you just gotta protect yourself a little more better and put yourself in a better situation, that’s all.AllHipHop.com: Now you got caught out there. T.I. got caught up in his situation. What’s your take on that? C-Murder: The situation with T.I. is hard too because being realistic with you; your first motive is to provide for and protect your family and they tried to hit him as a convicted felon. They’re telling this man he can not possess a firearm, so he in a situation like, “Man I got all this money, I got everything going on…so what if something crazy do run up on me and my fam, we driving down the street or sitting in our house…what am I supposed to do?” So you did time like in a gray-like situation when it come down to this law, and it’s crazy and it’s messed up. So I just find that whole law situation when it comes to issuing out years for different crimes, I find that sh*t crazy dog, straight up. And I wish him the best and I wish his family the best and I hope he make it through that because it ain’t no place he should be.AllHipHop.com: While you were locked up Souljah Slim was murdered. How did you feel about that and how did that affect you, being locked away? C-Murder: Man, I mean, that was a hard blow right there when I found out that Slim got killed, you heard me man? I had to kick back and just figure everything out and just, you know, hold it all together and like just get inside myself man and just release it like that. Because you know, I could have got into a lot of trouble just acting on emotions, especially being where I was, you heard me? That was a real hard pill to swallow man, and to find out the way that he died and how he died in front of his house and his moms came and pulled up and to see her son on the ground and had to witness all that, you know? I was hurt for a minute behind that.AllHipHop.com: Yeah man. Kanye just lost his mom; you gotta count your blessings. C-Murder: You gotta count your blessing, that’s real. When I heard that about Kanye’s mom just dying like that I’m like man, you really just don’t know. Any day, anything can happen. You just can’t be surprised with no kind of news you get nowadays, you heard me? AllHipHop.com: Tell me one thing people find out about you when they meet you that they didn’t expect…what they didn’t know before. C-Murder: Oh mannn, it’s so crazy. You hear C-Murder “Oh, he’s this, he’s that…he’s a bad guy, he got gold teeth.” And they hear my lyrics and see my swagger and all that and they just feel like I’m just some dumb, ignorant, very violent dude on the street and they can’t approach me and they feel they gotta watch their selves…close they cars, lock they doors, and you know hide they purses and stuff. They be like, “Man, I ain’t know you was on this kinda level,” and all this and you know, they just find out I’m a real dude and I could be approached. You know, I ain’t ignorant. Matter of fact I’m very intelligent. And it just be fun for me to just sit back and watch, you know, they whole demeanor change once I open my mouth and reach out to them.AllHipHop.com: What was your favorite album from the No Limit run? C-Murder: Oh man that was the Tru. Yea, the double CD with the stars on it man [Tru 2 Da Game]. That’s when we first introduced the “No Limit Soldier” song. And from then on and there, it was sky’s the limit, you heard me?AllHipHop.com: Your album is called Screamin’ 4 Vengeance. What’s the mind frame behind that?C-Murder: Man…that’s just me letting you know I’m taking mine, I’m getting my revenge on the whole situation that I been through and everything that I been going through and this is my release therapy when I get inside of that studio and get inside of that booth. And it ain’t no holds barred; you’re getting the most realest music that you could get from me. The production is crazy, the lyrics is crazy. I mean, I’m flipping on songs. I’m just doing things you never even heard C do before. And I got like 15 songs on there, got a lot of good production on there…AllHipHop.com: You got in-house production on there?C-Murder: Yea I got in-house production on there. 2 Cent from Baton Rouge and G Dinero he back and forth between New Orleans 7th Ward and Atlanta, I got Slim Thug on one, I got the Cut Boys which is my new group coming out…they on a lot of the music. I did a song with Letoya Luckett called “Now That You’re Back”…that’s a hit. I got Max Minnelli on this thing. I got Mia X, I got Papoose, I got Bone. I think that everybody gonna enjoy it. AllHipHop.com: You got a DVD coming up in a couple weeks as well. Does that go with the album?C-Murder: On this DVD, you gonna get a chance to chill with me, see how I get down in the studio, how I write to these beats and how I get in there and record these hit songs that I’m making. Plus you get a chance to meet all of my artists on the TRU Records label. You get a chance to meet some of the homies in New Orleans. You get a chance to see how we still have that effect from Katrina in different neighborhoods that I hit up in there. I’m just giving you a lot of information about what’s going on with me and a lot of things that I’m doing too.AllHipHop.com: One final question. When you leave this earth, what would you like them to say about you? What do you want on that tombstone?C-Murder: Dag man, when I leave this earth and I die and I’m gone man, I just want everybody to remember me as being a real dude. Somebody that wasn’t corny in no situation, wasn’t about no lies. Was about his family, a hundred percent and was about his business, you heard me? If I can go out in peace today and that’s what it is right now, you know, maybe the next man can look at that. I want to give them the real. I don’t want to be phony. I just want to be myself and be content with it, and be a good dude, straight up. WORLD PREMIERE – C-Murder Video “I Represent”