ALL STAR 2011 - Ozone Magazine

to go through nothin’ I did. If I can make a bettersituation for him, that’s what I’ma do – evenif it means reaching out to someone else’skids by tellin’ them the right way to go. Shitreally isn’t going to change unless you step inand touch someone else. It’s a domino effect.Practice makes perfect, so how are you gonnaget something done if you don’t work at it, orif you never even tried it to see if it works? Thisshit was never supposed to happen. WhereI’m from, they can’t even speak to us. I neverhad someone tell me to hate the Mexicans orhate the Crips, it was just the gang lifestyle.A lot of the muthafuckers I got into it with, Inever even know who they were. I just knowyou’re from that hood, and my hood is beefin’with you. That’s like brainwashing. I neverknew Te Money or Chino, but now we’re close.I coulda seen him before with my homiesand been like, “Aw, fuck them niggas,” justbecause they’re Crips. Now we’re beefin’ whenI never even met you. But now we live in thesame fuckin’ house. It starts with us. If we canget along, other people can too. People areteachin’ their kids to [gangbang] because theysee it on TV and think it’s cool. But when yousee your homies lose their life behind somebullshit, that’ll change you. I kept tellin’ mybrothers to sit back and everything is gonnabe alright – now they’re in jail lookin’ at tenyears. I want to put myself in a better situation.Chino: That’s what it is. Everybody’s gettin’washed up. When you’re in jail you hear“A LOT OF THEMUTHAFUCKERS IGOT INTO IT WITH, INEVER EVEN KNEWWHO THEY WERE. IJUST KNOW YOU’REFROM THAT HOOD,AND MY HOODIS BEEFIN’ WITHYOU. THAT’S LIKEBRAINWASHING... ITSTARTS WITH US. IFWE CAN GET ALONG,OTHER [GANG MEM-BERS] CAN TOO.” -LEFTYeverybody’s stories and charges, and there’shomies that ain’t never gonna get out. I appreciatethat they’re lookin’ out and tryin’ totell us something different. Nobody’s everreally taken the time to show me somethingelse. I appreciate everything more now – everybreath of air, every meal I eat – it means something,because there’s homies that are nevergetting out.Lefty: They’re givin’ ten years [extra] for gangbangin’.If you’ve got an opportunity [to getout] and don’t, that’s like giving yourself away.Te Money: If you catch a case and you’re agangbanger, they enhance it and add moreten more years [to your sentence].Lefty: I’m not glorifying that. I’m still in theneighborhood and I’ve still got homies losingtheir lives. I don’t appreciate seeing muthafuckerson TV glorifying the lifestyle when meand muthafuckers I love are still out here livingthis life. You’re just on TV doin’ it, sayin’ you’refrom some Piru or Crip gang. If you say you’re aPiru or a Crip, come to the hood. I got a greenpass for any hood you wanna go in out here.Come really see this shit, cause it’s fucked up. Ifyou’re on TV glorifying this shit, I don’t appreciateit and I don’t respect it, period.Let’s talk about the music. Are you releasingan album or a mixtape?Te Money: We’re workin’ on both. We’re halfwayfinished with the album, but like every otherartist, we just keep recording. We’ve got alot of content, though. We’re not just talkingabout red and blue rags or Crips and Bloods.We’re pretty much on some Tupac shit with thecontent. We talk about the struggle and all thethings we’ve been through. It’s N.W.A all overagain, when they came out with reality rap.Some songs represent where we’re from, butwe’re not promoting gangbangin’ at all.Do you have some lighter records for theradio or the clubs?Te Money: Yeah, it’s definitely mainstream, juststreet.Lefty: This is who we are. We’re all from differentneighborhoods so we all have a differentstory, and we put it all together. It’s mainstreamin a way, but we wanna send a messageat the same time. We don’t want peopleto get the wrong message just because we’refrom gangs. We’re not promoting that at all.Chino: It’s more like a soundtrack to our individuallives. It’s reality and this is how we live.OZONE MAG // 69