G.A.G.E Interview Transcription
DJ Booth: What’s goin’ on ya’ll, it’s your Boy Z, doin’ it real big, on DJBooth.net and on the phone with me is someone who impressed Dr. Dre so much he Inked him to a deal, from the streets of Philadelphia—please welcome my man, G.A.G.E. How you doin’?
G.A.G.E: Yeah-yeah you already know it is G.A.G.E., AMPM Entertainment! I’m chillin’-chillin’, just workin’—workin’ hard tryin’ to put together this new mix tape.
DJ Booth: Let’s talk about this mixed tape, real quick, before we get into anything else okay?
G.A.G.E: Okay
DJ Booth: Everyone wants to know when they’re going to hear new material, and this new mixtape will give them that chance, so what can we expect?
G.A.G.E: Well you know it’s titled The C.E.O. of the East, so that’s what you can expect. It’s like you know everybody’s runnin’ around sayin’ they the king of this—the king of that. I don’t wanna be the king; I just wanna own it—C.E.O.
DJ Booth: I don’t blame at all.. The money’s real good from that point of view. Now Dr. Dre signed you to his Aftermath imprint and that takes talent. So prove to me you belong. Explain what Dr. Dre saw and heard from you to make that deal?
G.A.G.E: What he seen in me was the same thing he saw in Kurupt, when they got Kurupt to the Dog Pound. I just put emphasis on all my words. I can be rhymin’ fast or rhymin’ slow, but you can still hear all my words. I can articulate on every word that I say. I mean it’s hard work out there. He loved my hunger, my drive, my talent—everything.
DJ Booth: The full package?
G.A.G.E: That’s right--full package.
DJ Booth: Do you have a distribution deal in place or are you going to wait for the buzz to build up a little more?
G.A.G.E: Yeah, we waitin’ on buzz to build—actually right now, we workin’ on a little deal with Dr. Dre, so I’m about to slide off with a couple of my songs. You know it’s like they waitin’ on a lot of artists from Aftermath, they talkin’ about waitin’ for the detox, and I can’t really wait. I’m about to take that Aftermath chain off and go full AMPM Ent.
DJ Booth: Okay, G.A.G.E. you grew up in Philadelphia, now I understand you went through a really wild childhood growing up. What was it that really motivated you to stay out of trouble, stay out of jail, stay clean, and do big things?
G.A.G.E: What really motivated me was my Dad, and my Grandma. My Mom died when I was nine. I watched my Momma die. So I always have that little image, in the back of my mind, of watchin’ my Mother takin’ her last breath. And now I don’t wanna be like that—I don’t wanna go through that. I stayed away from all the bad stuff, but the streets still pulled me in. But it was like; I was little slicker. I didn’t get like people sellin’ drugs. I didn’t move up to the burbs. I was just a nickel-and-dima'. That’s why I never really got the attention of the police, and I got away with what most of the trouble I did. Dad was hustlin’. He was the weed man, in our neighborhood. So we wasn’t really strugglin’ strugglin’, until my Dad, and Grandma died. Now, I’m not gonna get in no trouble. I gotta graduate high school. I gotta do everything my Dad didn’t think I could do. I gotta live for them now.
DJ Booth: You never got in too deep, and well your success is on its way. I understand you grew up in a household with four sisters—a predominantly female household; as an end result, what do you know about women? Every guy out there is clueless. So what can you tell them?
G.A.G.E: Well actually I got four sisters. We didn’t all grow up in the same household. We got four different fathers. I have a sister in Philly. We don’t associate with each other. I haven’t see her since my father died. We went our separate ways, and we were never really close. I haven’t seen her for the last eight years. On my moms side, I have 4 other sisters in Atlanta. We all stay down in Atlanta together. We all live in separate houses, but we see each other on a daily basis. I grew up an only child, with my grandmas and dad.
DJ Booth: You started your own business; it’s AMPM which stands for “Another Man Profiting Money.” In the year of 2006, record sales were real weak, so how do you plan on making money for yourself and your company in the year 2007?
G.A.G.E: We gonna switch it up. There was some hot @*#$!. The problem was with all downloading and bootlegging @*#$! up sales. We have to try and get around those obstacles so that we can pull it off.
DJ Booth: What message do you have for them? Scare them. Tell the people who steal music how you feel.
G.A.G.E: If you really love music, and you wanna hear that music, then support that artist. You can’t just think ‘I’m gonna go buy this album and that artist is gonna buy a new Bentley.’ A lot of the artists have kids to raise. We not just supportin’ ourselves, and buyin’ big gold chains. The gold chains you see are rented. All those cars you see in the video, that’s the studio paying for the budget. So when you don’t buy our music we can’t support our families. You makin’ our families not eat and that is a problem. That’s why a lot of artists are still getting’ locked up, still on the news, with guns and all that.
DJ Booth: Well you’re on the right path to success. To help you get there, you hooked up with some really good producers, including Eric Sermen, Hi-Tek, Akon. What types of producer meshes with you style the best? Who did you rock with in the studio to get a nice vibe?
G.A.G.E: Aw man, that had to be Cool & Dre. They’re just so down to earth. I like Akon, but he was someone I knew prior to him blowing up, so I knew he and I had chemistry. As far as going into a studio with someone I had never met before and immidiatly clicking, it had to be Cool & Dre. They were down to earth, not Hollywood, not showing off – no jewelry.
DJ Booth: And you know what? They’re a good choice, because they are making everyone sound real good. Now, you stay in Atlanta, but grew up in Philadelphia. The problem Philly artists have had is that they can’t live up to there pre-release expectations. Beans, Cassidy, Freeway. How will you rep [Atlanta now] Philly different from the artists before you?
G.A.G.E: I’m really about making songs. You have an artist like 50 Cent. He wasn’t ever the more lyrical rapper, but he has the song. I already have the lyrics, so if I can incorporate it into the whole song, I’m good. That’s how I won over Dre. You could be the most lyrical person in the world; but at the end of the day that doesn’t guarantee that the label will make any money off of you.
DJ Booth: Couldn’t agree more, as a matter of fact, an example [Now I’m from Chicago] is Common, who was lyrical for years, before he hooked up with Kanye and did it big. He never got any props, and never made any money.
G.A.G.E: Exactly, and you gotta have songs along with the lyrics and bridges, hooks, and all types of stuff.
DJ Booth: So all of these qualities that you posses come in the form of your debut album, called “My Life” When can we expect it in stores?
G.A.G.E: We tryin’ to come out with somethin’ in late spring, early summer. It might be at the end of the summer, but since I have to put this Aftermath chain aside for a minute, things could change. All the real G.A.G.E. fans love me—and they love me with or without the Doc. Me and Doc are still cool. We’re goin’ to do business on another level. I just gotta step away to do my own album, I can’t wait for ‘09 to get here.
DJ Booth: I feel you. You-gotta-do-what-you-gotta-do to make some money. Now one last question before we go. Should the Eagles start Donovan McNabb or Jeff Garcia at QB next year?
G.A.G.E: I’m gonna have to say Donovan.
DJ Booth: My man from Mount Carmel, a Chicago high school. That’s a good answer. G.A.G.E. what’s your website and you MySpace address, so your big fans can find out more about what you got goin’ on?
G.A.G.E: My website is http://gagemoney.com, and you know they ain’t no love lost, so you could still find me at www.Aftermath.com. You can find out all my news on that, and you could go to www.myspace.com/GAGE4Real. I’m all over the net man. Google me!
DJ Booth: I appreciate you for taking the time to hook up with me on the phone, and I’m wishing you nothing but the best of luck.
G.A.G.E: That’s whats up! I appreciate that—thank you Z!
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