This was not in the job description when I signed up to interview Mr. Magic, a member of the Body Head Bangerz along with Choppa, Roy Jones Jr., and Trouble. Their single, “I Smoke, I Drink” is a certified hit record, so when I was invited to Roy Jones’ ranch, I’d pictured something large and glamorous - not an actual ranch with real, live animals. But here I am - in rural Pensacola - sweating. Roy, Choppa, and Magic are running late, filming “Do it Big,” a DVD to coincide with their upcoming Body Head Bangerz album.
Once they finally arrived, the brutally hot sun had been replaced by rain, so Magic and I headed to Roy’s barn/boxing ring. Midway through the interview, the light rain turned into an all-out thunderstorm and the power went out. We were stuck, which gave Magic plenty of time to vent and even give me a few boxing tips. Turns out he’s more like a gospel preacher than an advocate for smoking and drinking. Keep in mind while you’re reading this that every sentence is punctuated with a Louisiana-flavored, “You know?”
You were originally signed to No Limit, right?
Yeah, I was with ‘em for a couple years. I started out with C-Murder and we became the best of friends. He was the CEO of his own label but he got into a few problems and I went to No Limit with his older brother [Master P]. I never really felt comfortable with P, but I was doing what I had to do to put myself in a position where I could leave. Everybody understood that. I put out a couple successful albums at No Limit. The first one sold about 600,000, and the second one sold about 900,000 copies.
No Limit isn’t the dominating force that it used to be. What happened to the label?
To be honest? As far as I’m concerned, it was the devil’s favorite sin: vanity. P got so caught up in himself that he never had time to pay attention to his artists. It’s so important to pay attention to your artists, because they’re the people that’s making it happen for you. Remember, he was the CEO of No Limit. He should have never been the top artist, because he never had those capabilities. That’s where he lost his structure. It was cool when he was the owner and he rapped too, but when he decided to be the main artist he got himself all fucked up.
Why did you leave No Limit?
It didn’t happen right away, but when I decided to leave I did that last album and for a short period of time I was so fucked up. I was like, “Man, I’m gonna just chill for a minute.” I had put up a brick wall around myself because I felt like everybody was gonna be like [Master P]. It took me some time to grow up and really start understanding the business side of the game. I decided to go with Koch [Records] for a minute. [All the major labels] were trying to get me, but I was kinda scared to sign a major deal so I decided to try something independent. Honestly, my finances weren’t the best at the time so I was just going to chill for a minute but the streets kept calling me. I put out an album with Koch on my own, but it was an album of songs I had already previously done. I just threw together a bunch of old songs and put it out there to let people know I’m still here. When I really decided to come back, I recorded “I Smoke, I Drink.”
The first version of the song was you, Lil’ Boosie, and YoungBleed, and it was called “Do it Big.” Why are there two versions of the same song?
Originally I did the song in Baton Rouge with me, Boosie, and YoungBleed. At the time, I had just signed to [Roy Jones Jr.’s label] Body ead, and I came here to be more than just an artist. I want to develop other artists because I’ve been there. I came here to Body Head to structure an album that could generate revenue and a [major distribution] deal for us. I put the song out there, but Lil’ Boosie called me – and that’s my dawg, we live in the same area together – and said, “Man, this song is hot, do you mind if I perform it?” I told him I don’t mind, because I can’t perform it right now. I gotta put together the [Body Head Bangerz] album so I wasn’t really able to capitalize off the song as a solo artist. The radio in Baton Rouge burned the song and started playing it, and he went out and performed the song, so people automatically thought it’s a Lil’ Boosie song. It’s alright though, it’s cool.
Now that you took Lil’ Boosie off the record and added the YoungBloodz and Roy Jones Jr., do you think it’ll become a problem?
Not for me. Once people hear, they’ll realize. I shot a video for the song that’s on BET now, thanks to God. My video came on, it aired yesterday, so people gon’ realize. True Magic fans will know. Lil’ Boosie been putting out a lot of songs and I love ‘em, but “I Smoke, I Drink” is a completely different style. This song made an impression because of me on the hook. The song was done two weeks before Boosie and YoungBleed even came over. I had the song sitting in the studio with my verse on it. The first version had been doing great, but it was just a regional song. There’s a lot of people out there that don’t know Lil’ Boosie and people that forgot about YoungBleed, and being realistic, at the time I wasn’t at my best as an artist. When I left No Limit, I lost a lot of the muscle that I had to make certain shit happen. I had to go on faith and just do it. When we got ready to go to the big radio stations we had a problem getting it played. When you go to places like BET, they’re like, “Nah, we not fuckin’ with that.” Me being in the industry, I done met a lot of people. I know a lot of people that have respect for me, cause most of the artists seen me in videos back when they first wanted to rap. I was doing it as a kid so I gained that respect in the streets, and I give other artists that same type of respect. Because of that, I was able to call the YoungBloodz and say, “Hey, man, I got this hit song, but it’s a regional song right now. If y’all can get on it, I’m gonna put Roy Jones on it to give it more appeal.” It’s a marketing strategy. This is business. You can’t just throw shit out there, you have to have a plan. Well, it opened up doors for us that we couldn’t get open ourselves. That’s how we came up with the remix. We just signed a major deal with Universal, and the Body Head Bangerz album is coming out on September 28th. That’s three days after Roy Jones’ fight.
Is the Body Head Bangerz a compilation CD?
It’s not a compilation CD, I don’t wanna get it confused. It’s the Body Head Bangerz: me, Roy Jones, Choppa, and Trouble. It’s a group album, and we’ve got other artists on it, like B.G., Juvenile, the YoungBloodz, Lil’ Flip, Bun B, Mike Jones, Petey Pablo, Lil’ Boosie, YoungBleed, and Fiend. We reached out and got a lot of favors from people, so the album is completely packed with hits. There’s ten, twelve bangers on there, and it ain’t really no label right now that could do what we doing. We’ve got the champ already, Roy Jones Jr. He wealthy, he alright, and he blessed us and put us in a position where we could “Do it Big” for real. This is a CD that’s gonna make history. Trust me.
What made you decide to sign with Body Head?
[CEO] Roy Jones is a good dude. That’s my dawg. Outside of anything else, I fucks with him, for real. He’s a young black entrepreneur, and so am I, so two heads are better than one. Sometimes you need more than just structure, sometimes it’s about who you know in the business. Being with him opens a lot more doors.
Has Roy’s attitude changed at all since getting knocked out by Antonio Tarver?
Yeah, I think he changed a lot. Sometimes God humbles us. It’s like mommy and daddy say: sometimes God smacks us on the ass. This is a game that God is playing, and I don’t mean that in a cruel way. I mean that life is structured by him, so it’s already written. He’s saying, “Are you willing to accept what I have to offer you? You have a job to do for me. Win, lose, or draw, you’re still my child and you have a job to do.” For whatever reason, God made it happen, and what makes me appreciate Roy more as a human being and as a friend is that he went down and got back up and he’s ready to make that up to the world. That’s what makes him a champ. Let’s not forget that Muhammad Ali, who’s known as the greatest boxer in the world, had seven or eight losses. Winning all the time doesn’t make you a champ. What makes you a champ is to lose, and then win and overcome adversity. That’s what makes you the people’s champ. So, for whatever reason, it happened. What I love about him is that he’s ready to make it up to the world, and this is what I expect people to see in him and love about him. I think he changed for the better. He’s really a problem now, because he understands what defeat tastes like. He was never able to accept that before. Now, he knows what it feels like to walk out of an arena and see everybody lookin’ at him like, “Damnnnn…” He’s dealt with that. That can’t hurt his pride no more. Now he realizes that in order to be the champ, he’s really gotta show all these people what he’s capable of. That’s why they love him. I love his energy right now, I love to be around him. His aggression fuels me. It gives me confidence. I’m the shit at what I do, and he’s the shit at what he does, so we’re the shit together. It’s cool, it’s a blessing that I’m able to inspire him with music. I make the type of music that makes people move. I make him want to fight. His energy jumps over the Richter scale when he hears my voice, and when he hears himself on our shit. It makes me feel good to give it my all. With Body Head it ain’t a financial thing, it ain’t about money. It’s about friendship and family. It’s not just about the business, it’s about meaning something. People seeing and understanding and feeling. People call me now and say, “I just saw your video, man. It’s crunk, dawg, you just lifted my day up.” That’s what I do.
Your phone has been blowin’ up since the video came out?
Aw, man! I ain’t got my phone with me right now for a good reason. I left it in the truck ‘cause if I had it while we were doing this interview it would just keep ringing. Every time I hang up the phone, it’s, “Hello?” “Yo! I just saw the fuckin’ video!”
Okay, let me be a skeptic for a minute. You’re talking about God and staying positive. But the hook to your single is, “I smoke, I drink, I’m supposed to stop but I can’t.” How does that uplift people?
I’m an entertainer, that’s what I do. I make music for the people. Clearly, my message isn’t, “Go out there and fuck yourselves up.” My message is, “Be aware of what you’re doing.” You know how they say that the first step is to admit it? Be aware of what you’re doing. You know that you smoke and drink too much, so be careful. It’s the people that are hiding it that are fucked up. Should your mom and dad talk to you about sex, or not? I feel like you should talk to your daughter and son about sex, because if you don’t, somebody else will. That’s just reality.
Is the hook based on your life personally? Do you feel like you smoke and drink too much?
I’m not the type of artist that sits in a house and writes about all my problems. I make music for the people. Do you realize how people react off this song when they hear it? I wanna explain this to people, because I’ve been asked this a lot. I get into an arena, I open my mouth, and people lose their minds. They having a good time. Nobody wanna hurt or kill nobody, because they’re having a great time with Magic. If you can find some kind of flaw in that, that’s fine. I’m out here to entertain. I don’t get on the microphone and say, “Go get drunk and fuck yourselves up.” I say, “I smoke, I drink, I’m supposed to stop but I can’t / I’m a dog, I love women, I’m addicted to money, cars, and clothes.” That’s the average person that’s living today, and what I do is cater to the people. I try to structure my music to cater to a certain type of person. Who says that I’ve gotta change my music to fit what somebody else thinks? Who gon’ pick the music for the people who don’t listen to artists like Barry Manilow and Bruce Springsteen? Whether or not people like what I do or agree with what I rap about, I don’t really care!
So in reality, what are your addictions?
My addictions are money, cars, and clothes, but I don’t use those addictions in a harmful way. Let me tell you something: when you humble yourself and put yourself in a position where you’re willing to do whatever God has for you to do, he brings things in your life so you can enjoy them. I didn’t do anything wrong for this money. I didn’t rob or kill anybody. The reason I have things that other people don’t is because I rely on God to work his blessings through me. Remember, I can’t live my life for you or anybody else. We’re God’s children, so whatever he puts in me, I allow it to blossom. I might make music and hear people say, “I can’t believe he said that.” Well, maybe that’s my job. Maybe God put me here to make this song to make people think. I don’t what it’s for, but that’s what I do. It felt good to do it, and people love it. so I really don’t care what one person says, ‘cause they’re not the one deciding if I get into the Kingdom of Heaven of not. This is how I live my life. You think I give a damn about what people think? People love the song. Everybody feel good when they sing it, and that’s what it’s for. Not to hurt nobody, not to make people drink and drive. I’m just making a blunt statement. If I’m wrong for doing that, then kiss my ass. I do everything for God, and only for God. I’m not living to please nobody else, honestly. For real, if you don’t like me, you don’t have to listen to me. You don’t have to come to my concerts. We can have a long distance relationship (laughing).
Obviously, “I Smoke, I Drink,” is turning out to be a huge hit. But it’s on the Body Head Bangerz album, not a Mr. Magic album. Do you think it’ll hurt your career as an individual artist?
Nah, listen. It’s all about marketing and having a formula. See, so many artists just concentrate on getting one hit and then they rush it. I make each song a hit. I hate to sound cocky, but God is good to me. For some reason, I’m in great favor right now. This is my gift from God. God blesses some people to sing, God blesses some people to dance, some people can speak in front of millions. God blessed me to be able to make music that’ll get the people in the club dancing. In the whole No Limit camp, I was always the type of person that people looked for. I have that type of appeal, that’s my blessing. I don’t chase a hit or a song or a check. Checks come to me. I do this all day long. People gon’ realize that in a minute, ‘cause that’s how God wants it. Ya heard?
Anything else you want to say before we finish?
I want to say this to all the people out there that’s finding some type of reason to be negative towards me: God bless you. I would also like to say this to each and every one of you: get a personal relationship with God. That isn’t only for the haters and the skeptics, that’s for everybody. Every fan that’s listening to me, any person that’s ever believed in me and heard me: get a personal relationship with God. A personal relationship is very, very important. If you don’t u nderstand what that is, it’s a direct connect. You don’t have to go through no preacher, no church, nobody else. You can go straight to him. I have a direct connect to God, me, myself, and I would advise everybody else to do the same. I work personally for Him. I might sound crazy or I might sound like a lunatic, and that’s what makes me so good at what I do. Get a personal relationship with God, trust me. That’s very important. Just keep doing what you do. If you’re a hater, be the best hater you could be. Don’t just stop hatin’! The more you hate, the bigger I get. Tell the haters to start writing some articles on me. Talk about how horrible I am! I need y’all to do that for me, ‘cause all that is gonna make me a superstar. Body Head for life. I appreciate y’all.
