- Westside Gunn,
the one who named the song "Johnny P's Caddy,"
you know, that's what he do.
He's the curator.
He got all these great big ideas and shit.
He remember my pops always had them Caddies.
Everybody in the neighborhood do.
Always had them big, shiny Cadillacs.
And it was a feeling in the, you know,
the late eighties, early nineties, mid nineties
with him pulling up in that Cadillac.
Sometimes, my pops used to have
the chrome naked lady on one of them joints.
Like it was crazy.
You know what I'm saying?
So just by him naming that,
it put me in a frame of mind.
The original spark for this song, basically,
I'm in the studio with Al.
You know what I'm saying?
I know what's at stake.
I know what I'm creating.
Basically, what made us want
to get Cole on the record is,
I wanted to get Cole on the record.
We exchanged numbers
and I would just text him about the song.
And J was like yo, I got you.
Whatever, whatever.
He had heard the record already.
And I feel like his fans,
they wanna see him speaking aggressive.
Talking: I'm the best rapper
'cuz they want him to like,
yo talk your shit.
You know what I'm saying?
And he did a lot of that on here.
So I'm thinking,
that's why people fuck with it like that.
Behind the curtain of the business,
regular people don't know what go on.
They think, you know, you got this jewelry,
you got this money,
you live this life,
that everything is perfect.
And everything is not perfect.
I got different problems.
I went through so much like,
you know, what's this?
You know what I mean?
So, I could handle it.
You know what I mean?
It's just a different way of handling it.
Energy.
You know what I'm saying?
That's what this about.
You gotta be able to move energy around.
Know who's who and know what's what.
You gotta be able to identify certain things.
I think I'm the best, I'm the best at that.
You know what I'm saying?
And that helped me get to where I'm at.
The first thing I think people need
to understand about rap being a business
is that, you know, we're artists.
And sometimes we see another artist ahead of us
and we just expect that artist to do us a favor
and pull us up.
But it don't work like that.
This is a business.
Don't ignore the business part of this game.
And that particular movie,
I was really being a version of myself.
So it was kind of easy for me.
You know what I'm saying?
So, I love that
I got to do that.
And I plan on doing more of it
because acting is such a therapeutic release.
When I do my manual,
when I write it out
it's gonna be called, "Pieces of a Brick."
The first thing I would tell a person to do is like,
have a reality check with yourself.
Go in the mirror.
Because it's gonna be a long road.
And he might lose some friends.
And, but you gotta be ready to sacrifice things.
That's the first rule I would put in there.
It's like prepare yourself, 'cuz it's real.
I think my authenticity helped me,
you know, get me where I'm at.
I feel like that's one of my strong points too.
I'm turning words to imagery.
I'm just gonna be very detailed in my approach
and paint these pictures.
That's probably the reason they're gonna remember me.
Know what I'm saying?
You know, I've been through some shit, obviously.
So, you gotta be aware of your surroundings
and what's going on around you.
You gotta be careful.
You know what I mean?
It's like, it's a lot going on around us.
And the fall is steep.
These guys came in before me.
And they gave me a platform to shine
and to do my thing on.
When these boys was bringing me around
I was reading the comments about 'em.
People was talking about 'em like they were already legends.
So I had, like, big shoes to fill.
You know what I mean?
A big mountain to climb.
And I feel I done that.
You see Conway,
you see West.
Now you see me.
You know what I'm saying?
It's three of us now.
So there's nothing you could say that, we valid.
Shout my boy, Black Blood.
Man, he taught me.
He's like my boy from the hood, OG.
He taught me like syllables.
Syllables, syllables syllables when I was 16.
You know what I'm saying?
And that, when you doing your syllables
that shows the men from the boys.
I'm gonna be honest with you.
That's why all the top rappers
is gonna be rhyming 3, 4, 5 syllables.
I'm thinking like,
how could I say something real
and still make it,
know what I mean, rhyme, entertaining?
Because all that other shit is boring to me.
I'm not trying to think
of the first thing that come to my head.
I'm trying to make this a complex rhyme
And notice this,
at the end when I say, "It's The Butcher,"
notice this,
I don't say, "The Butcher comin',"
'Cause I feel like "Tana Talk"
like, I'm here.
I did take acting classes.
A few of 'em.
I did sit and study with my co-stars
and I learned a lot from them.
I learned a lot from the people on the set.
Just when to turn it on
and when to turn it off
and not to look at the camera.
And you know what I'm saying?
And just to be yourself.