I was a part of Beats by the Pound. Me, Moby Dick, Craig B, and Odell used to be the in-house producers for No Limit. There was another cat named Carlos who’s no longer with us. I produce solo now, with Medicine Men.
Why did you end up leaving No Limit? How did things deteriorate?
When people bring up the money I do talk about it, but it wasn’t the money that made us leave. It was the communication. When [Master P] decided to go pursue his basketball career, it fucked up our communication. Whenever we had to talk to him, we had to go through somebody. When it goes through somebody, it gets back to him all fucked up. That started some bullshit. Money didn’t have anything to do with us leaving, but after we left, shit, he started sending papers to our lawyers about “failure to report to work.” So we were like, fuck it. We were never signed to a contract, so we wasn’t even tripping on the money. We just wanted out. There were several times when we, [Beats by the Pound], tried to talk to him to get the situation solved, because it was some minor shit. It was just his pride. And one thing I know from experience is that he’s a real good person, but he’s influenced by the people around him. So a lot of the decisions that he made didn’t really come from him, it was just what other muthafuckers was telling him.
What did you see happen to No Limit after you left?
He broke chemistry. You can’t do that. These days in music, production is the key focus. I’m not taking nothing away from no rappers, but it’s just at that point where everyone wants the right beat. They can’t do nothing without that beat. Whenever a label goes shopping for a deal, the majors want to know who’s producing your records. Look at Cash Money: Baby ain’t stupid. Juvenile left, B.G. left, Turk left, but Mannie still there. He won’t let him go.
Is there anything P could have said or done to make you stay? Offer you more money?
You know what it was? All he had to do was come to us and admit he’s wrong sometimes. All he had to do was say, “Man, my bad, I fucked up.” But he’d rather shit out $30,000 or $40,000. He’d rather give us money instead of admitting he was wrong.
When did you finally leave No Limit?
We left in 1999. As a matter of fact, the last song I produced on No Limit was “Fuck Them Other Niggas.” After I did that song, shit just ain’t get worked out. We had a meeting with him where he finally offered us a contract, but the contract wasn’t good. He was in a conference call, probably somewhere in L.A., and we were waiting for him to call. After waiting six or seven hours, he finally called. The meeting went like this: P said, “If you’re not going to sign the contract, get the fuck out my face.” So we got the fuck out his face and never went back.
What have you been doing since then?
Working on my album and producing some other things. I did the “Move Bitch” record for Ludacris, and I’m working on some tracks for T.I. and Trick Daddy. I also have my album coming out.
Are you rapping on the album, or mostly just producing?
Just a lil’ somethin’, somethin’. It ain’t serious. I have other people to do that. I have an all-star lineup: Mystikal, Snoop, Juvenile, Lil’ Jon, Soulja Slim, B.G., Daz Dillinger, Fiend, Mr. Serv-On, Don Yute, C-Nile, Beautiful, and a lot of other artists. Fiend is on the lead single, “Down South.” It’s still the same Pound: me, Craig B, Moby Dick, and Odell.
Are you putting the album out independently or looking for a major distributor?
It all depends if the labels start acting right. Independent is offering me better money than the majors. People want it, but if the majors ain’t talking right, then I’ll go independent. I’ll make more money but I’ll have to go out and work the record more, which is actually something I need to do. People don’t know me, they know my music.
Why did you decide to change the name?
When we left No Limit, P had some other producers working under the name “Beats by the Pound.” His production was so fucked up, it burned the name. Anything after “Fuck Them Other Niggas,” we didn’t produce.
Why did Master P file bankruptcy?
P still has loyal fans, but like I said, it’s all about chemistry. People want to hear him on our shit. Whenever Snoop puts out a record, they still want to hear him on a Dr. Dre beat. Whatever Missy puts out, they wanna hear her on a Timbaland beat. Beats by the Pound created the No Limit sound from day one. Since 1995. When I hooked up with P in 1995, he was still in Oakland. He was buying beats from like ten producers. When we came up, it just fit. I hooked him up with the beat for “Bout It, Bout It,” and that turned out to be the biggest song on his first album.
How does the creative process work when you have four people in a production team?
It all depends. Most of the time we work individually, but there comes a point on the record where we might do three or four songs together. We each have an individual sound, so that’s why it balances out on the record. A real No Limit fan or Beats by the Pound fan could listen to a record and know which one of us did it.
Were you close to Soulja Slim?
Soulja Slim was actually my very first artist. Back in 1991, before I hooked up with Beats by the Pound, I had a record label. Mystikal, Mr. Serv-On, Soulja Slim, Pound, and Fiend, those were my artists. A lot of people don’t know that I brought them to No Limit. Me and P damn near got into it over Soulja Slim and Fiend, when I first brought them in. This was at the beginning, when P was building the company. Eventually, everyone came to an agreement. Fiend was on the “Bout It” soundtrack, and after he did that song, it was official that P wanted to fuck with him.
So who would you credit with No Limit’s success?
It was a collective effort from everybody. Everybody finally got their first break to be put out on a major, so it really didn’t matter whose album it was. We all came together in one room and made an album, and had fun doing it. It was never one person individually making his own record. It started getting like that later on down the line.
What other projects are you working on?
We just signed a cat named Calico, and we’re working on his project. We’re also working on a Medicine Man album called Beats by the Pound. B.G. and Soulja Slim also got an album together called Ain’t No Limit to my Cash Money. It’s hot as fuck. It’s probably the most gangsta shit you’ll ever hear in a long time. Everyone always wondered what it would be like if Cash Money and No Limit worked together. Soulja Slim actually brought B.G. to me, so his death really brought me and B.G. real close. When me and B.G. do a song together he’ll flow on it, but [Slim’s death] will fuck with him. It really does affect him. It was real hard for both me and him. Slim and B.G. was real close, even when that Cash Money/No Limit shit was going on. Nothing broke their bond. Nothing. That’s how it is with me and Mannie [Fresh]; a lot of people don’t know that cause they never see us. Me and Mannie are real tight. We have the utmost respect for each other when it comes to our work. He loves what I do and I love what he does.
Anything else you want to say?
Be on the lookout for the new KLC album, KLC the Drum Major, coming in August.
