Playa Fly
Interview By Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog Vol. 7 #1
What's behind the title of your new album Da Game Owe Me?
It basically means I been payin my dues to the game and now I feel like it's time for the game to return my dues. I know I'm not through payin dues, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I've paid plenty.
I heard that real soon you might be getting locked up, that you have a case?
That's just a rumor. Gossip surround you in this music business. People always think that they know your business because of what they heard from other people. But you're hearin it from the horse, I'm gonna be around as long as God let me be around. I'm gonna keep on deliverin this word. It's just a rumor.
What I heard was that some time ago you had held up a grocery store and that your case is coming up. That's not true?
No, man, that's a rumor man, just a rumor.
Right now your career is on the way up. You had a big hit off your last album, a lot of people are talking about Playa Fly.
On the last album, Movin On, me and Gangsta Blac collaborated over a track that was made by a producer called Black Out. We got together and came up with an idea, called it "Nobody Needs Nobody". We pursued it to the fullest, about things that we was goin through, tribulations and trials. The truth shall set you free, so they say. We just told it like it was and we gave it our all and we received a great response from it.
That song was a big hit Down South.
Not only Down South, but also a little North and around the region. We spread it out as much as we could through the means we had. The response was great. We got great airplay on certain stations.
Who started playing it first?
The first radio station to play "Nobody Needs Nobody" was 107.1 here in Memphis. But I'm kinda debating who was the first, cause KIX 96 up in Jackson Tennessee, they pumped it up a whole lot for us. I can't just say which one was first. We got a lotta support from both those stations.
They started playing it and it became a hit?
Well, that was the song that got 'em so crunk in the club, people just went crazy over that song. The collaboration of me, Gangsta Blac and my father did a little singin on it.
You did that song before your father passed away?
Yes sir. He actually forced himself on the track. He took it upon himself, took a trip to the studio and laid his vocals down himself. Ain't nobody insisted on him doin anything, he just decided to put himself on there like it was a goin away present or something.
Your dad was a professional musician?
He was singing. He had a singin group called The Ovations. He was in the music business ever since he was 16, and he passed away at the age of 54. During that time the music business had its ups and downs. He had seen the top and he had started at the bottom. He had found other means of makin income, but I brought the music back into him before he died.
You have a big family?
I have a couple of sisters biologically, but I have a family of brothers that I have organized and we go by The Minute Made Mafia. We operate our own record label now.
Did this album come out on your own label?
No, The Game Owe Me was the last release off of Super Sigg Records. The next two albums that I release will be on my label. One will be the new Playa Fly album, possibly in the year 2000 entitled The World Turns. And I'm thinkin about releasin an album to introduce my label to the world.
What part of Memphis are you from?
I'm from the celebrity part of Memphis. I'm from SPV, South Parkway Village. I was born and raised on South Parkway. Now I reside on Fly Street. They have a street in my neighborhood named after me.
Gangsta Blac is from South Parkway too?
Gangsta Blac, he is from SPV. He used to stay on a street called Taylor Street. That's where his grandmother stayed. That's 4 or 5 blocks down from where my grandmother stayed, my grandmother stayed on South Parkway Street.
A lot of people don't know that you've been layin it down for a while.
I been in the game for a while. I began with Three 6 Mafia. I started out with them cats, me and Gangsta Blac and Skinny Pimp, we all did. But one thing lead to another, I decided to pursue my career on my own.
When were you with Three 6 Mafia? At the time of their first album or before that?
It was the time of the first album that Three 6 Mafia released. It was called Mystic Stylez, and before then we was doin underground music, takin the tapes to the stores. After Mystic Stylez came out, that's when I started pursuing stuff by myself. I was featured on that album, by the way.
I know all three of you--Playa Fly, Gangsta Blac and Skinny Pimp--you've been brewing in the underground for a while, but a lot of people outside Memphis don't know about you.
It's lack of distribution and lack of promotions. We independent artists get out there and we try, I do anyway. I put the extra effort, like purchasing ads in Murder Dog Magazine. Trying to get airplay in some small towns. Doin shows anywhere you can. I'm always promotin my act, cause I feel like I got one of the most superior acts in the industry. It's very different. It's not repetitious. You'll never hear another cat that you'll say Fly sound like him or he sound like Fly.
We get a lot of letters about Playa Fly at Murder Dog. And last year you got a lot of votes in the '98 Readers' Poll.
Yes sir. I won Best New Independent Artist.
You're excited about this album?
I couldn't begin to describe the way I feel about this album. This is one of my most prestigious works. I feel the effort that I put into it. and I've listened to some of my so-called competition, and they ain't talkin about what I'm talkin about. All people ain't gonna listen to what I got to say, I know that, but the people that do choose to take the time to listen to what I got to say, they're gonna know why the game owe me.
I can't understand why some really wack artists get major deals and radio play and all that, while someone as talented as you is being slept on. Do you think about that?
I think about it every day and every night, Black Dog. I be forced to listen to it. I'm a music lover. I'm not just in this for the money. I been lovin music all my life. I inherited it from my father. I listen to it and I've had to suffer the consequences. If you listen to the top 10 songs that they play on the radio every day, only half of 'em talkin about something that you possibly wanna hear, while half of 'em just the beat keep you listening. When they gonna let me shine?
If you were from New York and signed to a major label, you'd be the next DMX or Jay-Z.
Exactly. When I hear the things that they be talkin about I'm sayin, Is this all that they got? Is this all the effort that they put forward? Cause I feel like I put too much effort forward sometimes. I give it my all. I wonder if I would just slack off a little bit, maybe I would make it. But I ain't never gonna slack off. If that's the only way I can make it, if I don't come so hard, then I'm never gonna make it, cause I'm gonna keep givin it out like that. I'm gonna give this game all I can give, I'm gonna show some love, I'm gonna keep it real. I'm gonna mobb as far as I can see. I'm gonna do this for life.
Because you come from a musical background music is a way of life for you.
Music helps me a lot. Music soothes me. It takes my mind off of petty thinkin. When you thinkin about something you be into with your gal or something, you can just start rappin and forget about it. I really am inspired by a lot of old music like Marvin Gaye, Willie Hutch and Bobby Womack.
You got into that "Pimpin" music just from being in Memphis?
Yeah, and like I said my daddy was into music back in the day. He used to listen to it. That's all I grew up around. My daddy wasn't listenin to no Rap or nothing. He wasn't listening to no Parliament. He was listening to the more laid back stuff, love songs and songs about movin on. That's the typa stuff I like--movin on in life, never puttin a limit on myself, never puttin a black-out on my pimpin, always pushin myself to the limit, always givin it all that I got. That's the typa music that inspires me to do stuff like that. Music talkin about 20 inch rims and diamond Rolexes and stuff like that, that don't push me. Those are material things, I'm thinkin about my inner self. I can't grade my campaign by how much my watch costs.
Can you name some of your favorite Pimpin albums?
This Marvin Gaye album called Dream Of A Lifetime. It's real real--I'm talkin it's very down to earth. You know the Marvin Gaye cut "Hear My Dear", it's very down to earth. Then I got this David Ruffin, The Gentleman David Ruffin. Oh My Lady, Willie Hutch. We could talk about this all day. The Poet--One, Two and Three, Bobby Womack. It's all kinds of great music. It's a lotta artists I can't name off the top of my head, but if I sit down and listen to on of the old tapes I'll be pointin out songs all day long, cause they got messages in them. Sometimes I feel like those messages were written specifically for me. I take 'em and run with 'em.
Most of those artists were not from Memphis, but they were really big in Memphis.
I wouldn't say that they were exactly big in Memphis, but they were big in the music world. Music world always been open. I always have an ear for music. Like right now I'm listening to 702, they have a coupla cuts on there that I'm really inspired by.
I wonder how the word "pimpin" came to relate to that type of music?
I guess back in the day that's what the pimps used to bump. I guess that was that old laid back feel.
Was pimping really big in Memphis back then?
They say it ain't dead, they say pimpin ain't dead. Down on Fly Street.
Who did the production for your last album?
The same producer worked on both of these albums. A coupla tracks on my last album, Movin On, were done by other producers, but the cat that I give all the credit to is Black Out. On The Game Owe Me he did the entire album. He is an up an coming producer here in Memphis. He's got my vote for the best producer. He been working with me ever since my first album, Fly Shit. We have grown together.
Everyone is pretty familiar with the Memphis sound--buck wild, Gangsta Walk type shit--is that your sound?
My sound is built off of a variety of sounds. A lotta people have classified Memphis as being just buck wild, but my sound ain't never just been just no buck wild. Sure enough it gets you buck, certain music gets you buck, but it's a lot more to it. It's not just for a buck wild crowd. I wrote my album for the world. If you wanna rock in your chair or wave your arms, do so, but I really want my album to be heard. Not just my tracks, I want my words to be heard. I want people to listen to what I'm sayin cause I take so much time in preparin it. I work on the clarity of it, I make sure that every word that I pronounce can be understood.
You got into music as a real young kid?
I used to sing in the Sunshine Band in church. Used to play around with my dad in his little studio. But as I got older I got into the game and started doin other things but the music.
Last year anybody I talked to from Memphis was talking about Playa Fly. Were you surprised when you had such a big hit?
I was surprised. I actually wrote a couple other songs on that album for the radio. They couldn't even play the whole song in the club cause people got so rowdy, fighting and tearin the club up. Then they picked that song up on the radio and the demand was so strong for it due to the activity goin on in the clubs.
Interview By Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog Vol. 7 #1
What's behind the title of your new album Da Game Owe Me?
It basically means I been payin my dues to the game and now I feel like it's time for the game to return my dues. I know I'm not through payin dues, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I've paid plenty.
I heard that real soon you might be getting locked up, that you have a case?
That's just a rumor. Gossip surround you in this music business. People always think that they know your business because of what they heard from other people. But you're hearin it from the horse, I'm gonna be around as long as God let me be around. I'm gonna keep on deliverin this word. It's just a rumor.
What I heard was that some time ago you had held up a grocery store and that your case is coming up. That's not true?
No, man, that's a rumor man, just a rumor.
Right now your career is on the way up. You had a big hit off your last album, a lot of people are talking about Playa Fly.
On the last album, Movin On, me and Gangsta Blac collaborated over a track that was made by a producer called Black Out. We got together and came up with an idea, called it "Nobody Needs Nobody". We pursued it to the fullest, about things that we was goin through, tribulations and trials. The truth shall set you free, so they say. We just told it like it was and we gave it our all and we received a great response from it.
That song was a big hit Down South.
Not only Down South, but also a little North and around the region. We spread it out as much as we could through the means we had. The response was great. We got great airplay on certain stations.
Who started playing it first?
The first radio station to play "Nobody Needs Nobody" was 107.1 here in Memphis. But I'm kinda debating who was the first, cause KIX 96 up in Jackson Tennessee, they pumped it up a whole lot for us. I can't just say which one was first. We got a lotta support from both those stations.
They started playing it and it became a hit?
Well, that was the song that got 'em so crunk in the club, people just went crazy over that song. The collaboration of me, Gangsta Blac and my father did a little singin on it.
You did that song before your father passed away?
Yes sir. He actually forced himself on the track. He took it upon himself, took a trip to the studio and laid his vocals down himself. Ain't nobody insisted on him doin anything, he just decided to put himself on there like it was a goin away present or something.
Your dad was a professional musician?
He was singing. He had a singin group called The Ovations. He was in the music business ever since he was 16, and he passed away at the age of 54. During that time the music business had its ups and downs. He had seen the top and he had started at the bottom. He had found other means of makin income, but I brought the music back into him before he died.
You have a big family?
I have a couple of sisters biologically, but I have a family of brothers that I have organized and we go by The Minute Made Mafia. We operate our own record label now.
Did this album come out on your own label?
No, The Game Owe Me was the last release off of Super Sigg Records. The next two albums that I release will be on my label. One will be the new Playa Fly album, possibly in the year 2000 entitled The World Turns. And I'm thinkin about releasin an album to introduce my label to the world.
What part of Memphis are you from?
I'm from the celebrity part of Memphis. I'm from SPV, South Parkway Village. I was born and raised on South Parkway. Now I reside on Fly Street. They have a street in my neighborhood named after me.
Gangsta Blac is from South Parkway too?
Gangsta Blac, he is from SPV. He used to stay on a street called Taylor Street. That's where his grandmother stayed. That's 4 or 5 blocks down from where my grandmother stayed, my grandmother stayed on South Parkway Street.
A lot of people don't know that you've been layin it down for a while.
I been in the game for a while. I began with Three 6 Mafia. I started out with them cats, me and Gangsta Blac and Skinny Pimp, we all did. But one thing lead to another, I decided to pursue my career on my own.
When were you with Three 6 Mafia? At the time of their first album or before that?
It was the time of the first album that Three 6 Mafia released. It was called Mystic Stylez, and before then we was doin underground music, takin the tapes to the stores. After Mystic Stylez came out, that's when I started pursuing stuff by myself. I was featured on that album, by the way.
I know all three of you--Playa Fly, Gangsta Blac and Skinny Pimp--you've been brewing in the underground for a while, but a lot of people outside Memphis don't know about you.
It's lack of distribution and lack of promotions. We independent artists get out there and we try, I do anyway. I put the extra effort, like purchasing ads in Murder Dog Magazine. Trying to get airplay in some small towns. Doin shows anywhere you can. I'm always promotin my act, cause I feel like I got one of the most superior acts in the industry. It's very different. It's not repetitious. You'll never hear another cat that you'll say Fly sound like him or he sound like Fly.
We get a lot of letters about Playa Fly at Murder Dog. And last year you got a lot of votes in the '98 Readers' Poll.
Yes sir. I won Best New Independent Artist.
You're excited about this album?
I couldn't begin to describe the way I feel about this album. This is one of my most prestigious works. I feel the effort that I put into it. and I've listened to some of my so-called competition, and they ain't talkin about what I'm talkin about. All people ain't gonna listen to what I got to say, I know that, but the people that do choose to take the time to listen to what I got to say, they're gonna know why the game owe me.
I can't understand why some really wack artists get major deals and radio play and all that, while someone as talented as you is being slept on. Do you think about that?
I think about it every day and every night, Black Dog. I be forced to listen to it. I'm a music lover. I'm not just in this for the money. I been lovin music all my life. I inherited it from my father. I listen to it and I've had to suffer the consequences. If you listen to the top 10 songs that they play on the radio every day, only half of 'em talkin about something that you possibly wanna hear, while half of 'em just the beat keep you listening. When they gonna let me shine?
If you were from New York and signed to a major label, you'd be the next DMX or Jay-Z.
Exactly. When I hear the things that they be talkin about I'm sayin, Is this all that they got? Is this all the effort that they put forward? Cause I feel like I put too much effort forward sometimes. I give it my all. I wonder if I would just slack off a little bit, maybe I would make it. But I ain't never gonna slack off. If that's the only way I can make it, if I don't come so hard, then I'm never gonna make it, cause I'm gonna keep givin it out like that. I'm gonna give this game all I can give, I'm gonna show some love, I'm gonna keep it real. I'm gonna mobb as far as I can see. I'm gonna do this for life.
Because you come from a musical background music is a way of life for you.
Music helps me a lot. Music soothes me. It takes my mind off of petty thinkin. When you thinkin about something you be into with your gal or something, you can just start rappin and forget about it. I really am inspired by a lot of old music like Marvin Gaye, Willie Hutch and Bobby Womack.
You got into that "Pimpin" music just from being in Memphis?
Yeah, and like I said my daddy was into music back in the day. He used to listen to it. That's all I grew up around. My daddy wasn't listenin to no Rap or nothing. He wasn't listening to no Parliament. He was listening to the more laid back stuff, love songs and songs about movin on. That's the typa stuff I like--movin on in life, never puttin a limit on myself, never puttin a black-out on my pimpin, always pushin myself to the limit, always givin it all that I got. That's the typa music that inspires me to do stuff like that. Music talkin about 20 inch rims and diamond Rolexes and stuff like that, that don't push me. Those are material things, I'm thinkin about my inner self. I can't grade my campaign by how much my watch costs.
Can you name some of your favorite Pimpin albums?
This Marvin Gaye album called Dream Of A Lifetime. It's real real--I'm talkin it's very down to earth. You know the Marvin Gaye cut "Hear My Dear", it's very down to earth. Then I got this David Ruffin, The Gentleman David Ruffin. Oh My Lady, Willie Hutch. We could talk about this all day. The Poet--One, Two and Three, Bobby Womack. It's all kinds of great music. It's a lotta artists I can't name off the top of my head, but if I sit down and listen to on of the old tapes I'll be pointin out songs all day long, cause they got messages in them. Sometimes I feel like those messages were written specifically for me. I take 'em and run with 'em.
Most of those artists were not from Memphis, but they were really big in Memphis.
I wouldn't say that they were exactly big in Memphis, but they were big in the music world. Music world always been open. I always have an ear for music. Like right now I'm listening to 702, they have a coupla cuts on there that I'm really inspired by.
I wonder how the word "pimpin" came to relate to that type of music?
I guess back in the day that's what the pimps used to bump. I guess that was that old laid back feel.
Was pimping really big in Memphis back then?
They say it ain't dead, they say pimpin ain't dead. Down on Fly Street.
Who did the production for your last album?
The same producer worked on both of these albums. A coupla tracks on my last album, Movin On, were done by other producers, but the cat that I give all the credit to is Black Out. On The Game Owe Me he did the entire album. He is an up an coming producer here in Memphis. He's got my vote for the best producer. He been working with me ever since my first album, Fly Shit. We have grown together.
Everyone is pretty familiar with the Memphis sound--buck wild, Gangsta Walk type shit--is that your sound?
My sound is built off of a variety of sounds. A lotta people have classified Memphis as being just buck wild, but my sound ain't never just been just no buck wild. Sure enough it gets you buck, certain music gets you buck, but it's a lot more to it. It's not just for a buck wild crowd. I wrote my album for the world. If you wanna rock in your chair or wave your arms, do so, but I really want my album to be heard. Not just my tracks, I want my words to be heard. I want people to listen to what I'm sayin cause I take so much time in preparin it. I work on the clarity of it, I make sure that every word that I pronounce can be understood.
You got into music as a real young kid?
I used to sing in the Sunshine Band in church. Used to play around with my dad in his little studio. But as I got older I got into the game and started doin other things but the music.
Last year anybody I talked to from Memphis was talking about Playa Fly. Were you surprised when you had such a big hit?
I was surprised. I actually wrote a couple other songs on that album for the radio. They couldn't even play the whole song in the club cause people got so rowdy, fighting and tearin the club up. Then they picked that song up on the radio and the demand was so strong for it due to the activity goin on in the clubs.
