(quick, rhythmic music)
- Well, I met Akon, I used to stay in a apartments
called New Haven Station in Atlanta, Georgia.
And Akon stayed in the front of the complex
and I stayed all the way in the back,
and at this time, my dad was managing me
and I was signed to RCA Records.
And his little brother, Boo,
he didn't really like me, I don't think,
you know what I mean, 'cause I was dating a girl he wanted.
You know what I mean?
One day, Boo, she was cheating on me, right?
With somebody around the corner,
so Boo wanted to be the one to tell me (laughs).
We always joke about it to this day.
So, he's like, he knocks on my door, he's like,
"Yo, your girlfriend, she's over at dude's house."
So, I storm out the house, I got the whole block behind me,
I storm out the house, I go knock on the dude door,
and I punch him in the face (laughing), right?
So they like, "Oh, wow."
So, at this point, Boo like,
"Yo, dude with it, like, he with it."
He was like, "Yo," and I told him I do music.
And he was like, "Yeah, I got a brother that do music, too."
So, I'm like, "Let me meet your brother."
So, he took me to meet Akon,
and when I heard him, he was just dope,
he had this voice, that it was just crazy to me,
and he was just like this African dude.
At this time, there wasn't no Africans, like,
really represented in the hip-hop culture,
so, I was like, I seen something in him
at that young age, and I was like, "Yo,"
when I met him, I said, "Let me introduce you to my dad
"and see what we could do."
'Cause my dad had the pull at that time.
So, introduce him to my dad,
and from there, it was a wrap.
We took him to Sylvia Rhone at Electra Records,
we got him $1 million, this was like, 1993, '94.
I get 'Kon $1 million, know what I'm saying?
500,000 publishing, 500,000 signing bonus, you know?
And from that end, we started working on his album,
and then he'd get locked up again, you know?
He got locked up before the album came out,
so blew through the money, gets locked up
before the album come out.
I'm still pushing mine, at this time,
I'm just going solo, and finally,
so, when "Anywhere" came out,
Akon was just getting out of jail.
So, when he got out of jail, I'm just like,
"Yo, we back in the thick, you know?"
So, I been working with Akon, like I said, since '93.
My first album was called "Young World: The Future".
"Young World: The Future", if you don't have it, go get it.
The first single off the album was called "Callin' Me."
A lot of people don't know that "Callin' Me"
was originally produced by Akon.
And he was originally singing the chorus to
♪ This life I live ♪
That was Akon singing that.
And my manager at the time,
he was trying to build his label up,
and he had some producers signing him
named Mistafiss and Diggie Doms,
so one day, I just was in the studio asleep,
and they came in, and they had switched the whole beat,
they took Akon off the chorus,
and they put 112 on the chorus,
and I ain't gonna lie, at first, I didn't like it,
'cause I'm so for my people, I'm like,
"Nah, y'all take Akon off."
So, then, I'm asleep in the studio one day,
and it comes on, loud, kinda startles me when it comes on,
'cause I used to fall asleep in the studio all the time,
'cause we'd be in there so long.
And when it came on, it's was like (imitating loud music),
and it woke me up, and for some reason,
now remember, for a whole month,
I had bee telling them, "Hold two weeks."
I'd been telling them I didn't like it,
I didn't like it, put Akon back on it,
but then, when it woke me up, I can't lie.
It sounded so good, and I turned to the label,
I'm like, "Look, I was tripping, like,
"we gonna keep 112 on there,
"we gonna keep the beat, don't even listen to me no more."
You know what I mean?
So, but people don't really know,
Akon was originally the producer
in on the hook for "Calling Me",
and we end up taking him off and replacing him with 112,
'cause we just wanted to keep that vibe going.
It's just his family, my family,
are like this, you know, not like this like it used to be,
'cause, you know, life changes,
but as far as when it first started,
if you get the first Akon album,
you look in the cover, it says,
"To Lil Zane and Big Zane for giving me my start."
You know what I mean?
And that was enough for me, you know what I'm saying?
I don't really need nothing else, you know what I mean?
I think he, you look at him now, you know?
I'm just happy to be a part of that.
I felt like I gave the world something
that it would have been missing
if I wouldn't have been born,
they woulda might not met Akon,
but you know, I just like to see things grow,
and I'm happy with where he's at right now.
I'm happy, we came from nothing, you know?
Me and Akon came from nothing,
and I'm proud of what we became
and what we took, we took nothing
and turned it to something, you know?
(sustained musical note)
(upbeat music)