What do you think the public’s general attitude is towards you, since you’ve kinda been out of the game for a minute?
Of course, they ain’t heard from me in a minute just because of the situation that transpired in 2001, so there’s a big point I’m trying to prove. I’m trying to make it known that I ain’t fall off, and I even got better. I definitely have to come out strong cause a lot of people feel like they ain’t heard from me so I’m gone, but that’s not the case. It’s not that I haven’t been active. I’ve been writing and doing music, but all the doors were getting closed in my face. After the situation in 2001, the face-slicing thing that went down at Jimmy’s, it became a politics game. [Atlantic Records] gave me my release the day after the Jimmy’s incident. Then I had to endure the blackballing: labels turning me down, DJs not wanting to my play my record because of threats that have been made to them and stuff like that. The plan to stop Cuban from putting out his stuff worked for a minute. I was still doing shows here and there, but most everybody was already brainwashed. [Fat Joe] was already telling people – presidents of the companies – not to fuck with me. I don’t know what he was telling them, but however he explained it to them, it worked. I’d drop my CD off, they’d love what they heard and take it home and do some research. Five days later, I’d get the call. They’d tell me, “Cuban, I love your music, but we have a relationship with [Fat] Joe and we don’t need problems right now.” That’s around the time when he went platinum, so he had a little political power.
There’s been rumors that the reason your face got sliced was because you slept with Big Pun’s wife.
No, never. That’s my sister. Never happened. That’s just more dirt getting thrown out there to justify the fact that I got sliced. That’s very disrespectful. And to this day, the streets don’t have a real reason why I got my face cut. It was a business move, with some ego involved and some personal issues between me and the group. We was at war, and [Fat Joe] let somebody from his side come and cut me and act like he ain’t know what happened. That’s a bitch move. The streets do not respect that. How can you justify that? Cuban’s down right now, we gon’ bury him. We gon’ make sure he never gets a deal, make sure his music never gets heard, and then after that we gon’ start a rumor about why we sliced him. Of course they’re gonna say that [about me and Pun’s wife Liza] cause niggas gonna listen. Look, you’re talking to a nigga who’s been in this game over twelve years. I know how they get down. Liza’s my sister, I got nothing but love for her and the kids. That’s my second family.
Is there anything positive that’s come out of that situation?
You’ve got to look at things in a positive way. In my situation, there’s a lot of negatives, but it taught me life lessons. I had to go through this to really sit back and think about the values and the friendships and the betrayal. It helped me find out who my true friends were, and my crew got tighter. I got tighter with my lyrics, cause now that’s another challenge that I’ve got to overcome. It’s never been that I was whack, but now the pressure is on to show what I’ve got. I’m gonna stand on my own right now and go back to my destiny. I just gotta follow my heart. Thank God I’m still here. I’m blessed to still be here.
I heard your album, and I didn’t notice any diss tracks or anything aimed at Fat Joe or Terror Squad. After the blackballing situation, a lot of people might be surprised you didn’t go at them lyrically.
What happened between me and him is a street thing, and I’d like to handle that in the street. I did drop a mixtape called Chainsaw Massacre just to put a statement in the streets and let people know that I’m not messing with [Terror Squad] because I’ve got my own thing going. But when it comes to an album, I have to talk to the majority of the people, and I don’t even wanna concentrate on that too much. I have to be able to touch people without having to diss the next person or get in battle mode. It’s too serious for a battle.
How did you select the artists that are featured on your album?
In the beginning we ran into some problems, because a lot of people were scared to fuck with me. They’d heard so much stuff they didn’t really wanna get involved. Once I met M.O.B. Records and they backed me up, there was some money there and then they felt a little more comfortable dealing with me. It’s understandable, cause it’s just business. I was never the type to go ask somebody to do a track for me for free; that’s never been my style. I’m too proud for that. When my deal with M.O.B. started rolling, we reached out to artists like Jadakiss, Mya, Syleena Johnson, and Game. That’s when the business structure was really beginning to come together. Before that, I was just freestylin’ it, doing shows here and there. I hadn’t found a home yet. When I found M.O.B., I positioned myself with some business-minded individuals that were behind me 100%.
Why did you feel like the time was right to come back out? Is the blackballing over?
Well, there’s some respectable men of business that have already had talks with [Fat Joe] and came to an agreement. It’s business, they let him know that Cuban is not alone no more, and the beef is hurting business. It got settled as far as laying down some respectable rules. When we gonna do business with somebody, he not supposed to put nothing in the way to block it. Now, there’s more liberty for us to do more things and people won’t be scared of him.
Why do you think people are scared of Fat Joe?
I know why. I mean, you gotta know the art of war. It’s because he’s thought of as a king. When you have money, people worship that money. So you’ve got some little knuckleheads running around behind you and you can give them orders to do certain things. When you beat up a little pussy nigga in front of a crowd of people, that’s intimidation. The other pussy niggas are gonna get scared of you and give respect. And you’re talking about a dude that has years in the game. He’s known as Fat Joe the gangsta, so when it comes to the industry a lot of people just want to handle their business. They don’t want no problems or beef. Some situations are serious, but some are made up just to make money. Controversy sells, you know. But my situation wasn’t like that. My situation was real.
Aside from Fat Joe, what about the rest of the Terror Squad?
All I could do is just be myself and do what I fuckin’ feel in my heart. At the end of the day, he’s got a lot of people around him that don’t know the situation and don’t even know me. They’re just ridin’ with whatever comes out of his mouth. They might think they’re a threat to me because they’ve been locked up or whatever, but I’m one of those niggas that just don’t give a fuck about that. I don’t. I already went through one situation where I almost got killed because I trusted the people that was around me, but it’ll never happen again. Whoever wants it, as a man, they could come get it. But me as a businessman, I think of positive things. I’m just trying to get my music out. I’m not dissing these dudes in my album. This is my career, this is what I do. It’s worth fighting for with every ounce of blood in my body. I love it so much, that’s what I’ve gotta fight for. I know I ain’t do nothing in the past that would trigger a person who don’t even know me to hate me. I never did a foul thing for them to hate me so much, so if they against me, they fighting with no ammunition.
How did you hook up with M.O.B. Records?
They’re some good brothers out of Connecticut that decided to get into the music business. I met them in the beginning of 2003 and we talked, but they weren’t ready yet. The beginning of 2004, Artie heard what I was doing and we came together. He was ready and I was ready, so let’s rock. He put his money where his mouth was. He got some powerful hitters on my album without even a contract, and that’s all I needed. They believe in a nigga.
Why did you decide to go with an independent label?
I couldn’t be happier right now. I’d rather not be with a major. I already went down that road dealing with Atlantic, and I didn’t feel that situation. The exposure with a major label is great, and you’ve got the machine behind you, but after that incident in 2001 my mind just went on some other shit. I feel more comfortable taking my career in my own hands and starting something new to leave a legacy behind. When you’re going against all odds and you can still move forward and make it happen, you bring that fresh blood into the game. You’ve got to stay hungry and prove your point. And we’ve got distribution, so this label isn’t just independent. It’s self-contained and it’s not the norm, but it’s gonna be running like a major label. The money behind us is major label money, so the Cuban link posters, the ads, everything is gonna be there. We’ve got two billboards now. My album Chain Reaction is coming out March 8th, so we’re just doing early promotions right now to let the people know I’m coming. A chain reaction is a domino effect. I’m the first domino that has to go down. Once I drop what I have to drop on this album, every other domino is gonna fall into place. Once I get my career back on track, I’m moving onto the clothing line, movies, acting, ghostwriting, R&B smashes, everything.
Do you think that Pun’s passing had a dramatic effect on Terror Squad?
Definitely. I mean, I considered them family. I wanted the clique to be tighter. But me being Pun’s roadie, like, his man, I was the most vulnerable. I took that initiative to try to keep the clique getting stronger because I know Pun would have wanted it like that. But everybody didn’t see it like that. Everybody was doing their own thing. I seen that coming, because niggas are only thinking about themselves. At the end of the day, how many album has Joe dropped already since 2001? I was the next one who was supposed to drop [after Pun passed]. How many albums has Terror Squad dropped? How many albums has Remy dropped?
There was a Remy diss track circulating that sounded like it was about Fat Joe. But she’s still with Terror Squad.
It was about Joe. It was about Loud Records too, but it was actually about Joe. Remy wanted to say that but she ain’t wanna get in hot water. It’s nothing but love with Remy. It’s cool, I respect her a lot. But they’ve gotta open their eyes though. If they saw what happened to me, then nothing’s gonna open they eyes. I just hope they’re happy. I know their money situation isn’t comfortable. Some of them are still living in the projects and they ain’t getting the money to feed they kids. That only leads to becoming a fuckin’ bum later in life.
- Photo and interview by Julia Beverly, jb@ozonemag.com
