There is one thing you can say about S-T-A-T is that dude is not planning on giving up anytime soon. His deal with Aftermath and Shady put at least his name on but produced no album after being there for quite some time. But the dude is free and has TWO, count them, ONE AND TWO mixtapes of hot ISH for your ears,
The South Got Somethin' To Say and
The Bailout. This interview is a little different than my previous ones so bare with me for this new set up, ENJOY!!!
Date: Nov 17th
Time: 3ish (Central Time)
X: Yo what up Stat its Xcalibur, I was calling to see if you were still on for the interview...
Rick (Stat's Manager): Yo man this is his manager Rick.
X: Oh word my bad man, is Stat around to do the interview?
Rick: Who is this??
X: (Pause) its Xcalibur man I hit Stat up on Myspace for a interview.
Rick: OH ok! (talks to Stat) yo man you wanna do it at 7pm?
X: Yeah that's cool.
Rick: Cool email me your info and we will do this at 7.
X: Word man. Peace.
So having set up one of my biggest interviews so far I made sure my questions were right and everything was all good on my end. I was off that day so I decided to hit the store to cook dinner for the family...this is where I slipped up. I got dinner all done for the fam and went to call Rick back.
X: Yo Rick, its Xcalibur man is Stat ready?
Rick: Hey I thought you wanted to do it at 7?
X: (Pause, stunned look) its 7 where I am, I thought I was on time...
Rick: We are a hour ahead of you bro...
X: (Embarrassed) Man I apologize thats my miss up man...
Rick: Did you still wanna do it? Did you email me the info?
X: Yes and yes.
Rick: Ok stay by the phone.
I waited about three minutes and my cell goes off. And I hear "What Up, Its Stat." Now for me this is big this guy is was connected to both Eminem and Dr. Dre!! This was a guy whos album I had been waiting for a good 3 years and he was on the other end of the phone ready to chop it up.
X: Man I totally spaced on the time man I know you wanted to do it at 7...I lost track of time and was taking care of the fam.
Stat: Its cool man. Do you need to call me back??
X: Naw I'm good. Lets jump into it... What took so long to bless us with the mixtape man??
Stat: I had to get out of my deal man. There were a whole lot of politics involved and I wanted to make sure I was out before I did more music.
X: So you are off Aftermath/Shady yeah?
Stat: Yep, took a year to get out.
Stat is as energetic and passionate on the phone as he is in his rhymes. And you could tell he loves this Hip-Hop game. But you can also see that he wasn't going to let label BS stop him from putting out music. "I'm focused man, now it is all about putting out music and giving the fans what they have been waiting for." Being a fan I was nervous and excited at the same time to hear him say that "If there is on thing I learned about being on Aftermath/Shady is that you have to have your timing right or you are done...Plies is the perfect example of that." I named check early DMX as an example too and he agreed.
We began to talk about him being on Aftermath/Shady for a bit he told me he had wrote the first part of the "Dear Summer" series while he was still in the deal. "I wrote the first Dear Summer when I was still signed, I wanted to put it out but the label thought that it wasn't a good idea, but I thought the fans deserved to know why my album was not being released and I have been off the radar." Dear Summer 1 & 2" He continues "Was meant to be a timeline to let my fans know what was going on with me and my situation." I asked him about Obie and Busta next:
X: Were you shocked at them leaving or being let go?
Stat: Yeah. Obie was a staple at Shady and was close to Em and him leaving was a big shock but at the same time I undersatnd because the music business is still a BUSINESS. And with Busta, I was surprised but saw it coming, again timing. His album took too long to come out and it killed his buzz...
X: The speed of need right?
Stat: Yep
X: Are you cool with everybody at Aftermath and Shady still?
Stat: Yeah man, I am still cool with everyone I was signed with.
While talking to him getting the music out to the public was the biggest concern. "I was able to keep all the music from my album
Statlanta and it will appear on the mixtapes." When I asked who he worked with production wise he replied "No big names. I feel like there are a lot of dope people making beats and it is unfair to throw them away because they do not have a big name. These guys can be the next big thing but you will never know if you don't give them a shot." He continues, " I got two mixtape coming The Bailout and Quo-City, and the Bailout will be up the week of Thanksgiving and Little Brother is gonna be on there."
As we began to wrap it up I had to ask him one last thing:
X: What do you think of XXL Top 10 Freshmen?
Stat: To be honest I haven't heard some of them but I think , B.o.B and Corey Gunz are incredible. And I like Asther Roth I know him through his manager, Wale is good too.
We exchanged verbal daps and thank yous and we ended our interview. It seems to me that Stat's time is now and he is taking advantage of it as much as possible.
It is about time huh??
Xcalibur
Woooooow ok I had to share this!!! French photographer Cedric Delsaux basically made a modern Star Wars using urban themes and it is the sickest stuff I have ever seen!!!! On the real! Haha but I'll link you to Hypebeast and stop blabbing on:
