Lil Flip
Interview By Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog Vol. 9# 2
You freestyle a lot. Do you freestyle more than you write?
It depends on the vibe. Some beats might be throwed, where I be like do I wanna write or do I wanna freestyle. It depends on what kinda mood I’m in. sometimes I might freestyle just to get the style I wanna rap. It depends on if I’m feeling the beat like that. I write half. I freestyle half. If I don’t like it, then what I freestyle, I take pieces out of it and put it together like that.
The Freestyle King title, I understand there’s been some controversy behind that?
I met Screw a couple of years ago, through one of my friends named Jason. He used to rap with me, but he died of cancer. When I hooked up with he was like, if you can freestyle, rap. Most people tell you they can rap and they be scared to rap on the spot. I was just freestylin’ about stuff I was doin’, what I did that day, what kind of car he had. It was like he put me on the spot and said if you can rap, rap. So I just rapped, and he was like man, you cool and I want you to come do some tapes with me. And I hooked up with him and he was like, man you freestyle for hours. The first Screw tape I did was called “Southside Still Holdin’”. I had freestyled 10 minutes straight, just rappin’ and Screw was like, man, you the Freestyle King. You don’t never stop rappin’. After he told me that and gave me a plaque for it, he put me in the Screwed-up Click. I just kept the name.
I was looking at the Source article on you and the picture with you and KeKe has a caption under it that says, “Family Feud.” What’s that about; were they serious or were they just causing drama?
I don’t know. They ain’t tell us nothing like that. What they told us is this is an interview about the Screwed-Up Click. We need you and KeKe there. They ain’t tell us the title or nothin’. I ain’t know it was gon be no Family Feud and all that. I ain’t got nothin’ against KeKe or nobody. They did that on they own.
Everybody knows that recently you were shot. I just want you to set the record straight and tell everybody what happened.
They don’t want me to talk about it much, but basically, I was leaving the studio and somebody just pulled up on the side of us and started shooting at me. I was on the passenger side. They were going fast. We was in a whole ‘nother lane. We stopped and they flew by. It was hard for ‘em just to, cause we went a whole ‘nother way. They started shooting and I got shot. Like in the ribs. I was blessed because the bullet went through the door and it slowed t down, so the bullet ain’t go through. I’m alright. It just fractured one rib and that’s it. I got out the next day.
I heard you still had a bullet in your chest. Is it out?
Yeah, it’s out. When that happened, it just made me realize you just can’t be out like that. If you on TV and people consider you a star, you can’t just put yourself out there like that. I was just comin’ from the studio going home. But some stuff you can’t do cause you never know who’s watching. It just made me realize, man, everybody ain’t gon like you, regardless of how much you do, how much money you spend, whatever. We always got somebody who ain’t gon like you. If you a star and all that, you gotta make it so people can’t get to you that easy. It just made me open up my eyes. What I do, who I’m around, all that stuff.
Can you tell me why you think they did it?
Man, I don’t know. I think it’s probably some jealousy. I’m sellin’ all the records. I got Jags, Benzes, all kind of stuff. I don’t know what it was. You know, I don’t mess over nobody. I don’t mess with too many people, either, so I don’t know.
I know you said it’s changed how you do things. Has it changed your wanting to be a rap star?
It changed everything, like a whole 360 degrees. I mean, it was fun going on the road, doin’ this, doin’ that. Now it’s like, alright, this is my job, you know what I mean? It just made me observe more. Cause it’s like, bein’ in the music industry, you got so much stuff comin’ at you. You got girls, promoters, you got all kind of stuff comin’ your way, just fast, boom, boom, boom. It’s hard for you to weed all that stuff out. But now it’s like I don’t let nobody get close to me. It just made me realize you gotta watch everybody. That’s the bottom line. You gotta get in the show go do the show, and leave. Just like that.
Do you think you’ll ever get out of that mind frame?
It’s like this, no matter what I do, no matter how much money I got., every day I get up I’m gon be like, damn, I got shot. You gon always feel more protective now. Like, you gon think that anybody could do something. It’s just crazy. You gon think about it every day. No matter what you doin’.
I’ve heard that you were gonna get a label deal with Universal or with Loud. What’s going on?
We signed with Sony. I mean, we was gettin’ offers from everybody. We were gonna sign with Def Jam, but the way they work, they wanna take all, they don’t wanna give nobody no money. They just do the artist bad. You’ll be famous, but you’ll be broke. Basically, Sony—everything we asked for, we got it. We got creative control. They not in it just to make money. They wanna make sure that we straight, we comfortable. It’s a label deal and an artist deal. So we signed a $22 million dollar deal with Sony.
What’s the next project to come out on Sucka Free Records?
My album, it’s called Underground Legend. It’ll be out in July. I got Lil Ron and Shasta. Shasta is my cousin; he sing all the hooks. They comin’ out. Shasta and Lil Ron’s album is called “Mind Ya Business” and we got Papa Reu now. He signed with us. And we’re working on Papa Reu’s stuff. Basically we doin’ it all. I got a movie about my life, how I made it rappin’ and all that. I’m almost finished with that. I’m finna shoot my video for my new single, “This is the Way We Ball” next month. I’m just doin’ it all.
I keep hearing rumors about some beef between you and other members of the Screwed-Up Click. Are any of them true?
I mean, it’s like competition and everybody gon compete to try to be the best. But we done squashed all that. Me and ESG squashed the beef, and me and KeKe ain’t never had no beef. Basically ain’t no beef between me and nobody, cause we all make money. We all doin’ our thing, so we squashed all that.
How do you think the game has changed since Screw has passed?
Now, it’s gonna be harder for some people. If you not an established artist already with a name already, like if you not a part of Swisha House, or Screwed-Up Click, it’s gon be hard. It’s even harder now because it’s so many people tryin’ to rap now. Screw’s done mixtapes, I came out, doin’ underground. I’m the first artist to do my underground, and put ‘em out. I got 10 different volumes. I sold a lotta undergound records. Now everybody else tryin’ to do undergound records. It’s like what people see you do, they gon try to copy it. It’s gettin overcrowded. It’s so many people wanna rap. It’s so many people tryin’ to do undergrounds now. Everything has changed.
