With all the hoopla surrounding Nipsey Hussle, his Crenshaw mixtape, and boundary pushing #Proud2Pay campaign, Complex found it appropriate to reach out to the MC for an interview. After declining their first proposition due to a gripe with the publication over a 10 Underachieving Rappers list, the Los Angeles MC eventually phoned in to discuss his disdain for the magazine’s coverage of the culture, why major labels are obsolete, and more.
While getting issues off his chest, Neighborhood Nispey managed to drop a lot of knowledge — more than enough for us to aggregate 10 worthy quotes.
If anything, the discussion adds a bit more context to the South Central native’s demeanor on wax and where he’s at mentally in regards to his career. Needless to say that he prides himself on being authentic. But you already knew that, though.
Comb through Nipsey Hussle’s words carefully after the jump. Read the full conversation here.
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Photo: YouTube, Jorge Peniche, Justin Vitug
“Who’s making these rules up that you got to drop a project every six months? Who made these rules up? I don’t know where that came from. That’s not indigenous to rap. That’s what n***as start doing, but I’m not a follower. And I’m not in it for these same reasons. N***as hold fame against you like that’s what you’re in it for. I’m not in it for fame. I’ve been famous in the streets already. My goal in this sh*t is different, bro.”
Early in the interview, Nipsey lets us know that he’s nothing like his peers. And it’s clear that he approaches creating music from an OG’s perspective.
“It’s like in the streets. If I fight you fight. I ain’t gonna watch you fight and not jump in it. What type of n***a does that make me? And I call myself ‘your n***a?’ If you fighting, I’m fighting. That’s how we were raised. Ain’t nothing special. That’s how we was brought up.”
The rapper added context to why fellow LA wordsmith and frequent collaborator Dom Kennedy came to his defense via Twitter when many attacked his plans to sell Crenshaw for $100.
“It’ll be the next project I release. The first single is ready, it’s called “Rap N***as.” That’s coming soon. That’s really the most concrete information I have right now. I don’t wanna give out information that the fans hold onto, and get let down. So I’ma leave it at that. Completely independent and it’ll be under the F**k the Middleman pay model.”
Fans can expect Victory Lap to be Nip’s next project.
Who does Interscope have? Dr. Dre. You wanna come to Interscope? Sign with Dre. What you think Warner Bros. and Atlantic got? They got n***as that they like and say to them, ‘We’ll let you get your money but every deal’s gotta come through you.’ What you think Def Jam’s doing? Look at every artist they got on the platform recently. The labels are upset about it like, ‘Damn, we gotta deal with another n***a with some power now. Damn, another one slipped through.'”
There’s no love lost for major labels on Nipsey’s part, and he plans to show the powers that be better than he can tell them.
“They [record labels] wanted to give me all this money up front but I’m like, keep the money. Let me be involved as a partner. And n***as couldn’t do that. And it’s not because the people at the label didn’t want to help me. It’s because the corporate structure of their companies would not allow ownership. And I’m offended by that. I called an audible and I withstood social pressure. I believed in my heart that I would be less of a man to not stand up for what I believed in. I felt like it was racist. Like, I don’t deserve some sh*t I just built by myself? You want to give me some money? Oh, because you don’t think I know what the asset is? You think I don’t understand where the real value is? Well I’m offended by that and my goal changed. I didn’t do a press release or tell nobody about it. I just let my demonstration speak. And now they’ve seen the first part of it with the Crenshaw sh*t. That’s just a small piece of what my plan is.”
Crenshaw was just phase on of Nipsey’s “I Am Proud 2 Pay” campaign, apparently.
“We can criticize a street n***a, but we can’t be aware of the mindf**k that’s going on with these corporations and these motherf**kin’ giants. It’s a problem that Nip still values his product at $100—I get backlash from our culture. From the n***as that look like me. Most of these n***as rap for their damn selves. But when n***as go into the mall and buy $600 iPhones—and everybody’s got an iPhone—and stand in line for $1,000 shoes, and pay $5 a gallon for gas. That’s why I’m mad. That’s my objective and n***as gotta wake up. It’s a misinformed critique.”
The West Coaster makes a valid point here. People purchase products they deem a priority, regardless of price. All it takes is a bit of brand loyalty.
“The metrics and the gauge of success, and of impact on the culture. It don’t got sh*t to do with Billboard, it don’t got sh*t to do with SoundScan. It don’t got sh*t to do with any of these platforms that the business created. This sh*t is a culture. This sh*t is our life. You understand? So in between my projects does it take a year or two, or another artist that live a real life? Does it take them a year to put a project out? Because he wants to retain ownership. He wants to do what they refuse to let you do and that’s control his own destiny. He don’t wanna be exploited by the music industry that been traditionally exploitative to our creators.”
This is an eloquently said version of Kanye West’s “culture vulture” rant at Pusha T’s My Name Is My Name listening party.
“Me and Rick Ross sat down and talked and he made it clear that he can make the deal that I need. And I told him that I don’t need money, I need a partnership. I needed a marketing machine and I needed international distribution for my product. Ross fought tooth and nail to make that happen for me. I respect him and salute him for that; but then we ran into the corporate structure of these companies. And again, it offended me, because here you have one of the most powerful, respected n***as in the game about to make a power move that’s going to incite the culture and they want us to be the ones that compromise. They should be the ones to compromise for the culture so this thing can happen.”
Record labels apparently blocked the deal most expected to happen numerous times. Damn.
“I knew it was gonna work because I saw the stats on my website. I know that people in New Zealand spend $600 with me a month. I see that I’m shipping out a package that costs $400: a hat and T-shirt, mixtapes, a beanie, I see that. I got people in Toronto that spend $500. I see that. My fans are engaged to that level.”
It’s about more than rap. Do your market research, folks.
“We gonna pay the IRS and we gonna power what we believe in. And n***as gonna be able to gauge my sincerity over the next year or two. You’ll have other artists popping up doing the same thing. And then what these labels gonna do? They gonna have to give n***as their fair share. I stood up to sh*t way tougher than the labels before. I’m not scared.”
This is foreshadowing at it’s best. Nipsey’s proved that he can sell units at a high price point. As long as the actual product is consistently good, we’re sure it’ll be interesting to see what he does next.
