March 02, 2007 @ 12:42 pm

Lil Flip to VIBE: "Don't spend 50 grand on a chain unless you buy a house first."

Greta Cabrera

With a new album on the horizon, Lil Flip grows up and gets his business straight.

For the past year, Lil Flip's been busy honing his grind: his upcoming album, I Need Mine, has a new release date (March 27) and a new label (Asylum), since it was leaked to the internet after he left Sony last August. He's also in the process of creating a reality TV show, "Lil' Flip's American Rapper," and getting in on a nationwide domino tournament. Most importantly, he still maintains the down to earth attitude that made us love the undaground legend in the first place: "I like the shit people wouldn't expect a superstar to like," he tells us. "I still eat Ramen Noodles." Hey Flip, how are you doing?
My album's finally gonna come out March 27. You know, I do so much music at one time, um, finally, so I'm aight. I'm in good spirits. Tell us about it. Are there any new artists that you're collaborating with?
Yeah, I got um; I got Nate Dogg, Mya. An artist named Yuk Mouth. He's from the West Coast. He's a big artist. I got MJG. I've been a fan of MJG's for a while. When I came into the game, I told myself that I wanted to take certain elements from differently artists and put it all in one. Like, when I do music now I can switch my style up. Like me, I'm not afraid to do different rhyme patterns and one thing about MJG, he can rhyme fast, he can rap slow. That's like me. I can rap the fast style or I can slow it down. Is there anyone else who has been an inspiration to your music career?
I have to say my, um, my cousins. They passed away, they not alive. I had a cousin named Larry and a cousin named Jody. And of course DJ Screw. He was the first person to allow me to do a mixtape. Before that I was doing battles at clubs and freestyles. What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment?
I'd say my biggest accomplishment was going gold. Because the first record I did with a friend from my neighborhood was a song called "Diamonds in Your Face" with a guy named C Note. When he got the wax pressed up, I went and got some spray paint and I spray painted the whole record gold. I let it dry and I put it on my wall - 'cause I stayed with my grandparents, so I put it on my wall and I was like, I'ma get me a gold plaque. And when I finally put my first album out with Sony called Underground Legend, and it went gold, I brought the plaque home and I took down the fake one, and I put it up and I got my gold plaque. Then after that I got the platinum. So going gold and platinum was like my biggest accomplishment and I did it twice. Do you feel like you have any regrets in your career, or basically in life? Is there anything that you wish you would have done differently?
Um, yeah. I wish I wouldn't have... See, when I first signed with Sony, my attitude was a kind of "do it myself" attitude. I wasn't gonna just sit back and let Sony do their thing. I would take my own money and press up T-shirts. I drew up my own T-shirts. I drew up my own album covers. So we was still working neck and neck. And after the second album I just got relaxed and let them do their job and I just focused more on music. You let Sony take the business part of it?
Well, I sat back. I was trying to get my label off the ground with other artists, but if I would have known back then that I could have took my own money and shot my own videos and hired my own radio street teams, then I would have did that. My only regret is going through the politics issues with Sony. I wish I would've kept on their ass. Every artist goes through it. Sometimes when you get with these labels you got this whole big image: I'm gonna sign with this label, I'm gonna sell a shitload of records the first week, everything's gonna be fuckin' amazing, and they're gonna do everything. And you just... So, that was my biggest regret. But other than that, I done switched that whole thing up. I'm hands-on with everything. I need to know everything that's going on. What exactly happened with Sony?
What happened with Sony was a number of things. My first album, I only got on video, which is "Where We Ball." If I would have went on the road touring, that album would've went to platinum. The album went platinum because I stayed on the road touring and I was doing collaborations with people. But the second album, I got told a lie to. With "Game Over," a song I didn't want to do, we ended up getting in a lawsuit behind that. Sony had to pay it because they were the ones who came to me with the record. And then we went with the "Sunshine" record. After that we had another single called "We Ain't Playin'" with Pastor Troy or whatnot - that the streets was loving, but they never shot the video, so we were bumping heads then and it just got a point where they found out I was making beats. They were sending their A&R down to Houston and I would let them hear some music and then he would ask and "who made that?" and when I would say me, he goes back and is like, "Oh man, Flip's trying to make beats," which means that he wouldn't have a job. So it was a lot of shit. I signed directly with Steve Rifkind first. And then right after that I had got cool with everybody, and then after that everybody gets fired. Then they said, "OK, Sony's gonna keep y'all, they're gonna let them go..." They kept half of the artists. Why were they firing certain artists and not all of them?
I think the numbers. I don't really know, but I think it had a lot to do with the numbers. I think they were spending more money than they were bringing. Sony don't really know what's going on. They hire urban people to tell them what's hot, but really, they don't know… That's the same company that hired 50 Cent and let him go. How did this whole issue affect your album?
My album got pushed back. Then it got leaked. The problem is, what labels do, they shouldn't give reps copies of a whole album. In certain regions in, like, a four state radius, they got like a rep that handles four states. And usually the reps just have your singles, two or three songs, but I'm talking about four or five months before my album's even dropping, these people are walking around with a whole copy of my album. Well, it was a double, so all they had was just one. Thank God. That was my comeback album and I put a lot of work and time and energy and for it just to get thrown out for free - that would piss anybody off. How did this affect you as an artist and as a person? Did it teach you a lesson for the future?
Oh yeah. Honestly, a lot of rappers walk around and appear on TV behind their egos. But every album, and I mean every album, I learned something new. And what I learned this time is that I'm not gonna burn copies of my new songs. As an artist you like to do some shit in the studio and you wanna get a CD for people for listen to. If you record so many songs, eventually you're gonna lose a CD. It's inevitable, so I don't burn copies of my CDs no more and if I do burn a copy, after I listen to it, I break it. Um, I don't let, like, a lot of people like to have all their homeboys in the studio with them. There homeboys hear all the records before they come out. Like, what I do... My homeboys only heard half of my album. So I just keep everything under wraps and keep it all to myself. If somebody tell you they're gonna give you that beat free, you better go on and get that beat free and put it on paper because a year later they gonna want some money. Do you have any advice for people who are trying to get into the music industry?
Yeah. I would say, for one, keep God first or whomever they believe in. Two, don't try to help everybody before you get your foot in the door. A lot of rappers tend to try to put their homeboy on and their homeboy's homeboys on. Three, don't burn no bridges. My thing is that, they need to treat this like a job. Being a rapper, you get to do what you want. You don't have to take drug tests. It's probably one of the funnest jobs because we get paid to talk. So, it's like, you can easily lose focus and forget that this is a job. That's the main thing. They need to treat this like a job and learn how to talk to people. You know, when you're in the neighborhood with your friends, you can talk hood/ghetto, whatever. But when you're handling business that's pertaining to you career you gotta flip that ghetto switch on and off and get in corporate mode. Are you dating anyone?
I never talk about my personal life, ever. Because I see it everyday where people follow people and then you got people microscoping people's relationship and then when they break up and one of the people moves on to another relationship, it makes one of the people look like a ho. It's just too much, so I never even get involved with that type of shit. I just play the field. Do you see yourself settling down any time soon?
Yeah. I'm a whole different Flip. I mean like, being able to take a break. You gotta understand, when I was rapping, I graduated high school in 1999, I was on the road from 1999 to 2003. So, I was on the road for four to five years straight. I saw my family, my grandparents, mother and dad, like, literally eight times in those four to five years. So, I'm able to relax and the little shit that I was missing, that most people don't like to do, you know, it did a whole 360. I like the shit people wouldn't expect a superstar to like. I still eat Ramen Noodles. You know what I mean? I don't get caught up in all that. When I step out of my house, I'm Lil' Flip. When I'm inside my house, I'm Wesley. So that's the difference. I separate the two. It's two different people. Who came up with your name?
Actually, when I was young, I did flips a lot. I did gymnastics. In grammar school? In high school?
In elementary I took gymnastics, tae kwon do... You were very athletic?
Yeah, I was. I played every sport - baseball, basketball, football, track, karate, tae kwon do, and gymnastics. Did you always seeing yourself as being a famous artist?
I feel like I was meant to be a rapper. But I also feel like I was supposed to help people whether it was financially or with their vice. We don't ask to be looked at as role models. We don't come in here to be role models, since I do have people who really worship me and shit like that. So in my music, the messages have kind of changed. Five years ago, I would have said, "Hey, go to the mall and spend fifty grand on a chain," but now the mature Lil' Flip would say, "Don't go to the mall and spend fifty grand on a chain unless you buy a house first." So I'm still saying it's cool to get the jewelry, but I'm saying, "Make sure you got a place to stay first." How come your message has changed?
Just as an artist and as a man. Before I'm Lil' Flip I'm a man, so you gotta grow up. Everybody grows up at a different pace. My thing, I've been around older people my whole life. My grandparents raised me, I've always hung out with older people, so I've always talked about getting big money while other people were just worried about college. Where are you living now?
I'm bouncing between Houston and Vegas. What do you like to do with your free time?
I got a gun range at the house. I bowl and play dominos. I'm getting ready to do a hip-hop domino tournament. I'll do one in Houston, one in Vegas, one in New York, and one in California. It's with other rappers. Me and J Prince, we got a little robbery thing going. We played a couple of games during The Source photo shoot. I think I beat him three games. We'll have a prize, a pot, and we can donate half of the money to charity and keep the other half. Something like that. That's probably what will happen. What are you hoping for in 2007?
I'm hoping to get at least 5 million people to watch my new reality show I'm coming out with. It's called Lil' Flip's American Rapper. It's the opposite of American Idol. There's a lot of rapper reality shows that's out right now, but my show really teaches the artist what they need to be on top. You know, it's not about sending somebody to get no food or no shit like that. I give these artists media training, I teach them how to construct bars, how to handle interviews, what not to do, and last but not least, battling, freestyling and they have to know their rap history. If you want to be a real successful rapper, you have to know who started this shit. They need to know their history. So my show is gonna be an educational, but a very interesting show. Because I'm gonna have a few of characters on there. Now, is this all male rappers?
No, it's gonna be male and female. I finished the treatment two weeks ago. I'm debating between two companies what network I want the reality show to be on. I'm gonna start shooting that in the next few weeks. Are you choosing one rapper or a group of them?
I'm actually choosing one rapper. What happens is that they win some money, they win a chain, and they win a two-album record deal with my label. What made you come up with this idea?
I watch these shows. What shows do you watch?
I don't wanna talk about it. But how everybody's doing their shows, it's like gimmicks. It's just not - all the elements that they try to make the rappers do - that does not teach a rapper or give a rapper what they need to be successful. I already wrote the thing and I got a lot of special guests coming. I'm gonna have Flava Flav, I'm gonna have Kay-Slay come. The judges switch from the different rounds. Some would be program directors, some would be producers. I'm gonna be the host and one of the judges. I'm gonna be in the house with them. We do the auditions in different towns. Then we pick the top 50 and they come to Houston. Do you have any comments to your fans?
Just tell all the fans if they wanna check my radio show out, I'm on XM Radio Thursday 6PM. It's a hip-hop show where I play music and do freestyle, comedy, whatever. Whatever's going on at the moment, we talk about it and have a good time with it. I have that going on and I just wanna tell the fans make sure they buy the album March 27, and they better get it the first week so they can get the limited edition, which is 35 tracks and 12 free videos. Thank you so much.
Yeah, yeah! Bye.

Article tags: Lil, Flip, VIBE, Don't, Spend, 50, Grand, Chain, Unless, You, Buy, House, First 

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