Freddie Gibbs
You’ve explained that the title for the album came to you in a dream. (“They was just kids playing in the dope. They was just playin’ in the dope. It was little four-year-old kids hitting dope in piñatas.”) Does that happen to you a lot, inspiration from dreams?
Yeah, definitely man. I have a lot of bad dreams — you know, through the real experiences on the streets. My dreams are real vivid. I was telling my homeboy today: “When I see a vision, I try to put it in my artwork instead of putting into something negative.” That’s how I kind of got to where I’m at.
I think I always had visions for what I wanted to do. It just wasn’t rap — I never thought I’d be a rapper. I had visions of being somebody prominent. The rap gave me the vessel, or the vehicle, per se, to do that.
You were signed to Young Jeezy’s label, but then you had a bit of a falling out. What happened?
The odds being against me worked in my favor. Nobody wanted to give me a record deal or any type of shot. Even Jeezy, he didn’t wanna give me the opportunity that he promised me. It was like, damn, the industry totally was against me. But I know what I had in my brand and I know my fan base, and just ’cause the record labels or Young Jeezy or some mothafuckin’ rapper tell me I can’t do it, I’m not gonna not do it.
So you think Jeezy didn’t really know what he was doing when it came to running a label?
Of course he don’t know what he doing. Hell nah, he don’t know what the fuck he doing. And I’mma stay on his punk ass till he say something about it. I’mma keep drilling his punk ass into the ground.
But a lot of people don’t know how to run a label — that’s something you gotta learn. I’m gonna take the necessary steps. That’s why I got the right people around me. I don’t just got people around me sucking my dick. That’s his problem, too many fucking yes-men, not telling you the real. I made mine in this game —
[Phone rings in the background.]
… that’s my trap phone ringing …
[Phone silenced.]
… I never took a dollar from nobody. Not no label, not nobody. And I remain to be relevant. I might not be a household name but when you think of the best rap lyricists, you gotta mention my name, or you slipping. You can’t name five mothafuckas that rap better than me on the planet. On the planet! It ain’t about the record sales, it ain’t about the radio spins, it ain’t about the bitches twerking on my shit. I’m all about making the best product.