“When I was younger I was really a gang member,” he says, “and I was really doing what was required of a gang member but I don’t do it now. So when people be like, ‘what gang are you in?’ like, what gang am I in? I got a business, I’m not a gang member. I laugh when I see certain people still talking bout ‘Blood,’ like, c’mon, man! You didn’t start doing that ’til you was 26 years old, stop".
“That is the corniest shit ever for me,” Slim continues. “And then this is the thing that [spills over] to the kids ’cause now you got kids feeling like its cool to say ‘soo woop,’ and [they] don’t even know what that really means. In jail, dudes get they mouth busted for sayin’ that, but in the street life you got money and you can say blood and you can pay a couple dudes and they let you in. Nah, I didn’t come up like that, we didn’t respect money, money wasn’t the motivation, and I think it just got watered down.”
Slim feels name dropping gangs through music is irresponsible on behalf of some artists. “I don’t choose to say I’m a gang member,” he said. “I’m from where I’m from, you can’t change that, but I don’t ever try to promote it. Some dudes from L.A. when you listen to they music… it’s ‘crip this’ and ‘neighborhood this’ and ‘I’m from here.’ C’mon man, that shit is corny man, that’s what you wanna say in your music? Like you got peoples’ attention and you gonna tell them you from wherever.”
In addition, he says the move is also, plain and simple, corny.
“The dudes that do that, be the dudes that really ain’t about that; that’s the truth and I’m not excluding nobody,” he says. “All the niggas that parade around with the bandanas and all that, that shit is corny, period. That shit is not a good look. We been through 400 years of slavery and you gonna do some dumb shit like this? You got an opportunity to give somebody some game like, ‘look I did this, don’t do it.’ Like [on] my song, ‘South Central Blues,’ I tell them, ‘don’t copy me, be better than me,’ I ain’t heard no rapper say that in years.”
Slim the Mobster’s mixtape,
War Music, hosted by DJ Whoo Kid, is currently available for free download online on
www.Djbooth.net —
Jesse Gissen @JesseXXL
BallerStatus.com: It seems like a long time, but it's just been a few years since you first hooked up with Dre. How have you changed over this time, as far as your mentality, your work ethic, etc.?
Slim: A lot of things changed. I just think it was the best thing for me. You don't always get all the right opportunities and chances in your life, so I've been blessed.
BallerStatus.com: Obviously, you were doing music before, but what have you learned, working with him and others in the camp, thus far?
Slim: Patience ... definitely patience. I learned more about life, in general. He showed me a lot of things, just as a grown man.
