GAME CONTINUED
IT’S REAL DARK.
THEN TOWARDS
THE MIDDLE IT
A
STARTS OFF DARK,
SO I HOPE EVERYBODY’S READY.
EVERY TIME I
COME I’M GONNA
BRING THE REALNESS BACK TO
ME
HIP HOP. IT’S GONNA BE STORIES
AND REAL SHIT.
Before I got shot I really didn’t
care about nothing. You never
died before so you don’t know
what to expect. You’re out there
surviving in the streets, but
once you get close to death it’s
a wake up call. I didn’t wanna
die as much as I thought I
wanted to. I had to reconcile my
differences with the streets and
change my lifestyle.
When you got shot was it really
serious? You were really hurt?
It was real crucial. I got shot
five times. I got shot in the
chest real real close to my
heart. I got shot under my
arm, my leg, my stomach, my
forearm. It was serious.
64 MURDER DOG: VOL18 NO2
It’s a miracle that you survived! At
that time you just decided to start
rapping? How did that all start?
In the beginning it was crazy
when I first came on the Rap
scene. They kinda took control of
me. I didn’t really have control of
it...doing the wrong things...it all
happened so fast, even trying to
remember it or talk about it, as
you can see it makes me stutter,
man. Everything happened so fast
that I couldn’t control it. I was
everywhere, I was all over the
place. I was wild, runnin around,
smoking, drinking. I wasn’t bein
faithful to my woman. I was wild,
man. That’s what happens to
the best of them. You go from a
situation where you’re a normal
person and the next day you wake
up and everybody knows your
name. It’s hard to stay focused on
the things that are positive. The
devil takes control of you and you
just start rippin and runnin.
I remember when you first came
out there was such a buzz around
The Game. People were always
calling the Murder Dog line and
sending us emails telling us to do
something on The Game. I kept
wondering who this Game was
that people kept talking about. You
seemed to come out of the blue.
I guess at that time I was the only
thing in the streets. I was a breath
of fresh air. It was universal.
The West Coast loved me to
death because I was Gangsta,
I had a presence, I was tall and
marketable. And it hadn’t been
nobody since the Death Row
dynasty fell in the West to make
a name for themselves. And the
East Coast loved me cause I could
actually rap and I was lyrical.
They thought I was from the East
but I’d moved out to the West
or something. I remember for a
long time people thought I was
from Queens; they thought that I
had moved out to LA and started
claiming LA. But naw, born and
raised in Compton. I just had a
lyrical rappin flow.
I remember that time when you
first hit the scene and everybody
game
was talking about The Game. You
remember that time?
I remember that time. It was probably
the best time and the worst time of
my life. Everything happened so fast.
Just maybe 6 or 8 months ago I slowed
down and realized like, “Wow man,
shit! Seven years have passed.”
What were the things that happened
to make it the worst and best time
for you?
The worst thing that happened was I
inherited millions of dollars really fast
when I was just a kid and I didn’t know
what to do with everything. I was
buying chains Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s.
I was buying everybody in my hood a
new car, all the homies. Strip clubs, we
was drinkin. Fuckin pounds of weed,
we was smoking then. Those were the
good times. But the downside was I
wasn’t focused on life. I wasn’t around
my son as much as I wanted to be. And
I was touring, it was wild. It was fun
but I’m glad that it’s over.
At that time were you married?
At that time I wasn’t married. I had a
woman. I think she was ready for me
to be something that I wasn’t. At that
time I was young and I wasn’t ready to
take it to that level. We kinda clashed
and that meant that I wasn’t able to
be there like I should’ve been. But at
that time it wasn’t about her, it was
about me. I did everything I could to
make me happy and I left everybody
else astray.
Are you still with that woman or are
you with someone else now?
I got my woman. She’s right here
beside me. That’s why I gotta make
sure I say the right shit. If I don’t say
the right things then who know what
might happen. (laughing)
At that time how did you connect with
Dr. Dre? Were you looking for a deal?
How did it all come together?
Sometimes things just happen and
there really ain’t no explanation for it.
Nothing you could do about it. They
heard about me and the opportunity
came.
When you look back and look at your
situation now, how do you see it all?
I’m glad that I’m not the person that
I used to be. I’m happy to be where
I am now and I don’t wanna go back.
That’s how it is in life. If you’re lucky
enough to make it through your hard
times then you can look back and just
appreciate what you went through.
Everything I went through made me
