Project Pat
Interview By Greg “Gate$” Davenport
From Murder Dog vol. 13 #2
Do you think you are ever going to have peace with folks in Memphis? It seems like the bigger ya’ll get, the more problems ya’ll have with people.
But you know really we ain’t having no problems. We good. We blessed out here. That’s how you lose your blessings, when you get to worrying about somebody else. I don’t know what to tell you. I’m just being honest. I’m as they say: bamboozled. I love these dudes down here. I ain’t got no hate on my heart or no enemies. All my enemies that I had, they dead or they in jail forever. That’s it. I ain’t got no enemies. I had enemies when I was younger, but when I got out of jail in ’97 I killed all beef. Because niggas I was looking for, they was gone. They had already got caught up on charges. I love these dudes out here. I’m just keeping it real with you, a lot of the guys, I don’t even know them. They was telling me about somebody the other day, I said ‘I don’t even know him.’ Like I say, It’s peace over here. I ain’t trying to get into it with nobody. That’s out of the question. It’s hugs and handshakes with Project Pat out here. I’m a politician. I’m a politician my nigga. Real talk. It’s hugs and handshakes out here, man. I love all these brothers out here. I pray they stay blessed and their family have money and they stay on. Get yours. It’s out here for them. I don’t even understand any beefs. Not just talking about Memphis. I’m talking about the rap game or any game because it’s too much money out here. It’s too much cheese out here. We ain’t got time for that.
Why did you choose “Good Googly Moogly” for your first single? You know people were expecting something way more Gangsta from Project Pat.
They gonna get what they expecting and that I promise you. Remember I told you that. They gonna get what they expecting. I promise you. A lot of times our hands be forced. I used to be sitting in front of my momma and she be cooking pancakes. My momma had like two pancakes, three pancakes cooked. I’m supposed to get like four pancakes. I’m like “Momma, come on let me get one!” It’s like I had to throw them something. I had to. Oh, believe you me, I know just what they want, and they gonna get just what they want. One thing about Hypnotize Minds, we don’t make music like “This is how I was feeling this day and that day.” We make the music for the people. We doing it for the people, mainly for where we from, which is the hood. I got some show dates coming up here soon. I’m on this road and I’m Mr. Chickenhead. I’m finna perform some chicken magic. I’m finna find a chickenhead and turn her into a beauty queen. I’m finna see if it can be done. I’m finna do some chicken magic. We got things working out here. We ain’t got time for nothing else.
When is “Crook By The Book” supposed to be released?
Crook By The Book is supposed to be scheduled for October man. It’s some raw dope for the streets.
What can people expect fro this album?
I’ll put it to you like this right here: They can expect the same Project Pat from “Mista Don’t Play”, but worser.
What you mean by worser?
I’m getting more in-depth with things. When I had first started rapping and we was underground I really didn’t rap about a lot of stuff because I really was slick doing it. When I got out of jail, I got out in ’97, I kind was not trying to really get in-depth because I was just still with a crook mentality of ‘I just ain’t finna be out here speaking on this and speaking on that and saying about this and saying about that.’ Now, I’m like ‘Mayne, kill it – I’m full-fledged and I ain’t thinking about that!’
Why the change in attitude?
I’m saying to myself ‘That’s what I should’ve been doing.’
Was it something that happened in jail? Were people not playing by the street rules in the Rap game?
I don’t know. You just look at things one way one time and then you say “Huh, that is purple.” You know what I’m saying? “It looks blue, but that is purple.” That’s all. When I was locked up, I just sat back and thought ‘I just need to go on and get into depth with a lot of stuff,” because I really wasn’t doing it. Just regrouping my whole self, the career, what I was doing and how I was coming with the songs. You know how you be like “Man, I could’ve did this like this. I could’ve got more off into this.”
What subjects are you going to be touching on with this album?
Hands down, the streets. The streets period. What comes with the streets is everything. From the nagging baby-momma to the jailhouse, to facing a life sentence, going back and forth to court, dodging warrants. You know how that go. Dodging bullets.
I was reading about your song “Two Dollar Nigga.” Why did you do that track?
The Two Dollar Nigga is the type of dude – He wasn’t really making no noisemaker in the neighborhood. He was really like a slick car driver on capers. A lookout kid. A Two Dollar Nigga – He go to jail and when he go to jail he get back out. He do about four years. He don’t never do no long bid. He do about four, two years, three years. He get out. Once he get out, he’s Supercrook now. He’s Supergangsta. “Nigga, I was the man! I was running the floors. I was running this, this and this!!” But all the time when he was locked up, the young guys don’t know what he was doing, really he was wearing a dress. He’s a flager. He’s fakin’. He get out and what he do is he lead these young dudes into a lot of stuff that they thinking that he’s done, but he send them on dummy missions. He don’t know nothing about it. They end up getting killed. They end up getting locked up. And guess what – a Two Dollar Nigga will tell. He’ll say he won’t. He’ll swear he the truth, but really that ain’t him.
Were you addressing this because the state of the streets right now? Because were I’m from we’ve got the wrong niggas running the hood right now.
That’s exactly why I did it. Because I seen dudes when I was locked up that I’m thinking when I was younger was just the man and they around here working with every prosecutor they can. Yeah, yeah! A lot of niggas who was younger, who out in the streets, they don’t even know what’s going on. Don’t play no games. It’s ugly out here. What we say in Memphis, “It’s so cutthroat.” It’s Cutthroat City. That’s what it is down here. That’s what we say in Memphis, “It’s Cutthroat City mayne.” A nigga will go pull a caper, sell some dope, shoot a pistol, turn around and tell on you and his mama! These niggas wicked. These niggas is straight chameleons.
You ain’t got to tell me. I’ve seen a nigga tell on his own brother.
You see what I’m talking about?! I’m talking about in the streets, some cold-blooded head-bustin’ niggas, some hard-hittin’ niggas! You be like “I can’t believe that nigga did that!” Really you thought it was $100,000,000 in his pocket, but really he a Two Dollar Nigga. He flagin’.
Same thing with “Tell, Tell, Tell” you’ve got Lyfe, Young Jeezy, and The Last Mr. Bigg. I wasn’t expecting you to come back with another one with Mr. Bigg on the hook. What do you think about all the snitching?
It ain’t no honor. You got these dudes wearing all these – They call it fresh. They looking like ballers and all that, but really they slick doing the dope. Did you hear the track? I’m talking about all that. How niggas be out here frontin’ like they selling ki’s. I’mma show you something though. It’s so many young niggas that’s looking. It’s like they ain’t got nobody out here. The soldiers is all dead or in jail forever. They ain’t got nobody to look up to. They want to look at somebody that they can say “That’s my nigga.” Sometimes they know the nigga frontin’, but they go and ride with the nigga. Ooh, it’s wicked out here! I’mma tell you why they do it though.
Why?
They do it because they don’t know no better and they think that’s how it go. Since they ain’t seen nothing else but phoniness they think that’s how it go out here. Dog, you got to check that one out there. That one there is a beast and it’s a club banger.
Was that four years the longest you’ve ever been locked up?
That was the longest time I did. I’ll say this: it was the sweetest. I was down there in Bloody Beaumont, down there is Texas. Beaumont is off the chain. It reminds me of our county jail called 201. A lot of times dudes go in 201 with a traffic ticket and die in 201.
That’s crazy. For real?
Yes sir. Be in a holding cell with somebody, one of them gangstas, one of them thugs, and I’m talking about die over something like a tray. You know how Down South do it. You from Florida, right? It’s just like that, man. Niggas die over disrespect. Niggas come in there for losing his license. He ain’t supposed to be in there. Mess around and get his booty took. Nigga mess around and snatch his bootyhole, know what I’m sayin’? And that’s how it’s going. 201, is pure scandalous. Now, when you get on them floors –man, it’s like the penitentiary!
And this is the county.
You’ll die in 201. Niggas die in 201 on a daily basis. I’m talking about bashed in the head and everything. 201 got like 6, 7, 8 floors and they just built another one next to it like four years ago. Before I got locked up they was building it. It’s up now.
They’re building tower by tower of crazy madness?
Full madness. Full bloody madness. Memphis got like over a million, so it’s like everybody on every side of the city, every gang, every click is all up in there together. It’s going down!
You said you was down in Beaumont …
Beaumont remind me of 201 in Memphis, but it was like an international 201. You had dudes out of D.C. You had dudes of Fort Worth, Texas. You had dudes out of Chicago. Memphis niggas. Niggas out of Arkansas. Everybody throwing up something. Beaumont got all the gangs in the world. All the Mexican gangs. All the Black gangs. Every gang you can think of, organization you can think of out of Chicago and LA was there. The day before I got there they killed a dude upstairs from where my unit was at.
You weren’t doing none of that protective custody special area of the jail time?
Nah, naw. We ain’t gonna have that. They ain’t gonna put that on my jacket. Whether I done got out and rapped or not. I’m still from North Memphis and I still ride through every now and then. I can’t just be doing it like that. Really Project Pat, that’s not a Rap name. That’s a name my nigga gave me in the streets. I’m not bragging on no street stuff because really the streets is a trap. I’mma keep it one hundred because a gangsta gonna keep it real.
I’m glad somebody is saying the shit. Everybody wants to sell dope and everybody wants to be a rapper now.
I don’t mind being no rapper, but you gonna get caught selling dope. The dope game ain’t no good because any time the police and feds got guns in front of your face and your partner got a gun to your back Who you selling the dope with? How you gonna win? You can’t win. That dope game’s so serious! I done seen a nigga sell a nigga a bird, a nigga told me “Man, this nigga sold my nigga a bird. Turned around told the feds, “He sold it to me.” Got my nigga 24 years and he got nine years. I said “What!” And he was the supplier out of California. Boy, it’s scandalous out here.
That sounds like some Florida shit. Ya’ll are scandalous. I went up to Memphis for the Southern Entertainment Awards and said ‘Damn, this is Memphis?’ I’m all through the hoods and shit and I said, ‘Goddamn, this shit kind of look like Chicago.’
You know Memphis is on Chicago time. GD’s and Vice Lords. If any city Down South could mimic Chicago it’s Memphis. Ain’t no other city in the South mimic Chicago like Memphis. It’s a replica of Chicago. Out of town people call it “Baby Chicago”. Memphis is just like Chicago.
What did you get out of the experience of being in jail for those four years?
I met some good brothers, some good people there. I’mma be honest with you now. This what I be saying, ‘Like a real gangsta.’ I met some guys out of Detroit. I’m talking about some real gangsta niggas. Some niggas on some “cut your head off and your momma head off” type of time. Real dope sellers. Niggas selling big dope. Some real, real down niggas out of Chicago. Real gangstas now. Man, some real niggas out of St. Louis. Some older niggas, some older gangstas out of St. Louis. Real gangstas. Body snatchers. Look, they in there right now. They’ll give their right arm, they’ll cut their right arm off to be free. And when niggas get to talking about selling dope and “I’mma go out there and put some young niggas up on some things,” and this that and the other, you better not talk that around them real gangstas. They’ll mess around and get you stabbed up in there because they so hurt. Because on they outdate it say Deceased. Humble dudes. That’s why I ain’t ashamed to sit up here and say ‘Man, kill that. I’m finna kick it with my kids and stay on the low. And all that is for another sucker, not for me!’
How was it for you when you were in prison and you were seeing
Three-6 Mafia blowing up? Every year they were getting bigger and bigger.
It was a blessing. Especially when I got out and Three-6 Mafia won that Oscar. It was real! We from the South too, and we Black. That was beautiful.
How have things changed for you since you’ve been gone?
It ain’t got nothing but better. I mean because everybody my way doing good. Everybody done came up. A lot of the niggas that I used to know when we was doing what we was doing they ain’t on it no more. They done changed and that’s good. They seen how the whole garbage way of how they had did me. They know like “Man, you wasn’t even on nothing.” In the mind of a real gangsta, you couldn’t have never told me I was wrong because I wasn’t doing nothing wrong even though I was breaking the law. You catch a gangsta blowing weed and putting it into an ashtray and police pull him over he’s gonna say, “Officer leave me alone. I ain’t doing nothing around here. Leave me alone. Take me to jail. Kill yourself! I ain’t doing nothing out here.” The officer say, “You know your taillight out?” And he say, “I’m trying to come up here and get it fixed. Leave me alone,” and pull off on a police. To a gangsta that ain’t nothing. In all actuality you’re breaking the law, but the truth is it ain’t nothing wrong. That’s in a gangsta’s mind.
