ALL STAR 2011 - Ozone Magazine

MESSY MARVEverybody knows you’re a West Coast dude,but you’ve been moving around a lot lately.Did you just need a change of scenery?As a whole, [artists] in the Bay Area are justcontent with where we are. That’s just myopinion. I fuck with a lot of different peoplearound the world, and I’m out networking andtrying to build my brand.Do you think living in different places affectsyour style of music?I don’t feel like I have a particular sound. You’regonna hear a little South, a little Midwest, alittle East, and you’re definitely going to hearthe West cause that’s where I’m from. That’sthe problem, man, everybody’s caught up inhow you’re “supposed” to sound. I ain’t caughtup in none of that shit, man. I’m me. I ain’t gotnothing to prove. Every time I drop, I sell asubstantial amount of units, so I’m good.How do you think you’re able to maintainthat kind of fanbase without a major labelbehind you and without having that mainstreamlook?Because I’m out here networking. I built myworth.Are you going to get out and start doingmore shows now? You don’t give the peopletoo many opportunities to see you. Andyou’re in high demand because of that fact.I’m planning my 30-city tour right now. Butbefore I do that, I’m building my online presence.I’m doing a radio show. I’m on Twitter,Facebook, and Myspace. I’m going to get outhere and give the people what they’ve beenwaiting for.What’s going on with you and San Quinn?The beef was pretty ugly at one point butyou recently mentioned on Twitter that youguys had squashed it. How were you able toget to that point?People have different opinions on everything.Quinn had an opinion on how he felt Ishould’ve handled some things, and I had myopinion on how I felt he should’ve handledsome things. It escalated when the media andthe people grabbed ahold of it. You know howthat shit goes. But mutual friends of ours havebeen trying to squash it since day one. Me andQuinn ain’t even talked yet. Things take time.Whenever he comes around, or whenever Icome around, we can sit down and talk. Butfor now we’re just going through our mutualfriend from the turf and just putting it allbehind us. But really, it wasn’t no beef - it wasjust two opinions being stated and just howtwo men felt at the particular time.Is there anything else that needs to behashed out or are you just ready to moveforward and forget the whole situation?I would like to do that, to just move forwardand forget about the situation, but things taketime. Wounds take time to heal, especiallyones like these. So whenever we decide tocome around and sit down, we will.Why did you feel like it was important tosquash it?The beef didn’t affect me when it came to recordsales or nothing like that. I do remarkablenumbers independently anyway. It was justgetting out of hand, and Quinn felt the sameway. When shit like this happens, innocentpeople can get fucked up. So we’re comingtogether to let these kids know, and let thepeople know, we’re bigger than rap music.We’re gonna put our differences to the sideand move forward like men. That doesn’t meanme and San Quinn are gonna hang out everyday. You might not catch me at McDonald’ssitting down with the nigga eating no cheeseburgeror nothing. But we’re definitely gonnaput our differences to the side and squash thisshit like men do and move forward with whatyou’re doing.Is it your ultimate goal to be on a major labelwith your video all over TV and your songs allover the radio? Or are you more comfortablebeing in theunderground position you’re in,still selling independent units?I’m a street nigga, so the hustle is in me.Independently, I feel like this is what I’ve gotto do because this is what I know. Of course Iwanna take it to another level as far as media,publications, and sales. But I’m not gonna justmake commercial music and chase milliondollardreams. I’ve had paperwork in my facefor two million, three million. I turned thosedeals down just based on what they want totake from me and what I’ve built.What did they want to take from you? Publishing?Publishing. How many albums they want, whatI’m limited to do, just [giving up] the freedom Ihave as an independent. They wanted to takethat all away from me for that little amountof money. That few million is a little amountof money. I can make that in a year. Last yearI released 100 songs. I don’t remember howmany albums - five, I think. [I sold] over 50,000at $6/unit, so that deal didn’t look like shit tome. I definitely would like to further my careerbut I’m not gonna make commercial musictryin’ to chase this muthafuckin’ dream thatmight not even turn into reality. I’m gon’ keep54 // OZONE MAG