Boyz N Da Hood: Live From Da Block

Imagine walking down a noisy New York City street and hearing Boyz N Da Hood's single "Dem Boyz" blaring from a car radio for the first time, and thinking who the hell is that? Listening to their drawl, I could detect that the voices were from the South, then I hear the pulsating beat and even more addictive tail end of the hook: "Dem Boyz got work, Dem Boyz got yay / Dem Boyz got purp, Dem Boyz got haze / Dem Boyz got glocks, Dem Boyz got K's / Dem Boyz got blocks, Dem Boyz gettin paid."

That was my introduction to Boyz N Da Hood.

So what do you know about Boyz N Da Hood? Okay, let me take a wild guess, you know they are signed to Bad Boy Records, you know they are from Atlanta, and by now you should know that there are four members of the group. Do you know there names? Maybe, but if you don't, they are Big Duke, Young Jeezy, Big Gee and Jody Breeze. But that's just scratching the surface. Did you ever wonder what music they are bumping? Or why they feel a boy from the suburbs could relate to the self--itled debut, Boyz N Da Hood. If so, then Ballerstatus.com got you covered like Saran wrap.

And just because you see Puffy in they video, don't expect to see this quartet in a shiny suit any time soon. Read on and find out why these dudes call themselves the Tom Brokaw's of the hood.

BallerStatus.com: Boyz N Da Hood formed in the same tradition of NWA, but you guys are the Atlanta version, could you talk about the impact NWA had on you as a group?

Duke: Probably individually, it influenced us more by growing up on the music. As far as me, I grew up listening to that. As far as the group, I don't think [NWA] had no influence on us, because we didn't go into it with that mindset. We did records, we were just street n----s doing records. The streets, and the people labeled us that. We appreciate the comparison; we honored for people to talk about us like that. It's big for us, but we were just some n----s doing records. It was really the people that labeled us the new NWA.

BallerStatus.com: The group name comes from the epic film, "Boyz N The Hood," produced by John Singleton. What do you think was so special about that movie?

Duke: It was such a relatable movie to so many different people in different areas. Even though you might... every n---- pretty much on the same thing: wanting to get money and have fun. That was just the way of doing it. [The movie] did it from more of coming up from the gang situation; they were more gang related. Where I came from, we were more about getting money; we didn't really gangbang, but we still fought in clicks. In Atlanta, we pretty much about the same thing, just on a smaller level. We more about money. Everything revolves around money.

BallerStatus.com: Any characters that you could relate to in "Boyz N The Hood?"

Duke: You could relate to everybody in the movie. Every hood got the good boy who's stuck in the hood, who's trying to get out -- that was Trey (Cuba Gooding Jr.). Every hood got the OG n----s in it, who (Ice) Cube was; and every hood got a good athlete who could have been something. All the best athletes always got hood stories. They come from the projects and one parent homes, and we making it part of the story were talking about.

BallerStatus.com: Can you define the G-Code?

Duke: The G-code to us, where I'm from... certain things are nationwide -- not snitching. You just live by certain rules, and you die for what you believe in. If you represent something, you stand behind it; that's you being you all the time. If I'm in these shell toes and Dickies and my white-t, that's me. I ain't finna change because the affair calls for an all-white or all-black dress up, I finna thug it out. The G-code is mostly how you live; it's a mind state, and certain amount of rules.

BallerStatus.com: How could a boy from the suburbs relate to your music?

Duke: You got wild suburbs; n----s is wild in the suburbs. How can a 58-year-old caucasian lady relate to it? For some reason they come up to us in the airport and beg for pictures. And come up to us in our hotel lobby, and call they kids on the phone and let them scream while we talk to them, you know what I'm saying? How can they relate to it? Everybody wants to be a gangster. If you ain't one for real, you fascinated with the life. So, if you ain't one, you want to hear about it. If you is [a gangster], you want to hear about it because we telling your story and you can relate to it. There's a lot of people that watch gangster movies. You could ask one in ten people what they favorite movies is, and one out of ten is going to say "Scarface," but they aren't gangster, they could be corporate people.

BallerStatus.com: I have to ask this, being associated with Puffy (P.Diddy), how many party tracks/R&B tracks would you say are on the album?

Jody Breeze: I'm going to say about two or three.

BallerStatus.com: And the rest of the album is mostly street?

Jody Breeze: A little bit of everything: a little street, something for the hoes, something you can get high to, and other important [messages] that we wanted to get across.

BallerStatus.com: Have you gotten any comparisons to the Hot Boyz since you are both from the South and from the streets, from the gutter, and made the transition to commercial success?

Jody Breeze: Personally, if I was to compare myself, I would say it was something like [the Hot Boyz] more than the NWA of the South, but more people compare us to NWA more than the Hot Boyz. I guess 'cause we keep it street; we keep it gangster.

BallerStatus.com: The video for the "Dem Boyz" was one of the most gutter videos I seen in quite some time. Is there a reason why you guys wanted to come out like that on your debut single?

Jody Breeze: Yeah man, because we wanted to keep it street; we wanted to keep it hood. That's what our whole movement is about. We basically representing for all the hoods, nah mean?

BallerStatus.com: What are you playing on your iPod right now?

Jody Breeze: I'm bumping that God damn Beanie Siegel, and I'm bumping that [Juelz] Santana -- I f---s with Dipset.

BallerStatus.com: What is your style and the stuff you choose to rap about?

Big Gee: I call us the Tom Brokaw's of the hood. We represent the hood, and we report what's going on. We broadcast what's going on. It's street sh--, sh-- that you can actually listen to and know that it's for real. Real G sh--.

BallerStatus.com: What's the next single?

Big Gee: The next single is a song called "Felonies," produced by Jazze Pha. Well, "Felonies," is a song that represents felonies that people catch in the hood. We got a lot of homeboys that's locked up. And Jeezy going to break it down some more.

Young Jeezy: "Felonies" is a street record. I like that, it has one of my better verses on the album. It's basically about every n---- in the club, we all got dirt.

BallerStatus.com: Interesting, I read that you very business minded. Any of that business attitude going to rub off on the group? I heard you got a Snowman clothing line coming out.

Young Jeezy: I got the book that's about to drop off my album -- Thug Motivation 101 book. The album is in stores July 26th. I just got the label deal with Def Jam, it's official. I got three deals with no album out, and I think I'm going to change history man.

BallerStatus.com: Change what?

Young Jeezy: History, as far as the streets really supporting a n----. The streets don't really go to the record stores, so I think it's going to change. I think n----s going to go the record stores.

BallerStatus.com: Yeah, the streets buy the bootlegs and the mixtapes.

Young Jeezy: I damn near did 800,000 on my mixtape.

BallerStatus.com: Anything you want to leave the readers?

Young Jeezy: Just let them know, I'm the first solo situation to come out from Boyz N Da Hood. The album comes out July 26th man! If I come to your town, to your city, get at me. Do what you got to do, but just know you got to have a plan, some goals. "If a n---- knew better, he do better," that's my saying to motivate the thugs; that's my mission. I feel that's why God put me hear, to motivate the thugs, that's what I'm going to do.

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