A lot of people outside the city know you solely because of that “Welcome 2 Detroit” song with Eminem. How did just that song and shout out from Eminem help you get your career to another level? It seems like that was huge for you.
“Hell yeah! He helped me, (expletive) yeah he did! That’s my man. I’ll never forget what Em did for me. He will always be my dear friend. He took me to another level in my career. I’m always appreciative and feel blessed about it. God made that happen for me. It means so much as far as how people accept me.”
So Eminem helps you out knowing you did prison time and also gives shout outs to the Chedda Boyz, a group some people claim is a gang, a rap group or possibly both. I can’t imagine his label was totally supportive of that.
“(The Chedda Boyz) are Detroit, that’s Detroit. That’s Detroit. That’s just him showing that kind of recognition.”
What does Eminem do you for you behind the scenes?
“You get that guy's voice on a song you’re on and you’re going to get some money. You can take care of a lot of people when you got him doing 16 bars (on a song you're on). You can take care of a lot of people. That’s enough!”
Doing anything with Eminem now? How many songs have you guys done?
“We got some new stuff now. I recorded something for each (Eminem) album, so did D-12, so did 50 (Cent). You just do work with him. If he calls and says he needs you to do something with him, you just knock that song out for the homie. That’s my homie! ‘Ballin’ Uncontrollably,’ that’s a song we did.
Do you think people in the industry told Eminem he needed to stay away from you and he just said to them “(bleep) you” he’s my friend?
“Oh yeah, oh yeah. I know a lot of people said that to him, a lot of people. A lot of people were in his year. Em wanted to sign me at one point, and we had that discussion, but the powers that be didn’t think that would be a great idea because of my reputation. But like I said, I can’t change my reputation ‘so (bleep) it.’ It’s not what God had in his plan. I’m not going to worry about it.”
Was it hard to deal with that? Was it hard to accept?
“It was for a while. But it was nothing deliberate or to the point that I think it changed the way people felt about me as a person. I never wanted to be feared, still don’t. I’ve never wanted to have that kind of image. I go in to every neighborhood now (in Detroit), all over Detroit and all over the world.”
This is just the section that deals with Em; the rest of the interview is great! Read more.
