Your new album is seeing a lot of success. What have you done differently on it as opposed to your previous record?
I actually did it the same. People look for artists to reinvent themselves with their music, but they stay the same individual. So with this record I wanted to work with people that they didn’t expect me to work with. Like Linkin Park. I did a record with Chester Bennington. It was craziest, like my favorite record on the album. Just with this album I mixed Hip Hop and Rock type thing, with a track Eminem produced. So you always gotta get the same street hard core, but I just realized there’s a lot more to it. A lot more people are in touch with my music. My life outside of that environment it don’t come from the ghetto, so I just wanted to touch bases with them and I did.
You had very strong production work on Buck The World, as do most Southern acts. Do you consider yourself more of a New York act now or still the Southern soul?
I’m down for the South, Imma Dirty South, that’s where I was born and raised. I’d just say at the end of the day I’m more on the lyrical side. New York [is famous for that]. When you take the lyric and stay respectful of slangs, the way we say things. Like that you get respected for the lyrical side and once you mix the lyrical side with the slang and that’s what makes Young Buck.
You’ve taken on the mediator role for G-Unit and it caused a lot of controversy. How does it make you feel?
At the end of the day all I was trying to do with these so-called ‘beef’ situations is just get understanding out of it. And as far as this Game situation is he exposed to the fans that he did have the kind of the individual he is. He’s having a conversation with me and leaving a conversation on the note of ‘You do you without involving us so we can work without involving you’ and then the next 2 days he’s right back with a record dissing. So I think the character in his own self is making his fans no longer fans of his music. So at the end of the day for me these situations got to the point where there is no understanding so I look to get understanding out of it. And if the artists are willing to make a push and create the understanding then it’s all good. These beef situations the fan gets deceived. The thing about me is I’m a fan first. You making fool of fan and we not fools. Break it down. So all I do is take that mediator position and go up. try to expose to the fan the kind of individual I am and let them see what kind of individuals other people are.
You are often called the ‘clean up man’. Does it frustrate you that your efforts are not always welcomed?
I’ve never been nowhere where my efforts were not welcomed. The clean up man is not directed toward cleaning up no beef it’s just cleaning up any new situations. So that statement can be used in a lot of different ways. Nothing frustrates me to be honest because I wake up every day and I’m living and I wake up breathing. I think that’s the best part of life. So as long as I am alive and keep doing this it’s pretty hard to frustrate Young Buck.
Was 50 truly playing an April fools’ joke or was there a real tension?
At the end of the day 50 say what he said just straight up. my conversation that I had… I did an interview with Angie Martinez and people were thinking that I was going against Tony Yayo. Yayo had no involvement in putting hands on Jimmy Henchmen’s child and I’ll tell you like I said to the whole world: Respect 50 cent! That’s my boss and if there is a misunderstanding between me and 50, we don’t beef. We handle it our way. I’ll always be a part of 50 cent and G-Unit. The only thing that could ever stop me, G-d forbid, is death or jail. Write that in big bold letters when you write that down!
After Olivia was dropped, do you feel that status at G-Unit may change for other members as well?
Nah, Olivia wasn’t dropped. When Olivia left she did it on a note of finding something that may work for her. Before G-Unit she didn’t leave no pains, no memories or nothing like that. I think she left 50 a deal that he had to pay for. It ain’t no harsh feelings at all.
What is your stand on the concept of beef in today’s day and age?
I think a lot of the situations that Hip Hop got get promoted like beef. A lot of people don’t understand when they hear an artist what is a legit beef record. When 2 artists are mad at each other and have a conflict it’s not beef it’s just about power. People may say things on a record at each other but be able to resolve and be in the same city, do shows together and be at the same place… Beef is something that you won’t be able to walk the streets. That’s beef with me, my man. So none of this is beef, as long as you continue to rap, as long as you wake up in the morning and you don’t hear things like that 2Pac and Biggie Smalls stuff, that’s not beef. Its just Hip Hop battles. Beef is beef but up until then just get your money, I’m gonna get mine. Know I mean?
You focus more on music than anything else. Do you feel that artists often take ‘representing the streets’ too far?
A lot of artists try to focus on what’s on the streets to get the streets behind what they are doing. For me I come from that environment, I’m already in the streets. What I did before I got to this position and what type of individual I am it’s already out there. I don’t have to spend my time to [fake it] for the streets. They know me. They know where I come from. I’m from where most of the individuals still is. I get a chance to focus really on the music because I really come from the streets.
How is your own label, Cashville Records, doing?
We doing man, we got the biggest thing that pretty much there is as far as record labels getting money. I signed 2Pac’s group, the Outlawz. Then I signed C-Bo from the West Coast. Everybody at this point is trying to get a piece of I got going. I’m good with it, I’m living every bit of it. I’m just trying to make sure I make my decisions for us. You know like with parent labels, I don’t want to go to a label where the boss is sitting so high that I can’t pick up the phone and call him. That’s the type of things that you deal with in the industry so far. So I’m just taking my time, one day at a time, but I’m traveling the world with Outlawz and C-Bo and do mixtapes with DJ Drama and Kay Slay and Whoo Kid and all other DJs around the world. We’re doing it and that’s what’s keeping me alive.
Do you favor more of the old school mentality of Hip Hop or the newer, more commercial moves?
Well I come from the 2Pac and Biggie Smalls era. I’m only 26 years old. So I listened to the whole Run DMCs and the Kool Moe Dees. That’s all I did cause of my age. My age allowed me just to listen to it. I started to understand music from Tupac Shakur, from Brenda Got a Baby, Keep Ya Head Up, that’s when I started to come of age as a young man and I started to understand what they were talking about on the microphone. So I come from that era. But I’m a fan of all music.
You’ve not been doing shows in New York, but mostly in the South. Why is that?
I’m pretty much all over the world, so it’s about just getting time for me to get there. I did a show in Jersey that was ridiculously packed. I think they got to put me in a bigger spot. I know that my New York crowd is the biggest crowd and the biggest fans that I have. So one of my biggest questions, I’ve always asked it myself, why am I not performing in New York. That’s up to 50. but outside of 50, you deal with a lot of situations in New York where the Hip Hop police is so bad… they do so many things to blackmail these venues from having artists not only from G-Unit but rap artists in general. So that’s part of why Young Buck don’t do as much here as I do down South. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be in New York soon.
Would you like to add anything?
If you ain’t got my album, Buck The World, please go get it, it’s definitely worth your money. It’s one of those albums you’ll listen to from top to bottom. I enjoyed the interview. Just look forward to my new clothing line. It’ll be in stores in June. I’m gonna sell more clothes than anybody. Straight up!