After coming out of a near-tragic shooting incident, Long Beach rapper Crooked I has a new sense of urgency when it comes to putting out new music.

In late February, Crooked I was shot at while doing a drop for a fan in the streets of Los Angeles, after which he vowed to re-focus himself mentally, and be a little more cautious about how he allows himself to be so accessible.

In a new interview with MTV's Mixtape Mondays, the west coast rapper explained that when the possibility of death greeted him, he realized that the musical legacy he'd want to leave behind wasn't there.

So now, he's got a new direction, and it's to have music ready and released, just in case he'd ever be taken too early.

"I've been in these [life-threatening] situations before. Last time I was in this situation, my brother got shot. You can only cheat death but so many times," said Crooked. "Old people say you get three signs and you're outta here. I'm working on my fourth or fifth sign. I'm like, 'If I die tomorrow, I'm gonna say some real things today.'

"... I want to leave a body of work behind that matches a Biggie or Pac. God is good. If I would have laid on that pavement and stayed there -- no disrespect because I love Bishop and Glasses -- but all I would have is No Country as my most recent body of work. I can't go out like that right now. Right now I need to focus on something that's gonna be around forever."

The No Country project the rapper is referring to is a group project called No Country for Old Men alongside other New West artists, Bishop Lamont and G. Malone. But, with the recent sequence of events Crooked I's been through, as mentioned above, he's changed his priorities.

The No Country project was supposed to focus on the fact that West Coast legends aren't as helpful to the young, up-and-comers in line after them, despite getting the same help from OGs when they were young themselves.

"You've got people like Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre. You've got all these people on the West Coast," he explained to MTV. "The 'Men' stands for 'mentality': No country for this old mentality. We don't want to deal with this mentality that says we can't like each other, we can't unify. That's why I like the South, because the South unites.

"Whether they feel each other or not, I see them on the video together. I see them on songs together. I see huge stars reaching back into the community of newcomers and pulling them up. You don't see that on the West Coast," he continued.

Crooked I feels the legends on in his region are leaving the new crop of emcees stranded with no help, when they have it in their power to do so.

"We look at the O.G.s in the industry like you laid down the foundation, now we're left here stranded and we don't have no country."

Despite putting the No Country project on hold, Crooked I is going full force with his new group Slaughterhouse, which consists of himself, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Royce Da 5'9. The group is slated to perform on this year's Rock The Bells North American tour.

As far as his long awaited debut, details are still unknown.