 Yo Gotti | Paul Wall  |
I love people loving my music, that’s what I love more than anything.
In theory, today, things should be a lot different for Slim Thug. Remember, just four years ago Slim Thug, aka Slim Thugga aka Thugga aka The Boss looked set to be the biggest thing to come out of Texas since ten-gallon hats and 72 oz. steaks. He had the cosign of the Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z on the remix of “I Ain’t Heard of That,” and every right to claim Mike Jones’ lead single, “Still Tippin’,” as his own. In fact, the future looked so bright for the rapper born Stayve Jerome Thomas that he dubbed his Star Trak debut Already Platinum (Star Trak/Geffen, 2005). But then Platinum went gold, the air came out of the Houston movement, the Neptunes lost their touch, and Slim Thug The Boss became a cog in the Geffen machine without even a sophomore album to show for it.
And yet the intervening years haven’t been a loss. Refusing to let label limbo stop his grind, Slim Thug instead worked the Koch system to release two impressive and rather successful collections, Serve & Collect (2007) and Back by Blockular Demand (2008), both by Slim Thug Presents the Boss Hogg Outlawz. After finally freeing himself from the Geffen deal last year, he went back to E1 Entertainment (formerly Koch Records) this spring to release his sophomore album, Boss of All Bosses. He hopes to have his next album out before year’s end, and to hear Slim Thug, now 28, tell it, he’s making his best music yet, theory be damned.
VIBE: You’ve been doing independent records for a minute with the Boss Hogg Outlawz projects, but you recently released your first solo album since separating from Star Trak/Geffen, through Koch. Can you talk about that transition?
Slim Thug: Yeah man, really what it is, is I’m back independent, in control. I like to be in control of my music. The situation wasn’t really so much a Star Track situation; it was more of a Geffen issue. Me and Star Trak really was cool, but at the end of the day, I knew what the fans wanted. They wanted to hear Slim, back to the H-Town ways, what they heard from the beginning. So I just wanted to start back over and give them that first. And now that I got the respect over Boss of All Bosses, and I’m getting love off that and everybody loving the album, now I can do what I want to do. I definitely want to work with Pharrell again and do at least one or two tracks with him on this album or the next. Because I’m working on another new album right now, Thug Boss, volume two of the Boss of All Bosses. So, that’s what I’m really working on right now.
What kind of time frame are you looking at for that project?
Man, it’s on this damn label. I’m trying to go through Koch again and I’m trying to make it happen. If they can make it happen, I’m trying to come out again in September. I’ve got the album almost complete. I just need them to be ready to get behind it. I’m already ready; I’m just waiting on them to move. I only had a one album deal with them. I ain’t really just stuck there. I might go holler at somebody else if they don’t move fast enough.
How have things changed if it all, in terms of putting music out? Do you feel like you’re going back to your roots, putting that street music out?
Honestly, I think I’m making the best music I ever made in my life right now. I think when you sit down and you listen to Boss of All Bosses you’re going to fall in love with the album. But the issues I’m running into is the exposure. When I was with Geffen, they did the exposure good. They had me in magazines, they had me everywhere as far as promotion-wise. But the music wasn’t getting the right push. Now I’m getting the right push, without the right promotion behind it. The album is jamming and everybody loving the album and I’m doing shows every weekend, everywhere. I’m doing more shows than I ever did in my life. I know that the music has got to be good, so that’s why I’m happy that the people are slowly but surely catching on to the music. But at the same time, I haven’t had not one magazine [say], “The Boss of All Bosses in stores. Boss of All Bosses coming soon.” Not one. Not from VIBE, XXL, nothing. Dealing with these labels sometimes, it be like that. But I’m just trying to take everything in my control, put my hands on everything so it will work better next time. Every time something drop, I learn from my mistakes and I’m just gonna try to keep fixing them.
I imagine it’s hard to make sure someone like MTV comes to holler at you when you’re working independent.
Exactly, that’s what I’m trying to cope with and learn. I’m still learning. I ain’t got it 100 percent, as you can see. You probably now just hearing about the album. A lot of people hear about the album late and just now hearing about it or still haven’t heard about it. Asking me when this album gonna drop so I’m trying to figure it out right now. I’m just gonna take everything in my own hands. I don’t really like the fact that I’m working with a label and they not at least doing half of the work. They ain’t spending no money on it. The music is there, we’re getting all kind of spins. We’re doing shit ourselves but they’re not participating no more. I guess they’re just closing their budget on it. If they’re making money off of it, I feel like they should put some money into it too. That’s the issue right now, but I’m trying to work through it and figure out how I can do it without ’em. Hopefully, in a few more years, we won’t even need to deal with nobody. We can just do this all ourselves and it’ll be good.
You come from an independent background and that’s how you ended up in the major situation. And now you’re back doing the independent thing. Are you disappointed at all to be back here? Or does it feel comfortable?
It’s comfortable, me being in control of my music. Nobody influenced me on this album. Nobody can say they did anything. I put this shit in order from one to thirteen. I went and picked the beats myself; there was no A&R involved. It was me going out there and doing it myself. By being in the game for so long, and doing what I’m doing, I know what the people want from me. I know how to give them what they want. So, I gave them an album of what they want. Honestly, it ain’t all about what I want. I like working with cats like Pharrell and different producers. I don’t want to be labeled as just a Houston artist or just an underground artist. I feel like I can do a song with Beyoncé. We did that before, it was number one. I feel like I can step out and do that, but I know what the people want to hear from me. I’m comfortable, it’s all cool, but it’s just certain shit you got to work out. Even though this ain’t a major label, it’s still a label and we still don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of shit, too. It ain’t a perfect world, but I will say I’m more comfortable over here. I will say that I’m in a better situation than I was. “I Run” was my biggest song as a solo artist, period. Not including “Still Tippin” or any of the other shit like that. As Slim Thug, “I Run” was the biggest song I ever had, with the most spins, most sold, most singles, everything. It’s making sense to me, what I’m doing.
You say you feel like you’re making the best music of your career. What are you really feeling about the music that you’re making, outside of just the response that you’re getting?
It’s both. Like I’m telling you what the people are saying to me. I love Already Platinum to death. I love that album from beginning to end. I feel like it was jammin’. But I’m just telling you what the people telling me they like, and it’s “Boss of All Bosses.” They love it. It’s real music. I know what the people want: They want to hear me with other Houston artists and they want to hear me on the type of songs I did on this album. I love this album, too. I think that Boss of All Bosses is better than Already Platinum at the end of the day. I love doing all kinds of music [but] I never was able to go from the beginning of my album all the way to the end at a show. When I do shows, I just start my album from the intro and that’s what I’m doing. It ain’t about “Still Tippin’.” I rarely do those songs.
So you find that liberating? Just being able to be like “You know what, fuck it. This is the kind of music I make. This is what people want to hear from me and let’s go.”
That’s it. This next album is worse. Really, I’m saying what I want to say, without worrying about: “Ok man, this is not gonna be on the radio” or “This here ain’t gonna do this.” I don’t give a fuck. When you don’t give a fuck, you just say what you really feel. That’s the best, to me. Honest music is the best music to me and I’m just being honest in my music. I think this next album might be even better because I’m pushing the bar. I’m really just out there like not giving a fuck. So it’s gonna be hard for me to find a decent single that could actually go on the radio. Shit like Jay-Z’s “D.O.A” shit, I feel him on that. Niggas is too soft right now. It’s all about the girls. It ain’t used to be like that. It used to be about everything else, the streets. And that’s what it’s about with me. I’m just trying to keep that shit alive.
At this point in your career, are you in it for the paper or are you in it for the music? You said you like to drop a couple albums a year. Is that because you like making music or because you like making money?
I like them both equally. I love the money and I love the music. I love people loving my music, that’s what I love more than anything. It ain’t about money, it’s about having the people…not so much a motherfucker just following you or the fans wanting an autograph. But it give you power when you on stage, and some shit you wrote a motherfucker know it. Like they know every word to it. That’s a good feeling. I like that feeling. That’s what I do this shit for. For a motherfucker to feel my music, to the point that they know ever word of it and they screaming the shit back at you, when you’re on stage. That’s what I love about it.
Are you interested in being in the best rapper alive conversation?
I want to be, not only just a hell of a rapper, but I want to have a hell of a team with me, like other artists on my label. But yeah, I definitely think I can be the best rapper in the fuckin’ world, if I sit down and go to the studio every day. I can. But am I gonna do this shit? Am I gonna sit in the studio every day, when I don’t like going to the motherfuckin’ studio? Nah, I’m not [laughs], but at the same time when I get in that motherfucka, I’m a perfectionist with this music I’m gonna make. So, when I put an album out, the motherfucker jam. And that’s what it is.
Press play to listen to Slim Thug's "Associates" feat. Z-Ro and J-Dawg from the album, Boss of All Bosses (E1 Entertainment)
Press play to watch the video for Slim Thug's "I Run" feat. Yelawolf, from the album Boss of All Bosses
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