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Interview Podcast

MP3: So, you've got a new record coming out, Greatest Story Ever Told. David Banner: Mm-hmm. What can you tell us about it? The best rap album in the last three years. Go tell your favorite rapper that! Excellent. And are you doing all the production on it yourself or you got some help on the beats or what? No, I got Nitti on that joint. I got Akon. I got Bo on that joint. I got Cool & Dre. Oh, and Warren Campbell. Me and my homie, I don't know if you know about Warren Campbell. He's one of the greats R&B and gospel producers ever. We got a production team together now. Excellent. Stupid! My beats are some of the greatest beats ever, and our producers will bow down to my omnipotence here! [laughs] Right on. That sounds good. Is the first single going to be the "9mm" joint with Wayne? Yes, it is, for the nice people. "9mm" is for the people who don't give a f**. B, I don't know if you give a f***. Do you give a f***, B? I do. I try to. Damn, B! I don't give a f***. This "9mm" is for me. I don't give a f*** about too much s***. [laughs] Cool. So, now you've been doing this for a minute. You've been putting out records for going on like a decade now. Do you feel like you're just getting better and better every time out? Well, honestly, B, I think what God has done—he has allowed me to see my weaknesses and my strength. And what I've been able to do is focus in on my strength, and the things that I do. Like most rappers can't tell a story. Right. This time, I open it up, and attack them, you know, on their weakness. One of my weaknesses is my articulation because of my southern drawl. I believe—it's not that I haven't been rapping on every city. I think I rap better than most of these fools. But you just couldn't understand a lot of the s*** I was saying. Sure. You know what I'm saying? So, that's what I've worked on. If it took eighty takes this time, that's what we're going to do to make sure you can hear every word, if that meant raising the vocals of it, if that means taking some of the over dubs out. I want you to hear exactly what I was saying, you know? And then to a certain degree, I simplified it. You know, like on "9mm," I just simply said that I think it's one of the dopest verses of the year. Uh-huh. You know, "if I got nine slugs, nine bullets gonna fly / If I got a red beam, nine people gonna die / nine spirits in the sky / nine preachers preaching nine sermons, telling nine lies / cuz each and every one of y'all nine rappers couldn't spit / I woulda rather keep the nine lugers in the ruger clip / The index finger slipped / the nine let nine spit / I lick 'em all like eighteen tits on nine chicks. Shit!" Nice. "Suicide wrist, nine slits on each wrist!" If I died nine times like a cat—if you died times, what's going to happen the tenth time with cat. You're going to die, right? You're done. "But if I come back, if I come back, I'm rocking ninety-nine shows and puttin' nine inches of dick in ninety-nine hos." What! What! Did you hear that s***?! You woulda never thought that came from me, would you?! [laughs] No. Damnit B! I'm the s***! I'm about to convert you. You are going to be a follower of my omnipotence starting today. That's what's up. Now, I want to talk, in addition to your own stuff, you do a lot of outside production for other artists. Is there anything on the table right now that you've been working on or collaborating? Working on Chris Brown. I'm working on Lil Wayne. I'm working on a couple of cats from J5. Oh, cool. Chali2na from J5 specifically. Nice. He's got a new solo record coming out, right? Yeah, I'm working on his album. Who else am I producing? Jim Jones. Rick Ross. Just a bunch, I'm just making a lot of money, man. It's stupid, man. Snoop Dogg. I think I got Snoop's first single. And a bad thing about it being's I look better than I've ever looked in my whole entire life. Well, that's a good thing, man. That's a good thing. Wonderful. Now, I want to talk about, you know--. B, can I ask you a quick question? Yeah, absolutely. Do you curse? Do I curse? Yeah. Say s***. S***. Okay, I was just making sure. F*** yeah. You know, doing beats and rapping, is there one or the other that you prefer, or do you dig them both, or do you think that you'll ever retire from rhyming and just focus on beats and other stuff? Now, I'm going to be quite honest with you. I'm a money whore. Anything I'm doing—whichever one I'm making the most money doing at the time is the one I enjoy doing the most. Okay. I don't do s*** for fun; I want to be rich! I want to be rich! Well, it seems like you're on your way, man. One two three, you ready? One, two, three. I want to be rich!!! Word. And in addition to the music, you're doing the movie thing as well. That's right. That's why I got richer, B. So, there's a lot more money in movies, huh? Yeah. I s*** and wipe my ass with money and excellence, that's a quote from Ricky Bobby. What other movies you got on deck? I got "This Christmas," that's coming out this Christmas actually. That's funny. Me and Idris Elba, Chris Brown, Delroy Lindo, you know—I keep forgetting the dude name—what's the dude name from "Stomp the Yard?" That was the main little dude. I know the cat you're talking about but I don't know his name. I got to—I got to remember his name, B. That's f***ed up. I never say that boy's name. Anyway, and then I got another movie with me, Rick Ross, Slim Thug and, what's the guy from "The Matrix"? Keanu Reeves? No, Fishburne. Don't let nobody know I didn't know his name. He's cool. You know he was the voice for Silver Surfer, B? Oh word? Yeah. I didn't know that. That's cool. Is that something that, you know—in addition to the acting, are you looking to get, down the line, are you looking to get into like directing and producing and the other side of the camera type of stuff? Yeah, that's actually where I want to be. I don't think we're able to—we won't be able to change the perception of our generation unless our generation controls the images that people project to everybody, you know. So, the feelings about West Coast did not change until West Coast people were able to control their image. You know? And that's what we're going to have to do, as Southerners and as young poor people, in general, is control the images and control the pictures that people put out here about us. No doubt, man. Now, I wanted to, you know, shift in gears, man. I want to talk about sort of the state of hip-hop right now, and the state of the industry and what not… B. Yeah. Do you like large breasts? Do I? Yeah, no doubt. I do too. I was just thinking about it. Oh, it's a large breast walked in the room!! We was just talking about large breasts!! And man!! [laughs] Nice. I just want to ask you, man, you know, with the way stuff is right now, and ring tones and downloading and this and that, does that trouble you or worry you at all coming out with a brand new record whether or not, you know, you're numbers is going to be whatever they were the last time out, or do you not even care about that? She's cute, B. Say that again, B. I was not paying no attention. I was looking at the girl. It's all good. I was going to say, you know, being that the way that sales is down kind of across the board, and the industry is just changing constantly like every year it's a different type of situation, does that stuff make you paranoid at all, that your numbers might not be what they were the last time out, or are you more just concerned with making a good music? B, I don't really give a s***. I make so much money doing other things now. They can throw this mother f***er in the air and give it to homeless people. I wouldn't give a f***. I'ma be honest with you. I wanna do well. One thing that God gave to me in the bad times that I had last year, is that music isn't my God. I put good music out here because that's my job. What bless me and change my life from the DJs, to the fans, to the people that work for me, and work around me, they invest their life, their money and their hard work, you know. And all they want me to do is make a jammin' ass song? Come on. That's what I do. I feel like this is one of the best rap albums ever. And if people don't respect it as such, f*** it. I'll go on and be the next Will Smith. That's what I'm about to be. And I'm a lot sexier. I know you went to college for education. I was high most of my college career. You were high most of the time? Do you ever think about getting into that, you know, teaching and stuff? B, I said I was high, my brain cells is gone! Okay. [laughs] B, I'm just f***in' with you man! Honestly, I want to go back after I get really super rich because I want to teach other poor people how to get money. One of my biggest problems in the rap game is that I didn't have any mentor. You know, I had people who are older than me but if you—if you're not a millionaire, how are you going to tell me how to be one? Sure, sure. You know? And that's something that I want to be. I want to go back to teach people how to be—how can your broke-ass teacher show you how to be successful and that bitch broke? And she wanna cheat on her husband because that nigga broke? I hear you. And I'm saying like that's some depressing s***. I want to go to Yale where motherf***in—well, they doctors and they rich, too. They teach cuz they wanna teach. And that's the kind of scholar and that's the kind of person I want to be. I want to—I want to give because I don't have to, not because I have to, not because it's forced. And kids can tell that. Kids learn from people who know that they are giving their time of their sacrifices for them. No doubt. You didn't know I was this good, did you, B? You got a lot to say, man. I appreciate it. I also wanted to ask you, you know, you done a lot of charity work. You got the whole "Heal the Hood" movement going on, which, you know, a lot of times… B. What's up? Have you ever had sex with a black girl? Yeah, I have, actually. Did you enjoy it? Yeah, it was great. Really? Yeah. Like to do it again? Yeah. Yeah!!! You f***in' rock, B! All right, I'm sorry. Go ahead. It's all good. I was just going to say, you know, "Heal the Hood," you did a lot of really good work for people helping out after Katrina down in Mississippi and in Louisiana, and whatnot, whereas, you know, it didn't really get a lot of media coverage. Everybody in the media talks hella s*** about rap music, this and that, and getting blamed for everything, but then when somebody like yourself comes up and does something huge for the community, it's kind of like, it's on page twenty, or whatever. Can I be honest with you? Yes, please. They always want us to be niggas. Right. No matter what we do, they always want us to be portrayed as young, wild and stupid. One of the problems with our generation is that our parents don't want to let go and die. I really think our—you know, the generation of leaders—first of all, we have to step up our game and be leaders. We don't have no leaders in our generation that's stepping up and taking responsibility. And then, if we are, our parents are so money-hungry and so selfish that they don't want to go and sit down and retire with their old stinkin' ass. Yeah. And I mean that we have to step to the forefront and be man enough to take responsibility of this—this is our time. And if you noticed, in college, they treat college people like they're high schoolers. They treat high schoolers like they're elementary. Like, dude, we've grown. We have to take the responsibility of being grown, but then people have to respect us and give us the opportunity to make mistakes. Do you think that that's ever going to change? Do you think that it's ever going to be like, different than—like right now, just a couple of months ago, the whole Imus thing and now Sharpton and Russell Simmons and all those guys? I hate Imus. I hope Reverend Al Sharpton goes to a political rally, and somebody is smokin' a butt and his hair catches on fire and no water is anywhere in the vicinity. I cannot stand Al Sharpton. And I hate Jesse Jackson. Okay. You know Jesse Jackson's son? I'd been talking s*** about his daddy, who's from Harlem. I'm on MySpace. MySpace back slash David Banner. Right on, man. Well, so the new album is dropping soon. The single is—is the single out now officially or is it just up on the MySpace or what? It's out. It's out officially. The video is airing Monday. And, B, I just want you to know something. If you go ahead and change to Bannerism now, allow that to be your religion, I will spare you. Okay, Bannerism. That's what it's called. Nice. Are you going to be doing a big tour this year or after the album drops or what? I was on the Rock the Bells tour and then I quit. Oh, really, what happened? What happened with that? Do you want to know, B? Yeah, I do want to know. They treated me like I was a nigger. Really? Yeah. Well, who, the promoters or what? I don't know. I guess the whole tour, they treated me like I was a nigger. Ah, man, that's wack. Yeah, and so I had to fight the power. Okay. So, you bounced? You're off of that? I threw up my black power fist and I left. Okay. I might go back though because, as a young revolutionary, I've realized that in order for us to progress, we have to be there, to change it and make the situation better for the next generation. I might go back. It depends on how I feel. I've got so much money I could do one or the other. But if I go back it's because I want to go back. And the fans don't know nothin' about stupid f***ers. Right. Well, I wanted to ask you, I'm out in the Bay area. I know you did some stuff... I love the Bay. It's great, huh? Yeah. I like it out here, too. I know you did some stuff with DJ Shadow on his last album, Have you guys… Shadow had sex with a black girl before, too. I know he did. I hooked him up with a couple of hoes. That's cool. Are you guys going to be working together again, or how is that coming together? Yeah, we're going to be f***in' the same hoes again. I mean on music. Well, there was some music going on, you know. No, me and Shadow, I like Shadow, dude. Shadow amazes me—Shadow is like me. He's a historian of rap. He knows his s*** for sure. And it's crazy because Shadow is a white boy. And he knows and cares about black music the way that a lot of us do. You know what I'm saying? It's like the song I did on the Shadow album was a song that I should be doing on my album. You know it was a very political song. I said some s*** on there I didn't have no business saying, you know the kind of s*** that they kill niggas for. And I just salute him for being man enough to step to the foreground and help us progress. You know what I'm saying, because that's something that he don't have to do. If you even look at it, Shadow took hell by trying to support the Hyphy movement. Absolutely. You know, and he had his lane. You know what I'm saying? He was the king of the type of music that he does. And I just really appreciate him. And anytime Shadow need me, I'm there. He was actually going to be my DJ. Really? On the Rock The Bells tour. That's cool. He was overseas. You know, so he might do the last couple of shows. As a matter of fact, he comes back the day that they're supposed to be in San Francisco. I might have him to be my DJ. Cool. Right on, man. Well, I also want to ask you, you know, every single kid out there right now wants to be a rapper, or they want to be a producer, or they want to be a label mogul and this and that. They want to get in the rap game somehow. You've had a lot of success at this. You've worked with a lot of people. What advice would you give to the next generation, the young kid that looks up to a guy like you and wants to do the kind of things that you're doing? Put a white girl under your arm. I'm just joking. What you really have to do is be focused, and work hard. Right. It's crazy, because I read a lot of power books. You know, "The Art of War," "The Forty-Eight Laws of Power," so on and so forth. And the thing that they show us is that people don't want to accept that this s*** is hard. This is not easy. It's not going to happen overnight. And if it happens overnight, then it goes away overnight. Right, right. You notice the rappers that come up on the scene real quick that don't have no history, leave quick? Yup. You know. And if you a fad, you're going to leave a fad. I'd rather have a David Banner career where I fight hand and tooth. I'm on my fourth major—fifth major album, on my ninth album, out of the whole. Kids could go back and find the s*** if they never heard of David Banner. They could find out about Crooked Letters and go back and research and see that this s*** ain't the easiest bit of process. I'm just saying just be ready to work hard. Yeah, the glitz and the glamour and the white girls are cool, but, you know, there's other black girls that's out there that need lovin', too. No doubt. It's hard work, man. It's hard work. All right. That's good advice. Well, have you got any last words you'd like to say to the people that's going to be checking this? Yup, that when I come to the Bay area, me and B are going to have sex with black girls. The white girls can come too, if they want to. That sounds like a plan, man. Right on. Well, listen, it's great talking to you, David Banner. I appreciate it, man. Hey be safe man. And thank you for the opportunity.