Like, give me some examples of some of the artists up here, how they stood out to you.

I mean, it's vision.

It's vision.

I can go from, uh, how I saw Tokyo Jetz, uh, uh, freestyling in, in, in her car on Instagram, and that's where it created, you know, our relationship, to when I saw Rah Rah, you know what I'm saying, kicking his fla- when I found out he was a producer as well as a rapper, and we all just...

You know, we, we, we all just gel so well together, man.

London Jae, Young Boo, Translee.

I mean, it's a lot of us because we all do so many things.

Do you think it got its respect that it was always trying to vibe for? In, in, within hip hop specifically.

Did you know ATL would become what it is today?

Nah.

I mean, we had, we had indications, like we kinda knew that it would, that it would be bigger than the, the studio expected, but we wouldn't know it would withstand the test of time and mean so much to so many generations, uh, and define an era the way it did, you know what I mean? We had no way of knowing that.

Um, but we know that we poured all, all of our, our, our effort and energy into it, and we knew how talented the group that we put together was.

Um, and for real, those are, those are all the elements that you need to create classics.

Yeah

... and, and, and just the, the flexibility to be able to j- be judged off of me, who I am, my music.

And, um, and Big Boi told me this, 'cause when I said I was gonna call myself the King of the South, I went and consulted, uh, with all of the people that I respected, that I had access to at the time.

Why was the right time? Why was this the right time though, to make an album called kill the King? Why was not the right time to make this type of album and name it that?

Um, Well, I always knew that Kill the King would be the name to my final album.

And, you know, that was something that came to me, man, back as early as like 2001.

You know, I was asking everybody that I respected, you know, in the game, all of my predecessors like Outkast and Goody Mob and UGK and 8 Ball, MJG, Scuffery.

Like I asked all of them how they felt about me presenting myself to the world.

as king of the South, and they all gave me their blessing.

Big Boy gave me some old gaming notes.

What's the difference between working with a Chris Robinson and a Hype Williams? What's the

[laughs]

13.

So I used to always wanna play, and nobody took time.

Well, I was bad as hell, too.

I probably wouldn't listen.

But, you know, I had to watch everybody, you know what I'm saying, play ball.

Like, "Man, I wanna play.

They knew that about you.

[laughs]

13.

So I used to always wanna play, and nobody took time.

Well, I was bad as hell, too.

I probably wouldn't listen, but, you know, I had to watch everybody, you know what I'm saying, play ball.

Like, "Man, I wanna play, I wanna play." They played ball in my face all day this one day.

I remember this.

They knew that about you.

Mm-hmm.

You know what I mean? I done did this...

Man, I done danced this dance quite some time, man.

And, uh, you know, just remembering w- you know, where I was as a kid, man, a- a- and requesting songs on the radio, waiting to see my favorite video, you know, buying The Source magazine, waiting to watch Video Music Box, just praying for a opportunity to be in the game.

You know what I mean? And man, going from that kid then to, to, to this man now, I got everything I prayed for.

Yeah.

I had to bring the most amount of attention to myself if possible.

And, and I got it, you dig? And it came, you know, for many different reasons and in many different way.

Yeah.

I had to bring the most amount of attention to myself as possible.

And, and I got it, you dig? And it came, you know, for many different reasons and in many different way.

Uh, but, but in, in earning that position and maintaining it, you know, I just, I just see that, you know, to, to, to have... to be at peace with yourself, uh, is, is more important than being at peace with the world.

And I think, you know, to be at peace with yourself, you know what I'm saying, it's, it's, it's more important to kill the ego.

Mm-hmm.

So I'ma come to the wedding.

I'ma have to leave a little early, and I'm, but you know what I'm saying, I got a jet.

Which really didn't-

Like, those were, you know, they, you know, th- th- it was like y- it almost seemed like you had to be older to do it.

And then it became a younger man's game.

Uh, and now I think that the, the fan base has grown, uh, exponentially to where, you know, it's something for everybody in hip-hop.

Hip-hop, y- y- it don't matter what country you from, it don't matter what age group you in, it don't matter what religion you is, it don't matter what city you from.

Like, you know what I mean? It's something for everyone, you know what I mean? And that's why I don't think it'll ever be a age limit, 'cause everybody wanna hear something.

Yeah.

Messiah was the motherfucker, he gonna read his books, play his, play his video game, stay in the house, stay out the way.

[laughs]

It was just glorious.

And we, we just sat there, and the sun set, and it was getting darker and darker, and we didn't move.

We didn't talk.

We didn't look at our phones.

We didn't build a fire.

We didn't bring something to drink or to eat.

Right.

[gentle music] Guaranteed human

You ever show up late to the game and your friends already saved your seat, your drink, even a plate? That's looking out.

That's having your back, and that's exactly what AT&T does with the AT&T Guarantee.

They know staying connected matters, so they actually guarantee a network that comes through when it counts.

AT&T has connectivity you can depend on, or they'll proactively make it right, just like that friend who takes care of things even before you ask.

AT&T, connecting changes everything.

Terms and conditions apply.

That's lifelock.com, code BREAKFAST.

[laughs]

There gonna be some hungry babies- Yeah.

[laughs] ... waiting on me to bring some money home from a barbershop.

So, uh, I jumped back into the game, and, um, and I was, you know...

I'm, I'm real tenacious in anything I do.

I'm, I'm either all the way in or all the way out.

Mm.

[laughs]

When we call you King of the South, you know, there's no lying there because you're headlining 30 Years of Birthday Bash.

I mean, I think, uh, Birthday Bash has been a big part of my career.

I've, um, had some, some legendary memorable moments, man, on the, on the stage at Birthday Bash.

And I know it's big for the city.

Well, I think you should

shouldI appreciate it.

Now, now tell them about that time when your ass was sick and you had to take T.I. some weed.

[laughs] Yeah.

When we call you King of the South, you know there's no lying in that because you're headlining 30 Years of Birthday Bash.

I mean, I think, uh, Birthday Bash has been a big part of my career.

I've, um, had some, some legendary, memorable moments, man, on the, on the stage at Birthday Bash.

And I know it's big for the city.

Yeah.

And I go out there and, you know, I, I, I, I bring her what, what she at me for and, you know what I'm saying, we sat, we smoked, kicked it a l- a little bit.

I guess I had took some medicine or something and I ended up fell asleep on a, on a, on a couch in, in a, in a sitting area in the bedroom.

And before I know it, I feel something kicking the couch.

Talking about helping others and being able to influence others, if you got a phone call from Chris Brown today and he, knowing that you've gone through a lot in the past couple years of your life and a lot of drama and a lot of drama in the public eye, what advice would you give him today?

Well, you know, first I would have to be very, very clear and honest with you guys and tell you, man, that I have a lot of admiration, love, and respect for both Chris and Rihanna, you know what I'm saying? And I would just, you know, I'd let them know, man.

You know, you never know why God take you through certain things, man.

Through all adversity, man, comes strength.

How do you tell someone? I

was extremely paranoid.

I was extremely paranoid, and I had altered judgment because of that paranoia.

You know, there was a great deal of grief, a great deal of pain, a great deal of unapproached issues that I had dealt with ever since my partner had died in my arms in Cincinnati.

Talking about helping others and being able to influence others, if you got a phone call from Chris Brown today and he, knowing that you've gone through a lot in the past couple years of your life and a lot of drama and a lot of drama in the public eye, what advice would you give him today?

Well, you know, first I would have to be very, very clear and honest with you guys and tell you, man, that I have a lot of admiration, love, and respect for both Chris and Rihanna, you know what I'm saying? And I would just, you know, I'd let them know, man, you know, you never know why God take you through certain things, man, but...

Through all adversity, man, comes strength.

and you wanted to be able to protect yourself, how do you tell someone?

I was extremely paranoid.

You know, I was extremely paranoid, and I had altered judgment because of that paranoia.

You know, there was a great deal of grief, a great deal of pain, a great deal of unapproached issues that I had dealt with ever since my partner had died in my arms in Cincinnati.

You know what I'm saying? I just wanted back.

Yep.

So many legendary actors and actresses that, that were called upon, and I was included.

I was a little overwhelmed.

I ain't gonna cap you down.

I remember, I remember the first...

Well, the scene that I was supposed to be doing with Denzel, um, where we sitting outside in the yard, "I wanna be like you, Uncle Frank."

Mm

... my craft enough and respect, you know, me enough as an actor, especially this was when a lot of, you know, a lotta, uh, um, a lotta formal, or should I say first trade actors were looking at rappers who get in movies-

Yeah.

Ain't no new niggas.

Everybody was around when, when we would just had a idea or a notion or a dream, a belief that this shit could happen, man.

Dro was a nigga.

Okay, so everywhere I went, I was the nigga to see about some rapping, whether, whatever apartments I moved into, whatever school I went to.

And, uh, I had, so my mama lived in Riverdale.

That was her Section 8 ward, but I had got in, had done, uh, was going to school at Dub, which had me living at my mama house.

Yeah.

And we don't see it go viral in that way.

But see, this is the issue, right? I started comedy January 12, 2022.

I fell in love with it, didn't plan on doing it, so K-Dub just called me out and just put me on stage out of spite, thinking I was going to do terrible.

So I got up there and just talking about my day, what I was experiencing, got my first couple of laughs and fell in love with it.

Did 30 minutes, my first set with people.

That's a lot.

Yeah, people say you usually struggle for five.

you gotta upgrade your vocabulary

The fuffle?

Exactly.

But after that, I just started going back to comedy club and calling, hey, where can I go up tonight? Every night is a different spot.

You know what I mean? And I just, like, for the first three weeks, I was just hitting clubs every day, just showing up because I fell in love with it.

And, you know, it take a while, you know what I'm saying, to get good enough to be invited on someone's stage, to get paid to do it.

So I figured a couple years, you know what I mean? People will probably be calling.

It was March.

messing with us right now.

with you, bro,

I've been extremely, I've exercised restraint.

You know, when I was minding my business at the Super Bowl and goddamn, and Shannon and Ocho, they asked me and he come up with the bullshit, the motherfucking Crime Stoppers commercial.

And I am not ashamed.

If I can, man, look, man, if I can find a way to motherfucking keep my motherfucking ass out of jail without sending nobody else to jail, why the fuck not? It ain't nobody who was, oh, I was going to keep it solid.

But now since I've seen this commercial, let me go on here and rap.

Let me go on and tip.

60-40 good?

And then one day you decide to go in the studio and Kill the King, right? Where did that come

from? Well, Kill the King, I've always known that that was going to be the title of my last album.

Back when King of the South was, I guess, the origin or the beginning of it, One thing I wanted to make sure I did was speak to all of my predecessors, all of the OGs that kind of shaped and molded how I view music that I knew.

from the South that I had access to.

So I asked Bun B, Big Boi, Three Stacks, Scarface, 8 Ball, MJ.

Like I asked them all.

Oh, all the good in my heart, T-Mobile, Guilt, Kujo, CeeLo, I had all of them.

yeah, man, what you saying?

Yes, sir.

Uh, I feel like God, God sends us all here with many, many gifts, you know? After you're done with one of those gifts, when those gifts have afforded you the opportunity to utilize the rest of those gifts, then, you know, it's time to focus your attention on those other gifts.

And, uh, I think that time has come for me.

I've been blessed.

I've been blessed with a-

Yeah.

Um, styles like ...

Okay, I remember I, I, I did a ...

Yeah

...

Dave Chappelle Show, you know what I mean? 85 South Show.

And I just happened to be at a, at an open mic night, and one of my best partners, his name K-Dub, and he, he, he was hosting the open mic.

And me and him arguing, talking about why the nigga on stage wasn't funny.

So he was like, "Well, you mad.

Well, get your ass up there," since you know so much.

[laughing]

But you came back like you never left.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, you know, bro, I ain't even gon' cap you down.

Like, I feel a lot of the stuff that Larussa was saying.

I think he was speaking, like, pure facts because at, uh, at a certain point, you know, we got in this, you know, to, to, to change the standard of living for our families-

Yeah

...

the Dave Chappelle show.

[laughs]

Yeah, I ain't gonna front.

I knew I was gonna learn mad words.

But what, what, what Kanye did was actually make his shit a live album, and what I mean by that, you know how many albums I made and I, I said it wrong, like presidents, when I was supposed to say pres...

What's, what's presidents?

Okay, so, so, so, so, so.

So, so, so my daddy, my daddy left, he was born in 1930, left Atlanta in 1950 with his brother, 'cause he said Atlanta motherfuckers weren't gonna let nobody get to enough money without telling on them.

And he moved to New York.